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I think it looks very nice, Some BBA on some wood is not a problem in my eyes, you could take the tweezers and pick it off (that's what I do sometimes).

Ah, and for the blind people, that was easy:

Attached Image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks guys

Interesting thing about the Blyxa, for the past few weeks I've only been running 13 Watts on this tank, as one of the bulbs burned out. Growth has slowed down, but the Blyxa has retained its full appearance.

Interestingly, the BBA started when the bulb burned out. Could it have been the resulting CO2 fluctuation that caused the BBA growth spurt? Less light = slowed plant growth = less nutrient absorbtion = change in level of CO2 in WC.

Yes, the aquasoil is from ADG, as is the powersand special beneath it.


Good eye as always, LF. Those guys blend in well from above, just that little speck of green showing...

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Back in the saddle!

That looks great nowherman. I'm still trying not to catch the nano (or pico in tetratechs case) bug. You guys sure make it hard. They sure look to be a lot of fun. I'll just try and get the tank I have under control for now .

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I'm still trying not to catch the nano (or pico in tetratechs case) bug. You guys sure make it hard.

Gladly, whenever I bring up the topic of a new nano tank to my wife I get:



Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks Matty,

When I say this tank is just about zero work, I mean that. Topping off water, little water changes every two weeks or so. Excel every day or so, ferts at water changes, or whenever I feel like it. Picking out shrimp shells when you see them and pruning once a month or so. Cleaning the filter every month. Takes up maybe two hours per month, and that's being generous. No work whatsoever.

Although to be honest I'm going to have to prune that Blyxa soon, the leaves are pressing up against the front glass pretty badly now. But even that's not a lot of work for the on estem plant in there.

So in short... Join us... join us... join us...


LF, I can't believe your wife lets you have a 125, a 40 and two 20's... but no little 4G for the bedroom?? That's not fair!

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Back in the saddle!

Oh I've thought about it Nowherman .

And I think LF's wife is quite generous....but yeah, what's another 4 gallons? Might be the straw that broke the camel's back.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Although to be honest I'm going to have to prune that Blyxa soon, the leaves are pressing up against the front glass pretty badly now.

Any chance of taking a blxya group out and doing a Glosso or HC foreground. Probably not since your enjoying your almost maintenance free tank.



My Scapes

Space is at such a premium in this tank, the glosso or HC would get squeezed out. Remember, I started this tank out with an HC foreground, but it grew into the blyxa too much and vice versa, it looked too cluttered.

Plus I think I'd have to set up a sort of boundary bewteen the two groups, the HC and the blyxa... and with so little floorspace it would be very difficult to pull off. For now I'm just going to cut back on the blyxa.

And as you said, I'm very much enjoying the maintainence free part of this tank!

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Back in the saddle!

what's another 4 gallons? Might be the straw that broke the camel's back

Pretty much so, but I don't know who you are calling a camel, my wife or me?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well, I promised an update and here it is. In keeping with the spirit of showing our tanks with all their blemishes, here's my formerly healthy, vibrant 4G.


This is the tank as recently as late January. Still pretty thick with java fern and blyxa. The blyxa had gone through an excel melt but came back well enough. BBA was running wild at this point:




Now this is the tank last night. At some point in the past few weeks the blyxa just exploded into about a hundred baby plants, which floated up to the surface. I guess this is just the way the plant reproduces, but it's not very good for maintaining a scape. I also trimmed out the fern a lot, but BBA is still a major issue - notice the shag carpeting on the DW. All inhabitants are still alive and well, so I'm doing something right.



As you can see, it's in need of a MAJOR overhaul. I personally feel that with this much BBA on the DW, it's not worth the scrubbing and bleaching it would take to get it all off. I've been soaking a better piece of DW for some time now, and it's ready for action. I've also been growing out HC. In the new version I'm not going to use the javas - I'll hold onto them to use in the 65 where they'll fit in better, they're much too large for this tank. I also won't be using blyxa japonica in the new set-up.

The anubias will be used, along with an HC carpet and probably some rotala with maybe a bit of pearlgrass as well. Sticking to small or fine leaves. DIY CO2 will also be added, as I'm finding CO2 to be a necessity for growing HC.

And finally, I don't think I posted this anywhere, but this is a shot of one of the amanos I took with a used macro lens I picked up for my new DSLR... Oh yeah, by they way, I joined LF, tetra and matty on the Canon side of things. For the past few months I've been replacing all the Minolta equipment I sold off, so I was pretty immersed in that world for a bit.



So that's it, any comments welcome... and hopefully this will be a good start getting me back into the flow.

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Back in the saddle!

I should pull a wings and say "thanks for showing pictures."

However I'd like to ask what you were dosing, how much, and what you thought the reason for the major BBA outbreak was. Hopefully you can nail it this time around. It was a beautiful scape even in jan. when the BBA was taking over. I agree that it needs a bit of work now though, and sometime overhauls can be the easiest way to do that.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

So the Blyxa melted from too much excel, probably in an attempt to rid the tank of the dreaded BBA. I think with high light and no co2 it's even harder to control BBA once the tank matures and the organic level continues to grow. I'm wondering if Seachem's Purigen would help in your situation since it's suppose to remove organics from the WC. In a co2 based tank, supposely steady and high levels of co2 will help control it and you won't get plant melting. How long are you lights on? I have personally found that reducing the light period is a tremendous help with controlling BBA. On my 72g when I started having some BBA issues I reduced the overall light to 9 hours and my burst to 3.5 hours (previously 10 hours and 5 hours) and I honestly don't see much BBA anymore.

I would personally clean the wood with a stiff brush, like a bathroom brush, add purigen to the filter and reduce your lights and see what happens.

I've gotten alot of feedback on Blyxa from many advanced planted folk and they say it's a funny plant. Some it grows like a weed for others can't get it to do much. My tank has high light, co2, etc, etc. and it barely grows and is completely green. When the plant was going gangbusters in your tank it must have had an immense root system. Is that all gone from the melt. I know your not dosing much with the AS in there, it's too soon for the AS to loose its nutrients isn't it, although it is recommended to increase ferts with the stuff as the tank ages.

Nice shrimp shot Canon

My Scapes

However I'd like to ask what you were dosing, how much, and what you thought the reason for the major BBA outbreak was. Hopefully you can nail it this time around.

Because of the lack of CO2 dosing was not heavy at all. I would change the water about every 3 weeks, and when I did I added equilibrium, KNO3, K2SO4 and a tiny bit of excel. That's about it.

So the Blyxa melted from too much excel, probably in an attempt to rid the tank of the dreaded BBA. I think with high light and no co2 it's even harder to control BBA once the tank matures and the organic level continues to grow. In a co2 based tank, supposely steady and high levels of co2 will help control it and you won't get plant melting. How long are you lights on? I have personally found that reducing the light period is a tremendous help with controlling BBA. On my 72g when I started having some BBA issues I reduced the overall light to 9 hours and my burst to 3.5 hours (previously 10 hours and 5 hours) and I honestly don't see much BBA anymore.

In my case I think it was the maturation of the tank (organic build up) plus the low water level, which led to the loss of whatever CO2 was in the water to begin with. The BBA grows thickest right at the mouth of the filter outflow, I think it likes the current. The high light and ~10hr per day light duration, plus low, variable CO2 combined to create a 'perfect storm' of sorts for BBA growth.

When the plant was going gangbusters in your tank it must have had an immense root system. Is that all gone from the melt.

It did have a huge root system, but now, as you can see in the picture, most of the stems are hanging on by a thread, so I assume it is mostly gone. When I redo everything I'll dig around some more and see exactly what happened.

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Back in the saddle!

In my case I think it was the maturation of the tank (organic build up) plus the low water level, which led to the loss of whatever CO2 was in the water to begin with. The BBA grows thickest right at the mouth of the filter outflow, I think it likes the current. The high light and ~10hr per day light duration, plus low, variable CO2 combined to create a 'perfect storm' of sorts for BBA growth.

That's one issue with these nanos, is that one usually doesn't have a light that has two separate bulbs. Personally I think a 7hr lighting schedule is good for all things involved, but obviously you have the tank to look at so it would depend on your "lifestyle". If one could run the lights for 9 to 10, but do the typical "burst" for just a few hours that would probably give you the best of both, but you'd have to have a light that would allow you to do that, but also look good.

BTW - Where you happy with the AS? Will you use it again?


My Scapes

That's one issue with these nanos, is that one usually doesn't have a light that has two separate bulbs. Personally I think a 7hr lighting schedule is good for all things involved, but obviously you have the tank to look at so it would depend on your "lifestyle". If one could run the lights for 9 to 10, but do the typical "burst" for just a few hours that would probably give you the best of both, but you'd have to have a light that would allow you to do that, but also look good.

I'm definitely going to try to cut back on the lighting. A 7hr burst from the PC bulbs, plus whatever sunlight filters through the room before and after should work.


As for the AS: absolutely, 100% yes, I will use it again. What I'd do differently, however, is use less Power Sand. It's very peat-y, has lots of organics in it - and when you pull anything up, all that gets released into the WC. I made the mistake of using a thin layer over the entire bottom - I really think you need only a small section of the middle maybe, or none at all for such a small tank. But as for the AS itself, not only did the Blyxa thrive in it, but the anubias and java ferns have very large root complexes growing in it as well.

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Back in the saddle!

As for the AS: absolutely, 100% yes, I will use it again. What I'd do differently, however, is use less Power Sand. It's very peat-y, has lots of organics in it - and when you pull anything up, all that gets released into the WC. I made the mistake of using a thin layer over the entire bottom - I really think you need only a small section of the middle maybe, or none at all for such a small tank. But as for the AS itself, not only did the Blyxa thrive in it, but the anubias and java ferns have very large root complexes growing in it as well.

Yeah, I'll give it a try. I'm debating on whether I should bother with a powersand and the tourmaline. I was thinking of just dusting the bottom with some peat and mulm.


My Scapes

I'd go for the tourmaline, I'm going to try it in the 65 anyway. I'm a big believer in the power of the placebo - even if it's bunk, as long as I BELIEVE it's legit, I'll see the effects of it

Bacter100 and that clear super stuff are worth it as well, IMO. The Power Sand special includes both of them. For a larger tank, I think Power Sand special with tourmaline is a good combo - for a smaller tank, skip the PS.

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Back in the saddle!

See NowherMan6,

If you would have been at the club meetings you would have heard that current causes BBA and that Power Sand should be used in minimal quantities

Today is another meeting, BTW.

Otherwise, your tank shows the challenges of a small tank over time, and you were the only one of us (besides Bensaf) who had a small tank for a while (tetratech changes his small ones all the time, ). I doub't that there was much you could have done differently, I guess these sized tanks are a lot of trial and error.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

If you would have been at the club meetings you would have heard that current causes BBA and that Power Sand should be used in minimal quantities

With a name like Nowher you can't expect to be at all the meetings or even one. Any further info on the current causes BBA thing? I haven't found anything really consistent with that.

My Scapes