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I am sure Wings was only kidding, right

But you know what I meant tetratech, right? Whenever there is a chance that something can be enhanced through tools (or doping, as we can see now in baseball and bicyclists) some people will not be able to resist.

Some of these tools have been permitted, or are at least tolerated, for example the removal of all tank hardware during the shoot (heaters and all), the "fresh" replant of trimmings for the shoot (as I have read an article about someone who was successful in competitions and he did just that, fresh trimmings stuck tightly together albeit the stems would never have enough light to grow like that), and the addition of a fan above the water line for the ripple effect.

This does not apply to you, of course, as you didn't enter a contest per se but have been selected because of the tank's natural beauty, and they have seen your tank in various stages a few times by now, right?

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I am sure Wings was only kidding, right

Right I guess I should have added a to my comment. This time around I need one of these...

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Right I guess I should have added a to my comment. This time around I need one of these...

I know your only kidding, cause I know you, but without the , you never know what someone's thinging through this medium.

BTW - Only kidding with the algae post in LF's log

My Scapes

This does not apply to you, of course, as you didn't enter a contest per se but have been selected because of the tank's natural beauty, and they have seen your tank in various stages a few times by now, right?

Yes, that is pretty much correct. There are certain allowable alterations and equipment usage guidelines for these scaping contests whether those alterations be pre or post picture. Certainly trimming, cleaning glass, removing equipment and cleaning sand is a given. I don't see an issue with that. But some are very skilled at using photoshop and will use layer, etc to bring out certain aspects of their tanks. Sometimes these aspects are what the tank does really look like in real-life and sometimes it's not. Certainly anyone can make their reds look more read, etc. I really haven't focused on this end of the hobby yet, since I'm still simply using my Canon S2 IS without any additional equipment.

My Scapes

I really haven't focused on this end of the hobby yet

yeah, me neither, but I am working on it (at least mentally). I am looking for better camera equipment, mostly in the direction of a flash, and working on some processing software, like photoshop. I have a few pages back in my 125G log an image of the Apisto that I took, followed by a shot that one user made with such a processing tool of the low res image from the fish. There is no comparison, it looks just so much better.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I always think your pics look incredible

Cheers
TW

I always think your pics look incredible

Well thanks Robyn,

That is very nice of you to say. But once you realize that all these super tankers (LOL) cook with water just like you do, you begin to wonder what makes their tanks look so much better. Sure, I am not the best scaper out there by far, but one cannot underestimate the importance of presentation for any product. Amano is the best example: I am sure he would be completely unknown had he taken his tank shots with a camera phone and didn't know what he does about photography,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

BTW - Only kidding with the algae post in LF's log

I knew you would get me back somewhere..

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Just a quick update on this tank:

Not much has changes, there are still about 12 Amanos in there and their favorite hobbyist angering task seems to be to eat the Najas Indica. Every other week I have to trim the plant as the lower parts are all eaten up, side shoots are reduced to little stomps.

Here is a replanted top:

Attached Image:

Najas indica

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And, to my greatest surprise, the cory die-off stopped a while ago. Out of the original 7 I lost 3 in a rather fast succession. But the other 4 keep on going strong and show the typical cory behavior trades, like perusing the tank as a gang and such. I still have the one with the short barbels, but I assume my worries that the Eco was grinding them down does not seem right as the barbels of the other 3 are still as long as they always have been. Another batch, less imbred, maybe?

Anyway, here they are,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Cories

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo,

About your concerns with the Eco causing barbel erosion. I have a group of breeding panda cories, and a while ago I switched to Eco for my planted tank where the pandas reside as I was seeing extreme barbel erosion on regular "pea" substrate. A few weeks later the barbels began to grow back and they are now back to thier normal size. Good luck with them. Are you planning to up their number at all? They would love that.

The tank looks great!

Ryan,

Thanks for the input and info on the cory barbels. It confirms my findings with the latest 3 cories that I got. There must have been something wrong with the first 4, as 3 of them died rather quickly (first one in 24h) and the sole survivor has much shorter barbels than the other group.

For now, I will just hold on to these 4, they are still in the QT and I have to decide where they should go permanently.

Thanks for the compliment on the tank,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo , Love the tank and Photos as always and the Corries are great looking . Sorry to hear that you lost some Oh well thats fishkeeping . I want some of these guys myself . Look forward to seeing how they go for you .

Garry

Garry,

thanks for the input,

The cories are doing well for me (now), I don't remember how long they are in the QT already, but certainly way over the recommended stay. I just have to make up my mind where I would like to move them.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Of course, now that I mentioned that the cories are fine, one of them died, all of a sudden. I didn't notice anything special until I got ready for yesterday's water change and I could find only 3.

Only after removing the lid did I see the remains of No. 4, just the armor was left, the approx. 12 Amanos must have taken care of the rest. Sad, but such is nature.

Ingo

Attached Image:

Cory Armor

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo . Yes indeed fishkeeping is full of highs and lows , sorry for you loss .
Garry

That sucks Ingo, like Garry said you loose some and gain some. Hope the others do well for you.

Hope the others do well for you.

First off, thanks for the input and sympathy, much appreciated.

The others are still doing fine (3 left), I think that once I remove most of the pesky 12 Amanos in that tank then they will be even happier, less competition for the food.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Just a quick update:

I lost another Cory, this means that the remaining two will spend the rest of their time in this tank as I don't think I will make them a permanent installment in any other tank. No more cories for me!

Growth in this tank is also really slow, almost non existent except for the Najas. The wisteria is just barely hanging in. As I am currently not in the mood to increase the ferts and excel treatment, that is how it is gonna be for a while.

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

8/6/2007

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Wow,

this is an almost bare-lookling Ingo tank! The rocks make a stronge statement, almost Iwagumi style (at least to me ..). Do you plan to add some really small plants to the foreground?

Ingo

Im sorry you are getting frustrated with the cories and that you are having a hard time with your tank. Thanks for your input on my 10 Gallon tho. I hope you have had time to take alook at my 35 Gallon. Are you planning on increasing the plants at the rear of the tank? Why is the Wysteria having such a hard time do you think?

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Ingo , I love the look of this tank just as it is. Don't think you need to do much more with it to tell the truth .
The rocks with the little bit of greenery around the front and the small amount of larger growth at the back is nearly perfect .
If I had any suggestions at all , it would be to concentrate the larger plants behind the big rock at the centre and keep everything else small .
Anyway still looks great .

Garry

Thanks all for the input,

As I have about 5 min to spare, here is a shot of the same tank 3 weeks later, with no maintenance in between (aka vacation).

The Najas indica grows even in this tank, with ferts added only once after the last water change, like mad. A TRUE WEED!!!

Ingo

Attached Image:

Overgrown Najas Indica

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Long time no update, but I finally found the time to document the latest changes.

First of all, the last of the Cories in this tank died last week, none of them ever seemed to have grown at all and probably just hung in. I guess I am not made for Cories but I sure hope the Pygmies in the 29 will do better.

The Wisteria in this tank was also just hanging in and are in the process of being replaced by HM. So far, I probably have planted about 100 individual stems of it, I admire my own patience

As you see in the shot, the resident fish in the tank are some of the platies that used to be in the 29G, also there are at least 5 Amanos still left that I could not catch a while back.

Here is the tank,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

10-14-2007

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I really like this set up. Simple, elegant, yet somewhat full & the rocks being good interest points.

First of all, the last of the Cories in this tank died last week, none of them ever seemed to have grown at all and probably just hung in. I guess I am not made for Cories but I sure hope the Pygmies in the 29 will do better.

Join the club, I had a hard time with corys when I had them in my 46g, but I always blamed it on the corrupted eco-complete.

The tank looks much better with the HM in front. I like the hardscape with the exception of the tall rock on the right. It doesn't work IMMHO.

My Scapes

Thanks for the input folks,

Tetratech - I agree, the right rock is too large or not needed at all. I will soon remove the 2 Anubias from the 29G and add them to the one in here, maybe I do something in that rock area with them.

But it will take time as I still have to plant about 500 HM stems over the next few weeks/months

Thanks again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo, in it's current state I would probably agree with tetra about the rock, but in your photo from 8/6/2007 - which I have to say is absolutly gorgeous - I think the rock on the right really works. It provides a wonderful contrast.

It's funny that as the plants grow in a tank, the aspect of the hardscape changes as well - without actually changing. For me the ability to visualize what a tank is going to look like after it has grown in is definatly a skill I'd love to work on.

At any rate, damned nice tank for a 20G!

:j

For me the ability to visualize what a tank is going to look like after it has grown in is definatly a skill I'd love to work on.

Welcome to the club, Jay

We all have this problem, or at least most of us do. I for sure can say that somehow my tanks don't turn out (in the long run) like I envisioned they would. Close, but different

I appreciate your input with regards to the rock. I guess I will try sometime soon (weeks) to see how it looks without it or with a smaller one.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Just an updated picture of the tank, now that I have added more and more HMs to it. There must be about 200 stems all over the tank, and just for tetratech I went and replaced the large rock on the right with a smaller one. Now the HM has to grow out and then it can be trimmed into shape (which it isn't right now).

Ingo

Attached Image:

11/10/2007

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

From where I sit, in terms of color, contrast, use of space is this your best setup at the moment now that you changed the rock on the right.

My Scapes

As you mentioned, once the HM grows in and you can trim it, the tank will have much more shape. I can already see it peeking out behind the rock on the left and it looks good. Once it all grows in, gets a trim and gets that slope to it it'll be even better.

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Back in the saddle!

Neat look, LF .

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks guys for the input and compliments, I had to work on getting you folks to say something negative so I decided to neglect the tank for a while, LOL.

Well, I didn't really do it because of that, it was rather based on a lack of time. But being my usual self I thought I show you the tank in an ugly state anyway:

Attached Image:

12/9/2007

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

As you can see, there is a row of baby Nanas on the left front, coming from the original 40G layout and are here for storage only, and the rest has just grown to oversize dimensions, at least for this tank.

I further upped the light (96w) as I was not happy with the growth on the way left and right, these stems of HM were just hanging in instead of thriving. I may shorten the light period though, haven't made my mind up about that yet.

Here is the tank with the stronger light,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Also 12/9/2007

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

oOooo Lush!

See I can still say something positive .

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

LOL Matty,

Well, the tank got its first trim of the HM, looks ok. No photo of the tank though at this time. I will have to decide on what to do with the row of Nanas though very soon, they just cannot stay right there or in this tank at all.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Time for a quick update on the tank.

I removed the 96w light after only a few days, I think it was too much of a jump from 40w to 96w. Nothing bad happened though.

I replaced the indica with rotundifolia, as I had loads of it from the 40G, and I put the baby nanas on a stick in the right back.

The HM has been trimmed a while back, don't remember if I posted that already.

Here is the tank,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

1/19/2008

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I like it a lot better without the weeds in the back

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I can see what Matty is saying about the "weeds' in back but, there was one shot where they were framing that large rock in the center very nicely,a nd I thought that was a great look. I guess the key with stuff like that is to keep up on trimming...

I am going to try liquid ferts with my planted 20g and the new 10g. My plants look ok, the hornwort seems to be dying due to high pH 8.2. So, I am going to go the way of liquid ferts and probably find a more potent light that the 15W I have in the 20g now.

anyhow, thanks for logging, very interesting!

Ingo ...I'm not one usually for throwing stones ...but this tank looked stunning after the redo ..IMO it has degenerated to having very little form or focus. I think the rotundifolia is a bad choice for this tank ( at least that much of it )
The stunning hardscape has lost its impact .
Just my 2cents worth ... sounds horrible when I read this but thats my honest opinion . No offense intended ..still love your work .

Garry

Yeah, I love the first couple pics a lot better too.

Thank you very much for the input, here are some comments:

Matty - Thanks for the comment on the weeds

ScottF - ferts are good, in particular when used appropriately! Yeah, 15w over a 20G is rather little, and a ph of over 8 is not helping as well. How about a rock and anubias layout? That could work even in the low light and look amazing?

Garry - All comments are welcome, and you are so right anyway. The tank has been greatly neglected, you should see it this weekend (no photo available). A major trim is in order and will happen sometime in the next two weeks.

fish patty - ditto, no offense taken.

I actually like to show my tanks in all kinds of stages, and not only the good ones. It makes it less intimidating when newer hobbyists see that not all is shiny all the time

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo,
i think it is good that you are not afraid to show your tank in a bad stage... it shows some confidence and it also does help newer aquarists to feel less intimidated by a tank that may not be the most pristine... but pretty pics do the eye alot of good ...

i like the tank no matter how "bad" of shape it might be in.. every tank has its own character...

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thanks brandeeno for the reinforcement

I spent some time last week and trimmed all the HM, actually I ripped it all out and replanted the tops. So right now it is really low.

Here is the tank this weekend:

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

2/18/2008

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo ...Yep thats the look ..well done .Love the hardscape in this tank and the plants compliment it this way .


Garry

Thanks Garry,

It sure looks better, but to be honest with you, I am getting bored of it

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

to be honest with you, I am getting bored of it

Uh oh, we all know what that means.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Yep ...indeed we do Matty .


Garry

lol i have that problem too ingo! i aquascape and get bored so i change it arround alot... but i dont have very many plants (and that is one reason why i get boreed/why i dont have very many plants)

hope you find something awesome to do with this tank! and if you decide to take out some of those plants ol' brandeeno would love some of them or you could sell them on ebay or aquabid

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Thanks guys for the input,

brandeeno - I am most often too lazy/busy to bother with selling plants, occasionally I trade them at the LFS or at our NJAGC meetings though.

BTW, the HM in this tank does not look all that healthy, I guess my limited water changes and almost no fert addition (and the same goes for Excel) shows by now.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo

I know what you are thinking but I do love the way this tank looks. This is my favorite tank I think. But Im interested to see what you have in mind. Please discuss. hehe

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Shane,

I will never discuss changes to my 20 or 29 anymore, they are the "Surprise" tanks. But if one is careful and follows the things that I play around with then one may find a pattern.

Anyway, I felt like taking a shot of the tank with the flash on and here is the result, just for the fun of it.

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

20 In Flash Light

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

This tank is turning into quite the jungle again. It also looks like you have just a ton of fish in this tank. I guess with lower light you can play that game.

Interesting shot with the flash. It gives a different view of things.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Not that much of a jungle yet, Wings. That is why I posted the shot, it looks so different than the real tank. Plants are actually still rather low, with the exception of the Rotala stems in the back.

And lower light? I don't think 65W over a 20G are low

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And lower light? I don't think 65W over a 20G are low

Oh really? I thought you changed it back to 40W. I get lost every now and then.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Ingo ....I like that shot with the flash ...gives a great idea of the rear plants in the tank ..which are hard to see in the normal shots .

It does look like you have a lot more fish in the tank as Wings noted.


We love the suprise value of these tanks BTW . Its great fun when you spring into action


Garry