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Hi Martin,

Been a while

The original plan was to remove both swords, but I reaaly liked the size and look of the remaining one (I still like a nice sword despite the problems) so decided to leave it.

At least this time I'm prepared. The plants behind the sword will be allowed to grow up and provide some shade on the sword. Also a big patch of Riccia is floating directly above. It's also pushed further back, the previous one was right under the lights.

I should know soon enough. There's new leaves coming up and I'll see what height they top out at.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I like it before AND after! But it does look better without the sword there. Shame you had to bin it.

I love the selection of fish you have also! And the tank is absolutely beautiful! Makes me want to cry when i look at mine.

-- Gomer

Awesome tank, I do agree removing the sword opened up that space just right..

So if I buy a sword, let it grow, then remove it..
Poof ! I will find driftwood, fish fry, and other plants !
I like this idea..

I'll take 2 swords please

The Amazon Nut...

Looks great bensaf! I can't wait to see the tank when that hole fills in a bit.....keep us posted

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

It's an odd size, show type tank.Tall and wide but not very long. About 65-70 gals (US).

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

bensaf- what size(gallons) is your tank.

Thanks for the tips. I already have one co2 system, but it is rated up to 20 gallons.

Bensaf- what type of sword is the one you still have in there. I am thinking about converting my 29 low light aquarium to a moderate to high lit one. What is your lighting?

It's the same as the large one I took out but because it wasn't right under the lights it didn't get as big. Plain old Amazon Sword - E.Bleheri or E.amazonicus whatever the hell they call it these days.

I really wouldn't reccomend one for a 29g though, they don't need much to get to really big sizes. There are plenty of other sword more suitable. For something like a 29g the narrow leaved swords are great and very attractive. Have a look at the species of Echinodorous on http://www.tropica.com and you'll find something suitable.

I don't have a huge amount of light - 144 watts , 4X36watt power compact bulbs. 2 X 10000 and 2 X 6700K. Power compacts give the most bang for your buck in my opinion, they very intense compared to NO flourescent, 2wpg of PC will give about the same intensity as 2.5-3 wpg of NO lighting.Personally I'm of the opinion anything over 3wpg is overkill. Can't think of anything that won't grow under that. People sometimes think that to get really bright reds you need huge amounts of light, but Nitrate and Iron levels are just as important if not more so. Intense lighting alone is not going to produce intense reds.

To make high light work you really need Co2. Personally I'd start with moderate light, about 2 wpg, and leave the Co2 out. You still grow a huge variety of plants. Lot less work involved.

A non Co2 tank can be just as beautiful as any other. This tank was non co2 for the first six months without problems. A tank like the one above will only look it's best for about 2 days a fortnight. Growth is too fast and things change rapidily so a good deal of work is needed to keep it in shape. A non-co2 tank will look beautiful on a more consistent basis, with far less work. It just requires more patience as growth rate is much reduced. If you have the patience they are more "fun". My next tank will definately be moderate light no co2 injection.

Whatever route you choose plant heavily from the start. I can't over emphasise how important this is in getting a tank off to a solid start. It's a lot easier to remove plants later then it is to clean up an algae problem.

Once you do the groundwork and understand the fundamentals it's ridiculously easy to do. I never grew anything other then nose hair a year ago.

More light = faster growth= more demand for C02 + nutrients. A lot of beginners add the light but forget the rest of the equation, leading to issues.
Less light = slower growth = less demand for Co2 and nutrients. It also means less alage. So there's a bit more wiggle room with moderate light. Far less ferts need to be dosed. Once a week at most.Just have to be a bit more pateint with the growth rate and let the plants grow in. Many don't and try to force the growth with unneccessary ferts. This leads to issues.

Last edited by bensaf at 29-Jun-2005 23:25

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Bensaf- what type of sword is the one you still have in there. I am thinking about converting my 29 low light aquarium to a moderate to high lit one. What is your lighting?

Very beautiful tank indeed. That was a big lovely sword, but now the tank is much more balanced & all the plants will recieve some light.


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Godda hand it to ya Bensaf!! Nice tank, very nice tank!! one of the best i've seen!

WOW!!! Your tank is amazing. It certainly looks alot brighter without the sword. Beautiful tank /:'

Hiya,

The tank looks much more neat and nicer without the huge sword. You should have taken pics of the sword when you took it out, just to compare how huge it was But anyhows nice job there and cant wait to check it out when it starts to grow abit

Mango

Just realised that title may be a bit mis-leading

Some of you may know I had a huge 2 foot plus Amazon Sword plant in my tank. It was about 3 inches when I got a year ago.
As beautiful as a specimen as it was - it had to go ! It was totally dominating the aquascape and throwing everything off. I've being putting off removing it because of the inevetible mess of moving something so large. But just couldn't take it anymore.

What a job moving it The root structure was huge and consequently it took about 30% of the substrate with it. Found some surprise though. A big piece of driftwood I forgot was there, plants that somehow survived the shading, lot's of fry, and some shrimp that managed to hide from the fish.Took a long time to clean up the mess though.

Anyway I'm very pleased with the decision , tanks much brighter, fish have more room.

Onto the pics. This is a before pic

bensaf attached this image:

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Hey Bernard,

Taking out the sword was a good idea and all in all your other plants do not seem to be affected by the disturbance at all I'm afraid you did make a mistake by leaving the other sword in there, now that it receives an increased amount of light it'll be as big as the old one in a matter of months, and then you have to go through all of it again.

Yea, almost forgot to comment....

That is an absolutely fantastic looking tank.
Well done!!!

Bernard

By removing the Sword it has given it a more open appeal and certainly it looks a lot brighter.

Just as well you live in an area where you can get plenty of good plants.

Keith

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Sorry, sword has gone in the bin !

Never gravel vac as such, been a long time since I've seen the gravel

Don't know what the fry are. Very small greyish black, but I don't have any black fish,most of the fish spawn regularly so could be Rainbow/Cherry Barbs/Pencilfish. I've had a lot a fry but none ever make it, too many potential predators.

The big sword did have a kind of big dark mysterious look but it had to go. The pic aboove is a heavily trimmed version.I'd say about 50 leaves were cut off in recent months, it was only half it's natural diameter. It became a problem on a number of levels. Aquascaping wise it threw the tank off balance, too strong and too far forward. Shading was becoming a bigger and bigger issue , with the arching leaves it was shading nearly 50% of the tank and was choking out the crypts around it. It had long since punctured the surface by a good 6 inches, sword leaves dry out very quickly so the tops rot which was a real eye sore as I have an open top tank. So all in all it had to go.

The remaining sword is a pretty nice specimen and in a more appropiate location, but I'll be keeping in a eye on it to see if that now goes nuts now that it's no longer so shaded.

Overall I'm pleased with the decision. I think it will look a lot better when the Rotala gets some height and the mass of Cambomba at the back corner fills out. The pic doesn't do justice to the new section - it's hard to see the driftwood which is much better looking in the flesh so to speak, or the huge Anubias Barteri which is in there too.

I like now, it looks fresher and cleaner without the man-eating sword. Ottos are confused though - their sunbathing lounge is gone

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Heh, am I the only one here who likes BOTH the 'before' and 'after' shots?

Amazon Swords will grow rampantly given only modest prompting in my experience ... mind you since I split mine in two, the resulting two have been somewhat less rampant, but still a nice healthy collection of lots of green leaves ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

nice

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