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Posted most of this elsewhere and got some helpful responses but I wanted to float this out in these forums to see what fellow FPers think

About 2 weeks ago I got around to redoing my 4G. I stripped it down naked, replaced all substrate, scrubbed the tank, gave it a little bleach bath, the whole nine yards. I'm happy with the hard scape and the left side with the rotala and the anubias, but the right side is a mess. Here are some pics, then I'll explain a bit more.




This is the tank with just hardscape. I like this piece, and I think the anubias highlights it pretty well. I'm not sure about the piece furthest up the branch, I'm considering removing it. Here you can also see the amount of foreground space, which remains pretty empty even planted.



This is planted. Rotala indica on the left, on the right is HM, and some hairgrass was planted around to eventually add some contrasting shape to the other plants. I don't expect a carpet effect with the hairgrass, just some highlights here and there. Notice it's clearly in emmersed form.



And this is after a week of growth. The rotala is doing well and I like the left side. After a few prunings it'll be nice and bushy.

The right side, as I said, is a mess. The HM didn't look so great when I got it - even with a cold pack the heat was too much for it - but now it just looks sorry. Any suggestions on what to do with this side?

Right now I may just let the HM try to recover and see how that goes. In any case I think this side should stay low. I may add a small crypt or two in the middle-right foreground area between the hairgrass clumps, but again, I'm just looking for ideas.

I'll post a cleaner shot tonight, with WB correction and the junk taken out of the background.

Thanks, and it's good to be back scaping again!

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Back in the saddle!

Now you truly are "Back in the Saddle Again"

I really like the hardcape as well with the anubias on it.
Personally I would build up the AS in the left rear go all hairgrass behind and have it poke through parts of the wood and in the front I will go low and thick so you can have those wood pieces flow over it. Maybe HC or even Riccia would work well. Did you original 4 have just AS or was it AS/PS?

My Scapes

Thanks tetra. I assume you mean right rear, not left, correct? That's an interesting idea with the hairgrass, I didnt think of that. I do have an extra pot on standby, I may go for it... even though it'll mean draining most of the water again so the pieces don't pop up. Hmm... have to think more about that one.

I had As/PS in the old version, and I still have that combo now. This time I used less PS, last time i covered the whole base with it and that was overkill. Any time anything moved the PS would push up into the WC and I'd get a hair algae outbreak, I assume from the peat/ organics/ ammonia from the PS.

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Back in the saddle!

That looks real good so far nowher. I really like the nano diffuser, where'd you get it?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks matty. I got the diffuser from one of those Singapore vendors on aquabid. I think it was aquaticmagic. I'm not big on getting plants from them, but I figured if a diffuser got caught in customs at least it wouldn't wilt and die...

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Back in the saddle!

I've gotten some plants from them and always show up a little more dry than I'd like, but they never have a problem establishing themselves. I got my nana petite, pelia, and recently the fissidens from them. All are doing well. I get the stuff on ebay though, it can be pretty dang cheap if you get lucky (my nana petite for $4). I nearly got a set of tools for $6 and shipping. Some guy out bid me in the last minute.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Ah tough break, but that's ebay for ya.

I wouldnt have a problem getting anubias, pelia and certain kinds of moss from them, as long as the moss wasn't too expensive. They can go through a few days in the dark like nothing. It's other kinds of plants, especially HC, that I would avoid. I can't imagine spending a good chunk of change on HC and having it show up brown

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Back in the saddle!

Been a couple more days so here's an update shot. Rotala has grown further up and is due for a trim. The HM is doing a bit better. I'm contemplating cutting the hairgrass, at least the emmersed growth "stalks". For those who have done it, this is a plant that you just trim like you would trim your lawn, right?

I wanted to see what this tank would look like w/o equipment, so I hastily shotoshopped it out. There's still blotchiness and I'm in no way proud of it, but it does make a difference IMO and it's not too shabby.

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Back in the saddle!

Posted most of this elsewhere and got some helpful responses but I wanted to float this out in these forums to see what fellow FPers think

You straying too? hehe

Oh, yes definitely cut the hairgrass. It's not a sword you can trim. I would say take about half off the top easily. That will force much quicker runner development.

I like the foundation you have here, but IMO I would keep it pretty simple plant wise. I don't know if the tall left with the rotala will work with the tall branch to the right, but that might just be me. I think you need to build the plant mass to the base of the main branch.

Good job with the photoshop. Did you ever consider putting the filter on the side. It won't be as noticeable in the pics. That's what I did on my 5g with no background.



My Scapes

Thanks tetra.

Hehe, well yeah, but it's just NJAGC. I'd gladly post a link but if you're not a registered member you cant see the forums.

I don't plan on leaving the rotala tall. I think it's ready for a pretty good trim and hopefully it'll start to thicken up a bit. By plant mass around the base, where do you mean, exactly? Do you mean under the main branch, where the hairgrass is, or just all over in general?

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Back in the saddle!

Hi NowherMan6

That's a sweet looking little tank you have going here. Nice shaped wood and plant arrangement look.

A lot of people at FP must buy stuff off aquaticmagic. On another thread some people were talking about his plants etc. I've just ordered a whole bunch of stuff (hardware & plants), but haven't received it yet. Fingers crossed it all arrives safely & soon (they said 6-15 days, which is a long time for plants).

Anyway, I'm enjoying your tank & will check in again soon

Cheers
TW

Nice little tank there nowher!

I think what tetra is getting at is more of an island around the DW. At least that is my understanding of it.

Would you like to get into some of the tank info for us? Light, ferts, and such?

Someday I might have a camera of my own so I can document my fresh 55G set up. I would really like to share it with y'all. (Now that I live in the south I can use that word)

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

For those of you who have bought things from aquaticmagic, did you have to pay any taxes and duties? Also what country are you in?

Carissa - I've bought from Aquaticmagic and have not payed any tax or duties. Am in the US. So far they have been a good seller.

Thanks every body, sorry I haven't updated this in a while.

Despite my best efforts to keep CO2 up I'm getting a ton of BBA on the DW. I'm considering removing the anubias on it altogether because I may have to keep removing it to clean it.

Other than that, growth has been pretty good. Starting to get runners on the hairgrass. HM is growing well and looks much better now. Rotala has already been trimmed.

Lights are 26W, ferts are ADA, green brighty step 1 and K. Just to try them out


Re: aquaticmagic - I've ordered from them before, some plants have shown up fine, others not so fine. Good place to find nano diffusers and tools etc. I wouldn't buy any fragile plants from them because there's always the chance it gets stuck in customs and you wind up with a bag of mush. Anubias and javas only, at least for me anyway.

I'll try to post some pics soon!

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Back in the saddle!

Anyone from Canada order from aquaticmagic? Did you end up paying duty on the shipment? And how long did it take to get there?

Well, it's been about 2 months since my last update, so here we go.

I'm actually fairly pleased with this tank. This shot is just after a trim, so the plants look a little messy. And it's not super sharp because of motion blur on my part. But so far I like the fullness I'm getting.

And because of that fullness, I think the anubias is going to have to go, it's barely visible in there. The hairgrass never came around, but it's been replaced carpet wise with the HM, which continues to creep along the substrate.

And finally, as you can tell, there are new fish in there. I gave up looking for P. simulans and just added some small neons. As I suspected, the P. simulans are schooling with the neons just fine, and swim out in the open much more now.

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Back in the saddle!

Looks good Nowher from what I could see! Just because the tank is a nano doesn't mean the pic has to be

It's tough to keep algae off wood, especially high up near light. I really think wood is better with those low-light setups that include ferns and stuff. The wood is too softw and porous and you get alot of organics on it and that combined with the light forget it. Only thing you could do is lesson light duration maybe, Add more excel (if possible) and keep the water column really clean (like using alot of Purigen, cleaning filter alot, etc.)



My Scapes

Sorry about the pic, accidentally resized too small.

Even in that small pic you can see the BBA all over the wood. At one point it was growing like crazy, and yeah, it's near impossible for me to keep it off of the high flow areas. It got to the point where I just said screw it, I'm just going to take care of the plants and sure enough, the BBA stopped growing. But it hasn't died off, as you can see.

I'm tempted to remove the wood and give it a good scrub and cleaning, but I know that when I pick it up out of the AS the WC is going to become filthy, which will probably lead to a ton more problems. I'm OK with the BBA right now, as long as everything is growing well.

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Back in the saddle!

Nowher, Tank looks brilliant . Why do you think the Hairgrass didn't make it ? Mine was going ok for a time , but is now dying back quite fast .

Interested in your thoughts ?


Garry