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OHHHHHH! That explains a lot! DUH!

Well, I'm so glad to hear that! And here I was thinking you were just somewhat of a woos! (sp)

Ok, now that I know, I won't mess with the LITTLE FISH.

I'm sure we would all be surprised if we knew how many people looked in on our threads! It's only the smallest fraction that might comment. I look at ALL the recent threads, but only scan the SW, crustations, logs, etc., things I'm not really interested in.

The logs are waaaaaay past me since I'm just a beginner & it's all I can do to keep up with water quality, especially since I have a 55 gal.. Hoping to get a python some day.

I'm one of those people that get interested in things & then dwindles off. I wouldn't be surprised if I dwindled off FP some day. I noticed from old posts that a lot of people come & go. So, we'll see.

All this talk about ferts., substrate, special lighting, co2!? Ummmm no thanks!
Don't think I ever want to get to that point. But I have noticed many posts with people like me that have regular low lighting & regular gravel & want to make do with what they have & still have some live plants. I may go that route that some day.................
meantime I will just keep reaping the benefits of the hard work people like you put in & just view your tanks from where I sit. (lurking in the background with the others)

80 dollars?

My God. they weren't expensive here at all. thy were just a bit more expensive then normal but not 80 dollars.

wow. am glad I live near Europe for the first time ever!!!

Fish Patty - I hear you on the ferts malarky, I too am a fan of the good pictures, my tanks survive on the basics!

GFGxx


_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

fish patty - Sorry to read that you are an "Interest-Looser" , maybe this hobby can maintain your focus for a while as there are so many facets to be explored. About the siggie line, I think GFG's line just above is stating more clearly what mine was (more or less) implying)

GFG - My LFS is known to be on the more expensive side of things, I am most certain that you can get this fish (as a pair) in other areas of the US for half the money.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

belated birthday wishes, ingo!

i was just doing a bit of a catch-up on this thread, and it occurred to me - if you didn't fertilise so much, have such good light etc, maybe you wouldn't have to prune and maintain so much!!!

justin

Ha Ha Justin



Well, if I didn't have soooo many ferts, and less light, and maybe no CO2, yeah - less pruning would be required. But ups, that would be a low light low tech tank then

Actually, these days with the new layout, the pruning is much less then it was with the old setup where fast growers were dominating (given that there is a difference between the fast growers, as Wisteria in the tank is growing less fast than Star Grass).



Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Gang,

Sorry to say that my weekly tank updates will have to wait at least until tonight.

I have been very busy hosting this month's NJAGC meeting and that took all out of me, preparing the tanks on Thursday and Friday, hosting on Saturday, cleaning and adding new plants to my tank(s) on Sunday - including another Ingo Style makeover on the 20G QT

But it has been a blast,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I was starting to wonder what happened to you! At least you were having some plant fun!

As always I look forward to seeing the new pictures.

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

Allow me to be random for a moment, because your av. reminded me of something I read recently on APC. In an article about anubias, the writer said that higher levels of phosphate seem to lead to flowering. I know you have higher levels of P - could this be the reason why your anubias seem to flower so much more than others'??? Just putting it out there randomly, my apologies if this has already been discussed to death.

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Back in the saddle!

Interesting point Nowher. I don't think that has been talked about here. I might have missed it though...

Mine flowered once back this spring. I have no idea what I did special for it either. It just happened. I might start doesing some P in the tank its in now just to see what happens. The tank already has my flowering crypt in it so why not add another plant to the list of flowers.

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

Thanks for the P info, makes a lot of sense, as I have about 3 to 5ppm of it

Weekly Tank Update - Weeks 63 and 64

First of all, sorry for my lack of participation lately. There have been two main reasons why I was slacking off:

1) I hosted the second meeting of the NJAGC last weekend (see siggie line)
2) I have been killed with work, 15 hour workdays plus 3 hour commute were pretty much normal (and may continue for the next two weeks, at least)

The first was a treat that included a lot of preparation, including early water changes so that the tank is in a more normal state (not crazy pearling, for example) during the presentation). As a result of that meeting, I was left with quite a few plants from our usual plant swap and had to find a home for some of them (one I still haven't placed).

So, without further details, here is the tank last week:

Attached Image:

Last Week - 63

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I managed to add my ferts during the week, usually at 4:30AM as I came home way too late at night to do it then. As a result, fish have not been fed 3 times this week

Plant growth was strong nevertheless, but by Friday I also ran out of CO2 and had to get a refilled bottle on Saturday.

Here is the tank before some trimming yesterday:

Attached Image:

Yesterday Morning

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

There are two new plants in the tank right now, I will mention them a little later. A third is in the net breeder.

This week, I only trimmed the Wisteria in the foreground as it was beginning to grow rather tall.

I know that quite a few plants are in need of a trim, but I am worn out and didn't want to spend too many hours of my off-time on the tanks.

Attached Image:

Tank Now

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

One of the new plants is a lilly, but I don't even know what its name is. It was a leftover from the plant swap and I couldn't throw it out, it was too nice. I placed it in the tank where there was some space and where it would kindoff fit in.

I think I saw a few days later that tetratech added the same or a similar lilly, but I swear that I had mine first

Attached Image:

Lillies

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The other new plant is also a lilly, I think it is called a Tiger Lilly. It has large leaves of which some melted away from being in a bag for too long. It was also given to me during the plant swap.

And that is it for this tank and this weekly update,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Lilly

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

hi ingo , been away for a while , the tank looks great


cheers dan










onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnineteneleventwelvethirteenfourteenfifteensixteenseventeen, thats all you need

OH TOLEEDY!

ooh, ooh, i know those ones!! finally, a plant you own that i know! they're all varieties of tiger lotus - the second picture is a particularly gorgeous variety that i own - very dark, thick stems, gorgeous patterned leaves, and sends strong lily-pad style leaves to the surface once established. heavy root feeders, don't like being moved at all, very strong root systems, propogate by pup, yadda yadda yadda... i'm sure you could have just looked that up on tropica!!

hope your hard work ends soon ingo, and gives you some time to enjoy your family and your tanks!!

have a merry christmas, too.

regards,

justin

Thanks Dan for the compliment and Justin for the input on the lotus. I somehow thought it must be a lotus, and not a lilly as I wrote, I guess the last week really wore me down, .

I had to move the strong lotus twice, I hope it will forgive me for it.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Both tanks are starting to look nice and full. They are really starting to look great Ingo, I wish I could say the same for mine. I just trimmed my plants for the first time in a few weeks and pulled a basketball sized amount of stargrass and pearlgrass out . It looks like you are able to treat your tanks a little better than me, even though you are busy. Looks great, keep it up/:'

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I think I saw a few days later that tetratech added the same or a similar lilly, but I swear that I had mine first

Since you broght it up, mine was featured in my makeover Nov 21 (Pg. 85) of my 72G log.

It is also known as a tropical lilly. BTW the tank looks great Really like the Wisteria Wizard influence

My Scapes

Glad to see you back, LF. Despite the busy work week I hope you at least are able to enjoy a few days off around christmas.

I second (or third.. or fifth..) everyone's thoughts about the tank.

The one thing I really noticed though is how large your dwarf rainbows have gotten! They appear almost as large as the pearls! How nice to see the kiddies really growing up...

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Back in the saddle!

I hope you at least are able to enjoy a few days off around christmas

Unfortunately it we will have some family over on Xmas, and then I got to go back to work. If things turn out not too good then I may even work on Xmas and New Year itself. But so far, I think I will have at least the weekends and holydays off.

Thanks all for the compliments and input:

- tetratech, I guess I was not the first with the Lotus then, or is it a Lilly, or can one use either name ?

- Matty, I think my Wisteria is not as well trained as Tetratech's as it starts to grow upwards now (or it is just too crowded on the bottom already). I should have trimmed some more this weekend, but I was too tired.

- NowherMan6, the downside of having your little ones all grown up is that they enter a later stage in their lives, and eventually die

Thanks again,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Matty, I think my Wisteria is not as well trained as Tetratech's as it starts to grow upwards...

It takes a while. The longer you do it the more readily it grows horizontially. It also helps you plant it on an angle to the substrate. This will force more roots along the length of the stem.



My Scapes

LF,

The tank still looks nice. It hasn't really changed much in the past few weeks but that isn't always a bad thing.

Congrates on becoming a member of NJAGC. I wish we had something like that around here but I can't fathom it happening anytime soon.

Best wishes these next couple of weeks with work.

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

LF,

It's been a while since I've visited the web-site. I've been real busy as of late with school and work. The first thing I did when I visited the site tonight was to check the status of this tank and I must say that you are an aquascaping genious. I wish I had the money and the time to invest into my tanks. All in all, you have a very beautiful tank.

jbe

jbe0404 - Thanks for the compliments, keep on checking on the log, I appreciate it.

I myself did not find the time to update the log in almost two weeks now, or even longer.

SORRY ABOUT THAT!!!

And I am super busy at work, barely finding the time to do the basic maintenance on the tank. In fact, there have been at least 4 not-done fertilizer days, and just as many non-food days. And I have to say, the plants seem to do rather well with it.

My work situation is not getting much better just yet, tomorrow will be a work day from 6:45 AM to 3:00 AM as we go live with an important new product (software).

K, so here is some update, in just a few pictures:

Weekly Tank Update - Week 65 and 66

Here is the tank about a week ago, week 65:

Attached Image:

Week 65

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And here is the tank today. Last week saw the trimming of the main group, this week has seen more trimming of the Wisteria (was needed in 29G, update there will follow).

Tank Now:

Attached Image:

Week 66

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The Tiger Lilly for sure seems to like it in my tank, it has grown at least 5 new leaves since added about 3 weeks ago.

Here is a close-up:

Attached Image:

Tiger Lilly

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And the carful observer for sure has seen the net thingy in the last picture's foreground.

Yes, I have started my first Riccia Rock, what a PISA to get a larger rock covered with pieces and then wrapped in a net. Well anyway, it is starting to grow out now, one week after creation:

Attached Image:

Riccia Rock

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The last picture is of the Blyxa group on the left Wisteria field. Here, I always have to watch out that the Wisteria is not growing too strongly over this plant, because of shading. But so far so good.

Well, that's it for now, over to the 40 and 29 tank logs.

Sorry again for my lack of participation,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Blyxa

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

Even though your life has been crazy the tank looks quite nice. I am glad nothing has gotten out of control on you.

The Lilly looks quite nice and how do you think tetra is going to feel about you having riccia too?




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

Your tiger lily is looking really good, as is everything else.

how do you think tetra is going to feel about you having riccia too?

Well, LF is not the only one. I have it too & don't you as well, Wings (or am I thinking of someone else)?

Cheers
TW

Ingo,

I continue to enjoy this tank. It looks great even with everything going on. Just try keep your head above water at work!

Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

You are right Robin. I have it too. Very neat stuff!

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

Well, LF is not the only one. I have it too & don't you as well, Wings (or am I thinking of someone else)?

First Wisteria and now Ricca, apparently Tetra's plants are contagious.

**Cover's Mouth **

Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

Thanks all,

Mostly for the wishes about the work thing. It is 2:20AM (and I am here since 6:40AM) and I am still in a conference call resolving release issues. No idea when I get out tonight.

It will get better and then I have some more time to chat

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The Lilly looks quite nice and how do you think tetra is going to feel about you having riccia too?

Well "imitation is the greatest form of flattery"

My Scapes

just came by for my regular Drool session



big hugs to hard working man!

hope everything goes well with the software malarky!

GFGxx

_______________________________________
Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one's definition of your life; define yourself.
Harvey S. Firestone

not much going on here. hows your male pearl going? coloured up much more? a picture maybe? anfd your viejita to plz i bought a new camera soonce i get a couple of new plants and try to send some photos. tanks looking great. oh i changed my ferts so now i use tetra florapride and flourish excel, plants are looking great.
im likeing your 40G tank better now days.

oh i just read what you have written on the last couple of pages(bored). your worken huh, im still a student so im on holidays........its summer hear in Australia and today(one of he unusual days where im not at the beach)its about 38-40 degrees, butiful day. im really angry coz no one will take me to the beach i guess its better than being stuck at work though

LF,

I have been admiring your apistos.

Are they also known as Double Full Red Cockatoo Cichlid?
If so I put myself on a waiting list so I will know when they get them in...here is the link http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=1664&emailconf=1664

thanks

LF,

Hope everything is going well. It has been a while since the last tank update. I'm sure everything is fine because it is in your hands and you are an aquarium master. Hope to see an update soon.



JBE

Wow... This tank is amazing. This thread has been around for several years now. Like since I started at FP. It is a wonderful Tank. How's it treating you now?

Chris

Sorry folks,

I know it has been quite a while since my last update, but I have been really busy this year (so far). And when I was not working I had other things to do.

Anyway, the tank is doing fine, even with a certain amount of neglect. I even skipped a water change for the first time, and had over one week with no ferts addition. Nevertheless, nothing bad happened. Makes me wonder if all the usual effort may be overdoing it anyway.

So, here is the tank from last night, I think this is now week 70.

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Tank in Week 70

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thats awsome mate..really nice aquascape and very healthy plants...well done

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I know human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully.

Ingo!!

Glad to see you are still hanging in there!

The tank is looking very nice. This last layout you have here as filled in very nicely. I'm glad that this layout has been very resilient with your busy schedule. Hopefully this tank is becoming a little more low maintenance (Well as low maintenance as a high tech tank can get ).

Is there any hope of you returning to a more "Normal" work load? This place has been awful quite lately.


Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

Thanks for the input guys,

Is there any hope of you returning to a more "Normal" work load?

That's what I am hoping for, but today is already another day from hell. It only can get better though.

See ya soon,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo,

Glad to see you around best of luck with work and all!

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Back in the saddle!

Nice lookin' scape, LF. You should slack more often. How do things look on the small scale?

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

That is one awesome looking aquarium, hope everything works out well for you.

17 years experience with freshwater.

Contrary to looking neglected, it actually appears to be, IMO, the best aquascape this tank has supported thus far.

Thanks everybody for the kind comments, I appreciate it

You should slack more often. How do things look on the small scale?

I guess you are right, slacking seems to be better for my tanks than too much messing around (eh, I guess I should have known that).

Weekly Tank Update - Week 71

I will first show some full shots before I go into some details, although not too much is there to report about.

Here is the full tank this week:

Attached Image:

Week 71

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And here is a look at the main group only:

The only thing that begins to bother me about it is that the mother barteri is even outgrowing this tank and is dominating everything else. I am considering removing it or cutting it up.

Attached Image:

Main Group

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is the latest addition to the main group, some Pennywort. I always liked that plant and I regretted having thrown it out in one of my changes to the tank. It for sure grows fast though, maybe that was the reason I let it go in the first place, I don't remember:

Attached Image:

Pennywort

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The Red Tiger Lotus (Lilly) has grown really strong and has by now a few runners above and below the substrate.

One downer of it is that it grew so much that the Riccia rock is not getting enough light anymore and will need to be moved soon or all will die.

Attached Image:

Red Tiger Lotus

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The Wisteria is now very dense all over and pretty much forms a solid mat with about 2 to 4 inches in height. Here I will have to do some messing around as well, maybe cut off the tops, dispose the bottoms, and replant. We will see.

Attached Image:

Wisteria Carpet

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Another addition to the tank was the Water Lettuce, and that plant is growing fast as well. I kept some duck weed on the surface to see what will happen, but the Water Lettuce seems to suck up all the nutrients before the duck weed can get to it.

For now, I like the hanging roots though.

Attached Image:

Water Lettuce

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a look at the area of the tank that I had a chance to mess with this weekend, the Blyxa.

I removed that mountain effect by taking out the tallest plants (which, btw, were not that tall but floated like 4 inches above the substrate being held in position by the other plants) and placing them closer to the main group, essentially connecting to it.

Attached Image:

Blyxa Group

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Not all is that great in the tank, I am seeing quite a bit of BBA on the exposed parts of the wood. It is not growing very fast and I have it now for a while. Just this weekend I started a small treament with Excel to make sure it stays checked.

Sorry about the bad quality of the shot:

Attached Image:

BBA

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

On to some more fish shots, but not too many.

As I rarely get to capture a Pearl up close, here are two shots of the male, you pick which one you like, if any LOL.

Number 1:

Attached Image:

Pearl I

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

And here he is again, this time in his more natural level within the water column. I wonder if they like the water lettuce because they can swim trough the roots, but they are up there as often (or little) as before.

I guess they don't care.

Attached Image:

Pearl II

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

All fish in the tank seem to be doing well, with the exception of some Espei that I see dying. I never find a body, but all indications are that one or the other is gonna be gone within a few days of observation.

I am not too concerned about it, actually I am not concerned at all. I believe that the dying fish are from my first generation and have reached the end of their life span.

Anyway, here is a shot of the Apisto Couple:

Attached Image:

Viejita II

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Last shot for now, again of the Apisto Couple. I am very glad I got them as they are really beautiful fishes.

Anyway, that's it for now, I hope you liked the pics,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Apisto Pair

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

That's a really nice shot of the apisto pair, LF. This tank is also appreciating being left alone I guess. I like the consolidation of the blyxa group, but I think the island could use some consolidation as well. It looks like if it gets much bigger it will take away from the nice effect you've worked towards. I feel like the red tiger lotus is starting to get too big and not make it look like an island at all, but you may be going for that. I think it would look great within the group of plants there somewhere.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

but you may be going for that

Right now, I think I am going for "not too much work"

I was actually thinking about integrating the lotus into the main group, but I haven't found a good spot for it yet. Maybe to the left of the NL fern as I cannot move it close to the mother barteri, the leaves are too equal in size (but not color, so maybe this would be good as well, hm).

Thanks for the input,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

tanks looking great, those apistos ar the best. i dont mean to be mean but your male pearl is a shocker. it should be a darker brown with blue spots and a red orange chest and the fins should be hanging behind the caudal fin.

it is a very female looking male, in fact i would have mistaken it for one but i notice the small filaments coming off its fins.

Another Gender Confusion !!!

I hope that not, as I had this going for a while with my Apistos for the 40G (I don't know if you know that coop).

Although I for sure cannot be certain, I am more convinced that this pearl is a male than I was with my Apistos. I have him, and another one that is a female, since they were very young and can pretty much say that they are of equal age. By now, he (one will hope it's a he) is quite a big taller than the other one, and the fins are for sure longer and more elaborate. For a while, when growing up, he had some oranging of the chest area, a sign for a male. Once he got a little older he lost most of this color. I don't know why, but I assume it has something to do with the fact that my tank is rather unsuited for Pearl breeding as the strong surface current would not permit the building of bubble nest. So - why shine if there is no way to successfully mate? At least that is what I came up with.

Don't worry coop, I would never think that you are mean

And thanks for the compliments on tank and apistos,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hey all

Been lurking from time to time, but spending more time at a forum dedicated to aquatic plants. LF I think your group has a thread over there. I've seen another of our group there as well. Much more inspiration to take it to the next level.

Anyway to your tank. The center group still looks great and the plants healthy. As Matty, pointed out the lotus looks weird in the corner. Either you know that and your simply to busy or are more a collector plants and just want to experience them. The Blyxa (which looks much better than mine) also seems to be there just so you can have the plant. Maybe you and Nowher can teach me how to grow Blxya.

I'll probably put a few updated photos of my tank in my log soon. Hope all is well

My Scapes

Thanks Jeff for the input

Yeah, our group has an account over there, that's right, but I haven't been there in a long time, except to look at pictures of myself

You are most certainly right, quite a few plants in my tank are there because "maybe one day I will use them properly." For example the blyxa - one day I may make that whole left area (or most of it) all blyxa instead of wisteria, but that would be boring as well, I guess

I have no idea why blyxa grows, but I can tell you that most of the stems in that group that have not been moved in a while actually hang onto the substrate just by a thread (aka one small string of root) while the rest is floating. I am actually not too wild about that part, this means that as soon as you somehow mess with the group (like thinning it out and such) you have a bunch of floaters.

Can't wait to see a few new shots of your tank,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Been lurking from time to time, but spending more time at a forum dedicated to aquatic plants. LF I think your group has a thread over there. I've seen another of our group there as well. Much more inspiration to take it to the next level.

That's too bad. For awhile I thought we were actually going to build a nice group of planted tank enthusiasts on this site. 'tis a shame.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Het matty, we're all still around here. I know personally I'm just going through some burnout right now. Also been frustrated in my attempts to start up my 65G tank which I bought 6 months ago so my interest isn't where it would be if I had, ya know, an actual large tank to take care of.

LF, you tank looks great considering the schedule you've been on. It's strange to see you settling on a layout...

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Back in the saddle!

For awhile I thought we were actually going to build a nice group of planted tank enthusiasts on this site.

We really did have a nice group of planted tank enthusiast for quite some time. Couple of years? Tetra and LF's logs well and prove that. It seems though, that the community we have here falls apart without the backbones of LF, Tetra, and Ben. No one on here can seem to match their posting power. Maybe life is just to bussy right now for us all. I know things are still pretty crazy for myself.

It's strange to see you settling on a layout...

Right...I think that LF just doesn't have time to mess with it like he used to. Or maybe he is actualy happy with what he has going on. I know that I am starting to get to that point with my tank.

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

Guys,

It is not Doomsday, chill

I am still here, but tank related items had to come a little short when a workweek is somewhere around 80 hours. In my spare free time I has a choice, post here or maintain the tanks. If I don't maintain the tanks then there is nothing to post, except disasters, and I didn't want that to happen.

I am still around though.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Funny, and Scary Short Story:

Every night when I feed the fish in this tank, the larger ones (apistos, pearls, and rainbows) come to the top left corner of the tank where I add the food. The usually very shy pearls allow me to even pet them while they are eating (too greedy to be irritated by my fingers, LOL).

Once in a while, they scare each other during that feeding process, maybe when one of them darts for a flake and another didn't see him/her coming. This concludes in the startled one swimming off really fast.

So, two nights ago during the feeding, one rainbow got so startled that he leaped out of the tank and flew a good 4 feet before he hit the ground

It took me a little bit to realize what has been going on, but the silver shine of the fish during his flight made it easy for me to see his landing spot. I carefully pushed him with one hand into the cradle of the other, and placed him back into the tank. He first sat only on the ground (I couldn't help but draw a parallel to a dove that hit a glass window and sits there all confused), but later his urge to eat was stronger and he continued feeding session. But - always below the top 5 inches of the tank, LOL. I guess he learned his lesson for that day, albeit I am sure he has forgotten all about it by now.

That's it,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

When I feed at the store the oscars almost always jump out of the water to get the food, sometimes leaping out of the tank. I've gotten use to it now and have grabbed a few mid-flight. We have three verticle shelves of tanks, the fish that jump out of the lowest 2 usually survive. I think 5 feet is about the max drop to a non-cushy floor that a fish can normally take.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I think 5 feet is about the max drop to a non-cushy floor that a fish can normally take.

And what happens to the fish when it is higher? Is he/she dead right away or dies slowly?

My stand is 28 inches, the tank 24 inches = 52 inches
So, if he didn't jump all that high then he should have fallen about 4.5 feet downwards, plus 4 feet horizontal. Must be a record for a dwarf neon rainbow, I guess

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Not much to report for week 72

I did some minor changes only, in particular I removed the oldest baby of the Tiger Lilly as a trade for our plant swapping in the club. I left it with the host for the meeting as I was a week too early in my schedule.

Here is the full tank,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Full Tank - Week 72

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The tanks are looking really good, just had a quick question though, do you get your driftwood online?

†Aquapickle†

Looks good. How about moving the lilly just to the left and front of the NL Fern? Might look nice there as it is a different leaf shape and color.

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

Is he/she dead right away or dies slowly?

They usually start spinning spirals. Those weird loops that when on a rollercoaster make you a bit sick....Sometimes they straighten out, sometimes they die pretty quick.

As the lotus stands, it looks much better than before. I like wings' idea, it might look great in front og the NL fern.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks for the input,

aquapickle27 - This driftwood was once a big trunk like structure, all in one piece. I bought it at EBay and you can read more about it approx. 70 pages earlier in this log (LOL).

Wings and Matty - I am not so sure that moving the Lilly more forward and center is such a good idea. It is a pretty large plant,at least when considering the leaf diameter. I will have to think about it

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ok, i was just having trouble finding driftwood that i liked. I really like the drift wood you have in your tanks.

Thanks!

†Aquapickle†

aquapickle27,

I had trouble (and still do) finding the right driftwood as well, it takes time and luck to come accross a nice piece (or pieces) that fits your tank dimensions.

I just checked my log, if you want to then you could see how these branches looked like when they were on one trunk on page 48.

Have fun,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

aquapickle27,

Check out this site.

http://manzanita.com/

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

Weekly Tank Update - Week 73

I had to do a little maintenance on this tank this weekend, some Wisteria needed trimming, all Star Grass needed trimming, so did the Alternanthera and the Pearl Grass. On top of it, I had it with the Riccia, it is just not my thing.

Here is a look at the full tank:

Attached Image:

Tank Week 73

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Here is a closer look at the island group in itself. I arranged the Star Grass and the Alternanthera a little different, not in layers as I had them before. This time, the Alternanthera is forming a small street that reaches the edge in front of the island.

Attached Image:

Island

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If the Star Grass would grow much slower then it would be a truely beautiful plant, at least for me. Here is a look at the new group just a few hours after the water change, that's why it pearls so much.

Attached Image:

Star Grass

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I am glad that I added some Pennywort to the tank again, although it is by now growing so fast that I have to remove one to two stems each week. Half by itself and half with my help it is wrapping nicely around and through the Anubias Barteri plant.

Attached Image:

Pennywort

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Here is a closer look at the Pennywort after the water change. This plant tends to pear nicely, I remember that it was the first one to ever do so in this tank a long time ago.

Attached Image:

Pennywort Again

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And as I usually show shots of my Pearls, Rainbows, and Apistos, today I will show one of the other fish in the tank, beginning with an Oto.

They are probably all still in the tank, although I haven't counted them all (6) since the last layout change a while back.

Attached Image:

Oto

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Last series of shots is commited to my Espei. They are slowly reducing in numbers although I for sure still have about 30 in there.

Here they are in an area where they usually never hang, above the Blyxa on the left side of the tank.

Attached Image:

Espei I

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a closer look at some of them. It is interesting, albeit sad, to see how they age. Once old, they become rather skinny and breath hard. And then, one day they are gone

I have seen this about 6 times so far.

Attached Image:

Espei II

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Here is another group shot over the Blyxa. Note the two Espei on the right of the picture. They are males sparring off the identify the boss. But only the boss of the current fight as I happen to know the real boss of the school personally and these two are not it, LOL.

Attached Image:

Espei III

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Last but not least, this is the real boss. In the current tank layout he occupies the area above the Star Grass. Here, he fends off any other male and flirts with the females. Strategically, this is a great spot for him as the way to the underside of leaves is really short.

That is it for this week,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Espei - The Boss

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

While it look good before as well, the new "street" is such an improvement. Enjoyed the fish pictures too.

Cheers
TW

Thanks Robyn,

Glad to see that someone likes the street. Unfortunately it will be short lived as the Star Grass grows way too fast and the look of this area will be changed within a week or two all by itself.

Glad you liked the pictures,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

LF,

Nice shots of the tank. It looks like you still have some algea but I would like to find someone without any. Even one of the Amano tanks had GSA in it from a TFH mag.

I like the shots of your Espie. I don't think you have showed them off in quite some time. I went over to some one of my customers/friends house last night. They had some H. Rasboras that looked quite nice too. Much nicer than my Briliant Rasboras.



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

Thanks Wings for the compliments/comments

Yeah, I once in a while have some BBA issues, and some green hard spots on the glass, but nothing that concerns me at all. One week of Excel takes care of any major BBA and the green spot can be scraped off.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Weekly Tank Update - Week 74

Nothing much happened to the tank during the week. I guess the one thing worthwhile mentioning is that I reduced my dosing. Not by amount but in frequency. I only dose now twice a week. I do this since about a month and haven't seen an issue yet, but I think it would be too early to assume all will be well with this schedule.

Here is the full tank this weekend:

Attached Image:

Week 74

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The one major trimming I did this weekend was to start the replanting process of the wisteria. Wow, I greatly underestimated how long this would take. All I did was to remove all wisteria in the area shown below, trim off old bottom parts and low leaves on the new clippings, and then I replanted them. It took me over one hour to do so.

Attached Image:

Trimmed Wisteria Area

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Hey,

did you see the male Apisto in the last shot? Well, here he is again, a little burry, in front of the center group and flashing to his girl. I like when they do that:

Attached Image:

Center with Fish

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The next two shots are all about the male Apisto showing him in two modes.

First off, this shot was taken right after he flashed to his girl, but she took off in the meantime. Take a look at his face:

Attached Image:

Male I

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And this shot was taken a short while later. As you can see, the bar under his eye is much more dominant than it was in the last shot. This is his "stay away from me" mode. Most Apisto people knew that, but hey, maybe someone not so firm on this fish may be peeking into this log as well.

Attached Image:

Male II

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Already here comes the last shot. It shows the Blyxa group on the left side of the tank. This plant is such a floater

The sole reason why there are a few plants that look taller than the others is because they become loose and float upwards, just to be hold back by either other plants or one or two tiny roots that still stick in the substrate.

Anyway, that's it,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Looks good Ingo. Everything's looking healthy. I'm still waiting for you to move the lotus

That's funny I recently uprooted all my wisteria, but only did one side and it took me a few hours only because I did it very slowly and keep removing water as things got stirred up. Only had to do this every 6 months or so, depending on how high you want the wisteria to grow. If you want it really low like a carpet you might have to do it more often, but mine sort of acts as the side of a mound so I can accomodate the height for longer periods of time.

Sounds like you have the same issue with the blyxa that I do. A small root system so the plant has a tendency to float up. I'm gonna try putting some root tabs right under the blyxa and see if it helps develop a bigger root system. I believe the ADA substrate works better in this regard, as I think nowher can atest to.

Nice apisto shots!

My Scapes

I'm still waiting for you to move the lotus

Well, I am holding back with this effort so I have you come into the thread more often and check if I finally have moved it

Yeah, the wisteria replant is time intensive. I had to redo mine because I used a lot of tops as plantlings for the 20 and the 29 over time. The new growth looked funny with the strong main stems and then the thin new tops coming out of it.

Root tabs sounds good, just this morning I was considering to order a few for some of my plants, Blyxa being the main one. Any particular brand in mind there, tetratech? I am thinking Seachem Flourish Tabs.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Well, I am holding back with this effort so I have you come into the thread more often and check if I finally have moved it

Boy this is like old times. Unfortunately nowher is nowhere, matty is probably around somewhere and bensaf, well you know that bensaf. Anyway as far as the tabs, yes I'm using the flourish ones, I just put them in so well see, I think nowher also thought those were the ones to get.

Switching gears, I just saw the pics from your meeting. That's very impressive with the dosing computer, etc. Looks nice. I was looking at the setup that was a tek T5HO light right? That substrate separater was that also from ADA. I'm not sure how there going to keep the two substrates separate. Definitely no bottom dwellers and especially no kuli loaches. The loaches go through all the rock crevices and tend to mix the substrates, but even without them I would thing the substrates will still mix with too much current or water change situations.

My Scapes

Yeah tetratech,

Just like the old days, kind of at least

Anyway, yes - this guy's tank is truely high tech, from automatic water changer (10% daily) over automatic fertilizer addition to ADA stuff (including the tank itself), he has it all. Very very impressive!

So far, his tank looks really good, it is planted now (not final of course) and we will soon see how the separation of sand/soil will hold up. You may not have noticed it, but there is a line of rocks on the border between the substrate types.

Hey - did you see the last shot at the event review? I assume you have figured out who's hand that is there in the tank

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

You know I didn't notice the last shot with the hand. Tough to miss the orange sweater from the shot before and make the connection. Yeah I saw the rocks, but it doesn't take much to mix it. There are always little crevices, etc. So 'bout the lights are the Tek T5HO?

My Scapes

From his log:

Teklight T5 4x54W

Whatever that means

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I'm always somewhere tetratech. Things are just getting busy as I'm finally wrapping up my college years.

Teklights are very nice fixtures, though I would say that they might in fact be too much for most planted tanks, as they are more than plenty for most reef tanks. Since I switched out my icecap ballast, I now have a kind of DIY tek fixture on my reef tank as I'm using the same ballasts. I like

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Glad you still around. Congrats on the college thing. One chapter closes and another begins.

From what I'm hearing planted enthusiasts are using the tek T5HO lights because they have the power to be suspended above the tank and still penerate the WC very well. Any thoughts on that?



My Scapes

They look pretty darn sweet too!!!

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

IMO they will penetrate a little better than most other tube style lights because of the better reflectors. More light simply enters into the tank. It's the trade off of a consistent spread of light(uniformity), that penetration suffers. If penetrance(I'm making up words here, bear with me) is desired, a focused single source type of light should be used instead....like a metal halide. Pendant styles are very common here for a good reason.

OTOH you can suspend any light fixture you want with a drill and some wire, and if bright enough it will penetrate just fine. So I think the fact of the matter is just that they are bright enough and compact/light enough to raise off the tank a bit. Still, my choice for an open top aquarium would probably be a halide for convenience and expense. If quality of light is a concern, T5HO are a little better IMO than halides.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

OTOH you can suspend any light fixture you want with a drill and some wire, and if bright enough it will penetrate just fine. So I think the fact of the matter is just that they are bright enough and compact/light enough to raise off the tank a bit. Still, my choice for an open top aquarium would probably be a halide for convenience and expense. If quality of light is a concern, T5HO are a little better IMO than halides.

As you probably know I'm not exactly Mr. DIY. So if I want a suspending light over a 60cm what would you recommend that's reasonable. I see the T5HO 24" Sunlight is like $250 plus the hanging equip. I could probably get a better deal on a single 150 MH. Two feet would probably be mix width for one MH bulb, correct. My apologized to LF, but I think he's cool with this.

My Scapes

Yes and no on the 2ft per halide bulb. First, the rule was created for much higher light requiring organisms...corals. I think that it could be stretched to 3-4ft with a very interesting lighting effect and a thought out selection and placement of plants. It also depends how high off the surface you have the pendant. Think of a flashlight here. Obviously it won't be as bright as high up, and there will be more light spray outside the aquarium(this may be a good thing for emersed growth?), but more of your aquarium will be lit, and light levels can be adjusted with a higher wattage system (a 450w bulb could be several feet off the aquarium and light the aquarium and houseplants around it). Also the shape of the pendant will have an effect - round vs. square/rectangle.

I agree that you could probably find a better deal on a halide setup if you keep your eyes open. Also used halide setups are more abundant, as they are older technology. Lightly used halide setups can be found pretty cheaply on the reef forums....that would be the route I'd go as I'm a poor college kid.

I'd say it would all depend on what affect you wanted as to what system you should get.

And sorry to Ingo for thread hijacking.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Hey,

No being sorry needed for this discussion, I am thinking about lights in general as well.

My concern is more with my 40G than this one though, but we can talk about it here as the pre-cursor is already in place.

The problem I see with MH or PC lights is its limited angled spread. Doesn't make sense I guess, so I try to explain:

As you know, I have a single 96W PC fixture over my 40G. Logically, it is in the middle of the tank. Giving the tree tops of the Bolbitis and NL Java Fern groups, many plants on the sides that are lower are beginning to be severely shaded. If I had a light that has less wattage by bulb and had more bulbs to make up the difference then I could have light shining in even on the plants at the sides. That's where I find the T5s come in handy.

The Tek Light is 11" wide, with a tank width of 18". If I primarily would have the outer lights on and turn on the center ones at "Midday" then I should get a better spread.

Or shouldn't I?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Though you won't believe me until you see it for yourself, T5HO bulbs may be less wattage, but put out more light. LF, a 4X39w setup would be more light output than a 2X96w PC fixture, probably more like a 3-4X96w PC fixture.

It won't be like your analogy of less wattage more spread. You'll get more spread, but you'll be at least tripling your light output at the midday 4 bulb peak. People who haven't used the T5s are still underestimating them, I know I did. This is just so you don't jump in unprepared, I know you could handle the extra light cause you have the CO2 and plant mass, not to mention the experience.

If you want less wattage bulbs with more spread I think you'd be limited to NO fluorescent bulbs, say 4 30w bulbs, or you could just tack on another NO fixture to what you have now.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Interesting info. Not all T5 are created equal, right. Your talking specifically T5HO right. Also the T5HO lights like TEK that have 4 bulbs across are wider than the 2x96 CF lights and thus look better when hung, right?

My Scapes

Hi,
I guess the problems I have with the metal halide lighting
are these:
The tank must be open, so you run the risk of dried fish
on the floor.
The pendant lights, at the normal height above a tank give
about a 2 foot "footprint" of light. This means that a long
tank would require more than one pendant.
They are heavy and must be secured into joists/studs,
and frequently the support is not located over the tank.
That requires an additional cross member that could disrupt
the "flow" of the ceiling and room.
metal halide lights give off a large amount of heat and
cumulatively, can affect the room temperature.

Use caution when purchasing the lamp and bulb. Most of the
time metal halide lamps are used for saltwater reef tanks
and come with very high "K" rating bulbs 20,000+.

Here is a site on aquarium lighting specifically the metal
halide bulbs, but along the left hand side are links to
the other lighting systems and their characteristics.

http://www.aquarium-lighting-guide.com/metal-halide-ansi

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Tetratech, the important thing to get with your T5HO are the individual parabolic reflectors. Use a single reflector over the group of bulbs and your lights are now no better than any other HO bulb. They would be equivalent to PC or VHOs without the individual parabolic reflectors. I know tek lights have these, and the housing is VERY sleek. A definite bonus. I think they would look good hung...I think they would look good, period . And yes I think the light spread is wider, but also better deflected downwards due to the better reflectors, so I think moving them off the surface would look better as far as light spread goes too.

Also there are the icecap systems. The icecap ballast pushes the bulbs even harder than those found in other systems. I think it's referred to as ODHO. In conjunction with the icecap individual parabolic reflectors, these systems are brighter than the sun . I fried my corals with it. I'd only recommend these for deep tanks with very high light requiring organisms, and fish with sunglasses.

So all T5HO systems are not created equal. I think the Current fixture has a single reflector and normal HO ballasts. The Tek lights have individual parabolic reflectors and normal HO ballasts, and the icecaps have individual parabolic reflectors and ODHO ballasts.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Glad we have that discussion as it most certainly put some doubts on me having a Tek Light over the 40G

The double unit of 96W from Coralife may not work for me, except if I could hang that one as well (I am not sure if I would have to do some DIY contraption for that, yuk).

I will investigate, but feel free to advise.

On a side note, I skimmed through my log yesterday in search of a shot from my Macandra and noted that somewhere in the middle pages (between 50 and 70, I think) all my images are missing. Given that I embedded them in the posts and that they are hosted by FP I am not a happy camper.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Frank,
Thanks for the info and link. That should be really helpful. It is a pain and your right about the the hanging issues. As far as the fish jumping out, you know us planted tank folk, we always put the plants ahead of the fish. I actually had tetras, cichlids and kuli loaches and shrimp in an open-top and never lost one to jumping in about a year, but certainly some fish will jump so you need to keep away from those.

Matty,
I'm definitely going for looks so as I said I think the Tek lights look good suspended vs the coralife's which as you pointed out can be suspended by simply cutting a hole in the top and using wire. I will never buy another Current USA product. I had one hood the ballast went just outside of a year and the company had really poor service. The 192watt reflector also had 4 plugs (2 for the bulbs and 2 for separate fans (that BTW were noisy from the getgo) If Teks are the BMWs and Coralifes are the Toyotas than Current USA are the Chevys (no offense Chevy owners)

LF,
Why wouldn't those lights (tek and coralife work for your 40g). Sorry must have missed something. I hope your pictures aren't lost.


My Scapes

I'm pretty sure that coralife has a hanging kit. All their fixtures should attach to it.

About the pics...I'd post something up in the site feedback forum, Adam might be able to recover those. Bummer though. That's why I use photobucket AND backup everything on my hard drive, I now have like 3-4gigs of pictures. I think that happened to me on a site upgrade one time.


EDIT:didn't see your post tetratech, I think LF didn't want something a lot brighter, like the tek lights will be. I said I thought he'd be able to handle it though, he's got the equipment. I wish they made 3 bulb units, each independant, but that would require 3 ballasts and be extra pricey. Just having a three bulb fixture at all would be nice I think.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I checked into the coralife hanging situation. They do sell a hanging kit, unforunately it only works with the pro and plus lights not the regular or deluxe ones.



My Scapes