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Weekly Tank Update - Week 47

Well, today I had enough of the totally overgrown tank - and albeit I didn't have the time to do a full Ingo-Redo, I at least completely dismanteled the right group, including the removal of all wood on the hill.

I took out all the needle fern that I stuck in there from the 125G (which I thought was narrow fern, but the gang told me otherwise). Then I removed all the narrow fern and placed a smaller batch in the center of the hill, rather than on the woods half way up as they were before.

Here is the tank:

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Week 47

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

To me, it feels rather naked now, I guess I will have to give it some time to fill in a little more.

Here is a closer look at the new right side. Some of the Anubias have been removed as well and placed in the 125G.

Also, note the Apisto and Amano in front

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New Group

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Here is a look at the same group from the back, again with an Apisto in the picture.

In general (as you will see in more shots), the wildlife of the tank is more visible for now

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Back New Group

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And here is a shot of the whole tank from the back, again with an Apisto - this time the male.

I assume that sooner or later the right side will need a redo as well, but I will hold off for a while until the tank is more settled again.

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Full Back

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

One animal that I thought was gone from this tank was the cherry shrimp group, but recently I found one or two. During the redo I saw at least 4, of different sizes.

Here is a bad shot of the adult one:

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Cherry Shrimp

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Here is a clearer shot of a young one, maybe 1/2 an inch in length.

Most that I have seen are about that size, maybe up to 2/3rd of an inch:

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More Shrimp

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And later on, when doing the full tank shot, I found this one in the Bolbitis.

He is also in the first picture of the full tank, but only visible as a red spot in the top right part of the Bolbitis:

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Shrimp In Plant

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And yes, Amanos are also still in the tank, although I haven't counted 7 (the initial load) in quite a while. Either some died or they hide too well.

Once in a while I can count 5.

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Amano

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On the other hand, I have a much easier time counting the Otos, and as of last Wednesday they have all been accounted for.

This was a surprise as I bought them way too young and as soon as they were in the LFS. I for sure assumed that I will loose one or the other.

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Oto

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And because she was not in the photo series from this week - she prefers to stay out of the way when fighting is going on - here is a look at the younger female Apisto.

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Female Apisto

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LOOK AT THE PICTURES ON PREVIOUS PAGE FOR UPDATES ON TANK LAYOUT AND MORE PHOTOS

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I don't think she is a double-orange, or an orange at all. She has a rather plain yellow black dress, unlike Matty's that have some orange in the fins.

Nevertheless, I like her.

That's it for today,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Female Again

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Nice pics Ingo, and nice storytelling as well

That right side did need some housekeeping, looks good

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Back in the saddle!

Pretty nice shrimp shots. The tank was in need of some trimming. I am sure it will be back to over grown in no time. Right now I kind of feel like this tank is missing something. It doesn't seem tied altogether any more.

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

It doesn't seem tied altogether any more.

I agree, and I think it is the fact that the hills have no connection with each other. Maybe the HC will finally start to grow in some more and connect the 2 blocks.

There is also the need for a trim on the left hill though.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I agree, and I think it is the fact that the hills have no connection with each other.

You've created to separate groupings and have two distinct focal groups. You need to push the entire right side more to the center so it's not left vs right and have some more blending with "BOB" dominating. Right now it's a battle.

My Scapes

Who is BOB? I'm confused.

I think it looks like a tank that just got overhauled, so I don't think I can say what could to be done, except to let it grow out a bit. It sure looks a lot brighter in that tank though. I think that the bolbitis and java could easily mesh again to make a cohesive group, bu moving them closer together would help that.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

BOB - must be BO-l-B-itis

Yeah, I could start moving things around, but I am into waiting a little. In particular because the left side will need some trimming as well, given that all new Bolbitis leaves are floating on the surface.

And what is wrong with a battle anyway,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Seems I'm out voted, but I like the less is more look of your tank after the trim. I see more detail of each plant, plus as you point out, we can more easily spot your occupants. But then again, I'm not such an artist at planting as the rest of you.

The plants will grow so quickly, that any filling out that might be needed, will happen all too soon.

Enjoyed all the shrimp & fish shots too. These shrimps are not easy to find here, but I'm thinking of getting some cherry reds, if I can find them. I thought apistos would eat them - but yours seem to do okay together?

Cheers
TW

Robyn,

LOL, you are not outnumbered - you have 4 votes

Anyway:

I thought apistos would eat them - but yours seem to do okay together?

You may not have seen this photo a while back then, right?

Ingo

Attached Image:

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mmmmmmmnumnumnum.

This is why I'm hesitating to put even the adults in my 50. I think they would get munched on by the pearl gourami. Oh well I guess. I still like them in the 5.5.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Matty,

The one in his mouth was an adult and not one of the juveniles. I chased down the Apisto and tried to remove it as I was worried he will choke to death (he was breathing hard). But, after I finally got the Apisto like 30min later, I only could recover the back half of the shrimp as it fell out of his mouth. The rest was on its way to his stomach

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ok,

On to my horror story from this week. While planning to update my first frozen food feeding documentation in the 20G QT log, I had to change my mind as Thursday evening turned into a High Tech Nightmare. But from the beginning:

I decided to go to my fishroom, aka basement, around 7PM to feed the fishies. I haven't seen them all day as I was at work.

So once I come down there, the first thing I see is an Oto on its side on the substrate of the 40G. So naturally, I think he died, once in a while fish die. Upon closer inspection, I notice that he is still breathing, and soon after I see an Amano also on its side kicking its legs. Now this seems odd and I look to see if I find more of this kind. But instead, I cannot find any other fish at all.

After a few seconds, I noticed the diffuser going like mad. I check on the bubble counter below the tank and bubbles are rushing through like crazy, for some reason, the low pressure gauge went from 8psi to 14psi, aka all the way up. I had a new CO2 bottle hooked up on Monday and it was almost empty, Panick!!!

I removed the lights and glass cover, put one light back on and hunted for fish. Overall, I collected 5 of the 6 Otos, and the weakest (not because of this, just in genenral) of all Apisto Females. I could take them out by hand as neither had the strenght to swim away. I placed them in a small net and without adjustment phase placed the net in the 125G, but in a way that the fish cannot swim or fall out.

Once completed, I lowered the water level about 20% and had the spraybar above the water line to create as much oxygination spelling) as possible, furthermore I added a small air pump to the tank. And this is when I had the time to take the first picture:

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Tank In Danger

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In this picture you can see the rescues fishies in the net in the 125G, there was no danger of them jumping out as they barely moved. They stayed in there for maybe an hour.

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Rescued Fish

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Here you can see another shot of the spraybar pumping water into the tank. By that time I had found the other two female Apistos, which where hiding behind the heater at the surface and because I lowered the surface they came into view.

I also found the male, but I had to remove the entire right group to get him out from underneath the wood.

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Spray Bar

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About an hour after I stared the airation the situation seemed to have gotten better, the Amano that was on its side was uptright again, but didn't move otherwise yet.

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Amano

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And another hour later the Apistos were swimming again. Here is the female that is in best shape. Now the other ones were also back in the tank.

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Female Apisto One

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And here is a shot of the youngest female, she actually seemed to have made it through the event the best of the 3 females.

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Apisto Female Two

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Here is a look at the male, once he recovered he sure did not look happy. I don't know what upset him more, the fact that he almost died or the fact that the CO2 was turned off completely now.

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Apisto Male

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And here is the only Oto that I could find in the tank after I added them back in, he was just sitting on the ground. I think they in particular took it pretty hard.

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Oto

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And, for what it is worth, by chance I got the best shot ever of the male Apisto after the situation was back under control. Do you agree?

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Apisto Ingo

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And even better, my buddy Joe from the NJAGC took exactly the picture above and ran it through some photo software. The result shows me that I think I have to learn more about that aspect of photo taking.

Now I will take a short break, feed the fish, and then continue with some shots from the next day.

Attached Image:

Apisto Male Joe

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OK,

On with the story. BTW, feeding now concluded in me seeing all the 6 Otos, so all are still there.

Here is closer look at the strongest female the following day, as if nothing had happened.

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Apisto

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I actually ran the tank without CO2 from Thursday to Saturday afternoon, it seems like it did ok.

Morgan, we just talked about this in your log, the air bubble producing algae. Here is some hair algae on my HC that produced the only air bubble in the tank without CO2 injection:

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Air Bubble

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The Amanos seem to have recovered as well, although I never find them all anyway. I have supposedly 7 but at most I counted 5.

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Amano

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Ha, did you notice the small patch of BBA next to it? One should not assume that my tank is spotless, LOL.

Here is another Amanon, showing why it is so hard to find them. He is in the middle of the Bolbitis Fern bush.

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Amano Again

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PLEASE MAKE SURE TO VIEW THE PREVIOUS PAGE FOR A REVUE OF THE CRISIS I HAD LAST WEEK, WITH LOADS OF PICTURES

Now, we talked of all the fish and critters that were suffering, but there was one that seemed to be thriving. As if it would be the best day of their lives, maybe because of the lack of pretadors, these guys were out and about during the entire event.


Attached Image:

Cherry

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I counted at least one adult and 5 juveniles, most were pretty red, aka girls.

That concludes the horror story, I seem to have made it through ok. Long term effects will show themselves later. On with one more Shrimp shot, and then follows the weekly update.

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Red Baron(ess)

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Weekly Tank Update - Week 48

What a week it was, if you read the previous posts then you know what I mean.

Well, this weekend all was back to normal, the CO2 was hooked up again (and yes, the first action of the male Apisto was to get a good hit).

Here is the tank after the water change and some trimming of the Bolbitis:

Attached Image:

Week 48

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I want to show you the 3 Apisto females in comparison, as you sure will notice some differences between them. And this is not CO2 crisis related.

First off, here is the young female that came with the male.

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Young

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And here in comparison is the strongest female that I got from Matty. As you can see, she has some red in her fin while the young one does not at all. Ergo - she (the young one) is not a double-orange. But she is nice anyway.

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Female Strong

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And now check out the weak one of the adult females. She is another one I got from Matty and not too long ago she looked just like the other one. But then she went into hiding and only recently came back out and is visible more often. This would not be the after-effects of fry care, or would it be that way?

Also, note the much stronger red in the gills.

Attached Image:

Weak Female

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Last but not least, a shot of the HC under the influence of CO2 and a water change.

As you can see, there are many more bubbles on it and this time they don't come from any algae. I actually removed most of the hair algae that was surrounding it. In the background you may be able to notice an Amano.

Puh, that was a long log update (as I also updated the 20, 29, and 125 logs - go check them out), but now I am done,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

HC Bubbler

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That's a drama you could have done without Glad all have recovered, including the otos.

I had this same thing happen to me much earlier last year and I think it seems that as long as you catch it before they die and then start aerating the water, recovery is good. Mine all recovered by taking same action as you.

Lucky you did not pull an all nighter in the office on that particular day/night. Otherwise, by morning it may have all been too late.

Very nice shot of the male, as well as your other fishies too.

Cheers
TW

Sorry to hear about the Co2 mishap. If your in this hobby long enough especially with multiple tanks something will eventually go wrong as you can probably recall the Tetratech Brewery

I was as lucky, many of my fish succumbed to it.



My Scapes

Yeah good thing they all recovered, that would have been horrible if all of your Apistos died (and of course your ottos and shrimp)

About the algea: so it must be true then, that algea can bubble (now if only my plants might follow suit )


~Morgan~

wow, what a story. I've been pretty dang lucky so far, to have my CO2 act properly, especially when I was running DIY for quite a while, no check valves or any of that business. I'm glad to see the fish made it out ok for the most part. The tank looks good btw.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Thanks folks for the input,

I am as glad as I can be that I made it through that event without any further damage, but - at least for the time being - I am paramoid about the regulator going crazy again. I was checking the gauges hourly yesterday,

Matty, any idea about the "weak" female thing (see pictures above)?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo , Hi I've been reading this log and your 125g log . Wow , I'm amazed at your ability to scape tanks . They both look fantastic . My wife tells me I've become addicted .
I've just come back to the hobby after 30 years . I love planted tanks and have a 60g with which I have been relearning and trying to catch up with all the advancements . I came onto this site looking for advice as I'm setting up a 6 ft tank and reading your logs have taught me so much . Thank you for all your efforts in keeping the posts going for so long .
I have a lot of questions that I would like to ask you , however I don't want to hijack your thread so I will try to ask them in context . One that I need to resolve , as I'm in the purchase stage for my new tank , did you guys ever resolve the flow rate discussion you had re canister filters ???
Looking forward to further instalments .
Garry/:'

Well I'd want to get her into a tank of her own, away from the male and other females, if you can. That will definitely help her eat if she's not now. I'd doubt it's parasites or something since you've had her so long now.

Sorry for the late reply....I'm out of town.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Could you put her in the 20 or 29?

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

First off, thanks Garry for the nice compliments. Believe me, I sure learned a lot during the last 2 years as a member of FP (where is my second bar as today is 2 years?), but I am still far far away from being an excellent scaper.

Wings and Matty, I haven't been reading my thread in a few days either so I didn't see your suggestion until now. The female Apisto is very elusive and I rarely see her, maybe once every other day. I doub't that I can catch her, with all the hiding places and stuff, without ripping it all apart or waiting until she is too weak to "run away".

Anyway:

Weekly Tank Update - Week 49

Not much has happened during this week, all is the same. I added some plants, or maybe I should say I parked them as they will eventually go somewhere else.

Here is a full tank shot:

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Week 49

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The additions are on the back side of the tank, namely a group of Nana Petites.

Oh did you notice in the last shot the red dot on the front rightish hand of the tank? That would be a cherry shrimp. And maybe you saw the yellowish small plant dead center - that is a Eriocaulon cinereum, but so weak and tiny that it probably will not make it.

Here are 6 Petites:

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6 Petites

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And only one more shot for now, another 4 petites in the back right corner of the tank, all out of focus

In the shot is also the male Apisto and the youngest female.

That's it for now,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Group Shot

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Oh goodie,

Nobody has anything to say about this tank. Well, just let me know if you had enough and I will end the entries.

In the meantime:

Weekly Tank Update - Week 50

Not much happened this week, with the exception that my Amanos were in one spot all over each other for an entire week. I assume it is breeding related.

On another note, I haven't seen the weak Apisto female in at least 5 days, I have to assume she is gone.

Tank is really overgrown in the Bolbitis area right now, but I am too busy () to do a major redo at this time. As a result, fern leaves are starting to grown out of the water.

Attached Image:

Bolbitis

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And here is the full tank, not much to see there. Oh, the Nana Petites from the shots from last week are no longer in the tank, they are now part of the 125G layout.

That's it,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Week 50

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo , fishing for compliments . I don't feel up to making too many comments on your tanks , but I read your logs and updates avidly . Please please don't stop posting to this or your other logs. We would all be that much poorer . By the way I have read all your logs all the way thru and I do not believe the

but I am too busy () to do a major redo at this time

comment . I'm sure you are already thinking of what to do Look forward to some thoughts from you when I start my log in the next week or so .
Garry

Well Garry,

I am actually at a loss when it comes to a redo of this tank at this point, my inspiration was just good enough for the big one.

I will not stop posting (just renewed my premie) when I know that people actually read what I write, this is not some ego-trip that I am on, just simply a matter of time wasted or not.

I am looking forward to your log, if you have read all my logs (this was a major job on your end, thumbs up to you for that ) then you pretty much will know what I have to say:

- loads of plants, right substrate and light, not toooo many fish, know your ferts ... and so forth

Thanks for letting me know that someone is looking,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Out of all your tanks this one may be my favorite .
Mainly because you have some of the same plants I have so I can always look at yours to see what mine should look like. I have a small bolbitis fern also that I just attached to my large piece of driftwood. I was guessing it was a slow grower but after seeing yours I started contimplating that . Anyway my tanks floor is all micro sword, I noticed you had that as your ground cover but took it out, why? Aslo what ferts do you use? I use some from the Seachem line.
Well I really like you log so dont stop it!

That stinks about the female, sorry to hear.

This tank currently looks a bit lopsided, so I can't hardly comment on it in its current condition. I'm sure you'll get a plan for it after you've moved on past the 125.

Nice pics, and obviously don't stop updating You think it's bad in here.....try having a SW tank

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Platy_Punk - thanks for stopping by, here are some answers for you:

- Bolbitis in general takes a while to settle in, but once it does it usually grows rather fast. I have some of it (clippings, so to speak) in my 29G, that is a low tech tank with 65W and almost no ferts, and it hasn't grown much at all in about 2 months (I think, maybe you want to check that log to see the date when I added it).

- I took out the micro sword as it didn't work for me. Not that it didn't grow, but I found it too "unorganized", as in not so pretty, and too tall (3 to 4 inches).

- I use dry ferts for the macros and Tropicas Plant Nutrient for the micros.


Matty - Once my back is better again (12 hours of bending over plant buckets left their mark) and once I can convice the wife that I need to spend another entire day on a tank I will change this one as well. I think one main hill in the middle may be the better thing to do here. And the Bolbitis may actually be too large for the tank. But I am currently only thinking out loud.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

haven't seen the weak Apisto female in at least 5 days, I have to assume she is gone.

sorry to hear that Your male is an orange flash, isn't he? I had forgotten - but can see differences between him & my new double red (or tripple - who knows) & I expect that's because your's is an orange flash? I think he has another 2 wives, or is he down to one now?

Don't stop posting. Even though I have been at this hobby just over a year, I don't think I'll ever feel knowledgable enough about the plants to contribute much in the way of comments, other than to admire what I like and try to learn from what I read. I also have no talent when it comes to scaping a tank - so wouldn't dare to suggest that you move this to right or that to the left.

Anyway, I think it's a nice record for yourself of the life of your tank. I hardly ever have responses in my logs - although I can always count on you LF for a visit and countryfish has also popped in lately (thanks guys). It's a good pictorial record of the tank. Although - a word of warning - a moderator in another forum has explained to me that if a thread has not received a reply for a period of time, then the premie pictures disappear. So, LF - another incentive to not stop posting if you want all your historical pictures to hang around on-line.

You don't have much of it, but I thought I noticed some black spot on the anubia leaves. I have the same & try scratching or rubbing, as someone suggested to me. Doesn't really seem to work. Do you have some trick to get rid of the black spots, by chance?

Cheers
TW

Do you have some trick to get rid of the black spots, by chance?

Cut off the leaf

Actually, that is the only way that I know.

Thanks Robin for the encouraging words, as long as others look I will keep on posting, except if I don't have the tank anymore. Maybe Matty can shed some light on how long that period of no activity would have to be before Adam erases all the images. He does that to preserve server space though.

My Apisto is an Orange Flash, or Double Orange, which I think is the same (or maybe the flash would be a triple). He still has two females, but he hasn't been in a breeding mood in ages. He rather eats CO2 bubbles and Cherry Shrimp, his version of Champagne and Lobster, .

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Actually I was just informed of this when I recently replied erroneously to one of robyn's threads....see I do post in your threads robyn.

I was informed that it takes a few weeks or more to happen. I've found the most reliable way to keep images up on any site is to host them elsewhere and bring them in with the [img] tag. It would be rough going to redo all your previous pics (wouldn't recommend ), but it's a piece of cake to do it starting now.

Server space and whatnot is at a premium (pun intended?) because there aren't enough of us premies to cover costs. I need to get on tetratech about that.

Oh....just thought about the black spot. A tank full of cherry shrimp is a good tool IMO for slow growing plants. I removed my petite nana covered in green and black spot to the 5.5 and the leaves are literally pristine again. I highly recommend it.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

see I do post in your threads robyn

I know you do Matty and you've helped with some of my more technical questions eg. testing of filter flow rate etc. (I might come back to that question again soon.) You, tetratch, nowhereman & (in the early days at least) Bensaf have all been invaluable help to me.

Cherry's are hard to come by, but I have found a LFS who promises within 4 weeks he will have some stock. I'd love to get some and hope my fish don't eat them (Lobster without the Champagne). I guess you have to be more gentle with gravel vac too - hate to squash one of the shrimpsters during a vigorous clean.

Re the linking. Seems I remember visiting people's threads, where they have links that no longer work. Wouldn't that also be a problem with the links dropping out.

how long that period of no activity would have to be before Adam erases all the images

The moderator told me 2-4 weeks, but I know that my logs are often not updated for that period of time and the pics are still there. I have been thinking now I will not stop posting in my current logs, when I shut some tanks down & replace with new tanks. I'll just rename the logs to reflect the new tank size.

Cheers
TW

If I am not mistaken then the "removal" of images is a manual process by Adam, right Matty?

The problem with linking to a separate host is that it adds more work to the Logger as I have to maintain a separate site with images. Once that gets out of hand then all is messed up. That even happened to Matty when he lost all his images for a brief period.

Uploading images to FP directly takes the burden of maintenance from the individual poster. I think it would be a smart move by the Site Admins to discriminate between what threads should be "cleaned" vs. which ones should be kept. Take my 125G log, for example. One one side, there is quite a bit of "Off-Topic" stuff included (may I remind you of the Brady Bunch phase), but on the other side there is a wealth of info, best explained with the attached images, that would be a great loss for the FP community if wiped out. Not to mention that it is probably the longest and best documented tank log out there (in the public world). Enough about me

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Removal of images is an automatic process. In Robyn's case the thread had not been posted in for 6 months.

Re the linking. Seems I remember visiting people's threads, where they have links that no longer work. Wouldn't that also be a problem with the links dropping out.

This would only be because they removed the image off the host site themselves. You can still see the images on my reef tank log even though it's been inactive for over a month and the first images are from october 2005.

It's true there's that one time my images got messed up, and got me nervous, but all were back with no effort on my end in a day or so. That sort of thing doesn't happen often.

Myself, I don't feel too overwhelmed or anything keeping a photobucket site for my pics. It's really easy and since I don't live near any of my family, they appreciate being able to see pics of my tanks and other stuff too. You can click my www below to see all the good stuff there, even some pics from my recent vacation.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Weekly Tank Update - Week 51

Not much happened to the tank this week, the female apisto has still not been seen, I am as such most certain that she is MIA.

Trimming this weekend was only performed on the Bolbitis, pretty much any new leaf that is coming is now of a size that causes it to grow out of the water. I would say that this is no longer working this way, but I am not certain if a major trim would do or if even then new leaves would be too big for this tank.

Here is a full shot of the tank:

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Full Tank

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As I haven't shown any shots from a different angle in quite a while, here is the tank from the main front looking downwards.

You can see in the open center gap the HC. As you may note, it sure gets a lot of light.

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Front Angled

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Ingo, sorry to hear about you Apisto female Are you planning to repace her ? Tank looks fantastic as usual .
Garry

And here is the tank from the other front, also in an angle.

Visible is the male Apisto in the center front, and a cherry shrimp on the leftmost branch. Also, compared to earlier stages of this tank, this side has no ground cover anymore at all.

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Back Angled

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A shot for Matty and his newly aquired HC, here is mine. I don't think it ever was really shaded and since quite a while now has the 96w lighting straight above. So, what keeps it from exploding ?

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HC

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Last night, it was time to do the following:

As you can see, these are a set of new Amano shrimp for the tank, not because the others are no longer there but to increase the clean-up group.

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Amanos

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So, in addition to the existing 6 adult Amanos, I added these 8 juveniles. They (and about 22 more) have been in the QT for the last two weeks and sure cleaned up that tank (including snacking on the Najas indica .

That's it for now,

Have fun,

Ingo

Attached Image:

2 Amanos

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A shot for Matty and his newly aquired HC, here is mine. I don't think it ever was really shaded and since quite a while now has the 96w lighting straight above. So, what keeps it from exploding ?

My mistake then, I thought for sure that everything in the tank had been shaded before you pruned the java fern.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I checked back when I got the HC, that was on Nov 15th last year. This means that I added it probably on the following weekend.

At that stage, the Bolbitis and the Narrow Leaf Fern were still way too small to create a shade. Once they became taller it may have been possible, but I think to remember that I always tried to keep the HC in full light, knowing that this (supposedly) is their single most important requitement for growth.

Ingo

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Here is a small piece of bad news, one of the newly added shrimp was found dead in the tank this morning. I first assumed that it was only a shell, but it was actually the whole animal.

Given that all others are fine (as much as I can tell, as I only see maybe 4 of them, but that is rather normal) I have to assume that I maybe injured it when fishing it out of the QT.

On to write some good news about the new shrimp in the 125G,

Ingo

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Well you for sure know your tank better than I, sir.

Sorry to hear about the shrimp. It happens to the best of us.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well you for sure know your tank better than I, sir.

Well I am glad it is that way . I raised the question just a few minutes ago in the NJAGC forum and so far what I have gotten back indicates a need for a better growth substrate (speak AquaSoil Amazonia) and more light (speak up to MH)

Not to helpful for my tank,

Ingo

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Well I am glad it is that way . I raised the question just a few minutes ago in the NJAGC forum

Does that mean you will be on APC more often? Well I plan on growing HC in my 46g with cf lighting and aquasoil. I hope the 96watt cf bulbs have enough to penetrate 18" and keep the HC low.

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Does that mean you will be on APC more often?

Probably not, as I mentioned I posted at my local club, the NJAGC.

APC, for some reason, is not really what I am after. I find that people there are somewhat strange, to some degree arrogant, and it takes forever to get a constructive response.

Sure would I enter some contest or something along these lines, but some of the members over there should come down from their pedestal first.

I am sure that the hard core gang here seems to behave superior to others (newer) as well, but somehow it seems different to me, even when I try to put myself in the shoes of a newbie, as I have been like 2 years ago and found great support here.

Also, APC appears to me as having something of a politicalyl motivated reply structure, and I don't need that either, I have that every day at work.

So, for sure you gonna see me post there more often as soon as I am finished bashing them here

Ingo

EDIT: Oh - almost forgot - they don't seem to have a sense of humor either,

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APC, for some reason, is not really what I am after. I find that people there are somewhat strange, to some degree arrogant, and it takes forever to get a constructive response

Oops sorry I asked Well the two sites are completely different that's for sure. I don't even consider it the same hobby. This site of course is much more about fish or at most growing plants, while at APC it's more about using those fish and plants in an artistic expression of nature. I guess it depends what your looking for. I have grown to really like the APC website and the information sharing of so many very dedicated planted tank enthusiasts is really unparalled IMO.

Plus you don't have to be a paying member to show some pics.

EDIT: Doesn't your club have it's forum over at APC?

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... while at APC it's more about using those fish and plants in an artistic expression of nature ... I have grown to really like the APC website and the information sharing of so many very dedicated planted tank enthusiasts is really unparalled IMO.

OMG - they have brainwashed tetratech

I know that we have something like an "Announcement" and "Sales" section in the Planted Tank Forum (actually one of our guys is a Mod there), but I don't know about having our own block at APC, maybe I should ask or even better - go on the site and look for it. Without a doubt, quite a few of our members frequent APC and probably are well known there.

Ingo

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OMG - they have brainwashed tetratech

Isn't this your club's forum
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/new-jersey-aquatic-gardeners-club/



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I'ma go ahead and jump in on LFs side here. APC isn't for me.

And about paying......it's 1.50 a month. I'm sure that's a pittance for anyone living in or around NYC.

But back on track....MH for HC? Are we just talking about penetration....or actual intensity? Cause PCs penetrate just fine to the bottom of my relatively short tank. Hearing that made me plug back in the second 96w bulb on my 50g tank. I've still had it off since I left for vacation.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well, I guess it's good that there are all sorts of different sites, to suit the needs of various posters. I may have a bit of a sticky beak at the APC site, but it does sound like the expertise of the members will be above me. I have enough trouble keeping up & following you guys here . Don't get me wrong, I love my plants and need to keep learning about them. I love looking at all the beautiful planted tanks that all you guys create, but equally, I love Ingo's fish pictures and I love reading about the fish in the tank.

Even though this tank of Ingo's here is really about the plants, I like hearing about his resident drug addict & other occupants - more so that I do reading the random posts. I get to know Ingo's fish, just a bit, by his pics & his little bits of narrative about them.

I love my own fish too - particularly my apistos. When they have fry, I could sit & watch them for ages.

tetratech, I hope you don't vacate this site for good in favour of APC. You've helped a lot over the time of my membership & your input would be missed.

Cheers
TW

I think tetratech appreciates the intensity with which the folks over there are working towards the higher goals of the hobby. I very often get the impression though that "lighten up guys" would be a proper reminder to all involved that this is just a hobby. Although, on the other hand, some of the guys there depend on this hobby as it is their business.

Anyway, to move on with other stuff:

Isn't this your club's forum --> yeah, indeed it is, I guess we are all over the place as well. So one can see the summary of our meetings at APC then. If you wish to see more details of our meetings then you should go to our site directly and look at the events section. There are quite a few ugly mug shots of me (and my balding head, LOL).

Matty - you may not remember this, or you may have never known this, but by now I have 96w plus 65w over the 40G, and even that in itself is not enough for the HC to explode. hey, in addition, I heard in my club forum that HC grows really fast, when EMERSED. Maybe it would be worthwhile culturing it emersed first until one has a large amount and then planting it in the tank, who cares how fast it grows then in the tank? The only thing that would be needed to be figured out is "what does it do during the acclimatization process?"

Ingo

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I think tetratech appreciates the intensity with which the folks over there are working towards the higher goals of the hobby. I very often get the impression though that "lighten up guys" would be a proper reminder to all involved that this is just a hobby. Although, on the other hand, some of the guys there depend on this hobby as it is their business.

I think that is is very accurate as well. But like most things in life, the population falls into a bell curve, where you have some extremists on one end who might appear as LF describes, but most are in the middle of the bell and don't have as much experience as you think.



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Ingo,

I don't know if I'd say AS would necessarily make your HC grow. The big thing IME is CO2 - lots of it. Without it there's no point even trying. I started out a 2.5G with a few clumps of HC and now the bottom is completely covered. For a while it was stagnant, then added co2 and it took off. Granted, it does seem to enjoy the AS, but I really think you can substitute "AS" with "enriched substrate of your choice"

As for APC, it's different than this place. There are lots of serious 'scapers over there and you can learn a ton just by reading what they write and looking at their scapes. The worst thing about APC IMO is that the more time I spend browsing over there, the more I feel the urge to buy ADA products I mean, lots of people there spend $$$ on custom rimless tanks, high tech lighting etc. I'll admit, it's easy to get envious of all that, and at least for me anyway, I start to think "it's so gorgeous, maybe I should look into that too..." Makes me lose sight of doing things my own way and finding my own way, which is part of the fun of the hobby in the first place

Nevertheless, I'll keep reading and lurking there because there's so much useful info to go around. I'm sure it's more fun posting there if you're talented enough to roll with the big boys, but I'm not quite comfortable with it yet.

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Back in the saddle!

Weekly Tank Update - Week 52

Well this weeks update is a little different, a series of 13 ( lucky number? ) shots, celebrating:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TANK

Yup, today a year ago I set up this tank, so without too much rambling, here is the first shot, taken right after the setup was completed. As you can see, only fast growers are in the tank:

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Week 0

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3 weeks later, the fast growers did what they do best, namely grow fast. By then the tank had seen some trimmings and the addition of Otos (all still there, btw).

Without a doubt, having only fast growers to begin the tank sure helped settle it A LOT!!!

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Week 3

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Of course, this fast grower business could not go on forever, so here is a shot from week 7 showing the first attempt to plant the tank more permanent. Look at this lovely lawn of Micro Swords , the barteri that eventually outgrew even the 125G , and the small group of Nanas and Narrow Leaf Java Fern.

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Week 7

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By week 11, the barteri had been replaced with the Bolbitis fern that is still in the tank today. I cannot even remember this plant ever being this small, kinda glad I made all these pictures just because of that.

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Week 11

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By week 14 became fed up with the untidy and boooooring Micro Swords. I started to add more Blyxa and emptying out other areas to leave them open in the future. Also, a second order of Nanas came in, overall I think there were over 20 of them.

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Week 14

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By week 20, pretty much all Micro Swords were out, some fast growers were added (hygro on tank left, for example) simply to keep the tank stable. As one may notice, the Bolbitis hasn't done much at this stage so far, it sure needs its time to settle.

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Week 20

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By week 24, the Bolbitis finally started to show some significant growth. The Narrow Leaf Java Fern on the right hill also started to kick into gear, it has received Needle Leaf Java Fern from the 125G in its center to make it appear fuller as well.

The fast growers in support a few weeks earlier had been removed again.

Attached Image:

Week 24

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Week 27 saw a continuation of that growth on both hills.

Actually, I forgot to mention that already in the last shot the newly added HC is visible in the opening of between the hills.

Attached Image:

Week 27

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By week 33, both planted hills have reached a height and fullness that makes it hard to take pictures of the tank that show all areas in full light, shading of the opening between the hills became a small problem. In real life, the areas did get quite some light, it just didn't show that well in pictures anymore.

Attached Image:

Week 33

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Week 38 shows the problems mentioned in the last post even more clearly, I find the Java Fern hill in particular looks like a lettuce head

No plants on both hills though have yet caused a problem on the surface of the tank.

Attached Image:

Week 38

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By week 42, the lighting on the tank had changed. In addition to the 96w PC, now being moved all the way to the front of the tank, a 65w PC that had been over the 20G had been added for the back of the tank.

The Bolbitis started to pierce the surface of the tank.

Attached Image:

Week 42

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By week 47, I had enough of the Blyxa, somehow I could not manage to keep it down (I know people with the same problems ) and the light addition made it look funky over time as well. So, all had to go.

In addition, and even more obvious, the Fern on the right hill got a major trim, acutally it caused the entire right hill to require a major redo, with sticks and everything.

Attached Image:

Week 47

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And finally, here is the tank from last night, week 52, not a very good shot for its birthday.

Overall, it has been a nice year with this tank, not one major crisis was there because of algae or something like that, except for the one day where the CO2 went crazy.

But, I think it has reached a point where it cannot be maintained easily much longer . The Bolbitis is simply too big for it now and something will have to happen to change that, meaning at least a major redo of the left hill. On the other hand, next years update would then look almost like a repetition of this year's, showing the bolbitis and fern grow tall again. How boring would that be?

Well, enough for now,

Have fun, and I hope you liked the review,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Week 52 - Now

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Ingo , loved the review , the photo story makes it very easy to follow the development of the plants . I'll be very interested with what you do with the left side hill . btw there is nothing boring about you logs , the photos and commentry are always first class . Happy Birthday for the tank . I look forward to reading for another year
Garry

Ingo,

Looks so much better know with the Bolbitus dominating. Ideally if the left were alittle more centered, but it's good.

If I can be so bold, this tank could easily be made into one where the substrate in the front and middle is changed to sand. It would have great contrast with the dark wood. You could build up more rock along the inner and front edge of both islands holding back the eco and then simply siphon out the eco from the front and middle with a hose. If the eco hold you can than fill with sand, if not adjust the rocks some more. This would give you a makeover without totally making over the tank. Sort of what I did for my 72g.

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Just wanted to comment on the HC again. It looked like it was in full light at week 27, then started to get shaded out until your recent trimmings. This is just what I see in the pics, but the HC seemed to grow for you for a few weeks, then die back as it got shaded. Could just be the magic of time lapse though.

Neat summary LF. I think my 50's B-day is coming up. Its summary wouldn't be as interesting as yours though.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I think my 50's B-day is coming up.

Wow Matty, I had no idea that you are already that old

Anyway, thanks guys for the input

Garry - It is not so much that I find my logs boring (although I would stop them if people stop caring about my ramblings), it is more that a tank that only needs trimming to continue to look the same is boring to me. I have a limited space available for tanks, and as such I increase my number of tanks by redoing them. In this faulty math, I already had at least 10 tanks, if not way more.

tetratech - I think the big challenge when trying to implement your suggestions (and believe me, I like them and I have thought about such changes as well) is the middle section of the tank. It is not "stoned" up at all, Anubias are planted in the Eco, it is hard to access without having the hills collapse, and so forth.

Matty - granted, the area of the HC has not received the high light that it gets since the last trimming, but the images are misleading. This is a trick that the camera plays on you. In order to avoid enormous overexposure of the areas on top the camera made all other areas look really dark, much darker than in real life. BTW, we happen to have an HC expert at our NJAGC, I think you may have seen his time lapse video of HC growing for 6 days. His take on successful growth is a) light and b) Excel (not CO2). I find that interesting.

Ingo

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tetratech - I think the big challenge when trying to implement your suggestions (and believe me, I like them and I have thought about such changes as well) is the middle section of the tank. It is not "stoned" up at all, Anubias are planted in the Eco, it is hard to access without having the hills collapse, and so forth.

You can do it! You just have to get big rocks and...

Place rock, push, siphon, place rock, push, siphon.

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Weekly Tank Updates - Week 53

Well, the tank had been pretty much neglected this week, all concerns where on the tannins in the 125G (read that log for details) and eventually this tank got involved in that issue (more later).

Here is a full tank shot:

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Week 53

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As you can see, there are a few new plants in this tank, they are the cubans that I am making a last ditch rescue effort for by planting the tops in the bright light areas. This angle reveals that there are a few tiny ones in dead center of the tank as well.

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Angled

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As the cubans are in bad shape, I don't really expect them to take off here, it is rather a wishful thinking thing. As soon as I added them into the tank, as in having them float until I was done with the 125G maintenance, the Amanos were all over them, not a sign of a healthy plant. Here are two Amanos on the floating stems:

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Floaters being eaten

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The same continued one the plants were planted, here are more Amanos muching away.

Hey - doesn't it remind you of bees collecting honey from flowers?

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Amanos Eating Cubans

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SEE PREVIOUS PAGE FOR FULL TANK AND HOW THE CUBANS GOT HERE

Here is a closer look at the Cuban line-up on the right tank side. All stems are really short now, I tried to trim off as much old growth as possible. The tallest stem is maybe 4 inches.


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Cubans Lined Up

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Here is another look at the cubans (with an unfocussed Amano on top of one of them) and the HC, taken straight from above. Under non-maintenance conditions this shot is not possible as the light is sitting right up there.

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Top Shot

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The HC has grown a little this week, at least that is what I tell myself

Here is a slightly-out-of-focus shot showing it from the side of the tank. You can see the little green dots coming up here and there, I assume there is an underground connection between the groups.

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HC

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And with all this Amano here and Amano there, I still have some Cherries, or at least one. Actually, once this week I saw two at once.

Here is one on the Bolbitis:

Attached Image:

Cherry

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Speaking of Bolbitis:

That plant is becoming a problem. Its new growth is waaay to large for this tank, the individal leaves on the stems don't even start to open up within the water column. This weekend I had to trim off 5 strong stems that were pushing against the top glass. Open top is not an option these days though, I would damage the light (help may be coming soon though).


Here is a stem that grew out of the small open area that I have there for feeding fish and adding ferts during the week.

And that is it for now,

Have fun, thanks for watching,

Ingo

Attached Image:

Bolbitis on the Run

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Tanks looks very nice, despite the issues with the Cubans.

Open top is not an option these days though, I would damage the light (help may be coming soon though).

In terms of what, a new light? BTW I plan on running my 46g with the 192watt coralife without a glass top. I don't think it will be a problem if it's raised up on the mounting legs.

P.S. Happy Father's Day

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Your non-glass top thing may work, or it may not . One thing seems certain though, without a top you will have quite a bit of evaporation. The 40G managed to evaporate about 2 inches (depending on surrounding humidity in the air) within 7 days, to the point where the spray bar was almost exposed. I have a shot of my setup from a while back on page 4 in this log, you can see the small glass plate that I had under the light unit. In the morning, that glass was full of drops (under side, of course).

Anyway, yeah, I am thinking of a new light, but not before the end of August, maybe.

Ingo

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Your non-glass top thing may work, or it may not . One thing seems certain though, without a top you will have quite a bit of evaporation. The 40G managed to evaporate about 2 inches (depending on surrounding humidity in the air) within 7 days, to the point where the spray bar was almost exposed. I have a shot of my setup from a while back on page 4 in this log, you can see the small glass plate that I had under the light unit. In the morning, that glass was full of drops (under side, of course).

Well you just made me think of an advantage other than looks for the lily pipe. The large size of the funnel allows it to be way under the water line. The water returns back to the tank through the bottom part of the funnel. Since the co2 can be located below the funnel it sprays the co2 throughout the tank and their is little surface break caused by the funnel. In other words it would take alot of evaporation, before the funnel bottom was exposed. Of course if you want to raise the funnel higher to remove surface scum that can be done as well.

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