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WP's 10 gal - Seasons of a Planted Tank (256k!!)

48K views 38 replies 20 participants last post by  CL 
#1 ·
Most tank journals start at the beginning... this one starts at the end. I enjoy watching sequences of planted tanks developing over time. This is mine.

Oct 2003 - Here is how it started, with the purchase of the tank and some "Black Beauty" substrate:



A lonely Oto and a clam were the first inhabitants.

Dec 2003 - Five dwarf pencils and later a blue ram joined the club. Glosso is spreading under 20W light, the original mountainscape is covered up by Java Moss, things are going too well:



Jan 2004 - Decided to start over. A more massive Mountainscape, and Flourite instead of the Kitty Litter and Black Beauty:



Feb 2004 - Almost immediately I am in algae hell. Was it the Flourite, or the lack of fast growers? Fluffy brown algae covers up everything.



April 2004 - For four months, I stare at my tank and try to figure out what's going on, while telling others how to fight algae. With 1 part CO2, 1 part NO3/PO4, 3 parts water changes, and 5 parts patience the algae finally recedes:



May 2004 - Things are coming together, the Java moss wall is lush, and it's time to pull out some of the collectoritis plants:



July 2004 - Java moss wall is being replaced with a Christmas moss wall, which looks nice after 4 weeks. Much more compact than the fuzzy Java moss. Tank is being overrun by Cherry Shrimps.



Oct 2004 - Pulled out the moss wall since it isn't going with the mountainscape theme. Not happy with aquascaping, but finally got plants to grow.



Jan 2005 - Bragged about balanced tank. Aquascaping phase starts:



August 2005 - Reduced plant variety to mostly green, slower growing plants. Enjoying tank quite a bit.



Jan 2006 - Will post a most recent shot of the tank soon. Things are going well. Added 3 male and 3 juvenile Endlers (thanks Bill!) to keep dwarf pencils some company. Christmas moss tree is growing well. Removed Hagen ladder (eyesore), CO2 goes into HOB filter. Dreaming of rimless tanks with glass lilies growing in them.

Feb 2006 - Here is the tank today. Instead of pulling hair algae, scraping diatoms and cursing bba, I spend time with scissors to remove moss and pearlweed that doesn't grow where I want it. Finally, I reached the aquascaping phase!

edit: I maxed out the number of pictures... for the final picture, see post 8 below.
 
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#28 ·
Thanks for your kind comments. I can't believe it has been 2.5 years since I last updated this thread. Time flies...

Here is a more recent (a year old) shot of the tank:



I changed the lighting a bit, less light, less heat, even less growth, but it all balanced out after a while.

Its days are counted though... I am working on a large double tank project for my garage, and once that is completed, I am planning to take down this tank to reduce maintenance time and size of my desk.
 
#34 ·
Sure, I just took a piece of driftwood, and wrapped a little bit of Christmas Moss around it, fixing it with some black string. After a while it grows out to some tree-looking shape.

First it is kinda interesting, but after a while it seems a bit unnatural and so... no more trees in my tanks. :icon_mrgr
 
#31 ·
i really like it. i however think it would look better if the part in the front where you can see the substrate was planted with a very low growing carpet, like HC, or moss. i dont know if what you have in there is HC or HM or something else, but it would look better if you got it to grow horizontally.
 
#32 ·
You are absolutely correct... If you look at the photo posted 3/25/06, you can see how this usually looks. The plant I have in there is somewhat similar to HM, I call it "Two-leaved Pearlweed". Regular Pearlweed has 3 or more leaves around each node.

So anyway, there are 4 stages of this plant:

1. Little stems stuck in substrate, like in that most recent picture.

2. As they grow in, shoots grow horizontally along the substrate. The long stems can be cut back.

3. This is the good-looking phase... nice dense substrate-hugging lawn.

4. Overgrowing phase... cutting back is hopeless and frustrating due to the density of the plant, and the thousands of little pieces floating through the tank. So, pull it all out, and start over at phase 1.

Unfortunately, it is a pretty fast growing plant, so these phases are not very long. Here is a picture from a different tank where you can see stages 2 through 4...

 
#36 ·
That's the thing with common names... don't mean much, anyone can call anything Baby's Tears. There is even a terrestric plant called Baby's Tears (Soleirolia, a relative of Ficus). Usually the aquatic Baby's Tears are Micranthemum umbrosum, which is a different plant with larger, rounded leaves, similar to Lindernia :icon_roll. The plant in my tank has narrow, pointed leaves, similar to Pearlweed (HM).
 
#35 ·
Very nice Wasser! And only a ten gallon - wow. But don't trees (er, branches, trunks, or limbs and such) belong in tanks, (without their leaves, of course)? I am kind of thinking of doing something like those pics Ted had of scuba diving in a fresh water lake - with a bunch of dead trees sticking straight up. I guess they prolly drowned??
 
#37 ·
I am sure you can make it look pretty natural, I just noticed that after a while, I got tired of the tree. It needs some sort of haircut every so often. Like regular trees, it creates a shaded area underneath. And it sure gets in the way when you do any pruning or vacuuming or try to catch a fish.

Yesterday afternoon I did my half-automated water change, and removed the draining part, and -duh- forgot to turn off the filling part. With it sitting on my desk and filling and filling for an hour I came back to a wet carpet, drowned printer and keyboard, and water everywhere. :icon_eek:
 
#38 ·
The End...

After over 5 years, I am taking down this tank. Here is the last picture:



I enjoyed this tank a lot, from all tanks this one was usually the cleanest, not much algae, no snails, and slow and healthy plant growth. Sure it went through a few challenging months, but it found balance after a short while.

My wife and I are a bit sad to see this tank go, but sitting on my desk it takes up a lot of space, and the risk of flooding my computer equipment makes the decision easier. With the new double tank in the garage I can use the time that I spent with this tank and focus on the other (bigger) things.
 
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