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Ugly's Grindingly Long Yarn (or, A Dry Start Love Story [or, How Love Dies])

44K views 221 replies 42 participants last post by  EdWiser 
#1 · (Edited)

Having been out of the planted tank scene for five years, I'm starting slow, mainly because there is so much that I have forgotten.

Anyway, here's the hardware I have so far.

The Tank
My trusty old ADA Mini-M -- the same tank I used for Source.

Lighting 17W (LED)
Light will fall from an ADA Aquasky 361. When I left the game in 2010, LEDs were barely a thing and all of my tanks ran under compact fluorescent, so I have no idea how plants (and algae!) react to 17W of LED light. It's an uncertainty I can live with as the fixture is so pretty!

CO2
I've got several different CO2 systems laying around: two ADA Advance Systems and a large ten pound CO2 tank. As (Re)Source sits on my kitchen counter and my wife does not have the same affection for CO2-supplimented aquatic plants as I do -- how can you not love pearling, baby? -- I'll keep my marriage in tact an elect for the much smaller Advance CO2 system.

Filtration
In the past I've had great luck with EHEIM 2213s, but I'm considering going all in ADA-wise and getting the Superjet es-150. I dunno, I'll see. It'll all depend on how broke I feel like feeling.

Substrate
Aqua Soil Amazonia. It worked for me in the past and I see no reason to change now. I bought a bag of Colorado Sand, the decorative stuff for the front of the tank, but after thinking about it -- the algae that can form on it, the blowing around during trimmings and cleanings -- I'm probably going to go without it. If you have experience with decorative sand, I'd like to hear your opinions.

Hardscape
Seiryu stone and driftwood used in tanks past. I got them years ago from Aqua Forest Aquarium here in San Francisco.

Plants
I'll be dry starting Lilaeopsis nova mini, 'Mini Microsword,' for the first two months or however long it takes to establish a carpet. (Here is a primer on "dry start" for the uninitiated. I highly recommend the DSM.)
Other plants will include Anubias nana micro, Microsorum pteropus 'Java Ferns.' Bolbitis heudelotii, and some type of moss.
I want this to be a darker tank (color-wise) with slow-growers.
The flow of plants will be from left to right, with left being "upstream" with a denser concentration of plants.

Fauna
Dunno. Fish and shrimp are always an afterthought with me. I don't pick out fauna until after the tank has matured and even then it is not a sure thing that I will be any of either in the tank. I'll probably end up with at least some Cherry and Crystal Reds.

Anyway, this is the start of my seventh journal. I'm looking forward to any comments or suggestions that you may have.

Yours truly,
Ugly
 
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#194 ·
Hey, klibs . Yes, that's the Shiruba. It's perfect for a Mini-M at 5.4 gallons, but I would say it's probably is too much for a 2.5 gallon tank.
The Finnex PX-360, however, may be what you want. It's one step down size-wise from this filter and both the Finnex and the Shriuba are rebranded filters from the same OEM.
For a Mini-M, I'd say there is not better filter, for anything bigger or smaller, I'd say there are probably better options.

Hey, X. Yep, I filled it. It's been planted for a few days now and it's coming along. I had a lot of die off on the carpet, however. A lot. This didn't happen to me last time around, and I did everything more or less the same so I'm not sure what went wrong. I have a feeling that something went wrong in the substrate -- anaerobic bacterial die-off causing toxicity to the root system -- but that just based on a hunch based on a very loose understanding of something I know nothing about.
I'd estimate that the die-off put me about twenty days back into the dry-start. Meaning, I should have stopped at the thirty day mark.
I just hope the die-off doesn't continue.

Other than that, everything else seems to be growing fine.

Tank should be ready for prime time any day now.
 
#195 ·
The die off is just the plants transitioning from emmersed to submersed form, which is why I tend to favor filling from day one with good plant density, you just tend to get the results faster and more reliably.

Algae in the flooded method usually comes from a lack of plant mass at the on set, which is why people originally started to do the dry start method - e.g. I have two sprigs of this plant and I want to grow it. But typically you have two start phases of the dry start - first beginning is original setup then second beginning is flooded and it's like day 1 over again.

The true major source of algae is Florida Aquatic Nurseries (or whoever provides the plant) fault. Excepting when a plant comes from a tissue culture vial directly, and even when the plant appears pristine you are in essence inheriting all the problems of the source - snails, pests, dormant algae, etc that ever came in contact with the plant, even if things seem clean.

Let's say Florida Aquatic has an outbreak of BBA, then they clean plants and ship them to the distributor who then distributes to the retailer - now everyone along the chain has the seed for BBA and this is how ultimately it ends up in your tank.

Most of the more complex algae occur this way.
 
#196 ·
Even with some die-off I would think the recovery with a good setup like UG has would be pretty rapid. I wonder if anyone ever tried a 'drip-method' flooding approach. Where similar to the way some people acclimate fish, you very slowly over the course of a few weeks fill the tank so the 'plants' have time to adjust more.

In regards to algae and snails. I've never dipped, cleaned, quarantined anything. It would drive me nuts to do that stuff every time I got something. Algae doesn't usually spread or become a major problem if that tank is running well. Snails are only a nuisance if there are too many dead leaves or organic matter left in the tank. Otherwise they stay totally in control and are welcome.
 
#197 ·
Hey X, you are right that one should expect die-off going from emersed to submersed, but this one's a bit different. I've done several dry-starts and I saw some die-off in those as well, but this one's different as the die-off started before filling.
I didn't really dry-start this one to circumvent an algae outbreak. Lilaeopsis nova 'mini' is such a slow grower submersed that this was the only way to have a relatively full carpet during this year.
I should be able to turn it around as the die-off's not catastrophic, but still, I should have cut my losses as filled at day thirty.

Hey, house! I thought of doing what you suggested, but the problem that I could not solve is how to get flow and CO2 into the tank without disturbing the substrate with a very low water level.
Another option of filling and draining several times just seemed like too much of a pain in the butt.
I'm with you on the algae and snails bit. I like to think of my tanks as self-contained eco-systems and if algae's there, something's out of whack and if there are a lot of snails, that means the system can accommodate them until it can't. And then they go away.

On an algae-related note, I tried Algaefix in the Do!aqua nursery and it eliminated all hair algae without any detrimental affect to the plants. (It will harm shrimp, so don't use it if you have those in your tank, but otherwise, it works well.) It'll take about a week to do it's thing, but it'll work as advertised.

On a CO2 related note, if you have a super diffuser, put an intake sponge on your filter intake and place the diffuser next to the intake. The superfine bubbles will stick to the sponge and act as a poor man's CO2 reactor in that all water passing into the intake will filter over the collected CO2 bubbles resulting in a much quicker and efficient dissolution into the WC. I just started doing this and it seems to really help growth.
 
#207 ·
...My wife has not noticed it yet as I placed it next to the Do!aqua nursery in the living room. I'm hoping she just thinks they're one tank.
I cried and laughed with your 'long' post about the die-off. Even in your darkest hour you were concerned about Multiple Tank Syndrome and your wife's views on this.

Anyway it sounds like a GREAT plan, let me know if it works :grin2:

For the record, I really loved that UG/HC setup, but I can understand why you wouldn't keep it around for long and want to do something else.

I'm excited about this new setup, since I've always like going large on the hardscape even in a small space.
 
#198 ·
I'm a city boy.

Born and raised.

So when I would see farmers on the television talking to reporters after a long drought or locus or whatever devastating cr-p that happens to farmers, I could never relate to them when they said, "I lost a whole season's crops to that [insert whatever devastating cr-ap it happened to be]."

I simply had no basis of comparison.

The closest I could come to relating to those poor farmers was when I put a lot of effort into writing a post in a forum -- like, a hundred and fifty words! -- and the browser crashed and I lost all my work.

Yeah, I know, I'm a city boy. (And I know why farmers call us "soft".)

But now, I can relate to those farmers.

I know what it's like to lose an entire "season's" crops.

Most of it, anyway.

Something happened in the substrate that turned it bad. Killed nearly 75% of my Lilaeopsis nova 'mini'.

This is not a simple transition from emeresed to submersed die-off. I've done many dry-starts and a die-off of this magnitude has never happened. Something else went wrong here.

It's sad waking up every morning and seeing something that you've sunk so much time, energy, and money into slowly decay. Day after day.

It's heartbreaking.

It's like watching a near and dear friend slowly start to dress like a hipster. Please, shave the beard. Please! And why are you wearing nerd glasses? You don't even have bad eyesight! And, for the love of all that's holy, put on looser jeans! You're going to damage your junk. I'm serious!

I've taken action that I hope will halt and then reverse the die-off, but only time will tell if too much damage was done below the substrate.

Given the above situation, I did what any planted tanker would do in my situation.

I pulled out my tiny two gallon Do!aqua Plant Glass Cube20 and set up a simple, avant-garde, experimental panted tank. (My wife has not noticed it yet as I placed it next to the Do!aqua nursery in the living room. I'm hoping she just thinks they're one tank.)

Back in the day, the Plant Glass Cube20 was my favorite tank.

Because was so small, it was so easy to manage and never, that I can recall, gave me a single problem.

I need some of that ease right now.
Furthermore, I took it a step further and made came up with a rather unorthodox hardscape that should make maintenance really easy. (You'll see it a couple of photos down, but stick with me as I have to walk you through the process.)

Back when I was setting up my Mini-L, I had this hardscape:


It was dark and wicked in a cool way that I really dug.

However, because the driftwood was so dominant, the coolness of the left-hand rock was never made apparent.
As a matter of fact, you probably didn't even notice anything about that rock when you first saw that photo, right?
The rock was overshadowed, literally and figuratively, by the wicked, creeping driftwood. (Which to this day, I still love although that tank was a b-tch to do maintenance on.)

At the time, I remarked to my wife that it was a shame that I could not use that rock as a focal point as it had so many cool features. The rock has divot caves perfect for planting, cool fissures and cracks, and when seen from a certain angle, a face. (The rock was too small and lacked a distinctive shape to be a focal point in a tank as large as a Mini-L, but I always wanted to showcase it in a tank and I finally have my chance.)

When I setup a tank, I almost always have what you guys think in mind. I try to make tanks that the "general public" will appreciate.

For example, when I made this tank, it was almost done completely to please the internet.


While I enjoyed that tank, it was not very fun for me with just two plants: UG and HC.

On the other hand, the last incarnation of Source, with all of its broken rules and lack of any artistic cohesion, was one of my favorites.


This tank had no sloped substrate, no focal point, and dozens of mismatched plants. I retired from the hobby before this tank could mature, but I still wonder how that one would have come out if the ferns on the left hand side had had time to grow in thick.

[I just noticed from that photo how deep I had the substrate. That is Lilaeopsis nova 'mini' there, also grown via dry-start. Look at how nice it is! Perhaps I had my substrate too shallow this go around.]

Anyway, because of all of that, I decided to create a tank with three criteria in mind.

One: It must be easy to maintain. This means no precariously placed pieces of driftwood or rocks and easy access to the filter tubes for painless maintenance.

Two: It must have a big-ass filter. I'm convinced that the reason that the Do!aqua Plant Glass Cube20 never gave me crap was because I had a relatively large filter attached to it. At the time I was running a ZooMed 501 (with 13W of CFL and DIY CO2). I'm convinced that the larger the filter the fewer the problems.

Case in point, here's my Do!aqua Mini-M nursery just now.


This tank has an EHEIM 2211 and a Fluval C3. Suffice it to say, it's got a lot of filtration. I have virtually no problems with this tank. I don't even have to scrape the glass. All I do is top off for evaporation and dose fertilizers.

The final criteria is: It has to be fun for me.

So here's what I came up with.


As you can see, I've clearly been able to use the abovementioned rock as a focal point!
In my defense, while the use of one big-ass rock and nothing else as a hardscape is unorthodox and some would say ugly (but not in a good way), because the thing is four pounds, I have no fear of disturbing the hardscape during maintenance. Criteria number one is firmly met.

It's lit by an AquaLighter Nano.
This is a cool little lamp. 4.5W at about 7000K. The RGB spectrum's not as ideal as the AZOO Flexi-Mini, the Flexi-Mini is way too long to fit on this thing.

Here's what the AquaLighter looks like from above.


This tank's a tad shy of 8"x8"x8". With the rock's displacement, there's about a gallon and a quarter of water in there.
The AquaLighter is the perfect size for this tank. I'm not sure if it's medium or high light at this point, but I think it's bright enough to grow what I've got in there.

Speaking of which, I've got three plants. EH as the carpet. Anubias nana 'bonsai' on the rock, and Rotala 'H'ra' in the back. Eventually, I'm going to put UG in the center "cave" in the rock so that it looks like it's spilling out and over onto the carpet of EH.

Other than that, I've got no further plant plans.

And, no, I don't intend on stocking this thing with livestock. (Not even snails if I can help it.)

For filtration, I went with what many would consider overboard: the Finnex PX-360.

It's big. It's spec'd for tanks up to 25 gallons, but I can't see that being true at all. I can't see it being good for anything over five gallons.
Here's it next to the tank.


Where the tank has about 1.25 gallons, the filter holds about .5 gallons. That's forty percent of the tank's volume! Flow is not unreasonable at all, either. For me, it's perfect.

I'm going unheated this time around as I'm building this tank around the EH which, from what I've read, prefers cooler water.

I'll be doing DIY CO2 via a glass diffuser, but I haven't set that up yet as I have to get some yeast. Until then, I'll be dosing Excel.

And that's what I've been up to lately. I'm still waiting for (Re)Source to bounce back. Aside from the carpet, all other plants are growing nicely. The only problem I can think of there is that the Rotala 'green' is not shooting upwards as I'd like it to, but I've been trimming to try to force it upwards.

And, before I forget -- and I think I've mentioned this before -- but the ADA Aquasky 361 is not worth your money, in my opinion.
For its price vs. the competition, ADA should bring more to the table.
For example, I'd love it if it had three dimming presets: low, medium, and high light based on the general consensus of what those are PAR-wise.
After all, these lights are built for specific aquariums so determining each light level would not be difficult.
Or, at the very least, put a damn dimmer on the thing!

Anyway, I wrote way more than I intended to. I guess I missed you guys.

(Re)Source should be ready in a few weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that the "whole crop" isn't lost and, at least in the meantime, I can watch my wet rock with a few plants around it.

Unquestioningly,
Ugly
 
#199 ·
"On the other hand, the last incarnation of Source, with all of its broken rules and lack of any artistic cohesion, was one of my favorites."

Best line right there.
If the tank doesn't please you, then it has failed IMO.

So sorry about the "crop" loss.

And I have an Aqualighter Nano lamp too, it works quite well for the 8-inch-ish diameter/square tank. Sweet rock you have in that cube. Enjoy!
 
#200 ·
Sometimes it's just fun to grow plants without the stress of the scape being so artistic.

It's a total bummer that the crop has been lost or almost lost. Sorry for the news. But whenever there's an end, there's a new beginning. I like the new set up and it's always nice to finally use some hardscape in the way you've always wanted to.
 
#201 · (Edited)
Hey Ugly,

I'm a little late to this party, I've wanted to chime in on your thread, but I wouldn't allow myself to do so until I read through the whole thing, so I apologize in advance if I refer to things that happened weeks ago. Took me a while, not because I'm slow or anything, rather life seems to love interrupting me when I read this thread. I'm lucky if I can get through two pages without some disaster befalling me. *go to work* *feed the fish* *converse with my fiancée* *take out the garbage* *shovel snow* etc etc. Even yesterday, I have TWO pages left, and a TPT'er I wanted to buy some manzanita off of PM's me and says he's ready for me to come by. Doesn't he know that I'm only TWO PAGES away from being completely caught up on what is essentially the most entertaining thread EVER?! I digress.

I'm here now, and what a trip. You, sir, are a hell of a writer. I felt like I was with you every step of the way. I realized that I have this fictional construct of what the interior of your home looks like and where you've placed your various tanks. I feel like I know you. Not in that creepy internet stalker way, but maybe more in an old-timey British way:

*Bollocks! I say, Percival, is that you old chap?! Why, it's been ages good fellow! What a splendid bit of happenstance! What say we catch up over dinner? Tuesday? Capital! Cheerio, old boy!*

Between the Star Wars, Gremlins, and Jurassic Park references I was grinning ear to ear. THEN, you brought up the Dirty Dancing bit, and I knew where you headed, but I had to see how it all played out. You did not disappoint! I laughed so hard I was crying. I LOL'd pretty hard at the timer thing to!


*Ok, serious face* How is that Shiruba filter working out for you? I wish I had seen that when I was searching for a canister for my 9g. I'm like you, where I like to over filter my tanks. I like the convenience of mini-canisters like the TOM Rapids and the Finnex PX-360, but I wanted something with more flow and water volume. In the end I went with one of the NatGeo canisters from Petsmart. They're just a rebranded Eheim Ecco, and while it's quite nice, it's probably going to be too much filter. I wish I had even thought to look at the AFA site, but I just assumed that anything on their site would be out of my price range. Lesson learned.

I appreciate you sharing your pitfalls as well as your successes with us (sorry to hear of the plight of your Lilaeopsis nova 'mini'). Oh, and thanks for sharing your nursery tank that you felt so ashamed of, but dude, shut up. Your nursery tanks look better than most of my tanks that I've spent hours scaping! You should see MY shame tank aka nursery tank. It's a freakin mess! :D I dare not post pictures, lest the trolls feed for a hundred years!

Hmm, I feel like there was more that I was going to say, but I've probably said enough.

Thanks. Thanks for the pics, thanks for the fun, thanks for trying to make this community an even better place. Speaking of which, you good sir, have inspired me! I hereto proclaim that I am changing my user title from "Serial Lurker" to "Determined to Contribute". Well played.
 
#202 ·
Oh, I remeber what I else I was going to say. Three things:

1. That link to the "Friday" video you posted a ways back...For shame, Ugly. For shame.

2. @Ugly Genius and @Daisy Mae , what are your opinions on the AquaLigher lights? I was thinking about getting them for my newest tank [ journal ], but I ended up going with two Azoo Nano LED's instead. I love how sleek the AquaLighter fixtures look, though, and I wouldn't be against swapping out some of my older fixtures for them.

3. I'm sure I'm probably the eleventy-eighth billion person to ask, but once your Amano moss grow out, would you be willing to sell some of it? I really dig the way it hugs/wraps around wood and what not.

I lied... there were actually four things.


4. In response to your question a few pages ago about HC, I would have to say that for me, even though HC is a cool little plant, it's not one of my favorites either. To me though, HC is sort of a right of passage into planted-tankness. If you can grow that successfully, you must be doing at least something kinda right.

Anyway, that's it. Looking forward to seeing (Re)Source (re)cover, and to being a part of watching the 45P and the Monolith come together.

Giving you thanks <-- see what I did there? And it's not even Thanksgiving anymore. I told you I read every page. :icon_wink
 
#204 ·
Thanks, Daisy! You know, you're indirectly responsible for me getting the AquaLighter light. Before buying it, I googled it for reviews and user feedback and one of your posts was a search result. In that post you showed your pico, but it was enough to squash my concerns that the nano would be too small. So thanks!

bereninga, you're so right. I think I do need some tanks that are more artistry, but I need one or two that are built just for me. Tanks where I say, "F-ck the rules" and have fun with them.

Cheerio, Nomad. Hey, thanks for all of those nice things you said. It means a lot. To hear that you appreciate my writing and tanks make me feel really good.
And, yes, please convert from Serial Lurker to Relentless Poster. The world's moving on to Facebook and whatnot and while those places are great from projecting oneself as much more interesting that one really is, this is the only place to get elbow deep into the nitty-gritty of planted tankedness.
So to everyone who reads TPT, post, people! We need to keep this community alive!
I really like the Shiruba on my Mini-M. Love it, in fact. That said, the flow is a bit lower than I'd like it on (Re)Source because my hardscape is so friggin'...intricate; I've got a few dead zones in the front. (BGA in places.) So as a supplement, I'm running an AquaClear 20 on the back.
I used an EHEIM Ecco way back when. I used it on the Mini-M and that's 5.4 gallons and it was fine. It's a good filter. (I preferred the 2213 on the Mini-M only because I appreciate engineering elegance of the Classic line of EHEIMs, even though the Ecco was a better filter for me.) I think the National Geographic filter you got will work just fine. Use the spray bar if the flow's too strong.
After one full day with the AquaLighter, I'm still positive on this thing. It's a very nice light. For small (less than two gallons) rimless tanks, it's a solid choice; perhaps the best choice for cubes. (The best light for a three to four gallon tank is still the Flexi-Mini. Bar none.)
I should note that the second after you posted photos of your AZOO Nano LEDS, I ordered some as they look so cool and I figure I can use them to supplement the AquaLighter if need be, or start a pico tank here at my desk. (I'm growing java fern in a cylinder right next to me, but it's being lit by a desk lamp I used in college way back when. Sentimental lighting.)
Yeah, I've got a couple of people in front of you for the moss, but yes, absolutely I'll give you some when I have enough. It really is the nicest moss I've worked with. When you guys see it on (Re)Source, you'll dig it, I'm sure. For nanos, there is no other moss choice, in my opinion.
As a matter of fact, for years I always tried to emulate the moss work that Amano did on his driftwood and rocks. And no matter what moss, lighting, water temperature, or CO2 levels I tried, I could never get the moss to grow the way that he did his. And while I still can't grow it the way that he did, with this moss, his moss, it looks closer than it ever did from my previous efforts. It's a great moss. It really is.

Thanks, amp. Things got worse from yesterday w/r/t the carpet. Algae outbreak pretty bad on the substrate. I think all the decomposing blades made for an algae Smörgåsbord. Rhizoclonium from the looks of it. I was able to suction off much of it, but there's still quite a bit there. Time permitting, I'll head to 6th Avenue to pickup a few Amanos to help me deal with it.

Okay, yesterday I said that the Finnex PX-360 was perfect for a tank of this size. I said that I didn't think it could be good for anything over five gallons.

I was wrong.

It turns out that I had the filter basket installed backwards so that flow was severely restricted.

PX-360's got plenty of flow. Once the tank fills in and the plants have rooted down the substrate, this filter will be perfect for my needs, but as of right now, it's too much filter for too small a tank. I was able to redirect the outflow so that the substrate didn't get blown away so it's usable for me until everything's settled, but for anyone wanting a filter for a two gallon tank, I would say that the PX-360 is probably too much for you. Get the ZooMed Nano 10 instead. That's probably the perfect amount of flow for most people.


Other than that, I added a bit more EH and a sprig of Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana' into that center "cave".
I really like this plant. It's a pretty slow grower, so it may end up working in that spot. We'll just have to wait and see.

Also, a sprig of Bolbitis 'mini' was put in a fissure to the left of the "cave".

Behind the rock I added one more stem of Rotala 'H'ra' for a total of two. Depending on how they react color-wise to this tank, I'll keep it at that or, if they don't redden up, I'll figure something else out.


Since the photo was taken, I also added a bit of Fissidens splachnobryoides to the left of the Myriophyllum to see how that does tucked in there.

The water cleared quite quickly with the filter turned up to eleven.
I relocated a ADA CO2 system from the Mini-S to help the plants in here get adjusted. (The Mini-S needs a trim very, very badly so one or two days without light or CO2 won't hurt it all that much, I'm thinking.)

Oh, I had a panic moment this morning where I thought the Do!aqua nursery was leaking. The area around the tank was wet and I assumed that when I pushed the tank to the left to accommodate the new tank, that I broke a seal or something. I rushed about getting the Mini-L ready, when I realized that it was simply the water dribbling down from the Flexi-Mini clamp. (I tend to keep my tanks filled to the brim so this happens from time to time.)

It got me to thinking that one more tank is not in the cards for me. I simply don't have the time. If I want to build the Mini-L, I'll have to tear down my three nurseries and consolidate them into a long, shallow, low-tech tank. Something that'll keep the plants alive, but that does not require much more than me dosing ferts.

Anyway, my son's really sick. Ear infection and last night the poor guy threw up twice.
He's laying down on the couch behind me watching The Clone Wars. I asked him if he wouldn't prefer to watch Star Wars Rebels but he's not too interested in that series as it doesn't have clones in it.
I don't have to heart to tell him that the clones are bad guys and that Anakin becomes a real as-hole later in life.
The way I see it, childhood's the time when a person builds the emotional and intellectual armor that will protect them for the duration of their lives. The things you love as a child stick with and give you a grounding and compass that partly defines who you will become.
So rather than burst his bubble by trying to show him the reality of the Anakin and his clone troopers, I'm going to let him enjoy The Clone Wars for what it is and, when he's ready, let him discover on his own that the world is full of egotistical, selfish, and dangerous heavy breathers.
And never, ever turn your back on a guy wearing armor.
Even if he has a friendly sounding name like Cody.

No, I am your father,
Ugly
 
#208 · (Edited)
Thanks, Daisy! You know, you're indirectly responsible for me getting the AquaLighter light. Before buying it, I googled it for reviews and user feedback and one of your posts was a search result. In that post you showed your pico, but it was enough to squash my concerns that the nano would be too small. So thanks!

Cheerio, Nomad. Hey, thanks for all of those nice things you said. It means a lot. To hear that you appreciate my writing and tanks make me feel really good.
And, yes, please convert from Serial Lurker to Relentless Poster. The world's moving on to Facebook and whatnot and while those places are great from projecting oneself as much more interesting that one really is, this is the only place to get elbow deep into the nitty-gritty of planted tankedness.
So to everyone who reads TPT, post, people! We need to keep this community alive!
I really like the Shiruba on my Mini-M. Love it, in fact. That said, the flow is a bit lower than I'd like it on (Re)Source because my hardscape is so friggin'...intricate; I've got a few dead zones in the front. (BGA in places.) So as a supplement, I'm running an AquaClear 20 on the back.
I used an EHEIM Ecco way back when. I used it on the Mini-M and that's 5.4 gallons and it was fine. It's a good filter. (I preferred the 2213 on the Mini-M only because I appreciate engineering elegance of the Classic line of EHEIMs, even though the Ecco was a better filter for me.) I think the National Geographic filter you got will work just fine. Use the spray bar if the flow's too strong.
After one full day with the AquaLighter, I'm still positive on this thing. It's a very nice light. For small (less than two gallons) rimless tanks, it's a solid choice; perhaps the best choice for cubes. (The best light for a three to four gallon tank is still the Flexi-Mini. Bar none.)
I should note that the second after you posted photos of your AZOO Nano LEDS, I ordered some as they look so cool and I figure I can use them to supplement the AquaLighter if need be, or start a pico tank here at my desk. (I'm growing java fern in a cylinder right next to me, but it's being lit by a desk lamp I used in college way back when. Sentimental lighting.)
Yeah, I've got a couple of people in front of you for the moss, but yes, absolutely I'll give you some when I have enough. It really is the nicest moss I've worked with. When you guys see it on (Re)Source, you'll dig it, I'm sure. For nanos, there is no other moss choice, in my opinion.
As a matter of fact, for years I always tried to emulate the moss work that Amano did on his driftwood and rocks. And no matter what moss, lighting, water temperature, or CO2 levels I tried, I could never get the moss to grow the way that he did his. And while I still can't grow it the way that he did, with this moss, his moss, it looks closer than it ever did from my previous efforts. It's a great moss. It really is.

No, I am your father,
Ugly
Haha, don't worry I intend to be a contributing member going forward. Oh, and all those nice things I said, those were merely to position myself among the inner sanctum of your thread followers so as to secure myself a portion of your coveted Amano moss. Mission accomplished. :hihi:

Thanks for the info on the Shiruba canisters. I REALLY want to pick one up, but my filtration needs are currently met. Perhaps if my old Aquaclear 20 were to have an unfortunate and untimely accident I'll pick one up for my Picotope. The Ecco on my 9g bowfront really is an amazing little filter, especially since I picked it up on sale for the price of the Shiruba 305. Rather than a spray bar, I went the lilly pipe route, which gives me GREAT circular flow throughout the tank, but it will probably be too much current for any of the nano fish I'm planning on housing. *I think I could make a bad joke about Galaxy Rasboras spinning through the tank like the pinwheels of the Milky Way, but I won't* I do like that the flow on the Ecco is adjustable so hopefully I can find a good balance between flow without hurting the internal pump.

I think I might try out one of the Aqualighter Pico's myself just to try it out on some of my little cubes. I'm glad you picked up some of the AZOO Nano's. I love the design of them, and they seem solidly built. I just hope the output will be as nice as the fixtures themselves. --love the sentimental lighting bit. I did that with an old IKEA fixture for a while, for no other reason than I'd had it forever. Thanks for offering to share some moss. I will happily wait patiently!

Thanks UG



That's funny, UG, I thought you might have seen an Aqualighter nano in use in my "vase collection" thread. Actually that thread shows three Aqualighter lamps- two picos and a nano. Yeah I guess you can say I like them. I even have another nano light as back-up (don't laugh)! I waited a couple of months for the nano version (lack of availability at the time) so I decided I better get two when they finally became available.

@nomad1721 -- does that answer your question :)
It does, thanks @Daisy Mae ! I'm going to grab a couple pico's for myself.
 
#205 ·
That's funny, UG, I thought you might have seen an Aqualighter nano in use in my "vase collection" thread. Actually that thread shows three Aqualighter lamps- two picos and a nano. Yeah I guess you can say I like them. I even have another nano light as back-up (don't laugh)! I waited a couple of months for the nano version (lack of availability at the time) so I decided I better get two when they finally became available.
@nomad1721 -- does that answer your question :)
 
#206 ·
Ugly, just wanted to say, I got paid for 3 hours of work to read your/others posts from #1 to #205. I laughed. I cringed. I copied bits of info that I will hopefully use later. So, thank you for entertaining me last night at work! You have a flair for telling a story - even when you say you are at a loss for a good subject. Even though I am REALLY new to this whole hobby and I am greener then the plants in my tank, I felt like you did not talk over my head.

I guess what I am getting at, is just a big thanks for sharing your hobby with us in an entertaining way.
 
#214 ·
A couple of days ago I wrote about the woes of farmers.

During that post I mentioned that the closest I could relate to their pains of losing of season's crops was losing a long post I was writing due to a browser crash.

I wish I had written about winning millions of dollars in that post because it seems that whatever I wrote about in that post would come true four days later.

Yesterday I had this long ass post -- six hundred words, maybe -- where I responded to each of you with thoughtful responses, words of thanks, and sincere encouragement, I had a photo of the Cube Glass with all plants used identified (in Latin!), and I wrote a rather poignant (yet effective, if I do say so myself) rallying cry for those of us suffering defeat (never give up!).

Then my friggin' browser crashed.

I sh-t you not. It crashed.

So I'm going to have to circle back in a later post to get back to each of you who posted.

Today I'm going to keep this one short with just a bit of explanation of what's going on and where I'm at.

The Do!aqua Plant Glass is coming along nicely.


Planting is complete. I changed course a bit from when I last posted. I removed the Myriophyllum sp. 'Guyana' -- I don't know what I was thinking with that one -- and replaced it with Hydrocotle 'Japan' -- a much better fit; better, even, than my original plan of UG.
I added two different kinds of Fissidens on the left side of the rock. The Fissidens are splachnobryoides, a.k.a. 'mini', [lower left] and fontanus [upper left].
The Hydrocotle should cascade out of the cave and down the face and the Fissidens -- given decades -- should climb along the left face of the rock.

I swapped out the AquaLighter for a Flexi-Mini because nothing grows plants better than the Flexi-Mini. When I want to slow down growth, I'll switch back to the AquaLighter.

I added a 5W Colbalt heater because it's cold as heck here in San Francisco. It's super small.

Until yesterday, this tank had was super thick with bacterial -- as foggy as it gets here in SF, if you can believe that -- but it started to clear last night.

(Re)Source is pissing me off. But that's nothing new. I think I've got things under control, though. We'll see.

Soonish, I'm going to wind down this journal and start a new one for (Re)Source (finally!) and, possibly, one for this as-of-yet unnamed cube as this thing is starting to intrigue me and I think it's got something to say.

Anyway, I promise to get back to all of you who posted earlier in my next post.

In the meantime, know that tomorrow I'm taking off to watch The Force Awakens and I promise to follow the "house" rule and not spoil a thing.

May the Force be with you,
Ugly
 
#216 ·
Sorry about your post.

I agree hydrocotyle will be a great fit there. I think having Monte Carlo drape down could also be very nice but the hydro should have a similar effect.

You may find that it grows upwards instead of sideways--that's what mine does, but it's in much lower light--but if it does you can just plant it at the bottom and teach it to climb upward by tying it around the rock with a piece of string.

Just a thought

Please don't spoil star wars for us!


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