This tank began with a dry-start on October 7, 2015 and was filled fifty days later on November 27, 2015.
I chronicled with painstaking (some would argue unnecessary) regularity and meticulous (some would argue excruciating) detail in this thread here.
For new readers with no interest in slogging through fifteen or so pages of ramblings from some dude who calls himself "Ugly", the gist of that thread is this: We watched grass grow.
That was pretty much it.
I'd throw in an anecdote here and there to help pass the time, but all the anecdotes in the world can't speed up or hide the fact that not all that much happened for almost two months.
And while the above summary pretty much covers exactly what went down during that time (absolutely nothing!), you really should read it because while I will do my best to fill in new readers on concepts and ideas from the old thread, some of the sh-t I say won't make a lick of sense out of context.
That said, let's do this like Buddhists!
The Tank
ADA Mini-M (5.4 gallons)
Lighting 17W (LED)
ADA Aquasky 361
CO2
5lbs. tank equipped with a Green Leaf Aquarium Choice CO2 regulator (discontinued) to an Archaea Super CO2 diffuser (S size)
Filtration
Shiruba XB-305
Heater
Colbalt Neo-Therm 25W
Substrate
Aqua Soil Amazonia
Hardscape
Seiryu stone and ADA driftwood
Plants
Lilaeopsis nova 'mini'
Eleocharis 'belem'
Elatine hydropiper
Microsorum 'Trident'
Anubias nana'Bonsai'
Bolbitis heudelotii
Rotala 'H'ra'
Rotala 'Green'
Rotala 'Indica'
Hemianthus micranthemoides 'Japanese'
Taxiphyllum barbieri 'Amano'
Hydrocotyle 'Japan'
Fauna
NA
The above photo was taken today and the tank's about 80% complete. (I do believe that the last 20% will make all the difference, but we'll have to wait and see that that becomes the case.)
There are a few things that I would change here or there, but for the most part, I'm happy with the result as I came close to what I had planned in my mind's eye.
And while I may have done well in the planning, the execution to get it here...now that is an entirely different story.
After filling the tank, I experienced a massive die off of the mini microsword carpet.
It was catastrophic.
I was never able to determine the cause of the die-off of seventy-five percent of my carpet -- it was not, I am convinced, the transition from emersed to submersed growth; it was something else. (I suspect that the substrate went anaerobic, but I don't have anything to back that up with. Just what cops on TV call "a hunch".)
Even if I did determine the cause it would not have mattered all that much because I was then hit with another problem.
BGA.
Like many of you, I work. I'm away from the house between the hours of seven in the morning until about four-thirty in the afternoon.
So if, say, the sun were to shine directly on my tanks between the hours of 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM, I would have no idea because I'm never there during that time.
And I don't know if any of you have put two and two together yet, but one of the key factors leading to an algae outbreak in your tank is light.
If you've got too much light with too much or too little of something else, you will get algae.
It's a simple as that.
The decay on the substrate resulting from the die-off and the direct sunlight left uncorrected for several weeks left me with a wicked BGA outbreak that I'm still dealing with.
I was able to beat back much of the BGA, but after the die-off, that algae outbreak, and a couple of other problems with this tank, I was about ready to throw in the towel. "F-ck planted tanks! I'll take up kicking myself in the nuts as a more calming and rewarding hobby!"
The only thing keeping me from tearing down the tank was the fact that it would have been a pain in the ass to tear the tank down. So I just kept the tank running and didn't pay hardly any attention to it for several weeks.
Long story short, after correcting the sun issue, vacuuming up the substrate, and dialing in ferts, the tank's coming round.
Here it is close up.
Some of what's missing is the trident java fern in the center behind the hydrocotle is not yet big enough to notice and that should help give some structure to the dark void in the center and I'd like to get the 'H'ra' on the right-hand side to bush up a bit to give more red accents over there.
The moss needs a trim and I have to get the carpet to grow in more fully and the BGA beaten back completely.
At least I'll have something to do.
In the meantime, I kept tinkering with the Do!aqua cube that I had going.
Here, too, I had some problems in that I experienced a die-off of the EH, but I think I determined the cause and, hopefully, corrected it.
A week or so ago, I added some Cyrpt parva 'mini' that I got from Shaman here on the SnS and while I haven't had the plant all that long, I can say that I love this thing. It's so small! If you're in the market for a cool very small crypt, hit up Shaman for some. Cool stuff.
Anyway, for those of you wondering what ever happened to (Re)Source, now you know.
It's still going.
Guess who's back,
Ugly
I chronicled with painstaking (some would argue unnecessary) regularity and meticulous (some would argue excruciating) detail in this thread here.
For new readers with no interest in slogging through fifteen or so pages of ramblings from some dude who calls himself "Ugly", the gist of that thread is this: We watched grass grow.
That was pretty much it.
I'd throw in an anecdote here and there to help pass the time, but all the anecdotes in the world can't speed up or hide the fact that not all that much happened for almost two months.
And while the above summary pretty much covers exactly what went down during that time (absolutely nothing!), you really should read it because while I will do my best to fill in new readers on concepts and ideas from the old thread, some of the sh-t I say won't make a lick of sense out of context.
That said, let's do this like Buddhists!
The Tank
ADA Mini-M (5.4 gallons)
Lighting 17W (LED)
ADA Aquasky 361
CO2
5lbs. tank equipped with a Green Leaf Aquarium Choice CO2 regulator (discontinued) to an Archaea Super CO2 diffuser (S size)
Filtration
Shiruba XB-305
Heater
Colbalt Neo-Therm 25W
Substrate
Aqua Soil Amazonia
Hardscape
Seiryu stone and ADA driftwood
Plants
Lilaeopsis nova 'mini'
Eleocharis 'belem'
Elatine hydropiper
Microsorum 'Trident'
Anubias nana'Bonsai'
Bolbitis heudelotii
Rotala 'H'ra'
Rotala 'Green'
Rotala 'Indica'
Hemianthus micranthemoides 'Japanese'
Taxiphyllum barbieri 'Amano'
Hydrocotyle 'Japan'
Fauna
NA
The above photo was taken today and the tank's about 80% complete. (I do believe that the last 20% will make all the difference, but we'll have to wait and see that that becomes the case.)
There are a few things that I would change here or there, but for the most part, I'm happy with the result as I came close to what I had planned in my mind's eye.
And while I may have done well in the planning, the execution to get it here...now that is an entirely different story.
After filling the tank, I experienced a massive die off of the mini microsword carpet.
It was catastrophic.
I was never able to determine the cause of the die-off of seventy-five percent of my carpet -- it was not, I am convinced, the transition from emersed to submersed growth; it was something else. (I suspect that the substrate went anaerobic, but I don't have anything to back that up with. Just what cops on TV call "a hunch".)
Even if I did determine the cause it would not have mattered all that much because I was then hit with another problem.
BGA.
Like many of you, I work. I'm away from the house between the hours of seven in the morning until about four-thirty in the afternoon.
So if, say, the sun were to shine directly on my tanks between the hours of 1:30 PM and 3:30 PM, I would have no idea because I'm never there during that time.
And I don't know if any of you have put two and two together yet, but one of the key factors leading to an algae outbreak in your tank is light.
If you've got too much light with too much or too little of something else, you will get algae.
It's a simple as that.
The decay on the substrate resulting from the die-off and the direct sunlight left uncorrected for several weeks left me with a wicked BGA outbreak that I'm still dealing with.
I was able to beat back much of the BGA, but after the die-off, that algae outbreak, and a couple of other problems with this tank, I was about ready to throw in the towel. "F-ck planted tanks! I'll take up kicking myself in the nuts as a more calming and rewarding hobby!"
The only thing keeping me from tearing down the tank was the fact that it would have been a pain in the ass to tear the tank down. So I just kept the tank running and didn't pay hardly any attention to it for several weeks.
Long story short, after correcting the sun issue, vacuuming up the substrate, and dialing in ferts, the tank's coming round.
Here it is close up.
Some of what's missing is the trident java fern in the center behind the hydrocotle is not yet big enough to notice and that should help give some structure to the dark void in the center and I'd like to get the 'H'ra' on the right-hand side to bush up a bit to give more red accents over there.
The moss needs a trim and I have to get the carpet to grow in more fully and the BGA beaten back completely.
At least I'll have something to do.
In the meantime, I kept tinkering with the Do!aqua cube that I had going.
Here, too, I had some problems in that I experienced a die-off of the EH, but I think I determined the cause and, hopefully, corrected it.
A week or so ago, I added some Cyrpt parva 'mini' that I got from Shaman here on the SnS and while I haven't had the plant all that long, I can say that I love this thing. It's so small! If you're in the market for a cool very small crypt, hit up Shaman for some. Cool stuff.
Anyway, for those of you wondering what ever happened to (Re)Source, now you know.
It's still going.
Guess who's back,
Ugly