The Planted Tank Forum banner

The Fisherman's 20 Long Journal - The Workbench

25K views 283 replies 25 participants last post by  thefisherman 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm just learning how to grow plants and keep my fish happy. I guess I have a Noah's Ark approach to planted tanks... collect 2-3 of each and shove em into the tank and hope they grow lol.

20G LONG - WORKBENCH (11-19-11)

Specifics:
Tank: Deep Blue 20g Long - 30"X12"X12"
Substrate: 40lbs Eco-complete black
Equipment: Ehiem 2217
Heater: Hydor ETH 200
Lighting: Deep Blue 230 2X T5HO, 24W 6500k (Azoo lamps)
CO2: Matheson Dual Stage inline GLA diffuser
Ferts: modified EI
Photoperiod: 10hrs

Flora:
Crypt. Walkeri Petchii
Crypt. Beckettii
Crypt. Wendtii Green
Crypt. Wendtii Red
Crypt. Wendtii De Witt
Crypt. Wendtii Tropica
Crypt Wedntii Mioya
Crypt. Blassii
Crypt. Undulata
Crypt. Pontderiifolia
Crypt. Parva
Crypt. Albida
Crypt. Ferruginea "Sg. Sempit"
Dwarf Lily
Egleria fluctuans
Sunset Hygro
Limnophila Repens mini
Staurogyne Repens

Fauna:
14 Cardinal Tetra
2 Black Tetra
1 Khuli Loach
2 Cory
3 Otocinclus
2 EBR's
 
See less See more
#3 ·
Progress 11-28-11

Yep... I couldn't stand the look of an empty tank! I met with Partobe in the city, went to Winn and Pacific and grabbed a bunch of stuff. I felt like Bob Ross just shoving pants in the dirt... it felt soo good, happy accidents! My nephew seems to like my handy work:D
 

Attachments

#4 ·
Progress 12-08-11

So I just hooked up my 2217 a few days prior and was in total awe of its beastly ways... and thus my eyes were opened to the world of over filtration, ahhhhh so refreshing :)

What do you do when you've got a filter that seems to have as much water in it as your tank you say? Of course you go to the LFS to buy fish!

6 neon rainbows and 3 GBR's later.. Nitrite spike :( I had levels .25-.50 ppm it was nutz.

Since I experienced crazy stuff while my nano was cycling, i kind knew what I had to do:

- initial waterchange to protect fish (dilute levels)
- raised spraybar to super oxygenate water at night (foster bacteria growth)
- bought an entire tank of hornwort from the LFS (absorb nasties)
- open the flood gates on the 2217!

Result: levels yo-yo'd for a couple days, by the 3rd day it was regular scheduled waterchange, rinse and repat. One bacteria bloom later (cloudy water) levels stabilized. [I had to do this twice to my tank btw... tank fully cycled by the 6th week]
 

Attachments

#5 ·
Progress 12-20-11

Fast forward to right before xmas.. performing weekly prune/trims... repositioned my walichi added some DW, finally my plants are all starting to wake up! :D
 

Attachments

#6 ·
Progress 12-30-11

I received a wonderful package yesterday of assorted crypts from a very generous man I shall not name [cough gordon richards cough thank you!] lol

I was going to do a little photo narration like other journals starting with a pic of the bag, then the plant on the table, prepping the plant, planting the plant...sorry

I think I managed to take two pics before I ripped all the plants out of the bags, crypts were everywhere! on my desk, on my keyboard, my phone in my nano, my bed, the floor, my mouse, and c. pygmea! my God that's a small crypt!

Pure bliss I tell you.. I literally was tossing plants into my tanks to inspect, clean and prune them...QUARANTINE you say? I say SHAWREMTINE ... yeah my tanks have snails; that I feed to assassins!

ICH? bah SHMICH! I've had the sickest ICH outbreak in my nano that made me afraid to put my hand in the water...cured it. Any fish in there are immune at this point, my cories eat theronts for breakfast, besides my tanks are a balmy 80-82 degrees.

Ya so I basically lost track of what I was planting and will probably post ID threads in a few weeks lol. I got bag of 300 DIY osmocote capsules that I probably plugged 150 in every square inch of my substrate...after several hours and a waterchange and fert dose my tank is on its way to becoming a crypt tank!

In all honesty, I felt like today was a turning point for me and my tank. I feel like I am only now beginning to understand plants and what they need from me and what I need from them. I hope you enjoy my pics!
 

Attachments

#9 ·
thank you partobe! you remember the half dead stargrass and hygros we got from winn? i'll have plenty cuttifs for you if you like :)

pointers?! idk if I can give you any except, if its green leafy and rooty...shove it in the dirt! :D

ps. here's a shot of a beautiul specimen I got from Gordon Richards


Sent from my iPhone
 

Attachments

#10 ·
thanks chad! it took me a while to figure out the proper excel dosing... CO2, pH/KH was tricky to stabilize.

but right now i'm at:

pH 6.4
KH 2
CO2 14-20 ppm

now dosing 15ml every other day... melted a few plants and almost near suffocated my fish in the process of finding that number :O


Sent from my iPhone
 
#13 ·
thanks pat.. well as you know the 75 will be on hold for now. I need to focus on getting my 30B's setup first. Also I think the 75 was intended to be a showtank in our living room. I think I am interested in doing something bigger (150g+) low tech, with a lot of large crypts and slow growers.
 
#12 ·
Progress Update 01-01-12

Happy New Year everyone!

So I received a surprise (since I didn't expect any deliveries till 2012) package of stuff yesterday... It was my Hydor ETH and scaping tools. Very impressed with Bigal's.

Of course I couldn't wait to install my new heater! I didn't realize how huge the external heater was and had issues with the length of my tubing and the position of my outflow spraybar. I had some new tubing and an unused ehiem outflow pipe, so I relocated my outflow to the other side of the tank. Giving me enough length to play with. I still plan to install my GLA inline diffuser once my regulator comes in.

Here's some pics of my upgrades
 

Attachments

#21 ·
thanks bro.. but ya i agree it totally has a long way to go. i just have to stick to the vision. that parva carpet was a pain in the @$$ plant lol... but i hope i can get it thick like plantbrain's. also i just planted a few more kool stems from a friend's tank takedown last night. i'll get pics up shortly :)

Beautiful. It's just amazing none of your crypts melted. Most do in my tank. Eventually they grow back, but they look quite ugly for a while.
Beautiful tank, looks like you have it well under control.

They do not always necessarily melt. I bought a number of crypt that were grown emmersed and I planted them, let them simmer in the new tank for a week before flooding it and I had maybe two stems melt and that was it. Not bad when you have 20 plants and only two leaves die off.
thanks guys... don't be fooled i definitely have some melts, just not apparent in the pic. i also have unsightly diatoms all over my groundcover parvas... i guess new tank syndrome.

a knowledgeable friend told me the crypt basically "resets" itself when newly planted or moved. this happened to my red wendtii, one of the first crypts i planted...at first i was alarmed but i noticed new growth already at the crown... so i help it a bit by plucking and trimming away leaves that begin to show any sign of melting, all the way down to the base of the plant... and man my crypts love it!

i'll post pics of my wendtii also. oh and gordon richard's told me one thing, he said: "remember fisherman.. fertz are a crypt's best friend" lol:)
 
#20 ·
Beautiful tank, looks like you have it well under control.



They do not always necessarily melt. I bought a number of crypt that were grown emmersed and I planted them, let them simmer in the new tank for a week before flooding it and I had maybe two stems melt and that was it. Not bad when you have 20 plants and only two leaves die off.
 
#22 ·
Holy cheese you have a nice tank! You got more growth in one month than I get in a whole year :hihi:.
thanks LTBF! right now i'm only dosing excel... i am totally psyched to see what kind of growth i will get when i start juicing CO2! maknwar's building one for me, just waiting on some parts. maybe this weekend! :D

I don't know if you already showed this, but whats your fish list? I see neons and dwarf rainbows. Anything else?
here's my fish list:

Fauna:
10 Cardinal Tetra
10 Chili Rasbora
10 CRS
8 Batik Nerite
6 Pygmy Cory
6 Dwarf Rainbowfish
6 Furcatas Rainbowfish
3 German Blue Ram (1 dead during spawning battle, I am very very sad :( )
3 Otocinclus
 
#23 ·
Progress 01-03-12, The New Year

Happy New Year! I just planted some awesome stems from a friend's SUPER awesome 75g tank takedown. I came away with an incredible total plant package that all I can say is, thank you.

Here are some community shots of my fish and new plant additions:D the plants aren't in their final position yet...I felt I just had to plug these guys into this tank cuz they seem to be the most fragile and demanding plants I received from the takedown. the other plants are in my 30 breeder dirt tank.

i will give them a week or two before I trim and re-position. FTS this weekend after I hack my weeds down! :D
 

Attachments

#26 ·
Progress 01-08-12

just a couple pics pre maintenance. i always hesistate before i hack away mu rotalas, i know my chilis and tetras love to hide in them. good thing its a weed! :)




Sent from my iPhone
 

Attachments

#28 ·
oh and my drawf lilies aren't so dwarf after all! thrse guys were bald bulbs when i got them and now they're pretty aggressive growers in the tank.

how would i thin these guys out? just trim the big leaves away close to the bulb? i know tiger lilies can be tempermental when u mess with them, i don't want to piss these giys off and it decides to melt!


Sent from my iPhone
 

Attachments

#33 ·
a couple hours and a power nap later....here's my hacked down tank!

FTS warning! i was brave and hacked away... not too brave tho i left some guys alone lol.

changes notes are:
- moved my hygro pinnatifidia (a more sturdy branch like plant) to shield my lanky sunset/green hygros from the clockwise current in my tank.
- replanted/positioned my p. stellata so its not shaded behin my rotalas
- literally beheaded my rotala walichi and repositioned to background
- same for my macrandra/indica bunch. divided them into basically two planted bunch tops behind DW
- replanted r. nanjenshan front and center behind stargrass
- accidentally lopped my synoganthus belem top off as i was pruning, replanted stubby top :O
- had to mechanically remove diatoms, i know they should be gone in time, but it was gettin pretty thick down there. i sensed my c. parva suffocating
- combed thru my flame moss
- hacked some p wort down
- of course the lilies and helped the crypts removed some melted stems
- dosed GH booster/Macros/Excel

I know my l. aromatica is happy, and of course the crazies (fishies) :D

a heck of a lot of work for a little tank... my back!



Sent from my iPhone
 

Attachments

#36 ·
Progress 01-11-12

the diatoms are relentless... i know they don't like light, I have both T5HO's blasting for 12hrs to the point i am seeing signs of BBA (on my c parva).

the diatoma continue to grow thick primarily on my slow growing parva. I'm over dosing excel already and my water is already very soft. the other plants (except for my temple hygro) are thriving. should I just hold tight and wait it out? please advise. :(



Sent from my iPhone
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top