The Fisherman's 20 Long Journal - The Workbench

[talontsiawd]

Originally Posted by zachary908

Just trim of the leaves that are large and shooting high. That will encourage it to grow lower and more compact. I've always been pretty aggressive with trimming my lilies and never had any issues.

Yup. Just cut it shorter. It will stay compact if you consistantly trim. It will only try to grow high again after it has made a bunch of new shoots and hasn't been trimmed.

[thefisherman]

Originally Posted by talontsiawd

Yup. Just cut it shorter. It will stay compact if you consistantly trim. It will only try to grow high again after it has made a bunch of new shoots and hasn't been trimmed.

thanks guys... well i kept one guy a little tall. my pygmy cories love to use the leaves as a landing pad, i didn't want to take it away from them lol

i chopped the other guy down tho.


Sent from my iPhone

[thefisherman]

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)

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



Sent from my iPhone

[thefisherman]

FTS shot


Sent from my iPhone

[thefisherman]

Good morning FTS






Sent from my iPhone

[thefisherman]

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

[LetThereBeFish]

Very nice/amazing/im very jealous stems. Maybe popping a root tab under the hygro temple will help it. It sure helped my hygro compact. Also, well for my hygro, they seem to like their space. So maybe its a little choked out.

[crazydaz]

Not really sure why you just NOW be seeing brown algae this late into the set up. Ottos love to eat diatoms, but other than being a little annoying to look at, brown algae doesn't do much in the way of harming plants. Usually, it just goes away as the tank finishes cycling. That's usually when you start seeing other algae problems take over (thread and dust algae).

That's a really, really colorful 20gallon you got there Fisherman. Well done!! Just stay patient with it!

[thefisherman]

thank you crazy, thank you LTBF of course this means a lot coming from people who's tanks you are already a fan of :P


Sent from my iPhone

[thefisherman]

Progress 01-13-12

well i had a beer last night and decided to suspend my light finally.

as of now i have it suspended 4" above the top; what a difference it makes. i believe the tank looks more natural this way. what do you guys think?




Sent from my iPhone

[crazydaz]

double thumbs up, my friend! It doesn't look like you lose too much light due to the increased distance. Nice job!

[thefisherman]

Originally Posted by crazydaz

double thumbs up, my friend! It doesn't look like you lose too much light due to the increased distance. Nice job!

thanks crazy, definately a better distribution of light. i used to have hotspots and dark spots in my tank when the fixture was plumb ontop of the tank. my c.parva suffered the most cuz i could see the beginnigs of BBA on their leaves!

the only thing i noticed that irked me a little was the shadow my rim cast, but i decided i could live with it lol. but the diatoms... ughhh!


Sent from my iPhone

[thefisherman]

just a progress FTS after yesterday's maintenance


Sent from my iPhone

[talontsiawd]

That is looking good my friend. What is the orange plant infront of the indica? Looks really cool. Can't wait to see the back fill out.

[thefisherman]

thanx bro... i think its rotala nanjenshan, in a couple of weeks i should have a couple cuttings i can send your way

i love the blyxa japonica you sent me, idk if you can see it in the pic, but i found a perfect spot for them

ya i had to hack the limnophila in the back and remived my waluchi. cuz the base stems were bunched and weren't getting enough light.





Sent from my iPhone