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ADA/ADG tank: HC Meadow

4K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  plantbrain 
#1 ·
A simple composition. HC and Marsilea, hairgrass, Japanese river stone, head-and-tail-light tetras.
Substrate: Aqua Soil "Amazonia", Power Sand SPECIAL M, Tourmaline BC
Lighting: ADA 8000K HQI, 2 X 36watt 8000K PC
 

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#5 ·
Wow, the HC looks even better than the glosso in the similar Amano tanks. Very nice.

I've wanted to do a tank like that for a long time, but do you get a lot of algae problems? Seems like just having one kind of plant would leave you even more open to it (well, you have a couple plants, but you know what I mean).
 
#6 ·
That is a very nice tank..Almost like amano's just that he uses glosso instead. But i guess the smaller HC gives the tank a bigger look=). You mentioned hairgrass but somehow i do not see it..perhaps you could post another close up picture of the tank?
 
#7 ·
No algae battle on this one- nor any of the "minimal" layouts I have done recently with ADA substrate. This tank only ever had some real minor BBA crop up on the rocks that I annihilated with blasting CO2 and Flourish EXCEL-- double dose after water changes which I increased to every 3-4 days, 50%. I also used ADA Phyton-Git heavily during that 3-4 week period, plus physical removal with a steel brush just before water change. The BBA never reached a point where anyone but me knew it was there. The plants growth out of the gate was superb. I did have to scrub the rocks a few times before the tank reached point where the rocks started staying pretty much perfectly clean all the time-- which I attribute to VERT LEAN WATER COLUMN.
I dose this tank very lightly-- ADA Step 1, then 2 and Brighty K, about 1/2 to 3/4 dose every other day. I'll do a full dose after water change. ECA is added after water change and whenever the HC starts to look a little pale. 3 days of ECA and it always colors back up fully.

I just stay really on top of water changes and keep a super close eye on these types of layouts as to avoid the whole algae scenario. I also personally don't confuse my self or complicate things with too much (read "no") water testing. Deal with each problem quickly and logically as soon as it appears.

Lights= 3 hours PC, 6 hours PC + HQI, last hour back to just PC.

I will pull together a close up image also. The hairgrass is really minimal use.
 
#10 ·
I love the feel this tank gives. serene and hypnotic. Very nice tank, Jeff. Sweet growth~
 
#11 ·
thatguy said:
how tall is the substrate in the rear and the front?

i cant tell if the angle of the photo is looking down a bit on the tank, and making the slope appear acute or if the angle is more flat there really is just alot of slope.
There is a decent slope to this tank, but moreso, I have let the HC get very deep while knowing that the Marsilea would stay really low. The HC in the back alone is 4 inches deep or so. This effectively accentuates the slope. For once I planne dit that way and it actually worked out that way! It has also made this tank really low maintenance (in terms of trimming, anyway). I just let the HC grow wild in the whole back section, just rimming the stray runners and stems that would "stick up". In other words, the only trimming was minor and just to maintain consistency.

Thanks fresh_newby for the cool analysis. Serene and hypnotic are definitely desirable outcomes for this type of layout style.
 
#13 ·
Jeff,

I've been seeing how low you can go with HC and light.
Maybe it's a limbo thing.

I'm getting good growth even at get this: 25 micromoles of light at the tips of the plant.

2000 is full sun.
Most moderate light tanks are 50-100, high light tanks maybe 200 or so, at 10 cm distance in air, 2 x 55w PC run 450 micromoles.
Max light use is about 600 for most aquatic plants.

The tank is 28" deep and have NO FL's at about 1.5 w/gal.
Most would say no way, but the weed is growing(ADA AS, nothing else, just added ferts to the water column)

If you slow the growth rates down once it's grown in with the light, then you don't have dose hardly anything.

It's almost a non CO2 method.
I'm surprised at the growth, it's new growth also, not just "reaching".

I've also seen some decent HC tanks without any CO2, they used Excel.
HC is far better than Gloss to deal with.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
#15 ·
Interesting, Tom. I do agree heartily that HC (and Marsilea, esp. since it is actually a similar leaf shape) are easier to work with than Glosso. I am sort of over Glosso right now for that reason, but certainly it has it's place.
briandmiles-- I had trouble it with it initially too. Not trying to throw in a shamless plug, but it wasn't until I got it in ADA substrate that I perosnally had success with it, though I know others have done well with it in other substrates. too.
 
#16 ·
Look under the tetra on the right side of the school.
__________________
John P.
Man you are right,too bad i didn't notice it..haha. It could have been more,like that of amano's, he really did a great job of making both types complement one another. With the hairgrass planted in small clumps and thinning out from the back to the front of the tank.
 
#19 ·
bpm2000 said:
so does the marsilea and HC grow intermingled? ive been wanting to add HC on top of my marsilea for a while.
Part of the trimming maintenance is to keep the HC from growing too much into the Marsilea. Every other week or so I spend a little time trimming out the runners are venturing too far astray. Luis Navarro, upon seeing this tank when it was first set up, warned me that the HC would take over the Marsilea really quickly. Through this focus on keeping them separated in the key areas, I've managed to defy the predictions and now the HC is sort of "trained" and the trimming maintenance is pretty minimal most weeks. About once amonth I'll really spend some time on it. I could have shot this tank weeks ago and had a real similar look.

PinkRasbora- Thank you very much!
 
#20 ·
I agree with Jeff about it, I can grow it in Onyx sand fine, but it grows like a weed in ADA AS.

Anyone that tries both, will agree.

It does make some plants much easier to grow and this is likely due to a few possible mechanism.

NH4 preferences of some plants/ionic charge balance
Texture, it's softer and easier for roots to penetrate

These are the main things.
I think the big isse is that if you have lot of nutrients/CO2 etc, then low light is not an issue for most so called high light/foreground etc type plants.

Folks that want to utilize the fish waste more and not prune as much, might take heed.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 
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