if pics are a thousand words....(2.5 pico) *PIC INTENSIVE*

[amphirion]

@joraan: thanks very much for that tidbit---i've recently increased the iron dosing, about a week or two ago---hopefully the changes will happen fast. appreciate helping me get my downoi to tip top condition again. im sure the anubias could appreciate the iron dosing as well.

[ZooTycoonMaster]

Wow. This tank is amazing! One of my favorite nanos

[jake1337]

Great tank. Jaw droping.

[sampster5000]

I love the pygmy's and the CPD's!

[Karackle]

Wow this tank is gorgeous! It looks MUCH bigger than 2.5g too the way you've scaped it! Well done! If I didn't know from personal experience how big B. brigittae are for size comparison, I'd swear they were 3inch fish in a huge tank! love this!

[Dollface]

Hey Amphirion, I've gotten a couple of questions about what the submersed form looks like, would you mind if I used some of your photos as examples, possibly in my sales thread? With full credit of course.

[home grown]

WOW.

btw what substrate are you using?

[amphirion]

Originally Posted by Dollface

Hey Amphirion, I've gotten a couple of questions about what the submersed form looks like, would you mind if I used some of your photos as examples, possibly in my sales thread? With full credit of course.

fo sho!

Originally Posted by home grown

WOW.

btw what substrate are you using?

i am using florabase for this setup.

thanks everyone for the kind comments. much appreciated!

[Kibblemania1414]

what carpet is that? i would like to get some of those plants

[amphirion]

@kibble: it's Utricularia graminifolia (UG) and Dollface is selling it.

[Dollface]

Originally Posted by amphirion

fo sho!

Awesome, thanks

[schg]

This tank is so sweet, really inspiring. Are those celestial pearls in some of the pictures?

[amphirion]

Originally Posted by schg

This tank is so sweet, really inspiring. Are those celestial pearls in some of the pictures?

yup only 3 though...

[ADA]

Utterly, utterly beautiful! Wow... I have a 1.9 and a 2.9 and was pretty disheartened, from so many ppl saying that smaller tanks like these are MUCH harder to keep the water stable enough (which I'm sure it is), but feel much better after seeing this!.. wow.
Can you give me any advice, I have had a lot of shrimp die one me... my tanks are only about 3 months old though, so the plants are not super thick or bushy yet.. does it get easier once the plants grow in a lot?

I have a 12W light on my 1.9 (Coralife Mini T5), and am running a Zoomed 501, but no Co2. The plants seem to be growing well, albeit very slowly, so I'm not sure if I want to add is or not. I have marsillea (a couple of different species) some mini swords, Belem grass, HC and Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides in there.

My 2.9 has a 27W Archea clip-on light, Zoomed 501 and the same plant list, as well as a large piece of driftwood and some mosses (Oh, and a couple of different Rotala species)
I have pressurized Co2 on that one, at about 0.5bps, and I try to keep the Co2 at 30ppm.

I do a water change and dose both tanks twice a week with Yamato Green-N

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks!!!

[amphirion]

Thanks ADA, i'll try to give as much advice as i possibly can...
yes, plant biomass takes a while to start, but once when it does, it grows at an exponential rate and will fill out your tank in no time.
from what i can tell, many of the plants in this tank are very low maintenance in the following areas:


UG: no nutrient dosing, or negligent dosing (does not draw nutrients from the substrate)
but requires High lighting and High CO2.
Mini Pelia: versatile plant, undemanding in terms of lighting, nutrients and CO2.
Downoi: probably the most demanding plant in this setup: high Fe needed
Anubias Nana Petite: low light plant, but needs adequate Fe.
Rotala macrandra japan 'red': moderate lighting.

I hope you can see that the plants here are balanced pretty well. Anubias nana, and pelia obtain nutrients from the water column. UG takes nutrients from microscopic organisms, and Downoi and Rotala take from the substrate and water column. None of the plants are forced to out compete each other for nutrients. I believe this is one the possible reasons why they are able to do so well.

I have high lighting...im using a 36 W (10,000K/6700K) which roughly translates to 14.4 wpg---very high light indeed. i will admit that the mini pelia and the anubias dont like high lighting as much as the other plants.

My CO2 system is DIY yeast reactor, and i use a drop checker to check CO2 saturation levels...beyond that, i cant tell you much.

Water changes must be done weekly to avoid nitrate buildup which algae exploits.

That's really all i can tell you, i hope it helps.