The Fisherman's 20 Long Journal - The Workbench

[thefisherman]

03-01-12 Progress

Good Morning FTS


Some noteable groupings...

Syngonanthus sp. 'Belem' - these guys seem like they're enjoying the gassed environment.. i didn't realize they could grow so tall so fast, might harvest the 2-3" tops and replant. problem is where?!


Tonina Fluvalitis "lotus blossom"- same for these guys... soft acidic high light/fert/co2 lovers...the base of these i thought were getting ratty... but then i notice they are sprouting new plantlets. again i may have to chop tops and replant. space is an issue.


Limno Aromatica - best desicion I made was to bring these guys to this side of the tank and not hidden in the back corner. i have full view of these beastly stems and again baby offshoots coming from the base! i love these plants (and they smell good too!)


crypt. parva - believe it or not but parva is probabbly top 3 if not my favorite crypt of all time lol. i love these little guys, granted it takes them a mere century to grow, i still think they're awesome little plants... and it seems they are in fact enjoying the gaseous co2 environment. i notice they are much more perky these days. you guys were totally right.. crazydaz per your suggestion i added the root caps


on a misc. note here are some pics of my 30B's downstairs. i recently discussed (on knuggs fishroom thread) that my bare bottom tank is like a total jungle in need of maintenance. my workon this tank has been limited as i've had a recent fish fry hatch and afraid to harm the little guys. but as they are getting bigger (1/4" +/-) i may try to catch them into a bucket and try to setup the tank. i plan on using pure PFS substrate as it is meant to be a grow out tank only. root feeders will be individually potted in soil of course

the other 30B is my emersed setup... mostly potted crypts nothing fancy. it's taken a long while for these plants to adjust (most converted from submerged form) and several melts of course but nonetheless i'm proud to share their progress




- thefisherman

[GMYukonon24s]

Nice tanks and I like your emersed setup.

[crazydaz]

WOW! Nice Fisherman!!! The syngonanthus species LOVE CO2, but it does cause them to get leggy sometimes. Top and replant, but you are at a similar point that I go through....not enough space, and you hate yourself for throwing them out. You could try to RAOK some, but it gets hard to do that every week. You may want to increase your ferts a touch to keep everything colored up nicely and curb the leggy growth. See if that helps.

Limnophilia Aromatica is used as an herb for cooking, but you probably knew that...

Glad to hear that the root tabs/CO2 is helping with your Parva growth, man! It is a nice crypt!

And, I second GM's comment above: I really like your emersed crypt set up!!! How hard is that to do? I've been thinking about trying something similar, but am afraid that with my wicked travel schedule things could go wrong pretty quickly. I'm also fearful that it might smell to high heaven and my wife would make me get rid of it. How do you fertilize it?

[thefisherman]

Originally Posted by crazydaz

WOW! Nice Fisherman!!! The syngonanthus species LOVE CO2, but it does cause them to get leggy sometimes. Top and replant, but you are at a similar point that I go through....not enough space, and you hate yourself for throwing them out. You could try to RAOK some, but it gets hard to do that every week. You may want to increase your ferts a touch to keep everything colored up nicely and curb the leggy growth. See if that helps.

Limnophilia Aromatica is used as an herb for cooking, but you probably knew that...

Glad to hear that the root tabs/CO2 is helping with your Parva growth, man! It is a nice crypt!

And, I second GM's comment above: I really like your emersed crypt set up!!! How hard is that to do? I've been thinking about trying something similar, but am afraid that with my wicked travel schedule things could go wrong pretty quickly. I'm also fearful that it might smell to high heaven and my wife would make me get rid of it. How do you fertilize it?

thank you GMY, thanks crazy

your point about increasing nutrients is well taken! i did not think of connecting their "leggyness" to a lack thereof until you pointed it out... but it totally makes sense! thank you

i have been incrementally increasing ferts but my NO3 sticks to 0-5ppm! but tbh i've been afraid to go too muh on the ferts for fear of inducing an algae breakout or worse!

tomorrow's friday so i don't fert anyway, i will 2X my fert dosage this coming tank maintenace and see i i can beef up those stems

your right about the lack of space however, which is part of the reason i want to get my 30 breeder in order.

regardingthe crypt setup bro, its super easy and low maintenance... and ithink zach can concur leaving them alone is actually a good thing for emersed plants lol... i think your schedule will work out fine

as for the smell, i have a glass top so you can't really smell anything... but when you open it you definately know something is growing in there lol... but i love the smell of thriving plants! if your wife can handle the 200g beast, i think emersed setup should be a walk in the park for her

i think the great thing about the emersed setup is learning about each plants needs. i've had half the plants in there (mostly crypts) melt and the other half thrive... all in the same mixture of soil!

the trial and error of finding the right soil composition and mixture etc is just as challenging as balancing a high tech tank lol...and when you find the right conditions (or induce the right conditions in the soil) and your plant thrives its a great feeling.

at the end of the day, i find that all of my emersed work (including my 5g dirt tank) has helped me understand whats gong on in my 20L better. not to mention it has given me insight into my plans for the dream tank.

and you know what the best part is bro? dirt is cheap!!







- thefisherman

[zachary908]

Originally Posted by thefisherman

zach i have one thing to say to you man... buce buce buce gooo bucephalandra!

ok i lied i have another thing to say... i'm soo jealous of your 120g! :P

gratz again bro... i have yet another thread to stalk muahahhaaa!

Haha thanks, bro! Hopefully my supplies will come in the mail soon!

Originally Posted by thefisherman

zack i got the official barclaya zachfolia bulb sprout of pure awesomeness

Nice, it looks great! Glad to see it arrived okay! Get ready, those things are monsters!

[thefisherman]

03-02-12 Progress

good day fts


i found out we have elder duty all weekend... i'm always happy to spend time with granny and gramps but, i was looking forward to some QT time with my tanks (and my wife too of course!) lol

man i'm itching to get my 30B in order and scoop up all those little fry outta there. i have massive moss covered manzanita that i wanted to stand vertical as a backdrop across the backside of the tank... i wanted to get my sand substrate down, re-pot some of my plants...aww man!

well there is a silver lining... granny and gramps live 5 minutes away from an LFS and Pet Warehouse!


- thefisherman

[LetThereBeFish]

Haha I just looked at the first page of the journal with the specs FOR THE FIRST TIME and I was like "Tank size.....Lighting.....Filtration.....FlorHOLY CHEESE!!! thats a lot of plants!!" And I knew you had cypts, but wow.

[thefisherman]

Originally Posted by LetThereBeFish

Haha I just looked at the first page of the journal with the specs FOR THE FIRST TIME and I was like "Tank size.....Lighting.....Filtration.....FlorHOLY CHEESE!!! thats a lot of plants!!" And I knew you had cypts, but wow.

lol ya i know... and now 4 months later my plants are only now starting to really take off. space is a major problem

i really need to get that 30B downstairs organized and ready to go as a full blown grow out tank. right now its like a catch all for stuff i just can't throw out. its amazing how its sistaining itself with no
maintenance... especially the fry!


- thefisherman

[Al Slick]

Hey there!

I'm pretty sure that I got one stem of your limno aromatica with your package, I guess I'll have to smell it to see what it really is!

You have a lot of fish in that tank, I fell like you need a 40b haha

[thefisherman]

Originally Posted by Al Slick

Hey there!

I'm pretty sure that I got one stem of your limno aromatica with your package, I guess I'll have to smell it to see what it really is!

You have a lot of fish in that tank, I fell like you need a 40b haha

right on man! i know the plants didn't look their best when they arrives but believe me... that selection of specimens are tough as nails! and super weedy, you just have to give them a little TLC in order to cultivate new growth. i am confident that each stem will yield plenty of beautiful tops for you

i may have posted this pic up top... but these l. aromaticas come from the same batch of base stems you have. i've been cultivating the tops since january. now each has become its own stem with plantlets at the base! as u can see they are at the top of the waterline, not sure if i will top and replant as i have no more space lol. i also don't want to chop the bottoms as they many plantlets shooting from them. i might treat them like my rotalas and just lose the tops...i don't have my grow out tank going yet so... lucky for my next RAOK lol


03-03-12 pre granny and gramp daycare FTS


it seems that there are distinct
plant groupings that are starting to take shape. next maintenance, hopefully tomorrow, i may resort the syno and tonina to form tighter groupings. as stated above i might have to give up the l. aromatica tops.


the left side of my tank is the high flow side. after a nice trim when all the plants are equal in height it looks good... but due to the accelerated stem growth the left side looks empty now. i may relocate L broad leaf and p yatabeanus, hopefully the current isn't to strong.


lastly after a painstaking dial up of the bps... i guess i spoke too soon regarding the burkett solenoid amd ideal valve... like with all things mechanical new... there has to be a breaking in period. te co2 setup i have has been working great so far this week. i want to thank maknwar for the build!




- thefisherman

[thefisherman]

didn't really have time to trim and replant the way i wanted to today but...here's a the end result fts



- thefisherman

[crazydaz]

need to see a side by side comparison next week between pre- and post-CO2, Fish! What do you think so far? What's your assessment? Has it been worth moving to a pressurized CO2 system?

[thefisherman]

Originally Posted by crazydaz

need to see a side by side comparison next week between pre- and post-CO2, Fish! What do you think so far? What's your assessment? Has it been worth moving to a pressurized CO2 system?

i'm definately more confident with new plants going into my tank... i can tell the plants are loving the co2 environment.

the most aggressive growth believe it or not are my lilies... my two tiger lilies and the barclaya bulb sprout zah sent me is growing at an amazng rate!

i'm not sure what to do with my limno tops, if i should hack them or replant the tops. i think the way things are going in my tank an the close qairters everything is to each other, i might just have to lose the tops on most my stem plants. hopefully i'll get them to grow bushy and compact.

i started topping my syno belem... gonna try and see if i can get them to grow thick before i start RAOKing my cuttings lol

left side of my tank looks vacant still... primarily because of that strong current flow in my tank. thinking of aponogeton ulvaceus or lace for the backside of my tank as i know they like soft fast flowing water. idk we'll see i'm pretty broke right now lol


- thefisherman

[crazydaz]

I hear you on those lillies, man! They go crazy in high light/high CO2, and it is difficult to keep up with the trimming. I'm removing at least 4-5 leaves per week. If you had the space, I would suggest that you let it send of a few floating leaves and let it flower. I've done that before. A few days after the flower opens, cut it, and it should slow it's growing down after a while. On the plus side, you could move that to the "open" area you've been "whining" about for the past two-three weeks! JK!

My Barclaya loves my tank, and it should do well in yours! (Hint: it loves root tabs!)

Always top and replant; topping a plant can be done from time to time, but you are usually left with an unattractive stem until a new sprout can be re-formed and grow out. I don't recommend it, but it is a bit more messy and time consuming to do. I hate pulling roots out of the substrate and having a cloud of dust in my tank for a few hours.

Cutting the top off can encourage lateral, bushy growth though....you may have to experiment with this on a plant to plant basis. However, if you let a plant hit the surface, it will often start send out side shoots from it's base as well, which is a great way to multiply stems. If you let the syno's gain in height, they should send out more side shoots from the base. After those gain some height, I would top the main stem and replant, and separate the side shoots and replant those.

[thefisherman]

Originally Posted by crazydaz

I hear you on those lillies, man! They go crazy in high light/high CO2, and it is difficult to keep up with the trimming. I'm removing at least 4-5 leaves per week. If you had the space, I would suggest that you let it send of a few floating leaves and let it flower. I've done that before. A few days after the flower opens, cut it, and it should slow it's growing down after a while. On the plus side, you could move that to the "open" area you've been "whining" about for the past two-three weeks! JK!

My Barclaya loves my tank, and it should do well in yours! (Hint: it loves root tabs!)

Always top and replant; topping a plant can be done from time to time, but you are usually left with an unattractive stem until a new sprout can be re-formed and grow out. I don't recommend it, but it is a bit more messy and time consuming to do. I hate pulling roots out of the substrate and having a cloud of dust in my tank for a few hours.

Cutting the top off can encourage lateral, bushy growth though....you may have to experiment with this on a plant to plant basis. However, if you let a plant hit the surface, it will often start send out side shoots from it's base as well, which is a great way to multiply stems. If you let the syno's gain in height, they should send out more side shoots from the base. After those gain some height, I would top the main stem and replant, and separate the side shoots and replant those.

beotch and stitch baby! yea i am whining about that blank spot rear left but what i failed to mention was... my zexy crypt nurii chillin back there yo!! :O

ya she's been hiding back there for a bit. i figured It was the only space appropriate for this plant in the fast flowing low corner of my tank. the problem is its compact and short. this results in the appearance of a vacant backdrop... and anything long and stemmy i try to plant back there just gets blown away. don't worry i have a plan. hopefully the plant i am thinking of [cough] aponogeton ulvaceaus [cough] will still be for sale this weekend

top and replant bro i know!... problem is when i top, i got no more space to replant its a real problem man, i gotta figure this out. i don't want to toss the tops or clippings in my 30B cuz i know these particular high demand stems will suffer coming from a high tech environment. idk we'll see, maybe i can get my other co2 setup going for the 30B.... oh wait i need a diffuser! any suggestions? :O

regarding my lilies.. i
might cram one of those maniac bulbs into a cavity in my driftwood lol... i'm sure it won't mind

we'll see wha happens

random crypt of the day




- thefisherman