29 gallon w/ manzanita burl **update 10/5 - new pics!**

[turbowagon]

It's been almost a year since I set up my first planted tank, and I finally got around to adding a hardscape. I got this nice burl from Rich (manzanita.com). It was a little too big, so I cut it in half with a Sawzall to make two pieces. Man is this stuff dense. It felt like I was cutting rock!

After soaking the wood for about 4 weeks, I removed all of my plants and vacuumed the substrate pretty good. Did a few water changes to reduce the NH4 that I stirred up, and rescaped my tank.

I know it would look better if the foreground was less busy, but I'm still in the collectoritis stage, and this is my only tank! I have to keep one of everything. I'm also anxious for the background to grow in a bit.

Here are some photos:

Before:



After:







Comments welcome!


Here is the plant list:

Alternanthera reineckii "roseafolia"
Bacopa sp. Colorata "pink"
Blyxa Japonica
Cryptocoryne balansae
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
Echinodorus sp. from Sao Paulo
Fissidens fontanus
Hydrocotyle leucocephala
Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides
Hydrocotyle vulgaris
Hygrophila corymbosa "Angustifolia"
Micromenia sp.
Murdannia spirata
Pogostemon stellatus "narrow leaf"
Polygonum sp.
Purple bamboo
Riccia fluitans
Rotala macrandra var green
Rotala sp. "mini"
Rotala sp. from Goias


Fauna:

1 Blue gourami
4 Corydoras hastatus
2 Cardinal tetras
1 Cherry barb
3 Otocinclus cats

[lumpyfunk]

Looking good, I really like the burl! I have been thinking about ordering from them, but like to see what I am getting. With all the fine pieces I see people here getting, I am confidant I can order with out any worries!

What are you going to plant on the driftwood?. . . . colectoritis here we come!

[fresh_lynny]

Nice job, Turbo....everything looks happy and healthy, especially your Blue Gourami!

[turbowagon]

lumpy - I may try some willow or java moss on the wood. I also have two clumps of fissidens that I may try to tie to the wood.

fresh_newby - Thanks! Satine poses for almost all of my pictures and she's been in my tank since day one (before it was even planted) over 2 years ago.


For the past few weeks I cut my photoperiod to just 65W for 8 hours (29 gallon tank). Although plant growth has slowed down a bit, all of my algae issues have slowed down even further. Even though they are growing slower, the plants are healthier too. Thanks to WolfenxXx for the lighting advice.

[George Willms]

Looks nice turbowagon. You might also want to try some anubias on the wood. I could always trade you some if you want it.

[turbowagon]

Thanks! I'll trade for some Anubias. See anything you want to trade for?

[George Willms]

I'd kill for some narrow leaf stellata...

[turbowagon]

No problem, that's my fastest-growing weed! (and one of my favorite plants, too) I do need to wait a week or two for it to fill in though. But then I can probably send you 3-4 stems plus some extras. I'll send you a PM once I have enough.

[George Willms]

sounds great. I used to have that plant and I miss it dearly. It was always a weed for me too... if you follow the progression of my tank you can see how it grew for me!

[ianmoede]

Very nice change. Your blue gourami is beautiful! They tend to uglify as they get larger, but yours still looks good I think the comments about dressing the wood with anubias, moss, or fern are accurate. You're just a few plants and some string short of a very well scaped aquarium.

[the_noobinator]

do you use one of those coralife "colormax" bulbs or is that your regular light strip that is popping out the red hues?

[turbowagon]

I am currently using 2 GE 9325K 55W bulbs in my 2X65W Coralife fixture. (only one on at a time, but for the photo both are on).

The mazanita piece I have has some really nice reddish colors to it. The A. reineckii in the background is naturally a really bright red underneath. Also the polygonum sp. takes on an interesting orange color.

[Wö£fëñxXx]

Joe

That is looking so much better buddy, nice job, the plants are looking super healthy.
I think you have got it going on now, you are on your way.

This is a perfect example of what I have been trying to tell folks about burning to much light all day long everyday.

Now you can add your other 65w bulb in the day at times, or on weekends.

Grow with the plants/tank, increase ferts a bit when tank grows heavy.

Nice job
Bravo

[turbowagon]

Thanks Craig for the advice and the plants (you may have noticed more than half of the species in my tank are from you). It's amazing how much a tank's health can change in a month. Here's the thread that illustrates the algae problems I had just a few weeks ago from using too much light:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/ge...help-pics.html

[Wö£fëñxXx]

You are welcome, I did notice a few plant sp. that looked familiar, they are all looking good, update soon please

One month's time you can have one looking very healthy, I've also been guilty of torchin the plants...