Complexity Journal: 75g "High Tech" Planted Tank / New pics 8-24-2012!

[Karackle]

As always, your tank is looking gorgeous! The colors of your plants are so amazing, it's almost enough to make me want to go high tech so I can get those colors too!

[Complexity]

Originally Posted by fastfreddie

Vicki,
The tank looks stunning, and I'm sure it was a lot of work to get it there! You were the first person to help me on TPT when I started a planted tank in November 2008! I'm glad to see you are still at it, and making beautiful tanks for us all to enjoy!
Freddie

Oh, wow, isn't it amazing how this hobby keeps us interested for such a long time! Thanks for the nice words on my tank. I'm glad I was able to help you when you started and that you're still enjoying your tanks. Now you need to update your journals! Your tanks looked great in the last updates, but it's been a long time since you've posted any new pics. I'd love to see them!

[Complexity]

Originally Posted by HD Blazingwolf

you are righ some of the colors are off a bit, but i will say this. cameras caputre colors we otherwise miss.

i've found c02 can make a difference in color as well. pictures taken with the same camera with c02 too low will appear bland and with c02 where it should be will be deeper colored to the camera

the rubin will actually turn a purplish color under the right conditions

The colors are terribly off in the pics. While my rubin doesn't look as purple as yours, it's definitely as richly colored. It's just more of a rich red without the blue. But that may have something to do with our different lighting.

OTHERWISE
the cleaning looks amazing.. the tank definitely did need it. i'd agree it looked liek some rhizo was getting ready to grow.. tank looks great hot shot!
the chromis looks beautiful as well. excellent pair!

Thanks! I'm really pleased with how it turned out. Best of all, it's been 2 weeks now, and the algae is not returning! That means the tank has finally switched over to the "mature" side. I had a feeling it was happening by everything I was seeing in the tank. Even though it had become a mess before the clean out, that was due to the plants becoming overgrown.

Now my 90g is becoming jam-packed with plant growth. I really, really need to get the plants sorted out between these two tanks.

[Complexity]

Originally Posted by Karackle

As always, your tank is looking gorgeous! The colors of your plants are so amazing, it's almost enough to make me want to go high tech so I can get those colors too!

Thank you! The colors is what drives me to do the high tech setup. Well, the colors and the pearling. I don't know why, but I'm always mesmerized by watching the pearling each day. I'm so easily entertained!

When I make myself take the time to finally figure out my new fancy fandangled camera, I might actually get some pictures that really show off the plant colors. They're much nicer than what the pics have shown so far.

[HD Blazingwolf]

The difference in color is due to lighting.
The tint of the plant is the same. I just have more blue to reflect.
I actually did a small bulb rearrange and it looks a little less purple.

My persicaria is a beautiful pink now thought.. and ill have u a decent shot of some hygro araguaia shortly. I know u had a question on that plant. Or a plant id in question maybe

[Complexity]

Looking forward to the pics!

I spent the day cleaning and moving rocks! LOL! Back when I switched my 90g from a cichlid tank to a planted tank, I pulled out the old rocks and put them on my patio. They've sat there ever since. I'm at the point that I need to start planning out my scapes for my 90g and 75g tanks, and in the process, I started pulling out rocks and whatnot. Which led me to wanting to clean up all my rocks... which led me to cleaning up the mess of rocks on my patio. So... I spent the whole day cleaning out three sets of rocks and the containers they were in.

I have to give my husband a lot of credit. He's not into my tanks, but he's willing to do some of the heavy work for me. I have no idea how many pounds of rocks he carried around for me today, but it was a bunch! Both our backs are going to be killing us tomorrow!

But I have nice, clean, organized rocks now! LOL!

[HD Blazingwolf]

ALA hygro araguaia

the red circle is proper growth. i had a huge melt off of araguaia, star repens, and macrandra and this is the resulting new growth.. the macrandra totally died

i feel like i got attacked by disease or a very hungry botia striata. platns just kept melting and melting

while others were okay?? i guess these were just tasty snacks


I GUESS it would help to uplaod the pic !!!

[Complexity]

Red circle?

Sorry to hear about the melting. I doubt it's the loaches though. I had them in my 75g for many years, and they never ate any of the plants. Something else must have gone wrong. That's weird though. Maybe heat? Have your tanks been hotter recently with the hot weather we've been having?

[HD Blazingwolf]

picture uploaded.
tank stays at a comfortable 79 degree year round

[Complexity]

Yes, uploading the picture helps! LOL!

That is definitely not the plant I have. The leaves are much more elongated. Thanks for the pic!

If it's not the temp, then I wonder what else could be causing your plants to melt?

I'm having something weird go on in my 75g right now. Certain plants, such as my Cabomba, are absolutely covered in oxygen bubbles. And I mean covered. I can't figure out why. I finally got the CO2 increased so that the drop checker is showing yellow, but wow, all those oxygen bubbles can't possibly be from pearling. There are so many on the plant that I can't even see the plant anymore! It's unreal!

I've checked to see if I'm getting any oxygen purging through one of my filters, causing microbubbles to shoot out of the spray bar, but I'm not seeing any. So I don't understand what's going on. The CO2 isn't gassing the fish so it can't be too high.

[HD Blazingwolf]

It means you have BUTTLOADS of light and enough c02 to keep them happy... HOW CAN U POSSIBL THINK SOMETHING IS WRONG.. your weird LOL. this is what should be happening
c02 strikes again

mine do this all the time

and yellow drop checker doesn't kill fish.. mine is all the time
even my 5dkh solution is yellow my fishies are supposed to be dead by forum rules

[Complexity]

Yeah... but.... but... I like pearling, but this is nuts! It's beyond nuts! I honestly can't see the plant! It's literally covered in thousands of oxygen bubbles from head to toe!

Hmm... but that might explain why the cabomba has grown to the surface and beyond?

[HD Blazingwolf]

si senorita!! it does good stuff

i BET MONEY the bubbles are commming out of the stems of the bacopa as well

you shouldn't get much if any green dot algae at this point either

[Complexity]

So do I have to go watch the cacomba to see if it's oozing oxygen to confirm it's pearling? That's right up there with watching grass grow and paint dry! LOL!

[Complexity]

Ah, I figured it out. The plants are pearling, but the unnatural amount of oxygen bubbles is caused by the slightest amount of algae starting to grow which has trapped the bubbles. So they're not releasing from the plant like they normally would. That's why the plant is covered with so many of them.

I just fed the fish, and when they're done eating, I'm going to do a full tank treatment of H2O2 and then do a water change. This is the first sign of algae I've seen since I cleaned the tank out a couple weeks ago.