shalu's 100 gallon tank-updated 04-17-2005*bandwidth warning*

[Ibn]

Plexi is synonymous w/acrylic.

[pufferfreak]

opps, my bad, sorry guys! I love the tank though, looks so great, love the White Discus! ITS so Beautiful!

[shalu]

Enough fish for the time being. let's talk a bit about plants.
There are a lot of confusion about rotala indica/rotundifolia. I've got two distinct cultivars in this picture, not sure of their proper species:


Rotala magenta has eluded me for some time. The bunch from 8 months ago was down to the last black, leafless stem. At least it is sprouting new growth now, there is still hope:

I bought another bunch of magenta in my recent plant purchase, and it looks like this!

This looks almost exactly like emersed rotala macrandra. Maybe I should not be surprised because magenta is considered a "mutant" of macrandra anyway, it might reverse back. I am anxious to see how this bunch turns out.

Ammania bonsai is quite rare in the US. It is a cute drawf plant. I suspect I got the emersed stems:

One stem is producing orange new leaves, like its cousin A. gracilis. Can't wait to see how this one turns out too.

Ludwigia ovalis, it is interesting that this leaf color is not due to nutrient difficiency(low N/P):


red cabomba, wow, can't believe I waited this long to get this plant.


M. umbrosum, it is not very common in the US and its name is often confused with M. micranthemoides. Its leaves are more round and growth is more upward.


Ludwigia 'pantanal'. I can't believe they sent me a few puny little stems 2-3 inches long, the stems are thinner than rotala wallichii. well, time to practice the macro mode of the camera:


I ordered Nesaea sp, not realizing it is the "Red leaved" variety.


oh yeah, my goal is to jam as many species(especially the red/orange plants) as possible into the tank while trying to make it look not too crapy, so normal rules of aquascaping do not apply here

[shalu]

ok, one more discus,

Scorpion snakeskin. I quite like its shape.

[Ibn]

That scorpion snakeskin looks great!

You're correct that's R. macranda that you have there. Also, where did you get that Nesaea sp. red from? I've been looking for this stuff for awhile now, but haven't seen anything that colorful in awhile (mine got nuked awhile back due to some negligence ). Same applies for that red cabomba.

[shalu]

Eric, this whole plant order came from aquariumlandscapes.net. Their shipping/handling is rediculous, but they do have some uncommon plants. If I can grow enough plants, I will take some to future plant swap meetings, never been to one before.

[Ibn]

Sounds good. For some reason I love the look of Nesaea sp. red. You weren't kidding when you were talking about prices, but they do have some very nice stuff (if it holds up to those pictures). Great collection of crypts...

[teddo10]

Sorry to butt in like this, but isn't 100 gall a little small for 13 discus. I've always learned 50 lit (13 gallon) for one adult discus? Unless you have a super filtrationsystem?

Ed

[shalu]

There is no hard rules, just rough guidelines. All depends on filtration, feeding, and most importantly, water change. Some breeders get away with much higher fish density by doing far more water changes.

[rayhwong]

Hi Shalu,
Do you take into consideration open space for your discus to swim in when you plant your tank? My plants are growing to fast and they crowd out the room to swim. The discus seem more stressed when this happens.
-Ray

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Originally Posted by shalu

There is no hard rules, just rough guidelines. All depends on filtration, feeding, and most importantly, water change. Some breeders get away with much higher fish density by doing far more water changes.

So just what is your water change regimen? Since you mentioned it!
That looks like a gorgeous tank!

[shalu]

Ray, I try to keep the plants shorter to get more open space. Sometimes I let it go a bit too long, though . Now I love those "meaty" stem plants that is slower in gaining height, like Limnophila aromaticoides, Eusteralis stellata. But they have short internode and lots of leaves, so the rate of gaining biomass is still high. Still weekly trimming is almost mandatory, but not too bad. I made trimming much easier by using plant weights instead of planting stems. It saves a lot of time for me. I am glad Tom Barr figured out that one can rely completely on water column nutrient dosing. Plants like hornwort can grow 20 inches in a week in my tank, and they are out of there.

Sam, more than 99% people on this board : 3x60% per week. but less than some discus fanatics And I don't store the water before hand, just use lukewarm tap water, Python and water conditioner.

[rayhwong]

Which water conditioner do you use Shalu? Do you add enough to treat 100g water? I was always concerned about how fast can it get the chloramine out.

[shalu]

Ray, I use the Tap Water Conditioner(super strength) by Aquarium Pharmaceutical. At one drop per gallon of new water. One gallon conditioner will last me years. I am not concerned about any ammonia released from chloramine unbounding. My wet/dry filter can handle that without any problem. I am not seeing any fish stress after each water change.

[shalu]

I have to admit the GE9325K bulb is growing on me. I have never seen my lotus leaves this red before,


Here are couple of slightly better pics of fish,
the blue diamond


the $5 turq,