Safado's 55g (Warning 56K) New Pics 10/08

[Safado]

Here are a few questions I still have:

would Calcium Carbonate be beneficial or harmful? I see a lot of people recomending CaCl instead of CaCO3. Is this only because of the difficulty in getting the CaCO3 to disolve? Does the CaCl affect the PH?

Any ideas on what I can do with the forground? Should I wait until the Dwarf sag and the reddish plant (Nymphaea stellata) grow more, or should I try glosso, HC, or Riccia, or anything I've not thought of?

I have seen that the dwarf sag will send out runners, but how does the red plant above spread? Will it? Or should I expect it to start growing taller instead of spreading out?

Edit: Here is a pic of the part I would like a foreground plant in. the one problem I see is there is a bit of a current here.

[Safado]

I am afraid I am not reall happy with the way the tank looks right now. It just seems cluttered. A black Background would help a lot, but I can't think of a way to do that now without breaking the tank down, which I am not thrilled about doing. I picked up some HC (Thanks Baj). It was in great shape. I am hoping it will fill in. It seems that it is at best stagnate. I also picked up some Christmas Moss from Capricorn77. He did a great job of shipping it and it was in wonderful shape. I made a new moss wall with it. I filled it in a little thicker than I had done with the Java Moss, so hopefully it grows more evenly. I modified the moss wall design by "Troy McClure." I bought some super strong magnets from Ebay. The great thing is they had a hole in the middle of them, so they were easy to atach to the Cross stitching plastic. I just sewed them on. Much easier than Super Glue. I also used 8 of them becaus my first wall wasn't staying flush with the glass, and I think I lost an otto behind it.

When I was rearranging the Java Moss wall I brushed my hand agains the riccia, and a big clump of it broke off. It looked funny with a hole in the middle so I brushed my hand over the rest of it to break of the majority of it. There is still a bunch of little pieces so I think it will regrow quickly. I now have a bunch of little branches floating on the surface. I don't think this is a problem, and I am thinking of some uses for it.

The Parrot's Feather is the big surprise for me. I have read in many places that it is not supposed to be fully submerged, and I am pretty sure it was originally emerged growth I added to the tank, but it seems to be doing very well. I am trimming it every week. It is the big change in the before and after image. What is odd is the difference in the stems. Some of the tips are bright green, some brownish (but not melting) and some are pink.

My Ludwiga (Repens I think) Is doing VERY poorly, and I think it is headed to the garbage if I can't figure out how to grow it better. It is probalby too little light, because I moved a single stalk to the middle of the tank and it seems to be doing well. They may be planted to close together.

The other big change was moving the "Java Fern Lava Rock Thing" to the left, and moving the Dwarf Lily. I think that makes the tank look a little better. Now I just need to work on the foreground.

Here are the pics:
Before the trimming yesterday:


Today:


Another bit of news. I saw my first shrimplet in this tank. It is hard to find them in a 55g. Any ideas about how many I can get in here? The quality is not great.


This surprised me. over three days I watched my outflow bar get covered in some sort of fuzz algae. I was going to clean it off, because nothing seemed to be touching it until about the fifth day, when there was a near perfect square missing. Each day there has been another chunk taken out of it. Now all that is left is this. It seems like something was cultivating it. That is the reflection on the right. last Monday the entire thing was covered that thickly.


Thanks for taking a look. Let me know if you have any pointers.

[Safado]

No real updates. The only change this week was the trimming of some of the parrot's feather, which was done after the photos were taken.

Straight on:


From where I sit now:

[conduct]

How this tank is really starting to fill out I think in the next month you are going to see a huge difference in plant growning for sure. Looks real nice keep up the good work.

[BSS]

Originally Posted by Safado

A black Background would help a lot, but I can't think of a way to do that now without breaking the tank down, which I am not thrilled about doing.

Why would you have to break the tank down? Just tape some black construction paper to the tank back, or better yet, get a piece of fabric from Walmart (or similar), attach it to some cardboard and attach that to the back of the tank. You gotta be able to get something that thin back there . FWIW, I ended up using twisted paperclips that I stuck into the cardboard and then hung the clips over the top lip of my tank with my current background.

Making good progress. Keep it up!
Brian.

[Safado]

Brian and Conduct,
Thanks for the responses!

Originally Posted by BSS

I ended up using twisted paperclips that I stuck into the cardboard and then hung the clips over the top lip of my tank with my current background.

That is a great idea. I think I will take that on as the next project. I am in the middle of house hunting now, so both finances and time are short. If I do end up with the house I am looking at now, I will have to break the tank down anyhow, so maybe it would be a good time to put up the background then.

[Safado]

Not much of an update. Just a new photo before a trimming. I'll post a new pick when the cloud dies down. I picked up three dwarf crays at an auction, and thanks to the Dwarf Sag, I think I can officially be taken off the plant killer list.


The photo is a little under exposed, but it shows how much the parrot's feather and the L Repens in the center has grown. The L Repens on the right is getting dangerously close to getting the ax.


If you can't see the image try:
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5.../100820051.jpg

[Pseud]

Wow, what a change from beginning to now. Looks great!

[Safado]

Originally Posted by Pseud

Wow, what a change from beginning to now.

Yeah, It has filled in a lot! I am still making changes, but today was one of the few times I was actually happy with it. For perspective, here is the pic I took right after setting it up:

[Safado]

Here is a pic of the tank taken today. Besides the general trimming I cut the dwarf Lilly quite a bit.

[Sweet Violet]

Wow~! What a difference~! I think your tank looks super~! After seeing this....Now I want some L. Repens too~

[eds]

Man, it's a jungle in there!

I'm always interested in the 55s people post, because I'm just now setting one up myself, and am fully aware of the scaping challenge they can present.

IMO it looks much better with the java fern/rock thingy moved to the left. At first, I didn't really like the rock itself, but it is far less noticeable with the ferns on it, and the structure must be neat for the inhabitants.

Why exactly are you putting in a moss wall? Because - IMO - it doesn't really add too much to your scape. In pictures, at least, it kinda detracts a bit, because it makes the top line of plants look pretty even all the way across. I can imagine the open space before the moss would be more obvious in person. But just consider the possibility that an open space all the way to the back of the tank about 2/3 in from one end might add the impression of a little depth, and might break up the "horizon" in a pleasing way.

Final question - what is going on in the front right corner? I can't really tell what is planted there, but the form is such that the scape just kinda tapers off to that corner. I'm not phrasing this well, but I think that is the corner I would pay attention to next.

Please don't take these minor nitpicks as excessive criticism of a very nice looking tank.

[Safado]

Originally Posted by eds

Man, it's a jungle in there!
IMO it looks much better with the java fern/rock thingy moved to the left. At first, I didn't really like the rock itself, but it is far less noticeable with the ferns on it, and the structure must be neat for the inhabitants.

I completely agree. It looks a lot better "hidden" behind the tall plants. I have to look pretty hard to catch glimpses of it know which is how I like it.

Originally Posted by eds

Why exactly are you putting in a moss wall? Because - IMO - it doesn't really add too much to your scape. In pictures, at least, it kinda detracts a bit, because it makes the top line of plants look pretty even all the way across. I can imagine the open space before the moss would be more obvious in person. But just consider the possibility that an open space all the way to the back of the tank about 2/3 in from one end might add the impression of a little depth, and might break up the "horizon" in a pleasing way.

The moss wall, now walls, were added as an experiment at first. More than anything I wanted to see if I could do it. I intended to move it to my 10 g when they started growing well. It may be time to do that now. I do like that they block the background-less wall behind it.

Originally Posted by eds

Final question - what is going on in the front right corner? I can't really tell what is planted there, but the form is such that the scape just kinda tapers off to that corner. I'm not phrasing this well, but I think that is the corner I would pay attention to next.

Yeh the front right corner...That has been the bane of this tank to me. My first try was glosso, but it didn't survive mailing twice. Next I tried HC, which I picked up locally. It didn't grow at all, and was soon (3 weeks) covered in a REALLY thick algae nothing would touch, which was the only algae in the tank. I decided to go the dwarf hairgrass route, but wasn't happy with the look. I have now spread out the Dwarf Sag, and am hoping to have it fully covering the right front corner, moving to the middle of the tank. I also think it is time to get rid of the L repens in the right rear. I am thinking of going for some Limnofilia Aromatica (I think that is spelled right. If not think Fragrant Pond Lover in Latin).

Originally Posted by eds

Please don't take these minor nitpicks as excessive criticism of a very nice looking tank.

Not at all. In fact, this was a great post to read. While I love the "great tank" posts, and that is mostly what I leave, it shows a lot that you took the time to think of how the tank could look better, and let me know. Thanks!

[eds]

I'm not familiar with limno a, but from what I see on-line, it requires pretty high light and is often described as moderately difficult to difficult.
It looks like a really attractive plant. I think you could use something moderately high - like the limno a - in that front right corner. Or - if you go lower, you need more substance behind it in the back corner. Otherwise, the whole scape gives the sense that is is kinda sliding off the table to the right side.

[Safado]

I rearranged things a bit. I also trimmed the moss walls, which I am afraid I will regret later on. I would recommend anyone with a moss wall trim it outside the tank. There are now many little pieces lodged around the tank, which I may have to deal with later.

This one is a bit dark, so I have lightened the second one to show the left side of the tank




I thought this was pretty cool. I was getting ready to rearrange the tank yesterday, and there was one of the ottos resting on top of the leaf of my dwarf lily.


Finally does anyone know the name of this plant? It appeared in conjunction with some Java Fern, and has some similarities with it, but lacks the roots. It remind me of something one would see in a kelp forest. It is a little bit "dusty" from all the junk I stirred up while moving stuff around.