scolley's 75g Big Clear Kahuna (56K warning)

[scolley]

Thanks folks.


PJAN - too late on the "No pruning". I had some lotus leaves that turned bright red (beautiful really), but, unlike most of the others, they weren't new leaves and appeared to have sustained some injury prior to planting. - they had some large spots that were dying away. I took them out, just for the health of the plant, and to keep nitrates down.

And I also pruned two HUGE leave on the sword on the left. I know I'm supposed to let things grow right now, but I did not want that plant to get it into it's head that such massive leaves were going to be acceptable! Ever.



Buck - The ferns are happy, but they've gotta go when the tank gets rolling a bit more. They look lush, but visually it creates three evenly spaced visual "chunks" in tank - Trunk : Ferns : AlienBuddah . I've gotta break it up again, and start working the left:right balance problem on the tank. But I've got time for that.



Marcel - There's NO WAY I'm pulling that HC to extract the riccia! Believe it or not, I did what you suggest for about 2 hours before I planted it. My problem is that there is a LOT of HC, maybe a dense square foot of it, and I wear bi-focals. It was just too hard to do for these old eyes, as the blooming riccia population will attest.

No, riccia is indigenous. So as long as it doesn't change to it's evil submersed form, I'm happy for it to remain. All I want is an indigenous carpet plant. If HC merely serves to hold the riccia down, so be it.



Andyg - I wish you could see it in person. The water cube illusion is so cool, I am thrilled that I went through all the pain of building this beast. In fact, if you look, you can see that while the seams on the back are not at all large, the seams on the front are much smaller. The RTV silicone I finally put on the front has worked out well. I'm sorry I didn't rip the back off (a second time!) and then resilicone that with the RTV so I could use razor small seams there too. But I was just beat.

So it ain't perfect, but it's still real nice IMO. If you could see the illusion up close, I suspect you'd agree.



kzr750r1 - I played with short bursts of "noon-time" very high light on my 20g and got good results. Too long a high light period, and I got algae. Too short, no reds. What I did not learn though was PJAN's suggestion about keeping the low light period shorter to keep the plants down (you mean not to high? Right PJAN?). That is an interesting concept that I'm anxious to see if it works out here.



yznj99 - Thanks. Any success so far comes from paying close attention to what people have to teach here on this board. All the books I've bought aren't worth a hill of beans next to what people have to teach here.



PJAN - BTW, I'm still knocked out to find out why you can speak with such authority! Based on looking at your tanks, I was ready to just chalk it up to experience, which you also appear to have an abundence of.

[awrieger]

I don't know if I'm more impressed with your tank Steve, or PJAN's knowledge!

[Urkevitz]

I am liking the java fern now, looks like a path going into the darkness.

[PJAN]

Originally Posted by scolley

Thanks folks.


PJAN - too late on the "No pruning".
And I also pruned two HUGE leave on the sword on the left. I know I'm supposed to let things grow right now, but I did not want that plant to get it into it's head that such massive leaves were going to be acceptable! Ever.

kzr750r1 - I played with short bursts of "noon-time" very high light on my 20g and got good results. Too long a high light period, and I got algae. Too short, no reds. What I did not learn though was PJAN's suggestion about keeping the low light period shorter to keep the plants down (you mean not to high? Right PJAN?). That is an interesting concept that I'm anxious to see if it works out here.

Allright. A few dead leaves are ok. But stay away from the Ludwiga etc.
You discovered now that Echinodorus species are not a very good choise in a planted tank. Too big and dominating the scene. That's ok ofcourse, if you want it. I think you should consider to swapp the Echinodorus with another plant. They develop also a huge root system.
It's better to place dominating plants ( Lotus, Echinodorus etc.) in a small bucket with some clay, peat e.g. So the roots can not spread trough the tank and compete ( or even destroy) other plants roots.
My big special green lotus has also his own bucket... and can be placed everywhwere I want without disturbing his roots...

The lights.
Sorry if I made a mistake or so in my poor English.
The low light period is "easy growth"
The high light period is " turbo growth".

The hours of high light is very important. This period will get the plants to grow fast, give them color etc.

You start out with 3 - 3 - 3 hours. The middle period is always high light.
3-3-3
low-high-low

After 4 weeks :

3-4-3

Most of the time the last schedule will satisfy you. But in the beginning you're not going to push the plants to the max and only use 3 hours period of high light.
It's a bit of experience and also depends of plant species.
If you have only ferns... the schedule will be :

4-2-4

If you have more fast growing or demanding plants, the schedule is a bit higher :

3-4-3

or if you want to have a huge amount of plants and like pruning :

3 - 5 - 2

The longer the high light period, the higher the levels of NO3 and PO4 must be. Too long period of high light in a non matured tank, will give algea.
So in the beginning you have a rather short period of high light, just to keep the plants and the boss ( Steve here ) happy. The biomass ( plants and bacteria) must develop a balance and that takes some time. Normally a week or 6.

To be very clear on this one : the high light period is to keep the plants down and red if they can. The low light period is to keep the plants just growing with no need for speed.
For dummies :
low light = keep the boss happy ( less algea)
high light = keep the plants happy

Pfff.

Originally Posted by scolley

PJAN - BTW, I'm still knocked out to find out why you can speak with such authority! Based on looking at your tanks, I was ready to just chalk it up to experience, which you also appear to have an abundence of.

I think you will be even more shocked in the future

[scolley]

Originally Posted by PJAN

I think you will be even more shocked in the future

I can't wait for this. You have a controlling interest in Tropica, right? That's a Dutch concern I believe...

Thanks for the idea of the bucket. Great idea, but it may be too late for me.

And I'm really caught up about the swords. I know they get big, but my choices in North American plants aren't that great. Or at least when you start to look for large leaved green plants to go along that sides of the tank. I don't want smaller leaved, or red, plants along the edges if I can help it. And frankly, I think most of the commonly available North American stem plants (all small leaved) are butt-ugly, except Ludwigia.

But I do believe I may start looking for possible sword plant replacements. Especially before those roots get a chance to wrap around all that hardware and cypress-anchoring slate under the substrate. Thanks for the tip!

[scolley]

Originally Posted by kzr750r1

Time to go price another Tek fixture this time with four 54w bulbs and use this on for an orchid bed or something.

I should probably mention my reasoning for getting the 6x54w Tek, rather than the 4x54w.

The 4 lamp has a 2 banks of 2 lamps, with the 6 lamp having a 2 lamp bank and a 4 bulb bank. Both allow the opportunity of running 2x54w and 4x54w, which I wanted for the purposes mentioned by PJAN previously.

But since the Tek's get considerably cheaper per lamp as you increase lamps, it seemed that I'd gamble on the 6 lamp. If I never turned all 6 on, I've have spent a bit too much money. But if I ever wanted something like a 2-4-6-4-2 schedule, or a really cranking 2-6-2 or insane 4-6-4, I'd be SOL, and wishing I'd spent a bit more out of the gate.

It seemed a good risk to take - an investment in insuring that my lighting options remained very open, and very flexible.

[PJAN]

Originally Posted by scolley

I can't wait for this. You have a controlling interest in Tropica, right? That's a Dutch concern I believe...

Denmark I beleive.
I wish I had controlling interest..I now have a hard time to collect plant species. Wish I could just grab the plants I want
Eldorado for aquascaping !

Well, good luck with searching for another local plant species. I know : some can be very uggly. Maybe you should try to use some more Ludwiga.
There are many different Ludwiga ( small or big leaves, green or red ), but I don't know if they are all local ( you're area).

Also you're maybe looking into a too small local area?
I use only locally plant species from the planet Earth...the gallaxy is big..

Gr. PJAN

[scolley]

I'm keeping the species to North American, and only those that can also be found in the Gulf Coast states. It's supposed to be a biotope, or a reasonable approximation.

I may be fortunate enough to have some Ludwigia brevipes soon. And I've to a few other channels for additional plants. My big problem is getting a plant that will work in that left corner, big leaved and green preferably. And of course, North American, Gulf Coast states distribution. I'll find something.

And I'm not sure why I thought Tropica was Dutch.

[Oqsy]

scolley, pulled the first stem of brevipes today
also found what looks like an emersed ludwigia growing very near my house, and pulled a few stems... i'm going to trim the emersed leaves / flowers as they start to wither, and see what pops up (if anything) when it starts to fill it with submerged growth (if it does). It's an experiment, but if it turns out to be a ludwigia sp., then I'll have access to TONS of *BIG* stems, and if I'm lucky, it'll be something a bit more uncommon than repens. I'll keep you posted on that front as well as the progress of your brevipes pile.

Oqsy

[scolley]

Originally Posted by Oqsy

scolley, pulled the first stem of brevipes today
also found what looks like an emersed ludwigia growing very near my house, and pulled a few stems... i'm going to trim the emersed leaves / flowers as they start to wither, and see what pops up (if anything) when it starts to fill it with submerged growth (if it does). It's an experiment, but if it turns out to be a ludwigia sp., then I'll have access to TONS of *BIG* stems, and if I'm lucky, it'll be something a bit more uncommon than repens. I'll keep you posted on that front as well as the progress of your brevipes pile.

Oqsy

I hope you weren't planning on shipping Monday! I'm going on vacation tomorrow for a week. Can you float the brevipes or something? And what's the sp.? My curiosity is well peaked.

[Oqsy]

wow, you're fast... no, i meant the first *stem* was trimmed, about 6", single stem. I'm planning on collecting several in another tank before I ship... at first glance, it appears that the sp. of ludwigia I've found *might* be decurrens or peploides montevidensis... i'll take a pic of the stems I've got right now (keep in mind the leaves are from emersed growth).

Oqsy

[scolley]

Originally Posted by Oqsy

wow, you're fast... no, i meant the first *stem* was trimmed, about 6", single stem. I'm planning on collecting several in another tank before I ship... at first glance, it appears that the sp. of ludwigia I've found *might* be decurrens or peploides montevidensis... i'll take a pic of the stems I've got right now (keep in mind the leaves are from emersed growth).

Oqsy

Cool! I'll look forward to the pics!

No, I'm not fast. I just happen to be sitting at my PC making a packing list.

[Oqsy]

here it is.. crappy picture, but it might be enough to tip some of our plant experts following this thread in the right direction.

[scolley]

I thought that's a bit like what brevipes looked like. But it looks just like my picture of L. palustris, also North American, which would be AWESOME! They get intense red leaves in high light, green otherwise. That would be too cool!

Any opinions anybody?

[scolley]

Oops. Gotta take that back. The leaves look the same, but L. palustris leaves are opposite, your picture looks distichous. Bummer.