Aquascape in progress

[magicmagni]

HA HA, can't handle the suspense

Yeah I know about the rasboras and it just so happens that my local dealer carries Rasbora Espei among others that I've had my eye on. I just need to find a good home for these guys. I've had them for years so there is some sentimental value there.

[notropis]

Wow, I am completely blown away by the riccia growth! At first I thought you added something new. But I've never grown it myself and have heard so many discuss the fast growth, and now I know what they're are talking about!

Nice looking tank. I have a 10 gallon I may set up this summer and you have definitely been inspirational.

[magicmagni]

Actually Riccia is very easy to grow- Just add water LOL. I've grown it with no Co2, low light, high light and everything in between. I like it's growth in low light no Co2, but it takes time.

[TheOtherGeoff]

i know this is off subject but how are your discus and their babies doing?? i love that tank of yours.

[magicmagni]

They were doing great until they were eaten!!

Well now that are at it again. Female paired up with another of the males this time.

For those that don't know what we are talking about look at the 120gallon tank in my signature

Update: Sorry still no pictures, but not much to take shots of right now. I decided to take out all of the glosso and start again. It was really taking over the whole tank and choking out everything else. Started out by trying to remove the glosso and leave everything else, but ended up having to rip everything up and start again.

BTW I have a good sized 5" X 4" or so "rug" of mostly Glosso with a little hairgrass and tenellus mixed in that I don't know what to do with. Maybe time to put on aquabid? Hmm... anyone need some before I do that? I also have a zip lock bag full of pure glosso.

I ended up replacing the glosso with HC I got from SFBAAPS. The glosso was mostly an experiment for me to see if I could grow it in such low light. Now I'm hoping that HC does just the same- maybe grow just a little slower.

So there is HC in the foreground and a mix of mostly tenellus and a little hairgrass everyplace else. It just needs to grow in again. Hardscape was unchanged.

[magicmagni]

Heres an updated picture of the tank. Excuse the poor shot. I mostly wanted to show what I have been working on with the Riccia. I call it a "Riccia tree". It's of a piece of manzanita wood and hairnet. I take the hair net and attach it to the wood then I place the wood by jamming the end into the substrate- which seems enough to hold it down. Then I take the Riccia and let it go under the hairnet. It tends to float up to the hairnet. Eventually it starts to grow through it and become what it is. I trim it back like a bonsai tree. The only thing to watch out for is not to let the Riccia grow too thick. I got busy and didn't trim it for a while and it almost all floated to the surface with the wood still attached to it.

The background midground is coming along, but the foreground is not really doing much. I'm having trouble with the HC. Most of it came out and got stuck in my filter intake. I keep replanting it, but it grows so slow that I think it gets upset by the Corie's before it has a chance to root to the substrate. There is one spot though where is has attached and it is slowly creeping along.

[PeteyPob]

that "tree" is awsome. Very original.

[mecgeorgeneo]

i like the tree. i want to do a smaller tank with glosso now. haha.

[GulfCoastAquarian]

Man, that looks great. There's got to be something you can do about the hardware clutter, though!

[magicmagni]

Originally Posted by GulfCoastAquarian

Man, that looks great. There's got to be something you can do about the hardware clutter, though!

Any suggestions?

I need the heater/ Co2 regualtor/ and filter inlet. Someday I'd like to do something like this in a JBJ nano cube because it has that sump in the back for all the junk to go.

[magicmagni]

Heres a long overdue update. I got inspired to rescape this tank a few months ago. Last time I posted pics I had glosso growing and boy was that fun! It took over the tank in about a month. I can't believe how fast it grow with the limited lighting I have so I tore it all apart and now I'm growing HC in it's place.

It was very hard to get started, the first time was unsuccessful- most of it floated to the top or got sucked into the filter, but the second time it finally took and after a very lengthy acclimation process it took hold and is growing nice now. Here are some pics of the setup currently. I am really pleased with how well everything grows.

I also have some new livestock. I picked up some cool little killifishes at the LFS and a bunch of green neon tetras as well. I ended up removing the Harliquin Rasboras though, because they were kinda too big for the tank- or the look I was going for really.

[TheOtherGeoff]

looks great man. the little red guy kinda looks like a badis badis or whatever that thing is called.

[xcooperx]

did you already change the light setup of your 10gal. im having a problem growing riccia in a 2 screw in bulb that i bought in walmart 6500k each bulb

[magicmagni]

Yeah I'm not sure if it's that or not. The info I see on Badis badis says they get to 2" but the ones I have are much smaller and I was assured that they were full grown when I got them. Hmm...

Lighting... same as before. I'm really quite blown away with the performance of these little bulbs. I did spray paint the underside of the hood white. That may have made a little bit of a difference.

[Y0uH0]

That is really a very beautiful tank. All your aquascapes are always so breathtaking. Love the choice of fish,especially the killifishes.