End of an era: Flooded Forest journal

[jaidexl]

Originally Posted by iroc

I would add some more A. reineckii just to the left of the stems you have now, this would draw the eye slightly from the wood.

I personaly love the woods look

Thanks for the tip, my g/f was mentioning the same thing. I'm sure I'll be plugging some more in there soon.

Any suggestions for another colorful plant to the left of that? There's some stargrass and ludwigia (cuba) there now but I'd like it to be all S.American at some point, leaving the L.cuba is an option since I've already decided to do val nana in place of val americana for personal aesthetic reasons, but that's just a val, not L.cuba.

[LondonDragon]

Great tank plants are growing pretty fast

[jaidexl]

Originally Posted by LondonDragon

Great tank plants are growing pretty fast

Thank you. Yes, that is a good thing.....for now.

Here's the stand, It was hard finding anything with a 36"x18" footprint that looked decent and I didn't feel like making one this time. I ended up getting a 45"x18" TV stand from a local furniture store, I wanted something old world looking but still modern that could work with both an eastern or western theme, that could support the weight.

The woman did some decorating. Can't go wrong with Chinese Foo dogs protecting your tank.





Nothing fancy, but at least it's clean today


Time for some specs:

Lighting: 192w 6700k Coralife (replaces a smoky smelling Odyssea equivalent)

CO2: 5lb pressurized, Home built regulator: Cornelius built to near exact specs as Rex's with solenoid and Fabco NV55. I got the Cornelius with metal gauges since they're more durable then the plastic ones, but they're so noisy when the solenoid is on that I had to wrap hair ties around them. DIY BC to Limewood diffuser under filter return.

Filter: Cascade 1000.

Params: pH6.4, 3dKH, 5dGH

EI NPK CSM+B dry dosed

20gl weekly change water: 1/4tsp baking soda per 5gl RO/DI - 1tspn Barr's GH booster

Sub: Eco-complete capped with SMS charcoal, ~1/2" play sand pathway

Plants and stock: Val nana, Echinodorus tennellus, Alternanthera reineckii, Lilaeopsis brasiliensis, Elatine triandra, Hydrocotyle verticillata, Microsorum pteropus, Echinodorus 'rubin', H. traian, Proserpinaca palustris, C. thalictroides, Eleocharis geniculata, various Anubius nana & barteri.

Gold marble veil tail angelfish, 6 Hyphessobrycon herbertaxelrodi, 5 Hemigrammus bleheri, 2 corydoras julii, striped rubbernose pleco, MTS, ramshorns.

[jaidexl]

Experimenting with different backgrounds. I like what the white does in the room, with the shades of color and ripple shadows, it has more of a tan effect in person. I think the plants pop much better against the black.

No photoshop, the glow is the effect of moving the light to the rear

[jaidexl]

....and the ugly

I've managed to create my first vat of green water (pic below). I tried to up the P and K, I always underdosed it and thought I'd try stepping things up. I also did the first real filter and hose cleaning a few days ago, maybe a bit too much but the water was really filled with debri, so there could have been a slight ammonia spike. I'll just wait it out, maybe I'll have some nice pics of thick green soup soon, great time to start a daph culture. Everything else is doing great behind the curtain, but I didn't seem to make a dent in the ugly H.zosterifolia black spots, which was my intention, maybe they're still acclimating but new growth is still getting spots.

[jaidexl]

Green water progression pics! Where else on the web can you get this great stuff? I'm oh-so happy to serve you all with this exciting material.

day2


day3


day4


day6


I dunno, it's been soothing to look at up until day3, but I might get impatient and black out the tank for a few days.

On a side note, I've nailed it down to my Angelfish as to who's guilty of tearing out every bit of moss I ever tie down, I always suspected the SAE but he never does more than glide over it, the angel has been caught red handed too many times in the last few days. Hopefully, there is enough this time that some will attach before he gets it all, but I doubt moss grows fast enough to survive forever with this fish around, he tears it out of the thread like a dog ripping flesh. Thanks to milalic for the great price on the sacrificial moss. (update 11/1 - now the angel leaves the moss alone and the SAE devours it, go figure)

[dantra]

jaidexl, how did you make out? Did you get rid of it?

[jaidexl]

I just started a complete blackout last night, will probably leave it till monday. It's pretty much pea soup at this point with just a few inches of visibility from the glass. I got a few daphnia cultures going so some good is coming out of it, but I just can't stand all the green anymore.

[jaidexl]

Well, I decided to buy a UV sterilizer. 3 days wasn't enough to put much of a dent in the GW. I have another tank I'd like to zap with UV also, so I thought I'd give one of the little portables a try. It's the AA submersible that people on here have spoken of a few times, used to be carried by petsmart. I don't see too many reviews for it beyond reefers blindly fighting pathogens with them, so this will be a nice GW test for it.

Good thing I didn't leave the tank black any longer, I found some little tufts of fungus or bacteria on my angelfish's fins that might need some extra attention. Hopefully he was just perched on the substrate or rocks, crunched up his fins and picked up some fungus, but if it's columnaris or something, I'm glad I have a med stash and the UV is on it's way.

[macclellan]

I know this is the least of your concerns at the moment, but H.zosterifolia is a great indicator plant. Sounds like a nutrient deficiency to me.

Quoting Plant Finder at APC: "Small, stunted growth under high light is usually the result of too lean nutrient conditions, as this is a very macronutrient hungry plant (NO3 of 10 ppm or more and PO4 of 1 ppm or more for exceptionally large, lush growth). It reacts to a sudden lack of nitrate by turning transparent and melting away. Phosphate deficiencies result in very dark green, compact plants. Iron and micronutrient deficiencies result in white creases or black edging on the leaves."

I was just gone all weekend and came home to melted lower halves of mine...nitrate must have dropped when the tank missed a dose (96w AHS on 30g w/pressurized co2).

[jaidexl]

Thanks for that info, macclellin. I was steering towards macros, but hadn't thought about traces. I suppose I have been staying safe with them but still thought they would be at sufficient levels. I'll have to see what happens with a boost. I have quite a bit of Flourish to use up before I break out the csm+b. Could Flourish be inferior or insufficient in any way in comparison to csm+b, as long as it's dosed properly?

[side note: very cool synth work you've got through your link there here's some of my stuff if you're interested, you might appreciate the latest downtempo one, the next one (darva) is my latest real pride but deserves a good polishing and more synth work.]

[macclellan]

Sorry, I don't use flourish and can't comment. If it is a full trace supplement, then you are probably all good if following directions.

I hope your angel pulls through and your GW clears up.

[side note:the top track is cool for being live but not enough variation in the drums for an album release (I'm a drummer, so...do the math). I can appreciate the second track too, but a bit more polish never hurts. Not my style, I never got into the whole DJ-Icey breaks thing. As far as electronic music goes, I like electronica, dub, experimental, ambient, and select d 'n b for the upbeat stuff (again, drums). Ableton Live is the raddest software ever and Creamware SCOPE is the raddest hardware ever. out. /end rant]

[SearunSimpson]

Get some weeping willow stemms/ branches and stick them in. You'll probs want a shite load of them for pea soup though. When you put willow branches in an algae ridden tank, the branches sprout roots that suck up the micro nutrients that the algae eat, starving them out. Just keep an eye on the plants you keep in their to make sure that they aren't getting starved either, but you'd be amazed how quickly it works. If you decide to do it, please do a daily pic and make a quick little journal to show others how effective it is. Just a simple tip for ya.

[jaidexl]

That would be a perfect solution if I were still up in Michigan, but by the time I hunt them down here in FL, either the UV sterilizer will be here, or I'll be too old to remember what I was looking for in the first place.

Thanks for the idea though, I will definitely keep that in mind if I ever see any, but I honestly haven't since around 1983.

Edit: after some searching, it appears we do have some down here, but a distribution map shows it in the furthest county to the northwest in the pan handle.

[jaidexl]

Good news update: The GW is dying, not so good that I just got the UVS in and I really wanted to test it on this giant vat of stew, oh well. More good news, the Angelfish is recovering without meds.