Complexity Journal: 75g / NEW PICS Mar 26! Several pics posted with more to come!

[@marko@]

plants look great, complexity!
oh and for the L. mauritus. all it really takes is some time and replanting the runners. with time it starts shoothing runners like mad. cut them off and seperate into peices of 2 nodes, then plant those in the mass to thicken it up.
it will be very thick pretty fast.

[Complexity]

Thanks, Marko! It's putting out runners already. Maybe I can cheat and just cut the runners, leaving the plants in place? It's also getting shaded so I think it'll do even better when I clear things out to allow more light in that area.

[CobraGuppy]

Your pictures are amazing! They bring out the intense colors of the plants really well

[Complexity]

Wow, thank you! My camera is so old, it uses a walker now, but it can still take pics so I keep using it. My favorite feature on the camera is "bracketing" which gives me 5 exposures of the same picture so I can select the best one. That way, I don't have to fuss too much with the camera itself.

I also like to use the "auto levels" feature in Photoshop. It generally makes the blacks more true to color which seems to sharpen up all the colors.

Keeping the exposure down helps to not overexpose the plants which helps retain the colors. I'm not always successful at doing it, but the camera does help.

[@marko@]

oh yeah, if the plant is in the spot you want it, leave the runner. i see no reason to cut it (some say cut it, because the plants all grow runners, but if left together there will be less runners, but those will grow much faster, IME). but it wont send runners just over the spot you want it. it will invade other areas, and those runners you can cut and plant in the area you want l. mauritius to thicken it up.

[dewalltheway]

Great looking tank Vicki! I had some of the same issues you had with some of your plants and I just decided to stick with the ones that grow best for me. Don't you just love the creeping jenny and your red plants are so beautiful with great color. Also.....I have got to get some Roseline sharks, yours are so beautiful!

[Complexity]

Thanks for the help, Marko. So far, I'm amazed that it hasn't began to spring up in areas where I don't want it, but that may be because I didn't plant the entire area, leaving it some room to spread.

I don't know if I'll keep it where it is. I mainly wanted to experiment with it and 2 other ground covers. Two of the three did well so the next step will be to figure out how to use them in the overall scape.



Thanks for the nice words, Dewall! I adore my roselines. I could not imagine having a tank without them. The first time I laid eyes on one, I said I absolutely HAD to get some. It was after that when I saw their price tag. Yikes! But they are definitely worth it.

I'm still working on the plants. The creeping jenny is a definite winner. Who would have thought? It seems to plain and common, but it grows so well and with such a light color that it adds a nice contrast.

I haven't given up on certain plants YET, but I do want to make some changes more slowly this time. I tried to go too fast, and ended up with a mess. Things are doing better now.

[Complexity]

I hope you guys won't mind some more pics!

The pics I'll be posting next were taken on 3-14.

For starters, a FTS showing the overall growth of the tank. To compare, I'll repost the FTS from 2-17 to see how the tank grew out in 1 month's time. I did trim some plants during that time so the growth was even more than what's shown in the pic.

Look at how that Ludwigia glandulosa /peruensis has grown! I had already cut it once in hopes of getting it to multiply, but the plantlets were taken over by the vals. So I let this one stem grow with the thought I'd cut it back when I had moved the vals. Well, the stem grew alright!

2-17:




3-14:

[Complexity]

I tried very hard to get some decent pics of my new Neon Rainbows! I like the two pics at the end the best because they show the blue bodies which gives them their "neon" name.

[Complexity]

I took this picture especially for Karackle. I had promised her I'd try to get a picture of one of the guppy/endler hybrids I got. I have two males that look like this.

While I never took the stuff myself, the pattern on this fish reminds me of an LSD trip! Sorry the picture is blurry, but I tried. He doesn't look quite this red in person because he has iridescent blue and green that shows up when it catches the light. He's actually very pretty!

Why do fish always get in the way when you're trying to take pics of plants, but then race off when you want a pic of them?

[lizziotti]

Wow beautiful rainbows! Your tank is looking great. I can't wait until your lotus grows again though I loved how that looked!

[Complexity]

I'm experimenting here. My Flame Moss had overgrown, but in a poor, weak state while in my 5g RCS tank. Now that I also have Dario-Darios in that tank, I wanted to get the flame moss to grow better.

What I want to do is get several of these growing so I can trade them out every now and then to help keep them growing lush.

I already had the slate pieces from when I did this with riccia. I took the flame moss and chopped it into a million tiny pieces. Made sort of a flame moss slushy. I then spread the slush onto the slate and secured it down with window screening material. Hot glued the back, and got what you see here.

These pics are the first ones I took to track their growth. I have some more later showing more growth so the idea is working. In these pics, the moss is just beginning to peak out through the holes in the screen.

[Complexity]

Originally Posted by lizziotti

Wow beautiful rainbows! Your tank is looking great. I can't wait until your lotus grows again though I loved how that looked!

Thanks! I really miss my lotus, too. I hadn't really intended to cut it back sooo much, but I think it was best in the long run. I could not keep up with its growth before, and it truly did take over the entire half of the tank.

I have another picture I took very recently where the first couple of leaves are showing up over the hygro. I think when I thin out the hygro, it will help expose the lotus better, too. Plus, I'll be removing and trimming the plants that are shading it which should help it to grow faster.

[mountaindew]

Great thread!
Great pics!
And your detailed updates are good reading.
MD

[Complexity]

Now I'm getting to the most recent pics. These were taken on 3-25 (2 days ago) so they're recent.

First, I'll show an update of my flame moss experiment. It's taking longer for it to peak out of the screening material, but it's finally coming along.

Please excuse the GDA on the glass. I have the slate right up against the glass so I didn't get the GDA cleaned off.