Gaia: High-Tech 20L Journal- Post vacation pics 8/16/09

[@marko@]

so, i guess some of you saw what my 20L looked like. well, its gone. well not yet, but it will be in 2 weeks.
some of you may know why, for those that dont, ill explain:
first off, i had a bunch of fish just start dying. so i went to a vet with 3 fish (one was already dead) and got 2 cultures and a biopsy. the diagnosis was parasitic nematodes, and an oportunistic bacterial infection. i got some heavy antibiotics and something for the nematodes. i still have one week of treatement to be done with the nematodes, but i only have 2 live fish (my pygmy guppies) left. so i dosed some P (which i normally dont do), just to try to get my plants to grow faster, so when i tear the tank down after treatement, i could maybe sell a bit of em (after treatement was done and waiting a few weeks to make sure that all the nasties died). but, i got the dose wrong or something, cause now i have a TON of staghorn, an army of hair, and maybe even a bit of clado. so its all going to the trash, except for my 2 anubias, which will go in my terrarium (algae generally isnt a problem in terrestrial environments, lol).

so, in 2 weeks, the tank will be moved to a different position (for a whole new aquascape). the gravel will be changed to ADA AS amazonia. and then i will plant it with a whole new assortment of plants. im still tweeking my aquascape plan, but i should be happy with it pretty soon, and then ill post it for any opinions and advice.

questions, comments, suggestions?
i know if you look at most of my threads, there are few posts other then mine, which might make you think that i post here exclusively to entertain myself. thats actually not true, and i would preffer to get some comments, even if you just say that you actually glanced at my post.

[wschalle]

I think it would be worthwhile for you to at least salvage any of the more hard-to-find species you had in your tank, by culturing a few stems or something...

[CL]

I think that you'll love that AS for sure It's always nice to start a new scape.

[@marko@]

here is my plant list:
riccia, hornwort, rotala rotundifolia, limnophila sessiliflora (asian ambulia), java ferns, java moss, crypts wendtii (green, green and brown, bronze), a nana, a petite, lileopsis mauritius, and some other plant i had ided but forgot what it was.
nothing whatsoever rare in there. pretty, but nothing worth risking my next scape for.
i will however remove my anubias, bleach them and clean off the algae, and then grow them in my terrarium like i mentioned, since the petite is huge, and the nana was my very first plant (not big though, since a few years ago i cut off like 80% the rhizome, and then a year ago i cut half off).
my redo will hopefully have some slightly rarer plants, plus im thinking of trying an erio.

[@marko@]

Originally Posted by clwatkins10

I think that you'll love that AS for sure It's always nice to start a new scape.

urgh, you posted while i was typing.
thats always annoying.
jk. im just glad people are posting, lol.

yeah, thats the most fun part for me. im not one of those people that just sits around watching the grass (oops, i mean stems) grow.

im looking forward to using AS. its a win win situation. either it works out great and i have plants growing like mad and big healthy erios and such, or it clouds up and turns to mush and i get to laugh at my $60 mud and use it in my environmental sience AP class to demonstrate erosion. lol.
seriosly though, im hoping it doesnt cloud the hell out of my water.

[@marko@]

ok guys, i planned the scape. what do you think:

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[@marko@]

ok so i am deciding to go with EI, and make the tank really high tech.
in addition to the current light (2x 65w PC bulbs), and the pressurized CO2 (controlled through ph controller and a timer to shut it off at night, diffused through a reactor), i am adding auto-dosing. thanks to the people who helped me plan it. this is what i came up with:
2 buckets (a gallon each), one for macros and one for micros (dry fertz)
2 aqualifters
the aqualifters will be controlled by the computer program homeseer.

any opinions?

[@marko@]

ok, so on wednesday i will be tearing into the tank. im not a hundred percent sure of how to go about it though, so suggestions are appreciated. what i have to do:
-suck out 20 gallons of water through a python
-salvage lilleopsis and bleach it (will it survive?)
-salvage crypts
-salvage rotala and another stem plant (forgot the name)
-clean out the filter and tubing
-look for an amano shrimp in there that may still be alive
-remove gravel
-clean the tank (clean of algae, and some light sterilization)
-boil the wood
-move the cabinet and tank (just rotating really)
-place filter intake and outake
-fill with gravel (AS)
-put wood back in
-plant the plants
-fill the tank with water without clouding it up
-set up autodosing
-order remaining plants

ok, so im planning on doing it in that order, do you guys have any suggestions?
i also have a few questions:
how long can the biomedia stay out of a runinning filter before drying out? i want to keep the bacteria alive.
does anyone know if lilleaopsis can take a bleaching?
any suggestions on filling the tank without clouding up the water too much from AS?

also if anyone has the following plants and is willing to sell them, please post or pm:
r. macrandra (v narrow leaf is preffered) FOUND
stargrass FOUND
r. wallichi FOUND
riccia
glosso (need a good amount as you can see) FOUND
d. diandra FOUND
downoi FOUND
erios (mato grosso, japan, or ones that look similar)

thanks.

[roybot73]

Pull the plants first, let the filter run for a while to clear the tank a bit so you can check for fish/shrimp...

[@marko@]

ok, so today, other then working on my eclipse (turning out a tragedy, please help me), i went in to salvage un-infected plants.
this is an example of infection:

anyway, i took out crypts, r. rotundifoila, and a stem plant i got ided but forgot the name (im gonna go luck it back up when i post this and post its name). ive got them sitting in a bucket under a light:


friday im going to bleach the infected plants that i hope will survive the bleaching: my nice big java ferns, and lilleaopsis. then ill throw out the rest of the plants.
saturday i plan on removing the gravel, boiling the wood, cleaning the tank, and cleaning the filter. depending on the time, i may shift the tank over, put in the AS, and set it up and plant; but that will probably have to wait for sunday.

any opinions, comments, anything to show me the thread is being read?

[chase127]

im reading cant wait to see it up and runnning.

[@marko@]

you honestly have no idea how much motivation that gives.
lol. sad i know.


im gonna make an awesome tank thats gonna pwn my dads little reef.

[chase127]

lmao thats the spirit! stick it to the reefers

[@marko@]

ok, i just ordered plants from aquariumplants.com.
got wallichi, macrandra, hornwort, glosso, and diandra.
their stargrass was out of stock. if anybody has any they are willing to ROAK, or sell cheap, please let me know.

[@marko@]

i found the plants id:
Nesaea pedicellata

ive had this plant for ages, and it grows really well for me. it was the only plant in the whole scape that didnt have the tinies bit of algae on it.