DubV's 15 Gallon (56K)

I have some DIY projects in this that are detailed in the link to the original thread. They Included a paintball tank style pressurized CO2 system that I am very pleased with and a DIY light fixture made from a piece of stove pipe.

The tank has been running smoothly for another 2 weeks or so now and I thought it was time to post an update.

Turns out, if you bombard a tank with a butt-ton of Light and CO2 plants grow like crazy!

The pics are from a camera phone so it is hard to tell but the ludwiga has doubled in size and the HC has probably done about the same. The Narrow leaf micro sword is a different story, I don't know if it is a notoriously slow grower or the roots are having a tough time taking hold. I added some flame moss as well.

This week's developemet... Algae!!!

Some brown diatom, you can see it on the rock on the left and a bit on the sand in this crumby camera phone pic.

Wish I wasn't at my stocking limit. I have kept otts in the past and they seem to love this stuff. Oh well, I have read that it is not uncommon in new setups and should go away on its own eventually.

I also started forming a bit of hair algae. To me this was a sign of too much light. I raised the light up on its chains about 1.5 inches and haven't seen any new stuff forming...yet.

The Ludwiga is growing like crazy still. I have had to trim it back severly to keep it from growing over the top and shading the rest of the tank.

The HC too is growing/spreading slowly but surely.

I have yet to see any real progress with that narrow leaf sword. Now it is forming diatom on its tips and starting to look like crap.

The flame moss.... I live in the North country and when It arrived in the mail it was a block of ice essentially. I have no experience with the stuff but know other mosses to be rather resilient. It looks like it isn't doing well but I figure I might as well give it another couple of weeks to see if it will bounce back. If not, it is slated to be removed.

Well, It has been a while so I thought I would post a new pic. Unfortunately this pic, like the last, is terrible. I miss my digital camera...

The HC is filling in nicely.
I added a couple of ottos to deal with a small amount of hair algae I have developed.
I added the lotus the other day just to add some color to the foreground. Once it starts to grow out I don't know what I'll do with it.

Most up-to-date pic I have.

The HC continues to fill in well.

I'm not really a fan of how the ludwig is turning out. The top leaves grow too broad and shade out lower layers too much, leading to some fuzz algae on lower leaves. It grows some massive roots too, and they are not horribly attractive.

I plan on ordering some rotala indica (sp?) when the weather warms up a little to replace it with. Its a little cold to ship to hear this time of year.

Couple new pics.





Got on the SnS and gave away that ludwigia. Got a couple new stems, one is Limnophila aromatica the other is a cross between Ludwigia palustris and Ludwigia brevipes. Big thanks to member Keno and a great deal on some nice plants.

Can't wait till they grow in.

replaced the tom's with an eheim 2213. other than that just let it grow, let it grow, let it grow...

These stem are growing quick. I have to trim almost weekly

Rescaped:

Not the best pic. Not sure if I'm happy about it yet either.

First though is that it is a bit too symmetric. I think it will look good when it grows in though.

What do you think?

Well... Didn't like the last scape so I grew out some of my other stems in another tank and recombined...

I have been having problems growing HC. Ever since I installed the 2213 pieces started coming up and were harder to re-root. I have messed with the flow and hopefully it comes back to some extent.

I also added some crypts and switched up the hardscape a bit. I think I will enjoy the matured outcome a little more this time.

Some new growth. I need a to get to trimming.





I think these two are in love:

These will probably be the last views I will post of the tank in its current configuration. I like it but its grown old on me.

Never got around to a major rescape on this thing. Got on the SnS and traded a few trims with other members as well. It has grown into a much more diverse tank than I ever thought was possible in a 15 gallon. Here are a couple of pics of the progression: