[schooldazed]

So my folks have this bush, well more like a tree as it's probably twelve feet tall and just about that big around. It's called Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. It's very pretty and pretty unusual as the limbs are all twisted and contorted which is of course what peaked my interest. Trimmed quite a bit of it last early winter. It's bone dry now as I've kept it in my plants compressor room where it's probably 120-140F in the summer and no humidity year round:

My original thought was to use a bunch of these. The more I played with them the more reductive my composition got, ending up with just two branches. I screwed them to a plexiglass plate and to each other. Then a couple dabs of silicone to attach the plexi to the tank:

Epoxied the branch parts that will be below the substrate to hopefully prolong their life. Added egg crate with the idea there may be rocks in this scape:

Substrate and water:

My initial idea was crypts, anubias, maybe some buce - generally some low maintenance slow growers. May still be mostly that but put together this nice CO2 rig, we'll see...

 

[Discusluv]

So my folks have this bush, well more like a tree as it's probably twelve feet tall and just about that big around. It's called Harry Lauder's Walking Stick. It's very pretty and pretty unusual as the limbs are all twisted and contorted which is of course what peaked my interest. Trimmed quite a bit of it last early winter. It's bone dry now as I've kept it in my plants compressor room where it's probably 120-140F in the summer and no humidity year round:

My original thought was to use a bunch of these. The more I played with them the more reductive my composition got, ending up with just two branches. I screwed them to a plexiglass plate and to each other. Then a couple dabs of silicone to attach the plexi to the tank:

Epoxied the branch parts that will be below the substrate to hopefully prolong their life. Added egg crate with the idea there may be rocks in this scape:

Substrate and water:

My initial idea was crypts, anubias, maybe some buce - generally some low maintenance slow growers. May still be mostly that but put together this nice CO2 rig, we'll see...

That looks really cool! I love it!

 

[schooldazed]

That looks really cool! I love it!

Thank you very much Dl. I like it too, thus far. Of course always thinking of how to make it better. Have some rocks I plan to play with but think I need more/bigger ones. But I have planted:

Besides the C. wendtii bronze, I also brought over some R. rotundifolia, H. tripartita, and H. pinnatifida from my other seventy five. The pinna is still floating but plan on trying to glue lots of very small pieces to a rock to see if I can get a bush-like effect. May also harvest some A. nana petite to add here. Purchased a red melon sword and A. coffeefolia for this tank. From the same local (nc) vendor got some Nesaea golden, Lindernia rotundifolia var., and S. repens for the other tank. Received enough to add some here as well.

and fwiw - CO2 regulator build:

and Cerges reactor plumbing:

Really loving the flow meter. Great resolution. The "bubble counter" inside the reactor is rock steady. Just hung a four 54W bulb T5HO flourescent tonight so hoping tomorrow will see some serious pearling. And finally, do have another canister filter to install - Fluval 407. Plan though is to use that on the other tank which now has a 306 and 307. Will bring one of those over here for a quick cycle closer to fish time. For now plan to push the CO2 and get the plants established. Grow baby, grow...

 

[Discusluv]

Thank you very much Dl. I like it too, thus far. Of course always thinking of how to make it better. Have some rocks I plan to play with but think I need more/bigger ones. But I have planted:

Besides the C. wendtii bronze, I also brought over some R. rotundifolia, H. tripartita, and H. pinnatifida from my other seventy five. The pinna is still floating but plan on trying to glue lots of very small pieces to a rock to see if I can get a bush-like effect. May also harvest some A. nana petite to add here. Purchased a red melon sword and A. coffeefolia for this tank. From the same local (nc) vendor got some Nesaea golden, Lindernia rotundifolia var., and S. repens for the other tank. Received enough to add some here as well.

and fwiw - CO2 regulator build:

and Cerges reactor plumbing:

Really loving the flow meter. Great resolution. The "bubble counter" inside the reactor is rock steady. Just hung a four 54W bulb T5HO flourescent tonight so hoping tomorrow will see some serious pearling. And finally, do have another canister filter to install - Fluval 407. Plan though is to use that on the other tank which now has a 306 and 307. Will bring one of those over here for a quick cycle closer to fish time. For now plan to push the CO2 and get the plants established. Grow baby, grow...

Bam! You are set! Keep us posted!

 

[schooldazed]

Well, I'd never say set. Can't seem to keep my mitts out of the tank. Moved the large crypt to the other side. It's so visually heavy, felt it needed to go to the thick end of the branches. What d'y'all think - better?

Still a little cloudy from the replant. Added that little stone with the glued H. pinnatifida. Everything else is basically just spread out for (hopefully) quickest establishment. I've twice failed transforming Nesaea from emersed to submerged. Any tricks to it?