[John Simpson]

I planted this tank today to donate to a charity auction in a few weeks, I wanted to keep it somewhat low tech but still intricate. I wanted to make sure, nothing would grow too fast or tall and take over the take over the long term, but still offer noticeable growth over the short term, I think that's what a lot of beginners like to see. I didn't use moss or riccia or glosso or anything too hard to trim or care for.

I will update after filling and after some growth!

My intention is to have the Marsilea quadrifolia come out the top of the tank around the piece of wood and in the back left corner

I planted Marsilea SP around the edges of where the narrow leaf microsword is

There is Rotala indica mixed in sparcely on the back and left side

the bright red on the right side is Rotala macranda,

in front of the rocks on the right is crypt wendtii red

in front of the wood on the left is crypt parva, left of that is Bacopa caroliniana

towards the front is hydrocotyle sibitherpoides



plants:
Marsilea SP
Marsilea quadrifolia
Rotala macranda
Rotala Indica
Narrow leaf micro sword
crypt wendtii red
crypt parva
Bacopa Caroliniana
Hydrocotyle sibitherpoides

 

[talontsiawd]

Looks nice. Though I have not used all, it seems like a good plant choice for your goal. I know your reasons for low tech are to make sure the winner can take care of it but we can all benefit from this. What light are you using?

 

[John Simpson]

right now it's the got a beamswork 9x1 wat led and an Archaea led, I'm going to pump CO2 in for at least a week so I can get it established quick, then for the auction it will just have the Archaea LED and no co2.

 

[xmas_one]

Nice job man, I really like it.

 

[keats]

How do you think the Macrandra will do in the long run without co2.


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[talontsiawd]

How do you think the Macrandra will do in the long run without co2.


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I have done it before. It's still an attractive plant but I found I could only get it to be orange at best. Actually, when it started to turn reddish, it actually looked worse than it did lower in the tank when yellow or orange. My low tech wasn't super low light at the time either, I don't believe 2x15 watt CFL's over a 45cm 6 gallon.

 

[John Simpson]

yes, the growth rate will slow and it will elongate and the new leaves will be smaller and less red

 

[AquaAurora]

What charity are you donating to? Lovely tank btw.

 

[John Simpson]

Rally for the cure,

I'm filling the tank now I will post updates soon!

 

[Saph]

Beautiful & well thought-out; whoever wins this will be very lucky

 

[John Simpson]

Filling the tank, first I sprinkled the water over all the plants to give them one last settling, then I placed the tube so the water won't disturb the substrate as it fills

 

[John Simpson]

gotta use my favorite spiral bubble counter to keep an eye on things

 

[otterfun]

wow, too bad I am in CA, would love to get a tank like this tank for a good cause, very nice.