[Notg2009]

Not sure if I should start a journal here, but at the risk of exposing my novice horticultural and scaping skills…here it goes!

The idea behind this tank was to grow ammania praetermissa mainly, so decided to start with fresh aquasoil, high light, rich CO2, and no water column ferts to accommodate. Obviously thought about doing a true Dutch, but realized my knowledge and skills lack…profoundly!

Got a lot of help along the way from Vin Kutty (many thanks).

Tanks specs (current as of 6/14/2021)
Initial setup: 4/19/2021

• Size: ~15G rimless with about 12G of water (13.5Hx13Dx19.5L)
• Light: chihiros WRGBII about 5 inches above the water level. On from 1245 to 1845. Settings: R75-G50-B60 (started low and gently increased)
• Substrate: tropica fine 3 inches in the front and about 5 in the back!!
• Water: RODI
• Remineralization: adding CaSO4, MgSO4, K2CO3 for GH of 6 and KH of 0-1
• Filter: Oase 250 with glass lily pipes (next set would most likely be stainless steel pipes)
• CO2: through and inline atomizer from 1030 to 1715, getting about 1.3 point drop (measured using a Milwaukee pH meter), lowest point about 5.0 (from 6.3 before CO2 comes on in the morning)
• Ferts: macros: NO3 1ppm every other day, PO4 0.2ppm every other day, K 1ppm every other day
• Ferts: micros: custom mix based on Burr740's recipe
• Fauna: some small ramshorns and maybe some bladder/pond snails, no fish (they get in the way!!)
• Flora (from back left to front right):
  • syngonanthus manaus, ammania pedicellata golden, pogostemon erectus, rotala Mexicana red (?)
  • rotala mini butterfly, ludwigia glandulosa!, Ammania praetermissa, cuphea anagalloidea
  • rotala ramosior Florida, syngonanthus macrocaulon, rotala indica, lobelia cardinalis mini, limnophila Vietnam(?)
  • hyptis lanciniata, alternanthera reineckii mini, centeolepis diammondiana aka blood vomit, pogostemon helferi aka downoi, penthorum sedoides

Initial setup: 4/19/2021
(technically a couple of days after stems straightened up)

Started dosing: 5/16/2021

Today: 6/14/2021
Pardon the bad trim esp pogo erectus, waiting for plants to grow more before trimming/replanting

Thanks for reading.
Omid

 

[Notg2009]

Some thoughts and observations:

1. Ammania praetermissa came from my other tank that had rich substrate and some water column ferts. It was all twisted, stunted, and miserable. It perked up in this tank and started getting a very nice link/red color with new growth but then started having holes all over as soon as I started dosing very lean water column ferts on 5/16/2021 (initially everyday then every other day)
   • 4/19/2021
   • 5/19/2021
   • 6/14/2021
2. Decided to use an inline diffuser as there are reports of better availability of CO2 to plants this way. Not a big fan of Sprite water though.
3. CO2 injection has overall been consistent. pH is about 6.3 before CO2 comes on and about 5 at the end of the day. Don't know my degassed pH!
4. Although substrate is a good quality type in my opinion, I saw some deficiencies and stunting early on so decided to start dosing the water column. Pogo erectus started growing tiny crowns!
5. Rotala indica and ramosior Florida started branching instead of growing taller most likely due to changes from seller's tank to mine.
6. Syngonanthus macrocaulon had chlorosis that resolved as soon as lean water column dosing started. Now it's growing nice green crowns/side shoots
7. Ammania pedicellata golden is kinda just sitting there growing slowly. Not stunted with curly leaves as in my other tank that gets daily dosed
8. Lobelia cardinalis mini does not have the nice green compact growth as in the other tank. Instead is showing pale green with some pink colors. It is the pooping grounds for the snails!
9. Rotala Mexicana red (not sure on the ID) grows red but very thin stems. Unsure why.
10. ALGAE
    • This tank has not had much algae!
    • The staghorn that came with some plants died with some mild h2o2 treatments and I haven't seen it yet.
    • No GSA although I have it more in the other tank!
    • No GDA so far (got some coating on the front and left glass but I think it was just biofilm)
    • No green water.
    • Some mild algae (BGA?) was seen on the front right substrate where some erio quin died and it stayed as a bare area but h2o2 took care of it.
    • Some mild algae seen on the lobelia maybe because of snails liking to poop on the horizontal surface of the leaves!

Thanks for reading
Omid

 

[stlhokie]

"Novice horticulture and scaping skills"....lol

Looks great so far

 

[Griznatch]

Looking great!

 

[whim]

Looks really good. Needs fish!

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[Econde]

Looking good!

 

[Notg2009]

Looks really good. Needs fish!

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I'm not a fish guy!! Also want to be able to change parameters as I see fit for plants. Might consider it in the future. Thanks.

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[Notg2009]

Realized I hadn't posted the micro mix:
Fe 11% DTPA 0.01ppm (realized Burr's mix was with 0.1ppm, but will try 0.01 for now as plants appear to be growing well overall)
Fe gluc 0.01ppm (same as above)
Mn 0.015
Zn 0.01
B 0.01
Mo 0.0005
Cu 0.0008
Ni 0.00025

Added ascorbic acid and white distilled vinegar as well to avoid mold issues

Omid

 

[Notg2009]

Some updates:

Removed the lobelia cardinalis mini due to poor shape and color, and replaced with small cuttings of indica and BV. Lobelia forms massive root systems and it definitely took a bit of back and forth to remove the stems without displacing the adjacent plants.

Also trimmed the mexicana red (?) Since the bottoms were looking unhappy maybe due to lack of light.

Noticed pink flower buds(?) On the indica, maybe it's stressed and wants to flower?

Decided to dose macros to 1-0.2-1 every night and custom micros Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat. I know that this will negatively affect the praetermissa but all other plants appear to like more ferts. We'll see how it goes in the next 3 weeks.

Omid

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[Notg2009]

Just to add: I'm keeping pretty much every change or pattern documented through an excel sheet and also frequent photos. It's very helpful in keeping track of things and diagnosing problems! Inspired by the excel sheet master....Greggz.

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[Greggz]

It's very helpful in keeping track of things and diagnosing problems! Inspired by the excel sheet master....Greggz.

LOL yes I do love me the spreadsheets! If I didn't keep them I would be doomed to making the same mistakes over and over again.

This tank is very interesting. The plants look great and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes over time. My guess is that you are going to find that different plants have different optimum conditions. So some will thrive in this scheme, but some won't. I would remove those and find ones that like it.

There should be much to be learned here.

What is the red Macranda?

 

[Notg2009]

LOL yes I do love me the spreadsheets! If I didn't keep them I would be doomed to making the same mistakes over and over again.

This tank is very interesting. The plants look great and I am looking forward to seeing where it goes over time. My guess is that you are going to find that different plants have different optimum conditions. So some will thrive in this scheme, but some won't. I would remove those and find ones that like it.

There should be much to be learned here.

What is the red Macranda?

Thanks! I think you're asking about the rotala mini butterfly. The other reds are glandulosa, AR mini, and praetermissa.

Omid

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[Notg2009]

-Noticed some dead spots especially where penthorum sedoides is, so switched to a spray bar. Now the flow hits the front glass and goes across the substrate to the back. Would have to check pH and see if this would dissolve more CO2 as well.

-Currently dosing NO3 1ppm, PO4 0.2, and K 1ppm every night and custom micros w (inadvertantly) low Fe (0.01) four nights a week.

-I thought penthorum was an easy plant but it does not look happy and has sent many many aerial roots everywhere.

-Cuphea a. shed some lower leaves, maybe it doesn't like even the small dosing I'm doing but the tops look good with no crinkling!

-Praetermissa looks miserable...oh well

-This tank is congested!!

 

[Notg2009]

Update:

The tank was becoming a jungle with some species not growing well. Did a major rescape, large water changes and lowered light intensity and increasing slowly now.

-Removed the ammania praetermissa. It was losing leaves left and right and unhappy with even the small amount of water column ferts that I was dosing.
-Switched to a spraybar! current is now very strong.
-Penthorum was supposed to be an easy plant but looks very unhappy (still). Don't know if it likes higher water column dosing but having a (still) fresh deep aquasoil substrate should count for something!
-Don't have an ID for the front limnophila looking plant yet. maybe vietnam mini? Likes creeping across the substrate.
-Rotala mexicana red (?) not doing well after a trim a little while ago! Just sitting there half dead. Don't know if it needs higher water column dosing.
-Rotala mini butterfly suffered some after the rescape. These light green patches appeared on the leaves.
-Contemplating increasing dosing at this point. Most likely ammania ped golden will suffer, pogo erectus might stunt...we'll see!

Thanks for reading and hopefully providing suggestions.

Omid

 

[Notg2009]

Swan song....

Will tear this tank down and transfer the plants in addition to the ones from my 20 long to a 40B. Allowing plants to grow tall with side shoots to have plenty to choose from. Still doing weekly 60-70% water changes.

Final observations:
-Despite large plants mass doubling up the macro dosage contributed to GDA growing. So decreased from daily NO3 2ppm and PO4 0.5ppm to approx NO3 1.5ppm PO4 0.35ppm.
-Chihiros WRGB II is at R60-G40-B50
-Penthorum started doing better with increased dosing.
-Syngo macro is now gigantic
-Ammania pedicellata golden is confusing me. Some stems look nice and some have crinkled leaves. I think it does not trimming maybe. It is known from liking lean dosing too.
-Pogo erectus likes throwing side shoots. Have to figure out how to make it to just grow up and not branch!

Omid

 

[gjcarew]

Ammania pedicellata always takes like a month to recover after trimming for me.

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[Notg2009]

Ammania pedicellata always takes like a month to recover after trimming for me.

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I agree, it doesn't like trimming and moving

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