Fishywishies Planted Tank

[FishyWishie]

Tank Size 240L
Substrate - Sand
TPN+/Easy Carbo - Rootabs

Heres how it looked initially

After decided I could bear the resin U-boat and the cluttered random plantings no more I cracked and bought some new wood and plants

3 x Cryptocoryne Mi Oya
2 x Echinodorus bleheri (Had these already)
1 x Echinodorus uruguayensis
1 x Echinodorus rose
50x Dwarf Sag (not here yet)
1 x Microsorum pteropus (Used my motherplant and at Ianho's suggestion mounted it onto the redmoor )
2 x Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow'
1 x Anubias barteri var nana (bought from forum member AaronNorth)
1 x Anubias barteri var angustifolia
2 x Cryptocoryne petchii (not here yet)
2 x Cryptocoryne willisii


After planting everything that arrived I got to this point

After a conversation with Ianho who gave me a couple of great suggestions I moved the Java Fern mother plant onto the redwood and altered its placement a little which gave me this

The Dwarf Sag carpet still has to be done (when it finally arrives) as does the flame moss covering of the left hand bogwood piece and the 2 petchii need to be planted (again when they arrive)

The only casualty appears to be the Enchinodorus 'Rose' which is trying to top my quickest plant death record assuming it doesnt bounce back any and all suggestions of a replacement to go along side the 2 Swords the 4 mi oyo and the Eruguayensis would be most welcome.

 

[the biffster]

looking sweet

 

[FishyWishie]

The middle 5 or 6 plants at the back are still V small so you cant really see them in the pic but I'm sure they will grow well cept the 'rose' lol

 

[GrayScale]

Looking good! What are the plants in the foreground on the ride side?

 

[FishyWishie]

Thats Dwarf Sag (Sagittaria_subulata) The plan is to extend that right out across the tank as a carpet as it stays quite low in my tank just waiting on 50 more arriving

The ones on the front left are a small crypt not sure if they will stay there amoungst the carpet or not atm will see how they look as im planting out the rest of the dwarf sag.

 

[GrayScale]

Gotcha. I thought it was dwarf sag but you said you were waiting for it to arrived so it confused me haha.

 

[ian]

looks tons better, you can't credit me for the ideas, you did the work!

Give the sword time, and cut the dead leaves off.

Keep us updated on the progress!

 

[FishyWishie]

The swords are fine if anything there too big lol

Its the Enchinodorus 'rose' and 'uruguayensis I'm thinking im going to have to give to someone with higher light there leaves are breaking down and there def on there way out.

Tis my own fault I read no c02 addition needed and in my head thought great that means they will be low light which is obv not the case doh ! Im starting to plan for the worst and consider alternatives although I will give them some time to see if they rebound although I feel this is unlikely

Currently the back 'row' of plants is (Sword) (Uruguayensis) (Mi Oya) (Mi Oya) (Mi Oya) (Rose) (Sword) If the rose/uruguayensis what would be 2 different plants to replace them with to provide variation and interest to the back of the tank ?

 

[GrayScale]

Rotala Indica or magenta perhaps? Maybe even hygrophilia?

 

[Biulu]

What about tryiing C. balansae? This is a low light crypt, but grows tall.

Edit: you probably want a touch of red? Then try A. reineckii.

 

[Carlovel1]

Very nice, TOTM dec?

 

[FishyWishie]

Maybe when its finished and the crypts at the back are bigger and can be seen

Narrowed down replacements for the 'rose' and 'uruguayensis' if they do die to

Bolbitis heudelotii
Crypt Undulata
Crypt Balansae
Apongeton Crispus


Ideally I want height in a reasonable time period and something that offers a contrast to the Mi Oya

+ any inspiration that hits me while sleeping

I would consider Hygrophhila Difformis but it grew like wildfire in my prev scape and always looked a mess

ps why does this forum have a osama emoticon lol ? sama:

 

[Biulu]

I like your choices but bolbitis is rather slow growing, so if you want something to fill out, you'd better go with the other plants you've chosen. Btw, you DO know that bolbitis is a fern and needs to be attached to a piece of wood or something, right?

 

[FishyWishie]

I've had an idea

Im debating buying something like THIS with this having 2 X T5 54W versus my current lighting of 2 X T8 40W would this push me into the realms of needing to use pressurised C02 or would Easy Carbo suffice ? and would using a 2mm perspex sheet to prevent the killifish jumping out work or would it reflect to much light ?

The alternative is to get 2 x T8 > T5 converters but from what I can gather I cant swap a 40w t8 for a 40w T5 with these so there would be little if any net gain

I dont mind spending some money to improve my lighting ideally up to the maximum possible without needing to progess onto presurised c02

 

[the biffster]

I've had an idea

Im debating buying something like THIS with this having 2 X T5 54W versus my current lighting of 2 X T8 40W would this push me into the realms of needing to use pressurised C02 or would Easy Carbo suffice ? and would using a 2mm perspex sheet to prevent the killifish jumping out work or would it reflect to much light ?

The alternative is to get 2 x T8 > T5 converters but from what I can gather I cant swap a 40w t8 for a 40w T5 with these so there would be little if any net gain

I dont mind spending some money to improve my lighting ideally up to the maximum possible without needing to progess onto presurised c02

sounds good but weigh up the
pros and cons first