Johns 450ltr (110 Gals) Journal

[jayneg]

Looking forward to seeing the photos John.

I read through your whole journal last week and yesterday I went down to Aquajardin,I have to admit I'd never heard of them until you mentioned them.

I bought some really nice potted plants and not too expensive either.I was also pleasantly surprised by the fish and will definitely go again.

So thanks

 

[nry]

All this wait for the plants, and now we have to wait even longer for photo's

 

[DevUK]

Got a camera phone? I'm sure that'd feed people's addiction untill you can get a decent camera on the go

 

[lljdma06]

Hi all, well the planting has been done it took me 5 hours, tropica in their good faith sent me extra plants as a good will gesture , the only problem i had was fitting them all in, my planting plan has gone a bit off course due to the amount of plants but i am not too bothered because i can change things in due course when things have established,one thing i am not to sure about is the rock i have used, you will all have tell me what you think, as this is my first planted tank i dont think its to bad an effort. as for pics i have taken some with my old cannon A60 but i cant find the flippin usb cable i will keep looking if not my spanish friend returns on the 19th of this month, as for the original plant order only eusterallis stellata and hygrophilla polysperma were missing regards john

That's alright. For me, having the absolutely correct layout at the first planting isn't crucial at all. You basically just have to cram things in there and let the plants establish themselves.

llj

 

[Castellop123]

Can't wait to see Pics...

 

[john starkey]

Hi all,well you have all waited long enough so here they are, i finally found my old usb cable not the best pics ive taken but i will do some more when i get my other camera back. the plants are pearling like mad right now i am running the co2 at 2bps, the lighing is 2 tubes 4hrs, 4tubes 2 hrs 2 tubes 4 hrs. let me know what you think than.ks for being so patient, regards john

 

[arif_93]

i thought there was gonna be more plants and it was more heavily planted but once its filled it should be worth the wait


not sure about the stones maybe slate would look better ..........................................


still very nice

 

[SuperColey1]

I'm with you Arif. Not liking the stones too much but the wood looks awesome. Where did you get it John?

Bet your glad you can finally look at a planted tank. lol

Andy

 

[john starkey]

i thought there was gonna be more plants and it was more heavily planted but once its filled it should be worth the waitnot sure about the stones maybe slate would look better ..........................................still very nice

Hi arif, the stem plants behind the crypts are quite smaill so it looks sparce in the corners but hopefully they will do well and fill out, as for the rocks i agree at the mo they look crap but i will let it fill out first before i make up my mind what to do, thanks for your opinion,regards john .

I'm with you Arif. Not liking the stones too much but the wood looks awesome. Where did you get it John?Bet your glad you can finally look at a planted tank. lolAndy

Hi Andy, yeh i know them rocks , like i said we will see, the wood was from aquajardin glos they have a very good selection of all kinds of wood,thanks for looking in regards john.

 

[nry]

Plants

It is very hard to mix rocks and wood successfully, I think the stark colour difference between your substrate and the rocks is why they stand out so much and possibly (in my opinion!) the un-natural layout of the stones - the plants will really help soften the harshness and until they grow in the full aesthetics will not exist. What I would would try was ensuring the strata lines in all the rocks line up as exactly as possible, and maybe try to move them together so they appear as a single outcrop or for your layout two seperate outcrops, at the moment it seems very obvious that they are rocks which have been put there as opposed to ones which have naturally ended up in their place (though the plants will help with that!).

Can't wait to see the stem plants take shape, I have masses of them now from what seemed like tiny plants, once they settle in they take off like mad! I'm very curious to see how well the H.C. does in EcoComplete - it did appauling in my 5-gallon cube but that may be as much down to no CO2 use - it is now doing amazingly well in the same tank but with sand (Hagen Black River Gravel c/o AquaEssentials), loads of light and CO2.

I'm in no way jealous of this tank, I'm not 'allowed' a larger tank than my current 15-gallon, yours will have to do for dreaming with at the moment!

 

[nukeonekitty]

Looking wonderful!

 

[George Farmer]

Hi John,

Nice to see some plants...

Consider splitting up most of your plants into smaller portions. The HC will carpet quicker. The crypts can be split up into seperate plantlets, this will fill up the layout better. The moss needs to be spread thinner in parts to prevent lower layers dying off.

What bubble counter are you using? 2 BPS may not be enough. Are you usiung a drop checker?

Not sure on the white rocks myself.

 

[john starkey]

Hi John,

Nice to see some plants...

Consider splitting up most of your plants into smaller portions. The HC will carpet quicker. The crypts can be split up into seperate plantlets, this will fill up the layout better. The moss needs to be spread thinner in parts to prevent lower layers dying off.

What bubble counter are you using? 2 BPS may not be enough. Are you usiung a drop checker?

Not sure on the white rocks myself.

Hi George, when i got home and saw all the plants i think i panicked a little because there just seemed so many, i agree the planting went a little off course but i will try and address those issue this weekend when i do the water change, the rocks do look very odd i think i will end up removing then, aquajardin will buy them back from me, the bubble counter is a rhinox spiral type forgot the correct name, and the diff is a rhinox 5000, the drop checker is a fish vet type like the ada one, the reagent is starting to turn green do you think i need more bps? regards john

 

[DevUK]

Looking great so far! The jealousy is still emense I'm not going to say anymore on the rocks, I'm sure you'll either get a configuration you like or as you say, swap them for something else.

Best of luck!

 

[john starkey]

Looking great so far! The jealousy is still emense I'm not going to say anymore on the rocks, I'm sure you'll either get a configuration you like or as you say, swap them for something else.

Best of luck!

H Dev, those rocks are a defo mistake but i am going to give it time to mature a little before i rip em out, the plants are pearling like mad at the moment i am using the ei method of feeding so hopefully i should see some plant growth over the next few weeks, regards john