Llj's 20g Journal

[lljdma06]

Like the new pics I get the feeling you dont like pruning! I would happily swap for plants I could prune as that would actually mean they were growing! Dam HC!

I always like wood with things attached to it and there is a surprising variety of anubia.

Sam

Thanks Sam, the pictures are quite old. The tank looks really different now. The anubia divided extremely well, and now I had plenty for both the 36g and the 20g. I couldn't get rid of the bolbitis, so it went back in this tank. It looks kind of like a forest floor now, but I'll take a few pictures later today once I'm done with maintenance. I was never able to replace the wood. After boiling the wood, the mold reappeared, so I think I'll have to kill the bacteria with a bleach solution.

llj

 

[lljdma06]

Here are the promised pictures.

Nothing amazing, just easy to care for. I kind of like the bolbitis in the background, the tank looks like a forest floor. The large wendtii was a recent find, and I added a few more serpaes and black neon tetras to increase the schools. I'd either just like to add a bottom dweller of some type, but a nice one is rather difficult to find and expensive, or I've been considering another Hyphessobrycon species, to see if one would fit in with the serpaes and the black neons, both of which are Hyphessobrycons.

llj

 

[Squid]

Can someone help me identify what each of the plants in this pic are. I'm especially interested in the one on the left with the reddish tinge.... i like that one.

Squid

 

[Themuleous]

The fern looks excellent, dark than I had thought Bolbitis heudelotii was. Easy to row I imagine?

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

Can someone help me identify what each of the plants in this pic are. I'm especially interested in the one on the left with the reddish tinge.... i like that one.

Tall reddish stemplant on the left is Rotala rotundifolia, just the normal type.
Tall stemplant on the right is Bacopa caroliana or something like that
The centerpiece plants on the wood is one Anubia barterii var barterii and one anubia barterii var nana
There are isolated patches of Christmass moss, but they are hard to make out
The ground cover is all Marsilea hirsuta.

Does that help?

The fern looks excellent, dark than I had thought Bolbitis heudelotii was. Easy to row I imagine?

Sam

B. heudelotii grows like a blooming weed. It has finally slowed down since I've stopped adding CO2 and it is much easier to maintain. I guess it is so dark because of my lighting levels. My green plants in general tend to be much darker.

 

[Dave Spencer]

This tank is showing the most promise of your updated tanks, IMO.

I still don`t understand how your Marsilea is staying multi lobed. Have you told it that it is now underwater?

Dave.

 

[Squid]

Tall reddish stemplant on the left is Rotala rotundifolia, just the normal type.
Tall stemplant on the right is Bacopa caroliana or something like that
The centerpiece plants on the wood is one Anubia barterii var barterii and one anubia barterii var nana
There are isolated patches of Christmass moss, but they are hard to make out
The ground cover is all Marsilea hirsuta.

Does that help?

Most certainly does.. Thankyou very much!

It's nice to see a variety of low light/low tech plants being used. Most of the time on this forum you say those words and people immediately just say Anubias and Java fern. Nice to be a bit more inspiring

Squid

 

[nry]

I still don`t understand how your Marsilea is staying multi lobed. Have you told it that it is now underwater?

Dave.

Those darn plants, they never listen!

 

[lljdma06]

This tank is showing the most promise of your updated tanks, IMO.

I still don`t understand how your Marsilea is staying multi lobed. Have you told it that it is now underwater?

Dave.

Thanks Dave, I like this tank too. None of my current scapes are anywhere near the level of previous scapes, but I'm just too busy now to tweak continuously with 4 tanks. Keeping the scapes simpler was the only way I could maintain the tanks properly.

Yes, the marsilea got the memo. I also can't believe it still has multi-lobed leaves. It's been submerged for over a year already. I get a mix, but it's still predominantly multi-lobed and pretty close to the ground. Has anybody else, besides myself, been growing Marsilea hirsuta in lower light, less than 2WPG? Perhaps the multi-lobed leaf is a reaction to the lower light levels, whereas the single lobe growth is predominant with higher light? Any thoughts?

I added a small group of C. trilineatus today. They are kind of cute and pretty small. Hopefully, they will do well. I'd like to see a larger group in there eventually, between 10-12 individuals

 

[mlawson]

A lot of sources say bolbitis is hard and slow to grow, but also people say its fast and easy. Do you think it depends on water hardness, perhaps?

 

[lljdma06]

A lot of sources say bolbitis is hard and slow to grow, but also people say its fast and easy. Do you think it depends on water hardness, perhaps?

I really don't know. My water is basically liquid rock and has a lot of disolved minerals. In addition, I have quite a bit of current in my tanks and am considering istalling powerheads in two of my tanks, the 36g and the 20g. It has finally slowed down in my 20g, but I am now down to 1.4WPG and no CO2 injection. The growth is now managable, whereas before, it was just growing way too fast and it was honestly getting unruly.

I put a new filter in this tank, and will gradually move one of the filters to the 36g and install a powerhead in both tanks. I keep corydoras, so I need to create a fair amount of current. My tetras, barbs, and angels are so tough that they really don't care. Both tanks with Bolbitis are also unheated, could that have something to do with it too?

Hmmmm.

llj

 

[ICEEGRL]

I think it is just your plants. The plants that I bought at shops died (mostly). The cuttings from you are growing great. I don't know what you are doing to them, but what ever it is... it works. I want some more for my new tanks.

How did the et work out? Mine all died. I hope to get some more soon. I need to get some smaller leaf plants.

 

[lljdma06]

I did not anticipate the pH climb from CO2 removal. The tank went from 6.6 or 6.8 to like 7.6! Needless to say, I had some losses. The effects of ammonia is greater the higher the pH and the tank has a lot less plantload than it used too. I did more water changes to compensate and keep the water clean, but I lost some of the tetras and most of the new C. triliniatus that I got. I tested for ammonia and found none, but you never know. The one that made it is in my 2.5g with 5 C. aeneus, and is recovering nicely. The triliniatus gave me the clue that all was not well, they had lost their barbels, but I had been so busy with teaching and Barber of Seville rehearsals that it was too late for many of them before I noticed. The remaining triliniatus is regrowing his barbels and is eating very well, in an overstocked pico of all places!

Not a great experience, but a good on for learning. You can't take for granted the benefits of a lower pH that comes with a CO2 injected planted tank, especially in a location which is known for very high pH out of the tap.

I am down to 8 fish in this tank, and no species are in their ideal numbers, which I don't like. I have to rebuild the schools slowly. After I rebuild the schools, I'm debating whether or not to add a third school of a Hyphessobrycon species, or to try the triliniatus again. I'll see.

On the plus side, my crypts did not melt from the pH change (I thought they would), and have honestly never looked better, and the tank is pretty algae free. Just a few diatoms from the massive substrate cleaning when I changed the hardscape last time.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Sorry about your fish loss

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

Time for an update. In the time that I've turned off CO2, my crypts have really taken off. Here are a few updated photos.

I don't really like the fish much from LPS these days, so when I want a new fish, I tend to switch species from another tank. I added my Blue tetras back to this tank. If I see good serpaes and black neons, I'll add to the schools, a shoal of corydoras and call it a day.

I'm getting a shipment of plants from Aquariumplants.com (Happy Christmas to me!). The list includes the following:

Egeria najas
Aponogeton crispus
Cryptocoryne Wendtii Bronze "Giant Mother Plant"
Pelia (Monosolenium Tenerum)
Cryptocoryne retrospiralis
Cryptocoryne wendtii, Green
Cryptocoryne wendtii, Red

I'm excited about the Mother plant, I hope it's big. It'll become the showcase plant for the 36g. The najas will provide stability and it is one of my favorite stemplants, so I plan on cultivating it. I hear the Pelia can become a weed, but that's usually with higher light and CO2, so hopefully mine will behave. The plan is to either use it as a floater, or as a groundcover, depending on the tank. I have honestly never tried Aponogetons, so it'll be interesting to see how they do.

I know the 20g will get some Pelia, perhaps the aponogetons and some growing Christmas moss I have on reserve. I may move things around. I'd like to continue the spiral of green created by the anubias with the marsilea, as I think something isn't quite right with the current layout and perhaps Pelia with the crypts will make a better combination. I'd like the eye to travel to the dark cave created by the wood, which it nearly does, but the marsilea and crypts together are a distraction. I will soften the jutting wood to the right with Pelia, which will help the eye focus on the cave and will continue the spiral of green created by the anubias. I've seen Riccia attached to wood, so I imagine Pelia will work that way too.

Of course, when I get the plants, the above plan could be completely changed.

llj