Llj's 20g Journal

[lljdma06]

Thanks for the complements everybody. This tank, like the 36g is really a fish tank with plants. Definitely not like the 8g which is in the Dutch style and more conscious of the plant layout. I wanted to create more space for my corydoras and more swimming space for my tetras. I removed all of the HM and rearranged the marsilea. The marsilea was great to work with. I kept the lowest runners and confined the plants to the ends of the tank. I also removed a lot of moss. If I paid good money for a nice piece of Mopani, you should be able to see at least a little brown. There are now little caves for the cories to swim through and I think it is a tidier layout.

Old layout

New layout, not much different, but I think nicer.

llj

 

[wally6346]

Wow!

 

[thefirethief]

Fantastic llj! Although I quite like how dense the old one was, especially towards the foreground. Seemed a bit more natural. Still, cant complain, it does look amazing now. What is the small plant just right of the centre, kinda clover looking leaves?

 

[Castellop123]

Look really good! I think the new layout is more defined... Good Work!

 

[lljdma06]

Fantastic llj! Although I quite like how dense the old one was, especially towards the foreground. Seemed a bit more natural. Still, cant complain, it does look amazing now. What is the small plant just right of the centre, kinda clover looking leaves?

When I purchased it like 10 months ago, it was labeled as Marsilea quadrifolia, but I actually believe that it is Marsilea hirsuta, an aquatic fern from Australia. At least this is what the Tropica website says. The plant, once it sheds it's emersed growth can display four possible leaf shapes depending on the growing conditions. I have mostly four-lobed leaves with the occasional spattering of much shorter, single-lobed leaves. It does really very well in my tank.

By the way, I forgot to write this. I added an extra T5 tube about 3 weeks ago, giving me now 2.1WPG. This, however, means very little. My bulbs are very old (about 2 years old) and I need to replace them. I'm compensating for tight purse strings by adding a little extra light. I would not do this if I had new bulbs. That is the dawn/dusk lighting I had mentioned in a previous post.

llj

 

[Dave Spencer]

I have changed my mind. This is your best tank now IMO. It is a lot more natural looking than your Dutch, and the sandy foreground is a real improvement.

Have you considered a different colour background? I use tracing paper which is nice and translucent and you can create some interesting back lit effects with it when photographing your tank. It diffuses the light from a desk lamp etc. pointed at the wall behind, giving a subtle colour variation dependent on the colour of the wall. You could even try holding different coloured clear plastic over the lamp for a little experimentation. The real key is the lighting, not how fancy your camera is.

All your tanks look great, maybe you could consider getting a little more arty with your pics.

Dave.

 

[lljdma06]

I have changed my mind. This is your best tank now IMO. It is a lot more natural looking than your Dutch, and the sandy foreground is a real improvement.

Have you considered a different colour background? I use tracing paper which is nice and translucent and you can create some interesting back lit effects with it when photographing your tank. It diffuses the light from a desk lamp etc. pointed at the wall behind, giving a subtle colour variation dependent on the colour of the wall. You could even try holding different coloured clear plastic over the lamp for a little experimentation. The real key is the lighting, not how fancy your camera is.

All your tanks look great, maybe you could consider getting a little more arty with your pics.

Dave.

Thanks for the lighting tips, Dave. My eyes like black, but I will try something different when I don't have 5 screaming kittens to feed. I and my tanks are also recovering from 3 days in Miami, FL with no AC. The evaporation rate has been tremendous in my tanks, but the fish are still doing well. The AC's back on and my corydoras are collectively chanting "Thank you". I don't really keep heated tanks down here, as it's really quite pointless. It never dips below 70 in the house even on the coldest days and the rooms with fish tanks are always warmer.

Did you get my information on the Blue tetra's in my other thread?

llj

 

[lljdma06]

Ripped out a piece of wood from this tank to put in my 8g and hacked it in half with a saw in my back yard. I, of course, first removed about five Bolbitis plants from the wood first. It was all very violent and I sweated. It's hot in Miami, FL.

The irony is that PetsMart now sells smallish pieces of Mopani for a pretty good price, about $6.99-$12.99, depending on the size. I really don't think this is a bad deal. I purchased a piece and I'll try and incorporate it into the decor of this tank. If anything, I need to anchor the Bolbitis to it. I don't know if I'll use all of it, though, so if there are people in the US desperate for Bolbitis, I may have some spare rhizomes. I'm glad, the other piece I ended up hacking up for the 8g wasn't Mopani and the other wood in the 20g is, and it didn't quite look right.

Will post pics as soon as the wood finishes soaking and I put it in. Not that I care if it leaks tannins or not, I like the tea-color and so do my tetras.

llj

 

[mlawson]

Good Work, Llj...

I was wondering what the stem plant was in the left-hand corner.

Thanks...

 

[lljdma06]

Good Work, Llj...

I was wondering what the stem plant was in the left-hand corner.

Thanks...

If I'm getting this right, the plant on the left is Rotala rotundifolia. If I'm not getting this right, then the only other stemplant in that picture is Bacopa caroliana or whatever. I can never remember how to spell the second part of that name.

llj

 

[RadaR]

Fantastic, I like the open foreground here.

 

[JamieH]

FABULOUS!

 

[lljdma06]

Fantastic, I like the open foreground here.

I like it too, makes it easy to clean. I don't think it'll be that way for long, though. The marsilea is spreading.

FABULOUS!

Thanks. Your tank is fabulous too. Going to go soak wood now.

llj

 

[Dave Spencer]

Marsilea is an excellent foreground plant IMO because it doesn`t get as dense as Glosso. I reckon you could have the Marsilea forground, but still keep it looking sandy too. I have some M. crenata growing like mad in my 120l, but the foreground is still predominantly sand.

Are there any Corys in this tank? They would look great sifting through the sand/small gravel that you have in this tank.

Dave.

 

[lljdma06]

Marsilea is an excellent foreground plant IMO because it doesn`t get as dense as Glosso. I reckon you could have the Marsilea forground, but still keep it looking sandy too. I have some M. crenata growing like mad in my 120l, but the foreground is still predominantly sand.

Are there any Corys in this tank? They would look great sifting through the sand/small gravel that you have in this tank.

Dave.

I've got 4 peppered and 5 bronze. I need one more peppered to make me feel better. I may or may not add some pandas to the mix. We'll see. They are so cute and the tank is certainly mature enough. I've got so little nitrates in this tank that it could probably handle the extra bioload without a problem.

The big thing I need to do is replace the bulbs. That's going to take some money. I just keep putting it off.

The piece of Mopani floated right up when I added water to a bucket, so it's going to take a while.