My Ei 15 Gallon - Rescape

[nry]

Okily dokily, I am on the verge of starting EI, my tank has the lighting and the CO2 and tomorrow begins the EI fertilising.

The tank has been set up for about 10 months now, and is now running as follows:

24"x12"x12"
54L/15UK Gallons
Currently a 25% water change weekly
Internal Juwel filter
JBL AquaBasis Plus beneath gravel
36w Interpet Daylight Plus Power Compact T5 with reflector
Lighting period is currently 7.5 hours: I will up this gradually once EI has been going on for a few weeks and see how things go
CO2 via two linked Nutrafin cannisters and a ceramic diffuser

Current picture the day before EI starts:

Plants:

Loads of cabomba which I plan to gradually replace as times goes on
Tropica Rotala Nanjenshan added to replace some cabomba two days ago
Tropica pogestemon helferi
Crypt Wendtii
Rotala Macranda
Tropica Vallis mini twister
A teeny bit of cardamine lyrata

Currently I do get some pearling: it isn't fizzy pop bubbles but it is going on noticeably.

I will be dosing fertilisers etc as follows:

Monday
50% water change
10ml Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
5ml Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)

Tuesday
2ml Traces

Wednesday
10ml Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
5ml Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)
Change CO2 cannister

Thursday
2ml Traces

Friday 10ml
Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
5ml Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)

Saturday
2ml Traces

Sunday
Change CO2 cannister

I'll update this as things go on

 

[afroturf]

Promising looking tank nry, good job you plan on replacing the Caboma as you'd be trimming it every other day cause of the height of your tank. I love how you have layed the pebbles out they look very natural although, i think the wood could do with a little softening with some moss covering part of it, say from above the vallis going to the right a little.

Is the entire background going to be nanjenshan?

I think it would look really good if you put some HC amongst the foreground plants, still leaving the centre open. Would look great creaping round some of the pebbles?

Looking forward to it progression.

 

[nry]

I can never decide on whether I want some moss on the wood or not. I like it but I also like the 'marbling' on the mopani. No plans to use moss at the moment but times may change!

I am hoping to try some HC in the foreground but not until the tank has been stable for a while.

I don't want nanjenshan for the whole background, depends how well it does as to whether I have more of it or use trimmings in other areas. I really like rotala sp. green but again it may be over-large/high for my tank long term. I want to keep something red/pink in there too in order to break up the green but at the moment I am unsure what this will be. The cabomba is mad, it already does need trimming daily but generally it is trimmed weekly. Also not sure on the crypt's to the left-front. They are almost a bit tall for the location.

Aquascaping is certainly something I enjoy but getting the hang of it is not quick

 

[Themuleous]

Tank looks good matey should look wicked once the EI kicks in

Sam

 

[nry]

First 50% water change tonight, then added the 'Monday' dose as listed above. Hopefully nutrients will balance the cabomba vs green hair algae, the bits directly below the light tube are getting a bit swamped, plus a small amount on the r.macranda: took away the worst affected parts today. No other plants seems affected at the moment.

 

[nry]

I have no clue whether this is actually related to more light or CO2 (probably not EI yet as I've only been dosing for 4 days!) but one of my cabomba stems is beginning to flower! Noticed this morning when I added the fertiliser, one stem is putting out some small lily-like leaves and a quick Google confirms my thoughts!

 

[Themuleous]

Excellent! My anubias flowered when I swapped from the crappy supplied lighting to plant specific lighting.

Don't forget to post a pic, don't think Ive ever seen cabomba flowering before.

Sam

 

[nry]

My anubias (now removed) flowered twice in succession once I went to 2.5wpg with CO2....I'll get some piccies once there is something worth showing

 

[lljdma06]

My anubias (now removed) flowered twice in succession once I went to 2.5wpg with CO2....I'll get some piccies once there is something worth showing

CO2 injection and good lighting really help anubias along. Mine flower as well, with a lot less lighting, less than 2WPG, so I think the CO2 really comes into play with them. Supposedly they also enjoy good phosphate levels, but I haven't done any research to back this up. I haven't really tested my tanks in months, so I have no clue what my levels are. Why did you remove them? Where abouts are you?

Rotala macrandra is a tricky little plant. Make sure it gets light all the way down to the bottom. It also doesn't like to be moved much, so find a space where you like it and keep it there. Beautiful plant, once established though.

Great looking tank, should look even better once the EI kicks in. You'll have to prune a lot, though, it can get pretty crazy.

llj

 

[nry]

The cabomba is driving me nuts, it was a mental grower even before EI (I was dosing Flourish and Flourish trace daily based on weekly amount/7), it just overtakes the tank surface within days of pruning.

The najenshan is growing well, I tend to find plants take ~2 weeks to settle in before they really take hold, though so far so good.

I'm debating moving some of the crypts over to the right hand side of the tank, and moving the p.helferi from the right over to the left. Because of the way I have the PC tube mounted, the power cable end leaves the right of the tank slightly darker than the left. The crypts are better in lower light and the p.h. is better in higher light, so I figure this makes sense (plus I think it will look better too!).

Long term the r.macranda will go. I like it, but it is really sensitive to being trimmed, and can be prone to algae until it comes back from the pruning. I am thinking of something like rotala wallichii as its general size seems better suited to my tank.

I'll give it another week and I may get some h.c. to plant in the gaps in the substrate. The front area of the tank gets loads of light (when the cabomba is cut back!) so it should do well. I'm trying to learn patience with this setup now, it would be all too easy and expensive to splash out on some cabomba replacements from AE/Tropica but I know I need to replace things slowly as the tank settles into EI.

I'm not sure of other plants in the future. I may go for loads of nanjenshan with the wallichi as a red highlight, I quite like having a small number of plant types, in a smaller tank I like the feeling it creates.

 

[R1ch13]

I like this mate...

Its alot nicer than my tank

Good luck with EI!

Richie!

 

[nry]

It's been setup (not being doing EI for long nor have I had 2.5wpg for long either) for about 10 months now, the planting and decor have changed significantly from the horrible resin tree root thing I had originally The r.macranda is original though, the stems there now are cuttings from the original plant.

For interests sake (or not!) the tank from day one:

http/www.nryonline.co.uk/coppermine/thum...ls.php?album=35

 

[john starkey]

hi there imho i would try some riccia in the foreground it would finish your setup perfectly regards john

 

[nry]

Not sure on the riccia, I am probably going to try some h.c. in the next few weeks though.

 

[john starkey]

Not sure on the riccia, I am probably going to try some h.c. in the next few weeks though.

yes nry that would look good also, what substrate are you using ?sorry just noticed your substrate name in your first thread.