Planted Nano - First Time With The Green Stuff

[ian]

just to add it takes and age for Helferi to carpet unless your running 300000 watts of light and 1000000bps of C02.

 

[fishprotector]

Just bare in mind it will stay low but grow very slowly, very very slowly.

Thats cool, I am in no rush

 

[Ps3Steveo]

lol was gonna say similar Ian, mine only carpets and stays low because its got good flow of nutrients otherwise id imagine it would get leggy.

 

[fishprotector]

just to add it takes and age for Helferi to carpet unless your running 300000 watts of light and 1000000bps of C02.

I understand that it propagates by off shoots, so do you just plant the parents with gaps of around an inch and then plant each off shoot inbetween?

So how would you compare it to HC given the equipment that I have?

 

[L_Plates]

Looking good so buddy. How about weeping moss for the wood ? I am planning on getting some for my shrimp tank when the wood stops growing bacterial fungus

LP

 

[fishprotector]

Looking good so buddy. How about weeping moss for the wood ? I am planning on getting some for my shrimp tank when the wood stops growing bacterial fungus

LP

I have just googled it and weeping moss does like a lot nicer than the java moss I currently have. Have you seen it for sale anywhere? The bacterial fungus is just a normal part of the wood decaying process isnt it? My bogwood in my large tank had a lot on it at one point but the fish ate it. It has not come back since.

 

[L_Plates]

Keep your eye on the sales area, people sell it there from time to time.

Yeh the bacteria is down to the wood it will go soon enough.

LP

 

[fishprotector]

Just ordered some Easycarbo and TPN+

 

[minnnt]

Any updates?

 

[fishprotector]

I have just got back from FLorida today so I will be setting it up and buying the plants this weekend. I will post pics when I do

 

[minnnt]

Oooooooooo, get you!

Look forward to them matey

 

[mishmash]

Liking the wood. You could consider fissidens for the branches that might look good instead of the java moss.

Cool, I will have a look into them.

nice...this has a lot of potential.

as for C02, i personally would go for some Easycarbo and either TNC complete or Tropica plant nutrition plus as the ferts.

just a little tip, when attaching the moss, make sure you attach it in the bends of the wood. This is an Amano trick and looks more natural.

I had not thought about solely using a liquid CO2. It does sound a lot easier though thanks.

This really has potential.... tbh though the only thing i can point out at the moment is that hideous background .... i would remove it and add a plain black or blue (black would be my choice).


Look forward to seeing it progress

Lol it is just the standard Fluval Nano foam thingy. I like the fact that it adds a bit of depth to the tank but then it does take up space.

Im not sure it really does add depth. I think it looks like its encroaching on the tank tbh. Go with plain black, it tends to draw you back into the tank, esp when you have some plants in there too

 

[fishprotector]

Right, I have finally had the time after getting back to get the tank set up. As previously said, I removed the foam background. I did not fancy painting the back of the tank as I change my mind quite often so I am trying to get hold of some black sticky back plastic or something along those lines. After I put the two substrates in, I had to saw the very top off the wood to fit it into the tank. Here is a pic pre water (and pre saw):

After a venture to the LFS and a few decisions, I ended up with the following plants:

Two tubs of Pogostemon Helferi
One tub of Juncus Repens
One tub of Ludwigia Peruviana
one tub of Ludwigia Palustris Red

I just got the plants that I thought looked the nicest. I know that to keep the red colouration present I will need to up the lightning. I am currently running around 1.4 wpg. If I get another Fluval 11w light, then I will have 22w which will knock it up to 2.8 wpg. This should then be enough to keep the plants healthy. Anyone see any problems with doing this? I have never used JBL Manado before, but it was a bit of a b**l ache to plant in with it being so loose and light. I figure that I may get a smaller filter and heater at some point as they seem to be taking up quite a lot of the tank space.

Front tank views:

A nice side view:

I dosed the first dose of CO2 and Ferts. I did 1ml of each and plan to do the same each day and run the lights for 9 hours per day. Does this seem ok? I am also going to add fish tomorrow (mature media installed).

Any suggestions?

 

[JenCliBee]

Looking very nice mate, upping the lighting to 2.8wpg will need a good amount of carbon, it may infact be a little more than the fish will like but increasing gradually and seeing is your best bet.

Currently though the carbon sounds fine but i personally would up the ferts to 2ml daily (at least), what fert are you dosing?. I would also drop the lighting to 6 hours a day and then increase slowly over the next couple weeks/months.

Apart from that, an excellent start... looking forward to seeing the progress


P.S... J.repens grows like a weed, it will certainly keep you busy

 

[fishprotector]

Looking very nice mate, upping the lighting to 2.8wpg will need a good amount of carbon, it may infact be a little more than the fish will like but increasing gradually and seeing is your best bet.

Currently though the carbon sounds fine but i personally would up the ferts to 2ml daily (at least), what fert are you dosing?. I would also drop the lighting to 6 hours a day and then increase slowly over the next couple weeks/months.

Apart from that, an excellent start... looking forward to seeing the progress

Thanks for that. Yes I was wondering if the plants would need more carbon if the wpg was increased. Hmm I do not want to harm the fish, but I want the plants to stay red. Once I get the second light unit, I suppose I can only try and if the fish look like they are struggling for oxygen then I will try something different. For ferts, I am using TPN+, but will up it to 2ml as of today onwards and then drop the lighting to 6 hours, then up it back up to 8-9 slowly.

P.S... J.repens grows like a weed, it will certainly keep you busy