Sam's Nano Journal

[Themuleous]

That new moss looks purty!!! Sad to see the anubia go, though. Send it over so it doesn't go to waste bahahaha!

Anyway, here's an odd question for you:
After pruning that stem jungle, did your tank have that fresh-veggie-salad smell? I had a massive prune a few days ago, and bro said my tank smelled like one.

Cant say I noticed it, but will be sure to have a 'sniff' next time I hack through the jungle. Sorry, the anubias is going in one of my other tanks, along with the normal 'nana' that I originally had in there. The biggest down fall of the small anubias varities is that they just grow so slowly, it takes ages for them to recover from injury and/or leaf loss, and it was rotting like hell in there (not sure why, suggestions?) so had to take it out.

Hey Themuleous the tank is looking great nice to see it develope . Just a question the for you though , Do you think that aquajardin still has some of that moss ? And do you think they would post some to me ? Just a thought . It would look great in my setup . Thanks again and keep up the good work

I know the piece I got was the last bit they had, but they did say they would special order stuff for me and they could forward post stuff too, but there would be an added postage cost. That bit i got was 10quid so its not cheap either. You could try Birstall they will special order stuff from tropica too. Just give either of them a call, Im sure one if not both would be able to sort something for you. I take it you like it?

BTW it was pearling today, so it must be doing ok in the tank

Sam

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Sam, your tank looks great!! Nice clear water, too! (you know how important that clear water is to me!)

 

[Qays]

You escaped a potentially embarrassing situation at the shop there me thinks!

EDIT - mine is a standard size clearseal, if they dont stock them you should be able to get one of them ordered in. It cost me less than 20quid.

Do you have polystyrene under that clear seal? my lfs says it will crack as the glass has no plastic trimming under it.

Is this true?

Didnt know ClearSeal does 24x8x8. im geting an 18x12x12 which is bout 11 US Gals

 

[ChrisP]

Thats excellent, looks like its growing very well indeed! Plants look very healthy!

 

[Themuleous]

Sam, your tank looks great!! Nice clear water, too! (you know how important that clear water is to me!)

Haha indeed I do!

Do you have polystyrene under that clear seal? my lfs says it will crack as the glass has no plastic trimming under it.

Is this true?

Didnt know ClearSeal does 24x8x8. im geting an 18x12x12 which is bout 11 US Gals

Yes I put about a 1cm thick layer of foam under it, most if not all shops sell form for this purpose. You definately need it under clearseal tanks to even out the surface you place it on. Most 'kit' type tanks have a base aleardy attached so this isn't necessary, but for clearseal yes defineately (having said that my 20g tank has never sat on foam and its not cracked after 3years, you just have to make sure the surface you put it on is perfectly clean and free from grit and small imperfections that could bend the glass, I will get a base next time I move it)

I take it you're in the US? I didnt think you could get clearseal tanks over there?

Thats excellent, looks like its growing very well indeed! Plants look very healthy!

Thanks they seem to be doing well. Just hope I've not pruned the HM to much! Hoping it'll bush out a bit to make a nice thick, green wall at the back.

Sam

 

[Qays]

Sam, your tank looks great!! Nice clear water, too! (you know how important that clear water is to me!)

Haha indeed I do!

Do you have polystyrene under that clear seal? my lfs says it will crack as the glass has no plastic trimming under it.

Is this true?

Didnt know ClearSeal does 24x8x8. im geting an 18x12x12 which is bout 11 US Gals

Yes I put about a 1cm thick layer of foam under it, most if not all shops sell form for this purpose. You definately need it under clearseal tanks to even out the surface you place it on. Most 'kit' type tanks have a base aleardy attached so this isn't necessary, but for clearseal yes defineately (having said that my 20g tank has never sat on foam and its not cracked after 3years, you just have to make sure the surface you put it on is perfectly clean and free from grit and small imperfections that could bend the glass, I will get a base next time I move it)

I take it you're in the US? I didnt think you could get clearseal tanks over there?

Thats excellent, looks like its growing very well indeed! Plants look very healthy!

Thanks they seem to be doing well. Just hope I've not pruned the HM to much! Hoping it'll bush out a bit to make a nice think, green wall at the back.

Sam

My lfs sells clear seals, i have foam under mine too! its annoying because my budgie keeps ripping bits of it off!

 

[Themuleous]

Right time for a quick up date, finally removed the hornwort, hardly any algae this week just a few bits on the glass, discovered that the hornwort was probably removing 50-60% of the ferts I was adding! Stuff is totally crazy! Anyhoo, I gave HC and HM a good prune to help them bush out a bit, the HM was getting that way but still looking a bit leggy and I want a nice bushy wall at the back of the tank. The HC is doing great so I took a good 5mm of the top (bearing in mind that its no more than 10mm in the first place that was quite a hard prune!) as it too was getting leggy and some bits were dieing as it was growing over itself so hopefully opended it all up a bit, time will tell I guess! It was nice and spongy when I pressed on it though which is a good sign. The Pogostemon helferi is going great too, but not really sure if I like it that much, may end up removing it, what do you think? Actually have just had another look think Ill keep it at least to see how it looks in a month or so, no point being hasty!

The only other thing I have to report is that I decided it would be a good idea to break the glass diffuser, so thats another 13quid down the drain. Although I was surprised at how easy it was to do, guess I must have got it in just the right place, oh well we live and learn!

Enjoy the pics, looking a bit battered after the prune, will post some in a week or so once its recovered and filled out a bit more.

Sam

Full tank

The crypts which seem to be doing great and also staying low, any pruning tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[craynerd]

nice one buddy!!! its awesum!

Can we have a close up pic of the other piece of bog wood...there is something i want to inspect

Chris

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

Wow! I think it looks great! I went back and checked out the beginning of your journal. It's amazing how the tank has transformed in just over 6 weeks. Very nice! I love the closeup of the crypts.

 

[Themuleous]

How that?

Wow! I think it looks great! I went back and checked out the beginning of your journal. It's amazing how the tank has transformed in just over 6 weeks. Very nice! I love the closeup of the crypts.

Yeh it has come a long way, ive got the scaping stage now which is great, means I can start to get things how I want them, rather than just growing stuff to fight off the algae!

 

[craynerd]

Awesum!!! what are those little plants at the foot of that bogwood? they are what i wanted to see!

 

[Themuleous]

Its Pogostemon helferi, check out this thread, as it was Zig who first introduced them to me (and everyone else) found some a few weeks later.

 

[lljdma06]

You can prune the crypts by removing the tallest, oldest leaves. The younger leaves will be closer to the substrate. Just remove the leaf stalk as close to the substrate as possible. If things really get wild, which can take a while, you can remove the crypt and divide it by separating the smaller plantlets from the mother plant. At least this is what I have done with my crypts and people have complemented them on their health.

I feel your pain regarding the diffuser. I once dopped a 10g glass cover. That hurt, got a nasty cut on my hand to show for it too.

I like the Pogostemons, they look really good!

 

[craynerd]

Where did you source them Sam ? .....i want i want lol

 

[Themuleous]

You can prune the crypts by removing the tallest, oldest leaves. The younger leaves will be closer to the substrate. Just remove the leaf stalk as close to the substrate as possible. If things really get wild, which can take a while, you can remove the crypt and divide it by separating the smaller plantlets from the mother plant. At least this is what I have done with my crypts and people have complemented them on their health.

I feel your pain regarding the diffuser. I once dopped a 10g glass cover. That hurt, got a nasty cut on my hand to show for it too.

I like the Pogostemons, they look really good!

Thats pretty much what I thought, just wondered if there were any special wayss of going it - guess not! they will join the weekly prune list next week probably growing like mad!

Ouch, sounds painfull, thankfully I didn't cut myself, cheap english glass

Where did you source them Sam ? .....i want i want lol

I got it from a shop call aquajardin over at jnc 12 (?) of the M5, check further back in the journal I put a link to the shop in there somewhere, porbably page 5 or 6.

If anyone has any thoughts on the left side, I thinking of removing the wood arch and getting some more colour into the tank, my new moss/liverwort is nice but its not growing very quickly so adding to the arch will take years! The eco-complete looks very bare under the wood too and I think its being wasted. Thoughts/suggestions for plants would be greatly received. Guess I need some small red plants? Preferably non-stem ones as I cant be doing with lots of cutting a replanting!

Thanks for all your comments

Sam