Found some shrimp that I liked the look of, they were sort of an impulse purchase to complement the ones that I have now...
I am not exactly sure of the name as I thought they were Mosquito Shrimp, [Caridina gracilirostris de Man, 1892], but have been corrected in that they are a variation of Mosquito Shrimp called red-rhinos.
Anyway there are really transparent and couldn’t help taking a picture of one on a glass Lillie pipe.
Hi Rupert,
If you'r having difficulties in cleaning the filter hoses,
there a long and springy brush available in LFS, eg:c328 for a reasonable price.
Those similar type of brush is can also be bought at Queenways shopping centre
inside those camping bags shops that sell waterbags, eg;camelbak
I bought one of those for $18 some yrs back to clean my waterbag tubes.
Cheers
I should be working not posting
blyxa
blyxa is indeed an enigma. i've seen lfs 88 in kl plant it till it's like a ball! [1 ft diameter and height!!!]Originally Posted by PeterGwee
Blyxa japonica...mechanical damages during the initial planting can cause it to melt but if the conditions are good, it should come back strongly.
Regards
Peter Gwee
i surmise one of the causes of loss in vitality is something to do with certain plants competing for same nutrients causing it to lose it's vitality.
it is a very fragile plant though not as fragile as blyxa auberti. i've learnt not to rinse with tap water. leaves just melted away... so handling is important as well.
i myself am quite successful with it using base fert and monster root.
another tank without base fert but with monster root don't do as well.
well, one can only learn from trial and error and reading a lot here...
btw i heard there's another blyxa that's in between japonica and auberti?
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
Hi Rupert,
Chance on your post....wow...I am impressed in your attention to details.
I think you can get ISO 9000:2001 certified.
For me, I used the "force"...
Hello Catus36, I know Queensway Shopping center so will visit them in the next couple of days. In the meantime I have connect the bottle brush to a broken coat hanger that allows me to clean pipes in a much easier fashon than before.
Hello Standoyo, my Blyxa Japonica bounced back and looks good, but it took a while to feel good about it. Whilst I was in the process of controlling my R Wallichii I have added Blyxa aubertii. I found the Blyxa aubertii hard to plant as it always kept floating up, so added some lead, but after reading your post about sensitivity I should expect it to deteriorate as I quarantined it for 4 days, inspected it thoroughly, rinsed it thoroughly, so expecting it to turn into a mess for quite a while now.
Hello RocketShrimp, thanks for the complements, I did ISO along time ago and then went Six Sigma in a big way about 15 years ago…where does time go!.
One of the Moderators [Vinz] has found a way for me to post two PDF files that consolidate the design and development of a custom tank too day zero and then the first 30 days, Now I am in the middle of writing up the last 60 days of developments and will post them here. In the meantime here is a picture showing both Blyxa Japonica [infront of the big rock] & Blyxa aubertii [behind the big rock]
Last edited by Rupert; 20th Jun 2005 at 11:05.
I should be working not posting
blyxa auberti
sorry 2 sen came a bit late, but plants will find a way to bounce back. it will take time. i love the auberti as it has delicate leaves which waves when gentle current hits. it grows quite tall in my tank. about 15-18 in.
if you are lucky you will get fresh green leaves. [too much light makes it olive i think?] mine is seasonal, when water gets low[when i'm not around] it turns olive.
i have one pix in link below.
i wish you luck...
btw i think your tank looks fab. will look more so when aubertii spreads and flowers...
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
Hi Bro,
I went toC328 today and saw the eheim cleaning brush which might be better and cheaper as compare to the above-mentioned.
The price is $9 but i think there are different sizes available.
You can check up http://www.eheim.com/ for more details
From the site, 2028 uses product code:4005550 for cleaning brush
and 4006570 for universal brush.
Hope this helps.
Here are the download links to get a complete copy of the two documents that describe my experiences, challenges and approach to getting a custom tank and setting it up as a planted tank. Hopefully I have done this in a manner that the next new enthusiast embarking on the same journey can benefit from.
The documents are in PDF format and contain quite a few pictures:
Custom and Planted Tank Setup, up to Day 0 [16 pages - 588kb]
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/extra...p_to_day_0.pdf
Custom & Planted Tank Set-up, Day 1 - 30 [12 pages - 694kb]
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/extra...t_day_1-30.pdf
Custom & Planted Tank Set-up, Day 30 - 90 [7 pages - 231kb]
http://www.aquaticquotient.com/extra..._day_30-90.pdf
-
Day 30 - Day 90
Here is the last sixty days, I could not get a great picture, the mind & body is willing but the camera is not. However there is a plan in place to get some good pictures over the weekend.
Last edited by Rupert; 28th Jun 2005 at 04:07. Reason: Added Day 90 article.
Preparing my tank for a picture shoot
Little did I know that amount of effort required to get that good shot that I would feel proud about. Here is a description of the week’s activities prior to the actual event. I must thank Benny & Chris [Loupgarou] for the final result.
Saturday inspection by Benny & Chris
Benny & Chris came over to do a pre-shoot inspection; the distance in front of tank was ok. At the time I didn’t realize the importance of distance in securing a good picture, the greater the distance the less distortion from the glass and the more rectangular the depth of the picture. At a distance of 20 -25 feet my tank looks great, the front and back glass panels almost look as one, now just need to move some furniture on the night.
After the inspection my go-forward checklist is:
· Remove the snails, well as many as I can
· Clean the tank, and scrape the glass on Thursday, the day before the shoot
· Remove the ugly fish so they distract from the aquascape
· If possible add some more plants to remove the hard transition from sand to black background. Not sure about this as I quite like the hard transition to darkness
· Remove my white tile behind the wood. This was used to get depth in normal lighting circumstances
· Get a hair dryer that blows cold air for Friday
· Thursday clean the glass
· Thursday night polish the water
· Friday night one hour before Benny & Chris arrive, I need to remove the Lillie pipes. The shoot could take 5 hours.
Benny notices my pH controller flashing… I guess I should have noticed but thought it was normal. Benny tells me it is a sign that it needs to be recalibrated. Mmmm maybe that is why I am getting more hair algae that usual?
Sunday
Water change, clean the glass as I think it will take a few goes to get it 100% clean, I do notice that there is some debris around my Aponogeton Longiplumulous… some leaves fall off! My tank is 30 inches high and those couple extra inches make all the difference in effort and in visual appeal. Part of the reason that my tank is so high is that I wanted to be like a window into another world or a picture. A 4 x 6 inch picture has almost the same proportions as that tank 30 [H] inches x 48 [L] inches
The snail hunt has started; I get lots of them, however lots remain. What I saw as friendly snails in the past has now transformed into a desire to eradicate them all. My daughter doesn’t want me to get rid of the big ones so I have to save those!
I decide to read the AGA results of last year to see what the judges say. This is quite interesting in that they are quite insightful. Mr Amano T. comments seem really sharp. I put myself in his position and look at my tank “rocks look like shit… and fish look like shit… too”. I decide that empathy is a trait that I will ignore for a while. I clean the Hair Grass with my toothbrush cleaner, some falls out! Partly because I scraped down the side of the glass below the substrate to make it look better, as one AGA judge recommended.
Monday
On Monday some of the female guppies are captured but am surprised that the ugly ones really know that I want to catch them so they play hard to get. I have some containers out the back of the apartment, which I can keep them in, with a spare 6-fan unit to keep them cool. In the process I need to decommission my algae tank, which was small plastic aquariums in which I was growing algae to see if I could do an algae scape… well it looked worse than ugly so that had to go, and ironically the stuff that I wanted to grow didn’t!
When cleaning around the A. Longiplumulous … some leave fall off! What’s going on… every time I touch the tank more plants get removed? Panic sets in.
The snail hunt continues, I get lots more of them, but they too seem to be getting smarter in that they disappear into inaccessible places and when my back is turned they have regrouped. A puffer fish is considered, but I cannot imagine a fish choosing snails when there are lots of small tasty cherry shrimp about.
Tuesday
Wake up at 2.00 am for a conference call, then do some work, then see that I have the links which are needed to post my article on the first 90 days. I do this then catch some sleep before trying to get up at six am.
I have been told by Chris that some dirt will be dislodged from the pipes, so I remove the source, but expect the skimmer to cause some problems, so replace all of my glass Lillie pipes with cleaner plastic ones with clean hoses. This will make it easier for me to move them on Friday, glass looks good, but it is fragile.
Still catching guppies. Got almost all of them now except for the males and a couple of small ones.
Didn’t touch the A. Longiplumulous… and more leave fell out! Now feeling really bad. They guys will come on Friday and laugh. The flower that looked so interesting is beginning to tip over into the water making it look odd.
Every time I now look at the tank I can see some loose java fronds in the tank and hair algae. This cannot be happening I tell myself and try and remove it, but usually with the plant as well. So I decide not to do any more hair algae removal.
I also recalibrated the pH Controller. The lower setting was ok; it was the higher setting that was out.
Wednesday
The removal of snails is an obsession now; each is hunted down and crushed to the benefit of the guppies. I follow up the snail hunt with a water change, then clean the glass in a very vigorous manner with my wife providing direction, ensuring that get every spot. 4 out of 5 wood shrimp come out to fan, what a good sight.
On the way home from work I visit a department store looking for a hair dryer that blows cold air. It seems to be a hard request, however find one but it is way too expensive and bulky. I decide to look at other shops, there are much cheaper ones, but I will have to pull it apart to disable the heater coil, the task that cannot be that hard I tell myself.
Thursday
Chris comes over and sets up the Diatom Filter, I was under the impression that these devices can be quite tricky to set up, but Chris does it in a couple of minutes. Within hour I am sure that the water is much clearer, but it was near midnight and could have been imagining things.
Warning Warning Warning. Using a diatom filter once is enough to make you want to buy one. The understanding of this warning given by Chris & Benny on the previous Saturday has come too late now; sooner or later I am going to get one.
The snails are still obvious, but for the first time all five wood shrimp are out fanning in one spot.
Friday
I set up my blue barrel with some water in it so that both canister filters can keep circulating water during the shoot. Turning them off for an hour or so might be ok, but since Benny and Chris have said that it could take many hours I need to do something that give us freedom with no time constraints. So one hour before arrival I move the filter pipes over to the barrel. I then turned on the air conditioning as much as possible to keep the tank from over heating.
The new hairdryer had hot air only, so I decide to take it apart and rewire it. Sounded like a good idea at the time, but when I plugged it in, part of it exploded, I was hit in the hand and thigh with a small piece that had enough force to draw blood. I blow the fuses as well! At least the air conditioning is working, as I will need it now. I borrow my wife’s hair dryer, it only blows hot air and will not try to fix this one!
The A. Longiplumulous flower has been move out of the shot, whilst it looks good in a close up photo, it would not from a distance, plus it drops pollen and without the skimmer would foul the water surface with the hair dryer directed towards it. This is probably the only item that I had changed as I wanted of my tank as what it is like rather than what it could be.
Midnight is approaching it has taken about an hour to get the 8 or so flash units in the right spots. My hood has been turned upside down as in this manner it only overlaps the glass by 5mm allowing the water surface to be seen. The 6 flash units are positioned on top of a plastic grid on the hood and when they go off, you can almost feel the light go though your body. I originally thought that my MH’s would have remained on, but they are not need at all.
Chris’s photo captures the situation well, with my tank maintenance stool on it side and a ladder support the remaining flash units.
The actually photo shoot doesn’t take long at all, the guppies however are tired and want to sleep, you can see this in that they are going to the water surface or spots in the plants to rest. Of course when the guppies do move they go everywhere… there is not a “schooling” thought in their bodies.
It is about 1.30 am now and Chris & Benny start packing up, I put the Lillie pipes back into the tank and decided to leave the MH lights and the shifting of furniture the until I get up.
So here it is, a day 91 or 92 [if one wants to be very precise] picture of my aquascape. The reason I like it so much as this is how it really looks.
Nice tank, rupert.
How about some cryptocoryne wendtii tropica to fill up the center gap?
人的一生﹐ 全靠奮斗﹐ 唯有奮斗﹐ 才能成功
Thanks Lorba for the good suggestion.
There is an unintentional gap in the A. Longiplumulous, it is sort of bunched up and the R. Wallichii isn’t cooperating either. These problems I associate with a lack of maturity of the aquascape and my R. Wallichii trimming ability.
I am not sure if I am I am confusing “itchy hand syndrome” and making some “meaningful changes”, in that when I look at the pictures my eye keep keeps on getting dragged to the right where the Java Moss green wall is too much almost smothering the small rock there.
This is a structural problem. I would like it to be more balanced with the viewer’s eye being drawn and resting in the centre gap where the lapis sand is visible. I like this gap, when I am in front of the tank, the view is slightly different, and the lapis sand rises to create an intentional clearing but for certain the Java Moss is now too thick and needs to be thinned, for example the bottom of triangular hole in the wood is disappearing.
The Hair Grass also needs to be thicker in spots and thinned in others.
So I am going to ponder my circumstances… and see if I can combine maintenance, “itchy hand syndrome” & “meaningful changes” into a series of actions that improves the aquascape over the next one month or two.
Evolution
I suppose one should not confuse photogenic with a real-time engaging tank, but the photo is a hard one to look at, I find that after the red circle I look at the yellow triangle then the green rectangle, but not at a whole rather an uneasy jump that is not calming. Again I am not sure if I am I am confusing “itchy hand syndrome” and making some “meaningful changes”, in that when I look at the pictures my eye keep keeps on getting dragged to the right where the Java Moss green wall smothering the small rock there.
There is a structural problem; I would like it to be more balanced with the viewer’s eye being drawn and resting in the centre where the lapis sand is visible. I like this area, when I am in front of the tank, the view is slightly different, and the lapis sand rises to create an intentional clearing but for certain the Java Moss is now too thick and needs to be thinned, for example the bottom of triangular hole in the wood is disappearing.
The Java Moss had also expanded outwards, but because it does so in a manner that is not really perceptible, it can claim a lot of tank substrate space before you are prepared to act. Java moss is also a plant that traps debris and when one does attack it, particles go everywhere. My shrimp however seem so happy to hide within it fronds, but it needed some control.
I looked at this picture for a few days then Benny sent me a picture with his thoughts of swapping the two rocks around, which sort of prompted me to act as it made obvious unspoken thoughts evident. In addition I wasn’t working the following week, which gave me no excuses. I knew I was going to remove a lot of Java Moss, so where was I going to put it? I had been planning to get a 2nd hand 2-foot tank, where I could put some of my guppies, this tank was now going to get a java moss floor.
The swapping of the rocks I thought would make a difference that the family & I would like, plus the rock footprints were comparable in that a swap would not be difficult. Then the rest of the changes I consider as maintenance effort around the change came easy.
The Java moss was a bit difficult to change, my approach is to remove the pieces of wood entirely from the tank to avoid too much debris floating around the tank.
From the base piece of wood I removed almost all the moss, as I actually wanted to see the wood. I was surprised in how much substrate had been covered up by it. This forced me to replant some Hair Grass back into the vacated area.
The large wall of moss was a different matter. I know that it needs to be trimmed, but after changing the rock and some moss removal, I decided to defer this to a couple of days later, here is an interim picture, unfortunately not at the same quality as the preceding pictures. You can see that I have taken a couple of steps backwards with the intention of moving several steps forward.
It is hard to see in the picture but the small centre rock will need to be moved closer to the large rock as it needs to be “connected”. At present it sort of sits in the middle, the distance between all the rocks is a little bit too even for comfort. The swapping of the rocks was convenient in that Blyxa Japonica or Hair Grass did not to be moved, but I don’t think that this can be avoided... the rock will be moved soon.
One plant that is not growing much it the R Wallichii, it is not the same after trimming, in fact I would go as far as to say growth has become stunted with such slow growth that I am left with no fast growing plants in the tank, which concerns me.
I can confirm the warnings about diatom filters. Diatom filters should not be used unless there is an intention to purchase as they clear the water so well. After removing some java moss and making the water cloudy with floating debris I would do anything to have one and have a feeling that compulsive gamblers must have when they know the next bet must, absolutely must, positively must, 100% must be the winning bet… just need the diatom filter arrrhhhhhhhh.
So the question is, did “itchy hand syndrome” result in any meaningful changes? I guess time will tell.
Last edited by Rupert; 10th Jul 2005 at 08:43. Reason: spellng mistake removed
Here is a picture of further refinements, the small centre rock moved just a little bit closer to the larger rock, with a couple plants of Bylxa Japonica moved. Java Moss is such a reliable plant and it is already creeping down to partially cover the exposed end of the small rock in the same manner that it did before in the original position.
The R. Wallichii has been distributed a bit more evenly along the back of the tank and supplemented with the addition of 1 new plant, however I am having problems with this plant in that the pruned [old] plants do not seem to want to grow! This is a problem that I have not been able to solve. This is upsetting the balance of the environment and its lack of growth is probably a source of the fuzz algae attack that I am experiencing now.
New addition being the Red plant, the name of which is unfortunately not known, but with the R. Wallichii being stubborn something else was needed and this looked good.
I should be working not posting
hi rupert,
nice lush growth moss.[no sympathies for the walichii as i think it a weed!]
i don't know what to say about comp as this is subjective. the addition of the red plant brings nice focus.
to me everything is nicely laidout but the original theme itself is becoming more vague with more plants from different regions. the theme you originally had with the stones as the strength of the composition was very nice.
imho find it disturbing that your composition mixes wood and stone. i suggest you fully cover the wood to reduce the wood's attractiveness[?] from taking away the strength of the stones. i'm probably talking rubbish but a quick peek at all the aquascaping journals suggest this...
you will notice in 99% of great layouts[amano etc] use either wood or stone, never both unlesss they are used as foundation for plants. in your case to tie moss down.
next on your list is as to how high and wide your plants will spread...this one still gives me headaches... hope yours are easier...
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
Hello Standoyo
Thanks for the feedback. I actually hadn’t noticed compositions not mixing wood and stones before, so will be bit more observant in future. I actually don’t mind rocks & wood being together and was not trying to be different, but rather had my own composition expectations that I wanted to meet.
The base of the of the exposed wood will not be so stark once the Hair Grass grows in, and the Java Moss spreads, the swap of the rocks..., subjectivity is hard, the original theme had planning behind it, this one felt comfortable, so I did it. This was the same for the addition of the red plant, although Lorba suggested doing something in this space as well.
You are certainly right about the Wallichii being a weed, but it certainly did not like being trimmed, so will give it some more time to prove itself. The other plants need a couple more months to see how they spread & develop in ways that I probably cannot foresee.
I should be working not posting
hi rupert,
i thought you'd be offended and thank you for taking it with pinch of salt. doing what pleases you is the most important thing. that takes out subjectivity imho.
sorting the plant list is one of them.
most of use have been there and you will see the 'moss' gang, 'crypt' gang and the 'echinodorus' gang and the anti 'riccia' gang.
this is a really fun time for you and enjoy it...even the pain...
[grow dang it! you lousy 30 buck wimpymoss!] i'm still hopeless at moss and bolbitis
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
Thanks Standoyo
I wouldn’t get offended; we are all on the same journey with many different schools of thought and many more destinations along the way.
I am happy to receive feedback as a different perspective I was told a long time ago is worth 20 IQ points. However the hard part about feedback is how to consider it in a manner that doesn’t corrupt you point of view or twist your feeling of satisfaction to one of dissatisfaction.
What is good about this forum is that people take the time to read, support; assist, comment and therefore improve the state of the hobby/art … The hard part for me over the next couple of months is watching the aquascape mature and keeping the “itchy hand syndrome” under control.
I should be working not posting
hi rupert,
i have itchy hand syndrome...luckily i'm away 2-3 weeks at a time otherwise my fish will fall prey to my clumsiness. [sucked by filter, choked by dirt and ammonia etc] which they do. sigh.
so as far as schools of thought goes there is zen[japanese/chinese], european[garden] and jungle[biotope], freestyle[rojak]...and modernist[using man made things like a nice bone china pot] imho. i've not seen the last one in these forums here as almost everyone here strives for a natural look that imitates nature yet more beautiful than nature.[arguable]
mixing it up guarantees originality. the forum is a great place to see and think to one self...ah why didn't i think of that? i wish i had one tank for every idea i had. i am happy just to see your creation as a partial extension of my mind.
which is cool i think for you to share...
kind regards.
itchy fingers
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
It has been a while since I have had the opportunity to read the posts on AQ and even less time to post my own progress. It has only been 160 days since the tank was planted out, with a few up's and downs....
Critters
The Cherry shrimp were breeding in greater numbers; my approach with them has been to remove the pale shrimp into another tank, the goal being to increase the redness quality of the remaining population. Some of my cherry shrimp are a solid bright red which is the desirable trait wanted in the entire population, so every now and then I remove as many pale ones that I can capture. However most of the pale shrimp seem to be male, so assuming/hoping that there are at least a couple of deep red male ones in the remaining population then I should be ok.
It has often been mentioned that shrimp will live in the bottom of a canister filter and I was pleased find that this was the case with mine, I had about twenty shrimp happily living in the bottom with a couple of guppy’s that were very skinny, but otherwise ok. At the time of writing I have yet to check the other canister filter and expect to find cherry shrimp at the bottom of that as well
With some controlled guppy breeding their multiplication slowed down a bit, but I still had a lot, in fact more than I wanted and culled heavenly. Of course after culling I went out and bought some more fish; 5 Gyrinocheilus aymonieri [golden algae eaters] that cruise the rocks and the glass sucking up whatever they find.
The wood shrimp have yet to produce any eggs, which is a bit of a relief as I would feel compelled to try and raise them and I only have one small quarantine tank that has my female guppy’s and the culled cherry shrimp. I sort of made my mind up the shrimp were my priority rather than fish. I shouldn’t forget the Yamato as they seem to have lots of energy in their search for food.
Algae
The battle with hair algae was not difficult and it was rather bearable, however another more persistent challenge arose and I haven’t been that successful in gaining control over a fuzzy algae that appeared. This fuzzy algae covered the Hair Grass, other plants and the glass, I have had this algae for a couple of months, which wasn’t a worry as it doesn’t suffocate rather it is a nuisance.
A solution didn’t readily appear but as I was spending day & night at work I did a 6 day blackout, more as “silver bullet” solution that didn’t impact me too much.
Naturally as I didn’t have the cure it came back within 3 days of the tin foil being removed from around the tank. The moral of this is that blackouts only work when in conjunction to the root cause being solved.
As soon as you do cover your tank with tinfoil the number of impromptu visitors to home increased as well, so what should have been a quiet week turned into one with too much work and too many people, who could only admire the dominating silver object in the living room. When the tinfoil was removed, the fuzz algae had largely gone [85%] there was also number of Aponogeton Longiplumulosus & Hair Grass blades that had turned brown which lead to an increase in the number of planarian [flatworms] seen.
It wasn’t until a number of variables were tested [Raising the lights, changing dosing habits] that I think I found the source of the problem. As my fish and shrimp population grew, so did my nitrates levels and because I had stopped testing nitrates some time ago, I was unaware of how high the actual nitrate levels had risen to. I had also increased my feeding frequency which probably didn’t help much. The response was on a number of fronts:
• Culled the guppy numbers dramatically,
• Stopped dosing Macros and only dosed Micros, until the nitrate levels were under some form of control
• Increased the CO2
• Replaced the R. Wallichii which had stopped performing with Hygrophila difformis which is a fast/rampant grower
• Larger weekly water changes
The above slowly brought the situation under control.
Equipment
No new equipment just carried out regular maintenance of cleaning the hoses and replaced once the pre-media pads in the canister filters. The JBJ guy came and serviced the chiller. He flushed the contents and generally took it apart to inspect. I was rather surprised that when he flushed out the contents that it was relatively clean.
Plants
The Aponogeton Longiplumulosus had flowered a few times and when the flower stems started to rot, I cut off the flower heads and threw them my small tank. The flower heads released green oval shaped seeds which floated around for a day or so then sank to the bottom and begun to grow. No special treatment has provided and they seem quite hardy, the picture below shows one seed that is about a week old. They will be harvested once & if they get bigger to move.
The Hair Grass had become very thick carpet that was firmly rooted enough for me to comb it roughly to remove the Java Moss fronds that had been shed. The dense mat that the roots had created also allowed me to use my tweezers move it away from the glass to facilitate water circulation and sort of gave a boarder to the tank.
The Rotala Wallichii really didn’t do much at all and wouldn’t rate a mention, other than to say it didn’t do much, it never flowered and so it was as good as gone… just didn’t have time to replace it. Several weeks passed and I saw at my local LFS [Biotope] a rather common plant [Hygrophila difformis] that had a light green upper leaf colour and an almost white colour underneath. I surmised that this would stand out against the black back ground quite well and so planted a few pots and now waiting for it to fill in the space that it has been provided.
The Blyxa Japonica had developed into really bushy plants which started to crowd-out the surrounding Hair Grass in a manner that was not intended; in addition they had increased to a height by floating on their roots so they were no longer as attractive. The preference now was to replace some of the Blyxa Japonica with Hair Grass. After some thinking it over a couple of weeks on how to reuse the plants I decided that it would look good in the crevices and natural pockets that existed in the wood. I hadn’t thought about using Blyxa Japonica in this manner when I set up the tank, but stepped combination looked good as it broke up the dominance of the Java Moss wall. The Japonica at the top of the wood I hoped would allow the flowers to reach the water surface, a difficult feat to organize when the tank is 30 inches high.
.
120 days -------------- 160 days
Fortunately the Blyxa Aulbertii seemed very happy in the tank from the first day it was planted and didn’t go through the “melting” stage that my Japonica went though when it was first introduced into the tank.
The Aquascape
With the Blyxa Japonica on the wood, it gave me the idea to remove the bottom piece of wood so that one could look though it in the hope of providing a better sense of depth or at least a more engaging tank to look at.
By doing this more of the tank space was opened up so that there were two clearings which were more attractive and I wondered why I hadn’t done this before.
The lonely green Hygrophila difformis in the picture high up on the wood is there to see what it would look like when the rest of planted ones, which are hidden at the moment are like when they reach for the water surface and no doubt try to spread
Next steps
At present not sure if more of the Hair Grass should be removed from the clearing to have an unobstructed lapis sand view from the glass front to the clearing and would provide a stonger focal point? I will let this thought mature for a while amongst the many other actions under consideration:
• The desire to get a diatom filter to “polish” the water has not gone away and sometime I will get on the internet and get myself one, at the moment I like the Magnum 350.
• A small school [15 - 20] Cardinal tetra are also wanted to replace/supplement the guppy’s.
• I have thought about removing the rock on the right, but the thought doesn’t last long, but it comes back often.
• A decent camera which is a little better than Point & Shoot, the Cannon S2 is on the list, but am waiting for the successor to the Cannon G6 which I assume will be called the G7?
However one thought the has been on my mind that will drive the above and bring all the components together and get the presentation to peak [October/November] and then consider a photo shoot ..... or I might just sit back instead and enjoy the aquascape with the family.
How come there are still bare white spaces?
Psst, did you edit this photo? I found the photo rather dark compared to your previous one.
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