My Big Tank

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

I thought I had everything under control in my big tank. The tank looked great for a while and the plants were growing well. The Erect Moss, in particular, looked so beautiful. But after I gave the Hair Grass a "haircut", algae started growing everywhere. The wife kept bugging me to do something about the tank as Chinese New Year is only 2 weeks away. She thinks an ugly tank does not augur well for the new year.

So I tore down my big tank 2 days ago and re-aquascaped everything. I threw away all the Hair Grass and replaced them with Elatine triandra. Thanks Freddy, for the Elatine. I also replaced the piece of driftwood with a bigger one that looks like some sort of monstrous insect. There were a lot of Beard algae growing on the old piece of driftwod and although I gave it a bleach treatment, it didn't seem to help at all. The only plant that never fails me is my Christmas Moss. The wall is as good as before. I took it out and gave it a good wash before hanging it back in the tank. I still have several stalks of Downoi but they all look stunted. I wish I can grow them as well as Nid (aka Tarepunda) does.

I'm going to stick my neck out and post a picture of my new aquascape here. I will continue to post pictures as the plants grow so that everyone can follow the progress. I certainly hope there's progress and not regress :smile: I don't think anyone will learn anything from this but it may give some of you a good laugh



The piece of rock riding "piggyback" on the driftwood isn't supposed to be part of the aquascape. But that's the only way I can keep the driftwood down as it's very bouyant. I hope when I remove the rock later, the driftwood will stay down. If not, it will be hell putting it back into position again.

Loh K L

[Daz]

Loh, frankly I don't think the plants and moss will grow enough from now till CNY. IMHO, I would prefer the hair grass in this tank as it will create an illusion of a sore thumb (that piece of wood in this case) sticking out in a grassland. But then, to each his own.

Anyway, to the wood. I have problem with it also myself, it takes about 2 weeks before it sinks down, and almost another week for it to be completely able to sink without any anchor. cross your fingers that you will be able to remove that rock before CNY.

[NongOil]

Great job Loh, but a bit worry about the driftwood you used. I heard from my friend that this kind of wood may be poisoned for fish by release gum, not sure but I never use it in my tank. Don't know where you got it but if you got from someone whose used it before without any problem. It's ok.

Also I don't like to use this kind of driftwood because it's very hard to sink. I think better try to use the anchor method to hold the driftwood with gravel instead of rock.

Hope your progress will be going well

[FC]

KL,

So, you did it. I suspose you would hestitate a bit on replacing the great looking hair grass.

From your tank's pic, it looks like it is going to look great when the Eleatine cloud over the gravel. I am now more convinced that you made a good choice. Keep us update on the tank!

[imported_lily]

Hi Mr Loh,

I couldn't help laughing at the picture when I realize that was a piece of rock on the drifwood, sorry to say but it looks so funny!...

I just redo my 3ft tank yesterday because I think the gravel is infected and the water stink! Now most of my plant are gone except for the 'erect mosses' they are doing pretty well..

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

I promise to report on the progress of my main tank but events overtook it. Now, I no longer care about the aquascape as the top priority is to grow as many different kinds of mosses as I can inside this tank. The Prof needs the pics for his paper.

Heng Wah who was at my house last Friday night taking photographs of my mosses also took one of the main tank. Here's how it looks now:



Contrary to what Oil believed, the mangrove root won't leak gum. No fish died and the root stayed down when I removed the rock 3 weeks later. I also added another piece of mangrove root with Taiwan Moss tied on it. The piece of driftwood on the extreme left was taken from one of my balcony tanks. It has Java Moss growing on it. The small piece of wood right in front has Pope Moss.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

I stripped the tank down today. Decided to grow a new Erect Moss wall so I had to take down all those that were growing on the driftwood. Here's how it looks before I took it down.



Here's how it looks standing on the floor:


Loh K L

[BeyondGomer]

hey Loh, any chance we can get an update on this tank

[timebomb]

hey Loh, any chance we can get an update on this tank

Hey, Tony,

My big tank is in a mess. Events overtook its aquascape. Everytime I'm settled on one, a new moss comes along and throws everything out of sync. Anyway, if you like to see how it looks now, here's a picture:



I'm proud of my Nymphaea (red) though. For no reason whatsoever, it suddenly took off.



My Taiwan Moss has been growing well too. And I think I have enough of it to grow a Taiwan Moss wall now, something I've been planning to do.



Loh K L

[ravigsc]

Hi KL,

Wow ! Your tank looks great ! What is the maximum water temperature in your big tank ?