My Glosso Tank... for your comments

[mikhail]

Hi,

Please comment on my 2nd attempt to planted tank. This 2 ft tank is already 1.5 month old. The plant showcase here is primarily "Glossostigma elatinoides". Stem plants at the rightmost corner at the back of the rocks is for absorbing excess nutrients (looks okay so I didn't bother to remove them). A few weeks back I had a bacteria bloom, but now this tank is recovering. Thus, in the photos you see a bit cloudy appearance of the water. Reg the bioload, the tank only have 4 blue emperor tetras, 6 rummy nose tetras, 2 ottocinclus and 3-4 yamato shrimps.

Pls feel free to comment for the improvement of this tank.

Regards,

Mikhail

[|squee|]

It's nice! Nice placement of the rocks/wood, although maybe a bit more to the left will do.

Trimming of the stem plants need work. Other than that, damn nice. Try to clear up the water too :P

[mikhail]

Hi Terence,

Thanks for your comments. Will take in consideration your suggestion of moving the rocks a little bit more to the left when I do the pruning of the glosso next time. The stem plant will be trimmed also so as not to reach the surface. Water is getting clearer and clearer now. Hopefully, the tank will look good in few weeks time.

Cheers

[vinz]

I like the general layout. IMO, the rocks location is fine, but they are pointing the wrong way. I think they'll look better if the grain of the rocks pointed diagonally to the top left instead. Right now they are making me look to the top right and it's making the layout look cramped towards the right.

That's a nice bed of Glossostigma, but the main visual draw of the tank is the stemmed plants (Gratiola?).

Trim the stem plants to shape. Trim the front rows shorter, and the subsequent ones behind an inch or two taller. They'll for a nicer bush when they grow back.

Overall a thumbsup.

Could you share some of the lighting and fertilisation details? I'm sure many would like to know how you keep the Glossostigma so flat.

[Star-flog]

Very beautiful Glosso Tank.. Lovely
It would be interesting to know your tank parameters, substrate & lighting etc.

[Panther]

Hi,

Yeah...please share your lighting and specs...I just love the glosso bed...

[mikhail]

Thanks for all your comments. Will take the suggestions in consideration especially the pruning tips (stem plants).
Below details of the tank:

Setup Date: 1 May 2005 (almost 2 months old)
Tank Size: 2 ft (standard size)
Substrate: ADA AquaSoil (Amazonia), Base fertiliser: ADA Power Sand
Lightings: 2 X 36 Watts (PL type of lamp)
Light duration: 10 hrs / day
CO2: DIY Generator (Yeast & Sugar), Diffusion: Flipper style
Temperature: 27 deg C
PH: 6.5
Bio Load: 4 Blue Emperor tetras, 6 Rummy nose tetras, 6 Green neon tetras, 2 Ottocinclus, 3 Yamato shrimps (left out of 20 shrimps placed initially)

Planting details of Glosso:
Planted the glosso (plantlets) 2-3 cm apart on the substrate. Quite long hrs of planting. I’ve done it by several batches. I think the secret for growing glosso is rich substrate, high lighting and high CO2. Since my lighting is high (above 3W/gal), I need to maintain a steady flow of CO2 (approx 1 bubble per sec). I have two bottles of DIY being prepared alternately. I usually observe the glosso. If it’s bubbling, CO2 rate is OK. If I can’t see any pearling then I replace the current CO2 with the standby mixture that’s been running for 1-2 days in my other tank. Thus, there’s not much depletion in CO2 rate experienced by the plants. At night (lights off), I usually disengage the CO2 from the tank so as not to decrease further the PH.
I have not put any liquid fertiliser in this tank. The glosso flourished maybe because of the rich substrate. I can see that their long roots have reached the substrate fertiliser layer. I’m observing the texture of the leaves – still seems okay. No signs of malnurishment, thus I didn’t apply yet any liquid fertiliser. As for trimming regimen, I usually do before every water change - removing those yellow, dead and withered leaves. The trimming also triggered new shoots to come out, thus my entire substrate is covered within 1 month. The growth was really fast. With regards to the upward growth, I just push the growth against the substrate. No trimming. The plants eventually crawled horizontally after some time.
That’s my experience so far for cultivating this plant.

[anttz]

Nice field of glosso.

Can we know what is the name of the stem plant.

[Yisheng]

Ur setup is simple and nice. I love it. Keep up the good work.

[ranmasatome]

Think the stemmed plant is lugwigia brevipes no?

[mikhail]

I also don't know the real name of the stem plant. It's still a mystery to me. It was sold to me as "Ludwigia arcuata" and I thought it was because of the shape of the leaves. But I noticed that as the plant grows, its appearance is becoming different from what I usually see in photos of Ludwigia arcuata. The leaves of this plant is more wider and longer. Moreover, the red/orange coloration appears only at the top portion of the plant. The top leaves will open widely when under high lights. It also tend to grow in diagonal pattern throwing some roots at the sides. It would be great if you guys can help me identify the plant. Some of you mention that its Gratiola sp, some Ludwigia b. I haven't seen these plants also 'coz I'm still new in the planted tank hobby.

[Cardinal74]

Nice setup