180 Litre Complete Rescape

[Verminator]

No not really, i could probably get them here in the UK, but two reasons why i get them abroad - usually somewhere in Asia.

1) far cheaper
2) my LFS do have weird ways of getting in plants, saying stuff like "If you want these plants you'll have to buy each plant in batches of 5". Even if i want one pot of something, i have to have 5...so i buy in from Asia instead.

No hassle what so ever, just have to wwait slightly longer in some cases.

[Verminator]

Anyone recommend a bushy plant that can cover an area in behind DW that measures roughly 20cm square base area, with room for about 20-30cm of height?

Bare-back corner needs filling. Currently have Ludwigia Repens there, but i'm not convinced by it, looks out of place.

[beetlejuice403]

Hi Verminator, nice tank you have there... Hope to see new pics (with the new plants that you'd bought online)... Cheers!

[bubberls™]

Anyone recommend a bushy plant that can cover an area in behind DW that measures roughly 20cm square base area, with room for about 20-30cm of height?

Bare-back corner needs filling. Currently have Ludwigia Repens there, but i'm not convinced by it, looks out of place.

ia have some reddish greenish plant i use for my background... not sure what is it called but they look great when healths and they can become quite dense when side shoots start growing out.

[Verminator]

Do you pinch out the tops when they reach the surface, or just below to encourage side shoots? Or do side shoots just sprout as and whenever?

Looks a very nice plant, ofcourse an I.D on it would help me to attain some myself haha.

EDIT: Pic of tank shall come tommorow Camera battery died today

[bubberls™]

Do you pinch out the tops when they reach the surface, or just below to encourage side shoots? Or do side shoots just sprout as and whenever?

Looks a very nice plant, ofcourse an I.D on it would help me to attain some myself haha.

EDIT: Pic of tank shall come tommorow Camera battery died today

i usually tri, them off when they are about 2-3 inches deom the surface... it seems that after trimming the plants develop side shoots and those i have not trim do not.. will observe them more to confirm this.

[Verminator]

Thanks! Alls i need is an I.D of the plant and i may give it a try at some point.

Looks like a rotala? Unless i'm mistaken

[Verminator]

Camera still unavailable, so can't take an updated pic of my tank, so heres a few images using this AquaSketch tool which i've seen mentioned. Pretty good tool.

These images arent 100%, theres a few plants on here that i'm yet to add, but it shows where they are. And others show where my existing plants are and then theres spaces where i have a plant, which isnt on AquaSketch yet

I BELIEVE WHEN YOU OPEN THIS YOU CAN CLICK ON THE TANK ITSELF AND TWIZZLE IT TO THE ANGLE YOU DESIRE, MAKING IT POSSIBLE TO SEE IT FROM DIFFERENT SIDES. CHEERS

View 1: http://www.gorillot.com/aquatools/ph...ct=9&num=10719

Existing plants in there:

Vallisneria spirallis 'tiger' (far left)
Microsorum Pteropus (attatched to wood in left corner)
Assorted crypts (wendtii, mi oya ect around wood)
Ludwigia Repens (far right, currently 1inch tall)
Anubias barteri var barteri (attatched to central wood)
Anubias barteri var nana (attatched to three stones far right)
Assorted crypts (around rocks on right side)
Egeria Densa (immediate right of central wood)

Plants in there, but not on AquaSketch:

Crypt parva (4 small clusters dotted around foreground)
Eleocharis Parvula (completely covering front 50% of tank, inbetween wood, rocks and crypt parva and anything else)
Gymnocoronis Spilanthoides (immediate left side of central wood - replacing soon)

Plants in image that shall be added in near future:

Echinodorus Ozelot (far right infront of Ludwigia repens)
Echinodrus Uruguayensis (immediate left of central wood)
Ludwigia Glandulosa (alongside Ludwigia repens on far right)
Echinodorus Rubin (immediate right of left wood by Microsorum Pteropus)

Sorry if that confuses anyone, it does with me a little bit. Not very clear, some plant sizes are all wrong on AquaSketch, such as Echinodorus Uruguayensis is apparently smaller than Crypt Wendtii green .

Shall try and get the plants A.S.A.P and get an image up. I could do with some input from people on how to improve and plant arrangement, but i understand an image is required. So hopefully Friday afternoon when mother returns with the Camera

Untill then. what do you think of the 'plan'

[Verminator]

Righto some updated pics. Obviously still a work in progress, as i'm not really getting much time to scape my tank due to always being a work lately. Life eh? Anyway, images

So this is an overview of my entire tank at the moment. Its not looking too good currently. Still waiting for new plants to flourish, which is proving to be taking some time.


So some closer detail.

Bottom left


You can see some Crypts of various sorts around the wood (wendtii brown/green & mi oya). Java fern tied to the wood which is since getting bigger and new leaves are reaching atleast 5" now instead of 1". Few more months this shall be much fuller. Eleocharis parvula is filling in all other spaces - this should spread. Probably can't see it very well (its to small) but theres crypt parva around the wendtii green at the front.

Top left


Vallisneria spiralis "tiger" corner, currently trimmed to just below water surface to promote healthier leaves to grow up. Runners should spread soon i hope.

Bottom middle


Basically just the area of substrate i've left open. Planted with Eleocharis Parvula again to spread. Just where the SAE is swimming theres a patch of about 8-9 stalks of crypt parva, which given a few months should fill out and up hopefully. You can just see some Anubias nana tied to a rock with an elastic band

Top middle


Currently looking for othe rplants to acompany my Anubias bateri var barteri "broad leaf". Unsure what plants to place either side of it. So it looks a bit empty at the moment. I'm thinking Rotala Nanjenshan or Echinodorus Rubin "narrow leaves". Unsure which to go for.

Bottom right


Inbetween the left and middle rock is another patch of Crypt parva which again should fill out in a few months. Between middle and right rock, and right rock and then the glass theres a crypt of some sort growing. Eleocharis parvula again just filling in any spaces. Anubias nana on the rocks. Just behind the middle rock you can see the remains of my Gymnocoronis Spilanthoides which just about survived the journey from Singapore to my home in the UK, currently recovering. Bottom halves of stems were rotten, so trimmed them and they have since started showing new shoots Also behind there i have one single remaining stem of Ludwigia repens. 9 stems died in transport and was left with 1inch of the last stem - that too is since starting to grow up and soon i should be able to take cuttings to propagate more stems. Infront of the filter box in the right corner you can just see the bottom half of Ceratopteris thalictroides which is struggling to thrive in my tank. New stems growing from the mother plant turn white after 2 weeks or so

Top right


Again the "recovery corner". Basically the open space i've left open to give the plants the best chance of recovery currently. Once these plants have recovered i shall place them better elsewhere and place Echinodorus Uruguayensis or Crypt Albida here.

Any comments, critism, feedback is all appreciated. I should note (again) that this is my first propper "planted" tank, inwhich i actually have plants in at all. And its still a work in progress, and shall be for the next few years more than likely.

[Panut]

I see some botia!

cute!

[Verminator]

Heres some random images, whilst i'm posting thought i'd add these.


Eleocharis Parvula


Anubias nana on rock with elastic bands


clown loach


again


Anubias nana with hole in leaf whos the culprit?


Java fern spreading + bigger leaves forming


Funky pic of my gourami


Japonica shrimp


Male opaline gourami

[Verminator]

Even myself looking back at these pictures it makes me realise how dull my tank lights are getting. I think i need to replace them

[Jervis]

When did you plant the hairgrass? A very exotic tank with lots of surprises

[Verminator]

Planted on 5th June (200. Growth is slow currently, large bioload is more than likely to blame, also the fact my lights probably need replacing. Currently dosing Flourish Nitrogen and one cap weekly. Algae is growing but not excessively. Green spot algae on tank glass which is cleaned off once a week (no hassle). No algae on leaves as of yet (two weeks in too). Dark green/brown thread algae grows in clumps on cetain gravel grains around tank, also on filter box, wood and what not. Its not growing excessively and actually looks quite natural and i'm glad its not being eaten by my shrimp or otto's.

Plant growth is slow, and as follows;
-Anubias are doing nothing so far.
-Crypts are showing between 1-3 new leaves on after 2 weeks. Some have even thrown off new plantlets (1cm in size max) which have floated about the substrate. I've let them drift and most have got stuck in nooks and cranny's which should fill out around wood and rock edges. Given a few months when they fill out it should look pretty good.
-Vallisneria in far corner is growing, but excedingly slow. Cut leaves to remove half rotten leaves and algae to promote new growth. New growth on them seems small and very slow currently. Most have 1-3 new leaves shooting up which are all currently just under 2-3cm in length at the time of writing (3-4 days growth i think).
-Egeria Densa is just pathetic. Bottom half of stem has no spines/leaves and i've all but given up on this "weed".
-Java fern is starting to creep again. Current leaves are speckled with brown spots, even holes in most leaves. New leaves have grown twice the size and are remaining relatively green, with a few holes in (to be expected i hear?). Ratio of NEW to old leaves is currently about 1:6 to give you some idea in my images of it.
-Ceratopteris thalictroides is uhmm, surviving? Currently new growth in the lower half, new vibrant green stems/leaves can be seen. Whether or not they reach the surface or not is another question. It propagates by new plantlets growing out from the tops of the existing stems. This i have observed, however new stems on my plants seem to be turning white, literally. Clearly something not quite right in my tank i guess, which would be accurate seeing as growth in other plants is especially slow too. Including my next plant below!
-Eleocharis Parvula is growing. Having some trouble keeping it rooted with many digging fish such as clown loach, dwarf chain loach, plecs and SAE to an extent. New spines are forming next to the parent plant as expected. For 2 weeks growth theres between 1-4 new spines on each plantlet/bunch planted. Slow growth concidering yes? I thought it would be a little faster than this, again suggesting i need to improve/add/remove something with my water parameters perhaps. Shall be looking into this soon. New spines are approx 1cm at the moment. From the plantlets planted at the sides of the tank i can see the roots are starting to spread inbetween gravel grains thus taking "hold". Which is good, maybe i won't have to keep replanting them soon. Can be quite tedious.
-Gymnocoronis Spilanthoides did very well to survive my messed up Singaporean delivery. The top inch of each stem survived "just". Thus planted in open space and now two weeks later there about 3-4 inches tall with multiple new stems forming of each one (2-3 new stems on each average). Given time this could explode in my tank (yay!)
-Ludwigia repens was batered in delivery from Singapore. Out of 10 stems, only one survived and even so only the top 1 inch again. The rest rotted in my tank and went black with all leaves falling off (binned). This 1 inch has since started growing up again, it kept 3 original leaves when planted and still has them with a new shoot adding another 1 inch to its height. So it looks like given time i can multiply my stock of this plant when it hits the water surface i shall pinch it off and replant (hopefully side shoots will help multiply this plant.

Sorry if thats a bore, that is all for now. Shall update with a few more pics of growth in about a week from now, maybe two. Until then any comments, feedback or recomendations are all welcome. Please don't hold back. It looks quite bare at the moment, could do with a few bigger more full plants perhaps.

Was thinging Echinodorus Uruguayensis and/or Rubin "narrow leaves".
Also concidering Cryptocoryne Albida or Balansae or Undulata "broad leaves"

Any suggestions.......

Thanks, James

[StanChung]

Hi Verminator,

I have a feeling you are having severe case of collectoritis...LOL
I love loaches but after seeing how big clown loaches get, I have not kept any for a long time in my planted tanks.

Although you have written a lot, I've not put a finger on your objective of this tank. [maybe i missed it ]

I do think your plants are malnourished. The ferns and stem plants do not look fresh. Sorry for being direct. I do think you have done the right thing by planting more of the same species especially with the hairgrass. Since you are using inert gravel, it is more important to provide nutrients regularly-especially NPK and trace elements. Looking at the cabomba and the paleness of it, I suspect it's lacking in iron. This could also be caused by low nitrate. Plants need nitrate to absorb iron.

Anubias, does not grow like wildfire and they do better in the shade because of spot algae!

I am seriously distracted by the plant background! LOL. Any chance of changing it to something neutral like black? As a suggestion of course.

The red plant bubberls posted is Ludwigia sp cuba if I'm not mistaken. You can get similar shape but different coloured ones like Limnophila aromatica, Eusteralis stellata off the top of my head.

Hope this helps.

[Verminator]

Indeed i do buy what i see, and thus end up with collecting rather alot of what i don't need for my tank. Its a bad habbit at times, but i find some really great stuff.

I'm currently thinking of a new tank (300 litre) which i will house my loaches in along with some other larger fish. Therefore focusing my aquascaping into my 180 litre tank.

As far as an objectove goes for the tank - there isnt one. I simply just want plants to grow a little lusher than what they are. There is no ultimate goal, except to have healthy plants.

My plants are currently malnourished, and today i have bought more ferts. Currently now i'm dosing Flourish Phosphorus, Flourish Excel, Flourish Nitrogen. Anything i should add, I concidered finding Flourish Potassium?

Apologies for the background haha. This was my first tank 3 years ago and i just bought the first one i saw I shall be changing it to a plain black one on my next visit to a fish shop.

I'm currently after Eusteralis stellata (Pogostemon Stellata) or Rotala Nanjenshan.

[StanChung]

Hi Verminator,

Potassium is the essential ingredient missing in a planted tank. If you do not have it, your plants will not grow well. It's the K in NPK. [Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium/Kalium] N & P can be produced by feeding your fish but K has to be supplemented. In any case, densely planted tanks needs lots of NPK + trace elements to flourish.

Don't be afraid of algae, that's unlikely if your fishload/organics are low.

[zephyros]

Hi bro,

I see that you are using rubber band to tie the plant to the rock?
Wouldnt it be applying too much pressure to the plant stem and root?
Would it be better if you use fishing line to tie them?

Just a thought

cheers

[Verminator]

Ok i got 3 out of 4, just missing the 'vital' one then. That sucks, nevermind. Next trip i shall get some.

Just an update on my lighting. Replaced the 'dulled' lights that are roughly a year old now with x2 30W T8 lights.

Its been 24 hours since i started dosing those ferts i purchased. Now some may think i'm exagerating when i say i can see a difference already. Literally i can. Ceratopteris Thalictroides is already looking greener in the places where it was looking brown/white. Its a fast growing plant, taking up nutrients alot faster than most plants...but this rapid a change i did not expect.

Hopefully there will be more to add in a weeks time or so. Yay!

[Verminator]

Hi bro,

I see that you are using rubber band to tie the plant to the rock?
Wouldnt it be applying too much pressure to the plant stem and root?
Would it be better if you use fishing line to tie them?

Just a thought

cheers

Just to add that the elastic bands arent actually tight. They just fit around the rock nicely allowing the plant basically just to be 'held' against the rock rather than pinned to it. The stems/roots are able to grow around and won't be bruised by it. So given a few months it should be fine. Plus i've sited the plants in little nooks that the elastic band isnt wrapped firmly against, due to its elasticity (think thats a word). So the plant is practically suspended on the side of the rock, to be point where occasionally the smaller parts that i've attatched actaully come off when fish swim to vigorously past it.