First Attempt at Aquascaping (2 ft tank journal)

[Ben555]

Hi Robert,

Can you elaborate on the "Vallisneria will send shoot all over the place"?

Are you implying that they grow very fast and can get messy in a short time?

I guessed that is what is happening to my tank

Ben

[blue33]

They creep.

[Shadow]

yes, at the right condition they grow very-very fast

[Ben555]

Thansk Robert and Adrian,

Is there an alternative plant with the same structure but do not Creep and easier to control it's spreading?

[blue33]

Dont think got easy plant, either they creep or overly grow. Especially if you growing them in highlighted tank. Like Vivipara they dont creep but the amount they grow is crazy, i trim them like trimming hair. Below is the example, the plant behind on the left.

[madnugget]

bro.. vivipara dont creep?? care to share where can i find them? usually how long can they grow till?

[Shadow]

You can get in most LFS that selling plants , you can order them if they don't have it. How long can it grow? very-very long. They grow plantlets at its tip, and this plantlets will grow another plantlets at its tip, on and on and on. Thus very-very long

[eviltrain]

sounds like oversized riccia. scary

[Shadow]

yeah something like that, you need to trim every week to keep them in shape

[blue33]

They can reach >60cm.

[reveru]

Updates for Day 40




Noticing a bit of brown leaves localised on the mini nana at the top branch. The other mini nana at the middle and bottom branches have no brown leaves. Any bros have any idea whats wrong? It's not a serious thing as the affected branch still sprouting new green leaves. Just wondering why a couple of the old leaves are turning brown and melting a bit. Could it be due to overdose of spot excel?



Comparison between Day 40 (top) and Day 28 (bottom)

[edwardchuajh]

wahhhh nice!!

happy not? hehe actualyl after growing out the helferi looks pretty good. =)

but I feel the ludwigia needs some trimming now soon

[reveru]

i must admit that the plants have grown well above my expectations, most probably due to lucky than anything else i also think that the ludwigia needs to be trimmed soon, but i'm putting it off because i want to go find some tips on trimming before i attack the bush.

somehow the HM is not growing as fast as i want it to. seems to be a slow grower like the HC. the ludwigia just explodes!

I just remembered i have a pressing question to ask. Would like to trouble you guys, take a look at the moss on the bogwood, there are two kinds of moss, one is christmas moss, which is spread around the thick base, as well as the branches towards the right. as for the moss on the left branches and near the top, the moss was ordered from Mizu World online which was supposed to be christmas moss, but somehow, i seriously doubt that they packaged the right moss for me.........

any bro can ID the moss for me? I can provide a bigger picture if need be. Robert and Adrian, any idea? Help please

although the moss is not christmas moss, it does look quite nice when it "hangs down" from the bogwood branches, look like willow tree leaves to me.

[Blaze88]

any closer pic? kinda hard to see, try comparing to the christmas moss from the base. The one at the base really seem to be christmas moss

[reveru]

Moved the moss ID discussion to the appropriate thread under Planted Tanks, Plant Talk, Aquatic Moss Club. Thanks for all the helpful ID given. Will continue to monitor and confirm the moss ID in the near future.

Meanwhile, did a bit of trimming to the Ludwigia Brevipes. Did not trim anything else. Trying to "will" the HM to grow faster and thicker but it seems to grow as slowly as HC.

Day 43 Trimming:

[hOcKie]

Nice tank. Love the clean, clear water!
Great updates.

[Blue Whale]

Nicely done already. Actually it was your photo that sparks me to look for my brevipes in the tank. At first I could not locate your brevipes until I went back to my tank to find that mine have grown to the exact height you have now. >"< hee...they came small, so now the leaves look long like yours. I left it unattended. ^^" weather too cold so I changed my mind and have not put the hunter group yet. Might wanna scape further. HC taken out and I still look see look see at the moment.

[reveru]

Hi guys. It's me again. Hope you guys are not getting bored of my small 2 feet scape. Honestly, seeing it grow and flourish is very rewarding for me, and it is the first time I am having such success with planted tank, thanks to the many tips I gleaned from this forum, as well as having helpful advice from forum members.

Did some trimming to the Hemianthus Micrathemoides and Japanese HG. The HG grew so long that it reached the halfway mark of the tank. I had to trim them down to encourage them to grow even bushier. HM still growing slowly, but steadily. Finally able to trim them into the shape of a small bush. However the HM on the left is still not bushy enough due to overshadow by the L. Brevipes, thus getting less light than the HM on the right.

Day 54 Full Tank Shot:


Also, although this is Aquascaping thread, but I am overjoyed with the discovery of 3 berried Snowballs! Previously only seen them to be heavily saddled, but not berried. So this comes as a very nice surprise. However, due to them being the first time pregnant, only approx 6-8 eggs are spotted in 2 out of the 3 berried Snowballs. The 3rd one is pregnant before, so it has approx 20-30 eggs under the belly, but it's hiding and i'm unable to get a good shot of it.



Saddled snowballs number approx 15 out of the 20-30 I have in my tank.



Finally my CRS, always hiding in the back. Also, not easy to spot if they are saddled or berried. I'm hoping it happens soon. Can't wait for them to breed.




Finally, a quick comparison of Day 54 (top) vs Day 43 (bottom). Both days I did trimming, just on different plants. I like the way the Cyperus Helferi has matured. Many thanks to Shadow for suggesting the plant to me. Also thanks to blue33 and Shadow again for advice in my fertilization regime. Grateful for both your input.

[desmondekker]

nice little garden there!

[reveru]

DAY 76
Submission photo for AQ ADA SG contest. The culmination of all my hard work and lessons learnt from keeping planted tank over the past year. It certainly is far from being flawless, but personally, I feel great satisfaction seeing how the tank has matured. Post it here to share my joy with the rest of the forum. Good luck to all the people who are participating. Can't wait to see all the beautiful scapes submitted!