My 4ft tank (7.10.03)

[sherchoo]

Echinodorus schuleteri 'Leopard' and Echinodorus cordifolius 'Marble Queen'

My tank scaping was "fixed" after a few months of neglect due to my frequent overseas trips. As you can see, some of the plants are newly planted. Some Crypts like C.balansae is planted behind (not visible yet) to fill up the back. Looks kinda sucky now... but hopefully it will turn out nicely.

Feel free to comment......

Further info:
Dimension: 4ft X 2ft X 2ft
Filter: Eheim 2028
Temp: 26~27 deg.
Fert: TMG, K2SO4, KH2PO4, KNO3
Lighting: 2 X 150W MH (7 hours) + abit of morning sun

[tcy81]

looks like a veri costly setup .......
looks kind of emtpy now but tink when the newly planted grows it will look more majestic.....

[PeterGwee]

Why use 3 type of plants for the foreground? They don't mix well imo...seems to be breaking up the whole scape into parts instead of a whole picture.

[Nevada]

i like ur tank light , but i guess it is quite costly rite ? =p anyway like what petergwee said, it is very empty ...can't see any fish (or it might be my eyes =p )[:]

[checkerboard]

quite a nice simple tank which when filled out should be quite nice, I marvel at your echinodorus, but feel that it may eventually inhibit the potential of the tank.

a few of my opinions.

1) a mixed foreground can work if integrated properly. in this case, i think the "pebble path" accentuates the segregation. taking out the pebble path and planting more dwarf saggs allowed to grow into the glosso (if i dont see wrongly) can make it look more natural. Personally, i will go with more dwarf sagg in this tank to cover the bare lower portions of the echinodorus and lotus.

2) wont the echinodorus block out too much light? converting it back to submerge form might be better

3) i find the ludwigia sp. to centrally located. might consider shifting it to the sides to balance the tank a little.

just my thoghts!

[hwchoy]

Sherwin, how you managed to get the E. to go emerse? I have leopards and shluteri in a trough with only 10cm water and they adamantly refused to grow emersed leaves. the amazing part is even some of my tiger lotus started producing submersed leaves and withdrawn their floating leaves! there is only direct sunlight for only an hour a day.

[loupgarou]

yes, ladies and gentleman, those almost nice looking MH lights are only $150 each (with bulb) from some shop at kelantan rd.

so is MH cost effective. yes.

[Fei Miao]

Sherwin-- with all the neglect, ...your tank looks not too bad []

$150 for each koo nee kong lights...[] that's reasonable

[Kingfisher]

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On 10/8/2003 3:08:58 PM

yes, ladies and gentleman, those almost nice looking MH lights are only $150 each (with bulb) from some shop at kelantan rd.


so is MH cost effective. yes.


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You have any shop names to give?

[Kingfisher]

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On 10/7/2003 10:58:33 PM


Fert: TMG, K2SO4, KH2PO4, KNO3

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According to here, all these: K2SO4, KH2PO4 and KNO3 contain Potassium (K). So won't Potassium be too much?

BTW, what is the dosing frequency of the above?

[vinz]

KSO4 is the primary source for K.
KNO3 and KH2PO4 for NO3 and PO4 respectively.

You get some K from KNO3 and practically negligible K from KH2PO4 for their usual dosage amount.

Just account for the K coming from your KNO3 and KH2PO4 dosages. Say you get 5ppm of K from your KNO3 dose, and you are targetting 20ppm of K. Just dose enough KSO4 to raise 15ppm of K.

[Kingfisher]

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On 10/8/2003 8:09:33 PM

KSO4 is the primary source for K.
KNO3 and KH2PO4 for NO3 and PO4 respectively.

You get some K from KNO3 and practically negligible K from KH2PO4 for their usual dosage amount.

Just account for the K coming from your KNO3 and KH2PO4 dosages. Say you get 5ppm of K from your KNO3 dose, and you are targetting 20ppm of K. Just dose enough KSO4 to raise 15ppm of K.
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So we need to maintain:

K = Potassium = 20ppm
NO3 = Nitrate = 20ppm?
PO4 = ??? = ???ppm

[Nick]

PO4 = 0.5 - 1 ppm
NO3 = 5 - 10 ppm

[sherchoo]

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On 10/8/2003 12:03:47 AM

Why use 3 type of plants for the foreground? They don't mix well imo...seems to be breaking up the whole scape into parts instead of a whole picture.
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Peter,
The foreground is actually just Marsilea. The others like Lobeila cardinalis and Blyxa japonica are meant to be mid forground area. Will adjust when the plants grow in. Thanks for the tip.

[checkerboard]

ooo... didnt see properly, those behind the marselia are actually lobelia cardinalis. ok, then when they grow in, should look much better.

sorry for the mistake! [:]

[Kingfisher]

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On 10/8/2003 9:40:49 PM

PO4 = 0.5 - 1 ppm
NO3 = 5 - 10 ppm
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OK, thanks.

PO4 is Phosphorous?

[sherchoo]

Choy,
My E's did not need too much effort to grow emmerse. I just let it grow on it's own. I'm away quite often on long trips and whenever I come back I'll see the plants below the E's and Lotus are struggling to survive. What you see now is the pruned version of my E's.

Back to your question, I believe that Echinodorus' are base fert hungry buggers. Give them a good boost of root ferts and you'll be complaining your Echinodorus' are control.

Another thing you can try is for those leaves that are at the surface, try lifting them out of the surface (hope you get wat i mean). That may initiate emerse growth.

[sherchoo]

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On 10/8/2003 11:11:06 PM

OK, thanks.

PO4 is Phosphorous?
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PO4 = Phosphate
P = Phosphorus

[juggler]

Sherwin, I hope to see more plants in there. Not enough plants for the strong lights you've got.[]

[hwchoy]

that's the weird part, my leopard and shluteri would grow small leavs, despite generous feeding of Jaqno fert sticks. the leaves are not long enough to even reach the surface (only 10cm remember).