My low-tech 1-feet rockscape

[gid]

I have finally gotten down to setting up my 2nd 1-footer! My first was a heavily planted 'forest-scape', so I thought my 2nd one shall be a rockscape.

I have set up the rock scape and will plan for another 2 weeks before I 'commission' my tank with plants and water.

Specs:
1 foot tank
3L ADA New Amazonia
2x8w T5 - Aquazonic
Gex Slim (M) HOF
Dragon stones (1.9kgs)
Excel, dymax flora, dymax iron

Flora (still thinking through...)
Dwarf hairgrass
Abit of Blyxa Japonic amongst the rocks
1 cluster of red stem plants behind the rocks

Fauna:
15 Green Neons
3 Yamato shrimps (is it too many?)

Please let me know your thoughts and comments bros.

[Shadow]

the hardscape look promising. what your plan for the foreground plants?

[gid]

Tks shadow.

I will want a really short carpet for foreground to let my rocks be the star.
Glosso would be perfect but i wont be using it cos I already have it in my current tank. I want a different look for this tank.

Im considering dwarf hairgrass, but Im concerned that it will be too tall and swallow up my rock scape. Or will it be ok?

[Shadow]

yes hairgrass will be too tall. You can try HC, but without CO2 will be tough. How about APP (Elatine triandra)?

[felix_fx2]

Try even out the left side. Other then that i can't find anything else need to comment for the arrangement.
You can try APP/Glosso/marsilea hirsuta, if you going to use hairgrass they will cover up the smaller rocks.

[gid]

Hi Felix, what do u mean by 'even out the left side'?

Shadow n Felix, I thought of app too, but it seems too think n dense, afraid it will also bury my rocks.
Will dwarf hairgrass really be too tall? Most of the pots I see at polyart c328 are barely 2cm tall.

[cherabin]

Hairgrass will cover most rocks. Another option you can consider is spreading fissidens or mini moss on the ground and go DSM.

[Shadow]

Will dwarf hairgrass really be too tall? Most of the pots I see at polyart c328 are barely 2cm tall.

That is emerge, submerge will be taller 10-15 cm in good condition. However you are using excel not co2, it should grow shorter. Hopefully

[Jovel]

Japanese hairgrass will be nice and short. Might wanna consider them.

[gid]

Yea think my 2 shortlisted carpet will be app and jap hairgrass. But, my concerns:
app: too coarse, grow too fast and too thick
jap hg: difficult to groom

Any idea where to buy app and jap hairgrass? maybe i should just buy from mizu and pay for the delivery just in case i buy the wrong plant from LFS.

As for the red/purple stem plants that I intend to sparingly plant behind the rocks, im thinking of Limnophila hippuroides.

[Shadow]

c328 and poly art some time have it. It is normally packed in bigger pots. Check with C328 Aunty, she know which one jap HG

[cherabin]

Get more plants if you're buying from Mizu. That would make more sense for the postal and handling fees else like what Robert mentioned, get them from LFS. C328 definitely has consistent supply of jap hairgrass, always stored in 'tua huay' tubs placed along with the other many tubs on top of the tank, rigt hand side of shop when you enter.

[gid]

An update:
- planted jap hairgrass
- planted blyxa japonica amongst the rocks

Regime:
I will perfrom daily 30% wc for the next few days to bring down the ammonia (im using new amazonia), and then the regular 15% weekly wc for 6 weeks before adding fish.
I am dosing excel, and giving 2 x 5 hrs of 4WPG lights a day. Hopefully the hairgrass will grow!

DAY 2

[cherabin]

The japonica will most probably cover the rock(s) when fully grown.

[mincedmeat]

To differentiate japanese hairgrass, you will find that the strands will tend to veer downwards instead of it being upright (like yours).

[cherabin]

That's emersed form, you will only see the 'down-curling' when the plant converts to submersed.

[gid]

The japonica will most probably cover the rock(s) when fully grown.

Hmm i hope not bro, that was why i planted most of them behind the rocks. Except for the one cluster that i planted in the middle of the rocks at the left side; maybe I will remove this when it over grows.

Day 4 and everything looks exactly the same, no melting.

[gid]

It has been almost 2 weeks since I planted the hairgrass and they are doing well, not much melting, and in fact, there has been some growth.

But now im having an algae problem. There is a black cotton-like algae growing around the hg. Physical removal is tricky as they are stuck to the hg, I will uproot the whole thing if I pull too hard.

What should I do? Will otos or yamatos help? But im also afraid yamatos will uproot the young hg.

[Shadow]

otos will not help, yamato might help. black cotton like algae? never seen it before

[felix_fx2]

Some pictures? Dark colored hair algae?