Planted Aro Tank - Comments pls

[learner]

Hi guys,

BEFORE



AFTER


here's my 5 ft aro tank... wan hu rtg.. still small ..i guess only 5+ inch..

tenellus foreground..
right side c.balanese
left side c.wendtii and rotala wallichis

was thinking of replacing the center nanas with a huge bunch of rotala indica
that would give it some red in a plain tank..
any comments? ideas? please? thanks...

[sotong80]

Nice setup. I also think that it would look better with some red plants.
May I noe what substrate are you using? ADA?

[juggler]

Nice setup. The reds to be added shouldn't be dead centre.

Background reds - can also consider some Echinodorus with reddish new leaves like E.Oriental. Or E.Rose, E.Rubin if you don't mind the big size. Or stem plants like E.stellata.
Midground reds - Alternanthera reineckii.

[xxdivinityxx]

Think you need to relook at your lighting or FE dosage.

He does have red plants inside. The rotala wallichis on the left. Just that they're not showing their true colours. Pardon the pun.

[zulnaldo]

learner,

do you have a topical light( pink ) in the tank?
your aro sure seems red?

[learner]

wow..
u guys have sharp eyes...

yes, i do have a pink tube inside.. it's inherited from the previous owner.. so the rtg looks pinkish due to that...

as for the red plant, my rotala walachii is very light green.. not even close to pink..
it's in the corner so it may not be getting direct light.... and i haven't started a fertilization regime.. coz fairly new tank..

maybe i should get the Rotala wallichiito turn red first
dennerle's picture is a all Rotala wallichii

[zulnaldo]

learner,

i've got a 4 feet tank with a 5 inch wan hu RTG too. 6 fl( 3 feet ) lights plus 1 pink light just to ensure that my plants get enough light.
i know the pink light makes the aro seems redder but too much pink lights is not good for the plants right?
i don't even know the colour temperature of the pink lights, do you?
by the way my tank is filled with a lot of plants that i need the guys help in IDing them.
Will post the pic once ready!

Cheers,
Zul

[cbong]

What did you use for the background wall. Looks natural.

[benny]

That would be the original styrofoam background from Juwel itself.

Nice setup!

Cheers,

[xxdivinityxx]

[quote:3d335121cc="learner"]
maybe i should get the Rotala wallichiito turn red first
dennerle's picture is a all Rotala wallichii
[/quote:3d335121cc]

Dude, that red is not even close to the intense redness wallachi's can become. Under good conditions, it's a grogeous pinkish red. Perfect plant for dutchscapers

[Aeon]

Are those the wallichiis I gave you? they look good!

[vinz]

Learner,

Any new pics of the tank?

[learner]

[quote:6f2b93e940="vinz"]Learner,

Any new pics of the tank?[/quote:6f2b93e940]

Hi Aeon,

yes, those are your wallichiis. Thank you very much for them.
Unfortunately, they haven't grown much since. I wonder why. See below for more details.

Vinz,

will try to take some photos tonight.
Experiencing a snail outbreak. Currently, the tank only houses the RTG. No algae crew at all. I guess things are still under control, ie no obvious signs of algae. All thanks to PeterGwee and other forumers for their help when I first started this tank.


Tank Update:

R.wallichiis hasn't grown much. In fact the new top part of the plants are constantly being 'broken' and that has pretty much prevented any further growth in terms of height. I don't know what causes it. Shouldn't be the aro, could it be the filter output?

'Williow moss' from NA is growing very very well...
pretty much completely covered the drift wood already.....

C.balanese hasn't shown much growth too.... They are really slow. I wanted a low maintanence tank but this is a bit too much... Testing my patience... Maybe will 'trade in' with a friendly LFS shop for some other plants.

C.tenellus is doing well... very well in fact, despite that it's a base fert less tank.... crawling up my background actually..

Nanas doing fine.... growing new leaves and it's going to flower soon.....

No liquid fert yet. Have some root monsters here and there. That's all.
Co2 about 4-5 bps.

Will do a foto update tonite.

Like I've said earlier, snails getting out of control with nothing to keep them in check. Prefer to not use any chemicals on them, but they are multiplying so fast that I'm getting scared.
I've always tried to suck out the snails when I change water but they are EVERYWHERE... Those that I can see, I try to remove, but those hiding between plants are spared coz I don't want to mess up the plants.

Any idea?

Contemplating to remove the entire patch of C.balanese, remove the small crypts on the left, remove the wallichii, remove the nanas but leave the driftwood there.
And introduce some R.indica in the left hand corner where the wallichii used to be.

Cheers.

[loupgarou]

I'm not sure if arowana would eat a botia sidthimunki. but they are extremely efficient at eating snails.

otherwise, you may want to try chelated copper. (ie: mardel's coppersafe)

[wks]

Hi learner, if you do not want the C. balansae and nana, pass them to me. If you want to sell the plants, I don't mind paying.

[learner]

[quote:fcc2365779="wks"]Hi learner, if you do not want the C. balansae and nana, pass them to me. If you want to sell the plants, I don't mind paying.[/quote:fcc2365779]

wks,

thanks.. will pm you to talk about it.. i'm thinking about how to rescape my tank..


Hi guys,

see my update in the 1st post. Any comments?

[Aeon]

The wallichiis were growing like weeds in my tank. they aren't picky in terms of nutrients and water quality, but good conditions will promote red leaves.

They like lots of light, CO2 not critical, but it's critical for the entire tank. their roots grow very deep and they like a fertile substrate.

As for filter flow, I had them right in front of my filter outlet blowing directly at them.

Looking at your photo, it seems the corner is pretty shaded, it may lack light.

[PeterGwee]

Aeon, I am not trying to pick on you but in a high light tank, CO2 is a critical nutrient (carbon) to plants. Plants always do better with CO2 as 40% of it is made up of carbon.

The notion of high light in getting red plants is not true. 2W/G should be enough to redden most red plants up provided the rest of the nutrients are available and the NO3 on the low side.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[learner]

[quote:ec3abe91dd="loupgarou"]I'm not sure if arowana would eat a botia sidthimunki. but they are extremely efficient at eating snails.

otherwise, you may want to try chelated copper. (ie: mardel's coppersafe)[/quote:ec3abe91dd]

Thanks loupgarou.

didn't know what a botia sidthimunki was but after a google search, found out that it's chain loach aka dwarf loach?

anyway, here's a foto of it from www.loaches.com


hmm... i wonder if it's too small for my 8inch aro

[vinz]

Whatever fish you put in an arowana tank, planted or not, be prepared to lose it. It could get eaten in the first 5 mins, next week, next month or next year. OR never at all. One of my SAEs got careless and got eaten last week... after 1.5 yrs in the same tank with the arowana.

To heighten the odds of surviving the first few minutes, release the fish behind tall plants. Releasing in the dark may be riskier then it seems. My RTG has caught fishes in near total darkness, and Rosha told me his arowana attacks anything that reflects light (from other rooms, other sources) when the tank is dark.

Dense planting maximises survival chances by providing plenty of bolt holes and safe passages.

Size of the arowana play a part too. The younger ones are agile and small enough to chase prey thru some of the plants. However, the larger arowanas won't even bother because they know they can't get thru the plants fast enough or at all. An 8 incher belongs in the latter class.

Loaches have a higher chance of survival as they are bottom dwellers and are seldom in the swimming/hunting areas of the arowanas. That does not mean they are completely safe. My RTG has gone vertical to attempt to catch a unattentive SAE (I could only watch helplessly in the few seconds of the whole event, but it got away at the very last moment just as the arowana struck).