90G Iwagumi/Nature Aquarium Journal

[Mr.Tang]

Okay so the questions begin... so for asking so many in one post

I got my plants but they took 3 days in shipping and some looked pretty bad when they got here maybe because we are in winter and they would have been sitting in a cold warehouse.

This is what I ordered:
Hygro Stricta Narrow Leaf
Rotala Rotundafolia, pink/emersed
Hygrophila Corymbosa
HM
Lilaeopsis Novazelandiae
Heteranthera zosterfolia
Blyxa Japonica

As they weren't labeled and I am inexperienced I'd like some help identifying some.

ID.1 The one in between the rocks.



ID.2 The one closest to the corner



Here's a FTS with all the plants planted (and a few floaters) and as you can see it looks really bare so I am getting a lot more plants over the next week. The HM is being blown horizontally by the 2217 output so it will need to be moved...





Some of the HC is doing really well and pearling nicely...



And some of it is home to some algae...



I have the CO2 running at about 4BPS and have been running the lights for 6 hours - 2 T5 tubes 6700K for the whole 6 hours and the MH 8000K globes for 4 hours in the middle. I have dosing seachem liquid ferts and been spot dosing Excel on the HC. So far I have done 2 x 200L Water changes and will now do 200L a week if suitable.

Please fire away with crticisms and comments as I have kept fish for years very successfully but this is all new to me despite spending months on many planted forums. I will probably need to replant when I get the extra driftwood and new plants so any suggestions on layout appreciated. The new plants are more Blyxa, some Java Moss for the driftwood, more Lilaeopsis.

Marc

[Shadow]

Originally Posted by Mr.Tang

Thank you for the visual explanation!
I have used AS normal and AS powder so I don't really want to pull wood out and redo the hard scape if I can avoid it as it will mix the powder and normal soil so I think I will go back to LFS and look for some better suited wood and maybe adjust the two existing pieces and add another longer piece with two prongs/branches.

Can always add new wood or rock thus no need to pull out

Originally Posted by Mr.Tang

I still have heaps of rock, do you think it needs more rock too? I was hoping to create that "continuation" with plants but I think you are right it needs more hard scape.

In my opinion, contiuation should apply for both hardscape and plants. You can use more woods or more rocks up to your imagination. Just make sure that you use the same type of wood and rock.

Originally Posted by Mr.Tang

My problem is impatience which I am hoping this hobby will help cure

Some of us take weeks trying out the hardscape before start planting and fill in water. Hardscape is the most important because once you plant it is very difficult to change whithout disturbing the soil.

Normally what I do after hardscape is to wait few days look at it everytime I have the change. Normally I will spot something missing , re-arrange abit wait a gain few day. Repeat the process until I'm satisfy and start planting.

[Mr.Tang]

Okay, I added some more rock and the plants are starting to fill in and grow nicely. The Rotala is growing horizontal and shooting roots from the nodes so I think I need to adjust the height on the lighting??

Here's a FTS from this morning:



And a perspective shot:



The right back corner is annoying me as it looks really empty (I know, I need to be patient). I changed the Hygro over to some Blue Stricta which is growing nice and compact but the whole corner will change soon. I'll be adding more of the ADA Amazonia Powder soil as I don't have enough depth to plant there due to the driftwood. I added some crypts and some spare Rotala stems but these are temporary.



The blyxa is taking off nicely:



And the HC is spreading well now and the SAE's have cleaned all the hair algae off it:



I have been dosing only the Brighty K that I won in a photo comp and will keep doing that for a couple more weeks before I start a full dosing regime as I was told that with the soil being so rich this would help with nutrient uptake and algae control.....

Will update again in a week or so, please fire away with critique and comments/suggestions etc as I know I have heaps to learn.

Thanks,
Marc

[Mad Medic]

very nice work! Keep the eye candy coming I need all the ideas I can get!

[Mr.Tang]

Ok, 2 weeks since last photos....
I made a DIY CO2 reactor/diffuser from an old fluid bed filter and have been getting some awesome results. I had a bio bloom that resulted in a hazy tank that I couldn't see more than a few inches in to but have it under control. I'm starting to get a hang of the fert dosing but will constantly adjust with plant growth. Anyway, here's a few pics....

Here is the current scape after a massive trim. Don't mind the algae on the back glass I've been a tad lazy







Filled in the RH back corner a bit



Some pearling action....



Some of the HC growth - fair difference for a 2 week period



And the Rotala sp. Green



The stargrass was doomed from the start due to the shipping but some how it recovered nicely



Cheers,
Marc

[Mr.Tang]

Oh, any chance a mod/admin could move this to appropriate section where other journals are???

Ta
Marc

[Jur4ik]

Originally Posted by Mr.Tang

Oh, any chance a mod/admin could move this to appropriate section where other journals are???

Ta
Marc

done

by the way, stargrass is looking for me as heterantera zosterifolia, is it the same? I doesnt know any common names ..

[tirtha1979]

Originally Posted by Jur4ik

done

by the way, stargrass is looking for me as heterantera zosterifolia, is it the same? I doesnt know any common names ..

They both are same.

[Jur4ik]

Originally Posted by tirtha1979

They both are same.

thanks tirtha, in german we have our common names and it is difficult to know them in multiple languages. Because of this I´m more into the scientific names.

you´re welcome to comment on Mr.Tang´s scape

[tirtha1979]

Originally Posted by Jur4ik

thanks tirtha, in german we have our common names and it is difficult to know them in multiple languages. Because of this I´m more into the scientific names.

you´re welcome to comment on Mr.Tang´s scape

Completely agree with you. It's alway better to stick to the scientific names. These common names create more confusions.

In this scape, I am simply found these red rocks are awesome. When the HC will fill in, these Red will make a beautiful contrast in the scape. Will wait to see how this tank matured.

[Mr.Tang]

Sorry about the common names - I will only post scientific from now on.

Thanks Tirtha, I am glad you think the rocks are okay. I did buy a lot of ADA stle rock too but still decided to use the red rock. After all I am from Australia and we have a lor of red soil and rock around our country
On the next water change and trim I will be replacing some of the driftwood with longer pieces that will reach over to the left hand side to create a continuation in the scape as suggested by Shadow (thanks for the tip Shadow!). I might also swap the Lilaeopsis and Blyxa around so the taller Blyxa are up the back left corner and the Lilaeopsis is at the front right corner to create more depth.

Cheers,
Marc

[Jur4ik]

Sounds good Marc, keep us update on this

[Orlando]

Its looking good!!

-O

[Mr.Tang]

Updated tank shot:



As you can see I have added more wood, a few new plants and heavily trimmed it. I am still battling algae on the glass but have dialed back the lights to combat this.

Comments??

Marc

[Jur4ik]

the glass of my shrimp tank is totaly covered by algae now, shrimps like it - they have lots of food now, tomorow I will clean them

well your tank is doing nice, hc still need to cover some ares. I would plant some random groups of p.helferi and maybe few crypts between the hc.

what is this rosa stuff floating ?

[Mr.Tang]

Originally Posted by Jur4ik

well your tank is doing nice, hc still need to cover some ares. I would plant some random groups of p.helferi and maybe few crypts between the hc.

It's hard to see in the pic but I have 5 p.helferi and a hygrophila balsamica in front of the rotala sp. green near the rocks. I had them further forward but the light was too intense so I moved them to a slightly shaded area to recover a bit. Theyt are propogating fairly well so I will soon have more...

Originally Posted by Jur4ik

what is this rosa stuff floating ?

That is a bunch of pogostemon stellatus. I ordered two bunches and didn't have room to plant the second bunch so I am floating it to soak up excess nutrients until sold or given away.

What do you think of the new wood? I have tied some fissidens to it but aren't sure how it will look when grown in. A moss might have been a wiser choice....

Any suggestions on a bushy mid-ground plant that I could put under the new wood on the right of the rotala sp. green? I want something that stays compact and provides some contrast.

Marc

[Jur4ik]

I wonder why the wood is particularly white?

There are many echinodorus spec. that stay very compact and provide reddish leaves.
thought helferi is loving string light - it can also get reddish^^

[JamesM]

This is maturing really nice, good job

[Mr.Tang]

Thanks for the comments. The wood is white but is already starting to darken up like the other wood - it was all white in the beginning too. The p.helferi was taking on a reddish tint but was the leaves were getting brittle and not growing. I have moved them back along the rocks which is slightly shaded and can already see a big improvement. I also moved the h.balsamica back to a shaded area and have seen the same improvement...

Marc

[saintly]

good going, from the first images, i thought it was another HC attempt waiting to fail, but it's looking very positive indeed

i like the sparseness of the HC clumps.Actualy it's given me an idea!...thanks