Phishless 80G Journal

Phishless

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A few more observations:

The 33G:
Some of you may know I construct my own corner filters of Poret foam 2" thick.
Used to clean these with glut, and then moved to bleach.
Last time I cleaned, rinsed in hot water, squeezed out water and soaked in one quart of H2O2 for about 2 hours.

Yeah I know, I kill all BB at every filter cleaning, who cares I'm almost phishless in these tanks.

After moving to H2O2 for cleaning the foam all GHA has disappeared in the tank.
I rinse the foam after the H2O2 and then dunk it in some water with Prime.

The 80G:
Also GHA, toothbrush twisty deal every two days.
Now all gone but I did not clean the Poret foam with anything other than hot water.
GHA ended when I finally got all of the old plant growth out of the tank.
The ratty bottoms from plant purchases, the horizontal stems on a suction cup for 2 months.
Once all new good growth was present all GHA is gone.

This tank is also where my Cory's get fed.
Seems that when a remnant of food gets lodged in the crotch of some stems clado appears soon after.
This algae is easily removed if the clump is allowed to get a little size to it.

The BBA Adventure:
The holes of every spraybar in all 3 tanks will support tufts of BBA.
Rake it off with a toothbrush and it sinks to the substrate and dies.

It also appears on the oldest leaves of new transitioning Buce.
Once enough has grown and the old growth is gone/trimmed the BBA is gone.

GSA is found at times on the glass, not in large quantities, never on the plants.
Maybe once a month to grab a good pic I quick clean with a wand type scraper.

BGA seems to attack the very growth tip of certain species.
No idea why and it is unexplained.
While trimming I'll touch the tips of plants and a little blob of BGA falls off.

Java Moss, Isn't it considered algae? :
Only in my 75G, it shows it's ass on my driftwood like no other.
Manual removal never works, something is always left behind.

Moral of the Story:
Am I battling algae, No.
As most of us, I have it and live with it, but never focus on it.
When plant quality improves algae is basically gone.

Snails are dramatically on the decline too.
Many empty shells litter the bottoms of the tanks.
Good sign, less rotting plant matter for them to eat and numbers decline.

No new pics today, I'm tired.
Maybe trim a few things, that's a big maybe!
75G cloudy water is clear but one more WC before I remove the UV but no RODI this eve.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

UV is a magical thing for sure! 75G is all cleared up but another WC is still in order.
I'm learning to catch this before the green water begins.
4 year old SafeTSorb is what I blame it on and my few and far between WC's
Tank has had diatom algae for 4 years, it's getting old. Year one was good but now???
The fact that it's a Platy farm does not help!

Erio compressum arrived today.
8 plants and some can be split.
Grown as a marginal pond plant cleaning is a nightmare, all the dirt etc...
Roots on some are 4" long, I'll be up late for sure.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

While riding my horse through the river I was unable to find any aquatic plants.
Lot of small phish, water snakes, frogs, but not one submerged plant where I was riding! :rolleyes:
Have been exhausted since the camping trip and glad all plants were trimmed short preparing for this past weekend trip.

Maybe some remember my complaint of slime white cruddy surface scum.
Been skimming almost every eve with a Solo Cup (Red). :D
Using soil, I test @ least once weekly, tested last night and macro dosing was needed.
Today all surface scum is gone! Just not sure about this surface scum issue yet.
Every single time I dose macros it doesn't disappear but this time it's gone. o_O

75G tank has crystal clear water now that UV has been in place for some time.
NO3 is still close to 40ppm and 2 more WC's are in line for this one.
Been too lazy to make any re-mineralized RODI for this yet.

All of the capped soil tanks grow really well from the start if heavily planted.
After really thinking about the ground while camping, I'm going to bring home some of the clay soil and mix it into my blend.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

Best to start with Pics, everyone loves pics!

A plant ID is needed, looks like a bacopa something.
Came with a plant order.
55d218af88d3a06012dae6d2aafe16ea.jpg


Another ID?
Purchased as ludwigia inclinata with no additional info or sp. anything.
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Heidelburg is branching @ tops and some lower growth has gone to the wayside.
Typical plant adaptation though.
4abc0447dd94d1fffc8c2ff32441df34.jpg


Still growing well with lowering of KH.
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All I got for now, time to trim some of the jungle.

Plant density is becoming rough in the 80G.
2b45d22a33cdd1f6013c09e703380e7c.jpg
 

Wobblebonk

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I think that might be "regular" inclinata kept at "low" par, or possibly the ones I've seen I thought were "regular" are the red variant? The amount of variants available of inclinata is a little crazy... though that one's clearly not a verticillata (pantanal/cuba/white/tornado/araguaia)
 

Phishless

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I think that might be "regular" inclinata kept at "low" par, or possibly the ones I've seen I thought were "regular" are the red variant?

Not @ low PAR, it is 100PAR @ sub and after emerged growth was gone (6+ months) this is what I have.
Not a variant but pretty much unchanged now.
Nice plant, grows well, but no particular ID???
 

Wobblebonk

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I've only seen it under 4 or 6 bulb t5ho fixtures with colored bulbs in relatively small tanks so I can't be sure how much was coloring from the bulbs or what, it could still be inclinata...
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

Been trimming but too lazy this eve, it was a long day!
Worked on the 80G yesterday and changed out the Poret foam.
A new bright blue piece of 30PPI foam in the corner now.
The old piece was absolutely filthy after about 6 months.
H2O2 and a healthy cleaning was in order.

Need to update my sales thread and add more species.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

My 75G green water tank is clear, removing UV light this eve.
We shall see how long until the "Green" returns.o_O
When NO3 reaches the 40ppm mark this tank gets strange.
May need to sell off all of the Platys and just keep the plants.:D
It is lower CO2, lower ferts, and lower PAR than all other tanks.

Very soon lots of plants are going to hit the trash.:(
It's a shame to toss it but there is no space.

I've also learned over time that some plants do not belong in a hi-tech tank either.
Prolific growers some of these species turn into.
Star grass has been a nuisance in every way.
Ranunculus is hell if runners don't get trimmed, snakes all over the tank.
I have some slow growers that I really appreciate nowadays!

Regarding PAR readings.
All plants do not grow better with higher PAR.o_O
L.polycarpa grows quality leaves @ a lower PAR but lacks some color.:rolleyes:

Night All:
 
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Phishless

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Good Evening All:

To all of those that have purchased any plants, Thank You!

I shipped out a lot of plants but it is still crazy.
Removed about 10 of my ceramic plugs worth of species while packing Sunday eve.
Monday evening I trimmed about 12 more species of plants.
Hell I could grow a jungle with all of the bottoms I toss in the trash! o_O
Tonight I will test water, very boring but I like to test every 2 or so weeks.

Some updates:
Heidelburg in the softer water is going to hell, good growth on tops, hope they make it.

Tornado is branching with great growth, a definite win, slow which is good.

Erio compressum is floating, all emersed leaves gone and starting to see new green growth.
Not sure where this will go.

Ranunculus has gone bad with runners.
No idea until the trimming began, I've found 30 more by accident! :rolleyes:

Some pics later in the week!

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

Wouldn't be a journal without some pics.

One lonely stem of mermaid weed left behind, thought it was finally gone. With two lower branches even.:rolleyes:
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Persicaria looks cool but there is particle debris resting everywhere from all the trimming going on.
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Lots of ranunculus stems, runners got out of hand.
The whole back of the tank is filled with them.
a9af5ff0f0c7f78729cc392da7e36d1b.jpg


Heidelburg is now melting in the 33G but thriving in the 80G, I just don't know? o_O

Tanks are running well, minimal algae.
Macros are the same but started adding more micros, now twice per week.
Macros are really a front loading item @ beginning of week.

The surface scum puzzle?
It's gotten much better while dosing 2x micros a week.
Why, hell I don't know, but it's better.

Local plant hunt is still on hold.:(
At least 15 inches of rain over the past two weeks, need I say more.:rolleyes:
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

Not much to talk about other than extensive trimming.
Way too many plants, so little time, not enough space.
This madness needs to stop sometime soon!

New plans for the 75G, all plants will be potted with capped dirt.
SafeTSorb will be vacuumed out in stages.
Some sort of container for plants, yet to be found.

Tornado growing well with branching and Heidelburg is a 50/50 so far.
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

Cory playground this eve, half of the tank pulled and they are enjoying the open space.
Vacuum the sub and general clean up about every 6 months.
Found a few plants I thought were gone including ammannia bonsai.
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

Not only was the ammania bonsai found but so was the S.repens!
12 or so stems w/branches and of course missing the lower leaves.
Been shaded for a long time!

Feel like my fruit stand idea just hit the gutter.
5 new to me species of plants introduced.
Just adding to the experience factor here, all good!

Exhausted this eve, semi large RO system (200GPM) took a hit at work.
Started last eve and rolled into today till 3:30pm, up and running now!

Night All:
 
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Phishless

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Good Evening All:

No trimming this eve.
An R&R evening all the way! :D
Trimmed about 15 species of plants yesterday eve, so an evening of just watching things.

Some new experiments are in full swing now.
Pics are in order for the good growers so far.

Ammannia senegalensis.
Needs a clear path to light.
Doing well in the 115PAR area but very green in the 75PAR range.
7 plugs of 10 stems each growing in different tanks and PAR ranges.
c977975ecabb2f27e5948e2b7216c102.jpg


The S.repens that will re-appear in my tank after the shading episode.
a25c92916f199efb4b0f2a3b6b61a294.jpg


Some new rotala species.
tulunadensis from Kerala India, seems like a slower grower of the two.
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The quicker grower by far is rotala sahyadrica from Western Ghats India
This seems to be a very promising species!
f50c3b2b2943fdeee7a11514af3759f3.jpg


That's all I've got.
Sorry but I thought the pics looked better until I posted them
 

Greggz

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Look at you with all the new species! Pays to know the right people!

Those Rotala's do look interesting. Will be curious to see how what color they end up as they get nearer the light.

And that Ammannia looks very good and happy. I've got some right now but jury is still out.
 
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Phishless

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Look at you with all the new species! Pays to know the right people!

Those Rotala's do look interesting. Will be curious to see how what color they end up as they get nearer the light.

And that Ammannia looks very good and happy. I've got some right now but jury is still out.

I've met some great people in the hobby over the past few years.
Willing to share and being local helps quite a bit.
Not much web info on the new species of plants, assuming that it's not really out there growing in the hobby world.

I've seen the rotalas under higher PAR than mine and they seem to remain green.
One is a bit darker than the other, but both are a whole new leaf shape compared to other plants.
Ratty brown bottoms that did not ship well but great new growth is happening.
Fragile leaves and soft like macrandra japan.
Maybe in a month when the bottoms are gone this should look great.

The ammannia senegalensis looks a lot like ammannia praetermissa which can be extremely difficult to grow.
Plugs have been growing with roots through the plug and deep in the substrate.
This will be a red plant win and definitely make it to the fruit stand.
 
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Phishless

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Sorry for the poor pics yesterday eve.
I'll get some better one's when the cell phone co-operates better.

Cleaned up my 33G tank yesterday eve.
Pulled every single plant and plug, vacuumed the sub, filled her back up 20 gallons later.
This was a quick way to reduce the KH for me, out of my normal by far.
Tomorrow eve I'll pull and clean the Poret foam corner filter.
Going to let it catch all of the debris first.

@Greggz I thought the ambulia was a quick grower, the myrio red stem is way worse.
In my tank it grows at least 6" per week if not more.

All this trimming etc. will prompt another for sale thread for sure.
Have a few locals coming by within the next 10 days interested in some plants.
 
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