120 Gal Dutchy Freestyle - Now with 50% more Dutch!
- Thread starter burr740
- Start date
Got a late start yesterday so not much rearranging. Basically just hacked everything down to reduce biomass, no regard to height contrasts or anything.
You can see a few Rotala indica stunting, this is 100% due to too much biomass. Little things like this begin to happen when things get too overgrown. They'll soon get right again.
You can see a few Rotala indica stunting, this is 100% due to too much biomass. Little things like this begin to happen when things get too overgrown. They'll soon get right again.
Everything looks clean and spiffy. Glad you kept the Pogo helferi red. It looks fantastic. It's a nice counter balance to the Hygro araguaia.
Hyptis and Acmella kinds similar, huh? Wonder why you are not getting the purple color I was in the Dutch. In the Kill Tank, it looked like yours.
That's a few bucks worth of Ludwigia Red!
Really, really nice use of the Mini Myrio on the right front corner. Perfect spot. It really brightens that area. Since both your substrate, and back are black, you cannot afford to have dark leaved plants along the edges. This is great. This plant is not as forgiving as most people think. I've killed it on two separate occasions a few years apart. But it seems to be doing well in my Kill Tank.
Interesting about the Rotala indica. Do you leave them alone or pinch off the stunted tops? I found it fairly easy for a Rotala, that's why I haven't had it in the Kill Tank. But that impulse-buy tissue culture cup must have at least 30 stems of it. So I'll be growing it soon enough too. Bobbsey twins! I'm eyeing it as a potential replacement for the Rotala macrandra Caterpillar in the Dutch.
Hyptis and Acmella kinds similar, huh? Wonder why you are not getting the purple color I was in the Dutch. In the Kill Tank, it looked like yours.
That's a few bucks worth of Ludwigia Red!
Really, really nice use of the Mini Myrio on the right front corner. Perfect spot. It really brightens that area. Since both your substrate, and back are black, you cannot afford to have dark leaved plants along the edges. This is great. This plant is not as forgiving as most people think. I've killed it on two separate occasions a few years apart. But it seems to be doing well in my Kill Tank.
Interesting about the Rotala indica. Do you leave them alone or pinch off the stunted tops? I found it fairly easy for a Rotala, that's why I haven't had it in the Kill Tank. But that impulse-buy tissue culture cup must have at least 30 stems of it. So I'll be growing it soon enough too. Bobbsey twins! I'm eyeing it as a potential replacement for the Rotala macrandra Caterpillar in the Dutch.
That's a rather small Isoetes lacustris.
Ive tried feather duster before, grows easy enough. Only thing is it's too wispy to take the current everywhere I'd like to use it.
Isoetes is very stiff
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The hyptis will color up quick if I add more Fe. For a couple of weeks when I was at like .06 micros + .06 dtpa 3x, the top two sets of leaves turned a dramatic purple. it can also go totally green or light brown. Changes quick too
These last 3-4 weeks Ive began closing the gap between the "csmb" micros and extra Fe. Went to .075 for about a week. it lost a lot of color then. About to start the second week at .1, with no additional Fe. Its colored up more, still not as much as there for a while. But I know it can get there.
Ludwigia red, yeah those are about to go on the sale block, that's why I didnt trim it.
The Mini myrio has been a pleasant surprise. Thanks for that one!
You're right, the black background all but demands something bright in the corners. If you remember in the 75 I played with Vals and Isoetes up front there, looked OK in person but disappeared in pictures.
You can top the indica and it'll come back out, but it's very slow to do so. Its not like most Rotalas where that's the best way to fix stunting. All but the worst of these will keep right on growing and unstunt by themselves. After it grows out, all that'll be left of the stunted part is a section of stem with smaller leaves than the rest.
The worst ones I might top and leave in place, or move to the 50 to grow out.
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More thoughts that apparently wouldnt fit in the above post;
Where the indica is, I want to do a street disappearing behind the stump. Not sure the indica is going to work for that, need a lot more of it for one thing. it also needs a good red behind it or else it sorta disappears. The sp red certainly works, just needs running a little differently .
Might also bring back Lobelia sf for right there. Yeah, Bobbsie twins.
Penthorum is going to replace the L aromatica mini. Thats a cool plant, grows nice, but it's too similar in color to Didiplis. Doing the 20 foot squint, it looks like the same yellow bush in two different places.
Gonna put a Lagenandra in the vicinity of where the Pantanal is now. Whether or not I keep pantanal depends on how well it does going forward. Really like the whole Pantanal/Acmella/L red combo.
Not sure what to but behind the Penthorum. The likely candidates are Rotala mac variegated, sunset, pantanal, and the Hyptis might possibly stay. It's a mighty big stem though, not sure the best way to use it really.
Also need to figure out something better to do with the whole Oldenlandia/Colorata/Nelsonia area. That's all getting changed somehow.
Since switching micros, Staurogyne purple in the 20 is growing tall, big leaved and actually a nice purple. Might work that in somewhere, especially if I ditch the purple Hyptis.
Decisions decisions...
Where the indica is, I want to do a street disappearing behind the stump. Not sure the indica is going to work for that, need a lot more of it for one thing. it also needs a good red behind it or else it sorta disappears. The sp red certainly works, just needs running a little differently .
Might also bring back Lobelia sf for right there. Yeah, Bobbsie twins.
Penthorum is going to replace the L aromatica mini. Thats a cool plant, grows nice, but it's too similar in color to Didiplis. Doing the 20 foot squint, it looks like the same yellow bush in two different places.
Gonna put a Lagenandra in the vicinity of where the Pantanal is now. Whether or not I keep pantanal depends on how well it does going forward. Really like the whole Pantanal/Acmella/L red combo.
Not sure what to but behind the Penthorum. The likely candidates are Rotala mac variegated, sunset, pantanal, and the Hyptis might possibly stay. It's a mighty big stem though, not sure the best way to use it really.
Also need to figure out something better to do with the whole Oldenlandia/Colorata/Nelsonia area. That's all getting changed somehow.
Since switching micros, Staurogyne purple in the 20 is growing tall, big leaved and actually a nice purple. Might work that in somewhere, especially if I ditch the purple Hyptis.
Decisions decisions...
I've seen Hyptis change color from morning to noon. Kinda like Erio lineare.
I didn't realize it was driven mostly by iron.
I strongly suspect that Cuphea in the Kill Tank responds similarly to iron.
What both our tanks need are moss walls for the back. Just the top 8-10" or so across the back. No need for wall to extend all the way to the substrate. I think it'll change the visual impact dramatically.
Isoetes lacustris
It was in here for a while but I took it out. Not sure wth Im gonna do with that plant, might bring it back
It was growing nice and vertical but the tips were a little gnarly. Ferts also changed so much there for a month or two, made it hard to tell how happy it was going to be. Seemed like it was pretty happy though
Currently have a few in my little 10 gal under about 40 par from a Finnex Stingray. This tank is only 6 weeks old. My other one CRACKED when I banged it too hard with a 5 gal bucket!!!
Fortunately it only cracked, it did not leak.
But yeah this tank is brand new, it's been cycling with with a few Bloodfin tetras, about ready to move the Fire red shrimp back in. Went through a wicked diatom bloom but thats gone now
Here's the sphaerocarpa
Yes Burr!! I'm following you to the ends of the worlds!! I don't need to say much!! your tanks have always been great! and I have really learnt a lot from you.
I have watched your tanks on "another forum" and often use your pics to show friends and family how beautiful a planted tank can be. I think Omar said it best and I would agree with him. Silent stalker here lol
Dan
Dan
Thanks guys. And Dan Ive also learned a lot from your posts on tpt, so dont sell yourself short in the knowledge dept!
Update on the custom micros for anyone interested
The latest is I went 2 weeks at what amounts to .1 csmb, Mn adjusted to .05, everything else the same. Results were pretty good. I could tell a few things liked the increase, and that it was most likely unrelated to Fe. For example the internodes of Rotala mac variegated have been a little short, but slowly getting better over the past weeks of a steady increase. B and Zn are the most likely suspects for that. A few other things improved as well.
BUT - I also started noticing a few things that seem to happen in my tanks with too much Fe. Red plants turning abnormally dark for example. Rotala indica, which previously stunted a little bit with the aforementioned biomass thing, it's turning abnormally darker green on the bottom, the tips are a deep dirty looking yellow, instead of being nice and bright.
So this past week I decided to go up to .12 (3x week). Things would either get better or worse. Its been one week of that.
What got better - the mac internodes and a few of those type things. What got worse - the too much Fe looking symptoms.
Also developed some gda on the front glass by weeks end. And started seeing a few tufts of bba on the substrate along the very front edge of the right side. I used to get this in the 75 before I started REALLY reducing micros. Havent seen that in probably a couple of years. But here we are.
So it seems like the extra traces were appreciated, but the higher Fe was not.
Starting this week Ive made a new batch of micros, Fe is still .1, but instead of everything else being in relation to Fe, it's in relation to .05 Mn, which amounts to about 75% higher than dosing according to Fe. Thats a pretty substantial increase, but it makes sense if you think about it. Why adjust the Mn and not everything else? Obviously just a theory atm.
I have a feeling it's still going to be a tad too much Fe, but closing the gap between the other micros might help. If not then I'll go back down to .075 or something like that, keeping the higher ratio of non-Fe micros.
All these issues are minor fwiw, things that under close scrutiny only I would probably notice. Between .075 and .1 seems like a pretty sweet spot for just about everything, just not quite there yet. Far better than with csmb though. Soon as I made the switch, and ever since then, in all four tanks it was like everything breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Clear as mud, right?
Update on the custom micros for anyone interested
The latest is I went 2 weeks at what amounts to .1 csmb, Mn adjusted to .05, everything else the same. Results were pretty good. I could tell a few things liked the increase, and that it was most likely unrelated to Fe. For example the internodes of Rotala mac variegated have been a little short, but slowly getting better over the past weeks of a steady increase. B and Zn are the most likely suspects for that. A few other things improved as well.
BUT - I also started noticing a few things that seem to happen in my tanks with too much Fe. Red plants turning abnormally dark for example. Rotala indica, which previously stunted a little bit with the aforementioned biomass thing, it's turning abnormally darker green on the bottom, the tips are a deep dirty looking yellow, instead of being nice and bright.
So this past week I decided to go up to .12 (3x week). Things would either get better or worse. Its been one week of that.
What got better - the mac internodes and a few of those type things. What got worse - the too much Fe looking symptoms.
Also developed some gda on the front glass by weeks end. And started seeing a few tufts of bba on the substrate along the very front edge of the right side. I used to get this in the 75 before I started REALLY reducing micros. Havent seen that in probably a couple of years. But here we are.
So it seems like the extra traces were appreciated, but the higher Fe was not.
Starting this week Ive made a new batch of micros, Fe is still .1, but instead of everything else being in relation to Fe, it's in relation to .05 Mn, which amounts to about 75% higher than dosing according to Fe. Thats a pretty substantial increase, but it makes sense if you think about it. Why adjust the Mn and not everything else? Obviously just a theory atm.
I have a feeling it's still going to be a tad too much Fe, but closing the gap between the other micros might help. If not then I'll go back down to .075 or something like that, keeping the higher ratio of non-Fe micros.
All these issues are minor fwiw, things that under close scrutiny only I would probably notice. Between .075 and .1 seems like a pretty sweet spot for just about everything, just not quite there yet. Far better than with csmb though. Soon as I made the switch, and ever since then, in all four tanks it was like everything breathed a huge sigh of relief.
Clear as mud, right?
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Man, I'm using this ready made PPS Pro package where I just have to put the amounts of dry fertz into these 500ml bottles fill it with water and then dose daily based on the recommended dosing regime and I still think it's too complicated, what you're doing is way out of my league lol!! I read your entire post couldn't understand a thing out of it, just understood that you changed the Fe % and some other stuff lol till you got to something you're satisfied with. Anyhow, good job, you keep showing me how little I know about growing plants and fish keeping.. Hope I can get to your level some day.
This hobby is a constant reminder of just how little I know, so dont feel like the lone ranger. And the thing is I dont even care about knowing it in the first place. I'd be straight just knowing how much of what to dump in there so I could get on with the fun stuff like pruning and scaping. But alas, here I sit...
Right, Fe is all DTPA, Mn according to a 2:1 Fe:Mn ratio, everything else based <roughly> on the ratios in csmb
Fascinating Burr! Please, keep us posted on all this.
Tomorrow I'll be finally back home after 4 weeks of vacation, and I can't wait to see how my plants have grown with similar custom-made traces. We'll see if I got similar results as well
Tomorrow I'll be finally back home after 4 weeks of vacation, and I can't wait to see how my plants have grown with similar custom-made traces. We'll see if I got similar results as well