220 Replant

Hey all,

As you may be aware I recently removed all of the plant material from my 220 in anticipation of cleansing the hg and replanting it. During the week of cleaning leading up to the replant I decided to go in a different direction plant wise.

I decided to go with staurogyne repens 049 as the main plant species. I kept my fissidens but that may go.

This choice was driven by:

1. Suggestion by Tom via a thread reply last week.
2. Thinking about change in general.
3. Seeing a tank at Henry's lfs where he had vertical rocks and a field of stauro up against it. Was really nice.
4. Stauro had done well in this tank in the past, and my desktop has a picture of the old manzy scape and the stauro looked nice...

So, if you view Tom's recent video on his trimming of the stauro in his 180, now you know why and where it all went. Much appreciation to Tom for hacking it up at 1 am

He overnighted it and it was like a direct transplant....He sent me a lot of really nice plant material.

So, I will babble later, but here is a video and a slideshow of pics.

I have since removed the pennywort in the back right and I think the fissidens is also on it's way out. Just doesn't seem to fit anymore.

I totally love the bright green color and am thrilled to uncover the rock again. The texture and color are fantastic and I had missed the rock in my 'rock scape' lol

Here is the pic slideshow:

http://s248.photobucket.com/user/gerrydirish/slideshow/New%20220%20Planting

And here is a video taken approx. 30 minutes after planting was completed.

[video=youtube;L_wplYnNLLM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_wplYnNLLM&list=UUNVsV1A_IarZWKQj78nruXg[/video]

 

Thanks. 3 weeks from now should look much different. I will post weekly(?) photos so all can follow the growth.

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Hi and thanks. Yes, it is a great plant. I am also using it (on a much smaller scale) in my 75 gal as well.

 

Hey Tom,

The combo is fine, but the plant itself is an unwanted focal point now that the rockwork is again exposed..

I think it is the way stauro is built and how thick it is that protects it.. It has wide strong leaves that overlap as the plant thickens. I think the riccicardia or other plants cannot penetrate this layer as easily. It stays on top and can be removed more easily and does not get to the bottom of the stem. Even then, the lack of light would keep it limited.

Thanks again for the suggestion and all of the healthy stock.

 

Hey all,

Well, so far so good, with only 3 single plants floating up The cherry shrimp are checking out all the new plants and the cardinals seem happier than with the bare substrate. I really like the look and am thrilled with the exposure of the rock work, most of which had been covered in green of some type

The rock truly has great texture/color and it contrasts well with the bright green staurogyne.

I will measure to confirm, but should have no less than 70 mmoles of PAR at the substrate. So, with such fresh plant material (all top cuttings in gr8 shape), I expect it to show some differences soon. I will post weekly pics to guage the progress at least until it fills in 4-6 weeks from now.

So, really digging the new look and satisfied that the effort/time paid off well. The tank is all nicely cleaned and new plant species and bare rock provide a fresh POV for me. It is much different from the pellia/fern covered rock look for sure lol

The extended timeline I spent on the uprooting and cleaning was less effort and less stressful/risky to the fish and critters. I could review daily what had been done the day prior and see what I missed. I picked at things a lot too lol

No fish or shrimp losses that I can see, so was worth it from that perspective alone. It is 2 weeks less than a year with the new scape/substrate and the use of a new plant species is a nice refresh.

I did actually try to imagine many carpet plant species and thought many would look good, but the stauro has a stronger look that I think will go well with the hardscape. It will not look as delicate as say, HC.

This should be less maintenance as the hg did need to be mowed monthly to look it's best, but I went 2-3 months many times. I have had stauro before and in this tank, so I know what to do with it. It had done very well for me in the past and have always liked it.

Tom says it will grow on the rocks, so we will see. I MAY let one get covered to see how it would look COMPLETELY covered with the bright green, and I have to say it sounds stunning. But, that is some time in the future.

Ok, thanks for listening and later.

 

Hey all,

Just did a large w/c, the 1st since the replant on Sat. All seems well with just a few plants floating up. No algae or melting that I can see and plants seem fine. I checked the PAR and I was only at 50 at substrate, so I increased to 70. I had turned the light down for the week prior to the replant, as there was no need for it....

Fish are all fine and the cherries also seem well. So far, so good. I checked the planting with the water low and it does look good and I don't see any missed spots lol I think it will grow in nicely and soon.

The water housing inline keeps the c02 mist invisible as far as I can tell I have had stauro melt quickly when c02 is off, so am thinking it is okay.

I will post some pics Saturday to compare/look for growth.

Thanks and take care!

 

Hey Tom,

Yup, that is the plan....I do heavier EI now as the ADA is a year old....The water has been clear from day 1. There was no new ADA or hardscape added that would cause loss of clarity. With a mature filter and daily use of 50-100 micron padding, the tank is really clear and nice.

Thanks

 

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the really kind words...To place me in that company is flattering, thanks...

I was always inspired by pics in books and then on the web..is what caused me to plan, save, and purchase my setup finally

Here is a video shot a few minutes ago. You can see the plant leaves are out wide and the plants standing straighter/taller. It looks a bit different than last week. Tom sent me many plants with excellent roots so not much uprooting. Just a few stems here and there, but rare.

Taken with c02 on for 7 hours and max light for the photoperiod. I don't see/notice much c02 mist.

[video=youtube;JEahBj1O4wY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEahBj1O4wY&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

Hi all,

Just a few thoughts...

1. Thanks again to Tom for a great batch of stauro. I always envied Amano and Oliver Knott as they always seemed to have plenty of lush growth to do the initial scape with....Tom overnighting it resulted in almost a direct transplant from his tank to mine His cuttings were easy to plant and were very clean of any debris or other plant material. Pleasure to work with.

2. Totally digging the rocks uncovered. The texture, color, and overall look is great and I am really pleased with it. Since it was all covered with plants over the last 4-6 months, it was fresh and clean underneath...

3. The stauro really looks nice as the single species and contrasts really well with the rock.

4. I broke up the fissidens and placed it in several places, but not all rocks. I want to see if I can grow out several of the nice mounds and then see what I have. I have always liked this plant and would love to have a large amount to see if I can do it.

5. Fish are doing well and seem fine. No losses at all.

6. Cherry shrimp are doing well I think. I never had many visible (6-10 in the whole tank) and had many in the sump lol Now I can see several dozen of various sizes (including babies) and they are more visible overall in the tank. I would like to get these to a larger number, and will try and concentrate on feeding them better. They like the stauro and the fissidens a lot.

7. Large volume of Malaysian trumpet snails (MTS) but I like em and think they are attractive. Really only see them on the glass in the dark. They keep the substrate loose (imo) and eat any leftover flake and other foods. There are thousands of them in the ADA

That is about it. A big w/c tomorrow and that is about it.

The replant is going well and things look really nice and clean. All is nice and fresh and the effort/time spent was well worth it.

2-3 weeks will really be nice I think.

Thanks and take care.

 

Hi and thanks. That is a nice tree and tank/setup. good luck with it. stauro would look nice, but so would dwarf clover, HC, belem hair grass, etc

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Hi and thanks. That is a nice tree and tank/setup. good luck with it. stauro would look nice, but so would dwarf clover, HC, belem hair grass, etc

 

Hey all,

Day 15 post plant and all seems well. I uprooted a few tops I had planted w/o roots and these now indeed have 1-2 new roots. No more stems have uprooted in close to a week, and I have only lost 10-12 leaves total since the planting. They seem to be fine and growing. I expect to see some filling in within the next 7-10 days at first. 3-4 weeks should be fairly nice.

I really dig the mono culture....

Very large w/c today and all seems fine.

Later.

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Hey all,

Day 15 post plant and all seems well. I uprooted a few tops I had planted w/o roots and these now indeed have 1-2 new roots. No more stems have uprooted in close to a week, and I have only lost 10-12 leaves total since the planting. They seem to be fine and growing. I expect to see some filling in within the next 7-10 days at first. 3-4 weeks should be fairly nice.

I really dig the mono culture....

Very large w/c today and all seems fine.

Later.

 

Hey Tom,

That would be great. It is now 5 weeks....

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Hey Tom,

That would be great. It is now 5 weeks....

 

Plant growth after 5 weeks

Hey all,

Hope all is well with you all. Here is a report on progress 5 weeks now after the initial planting.

First off, things are going well. Second, I got some new fish! I had wanted a surface fish for quite some time and have wanted marble hatchets. These are jumpers of course and can be hard to find in any quantity more than 4-5.

I was at Henry/Miryam's place yesterday and they had approx. 20 really nice ones, so I nabbed them right away. I acclimated them over the course of an hour and then release them. They look fantastic and as they are small, the rocks tower over them in the distance. Really great look. They ate some flake within a few hours and seem fine with the flow and surface ripple.

I asked them to source another 25 or so but that may take awhile...I will enjoy these in the meantime.

Okay, onto the plants....

1. Plants are all much taller/larger with really nice growth all around.
2. While there are still many gaps in the planting, I now am seeing new sprouts from UNDER the gravel and these have 2-3 tiers of leaves.
3. The fissidens is doing well on several rocks. I expect 2-3 months from now I will have some nice larger groups.
4. I see the old moss growing strands from the rocks I will take a brush to all rocks today while doing a large water change.
5. I see some pellia but very little and I remove any I see, no matter how small lol
6. I had some GDA (I guess) on the rocks where they got a lot of light. I tossed in 5 small bushy nose and that is starting to reduce.

All in all, things continue to do well. I will post some vids after the w/c later.

I am going to swap the outlet that is on the left side to the opposite side so that both outlets now flow from either side of the cpr overflow to the other end of the tank. I want to see how that works for awhile.

I see the one ATI has a couple tubes out so will get some new ones at the lfs along with 10' of 1" flex tubing for the swap.

This will improve the POV as the outlet will be much less visible than the current placement.

I had been using the mp40 again the last few days, but at a low setting. I turned off for the hatchets until I can see how they do for a few days or a week at least.

Okay, vids/pics later tonight.

Take care!