River Slope

[ghostsword]

After 1 month away from home and having left clear instructions to my sister on how to take care of the tank, dose 15ml of this, change 30% of water twice a week, feed the fish twice a day, all went wrong.

Lots of dosing, as my mother dosed, sister dosed, and even granny had go.

No water changes, it looks clean they said, why change the water?

Lots of food to the fish, they were always eating it, so they must be hungry.

So with the above, 8 hours of light, and CO2 being pumped in, when I came back I had so much algae that it could be taken with my hands in clumps. I even had one sort of algae that was gritty and could be scrapped from the java fern leaves with the fingers.

A quick clean, no light for one week, and lots of water changes, the tank was ready for a rescape.

Also, while I was away, box came from Tom with amazing Manzanita wood, and after looking at his ADA 60p Zebra tank (http://www.barrreport.com/showthrea...046-Zebra-plecos?p=54668&highlight=#post54668) an image formed on my head of what I could do with my tank and the wood.

This is still work in progress, but it is taking shape.

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#5 Leds only

#6 Full light

 

[ghostsword]

Here it goes more pics..

The emersed plants I had growing on the garden are now on top of the wood.

It has Draceana, Hydrocotyle Verticiallata, some Marsilea that I cannot identity and riccia on the wood.

With the led's off:

Hydrocotyle and Marsilea:

Anubia:

Area that will have E. Tenellus:

Anubia and Java fern corner, with the emersed plants on top:

Plants are recovering from algae:

Crypt corner:

 

[ghostsword]

Thanks.

I have followed the triangle rules, just need to put in the aquarium my idea.

 

[Wet]

Nice, Luis! And great job using the neglected tank as a reason to copy on of Tom's designs

Suggestion: your triangle will go away once the stems and the Crypts grow up, and I think you'll have more of a U shape going on. Have you thought about splitting the Anubias for the bottom of the triangle, then tucking the stems behind them on the left side of the tank so they just continue the slope?

I think the Hydrocotyle sp. will not have enough of a base to support itself as it wants to grow vertical, unless you've tucked a pot or magnet+pot (like the Riparium designs) back there. Depending on how strong the hardscape is, maybe you could suspend some sort of surface with a little substrate to help them out. Marsellia sp. also gets pretty tall emergent.

Your training the plants on the wood submerged is great. *If* they don't take well, try to tuck some moss or something in there under the zip ties and it will spead and give those plants a grippier surface to attach to.

Bottom left corner, where the rock meets the substrate, is begging for Anubias nana 'petite" imo.

It's pretty! Lots of potential as a long term tank!

I also wonder if you'd get more feedback if you took another pic farther out, showing how well you incorporated this tank and the hanging DIY fixture into your home.

 

[ghostsword]

Nice, Luis! And great job using the neglected tank as a reason to copy on of Tom's designs

Had to try it.. Got nothing to loose..

Suggestion: your triangle will go away once the stems and the Crypts grow up, and I think you'll have more of a U shape going on. Have you thought about splitting the Anubias for the bottom of the triangle, then tucking the stems behind them on the left side of the tank so they just continue the slope?

On the left side, behind the Anubias there is Balansae, they are still growing, should form a wall, and going to the right, there is some short vallis and one of two L. Aromatica. I have ordered Micranthemum Micranthemoides to replace them, as it will grow much shorter and will be easy to prune.

I think the Hydrocotyle sp. will not have enough of a base to support itself as it wants to grow vertical, unless you've tucked a pot or magnet+pot (like the Riparium designs) back there. Depending on how strong the hardscape is, maybe you could suspend some sort of surface with a little substrate to help them out. Marsellia sp. also gets pretty tall emergent.

The Hydrocotyle is on a round support foam, and it has plenty of support to grow tall. It also has some form of Marsilea on it, which I do not know what it is, it came with some hairgrass from Singapore.

I have also placed a mangrove plant and brought from the garden two forms of Hygro, Corymbosa and Difformis, both were growing emersed. As the winter is reaching the UK, they would not survive the winter outside, so I place them on hanging planters.

Your training the plants on the wood submerged is great. *If* they don't take well, try to tuck some moss or something in there under the zip ties and it will spead and give those plants a grippier surface to attach to.

I am using riccia, extra moss I have such as flame moss, and willow moss. I have also put some terrestrial moss on the dry areas of the wood, and tied it with fishing line.

Bottom left corner, where the rock meets the substrate, is begging for Anubias nana 'petite" imo.

I was thinking about putting some Tenellus there, to form a carpet in front of the rock.

It's pretty! Lots of potential as a long term tank!
I also wonder if you'd get more feedback if you took another pic farther out, showing how well you incorporated this tank and the hanging DIY fixture into your home.

[/quote]

Will take a picture of the area, as the tank is placed on a alcove, it is the first thing seen when I enter the house..

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[ghostsword]

Thanks.

The emersed part of the tank is now completed, the plants just need to grow more and adapt to the warmer climate inside the house, as they were on the garden since march:

The mob:

Submerged part:

 

[ghostsword]

I have not found a way to take a better picture of the Java Fern, too little light, it seems:

My neon group:

Emersed area:

Full tank:

 

[ghostsword]

Tank in situ:

Java Fern:

Emersed area:

Emersed Anubia nana:

Anubia, java fern windelow, and some C. Balansea:

Neons: