Round Two

[Wisey]

So last night I had a bit of work to do. Quite a few plants had come uprooted, mainly Cyrpts and the Alternanthera. I had also had problems when planting the Echinodorus Quadricostatus as the soil between the bogwood and river cobbles had significantly subsided after water was added and the plants were pushed in to the soil. Lesson learnt for the future, agitate the soil more when its dry to try and ensure that every single gap is filled. I guess it will always settle when it gets wet, but it was significantly lower here, but also lower where the Alternanthera was and some plants had floated.

I drained off 50% of the water to make it easier to work and then topped up soil where it seemed to need it. I replanted the crypts and also moved the crypts that were on the right hand side in front of the Ceratopteris thalictroides as I figure that will grow forwards to fill that space. All the Crypts are now in the same area. I also removed the Ech. Rose that had come over from the previous scape, it was going to get too big, the Limnophila sessiliflora should fill in that space and I didn't want it to throw out leaves that would shadow the Pogostemon erectus.

I also took some of the Hydrocotyle tripartita from its temporary home on the left and planted it between the Crypts and the Echinodorus quadricostatus. I love this plant so wanted it in somewhere, hopefully I can train this forwards to fill in that gap and come forward over the edge of the bogwood as it fills in.

I'm pretty sure the Trident is coming out, it just looks a mess at the moment. Here is the FTS as of last night with the changes made.

 

[Wisey]

So my flow configuration may not be very conventional. I went with the violet pipe as it pushes the flow downwards and having the 45 cm high tank I felt this was going to be important with my alternanthera and pogostomon low down. It seems to work well. The CO2 rich water comes out straight to the Althernanthera, it then hits the side glass and goes up as well as going to both sides, so the pogo gets CO2. The skimmer helps to the push water over the back towards the plants at the back and water also gently flows back over the front of the tank and the sand to the outflow pipe. Watching the bubbles move around I seem to basically have two oval loops of flow and the flow that comes round the back also goes behind the violet to the outflow pipe. I don't appear to have any dead spots, there are areas where flow is stronger than others, but hopefully no stagnant areas at all.

I actually had to turn the flow down on the filter, it was set to max with the spraybar, but max with the violet just stripped plants out the substrate. It's set higher than the standard out of the box flow rate, but a few notches down from max. I also turned the skimmer down from maximum to low as that was blasting the stems too hard at the back. I now get gentle flow through the back with movement in the plants, but the point upwards rather than being pushed in to the corner.

The violet pipe gives absolutely ZERO surface agitation. The difference this has made to getting a lime DC is amazing. In the old scape with the spraybar and some surface ripple it would take 3 hours from CO2 on to get the lime DC. I have not timed it in this scape, but its really fast. I got home from work last night and the DC was already lime green, I think well under 2 hours to go lime green now. I have therefore set-up an airstone and pump to give surface agitation overnight, its not on a timer yet, but will be moved on to a timer shortly. I just ordered an Eheim 100 pump to replace the TMC one. The TMC one is noisy and has twin outputs and is way more powerful than I need, so hoping the Eheim is quieter.

I'll have to see how my plants get on once they settle, but for the last 2 hours of the photoperiod last night, every plant apart from the 1-2 Grow ones were pearling. I never saw any pearling in the last scape. I know that pearling is not a sign of plant health, but it was still nice to see it happen!

My 4 Amanos had gone missing straight after being introduced to the scape, but I assumed they were just hiding at the back as there are plenty of places to get out of the way. It turned out that all 4 of them were hanging out in the skimmer! The skimmer runs 24/7, so not sure if they were capable of getting out. They have only ever done this once before in the previous scape, they all went in together one day, but once I took them out they didn't do it again. I suspect they wanted somewhere to secure to hide after being moved around, but all seemed quite happy once released back in to the tank last night, so hoping they stay out now.

 

[Wisey]

This evening I had to get my hands wet as I had some re-planting to do again. Thankfully only one piece of Alternanthera tonight, I'm sure that is the Corys rooting around, but not actually caught them in the act yet. As I was in there I removed the Trident as it was looking a mess. I'm going to leave that gap for now and let things get established, but probably order up another Microsorum of some kind to go in there at a later date. I'm already planning to try a small carpet, probably just Monte Carlo, nothing too difficult. That area at the front left that has the Hydrocotyle at the moment will need something low growing, I want the Alternanthera to get established first, but think I will plant MC in that area, take it up the bank towards the Pogo at the back and all around the bogwood and up to the Alternanthera in time. All plans for later though, no rush.

My Limnophila Sess. is not doing very well. Some of you may have seen my separate thread about the poor plant I was sent by TGM:

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/how-on-earth-do-i-plant-this.40078/

I keep getting leaf pieces floating all over the tank and bits of stems breaking off. I have managed to retain about 50% of what I managed to get from the pot, but its not in good condition. It's supposed to be easy and fast to grow, so just hoping I can get the few stems I have retained to take and then it should fill out in time. I'm kinda thinking I should have put the Limnophila where the Ceratopteris thalictroides is and vice versa, but we will see, maybe that is a transition I can make in time if the Limnophila takes off.

 

[alto]

Well done
& very different scape than previous

For the H tripartita that you removed, perhaps add bits here & there (easy to remove later should you decide against it) - it can look very good trailing up/around wood

I'd not use a razor on glass for a bit of algae that is barely visible when tank is filled - it's very easy to scratch the glass (especially if there are imperfections in the razor blade), I find using the right "scrubby" works well with a bit of effort ... I have a few old & slightly battered Seachem ones (these were not cheap & eventually discontinued as everyone just complained about the price before even trying them out - amazing tank cleaners as they are very dense fibres & even construction ) ... you might try various microcloths, I have one of these & it's fantastic at cleaning the outside glass (I've not tried inside)

 

[Wisey]

Well done
& very different scape than previous

For the H tripartita that you removed, perhaps add bits here & there (easy to remove later should you decide against it) - it can look very good trailing up/around wood

I'd not use a razor on glass for a bit of algae that is barely visible when tank is filled - it's very easy to scratch the glass (especially if there are imperfections in the razor blade), I find using the right "scrubby" works well with a bit of effort ... I have a few old & slightly battered Seachem ones (these were not cheap & eventually discontinued as everyone just complained about the price before even trying them out - amazing tank cleaners as they are very dense fibres & even construction ) ... you might try various microcloths, I have one of these & it's fantastic at cleaning the outside glass (I've not tried inside)

Haha, yeah, very different. I would like to think I have learnt a bit from previous mistakes! I'm still making mistakes, just different ones to last time I hope

I'm keeping most of that H. Tripartita on the left there until things get established, see where I can fit bits in. I love the plant and want to try and incorporate it where I can. It will be a week or two until I want to put MC in that gap, so hopefully things have moved on by then, roots are established and plants are starting to put out new growth. I'm convinced that the Ech. Quadricostatus has put out the start of new leaves in just a few days, although it is meant to be a fairly fast grower so I guess I should not be surprised. You will see that I have picked a few plants that grow quickly in this scape, it helps with my lack of patience if I can see progress, hence the faster stems and things.

 

[Wisey]

You know what Alto, I just went and sat in front of the tank and realised that rather than spend money on another Microsorum, I could just plant some of the H. Tripartita behind the bogwood and train it through the gap that has now been created. It would eventually merge with what is already planted at the front and could look really good growing up behind the Ech. Quadricostatus.

 

[alto]

Lesson learnt for the future, agitate the soil more when its dry to try and ensure that every single gap is filled.

this is not easily done - I damp the soil by adding water to the substrate surface then planting etc
But if you have significant slope, you'll need to drain some of the water away afterwards (I've gotten rather adept at this )
OTOH is you're still moving any hardscape about, this is most easily done while substrate is completely dry.

When you fill the tank, air trapped within the substrate must rise - it will displace plants etc - only way to completely avoid this trapped air is by dropping substrate into water pool ... not a very tidy option

Ech. Quadricostatus.

This plant needs strong guidance else it takes over the world

It will also show deficiencies quickly (at least in my very soft water)

 

[Wisey]

This plant needs strong guidance else it takes over the world

It will also show deficiencies quickly (at least in my very soft water)

Interesting, I will have to be careful! To be honest, it had taken over the bag it arrived in! I ordered 3 plants following the plant in 3 rules, but really could have coped with less as each plant had runners with 2-3 more plants on it. I ended up planting the 3 main plants and two of the bigger plants from the runners, stuck one plant in the propagator to see what it would do in there and binned the rest. I'm happy to thin it out as it grows, but was attracted to something that will fill in quickly and the vibrant green in the pictures I saw online.

I also have soft water, about 2 german degrees here in Aberdeen. I did notice that a few of the leaves look to have the first signs of some melt, but I assume that this is the emmersed growth that will die back to be replaced by new submersed growth. Is that likely to be the case?

 

[alto]

Sounds likely - you can generally tell by placement of leaf, new leafs tend to come from inside the "rosette" (but then it also sends out runners etc)
Your light,CO2 & fertilizer regime sound very consistent so I'd expect it to do well

You might leave some of those Limnophila Sess. bits floating about & see if they send out roots/leafs

 

[Wisey]

You might leave some of those Limnophila Sess. bits floating about & see if they send out roots/leafs

I was concerned about them decaying and reducing water quality, so I have been scooping them out with a net and binning them! I actually e-mailed TGM just now with a picture of Lim Sess from the Tropica website and then the picture of the abomination that they chose for me, also pointing out how they wrapped it around a Crypt in a plastic pot, then wrapped it tightly in bubble wrap, so that crushed the stems in multiple places. I have planted it the best I can and have some stems left, but where it was crushed its just melting and then floating off. If they know anything about customer service, they would do well to send me a decent pot out.

 

[alto]

yes significant errors in the manner that shop chose to send this obviously submerse leaf plant out - when sent out by Tropica with emerse leafs, leaf structure is much sturdier & plant ships well - once it's gone over to submerse culture, leafs are very fragile ... any crushed stem areas will usually "melt" (decompose), so if possible trim with a razor or thin, sharp blade for best chances.

Not sure if you had any long enough bits that you could carefully remove leaf & then carefully slide stem deep into soil - those leaf nodes will easily form roots - & just leave a short length above substrate level (I'm thinking that if there's much stem length above substrate level, it will soon melt re structural damage)

 

[Wisey]

I got home last night and a lot of substrate had been pushed forwards from in front of the larger stone at the back left. It was all piled up on the bogwood or had overflowed down on to the sand. It seems that angling my violet pipe slightly towards the back to ensure my Pogo gets plenty of CO2 had created an effect where the water flow hits the big stone and pushes substrate forwards.

I had to get in there with a small paint brush, re-distribute as much substrate as possible back in to place, then add another 3 handfulls as I suspect it has subsided a bit more in that area. I then replanted three pieces of Alternanthera that had floated. I also reduced the filter flow by another two notches to try and reduce the impact on the substrate and moved the violet so it points directly across the tank.

I guess in time, once the plants are established, I might be able to increase the flow a little as the Alternanthera should be stronger and able to withstand it and will also block the flow from directly hitting the substrate. When I got up this morning the substrate was in the right place and no plants had floated, so hopefully it will be the same when I get home this evening.

My Eheim 100 air pump arrived yesterday and I set that up last night. What a difference compared to the TMC one! It's super silent, with the cabinet door shut all I can hear is the bubbles. Tonight's task is to get the cables and tubing routed correctly and get it set up on the timer so it comes on automatically at lights off.

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

Looking good so far, subscribed.

 

[Wisey]

Looking good so far, subscribed.

Thank you!

 

[roadmaster]

I noted the time it took for drop checker to turn green/lime green in last set up, and now it takes less time?
Have you tried turning the gas on earlier?Say an hour or two before light's?

 

[Wisey]

I noted the time it took for drop checker to turn green/lime green in last set up, and now it takes less time?
Have you tried turning the gas on earlier?Say an hour or two before light's?

Hi Roadmaster, my gas turns on 2 hours before lights on. In my previous set-up it was dark green when the lights came on. I could have tweaked that to 2.5 or 3 hours to sort that out, but knew I was only running that scape for a few more weeks until the rescape weekend, so for the hassle of reprogramming the digital timer, I just left it as it was. What I am seeing now with zero surface agitation is that by lights on I have lime green, it's dropping easily in the 2 hours. I could probably experiment and shorten that period, but to be honest, for what it would save in CO2, I will probably just leave it as it is.

 

[Wisey]

I love how quickly Anubias adjusts it's leaves when placed in a new position. Moved on Saturday and by Thursday its leaves are all fanned out and adjusted to the light.

My fish love hiding under its shade, I positioned it above the stone rather than on the stone and its created some great little hiding spots. The embers, Corys and Ottos all like to hang out under here.

 

[BexHaystack]

Hey Wisey, really enjoyed your journal so far, especially the pictures you took as you hardscaped it. The gravel in nylon tights looks like a genuis idea, thanks!

 

[Wisey]

Hey Wisey, really enjoyed your journal so far, especially the pictures you took as you hardscaped it. The gravel in nylon tights looks like a genuis idea, thanks!

Thanks Bex, it's a good way of saving substrate and providing a more solid support to heavy hardscape, but I can't claim credit for the idea, I think quite a few people use it, some with small pieces of lava rock in there etc.

I try to show how I have done things as I learnt far more from others who show step by step pictures and from the Tropica step by step videos. One of my favourite ever scapes is Apalala Shore by Stu Worrall which you can see in the Featured Scapes section here on UKAPS. His step by step pictures there use a similar idea to build up substrate at the back. Seeing how others work is far more informative than just seeing the final shot of the hardscape.

 

[BexHaystack]

Thanks for the recommendations Wisey! I've just finished reading your Aurora Aquatica journey and I've gotta say that I am really pleased that your 'Round Two' scape is going so well - you had so many technical hitches and hiccups in your previous attempts (and none of them your fault!) that you really do deserve some smooth sailing now!