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ADA 60-P planted tank 'Prairie' (month 5)

Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

The verdict is in and I am sure that leaving it another week is probably for the best, for a few reasons. WHich means this weekend will be all about pruning existing plants, removing the polysperma and replacing it with something new.

I'm debating wether a pellia might look good somewhere, possibly better in the nano though. I haven't quite decided yet but will probably move some of the sagg to this tank to fill out some other areas and put some pellia in the nano. I have some weeping moss and quadicostatus coming from Piece-of_Fish too. weeping for the nano and the quad for this tank.

Looks like a busy weekend ahead. Will be popping along to the other LFS to check out plant delivery as well. Hoping for some blyxa, HC and the pogo erectus.

Whoever said this was a hobby for the tinkerer was spot on!

If I don't get too carried away I'll take some before, during and after photos too.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

Busy afternoon today. I popped over to Amazon Aquatics, partly to see if the black widows have arrived. They have and they look fantastic. Very bright, with nice dark skirts. They are still young and only about an inch as of yet. I chatted to Mike and he is happy to keep hold of them for me, so I'll be picking them up the tail end of next week.

Mike and I had arranged to do a plant exchange, so he got my polysperma and I got some liverwort for the nano. Quite a big batch of mono selenium tenerum. Check out my fencepost journal if you're interested. I'll add pictures later.

Popped over to my other LFS to see what they had in. Lot's of variety. A fair few mosses, some nice like parvula, an assortment of plants they couldn't identify, including something I picked up.
First is, I'm pretty sure, a ceratopteris thalictroides. I've seen these grow right up out of the surface and it's tempting to let it do so.

Next one is the pogostemon erectus that I was hoping for. Looking really healthy too, with a pale pickles to the tallest parts.

Had a bit of a swap around. No more blyxa unfortunately (that's next week) but pretty much fully planted and all to my liking.

For now.

Anyway here are before and after shots. Nothing fancy but gives an idea of how the scape is coming along. Looking forward to next week and getting the skirts in there!

week6before.jpg

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Somehow, without the polysperma dominating the middle the tank looks bigger and has a better visual flow.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

I cant believe the change that makes. Really nice Rob. Love the plant in place of the Polysperma. Is that the Pogostemon Erectus ?
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

I much prefer your new planting, Rob. It all looks more to the same scale to me now.

Bet your looking forward to getting your new fish. :D But don't call them 'skirts'! So disrespectful :lol:
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

Rob I am wondering if you remove the Blyxa from the middle between the two rocks, and also that little bit of Pogostemon, and let your carpet cover what you remove, if it might lead the eye further back and create a bigger sense of depth.

Anyone else's thoughts on that ?
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

pariahrob said:
Possibly, although that would leave a blank space there with plain black background.

Thus creating the illusion that the path leads on to infinity... :geek:
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

Looks great - I wish I could aquascape like that :lol: I have been thinking of setting up a nano shrimp tank similar to this actually, what carpet plant is that?
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

Thanks guys. The carpet is a bit of a mix. It's mostly hemianthus callitrichoides. When I started the tank I planted a lot of glossostigma elatinoides but it all melted, so I planted the HC but now the glosso is growing back, so the carpet is both. Looks quite nice but does need looking after. I lost a day of CO2 not long ago and it really showed, with some yellow leaves. It's almost recovered but that was a shock.
I does ADA green bright step 1 every day as well. I now have a bottle of easycarbo to hand n case of any future CO2 issues.

I also have a nano that I'm going to keep only shrimp in. I wasn't planning on it being too high tech. Mostly mosses and simple easy to look after plants. I've planted a simple HC plantlet in it just out of curiosity. Seems ok but no spreading as of yet.

Not done much today, as first sunny day in weeks, so roof down and headed for the coast!
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

I think it adds even more depth to the scape than I imagined it would. Very impressed even if I say so myself.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

I'm seriously tempted to give this a go now. I think I held back because I often view the tank close up while I'm working on it.
When I step back or look at the photos a pathway makes much more sense. Still a bit of gravel back there, which would need removing and replacing with aqua soil.

Problem there though. If I add more amazonia will I get an ammonia spike? Do I need to soak leave it in a bucket for a while first?

Now look what you started Chris!
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

I would soak the amazonia you are going to use for at least a week, changing the water twice a day
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank (week 6)

I thought it might be time to take stock and list what I have as things stand today. I may end up moving this to page one, as a living index but it can live here while I think about it.

Hardware:

DIY cabinet 60 x 30 x 70 cm (WxDxH)
ADA Cube Garden 60-P
Fluval CO2 system with glass diffuser, J pipe and glass check valve
gUSH lily pipes
Rena XP2 filter, with some fluvial ceramic media and API ammonia pouch. Carbon removed.
Hydor in line heater 250W
Arcadia T5 luminaire (2 plant pro bulbs)

Hardscape and substrate:

ADA power sand special
ADA bacter 100
Penac P
Penac W
ADA amazonia aquasoil. About 6kG normal (type 2), with 2KG powder type on top.
Dragonstone

Flora

Hemainthus Callitrichoides
Glossostigma Elatinoides
Pogostemon Erectus
Pogostemon Helferi
Saggitarius
Alternanthera Reineckii
Eleocharis Parvula
Blyxa Japonica
Vallisneria Spiralis

Fauna

6 Cherry shrimp
4 Rillie shrimp
6 Amano Shrimp
10 Celestial Pearl Danios
As many nerite snails as I can't find (they're like gremlins - so not good as always wet!)

Regular treatments

ADA Green Brighty Step 1
CO2 at 2bps (slightly lime drop checker)

I think that is it for now. I'll keep this updated and move it to page one. I'm planning a proper photo session with this at the weekend, once I pick up the black widows. Time for a good clean all round, remove all the hardware and get some nice shots, now it's all filling out nicely.
 
Re: ADA 60-P planted tank 'Prairie' (week 6)

Thanks Sarah, I'll do my best to make it look ok! It's not the best DIY I've ever seen but it does the job.

Well, a day early but I'm off to pick up my black widow tetras in a bit. I had to swap the days I work at home, so today is the day! Quite excited about it. I'll let them acclimatise and then snap a few pictures once they are all in. I'm going for six for now.
 
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