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Aqua at pet shop - layout no.3 - the end

Planting staurogyne with custom anchor

I'd like to share small trick I've used while planted staurogyne. I didn't have enough quantity of that plant and its stems were rather short to properly anchor them to the substarte. Usually to proper plant stauro if I have long stems of it I just remove all leaves from the bottom 1cm part of the stem and use this bare stem to plant it, because otherwise leaves of stauro tends to uproot it. This time I had cuttings of stems by 2-3 cm, so I can't use the mentioned approach.
So I decided to make artificial anchors with some wire bend around the main stem of stauro cuttings. Then I put those anchors deep into substrate while the entire plant was on the surface of substrate.

16908510591_efeb828af4_c.jpgstaurogyne_anchored by bialix1, on Flickr

I didn't invet this trick, I saw similar tip from Filipe Oliveira on the facebook, but he showed it for anubias. I thought: why not. Any hard rizhome or stem plant can be planted this way: anubias, ferns, staurogyne, some others? Didn't work well for donwoi I planted there though, cause it has too small and soft central stem.
 
might be better you use stainless steel wire , the green ones off hardware shop will rust and break off
 
Thanks for your comment.
The wire I used is quite similar to ADA product: ADA Wood Tight - i.e. it has steel wire inside plastic cover. I'm not sure it's stainless though. My green one is made in China, you know.
Anyway for staurogyne it does not matter if it rust over time, because the plant should grow its own roots. So such wire is just temporary anchor.
 
Left mountain after 1 week. Maybe it's hard to tell for sure, but alternanthera mini is started to improve it's color to bright red, and overall condition of the tank is ok. Adding CO2 from the day 1, and fertilization (Tropica Special, 1ml/day). This time I want to speed up initial phase.

16370280604_0d217892d9.jpg60x30x36 - 1 week by bialix1, on Flickr
 
2 weeks

Right side is not so great as left part, probably due the fact there more distance to the CO2 diffuser. Anyway, it's just only 2 weeks passed.
17073179611_db6a71d207.jpg60x30x36 - right side by bialix1, on Flickr

Eleocharis mini seems to successfully transforming into submersed form and shoot new runners. I have no idea why it tries to bury itself down into substrate, it looks a bit weird at the front glass.
17047951616_5e5c55bccc.jpgEleocharis sp mini - new runners by bialix1, on Flickr

Probably next weekend I will be finally able to cut it, it looks too big at the back.

17073935895_aa392153a7.jpg60x30x36 - 2 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

And probably I need to clean rocks.
 
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2015/04/13 - 3 weeks

I think this layout is heading to the right direction, at least looking at FTS. But I'd like to change plants in both back corners. And probably will do something about the right hand middle ground. There are some downoi there planted between rocks, but you can't see it yet due it's slow grow speed and problems with not enough room for roots.

17157130452_097d0a6c28_c.jpg60x30x36 - 3 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

What do you think about balance between hardscape and plants? What would you changed if you wish?
 
Hi Alexander,
I really like you aquascape, really healthy, neat and clean.
Only thing I can suggest is to get more volume in the center upper part.
I suggest that you use Eleocharis vivipara on both left and right back side and form some kind of tunnel on the top.
What do you think about that?
 
Thank you, Ivan, for your feedback. I understand your advice, but I'm not really sure about using tall plants, honestly. I must admit I'm under impression of this work: http://www.aquascapingworld.com/threads/triple-that-by-yoda.8607/ . So I'd like to use shorter plants.
Also, here is another look to the tank: from the height of standing man.

17132783406_2f90baac57.jpg60x30x36 - 3 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

I think I'll try to take frontal photo with lowered water level, as you did with your Mirkwood. Probably that may help to reduce open space and get the feel the tank is more "packed". Will see.

Also, yesterday I already started to tweak and change hardscape, adding more rocks at sides, in place of plants. I don't like using mosses due the fact their trimming is nightmare for me personally, but will try to use some. New pictures soon.
 
2015/04/28 - 5.5 weeks

During last weeks I've been slightly adjusting the layout. The photo above (from previous comment) told me I need to remove alt.mini from the back, and all anubias, due to big leaf size. So I removed everything but dhg and stauro and tried to re-think the layout. Here is some intermediate point:

16559067523_484e53df83.jpgadjusting hardscape by bialix1, on Flickr

If you compare with previous photos you could see why I need stem plants at the sides: the bigger rocks aren't so good at sides. This time I've decided to add more smaller rocks at sides, so I have cone-shaped mountains.

Later more moss, dhg and stauro has been added. And now I have new fish there: tetra amanda. Lovely tiny fish. Very bright and not so shy as I saw in the past.

Here's current state:

17282347576_7d41331c5a.jpg60x30x36 - 5.5 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

17307853341_cedd022a56.jpg60x30x36 - 5.5 weeks by bialix1, on Flickr

I need one more month to have all plants grow to desired shape and volume, IMO.
 
8 weeks

Last 2 weeks I'm fighting green thread invasion, I suspect that was triggered when I (mistakenly probably) decided to reduce ferts dosing in half. I'm using Tropica's specialized, and this tank is proved to eat 2x dose of ferts. With my new NO3 test kit I was scary to see 50mg/l of nitrates level, so I thought I need to reduce dosing. Now I need to fight those green algaes over the hairgrass carpet. Trying to double punch method: H2O2 for 15 minutes then liquid carbon. And back to 2x dosing (about 10ml of ferts per week plus additional PO4). Additional PO4 may be the reason of BBA I also have there, but that algae is always make me trouble. Anyway, if you don't look too closely from far distance the scape looks not so bad. Sorry for bad quality pic, I was totally exhausted by maintaining task last weekend.

17207182523_d9c0b229ac_z.jpg60x30x36 - 8 weeks by Alexander, on Flickr
 
Alexander Belchenko said:
Last 2 weeks I'm fighting green thread invasion, I suspect that was triggered when I (mistakenly probably) decided to reduce ferts dosing in half. I'm using Tropica's specialized, and this tank is proved to eat 2x dose of ferts. With my new NO3 test kit I was scary to see 50mg/l of nitrates level, so I thought I need to reduce dosing.
Click to expand...

Let me say the tank looks great but this post goes to show what Clive and others bang on about with regards to test kits leading you to make poor decisions.
 
May also just be all the layout adjustments (re plant removal - especially as plants can release various "phytochemicals" - I often feel there is not enough thought given to this aspect on planted tank forums, but I identified an enzyme inhibitor with picomolar binding when the substrate affinity is measured in millimolar - yeah, boss thought I was crazy for 2 years there, I just kept arguing & finally proved our hypothesis by isolating that enzyme~inhibitor complex - well at least we identified the chemical bond & then much later isolated the active site nucleophile~sugar compound complex) ... and changes in water composition if its tap water used for water changes ... ie it's really a complex response.

Anyway I am such a fan of your (Alexander Belchenko - hope situation has improved in your country!) tanks!
 
Andy D said:
Let me say the tank looks great but this post goes to show what Clive and others bang on about with regards to test kits leading you to make poor decisions.
Click to expand...

That's probably true. But, that still bothers me. Now I have 2 test kits (JBL and Tetra) and both show similar (and expected) results on different tanks, and only this tank (pet shop 60L) still shows me about 40-50 ppm of NO3. To prevent this tank from next algaes invasion I'm dosing small amount of algaecide (read: liquid carbon) almost every day. Dosing extra phosphates fert. Less main fert. I started to add 1 click of iron fert after maintenance. So far so good.
I have suspects that something other in that tank may affect test kit results. Several years ago I had similar problem with test kit of another manufacturer. It always showed 50ppm of nitrates for my tank, despite anything.
 
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