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The Force Awakens

Eduard18

Member
Joined
24 Dec 2015
Messages
235
Location
France
hello everyone ! I'm Eduard and I live in France ( perhaps on the wrong side of the Channel ;)) anyway, I want to start a small aquarium of about 38 litres ( 9 gallons ); here's the picture
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I would like to avoid the mistakes I made with my first aquarium - RIO 300 - regarding the hardscape, so I've tried several set ups and I took pictures and I would like to have your opinions on these ; there is a constraint however :) in my RIO 300 I grew a WabiKusa - kind of - which I would like to transfer in the new setup so the hardscape must be planned so this WabiKusa remains emerged ; here is the photo of my WabiKusa
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My choice of plants for the new setup - beside this WabiKusa- Pogostemon helferi, H.pinnatifida and moss
So , here it is what I've come up with so far regarding the hardscape
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any opinion will be highly appreciated
Merry Christmas
 
thank you guys ! no 8 was my first attempt - successful, I would say - to integrate wood and stone in a natural manner ; but when you spend hours trying different combinations you end up by not being sure of anything :confused: to make things worse I was unable to find a natural landscape containing this rock - it's called the gobi rock, from the desert ?:angelic: so the artistic inspiration is a bit difficult to find :artist:
 
hello makoy, I thought of the same thing the only problem is that it's a plastic tub and it's difficult to create a slope like in a real tank; I don't know.............:confused:
on the other hand , regarding the wood, I feel like it's maybe too big for the size of my tank :confused:...............so maybe I should focus on a rock only hardscape..........:confused:
 
so , I went back to the drawing board ; I discarded the plastic tub and I've built an exact replica of my tank - same dimensions - using cardboard ; I don't know about you, but I think I've nailed it ! :cool:
the wabikusa will go up to the left, also on the left, beneath the vertical stone I'll plant some pogostemon helferi, the small stone on the left will be covered by moss and on the right , behind the stones I intend to plant H.pinnatifida ; I also intend to use some cosmetic sand - to create the path between the stones
WINTER IS COMING ! ( HOUSE OF STARK motto ) :D
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ok, the big stone looks a bit out of place in this layout, so I tried something different
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Hello everyone ! THIS IS IT ! D DAY ARRIVED !
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LET'S GET WET !

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2 HOURS LATER ! Eheim 2071 ( for 24 L of volume - net ! ) the media have been cycled on my other tank RIO 300 which is about to be dismantled , 'cause we have to move

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Hello everyone!
Past due update; these last months were pretty complicated; first of all this tank had a leak, even if I tested it before putting in the hardscape and I didn't break it while placing the stones ;) so I was back to square one; I had to empty it, clean it, take back to the seller ( it was a second hand tank) and buy a new one, Dennerle scaper's tank 35 litres
I put back in the hardscape, planted it and this was the result
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the Wabi Kusa - part of it - that I "transplanted" from the RIO 300 didn't like the change and died off; the other plants kicked in nicely though



in the meantime I moved house and during the transport one rock moved but I decided to leave it in the new position and let the nature do its work

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Hello everyone !
Some news

- first of all the caridina shrimps became ogres :wideyed: eating mosses and red cherry

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I believe it's because there are too many in this tank - about 20 ; food competition or something

- I decided to go aesthetic :artist: so I changed the inflow and the outflow pipes ; for the inflow there wasn't much to think about, for the outflow however I feared that a classic lily pipe with my 950 L / H Eheim pump would cause damage in the tank; so, after some meditation I went for a spin flow model; after installation and much to my surprise, there is almost no flow in my tank :confused: so I suppose I have to wait and see what the consequences might be

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Hello everyone !
It's been a while since my last post ; that's because nothing special was going on with the tank

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so, I was preparing to leave for a month : I have found a "tank-sitter" to come by and put water in the tank to compensate the evaporation, feed the shrimps; the CO2 canister was full, and I have even found a long term fertilizer from DRAK aquaristik , which can be placed in the filter - having an inexperienced "tank-sitter" using liquid fertilizer, was making me nervous; the lights were on timer, the CO2 was injected 24/7 , as usual, managed by a JBL system, via an inline diffuser; I trimmed the plants and I left
much to my surprise, when I came back I have found the jungle - a jungle of pinnatifida ! :wideyed: I have never imagined that this plant - who caused me so much frustration in the past - could out compete plants like staurogyne, polygonum, cryptocoryne

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the pinnatifida have won " the battle for light " !
I have tested the water - there was no algae outbreak - but just out of curiosity and to my surprise the iron level was at an astonishing 0,9 mg/l ! I have never had such a concentration using liquid fertilizers : ADA, Tropica or Flowgrow ; this is what must have triggered such a "viral" growth
too bad my "tank-sitter" was no plant trimmer :D

so I took out the scissors

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pogostemon and staurogyne took a heavy blow but I'm confident that they will recover :(
 
Ouch! Yeah, pinnatifida is tricky plant for some people, I found it's much easier to grow it in soft water.
What kind of long term ferts have you used? Does it have list of components?
 
This is what I've used:

Ferrdrakon Power from Drak Aquaristik

and the components, as listed on their website ( copy/paste ) :

The release of nutrients corresponds to a weekly dosage of 10 ml (per 100 l unit) of a full iron fertilizer with the following content:

3,000 mg/l potassium; 1,000 mg/l iron; 750 mg/l magnesium; 400 mg/l manganese; 60 mg/l boron; 25 mg/l copper; 20 mg/l molybdenum; 20 mg/l zinc; 10 mg/l cobalt; 10 mg/l nickel; 5 mg/l iodide; 5 mg/l lithium; 5 mg/l aluminum; 5 mg/l tin; 5 mg/l fluoride; 2,5 mg/l vanadium, EDTA, HEEDTA, DTPA, NTA, ascorbic acid

 
Thanks, a lot of potassium and iron, but there was no nitrates or phosphates. I guess that partially explains why your pinnatifida grew so good. I started to think pinnatifida needs a lot of potassium and iron, and maybe phosphates. But I guess the latter is not true.
 
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