Utricularia nano shallow, 36x22x18cm

[CooKieS]

Hi all!

It’s been a while…unfortunately lost the motivation to post here since I’m on Instagram (it’s easier but nothing to learn there…), shame on me, anyway, this nano tank is an good excuse to make a come back.

Inspiration came after founding beautiful hakkai stones and reading @Geoffrey Rea superb UG experiment on his ada 45f .

So here’s the setup:

Tank is optiwhite shallow from wio, 36F, basically a shallow Ada Mini M, size 36x22x18cm
Filter is an fancy mini canister from TRU, rated 300l/h and full of neo media.
Co2 pressurized and running 24/7 (always done this on my nano tanks, but at a lower rate usually ), diffuser is from neo , the tiny one.
Light unit is from ledstar, aq-s pro 30cm, wrgb led with 1950lumens at full power.

About the hardscape, very minimalist, with basically 3 hakkai stones and tropica powder soil.

Here’s the hardscape :

Planted it 2 days later with 2 Utricularia Graminifolia in vitro pots from tropica :

Then the tank was on blackout mode for 5 days because I needed the flexi mini led for an shrimp breeding project and was waiting for the ledstar to come…end result is very pleasing to the eye, the led unit has flawless finish and a beautiful spectrum.

Then now with the ledstar:

Filter was mature from the start, all the media is coming from an 4months running tank.
Fresh tropica soil.
WC once every week, about 50%, using my quite soft tap water (about 150ppm).
No heater. Water is around 20 degrees.
Dosing just some K daily.

So far I had some patches of UG detaching from the base, I think it’s due to some residual in vitro gel, but nothing major, quite hard to deep burry UG in fresh soil!

Let’s see how this one goes, can’t wait to see an proper carpet.

Cheers dear ukaps ppl!
Thierry

 

[Geoffrey Rea]

3 hakkai stones

Never, ever, let those stones go Thierry! 😍

 

[Hanuman]

Never, ever, let those stones go Thierry! 😍

Could't agree more. These stones by themselves are pieces of art.

 

[Courtneybst]

Welcome back Thierry!

 

[Gill]

Love it, but more importantly. Where did you get the No Face from, its adorable.

 

[PaulLB]

Lovely setup looks great. How do you order the TRU canister filter and what are your thoughts on it ?

 

[AlecF]

Yes, I was looking at the Truck and trying to figure out if it works OK on our electricity supply.

 

[CooKieS]

Never, ever, let those stones go Thierry! 😍

Don’t worry Geoffrey, I have easy access to 100kg of these if I need more one day. 😉

Could't agree more. These stones by themselves are pieces of art.

Very excited to finally have these in Europe! They deserve their Aura…looks so ancient and they are so heavy, really impressive pieces of nature!

Welcome back Thierry!

Thanks buddy 😊

Love it, but more importantly. Where did you get the No Face from, its adorable.

Thanks, it’s from AliExpress 😊

Lovely setup looks great. How do you order the TRU canister filter and what are your thoughts on it ?

Got it from a French website but the only way to get these from UK seems to order it from minicompletetank website for now. I love the look and the power of it, using it on level 1 of 4 on this tank, I usually don’t go over level 2 because then it’s an bit too noisy and too powerful anyway. I think it’s an fancy and efficient little filter for any tank under the 45p size. 👍

Yes, I was looking at the Truck and trying to figure out if it works OK on our electricity supply.

the pump is working on usb so shouldn’t be an issue

Little update:

Some patches of UG melted at the base, but on the other hand I’ve seen some healthy growth on the patches that are the most buried into the soil.

I still think the melt is mostly due to in vitro gel that wasn’t properly cleaned but time will tell.

Doing 2 weekly waterchange instead of one to get rid of the floating and dead patches plus the detritus.

Fingers crossed!

 

[TheOslo]

Looking real good

 

[CooKieS]

Looking real good

Thank you…well not anymore!

The usual diatoms made an apparition, UG continues to melt on some patches and some are still healthy so I’m still pretty confident it’s gonna be fine once the tank will be balanced.

Today was an big maintenance, I brushed the stones, made an 100% waterchange and removed the floating/dead UG.

I made some lovely shots for you before the maintenance, so you’ll see what it looks like when you start a tank with fresh soil and only UG. 😁

Worst part is like always, where the flow and the co2 is the highest;

Interesting: the UG that is deep buried in the soil is healthy:

Cheers

 

[TheOslo]

Thank you…well not anymore!

The usual diatoms made an apparition, UG continues to melt on some patches and some are still healthy so I’m still pretty confident it’s gonna be fine once the tank will be balanced.

Today was an big maintenance, I brushed the stones, made an 100% waterchange and removed the floating/dead UG.

I made some lovely shots for you before the maintenance, so you’ll see what it looks like when you start a tank with fresh soil and only UG. 😁


View attachment 200248
Worst part is like always, where the flow and the co2 is the highest;
View attachment 200250
Interesting: the UG that is deep buried in the soil is healthy:
View attachment 200251

Cheers

Oh wow!

 

[hydrophyte]

Wow! Whole project is top-notch!

I love those stones.

I ran into that filter while looking around a few weeks ago and I wondered about it. Will be interesting to read your report on it.

 

[CooKieS]

Wow! Whole project is top-notch!

I love those stones.

I ran into that filter while looking around a few weeks ago and I wondered about it. Will be interesting to read your report on it.

Hi, using the S sized model since 6 months and this L for 6 weeks and I love these, not the easiest to clean (think of ada superjet but with an screw-on lid) but defo the best looking and more powerful one I had for nano tanks (this one would be ok for anything up to 45p size).

Mine are filled with media (ceramic rings) and a small blue sponge that came with just to polish the water.

Anyway small update, after two 100% water changes, a good toothbrush passage and some UG patches added from another emersed setup, I think it’s on the track again.

I can clearly see some new growth now, and microfauna too so hopefully this will feed the UG and help transition from in vitro to underwater.

Definitely not a plant I would recommend for beginners; between the melting, the slow grow (this is probably caused by my new soil and the diatoms it had on the leaves), and the fact that the roots are sooo small!

Let’s keep it up and see if I’m in the right direction. 🙂

Actual routine:
-50% waterchange per week with tap water, my tap water conductivity is 300us (more wc if necessary to remove floating plants and diatoms)
-Dosing 1ml Ada brighty K daily
-Lights are on for 6h30 per day and 60% of the power (max power is 1950 lumens)

Cheers
Thierry

 

[Courtneybst]

I'm intrigued to see how it gets on as one of the things people always say is UG prefes soft water. But I'm all about breaking boundaries and learning new things.

 

[CooKieS]

Hi there,

The experiment continues, diatoms has reduced and the UG is starting to show some good growth, the transition has been hard especially because of the new soil and the tap water.

The growth is definitely a lot slower than the one from the beautiful tank of @Geoffrey Rea , so I would still recommend using RO and cycled soil with this delicate plant (if you can). It may be an lighting issue too since I reduced the light period to 6h per day, I wonder what would make it grow faster? More power (actually at 70%) or a longer lighting period? Or just RO water? I may experiment increasing the light power first.

Anyway I really like the fact that patience and determination on this one seems to pay;

For some reason the growth is better on the right part of the tank, where the flow isn’t as intense.

Now a pic to illustrate the growth in one week:

As you can see, their are still some diatoms on the rocks and the UG itself, but I’m glad and surprised I’ve no other algae since the plant mass is so low and the light quite powerful for such an shallow tank.

Some more toothbrush cleaning and a good filter cleaning and I think it will be fine, I plan to add cleaners (caridina shrimps) only once the carpet is full and nicely rooted to avoid any floaters.

To be continued
Cheers
Thierry

 

[Courtneybst]

It's paying off! Slow and steady is the way with UG.

I was listening to the Aquarium Everything podcast recently with Alex and she uses DOOA river soil for her UG and it grows beautiful. I want to try it one day... Maybe soon.

Looking forward to your next update Thierry. 🙂

 

[CooKieS]

It's paying off! Slow and steady is the way with UG.

I was listening to the Aquarium Everything podcast recently with Alex and she uses DOOA river soil for her UG and it grows beautiful. I want to try it one day... Maybe soon.

Looking forward to your next update Thierry. 🙂

I’m actually testing this soil in the 45p and it has two downsides:
-it’s really bad looking , the light orange color and the grain size are really looking strange in an aquarium, so unless you can hide it under sand or gravel I won’t recommend it for aquascaping.
-The grain size is variable but generally too big to properly plant UG, it’s way easier to use the powder sized soil like the tropica one for example.

About the nutrients, it’s very lean, so I use an complete all in one fertilizer in the water (masterline all in one golden) to balance it, it seems to work nicely I have to say. 👍

 

[Courtneybst]

I’m actually testing this soil in the 45p and it has two downsides:
-it’s really bad looking , the light orange color and the grain size are really looking strange in an aquarium, so unless you can hide it under sand or gravel I won’t recommend it for aquascaping.
-The grain size is variable but generally too big to properly plant UG, it’s way easier to use the powder sized soil like the tropica one for example.

About the nutrients, it’s very lean, so I use an complete all in one fertilizer in the water (masterline all in one golden) to balance it, it seems to work nicely I have to say. 👍

Interesting!

I bought some to experiment as it was quite cheap for what I needed, however I planned to do a little emersed setup rather than an aquarium.

I do remember reading the 'variable grain size' and thinking well what does that mean. It's almost listed as a benefit. Uncertainty is not a benefit in my opinion 😅. Most substrates give you a numerical range at least...

 

[CooKieS]

Interesting!

I bought some to experiment as it was quite cheap for what I needed, however I planned to do a little emersed setup rather than an aquarium.

I do remember reading the 'variable grain size' and thinking well what does that mean. It's almost listed as a benefit. Uncertainty is not a benefit in my opinion 😅. Most substrates give you a numerical range at least...

Yeah I really think this one looks weird, Ada seems to recommend it for the Terra 30 and the example I’ve seen of this combo are really bad looking too me, the contrast of the light orange soil and the black background of the Dooa Terra is really strange…the grain size and shapes reminds me a bit of Akadama, which is well known for being a nightmare to plant. 🥲

Quick update, I installed the acrylic pipes that came with the tru filter and I think they look awesome and doesn’t distract as much as the stainless steel, especially in such a simple and small setup;

Cheers have a nice weekend!
Thierry

 

[CooKieS]

Hi there,
For some reason, some diatoms are still appearing on the glass each weeks, I think it’s because of the low plant mass.
Routine is still the same: 1ml masterline potassium daily, and 50% waterchange per week.
I might increase the light power because the growth is sooo slow.
At this stage I’m tempted to trim the portion of the UG which has the longest leaves because some are starting to float away, but I would like to avoid scissors until the carpet is full.
Quick shot of the same part than a few days ago ;

Cheers
Thierry