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Thanks guys. I appreciate the kind words :)

Hi all. I recently took my old scape apart, which had been a bit of a pet project of mine. It was my first ever tank, so naturally I took as many pictures of it as you would your first born. I just never got around to posting any of them here and I will now rectify that grave mistake. First...

Mark there's gonna be algae unless you run low tech. That's practically únavoidable. The green spots on your front glass is just something you clean off with a sponge before water chance, and I can assure you they are a weekly chore if you wanna keep your tank sparkly clean. Algae most often...

They have a small force of highly trained elite x-army scuba divers who come in during the night to clean up. :D

If I had even the tiniest chance to do so I would make the trip from Denmark! I hope many of you take advantage of this great event to get together and talk shop ;)

I've seen the outline of these tanks on the floor, Mark! Seems like you'll be putting on your bathing suit!

This looks brilliant Ian. I was worried it would look a bit too clean, but it's growing in nicely. You'll have a jungle soon enough ;)

Here you can find your local plant pusher ;)

Well, partly true. Algea spores doesn't care about P or N, as they live off ammonia, but the algae (adult state) does feed on nitrate and phosphate. Ammonia will come from decaying plant matter and from your fish (and over feeding your fish). Circle of life: if you starve your plants by...

This is an interesting project you've started, Ian, and good choice of plants too. I love Ammania `Bonzai´, especially for a dutch style tank, because you can keep it low-trimmed and planted in a close cluster to almost mimic a hardscape. I'm sure you can get lots of advice from Michael and Mark...

Who is this `Mark Evans´? Just kidding! People like Mark who has a real eye for detail and knows their way around a planted tank and a camera are a real rarity and I'm glad Tropica took this chance to snatch you up, Mark. Safe to say Lars Green knows what he's doing. :) Congratulations and...

Sounds like a nutrition problem... What do you feed them with(fertilisation)?

In the future, keep the bottoms as they set new lateral shoots when you trim off the top. My guess is too little light, as I've seen this kind of growth due to just that. It doesn't mean you should necessarily get more light, just know that this kind of deformity can easily occur when you have...

Great cave you've got there. Does your fish ever venture in?

Welcome Misha, great name!

I completely agree that plants benefits from co2 with any amount of light which is why I phrased my response as carefully as I did.

It's actually very different from plant to plant what they need in order to get that amazing red colour. We think of the red colour as being a sign of health, but in nature it's a sign of stress. But for most plants think of the red colour as humans getting a tan. It's actually to protect from...

Glad to see a confirmation of what I told you from wiser and OLDER men ;) Remember that starting your first tank is all about trial and error... and patience :)

I'd add shrimps right away, tho. Cherries are pretty hardy and will help the balance in the tank and keep any algae growth down.

Keep in mind that my above comment only applies to your 1-2-grow... The other plants will have been through a rough journey and will probably need some loving care! No plants likes being packed in a dark box :)

Hi Martin. They'll do fine for a few days. Some types can be kept for weeks in the pot, while others take less kindly to being stored. Here's a pic of Ammania in it's container. The amount of content is pretty stable, so expect your pot to look similar. And here's a guide to Eleocharis sp mini...

I feel your pain, guys. Let’s say next time, instead of throwing the sick plant in the bin, I'll spirit it away and nurse it back to health?

Oh my a stunning article. I'm amazed I made it to the end as I got stuck on every photo. Definitely a gorgeous plant.

Completely agree. Also I think I get quite enough high tech at work :happy:

Looking at your tanks I really want to start taking my own nano more seriously, Paulo.

What? No! It's very manly and highly entertaining. ;)

Is anyone else following the European LCS? I know you're all responsible, intellectual grown-ups, but I thought perhaps there might be one or two kindred gamer spirits among you.

Here's a quick guide to Eleocharis sp mini that I was taught my Obi Wan. I used an old portion that's been rotting away on my windowsill, so I didn't bother cleaning all the goo off - do this thoroughly before you start dividing. You don't want those extra nutrients messing up your tank. As you...

I don't know why the rest of us bother ;)

this is a beardless iris, most likely Spuritas I. orientalis of some var.

There's no risk of that. He's not that technical...

I guess that would depend on whether you're buying it in the store or sending it to Ian Holdich. In the latter case the answer is no.

I'm sure it'd be a pleasure :)

For the crisp green colours or the moist heat?

I can't see how he'd ever find it, except for the fact that Stu wrote `tropica´ above.

I've added a few stems of Ludwigia sp and re-added the Pogostemon erectus I lost a week ago. As you can see the Ludwigia is already quite happy. Now the plant list include, but is not limited to: Ammania sp `bonzai´ Anubias var nana `petite´ Cryptocoryne parva Eleocharis sp `mini´...

I'll have the pleasure of cleaning those tanks in the future :) Have great fun the rest of your stay!

Btw I would have loved to say hi and obviously I would have loved to get to hang out with you guys and see you work.

I don't know, Stu. You probably all stared at me while Lars was showing you around, although I did try to be super covert. Just like I tried with this thread, but that didn't work out so well... My boss is going to tease me to hell on Monday.

And engage in actual conversation? o_O j/k. We actually get a few `experts´ in every now and then. I try not to get to fangirlish though. After all we're all in the same business.

Now why would you think that, I was really trying to be so secret...

smart ass ;) Leave my spelling alone! It never hurt anyone, just caused slight confusion.

There's a dozen VIP's at my work this weekend. Experts in their field, you could call them. They arrived today, but I had no real reason to interact with them so I did the polite staring instead. I really wanted to ask my boss if I could stick around this weekend for free, but my boss has a boss...

No filters. I considered getting a small external pump for circulation, because quite frankly it smells like pond, but it won't fit on the round edges, so it'll be an upgrade for when I get my square nano tank. I do, however, change two cups of water from the tank twice a week before I add...

Here's a FTS. I wanted to plant in a few stems of Ammania `bonzai´ to fill the gap of my lost Pogostemon erectus. A few days ago it drifted to the surface with no roots on it :( Luckily the hardscape of my tank can be easily removed for better access: And here's a close up and a pic from...

The Green Machine sells Hottonia palustris though. It'll grow a bit stretchy in low lights, but it's a pretty plant that can be kept low by nipping off the tops and replanting them. I know some people on here have had some trouble with it, but I think it's a lovely plant with a very fresh colour...

What you need to know is that the bar for the Tropica categories is "will it survive". Staurogyne can survive in low lights and no added CO2 (although imo barely). If you want it to thrive you'd want to add more light tough and preferably CO2 as well, aiming for medium requirements.

It'll fit close to seven liters, but I don't fill it to the brim. I was concerned about the size initially, housing four shrimps, but the tank is on my desk where I can watch them all day and they seem quite happy :)

First Trimester Screening? o.O j/k

Journal for my little zen-jungle aka my bowl of shrimp. For all of you who geek out about high-tech tanks this will be completely boring as my tank contains absolutely no addition of technology (yet). (If you'd be so kind to ignore the reflection in the glass, as obviously I am no...

It's hard to tell of course, but it seems to me that half the active members on here are called Mark. At least you are male...

I think men and woman are fundamentally different, but that doesn't make one gender better than the other. Also, most games are specifically aimed at 16 year old boys, that makes it a male dominated world. There's no point in discussing that, it's marketing and profiling. Note how I chose the...

I'm going to refrain from commenting on any of the above posts, instead saying that I personally am very surprised that there aren't more female scapers. As a former hardcore gamer I quite thrive being a female in a male-centric environment, but with the amount of fussing that goes into the...

Agreed. This plant is great to work with in a small space like the aquacube. The smaller leaves make it far less `intrusive´ and the brilliant red colour is fairly easy to get. Tank looks great BTW :)

Welcome :)

Eleocharis parvula is good for low tech and with some patience it'll carpet nicely if you trim it. The Eleocharis sp. 'mini' from Tropica (only 1-2-grow) is a good alternative if you have access to it. I've managed to get it to grow in my low tech, albeit slowly!

Unless someone has a really good answer for you before then I can promise I can answer this tomorrow. Sorry for being vague. Just don't leave them in direct Malaysian sunlight :)

How long were you planning on leaving them?

What plants is it? Just the reineckii or?

Very true. This plant needs a lot of light or the lower leaves will die. Also it thrives best in soft water.

It's also a plant that does well if you just press it down once in a while. Gives a nice thick bush effect. <----- like so Really depends on what you want to do with the plant. But it doesn't mind being trimmed at all. Also, if you want, it makes for a lovely plant in your window. (needless to...

You can also stick plants like HC and Pogostemon helferi on lava stones with little effort. I don't think they will do so well on smoother rocks, though. See also: Tropica Aquarium Plants I haven't tried all those, though, so I can't say how well they do.

Thank you :) I don't think I'll be changing it much though, It's my tiny zen jungle.

Hey folks. I have a tiny nano tank which is all I can fit into my tiny nano flat, so unlikely I'll be venturing into the amazing world of aquascaping any time soon. So basically I'm just here to stalk around the forum.

Even in low light tanks you'll see a slight improvement in the plants when you add CO2, but to be quite honest I'd suggest you increase the watt per liter instead of investing in expensive CO2 solutions. (Cheep solutions like this one from Pets@Home is not going to help much in tank that size.)...