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120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

easerthegeezer said:
Like tom said im still working on growing plants let alone worry about reds.. but i am curious how people add iron? I have only ever used flourish iron, a long time ago when i didnt really know what/why i was adding it, and it makes the water very milky for a few days.
I seem to remember a thread about some not being good in shrimp tanks also??
Any advise would be an education :thumbup:

Sounds like hard KH's tap water, use DTPA Fe instead.

You'll get more out of it.

I add 1:3 ratio by volume DTPA:CMS + B trace mix.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

I'd not fear too much about the colors...........just work on growth in general, this is the path to good color, everyone thinks there's a trick.

T5's are nice and can reflect a lot of red color also. Eg red blubs make the tank look redder, but then your greens do not look as nice.

Without hijack Mark's journal here just a last word on this. I know i am telling this probably to the wrong guy as you have the most colorful tank here at this moment Tom :D Also you seen so many things in the past decade with plants too, but what i am saying is with the same lighting ATI 4 tubes version with OSRAM 865 T5 tubes in it (nothing color tricky bulb here) same CO2 injection, same soft water, same maintenances etc if i drop a deep red plant to an EI tank the new buds will get greener and the plant lost a lot of red color shortly. Also if a tank which had less nitrate in it and change the fert to EI the plants will lost some redness.

I've seen it with many plants. Last time Rotala Indica, Myriophyllum tuberculatum. There's nothing new to it and no special thing to make reds look better as there are multiple way to do this, but i wanted to highlight with the same powerful light same things plants will get different hue based on the ferts.

Then i see your journal Tom and the whole thing above may lost it's point :D Damn colors there ;)
We do run mutiple tanks on a long term and not changing plants there frequently so we have a chance to test different fertilizers too. This thing i've seen a couple times changing one ferts to another.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

viktorlantos said:
I'd not fear too much about the colors...........just work on growth in general, this is the path to good color, everyone thinks there's a trick.

T5's are nice and can reflect a lot of red color also. Eg red blubs make the tank look redder, but then your greens do not look as nice.

but i wanted to highlight with the same powerful light same things plants will get different hue based on the ferts.

I do not disagree with this, I showed this 14 years ago on the APD mailing list(err.before they even had forum software........okay, I'm "that" old) using NO3 limitation to reduce Chlorophyll, thereby unmasking the red and yellow pigments that lack any N in their structure(mostly all reduced carbon chains). Many wetlands are N limited due to denificiation to NO3=> N2 gas.

Fear not, low NO3 and micromanagement can yeild real red plants.

A trick is to do this for only 1-2 weeks and not stunt the plants too much, then go back to higher KNO3 dosing.
they get nice and red, then you take the picture, have the club come over, oooo's ahhhs..........then back to the old routine. Many Dutch NBAT's folks do this since they lose points if the NO3/PO4 is high.

Big water changes etc before the judges come over etc.

Trickery.

Then i see your journal Tom and the whole thing above may lost it's point :D Damn colors there ;)
We do run mutiple tanks on a long term and not changing plants there frequently so we have a chance to test different fertilizers too. This thing i've seen a couple times changing one ferts to another.

Is redder a sign if plant health or stress or that is a human condition/desire?
I can limit and fuss with dosing and micromanage that, but why? This is not a superior method at all, a wiser decision is to chose a different plant that is easy and has the nice color both, regardless of a dosing routine.

A simple GOOD plant choice resolve any of this.
Also, if you prefer a leaner routine, simply add less KNO3, no reason you cannot, no method is written in stone.
My tanks rarely ever go above 20ppm, and rarely below 10ppm. I use to run things at the 5-10ppm range, but I had less wiggle room. Some like to mess with this, I no longer care much truthfully.

Since this seems to be a big issue for many, and the ADA fan boys.........ADA AS and PS have a lot of Nitrogen, this last about 6-12 months, depending...........so the same can be said about ADA methods also, they are non limiting initially. Many species that are in plain sand get bigger, grow faster, lose red color when you use fresh ADA AS.
ADA sediments lose N more than anything else over time(I'd say around 12 months and all gone at 18 months), the rest of the nutrients likely last a decade or so.

So why don't folks complain about this? It's a bit two faced if you ask me, sort of like the folks that complain about EI and the large water changes, but ADA gets a free pass for suggesting the exact same thing. These methods are not that different really, plants still get at the ferts easily and in either location, or in my case the last few years: both locations. Bunch of chicken manures not willing to question Amano? hehe, seems like it.

Still, DTPA Fe is good stuff and you can make your own Trace mix and doctor it up, add more DTPA or Fe gluconate just to "be sexy". I dose more than many and Claus said my tank was about the only one in the USA he saw that was not trace limited.

Is it some key or trick? No.........but each bit, light, CO2, and dosing all combine....then things like good filters, good attention to trimming and removing plant leaves, cleaning filters, wiping glass etc........also work together to make a decent end result.

Cannot see the forest because they are looking at the trees?? Ads hobbyists, we ofter......look for a silver bullet or one trick, Amano is pretty plain about this not being the case also. Nor does he fuss with ferts, if you have a richer sediment, you do not have to much. I really do not either. We have 400+ species of plants, I've got 30-50 red plants to work with, and i had like 5-6 when I got into this hobby, so life is better/good these days, you have choices, so make use and try different species and see what fits best.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Mark Evans said:
Still learning! but, a very big BUT....i seem to be getting colours!

I've got Rotala Rotundifolia going pink.... I've not had that in about 3 years!!!!!
With Rotala Rotundifolia the trick is low nitrates and relatively high light.
The picture bellow is from one of my earlier tanks. 30W T8 + 22W PL right above the water over 50 litres of illuminated volume

Rotala.jpg
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

I got change to see a sneak peek of a FTS of the 90cm and it is really good! The photography is very amano-esq, brilliant Mark. The scape ain't half bad either...i'd stick a fiver on it finishing top 100 in the iaplc.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Some interesting reading. I'll be sure to read it when i have a day or 2 spare. :thumbup:

Thanks Ian. That scape is evolving weekly now that i've added extra light.

I will be taking another FTS once it's looking how i want it to look.

7088259939_1d4045c6be_b.jpg
90-@-3-months by saintly's pics, on Flickr

I can now confirm that this 120cm scape' will be a 1-2grow! layout. I will be also changing the layout ever so slightly. I have a little idea.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Mark Evans said:
Some interesting reading. I'll be sure to read it when i have a day or 2 spare. :thumbup:

Thanks Ian. That scape is evolving weekly now that i've added extra light.

I will be taking another FTS once it's looking how i want it to look.

7088259939_1d4045c6be_b.jpg
90-@-3-months by saintly's pics, on Flickr

I can now confirm that this 120cm scape' will be a 1-2grow! layout. I will be also changing the layout ever so slightly. I have a little idea.

:woot: Excuse me while i pick my jaw up off the floor! Amazing tank, simply amazing, well done Mark!
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

taggerz28 said:
..... Excuse me while i pick my jaw up off the floor! Amazing tank, simply amazing, well done Mark!

I'd like to second that please. :woot: Mark could you be kind enough to list those plants that you have in there?
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Thanks Guys.

faizal said:
Mark could you be kind enough to list those plants that you have in there?

What's in the tank at the moment is

HC
weeping moss
rotala rotundifolia
Pogostomon helferi
ludwigia arcuata
pgostomon stellata (trimmed)
rotala macaranda
echinodorus tenellus
egeria densa (to see what happens when trimmed)
riccia

The tank has turned into bit of an experimental tank, but turning into a bit of fun.I'd like to take some of what I learn in here into the 120cm.The gravel replacing HC.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Piece-of-fish said:
Whats that plant with big flowers on the background Mark :D
:lol:
Floralius wallpaperus, new to the aquascaping world, a very undemanding species, even i can grow it, its at its best grown emersed.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Ady34 said:
Piece-of-fish said:
Whats that plant with big flowers on the background Mark :D
:lol:
Floralius wallpaperus, new to the aquascaping world, a very undemanding species, even i can grow it, its at its best grown emersed.

It had a tendency to peel around the edges though if close to a damn environment !!!
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

it's costs a bomb as well. It was found by laurence llewelyn bowen, in a land called B&Q.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

ianho said:
it's costs a bomb as well. It was found by laurence llewelyn bowen, in a land called B&Q.

All sounds a bit strange to me, LOL.

Anyway Mark, if you like it we do too ;)
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Ady34 said:
Piece-of-fish said:
Whats that plant with big flowers on the background Mark :D
:lol:
Floralius wallpaperus, new to the aquascaping world, a very undemanding species, even i can grow it, its at its best grown emersed.

Haha I knew it. Mark you cheater :lol: We cracked your success story now...
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

The wall paper isn't my choice. If it were up to me, I'd paint in a graduated blue! and have continuous lighting on it.

Boredom is striking hard, not having much to do. The 90cm is running itself and getting little to no attention from me.

Piece-of-fish said:
We cracked your success story now...

A bit of knowledge of lights and CO2...in that order :D
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Mark Evans said:
Boredom is striking hard, not having much to do. The 90cm is running itself and getting little to no attention from me.
Just get yourself up to Co. Durham Mark and give my tank some attention from you! ;) :)
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Re: 120 x 55 x 55cm 'On the sea shore'

Ady34 said:
Mark Evans said:
Boredom is striking hard, not having much to do. The 90cm is running itself and getting little to no attention from me.
Just get yourself up to Co. Durham Mark and give my tank some attention from you! ;) :)
Cheerio,
Ady.

Andy your tank is fine mate :thumbup: Stop doing yourself down, its one of the nicest tanks on here at the moment. And even your wallpaper is better, hahaha. (Sorry Mark, just kidding). Mind you, we could all do with a bit of the Mark Evans midas touch hehe.
 
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