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120cm - Colours

flygja

Member
Joined
12 Mar 2008
Messages
1,260
Location
Penang, Malaysia
I was getting bored of the scape in my 120cm 300L tank so I've been planning a rescape for some time now. Previously I had a low-ish maintenance scape with mainly slower growing ferns and crypts. I've decided to create a scape with as much colour as I can, using a combination of stem plants. The 4 day weekend gave me the perfect opportunity to get it going!

Here's some specs
120 x 50 x 50cm - 300L
Eheim Pro3 2080
Eheim 2217
Pressurised CO2 through UP Aqua inline diffuser
DIY 100W LED lighting (10x 10W Cree XM-L)
ADA Amazonia aquasoil
EI dosing

It started on Wednesday evening by taking out plants which I was sure I won't be needing in the new scape. Took about 2 hours or so.

On Thursday, I removed all the plants that I wanted to keep, removed all the driftwood and the caught all the fish and placed them into their temp homes. I then removed the remaining rocks and gave them a good soaking in bleach. That took around 5 hours.

This is what I was left with.
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On Friday, I created the hardscape. Started by placing a row of lava stones at the back of the tank. The main purpose was to reduce the amount of aquasoil I needed. It should also provide a great place for beneficial bacteria colonies and reduce any anaerobic spots in the soil.
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I then pushed all the old soil on it and topped up the substrate with another 3 9L bags of Amazonia. I think there were 2 bags previously, so thats 5 bags in total. Had to run out and get another bag as I ran out.
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With my main aim being as many plants as I can cram into the tank, I went as light as I dared on the hardscape. Just 4 pieces of driftwood (which look like 5) and 5 dragon stones.
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That was another 5 hours of work. My knees were screaming in agony now... but there was more to come.

Saturday. Planting time! Unfortunately the online retailer which I've bought plants from before was probably on holiday too and their list of plants was incomplete. They usually have about 100 species but it was down to 7. Oh well, time to make do with what I had. When I went to get the soil, I also picked up 4 pots of Mayaca fluviatilis (I think), 1 pot of Rotala wallichii (I think) and 4 pots of Rotala macranda (pretty sure of this).

My chosen carpet was Eleocharis sp Japan. They were growing well in my 60L tank so I just ripped out a bunch. Unfortunately they were also infested with Riccia. I hope it isn't too bad in this scape, else out comes with Excel overdose. Dividing it up into individual bunches. Not fun work.
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Filled up the tank with just enough water to cover the planting area and got stuck in.
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Then filled it up a bit more so I could plant the Cryptocoryne wendtii "Green".
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Water kept filling at a slow pace and it was time to put in the Anubias coffeefolia, Anubias barteri var nana around the rocks. Microsorum pteropus "narrow" was tied to the driftwood. I then planted the Rotala walichii mid left and the Mayaca fluviatilis around it. Rotala macranda went to the rear right. The Barclaya longifolia "Red" was overshadowed by Cryptocoryne wendtii "Brown" in my previous scape so I made sure to plant it mid-ground where it would get a lot of light.
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And here it is 7 hours later. Knees and feet were screaming bloody murder by now.
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On Sunday, the water cleared up somewhat.
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Have I lost you guys yet? :D I'll be hunting down a bunch of more plants in the coming weeks to complete the scape. Here's what I have in mind:

Midground
Eleocharis parvula from my 60L tank (as soon as I cleanse them of nasty BGA)
Blyxa japonica
Staurogyne sp.
Micranthenum micranthemoides
Another round-leafed Crypt

Background (I'm really oepn to anything but these are what I'll be actively searching for)
Rotala nanjean
Rotala rotundifolia "Green"
Rotala rotundifolia "Red"
Eustralis stellata

Comments good and bad are most definitely welcomed!
 
Looking great mate. Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's planted even more.

Good job, and I hope you're knees are okay now.
 
Thanks for all the comments! I must keep my momentum up... taking photos and sharing is the only way of making sure I take proper care of my tanks!
 
Just sharing a screenshot from the Seneye device. Too bad the pH measurement doesn't go below 6.4, so its always 6.4 for me. I really only bought it for the PAR meter.

NH3 ammonia levels pretty low. 5 days after my previous waterchange sees it at 0.013ppm. Should be safe to add my fish back into the tank this weekend after another water change.
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Day 2 and its waterchange day. Changed about 40%.
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Also had the opportunity to take a quick PAR measurement. It's 50-80 umols at the substrate level and around 60 umols on the stems. Hopefully its enough on the stems!


Where did you get the pipe holder from please
 
Wow Flygja,...that's a lot of PAR at substrate level. Loving the new look of the tank. So this was what you've been up to during the long weekend holiday. What a great way to spend it by the way,...:) . I love your narrow leaf java ferns. They look so lush.
 
Flygja, very nice tank. Those Dragon stones are beautiful.
Can i ask you where did you bought that blue accessory you're using with your hose? :)
I think faizal just answered your question ;)

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk 4
 
Thanks for the help Faizal. Gill/pmgsr, the pipe holder is an Ista pipe holder. Very useful for water changes. No more balancing books or squeezing with tweezers and risking the pipe coming off and water all over the floor.

Wow Flygja,...that's a lot of PAR at substrate level. Loving the new look of the tank. So this was what you've been up to during the long weekend holiday. What a great way to spend it by the way,... . I love your narrow leaf java ferns. They look so lush.
Thanks Faizal. Yeap, I've been busy during the long weekend holidays. The PAR on the substrate is high, but not so in the mid and upper levels of the tank. I guess its because the beams of the individual LED chips will combine as they reach deeper into the tank. Tom Barr's dutch tank has 50 umols/s on the substrate so thats what I'll be aiming for too. Honestly I don't know if the narrow leaf ferns will work. They're too close to where the stems will be bunching up and therefore get caught in it. We'll see.

Very nice!
Thanks a lot George! Means a lot coming from you!

Added back my fish over the weekend. That'd be one discus, 8 Congo tetras, 2 Treadfin Rainbows, a lonely Penguin tetra, a sole Glowlight tetra, 5 Corydoras trilineatus and 3 Panda cories.

The largest leaves of Cryptocoryne wendtii "Green" have started to melt, I'm guessing its because of the changes in temps and CO2 levels when it moved into a temp tank for a few days. All of those have been trimmed off. Growth quite apparent in the Mayaca fluviatilis and Rotala Macranda "Green". The Japanese hairgrass (which were growing in another tank of mine) have started spreading too. So all is well!
 
Eggs!! Thats what I came home to discover today. I don't know who they're from, either the cories (trillineatus have spawned before) or the Congo tetras.

Here's one stuck on my cheapie thermometer
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A 100% crop of the above
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Two more on the rather dirty filter intake pipe. There are actually a few more along the pipe.
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And one in the hairgrass
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I also discovered these eggs in the substrate. They're either snail eggs or tubifex worm eggs :sick:
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I don't know the first thing about breeding fish though...:sorry:
 
Thanks Faizal. Unfortunately they're all gone now. Must've been eaten up.

Anyway... plants!! LFS gave me a call to tell me their shipment of plants had arrived and I went straight over to get first dibs!
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Here's the planting plan. I have to admit that I only drew up the plan after I planted it ;)
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1. Elecharis sp Japan
2. Cryptocoryne Wendtii sp Green
3. Lobelia cardinalis
4. Syngonanthus sp. Belem (not Tonina fluviatilism thanks Edvet)
5. Rotala rotundifolia
6. Mayaca fluviatilis
7. Rotala wallichii
8. Rotala rotundifolia sp Green
9. Limnophila aromatica
10. Myriophyllum matogrossense
11. Rotala macranda sp Green
12. Barclaya longifolia sp Red
13. Blyxa japonica (might be aubertii, will have to wait for emersed coloration)
14. Anubias barteri var nana (in and around the rocks, not labelled)
15. Anubias barteri var coffeefolia (in between middle rocks, not labelled)
16. Microsorum pteropus narrow (on driftwood)

All planted up, full tank shot
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From higher up, so you can see the new plants
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Left detail
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Right detail
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You may also notice I have a lot more fish now. My friend who's moving to another city gave me all his fish, which consists of black neon tetras, neon tetras, a few guppies and a blue cory. He's got more to catch and give to me.

Now for the bad news... Crypt wendtii green is still melting, taking a while to adjust to the new tank. Anubias are doing badly too. Getting covered in BBA or some other type of algae. Coffeefolia starting to brown even. Might be something to do with getting direct lighting with no shade above. CO2 drop checker is a lime green and circulation looks good with tiny bubbles all around the place.
 
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