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300L pseudo-Dutch style Planted Tank

flygja said:
Beautiful tank! I've been trying to achieve the same effect for a few months now without success. I also have L.repens and P.palustris, but they're all green in colour in my setup :confused:
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Hi flygja, thank you for your comments. I don't know exactly why these plants turn red, surely other members do. But I can give you some info from my experience. When planting stems from the same plant in two different tanks that follow the same dosing approach, one working with SMD cool white LEDs (20 lumens/litre) and other with T5 Philips 865 fluorescent tubes (1wat/litre) i notice that they grow green in the former and reddish in the latter. Also in the latter I can observe that the closer to the water surface (and also to the light source) the more pigmented the leaves are. Perhaps light quality or quantity can have an effect on the colour pattern, but this is not a true experiment at all (indeed, it has nothing to see with an experiment, light sources are not comparable, tanks are different, etc, etc,..., it is just an observation) so please take my comment just as a suggestion. I also try to keep iron at 0.2ppm, but I don't really know if this is affecting colour. Surely there are many factors involved, including genetics, and I'm sure that the experts in the forum can help us in understanding what is happening in our tanks.
 
I am not on my computer (don't know how to include a link) but if you check my journal (#2) you will see some pictures of emerged Hydrocotyle vulgare, not a very common species but it can be found in some Eastern Spain wetlands. When submersed it becomes very leggy and not very beautiful as the leaves try to reach the surface growing very fast, but when emersed they look very similar to other Hydrocotyle species, such as leucocephala, maybe a bit more compact.
 
Jose, thanks a lot. I have been thinking about changing back to T5s for testing and have bought some items for DIY. So time to get a move on!
 
flygja said:
Jose, thanks a lot. I have been thinking about changing back to T5s for testing and have bought some items for DIY. So time to get a move on!
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Hi flygia,

T5s are great, I'm sure your plants will be fine with them. I'm using this model with very good results. Try to install enough fluorescent lamps to get 1 wat /litre proximately. What I do is to program them to star at different times, so you get an effect somehow similar to the daylight cycle in nature, with maximum light burst at noon when all fluorescent lamps are on. Doing so you will also save some money in your electricity bill :greedy:

Cheers,

Jose
 
Hi,

not many things to report, just a couple of shots to keep the thread alive. The pictures are from before and after trimming quickly some of the plant groups. Sorry for the ugly bottle in the upper right corner, I'm growing there some Xiphophorus maculatus juveniles in order to increase the fish stock in the tank. Well fed fishes are excellent urea producers, so they will help me in dosing this fertilizer.

Plants are in very good shape, and fortunately algae have never been seen in the tank (fingers crossed!!)

Hope you like the tank, it is very far from being perfect but at least it is beautiful (to me).

All the best,

Jose

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Thank you guys, I'm glad to know that you also like it.

Yes, I cut every week, otherwise the plants would fill the tank.

Tiago you are right, many of them will survive hidden in the plants and there is no need to use the bottle. I do it because the first weeks I'm feeding them with baby brine shrimp, so they will grow better. My little kid really likes them, so he is helping me hatching the brine shrimps and feeding the young Xiphophorus maculatus, is a great experience for him and a nice opportunity for learning new things.

Thank you very much again for your kind comments

Cheers,

Jose
 
Hi,

just some picts updating the tank.

Not many things to report, everything is going fine. I'm planning to rescape the aquarium by reducing the number of species and creating the famous Dutch streets in order to get the classical Dutch style look. I find it a challenge but at the same time it could be a funny experience.

Cheers,

Jose

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That's looking really nice Jose! Do you plan on reducing the species even more or are you going to leave it as-is?
 
Phil Edwards said:
That's looking really nice Jose! Do you plan on reducing the species even more or are you going to leave it as-is?
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Thank you very much for your positive feed back Phil.

Yes I would like to reduce even more the number of plant species. The "Dutch style guidelines" say that no more than one plant species for every 10cm of tank length. That one is 120cm so I will try to leave only 12 species. To leave a gap between the plant groups is also recommended, now I find it a little bit crowded (but beautiful!).

Thanks again,

Jose
 
Your proserpinaca is very nice. What's the name of dark red/violet plant on the left side, last photo?

I was under impression that in dutch style you should put one species per 10*10 cm area, I read something like that in the Aquarium Design book by Christel Kasselmann. Maybe I'm wrong.
 
Alexander Belchenko said:
Your proserpinaca is very nice. What's the name of dark red/violet plant on the left side, last photo?

I was under impression that in dutch style you should put one species per 10*10 cm area, I read something like that in the Aquarium Design book by Christel Kasselmann. Maybe I'm wrong.
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Thanks for your comments Alexander.

The plant you are talking about is Ludwigia glandulosa from Tropica.

Regarding the number of species in the Dutch style tanks, I thought that the rule is one plant species per 10cm aquarium lenght, I haven't read Kasselman's book (and I really would like). There are some Dutch UKAPS members with a lot of experience in this aquascaping style, hopefully they will give us the right answer.

All the best,

Jose
 
Really nice looking tank, one of the best 'Dutch' style tanks i've seen!!! Even if it's not a proper 'Dutch' ;)
 
Jose, well, your tank doesnot look overcrowded right now for me, but I tend to agree that sometimes less is more! You don't have to read that book, you're already good at plants and design, imo. Don't think I try to insist on some numbers, that was just "thinking aloud" moment. Looking forward for new Dutch beaty from you.

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