60cm - See what sticks

[flygja]

Here's my new 60cm 60L scape.

60 x 30 x 36cm
2x 24W PLL fluorescent currently at 5 hours per day
Eheim 2217
CO2 at 2 bps through inline Up Aqua diffuser
ADA Aquasoil New Amazonia (re-used in 3 or 4 scapes by now!)
Fertilised with EI (If I remember my formula correctly)
16 teaspoons KNO3 + 2 teaspoons KH2PO4 + 28 teaspoons MG2SO4 in 500mL of water. 6 ml dose 3x a week
2 teaspoons trace mix in 250mL of water. 1 ml dose 3x a week

Plants:
Micranthenum sp Monte Carlo
Pogostemon helferi (downoi)
Blyxa japonica
Anubias barteri sp nana
Micranthenum micranthemoides
Rotala rotundifolia sp Green
Rotala rotundifolia
Rotala sp Vietnam
Ammania sp. Bonsai
Ludwigia arcuata
Microsorum pteropus Narrow (to be added later as the ones in my large tank are doing very poorly)

Onto the pics.
All cleaned up and ready for a scape

The plan was to create a triangular scape, so soil was further sloped up towards the rear right corner.

Driftwood in.

Rocks go in around the driftwood.

Water is then filled up to about 2cm so I can plant the Micranthenum Monte Carlo. I didn't have enough to fill the whole scape so I hope it spreads.

Anubias barteri sp. nana is placed into the cracks between the stones and driftwood. Downoi is planted just in front of the left-most anubias.

Blyxa japonica is planted in between some rocks on the left side and Ammania sp. Bonsai is planted on the right.

Water is then filled up to about half and the stems are planted.

Equipment is fitted.

And a view from above showing the stems. From right, Rotala rotundifolia sp Green, Micranthenum micranthemoides in front of it, Rotala rotundifolia, Rotala sp Vietnam and Ludwigia arcuata in front of it.

 

[allan angus]

looking good

 

[flygja]

Long overdue update. All's not been doing well with this tank of mine. There are very minimal algae problems, except for the time when my CO2 ran out and it caught some BBA. Just some minor scrubbing of GAS on the glass every weekend during the water change. Growth is EXTREMELY slow. In fact, there's more melting than growing apart from a few plants. And I'm totally unsure why. I used to be able to grow plants and now I can't for some reason.

Here's the full tank shot. You can see that almost all of the Monte Carlo has melted away and whatever's left is in a state of stasis. Not growing neither melting. I believe Clive mentions that it means the plant is making just enough energy to survive. How do I change that?

What remains of the Monte Carlo

Rotala rotundifolia stripped of lower leaves and poor regrowth after a trim.

At least the Anubias barteri var nana are doing rather well. And no algae on them either! Some even have a pleasant marble effect now.

Added some Micranthenum micranthemoides (I believe they're called something glomeratus now?). They're also doing quite well and starting to creep a bit. But growth is still slow I feel.

I've also modified the lighting from 2x 24W PLL to 2x 36W PLL. Haven't measured PAR yet, but the fixture is now hung higher than it was with the 2x 24W. I still dose EI but with 50% more PO4 to prevent GSA.

Question - do trace elements powders expire? I've had mine for some years now.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Question - do trace elements powders expire? I've had mine for some years now.

Shouldn't do if they are dry powders, the "stable" isotopes of the elements are all 7.5 billion years old or older, and have been on earth for the last 4.5 billion years.

If the micro-elements are mixed in solution you quite often get precipitates where one of the ions has come out of solution as an insoluble compound.

cheers Darrel

 

[flygja]

Thanks Darrel. I feel a little dumb when you say its been around for 7.5 billion years LOL.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I feel a little dumb when you say its been around for 7.5 billion years LOL.

I'd never really thought about either, until it came up indirectly in this thread <For Dan ...Spezial N.....>.

Once you know that our Sun only produces hydrogen (H) and helium (He) atoms (atomic number 1 & 2), and that all the heavier elements can only be produced in a much more massive star, and therefore have must been made outside of our solar system, it becomes clearer.

All the carbon (element 6, stable isotope C12), nitrogen, (element 7, stable isotope N14), oxygen (element 8, stable isotope O16), potassium (element 19, stable isotope K39) etc. have been on the earth since the solar system first formed, and must have been created before that in a huge imploding yellow giant star, before being scattered across the universe in a massive supernovae explosion, and then some time after that accumulating in a big enough dust cloud (via gravity) for a new solar system to be born.

Reactive elements like oxygen (O), carbon (C), iron (Fe) or potassium (K) will always have been combined into various compounds, but if these compounds remain dry, doesn't have energy added to it etc, they won't react with anything and will remain as that same compound, potentially eternally.

cheers Darrel

 

[Edvet]

and all the water came as meteorites...how's that for a thought

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

and all the water came as meteorites...how's that for a thought

I believe your right, and that my last post isn't quite right.

The current theory is that some proportion of the lighter elements (carbon, oxygen etc) is thought to have arrived in the same manner, but it would all still have its origin in a supernovae explosion outside of the solar system. <"Earth's water piggybacked on asteroids">.

This is partially because all the liquid water, volatiles etc. would have been lost during the hot early Earth's history, so you need some to have arrived since the Earth cooled down 3.5 billion years ago.

cheers Darrel

 

[flygja]

Yeap, thats the prevailing theory, that water came onto our planet drop by drop because of meteorites. Though I have some doubts, I mean the energy and heat transferred during an impact would surely be enough to vaporise the water droplets. Although it can of course be trapped in the atmosphere and eventually fall as rain again once things cool down.

Reactive elements like oxygen (O), carbon (C), iron (Fe) or potassium (K) will always have been combined into various compounds, but if these compounds remain dry, doesn't have energy added to it etc, they won't react with anything and will remain as that same compound, potentially eternally.

Does this mean that it needs to be stored in a completely airtight container? I have it in a normal plastic container, which isn't airtight. Do my plants look like they're suffering from micro-nutrient/iron deficiencies?

 

[ltsai]

I store all my ferts in air tight containers with "thirsty hippos" to avoid them getting mushy in our weather, especially the epsom and calcium nitrate salts.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Does this mean that it needs to be stored in a completely airtight container? I have it in a normal plastic container, which isn't airtight.

Depends upon the compounds, air tight is best, but it isn't required for all compounds. If a salt has a lot of "water of crystallization" (like MgSO4.7H2O) it should be all right, but it will form a solid lump rather than remaining as a powder..

The problem is that the nutrients need to be in compounds that are soluble, so they become ions that the plant can utilise in solution.

Some compounds will pick up atmospheric moisture ("hygroscopic" like NaCl), I think most nitrates are in this category, and some will eventually become liquids ("deliquescent"). Deliquescent salts of interest to us include calcium chloride (CaCl) and mono potassium phosphate (KHPO4) and these should be stored in an air tight container (with a desiccant).

cheers Darrel

 

[ltsai]

Yeah, lumps are irritating when you have to break them apart to dose. Also, typically our teaspoon calculation is based on "dry" weight and not mushy/wet/moist lumpy ones, otherwise just dose extra to be safe.

 

[flygja]

Hmm... ok, all my salts and trace powders are stored in similar containers which are not air tight. MgSO4, KHPO4 and KNO3 do form lumps sometimes, but still looks usable. They don't look the slightest bit liquid I suppose.

I almost went out to buy a bottle of Seachem Trace and Iron just to isolate if my ferts were causing the melting I've been experiencing. Thanks for your advice Darrel. I'll have to look elsewhere for the cause of that.

 

[flygja]

Sharing some macro pics I took.

Added some Amano shrimps

Also some fire red cherries

These blighters came free. At least they're easy to photograph

 

[flygja]

Micranthenum micranthemoides overgrown.... 3 weeks without water change and maintenance:
IMG_20141208_092720 by flygja, on Flickr

A top view. I'm liking how the Rotala rotundifolia looks... its a shame it only looks like that from the top!
IMG_20141208_092736 by flygja, on Flickr

 

[GTL_UK]

Time to trim it... ;]

 

[flygja]

Trimmed!
IMG_20141210_173525 by flygja, on Flickr

 

[flygja]

I've got a question I hope you guys can help me about. What causes Rotala rotundifolia to not branch into two when trimmed? Growth is ultra slow in my tank despite it being high-tech and relatively high-light. Dosing EI (switched to PPS-Pro for a couple of months but its back to EI), CO2 drop checker is always yellow during lights-on. But not a single Rotola rotundifolia stem has ever split after being trimmed. What's the cause of this?

 

[flygja]

Can you believe that I planted the MC "Monte Carlo" in May and I have NEVER trimmed it and this is how much its grown in ~4 months? Note melted Staurogyne repens at the front right. It was growing very slowly for 2 months, then growth picked up for a month and suddenly started melting after that.

Yesterday I decided to turn this tank into a "Throw stuff at it and see what sticks" tank. Ripped out the driftwood with ferns attached, almost all the rocks and the Micranthenum micranthemoides. Trimmed the tops of the Ludwigia arcuata and Rotala rotundifolia and replanted.

I selected a bunch of easy-medium-hard plants as defined by Tropica to see which stick. These plants are not from Tropica by the way.

From left to right, back to front -
Rotala rotundifolia - easy
Ludwigia verticillata inclinata - not listed on Tropica
Rotala sp "Blood Red" - not listed on Tropica, guess it should be similar to rotundifolia
Rotala rotundifolia sp "Green" - medium
Rotala macranda sp "Green" - Green variant not listed on Tropica, but assumed as hard
Ludwigia arcuata - not listed on Tropica
Ludwigia palustris sp "Super Red" - Super Red variant not listed on Tropica, but assumed easy
Rotala wallichii sp "Long Leaf" - Long Leaf variant not listed on Tropical, but assumed hard
I also have Proserpinaca palustris - hard and Cryptocoryne can'trememberwhat just out of sight.

I will eventually remove the Anubias barteri var nana also, I don't think they'll do well when blasted with direct lighting.

I have adopted Darrel's duckweed index, though I used Amazon frogbit aka Limnobium laevigatum instead, to monitor for nutrient deficiencies. Growth is good, they double in quantity every 2-3 weeks. Some leaves yellow or melt at the edges while some go transparent. What do these tell you?

 

[Edvet]

your floater looks like young Pistia to me