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60L bialix's home tank - low-tech in dutch-style

Wow. Cool. Yes, it makes sense now.

Well, I found article on wikipedia about v.spiralis. (Heh. Even on wikipedia, Carol. I should have searched harder.)
 
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Great Tank. How is the sagitaria sabulata (?) coming along? Does it grow very slow?

I think the corkscrew vallis is called vallisneria tortifolia. I like this one better because its much shorter and no need to cut the leaves. I dont think vallis likes to be chopped.
 
6 weeks update.

Everything is growing slow, but I can spot new leaves here and there. Only sagitaria and myriophyllum are not very good. I think they are very slowly adapting to new conditions.

19673998996_c5e0b8457c_c.jpg60x30x36 - 6 weeks - edited by Alexander, on Flickr

Water chemistry is slightly different from black water setup I have previously. I think Manado substrate leaks something to water, because I have KH around 1.5-2, while I'm using RO water with GH boost only (Seachem Equilibrium). In black water setup I had constant zero KH. Both sagitaria and myriophyllum I had previously in blackwater, and they proved to be slow starters.

I don't know what to do with nymphoides as well. It grows, but quite slow as well, and I have too big spot for it there. I checked what if I replace it with echinodorus parviflorus "tropica", which is nice plant per se. But I feel I need lime green plant in that spot, so "tropica" won't go there. I have in mind only one similar plant, similar in color/shape of leaves - this is anubias nana "gold". But... I like how nymphoides sways in the flow, check my short video below (try hd quality then it won't be so crappy):

 
Jose said:
I think the corkscrew vallis is called vallisneria tortifolia. I like this one better because its much shorter and no need to cut the leaves. I dont think vallis likes to be chopped.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think you're right. The side effect of chopping vallis I see - this slows down it a bit, so it doesn't grow like a mad.
 
4 months - and complete shutdown

I think I should show you guys current state of this tank before I completely shut down it. Overall, I'm not happy with the state of the tank. I have some thoughts why it so, but the all plants but vallis do not look good. I've replaced miryophylum back in august with heterantera, and it's slowly adapted to my conditions. Hygro is also looks very poor. Sagitaria does not grow at all. Only vallis grows very stable, every week I have to chop it, otherwise it creates too much shade.

22011082241_be3cdd895f_z.jpg60x30x36 - 4 months by Alexander, on Flickr

I think my main mistake here was crystal red shrimps. I was using pure RO water plus GH booster for those shrimps, but they did not spawn much. But I think too little CO2 in the water make negative effect on plants. It seems all available CO2 was effectively used by vallis, and all other plants just struggle and go between life and death. Probably I should have added CO2 to the tank, and everything maybe go as expected, but I don't wanted CO2 here, I wanted very easy and undemanding tank. If I weren't so unhappy about plants I might to enjoy this tank - it was really easy in term of maintenance.

21380022563_a7c6c57e4d_z.jpgCrystal Red Shrimp by Alexander, on Flickr

Also, as you can see from photo, the tank is partially covered with glass to prevent air bubbles from air stone to affect the light unit., I'm running 24/7 air pump, otherwise I get film on the surface. This cover glass blocks enough light to slow down plants as well, my miriophylum almost died of this. I had to add second bulb to light unit, although at the beginning it seemed one bulb is enough.

21813372818_ae95241d56_z.jpg60x30x36 - 4 months - top view by Alexander, on Flickr

Also, my gold minnows - lovely fish, but I lost 1/3 of them, I guess after feeding them with live food from local ponds, probably some disease. Sad.

21378453834_4803dae538_z.jpgWhite Clouds "Gold" by Alexander, on Flickr

Due personal problems I've decided to shutdown and sell this tank and take a break for a while. I still have access to tanks in pet shop (you might see my other thread), and I'm going to concentrate on that.

Sorry, and thanks for watching.
 
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