Bonsai Peak

[Gary Murphy]

Hi everyone,

Ive decided to start a new Journal. This is a work in progress and any opinions or suggestions are most welcome. My biggest concern is that I have a lot of open space to the left.

Plants decided so far are Eleocharis Parvula and then Staurogyne Repens between the rocks. I havent decided on Moss for the Bonsai Yet.


Filtration: Eheim 2213 with Lily Pipes
Hardscape: Dead Bonsai, Red Lava Rock
Substrate: ADA Amazonia Soil


Here is a photo of the Hardscape as it stand so far.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Gary.Great start I Like negative space to the left. less is more

 

[Gary Murphy]

Thanks Roy. I wasn't 100% happy with the other scape and luckily when visiting my LFS earlier today I saw this Bonsai

You ever had any luck growing Staurogyne Repens attached to rocks?

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Gary, I Know I am going through the same thing at this stage with my new projects.

Never had much luck with Staurogyne R. Never tried it on wood or rock Grew well in one of my Wabi-Kusa Never got it to grow for long in my tanks it just melted away Others will know more on this

 

[tim]

Looks good Gary, penthorium sedoides is a great alternative to starogyne repens IMO

 

[Gary Murphy]

Ive not had much luck with Staurogyne Repens in the past either

I will take a look into it Tim. Can it be attached to rock or does it need to be in Substrate?

 

[tim]

Ive not had much luck with Staurogyne Repens in the past either

I will take a look into it Tim. Can it be attached to rock or does it need to be in Substrate?

Only grown it in substrate submersed myself but I'd do have a few stems growing emersed planted into Monte Carlo as a planting medium, I wouldn't be suprised if it would grow attached to lava rock or such like.

 

[tim]

Penthorium emersed and submersed just to give a comparison to staurogyne

Hope that helps mate.

 

[Gary Murphy]

Thanks Tim. Its leafs look a lot longer than Repens. Its definitely worth a look into

 

[cookie.dou]

Looking good! Parvula might be a bit too tall and skew the scale of your bonsai, perhaps you may want to try/go with DHG Mini? However, the parvula might work in your favour because you can create "fake slopes" and shorter/taller/thicker areas with the right kind of trimming. Excited to see what you choose!

 

[Gary Murphy]

Thanks Doubu. I like that I can create different heights with Parvula

 

[Gary Murphy]

Dry Start, Lets Go!

Eleocharis Parvula, Staurogyne Repens and Christmas Moss

 

[CooKieS]

This one remembers me a scape of a friend that we made in january, unfortunately he had no luck with s.repens. And trimming moss+ eleocharis was a lot of work so he stopped it.



Plants are S.Repens, spiky moss and eleocharis sp mini from tropica

 

[Gary Murphy]

That looks really good. I suppose with all brilliant aquascapes comes a lot of time, effort and patience.

I thought S.Repens was an easy plant to grow? But quite a few people ive spoke to have had issues with it.

 

[CooKieS]

That looks really good. I suppose with all brilliant aquascapes comes a lot of time, effort and patience.

I thought S.Repens was an easy plant to grow? But quite a few people ive spoke to have had issues with it.

Sure, he didn't have the patience to maintain it nice looking so he got rid of the carpet.

S.repens should IMO be classified as difficult by tropica because it really needs lof of CO2,light, and nutrients to thrive! I'm gonna try it it my new tank but with loads of nutrients...we'll see!

 

[alto]

Great tree!

S.repens should IMO be classified as difficult by tropica because it really needs lof of CO2,light, and nutrients to thrive!

but I've seen it thrive in Spec 19 with stock lighting, no CO2, minimal water changes or fertilizers etc etc

- not my tank, I'm quite good at destroying S repens

Now I need to plant some again

 

[AndreiD]

Just dose more Fe and stauros should be growing better in 2 weeks

 

[Gary Murphy]

Thanks Alto.

I was told it doesn't need Co2 and does well in high light but even with ADA Aqua Soil, Co2 and High Light its been problematic, This is the last time I try it then I give up

Good luck!

 

[alto]

It's worth reading Tropica's article - I'm seldom patient enough with it, last attempt I finally ignored it's apparent demise, it did reappear with healthy green shoots ... but then I stripped down the tank

 

[MrHidley]

S.repens should IMO be classified as difficult by tropica because it really needs lof of CO2,light, and nutrients to thrive! I'm gonna try it it my new tank but with loads of nutrients...we'll see!

Have to disagree, what S.Repens doesn't like is change, it can be grown in a wide variety of different setups, but will often melt back whenever something changes. Here is my work office tank, with minimal (around 15ppm) Co2 and fairly low light (5w Dennerle LED). This was taken a couple of weeks ago, but it has been incredibly hassle free. I wasn't really ready to share this yet but, it seemed apt.