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Cloudy sky

Andrew Butler

Member
Joined
1 Feb 2016
Messages
1,740
Location
Banbury, Oxfordshire
Current

Here's my latest attempt at a planted aquarium; started to plant on 28/11/18

Tank:
Aquascaper 900

Lighting:
Twinstar 900S

Filtration:
2x Oase biomaster thermo 600

Co2:
Fire extinguisher to an inline diffuser

Fertiliser:
All in one EI

Hardscape:
Manzanita fixed to a piece of slate

Substrate:
JBL Volcano mineral
JBL Volcano powder
ADA Amazonia

Planting:
Hemianthus Callitrichoides Cuba
Eleocharis mini
Bucephalandra

The idea is to try a dry start with just the HC and Eleocharis, see firstly how it looks and how the 2 plants grow together. Hopefully the HC will take over most of the tank and I can just have a bit of Eleocharis appearing here and there with certain areas having more than others and end up with an almost 'one chop' carpet. Depending on how this goes will help me decide what, if anything else will be added into the carpet.
Just before flooding I plan to add some Buces to the tree.

How it looks as of 28/11/18 just after planting, undecided whether to add anymore Eleocharis or not. o_O
20181128_144248.jpg
20181128_144303.jpg
 
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Very nice hardware set up, aquascape looks great already. Keep the diary up, will look terrific once the grasses fill in
 
Do you have any heat inside the tank, the glass looks very clear?
No direct heat in or under the tank, the room is quite warm though.
The glass has been wiped off for the photos.
How long do you have the lights on for?
12 hours a day at the moment.
I have had some love fungus appear, even full on mushrooms sometimes.
It's only on the wood; at the moment at least so think it's something in that.
Did you try and battle the fungus at all? - if so details would be great.
 
No, I have never had any long term issues with fungus but I have read about a few bad cases!

I have found the most successful method when using artificial light, comes when you heat the inside of the tank above ambient room temperature.
This causes very hight amounts of humidity inside the tank, I use 12 hours of light as well but I don’t open the top unless I need to do some maintainance.
However I have watched many threads on here, where folk have experienced good strong growth without heat and used daily spraying.
When I have seen fungus growth in my tanks, I have left it alone and it has just disappeared over time.
Having said that, there are probably thousands of different kinds of fungus so I guess you will just have to watch and see how yours develops....
 
No, I have never had any long term issues with fungus but I have read about a few bad cases!
I'm sure it's something in the wood which I rather foolishly didn't soak before putting it in, I did give it a good scrubbing etc but don't think this was enough.
I knew I would have problems when I realised I hadn't; after I had planted it that was! :banghead::banghead::banghead:
Let's hope either keeping on top of it will help or someone comes up with an idea to combat it with a chemical of some kind.

I have found the most successful method when using artificial light, comes when you heat the inside of the tank above ambient room temperature.
I thought about adding a heat mat but it's then getting it out from under the aquarium afterwards.

I don’t open the top unless I need to do some maintainance
When having a read around I found this to be quite a common thing to allow gasses to exchange and that's why I have been doing this.

Having said that, there are probably thousands of different kinds of fungus so I guess you will just have to watch and see how yours develops....
:nailbiting::nailbiting::nailbiting:
 
Someone on here mentioned making cinnamon water to spray on mould during DSM, I’ve never tried it but maybe that would work here?
 
As said previously i would not be overly concerned over the fungus on the wood, this should naturally disappear with good husbandry on water changes etc. Going forward when are you planning on filling the tank?!? i would ( only my opinion) start this off ASAP, keeping flow on a nice balance between not disturbing the plants to much but also giving what is needed/ C02/ ferts - some movement..

:)
 
After, unsoaked tends to float
I'd planned to weigh it down and actually thought I would have less problems with it being dry and arranging the soil etc.
Hello, I love the shape of your manzanita tree.
Thank you; it's 2 pieces fixed together which hopefully won't show.
Don't stress about fungus on wood. I've had it loads, it comes off easy and appears to have no bearing on plant health. It'll go away of its own accord, I would not start with chemicals...
Someone on here mentioned making cinnamon water to spray on mould during DSM, I’ve never tried it but maybe that would work here?
As said previously i would not be overly concerned over the fungus on the wood, this should naturally disappear with good husbandry on water changes etc. Going forward when are you planning on filling the tank?!? i would ( only my opinion) start this off ASAP, keeping flow on a nice balance between not disturbing the plants to much but also giving what is needed/ C02/ ferts - some movement..
Everything about the fungus is now on this thread, I think your comments have all been answered on there.
 
That's quite striking; looking very arty and minimalistic. I quite like it, especially the way you've sloped the soil. Good growth as well compared to when it was first planted.
 
How is the Manzanita fastened down? I screwed mine to a piece of slate with some stainless screws and it still keeps falling over.
 
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