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Dry start: my 11gal nano (Title was: Hardscaping my 2nd try)

Looking good :)
I cant help thinking this would make a cracking iwagumi if you just removed the wood :lol:
 
Here it is, submerged yesterday, CO2 injected via the UP atomizer system, the mist is incredible and all plants are covered with CO2 microbubbles. In few minutes, the mist looks effective.

CO2 injected shots:









After CO2 shutdown:




Water is crytal clear from startup. The organic layer formed during emerged phase helps avoiding the cloudy effect when filling the aquarium. Also, first fill was done with a perfusion like mod using air tubing.


I missed the layout of the right corner though. The java windlow fern looks like put there and the rocky aspect is completely lost with the Anubia nana petite. I'm a bit disappointed and will lokk at it later.

But meanwhile, help me rebuild that right corner so that it looks nicer please
 
i think move the anubias so its clumped at the base of the wood instead of obsuring the wood.hth. What moss is it on the wood, is it flame?
 
Christmas moss on the wood, weeping moss on the small stone on the left.

And yes, I think I'll remove those Anubia on the lower wood and enhance the disposition on the right of the tank

No algae for now except a BGA (cyano) bloom (didn't clean the soil from organics) that I just finished treating with clarithromycine
 
only just found this journal, your tank looks great and has real potential once the plants start to grow more. :thumbup:
 
In 3 weeks, the thing grew really a lot, only one 11W Arcpod for now, the 2nd is off since 3 weeks. P. Helferi is growing rather fast in a more beautiful submerged form (emersed form is so ugly and unstructered). The Anubia that suffered from submersion is doing fine. R. Wallichii needs a trim. No algae exept on the moss















Will wait for more growth before I modify some parts maybe
 
Lush growth Jonny, really taking off now. Especially like the hairgrass. You may have explained this earlier but whats with the gap at the front?
 
Hi,

Here's how it looks, after 6 weeks of immersion. Clean, no algae, except self limited green hairs on mosses.
Only 0.9W/gal total volume (1.5W/gal real volume) . Only one of the 2 Arcpods is On since 4 weeks. The second will be removed.

I put some glosso in front right side. Just will wait a while till it grows than remove the remaining P. Helferi in the middle and right to extend glosso there and let P. Helferi only on left.

R. Wallichii was trimmed hardely today so it doesn't show well

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That is a nice looking tank, helped by some decent pics. I think I will give R. wallichii a go in my next scape.

Dave.
 
Yes, it's amazing how things grow with this light. PC-Light also seems to be much more intense than T8. It is something like T5, so the overall visual aspect is reall great, well enlightened, not dimm

In the photos, you see 2 Arcpods of 11w, but only one is On. I started with 2, but growth was too fast for my taste. Now, 4 weeks with 11W and it is even better looking

R. Wallichii doesn't have any trouble with that light. It was very dense and reached surface, so trimmed it hardely, not showing well now. P. helferi is great growing also under the low light and Glosso will grow fine, I feel it from the aspect.

Right side is more dim, better for Anubia and Windlow Fern

Also, tons of snails I introduced on purpose. They help a lot
 
Hi,

I had to remove the rocks because they were very calcareous and the KH and GH were very unstable
Used petrified wood instead.

Eleocharis was never trimmed, only delimited to not invade the front. Glosso is growing so slowly, but it roots and grows, very low light doesn't help, but CO2 does help. Hopefully I prove that we can carpet glosso with so low light























 
Re: Dry start: my 11gal nano (Title was: Hardscaping my 2nd

Here's how it grows, 0.9wpg light. Glosso adapted to extreme low light and now grows quickly and responds to trimming by launching many shoots. P. Helferi needs a little more time as I trimmed and replanted it in a more spaced pattern. It should cover the left side in few weeks.

Eleocharis was never trimmed or maintained at all yet.

The mosses were trimmed and need a new trimming soon.

Overall, this is a very low maintenance tank, except weekly WC for now, without syphonnig: 20mn only.









 
Re: Dry start: my 11gal nano (Title was: Hardscaping my 2nd

Was bored from P. Helferi in the front and liked a shorter plant, easy to maintain. As my floating riccia that started with 0.5in diameter became a 6in diameter circle shading too much light, I decided to use a riccia carpet

Glosso is growing greatly, just trimmed it short before the photo. It will be denser in few weeks and I'll post new photos when riccia and glosso grow denser

With low light, things are very slow, but at least, I see no algae even on the anubia after 5 months without removing any decaying leave :)















I realize it lacks some slope in the bottom left part. Maybe one time I remove some of the eleocharis and use rocks to make the slope

Despite the plants health and their density, this tank is a rather low maintenance. Eleocharis, anubia, parvula and java fern were never trimmed in 5 months. Glosso trimmed once since 3 months. The mosses trimmed every 2-3 months. I just started the riccia, but should be trimmed every 1-2 months I think, let's see. P. Helferi needed a retop after 4 months + the 4-5 months of dry start. Wallichii needs monthly trimming, I don't retop it as it responds nicely with side shoots

No decaying leaves, even the P. helferi. Shrimps and a hundred of snails take care of every organic matter. Soil is never siphoned (trumpet snails help). Glass never cleaned in 5 months (light is put along the bottom side of tank to avoid algae on glass). Canister never cleaned after near 5 months of immersion

Only feeding fish and shrimps daily, 20mn for the 50% weekly WC (just 3.9 gallons of water to use, no siphoning, so not too much work)

PS: my pictures pass through paint shop pro with 2 functions: a crop then a resize to reduce their size. Not any other picture enhancement filter. I use a tripod to take photos with my cheap digital camera. Hopefully I get soon a better camera.
 
Re: Dry start: my 11gal nano (Title was: Hardscaping my 2nd

thats great.love it.well done mate :clap: .
 
Re: Dry start: my 11gal nano (Title was: Hardscaping my 2nd

Thank you both for the nice comments. I really love the low maintenance it needs. Low light helps a lot

Shrimps do well, RCS breed no problems. CRS on the other hand are another story. I lost 80% of them because of my first calcareous stones. Was using mineralized RO but the stones were causing a +4°GH between 2 WC. I tested and solved this only after many weeks when I saw many CRS dead after each WC. Since I changed for petrified wood, no more issues, but I'm left with 7 CRS. I think it is a too low number to breed them. I'm waiting for better weather conditions to order some 20-30 new ones and try to breed them. I'm not sure breeding CRS is possible with EI and 50% WC as they need stability. We'll see. Also a small tank can limit CRS breeding. I feed them daily.
 
Re: Dry start: my 11gal nano (Title was: Hardscaping my 2nd

Hi,

Here's how it is going now, 7 months after immersion. High CO2, low light and low maintenance really. WC every week, 50% that takes 15mn total because of volume. No syphoning at all (low fish load, many shrimps an snails to do the work for me). Trimming every 4-6 weeks. Glass was never cleaned in 7 months, crystal clear !!!

Note: I changed my digital camera, so photos quality changed (Only retouching is white balance corrected in raw mode, resize and crop)

Before trimming


















After trimming it:





 
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