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"Dutch something or the other" 120 Gal

Re: "Dutch something or the other" 120 Gal

Tom, since you're using a wet/dry system and you have superb plant growth, what's your secret to CO2? I saw in one of your photos that you sealed up the sump to prevent CO2 from escaping. What about the "overflow" portion? Do you need to run more CO2 than you would normally do with a canister system?
 
Re:

flygja said:
Tom, since you're using a wet/dry system and you have superb plant growth, what's your secret to CO2? I saw in one of your photos that you sealed up the sump to prevent CO2 from escaping. What about the "overflow" portion? Do you need to run more CO2 than you would normally do with a canister system?
Click to expand...

I use the SAME CO2 bubble/flow rate.
the overflow simply sucks the air and any degassed CO2 down into the sump area and it gets dissolved into solution. It's a one way trip.
 
sanj said:
Oooh Rainbows... good choice. ;)
Click to expand...

They behave well, only one jumper so far.

I redid the left side pretty much.
Removed the C parava and made a U shaped UG "wrap" around the Red Ludwigia perunesis. I'll redo the Erio group and might bring them forward and replace the rear with something else next to the wood.

In the far back where the parva was, I'll use some Hygrophylia 'araguia'.
It has always done very well for me in such locations.

I just need to iron down the Erio situation and the other plant if I pull them forward. I'm not going to add HC to the tank. It's a bit like Riccia to me. I hate it. Infernal weed.

Limnophila mini and making a triangle foreground with the Erios is an idea. Or some other plant with nice ordered look next to the wood trunk "nebari".
 
Tom,

I might have missed that one, but would you mind sharing your dosing regime?
What are the water changes and how often. Do you use pure EI? Care to share amounts for the macro mix you use now?
How about micro? Dosing any EC or Excel?

Cheers.
 
schraptor said:
Tom,

I might have missed that one, but would you mind sharing your dosing regime?
What are the water changes and how often. Do you use pure EI? Care to share amounts for the macro mix you use now?
How about micro? Dosing any EC or Excel?

Cheers.
Click to expand...

It's a semi modified form of EI.

I dose

3x a week : 1.5 tsp of KNO3, 0.75 tsp KH2PO4,
4x a week: around 0.5ppm of Fe as a proxy for all traces
After water change: GH booster, about 4 tsp.

good CO2, good sediment, good wide spaced lighting.

I added Excel at one point for 2-3 weeks, but it had no effect.

I also feed the shrimp well, they are very aggressive eaters, so the fish need to be able to compete with them for food. So there's ample N and P from fish waste in addition.
 
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You can see the fire shrimp like crows after the farmer plows the field, picking the microinvertebrates and algae.

I allow about 2-3 leaf build up in depth, then I'll mow. This will take 2-3 weeks to recover, but will recover fairly well.

May neophytes do not aggressively trim foreground plants like this. Then their foreground plants tend to look tall and ratty, unkept etc. If you wait too long, and have 10-20 leaf pile up, then the recover is longer and change/shock to the garden is much larger.

So little trimmings here and there, vs huge ones are better, basically consistent good care.

You can see the edges are left untrimmed, I tend t uproot those runners, but for now, till the middle recovers, I let them go and help recovery in the middle. You can see the Gloss snaking up on to the driftwood also, runners going under the wood and invading other plant groups.
It's a weed.
 
Some "Red" variant of Ludwigia palustris, a very nice deep red plant, easy to grow, stays nice color etc........
Sometimes, sold as Lud. "red" here in the states.....I paid 15$ per stem for 3 stems, but I quickly made my $ back.

I keep it trimmed low, it'll bush out and likely is more suited for the background.
 
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This is a Gloss trim, then you can see the recovery 1 week later:

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Recovery:

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I'm still a few things short of where I want to be with the plant groups and layout, but as I change it, I'm getting closer. I'm fine with this group but just need to fill in some more species and those will arrive this week or so. Then it's good care and trim timing for the rear plants.
 
Tom, I really like this tank, lush greens and beautiful reds. Gloss - well soon mine should look like this hopefully :D
I'm still wondering why your water seems to be a bit misty on the pictures you have shared.
 
schraptor said:
Tom, I really like this tank, lush greens and beautiful reds. Gloss - well soon mine should look like this hopefully :D
I'm still wondering why your water seems to be a bit misty on the pictures you have shared.
Click to expand...

I do large water changes and then rescape............this places less stress on livestock I feel.
I use to do it the other way around, large hack and then water change.

ADA AS adds this murky haze after you move things around and it takes a 1-2 days to clear at least.

I could follow the trim with a 2nd water change I suppose, but there's little need, I'm not entering nor care to enter aquascape competitions..........I'm just showing the tank as it progresses and what and why I do what I do.

A pair of flashes and a real photo shoot seems more trouble vs a simple video.
Which is likely forthcoming now I have a nice HD camcorder.
 
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1.5 weeks post trimming.

Not bad recovery and VERY easy and less issues than uprooting and replanting methods.
 
Tom,

You prune Glosso similarly to HC, very low but leaving some thin layer, therefore the plant will not suffer, but will spread even more. Am I right here?
Do you even bother to prune in such a way that you can sell Glosso?

Also, you have mentioned that you get some extra bucks for the plants, I assume you sell them on ebay or similar site. How do you usually pack the plants, make sure they don't dry out / die and how long from your experience can they last while being shipped?
 
schraptor said:
Tom,

You prune Glosso similarly to HC, very low but leaving some thin layer, therefore the plant will not suffer, but will spread even more. Am I right here?
Do you even bother to prune in such a way that you can sell Glosso?

Also, you have mentioned that you get some extra bucks for the plants, I assume you sell them on ebay or similar site. How do you usually pack the plants, make sure they don't dry out / die and how long from your experience can they last while being shipped?
Click to expand...

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You can see that there's only maybe 1cm or less of ADA AS in the front of this tank, I add barely "just enough".

Yes, you can cut off the errant HORIZONTAL runners on the outside of the patch, you have to trim that dimension down also, not just the vertical. This can be cut nice and evenly by using a plastic paint scraper etc..........just like you might do when cutting sod. I do this for HC often.

Gloss is really not worth much $$, so I just toss or give it away generally.

I use plastic grocery bags and maybe wet newspaper, junk mail or paper towels etc, fold them up, then in the plastic bags snug........maybe 2-3 plastic bags, semi loosely....then take them down and ship them to who ever via mail service. We have 2-3 day service here for roughly 2-3 pounds. So I'll sell say Staruogyne repens, say 20 plants for 10 pounds + 3 to ship as an example. So once a month, you could sell a fair amount of plants from each tank if things go well and nice pics are a great way to sell, always show a nice example/pic, that is your best selling point and argument settler :twisted:
 
Thanks for sharing Tom. I use similar method for securing plants for shipment, not so many to be pruned though :)
 
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Fish:
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And the R macarndra that's coming along in the rear. I plan on making a nice wedge triangle ground from the mid to the rear.
Then R walichii going to other way.

This should look nice and fix some of the issue I dislike in the back ground.
12942226.jpg
 
Just wanted to say thanks for this journal Tom. Very informative from many angles of plant care and general maintenance not often covered by other posters.

Best Regards,
John
 
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