(In)discipline

[Vinkenoog1977]

Hey guys and girls,

Wasn't sure about starting a journal, but why the heck not? I've had aquariums from a young age, only to walk away from the hobby about 7 years ago. Recently got a new cube tank, and then another, and tomorrow I will be receiving two more tanks; you could say, the addiction is back. This, however, is my first actual aquascape; I used to have "simple"Dutch tanks, and this was my first attempt at an aquascape. The reason I called it 'Indiscipline', apart from being a huge King Crimson fan, is that I wanted to do an Iwagumi, until I saw the two pieces of wood which fit the tank perfectly, so it came out quite a bit different.
This is also my first DSM-attempt. The plan is to leave it like this for about five weeks, before flooding. I'm adding some DIY Bio CO2, the PP is 14 hours, and I mist once a day, giving the tank the chance to do some gas exchange thingies. I also have my heater in a cut-open water bottle, to raise the temperature a couple of degrees relative to the room temperature.

The Specs:
Tank: Superfish Qube 40
Light: Superfish LED 3,5 Watts
Hardscape: Ardennes Faultstone, Bogwood
Substrate: Sera Floredepot and VDL gravel black 1-3 mm.
Filter: Superfish Aqua-Flow 100
CO2: DIY Bio CO2 and internal diffuser
Heater: Sera Thermostat 50 Watts

The Plants:
Eleocharis Parvula
Anubias Barteri Nana
Ammania Bonsai
Microsorum Pteroptus
Micranthemum Monte Carlo
Vesicularia Dubyana

I'll try to update at least once a week, or when there is significant change! And pardon the crappy picture quality, phone pics for now!

 

[James D]

I like it.... I tried scaping a similar tank with pathetic results! Looking forward to seeing it flooded. 🙂

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Short little update... Some of the Monte Carlo in the middle appears to be melting, could be due to my own fault, and not being planted properly, most of the Eleocharis Parvula is looking yellow and sad, and some of the Microsorums leaves are starting to droop. Will be replacing the MC tomorrow, will leave the Parvula for now, and see how it responds after flooding, which I will do tomorrow; the Microsorum is really not liking the DSM, so I hope I can save them by flooding the lot. I have decided on planting some Ceratopteris Siliquosa around the wood, or similar, should my LFS not stock it, and I've decided on adding some red in the form of Alternanthera Reineckii behind the center stone. The mosses seem to have stuck to the wood, and the Anubias are looking pretting good, except for one or two yellowish leaves, and the rest of the MC looks very healthy and happy, the Ammania looks pretty good as well. Will wait and see what happens after flooding. Will be dropping PP to 6 hours a day, adding an hour a week, daily 50% WC for the first week, dosing with EI daily, and upping the CO2 for the next three weeks. Will post pics after flooding tomorrow (plus starting journals on two new projects!).

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Right, got the plants I wanted, and flooded the lot. Quite liked the Ceratopteris, until the lights came on; am not certain now, looks a bit too messy, but will see how it develops. Let me know what you guys think!

I really need to work on my photography skills, or lack thereof.

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Short little update, plus a question. Everything seems to be adapting pretty well to the flooding; the Anubias are colouring up, and the Java ferns are standing proud again. However, in the same spot as before (center of the tank just before the center stone, and directly under the light), the Monte Carlo is melting, as well as the Ammania Bonsai I planted there, and the Eleocharis Parvula is turning brown as well. The HC, AB and EP are doing just fine every where else, the MC is carpetting nicely, and ha a very healthy colour, which leads me to believe it's the amount of light which is melting off the plants in that spot.

Which brings me to the next question: what could I plant there instead of the MC et al, which would not look out of place, and could handle the apparantly intense lighting in that spot? Was thinking either some Lilaeopsis Novea-Zelandiae, Hemianthus Cuba, or Pogestemon Helferi? Had some bad results with HC in the past, but might work in this spot, due to the heavy lighting. But for right now, I'm thinking the Helferi would look best there, but would love some input!

Cheers!

 

[sciencefiction]

Fair play scaping this kind of shape of a tank. I have a tall tank and my small plants always suffered what I considered lack of light. They wouldn't outright melt but would just stop growing and then melt and die, or rather disappear. The taller the plants, the better they did for me.

Are you saying it melts in the middle spot, between the two anubias? I would have tought it gets the least light there based on the pictures. Once you flood the tank with water the light is less too. Plus if there is too much light down there, the anubias won't be long getting covered in algae. How about flow on that spot?

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

The tank is flooded now, I had to because the Java ferns were going bad. And it's the spot right in between the two pieces of wood, just before the last stone, as you can see in the first pic of this thread. The Anubas on the left should be fine, since it's just outside the direct light, as is the one on the right; it's the spot that is exactly under the lamp where the melting is taking place. I've not seen any algae on the Anubias either, so I am pretty sure it's being directly under the light which is causing the problems for the MC. The flow all around the tank appears to be just fine, there is slight movement all over the carpet, as well as in the back corners; you can see the little CO2-bubbles going all over the place.

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

One week in, and looking good! I removed the Ceratopteris, which was Thalichtroides, and not Siliquosa as my LFS sold it; it just didn't look right, was a pain to keep in the substrate, and I was fed up with it after three days. Have moved the wood around a bit, so that the center spot is more covered (removed all the melt), and have planted just a bit more MC along the outer edges, where the Ceratopteris was. The Microsorium appears to have recovered nicely, and the Anubias are sprouting some new roots.
The moss has attached quite nicely as well!
I also replaced the CO2-flipper with an oldskool DIY diffusor, i.e., a cigarette filter jammed into some CO2-line; works a treat!
Two more weeks, and then finally some fauna in there! Am thinking Red Cherry shrimp, some pygmy Cory's and maybe a school of microrabora, not sure yet.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Vinkenoog, Very nice 🙄🙄 Plants are looking healthy 🙂

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Thanks Roy, lots of growth this week, new leaves on the ferns, and lots of spreading and thickening of the MC; will post new pics soon!

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Another week has come and gone, and things are ticking along very nicely; the MC is spreading and growing like mad, especially since I moved in some Amano shrimp on Tuesday; they took care of all the melt, and after a couple of days, it sprang up like mad! The mosses are growing and spreading as well, and I've counted 9 new leaves on the Javaferns! Very happy with the way things are going so far!

.
There are 14 Amano shrimp (15 initially, but one died the very next day, I think stress, the rest are doing great), 9 Tetra's (10 initially, but one managed to jump out; seeing there is a plexyglass on the top, I was impressed, and saddened), and 2 Oto's in there now.

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Another week, and still no complaints! The MC is starting to look like a real carpet, and is actually now spreading to the same spots where it melted TWICE earlier. Go figure. I have added some extra Alternanthere Reineckii at the back, to thicken out the bunch, cause I really like the look of the red in there. Off course, the newer leaves are still green, but in a week, maybe two, it should be a nice wall of red lush.
I am getting some black spots on the ferns, but nothing too bad so far, and there are new leaves starting just about everywhere, and am hoping they will fill out the corners somewhere in the next 6 to 8 weeks.
Today, I added a pair of, what my LFS sold me as, mini-dwarfgourami; these are fully grown, and should be perfectly happy. Well, since they started to eat two hours after moving in, I guess so far, so good. Anyone any idea as to the proper name of these two?

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Forgot to mention; for about three days, my 14 Amano shrimp went missing... Could at times find 1, maybe 2, and that was it... Until I saw one running onto one of the pieces of wood, and going under the Javafern-leaves; and there they all were, shagging their brains out! Have no intention of even attempting to breed them, but still, looks like they are very happy in there. But blimey, what an orgy!😱

 

[Greenfinger2]

H Vinkenoog, Looking good 🙄 With the java fern the spots are normal 😉 Nice fish ID ?? . The shrimp sound like they are very happy in there 😀😀

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

They looked really odd, but I remembered having them in my previous setups from years ago, still think it looks weird, almost look like little ticks. 😱

Still no clue as to the proper name of the mini gourami's, but they are happy as can be, and yesterday evening they already came up to my finger to feed. 😀

The shrimp had a blast, it almost felt uncomfortable watching them go at it, but they felt no shame at all! LOL

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Quick little picture-update.

Amano shrimp enjoying a nettle leaf:

Things are growing pretty good, especially the Javaferns are throwing new leaf after new leaf, and dozens of plantlets are growing on the older leafs. The carpet is thickening nicely, and the Anubias are looking very healthy indeed. I will be replacing the Alternanthera, as it's not looking as I had it in mind; it will be replaced by Ludwigi Perennis in the coming week(s).

 

[Vinkenoog1977]

Couple of quick phone pic of the rescape I did on Heat in the Jungle; the guppy's et al are now in a holding tank, so I could dry start this one. The main differences/ additions to the design of Indiscipline (this one is Discipline) are that I have added Microsorium Pteropus sp. "Trident Mini" (many thanks to my LFS Waterweelde for supplying these from a 15 (!!!) year old mother plant in one of their show tanks), but there is still some MP Petite in there as well, and added Cryptocoryne Beckettii and Willsii. The original idea was to only have the crypts down the sides of the wood, but since I got so much from two little pots, I decided to nix the MC in the center of the scape (in Indiscpline, the MC has melted in that spot any way, both in DSM, as wet; I'm starting to become quite certain that MC is not a big fan of too much light, even though this is not considered blinding light by any stretch, but I have also noticed in Crimson Projekct, where there is a lot more light than in these nano, that the MC is not thriving at all, but in Red, for instance, it grows incredibly well, especially away from the focal point of the light source!), and let the Crypt Willsii carpet that spot, see what happens; it should receive a bit of shade there in the end (so MC would have worked, that was the idea in this one) from both the Javafern, as well as the Crypt Beckettii) any way, so should suit the spot.
What I have not yet planted, and will add when I flood the tank, is Rotala Rotundifolia, which will cover the center back of the tank.

The quick pics: