NAtural Jurassic....shaky video p17.

[Ady34]

Pennyworts are all NO3 hogs, this makes them useful as "test kits" for NO3. Mic umbrosum is another plant similar in that regard.
Pennyworts will go pale and yellowish without good NO3. 10-20 ppm etc.

See the 180 Gallon cardinal tank of mine for the lace plant effects, I think you will see the idea will work nicely and everyone loves a lace plant.
I consider them to be a cooler color and mix well with moss and ferns. the leaves will form a fan like pattern in the background.
The right plant for the space is often a matter of experience, hard to teach that.

Great tank and a nice plant, I'd need a mature specimen to fit now though!

Great looking tank . Wish mine looked half as good as yours.
Very inspirational and my next scape will be aiming for some like this .
Cheers


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Thank you Sam, but your plant health is superb.....I'd like some of that!

NIce one, my friend! Love it!
Very wild and natural looking!

Cheers Antoni, ill need to keep it from getting too wild!

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[zanguli-ya-zamba]

.

Dr Tom,
This stauro looks healthy and fantastic !
Hope I will have a good result with mine
What would be you advices on this plant ? The one I have is already in submerge form ?
Thanks

Ady, mate sorry to hijack your journal

Cheers

 

[plantbrain]

I'd not worry about the size, they will grow well if you give them ferts and plenty of CO2. 60cm long leaves, x 10cm wide etc if you keep them long enough, Bulbs are fairly cheap.
Just wait, they will fill in, I'd get 3-4 bulbs. You can do this now while you keep the other plants in there, then remove those as the Lace transitions.

 

[Ady34]

I'd not worry about the size, they will grow well if you give them ferts and plenty of CO2. 60cm long leaves, x 10cm wide etc if you keep them long enough, Bulbs are fairly cheap.
Just wait, they will fill in, I'd get 3-4 bulbs. You can do this now while you keep the other plants in there, then remove those as the Lace transitions.

ive found some from a well known retailer but think ill ask around first to see if i can source some cheaper than £13.23 each that retailer is asking .....maybe ill just try one first to see how it fares. Im guessing you suggest multiple specimins due to the rest periods they sometimes have? (dont want it to totally disappear for a while). They seem quite particular in there requirements also, although i keep my temperature set at 73 farenheit, it regularly rises above 75 f on warm days but maybe your cardinal tank was warm too?
cheers
Ady.

 

[plantbrain]

They do not have rest periods unless you have higher temps or poor conditions. They do not stop growing in my experience.
Cooler temps help, so 25C or so or less, they should never stop growing. Even at 30C like my 180 Gal, they never once stopped growing.

Since you keep things in the 21-25C range, you have nothing to worry about.
Do not be scared to snip off larger leaves that start getting problematic etc, or torn leaves etc.

They will grow back.

 

[Ady34]

Hi,
i had increased the main photoperiod by half an hour, but got a little returning hair algae so have switched the light for my old 2x 39w ho t5 unit from the studio tank, will see how this fares with 78w over 250l. I dont think its the duration of the photoperiod, more the intensity of the light which was just too much for this scape, and i could not remove bulbs independently. Think ill look into a more versatile unit for the long term, the newer NA units have two sets of 2 pc bulbs independant of one another so this will offer more versatility with intensity, depending on the scape style, plants, distribution etc etc. I could raise the whole light arm by drilling more fixing holes in the cabinet sides, but then you get more issue with light spill and snow blindness from the lights

Really enjoying the inhabitants though, the fish are really interesting to watch, especially the tetras at feeding time, they sit in the flow behind the food tablets picking off bits that are spilled by the shrimp or pencil fish. Still need to add a crossechelius siamensis and some more crs from the nano, hopefully get round to doing that this weekend. Also fancy some x-ray tetras so will get some of those too

Amanos are little so and so's, they pick up and walk off with any food i drop for the corydoras, so ensuring they get plenty is fun!

little phone shot:

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[squid102]

Ady, what size Maui sand is that? Coarse or fine?

 

[Ian Holdich]

X ray tetras are a very under rated fish IMO, I love them, they shoal really well also. They get a nice colour once settled.

 

[Ady34]

Ady, what size Maui sand is that? Coarse or fine?

Hi squid, it's the fine size

 

[Ady34]

X ray tetras are a very under rated fish IMO, I love them, they shoal really well also. They get a nice colour once settled.

Yeah, I got 5 and 5 lemon tetras that have coloured up really nicely too...I couldn't decide which to get. I'll get probably 3 more of each to up the shoal numbers. Really like the deep bodied tetras and the collectoritis selection I now have. I fancied some bentosi tetras too but Ed put me off them a bit when he told me his even hunted down amanos! Plus they like it a little warmer, the choices so far are all happy in the slightly cooler water that I'm keeping. Im really enjoying watching the fish in this tank, interesting at feeding time especially
Also got some ranunculus inundatus to try and a pot of Staurogyne to try.....again!! Managed to find a couple of lace plants also, very small specimens at the moment but at £2.50 each, a big saving on the alternative I found so worth a punt. I'll get them planted up next water change.
Cheerio
Ady

 

[Ady34]

Hi,
managed to get a siamese algae eater over the weekend so the cuc is nearly complete, just some crs to move over from the nano tank now.
Unfortunately as the algae is in recession, i have a little returning melt on the riccardia and some on the microsorum trident which is frustrating. Points to c02, but i thought with the reduced lighting levels that things would improve further. I have increased the photoperiod up to 7 hours, but wouldnt have thought this would have an influence. Im carrying out 2x 60% water changes per week and whilst doing them am cleaning the filters too to ensure no reduction in distribution so im really confused about this
I could raise the lighting a little, but perhaps it suggests the last resort may be to look at adding some spray bars to try and improve distribution, but with such a big hardscape im worried about flow at the centre rear this way.
Vallis seems to be filling in now, plenty of new plants rising up i noticed when trying to plant the lace plant bulbs down there the other day.
Thinned the maidenhair fern last week as its doing really well and was strongly shading and looking a bit top heavy. Also removed the peacock moss from the base of the large right rock face, it wasnt attaching and had browned at the base. I replaced with some trimmings from the java moss which will hopefully attach naturally and creep more along the rock.
Considering adding some microsorum petite from the nano tank in behind the left cluster of hydrocotle tripartita to fill in that area some more and add an extra layer of depth there.
Anyway, its not in the 'sweet spot yet'.....but the fish are keeping me happy

Another camera video, im really going to have to learn how to edit video on the mac

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Alastair]

Really really nice mate. Looks like its been planted for ages. Quite jealous.

Ive found with the trident that pretty much any change in anything and it sulks and has a melt down before growing back. It happened when I repositioned my wood then again when I changed the direction of flow in the tank

 

[tim]

Looking fantastic ady, top job

 

[nanocube]

Hello Ady
Just one question...
Why you replacement NA lights?Too strong?Algae control?
Regards
Tom

 

[Ady34]

Really really nice mate. Looks like its been planted for ages. Quite jealous.

Ive found with the trident that pretty much any change in anything and it sulks and has a melt down before growing back. It happened when I repositioned my wood then again when I changed the direction of flow in the tank

Thanks Alastair, maybe it didnt like the change in light lol!

Looking fantastic ady, top job

thanks Tim.

Hello Ady
Just one question...
Why you replacement NA lights?Too strong?Algae control?
Regards
Tom

Hi Tom,
the unit i had was an early incarnation which offered little versatility with the flourescents. 4 36w pc bulbs all on simoultaneously was too much for this slow grower.....and or my lack of co2 management! So decided to reduce light right back down in attempt to make life easy.
All the new NA lights have split flourescents so you can utilise only 2, or all four bulbs which is much better and something im saving up for as aesthetically the unit is much nicer and offers more long term options.

Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Ady34, Wicked Scape

 

[NanoJames]

Nice tank Ady! How did you plant the Maidenhair Fern? I saw one in a local Dobbies today and was very tempted but didn't know how to actually plant it! Do you have a small pot for it?
Cheers

 

[Lee Sweeting]

Looking good Ady! I love this scape

 

[Alastair]

Nice tank Ady! How did you plant the Maidenhair Fern? I saw one in a local Dobbies today and was very tempted but didn't know how to actually plant it! Do you have a small pot for it?
Cheers

Just superglue the roots to damp emmersed wood or plant just the roots in a planter in the tank. Its a lovely plant for above water

 

[NanoJames]

Just superglue the roots to damp emmersed wood or plant just the roots in a planter in the tank. Its a lovely plant for above water

Thanks Al! I might get one at some point. The one I saw might have been a bit big for my 20 litre though!