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Spirallassis

Danny

Member
Joined
29 Jul 2012
Messages
863
So.... here I go again lol

I've named this spirallassis which I think is a totally made up word but it reflects how my head has felt getting to this point, after numerous ideas and attempts I have finally settled on what I hope to be a lush dense forest..... we shall see lol

Tank: TMC Signature 600x450x300
Light: ADA Aquasky 601, 7hrs a day
Filter: Eheim 2213 external
Circulation: additional 300lph pump
Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia
Decor: Spider wood
Ferts: TNC complete
Co2: Yes inline
Plants: ( not all planted yet )
  • Alternanthera Reineckii ''Mini
  • Bucephalandra sp. "Deep Purple"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "Red"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "King blue"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "rainbow"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "saidil"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "wavy leave"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "mini black harund"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "mini harund"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "mini pagoda"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "Pink lady"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "Aridarum mini"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "mini varian"
  • Bucephalandra sp. "mini coin"
  • Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Rubella'
  • Cryptocoryne albida 'Brown'
  • Cryptocoryne beckettii "Petchii"
  • Cryptocoryne wendtii "brown"
  • Hygrophila pinnatifida
  • Monosolenium tenerum
  • Rotala rotundifolia 'Orange Juice'
  • Riccia fluitans
  • Vesicularia ferriei 'Weeping Moss'
  • Vesicularia sp. "Creeping Moss"
  • Vesicularia "Christmas Moss"
This is my first attempt at a high tech so will be an interesting experience, the tank was flooded today so full of o2 bubbles and co2 from playing with my bubble count.

The wood is still weighed down and the buces only wedged in temporary position, the AR mini and Rotala Wallichii are in a sorry state after being in a pot on the window sill for some time so hoping they recover.

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Well done :)

My suggestion
Add in some auxiliary plants ie fast growing stems (see Tropica's list on their website Guide)
as they will just give you some wiggle room

I'd do a 5-6 h photoperiod rather than your present 7, work your way up to the 7 once daily growth is visible (on the fast growers) :)

Also this is ADA soil & their "Way" includes at least 50% - 90% daily water changes for the first couple weeks - or longer as needed - I suspect their model assumes steady plant growth after this time, so if not much is happening in your tank at this point, continue with large frequent water changes, tapering off frequency & size as growth becomes rampant ;)

I just did a total rescape a week Friday, using Cardamine lyrata as my fast stem (a fairly economic plant & one I've always liked though it doesn't seem popular)
 
I learned from my last scape that frequent/daily water changes are pretty much a must for a heavily planted start so will be doing that for sure, I'm considering Limnophila hippuridoides for along the back of the tank.

It will be in direct flow so need something sturdy enough to withstand a 300lph pump and my external return.
 
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Looking much more lively :)

Looks like an awesome Cryptocoryne collection - did you keep track of what's where? Or go for the crypt jumble?

What plants are in the foreground?
 
I have a general idea of what's where but tried to just chuck them in naturally mixed really, the foreground is a mixture of;

Alternanthera Reineckii ''Mini"
Cryptocoryne rubella
Cryptocoryne albida 'Brown'
Cryptocoryne beckettii "Petchii"
 
Well.... after a hurried planting on Thursday and going to New York on Friday morning I've come back to a bit of a mess which I expected.

Crypts have melted quite a bit, if it's just normal melting or not I have no idea, quite a bit of work to do on it but after landing at 9am this morning I think it will have to wait until tomorrow.

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Another 50% water change today along with adding moss and putting the buces in their fixed places. Also removed the Wallichii as it was recovering but in a really bad state, I may replace it or go for something else.

Quite a mixture of mosses so will be interesting to see how they settle in.

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Today's little update,

Dosing 2ml TNC liquid carbon and complete ferts daily now and co2 at approx 2bps, I'll probably stop the liquid carbon in about 4 weeks once everything has settled in.

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6 weeks today I first filled this tank, 3 scapes later and this is where it is and with it's first life finally!

Planted 8 days ago so a lot of recovery and growing to do but it is now home to 6 cardinal tetra and 5 red sakura shrimp
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For a while now I've been a bit concerned about the intensity of the ADA Aquasky light unit so decided to tape over a few of the led's to dull it down a bit, I only had blue tape but it's inadvertently given a lovely hue to the tank

There is also a bit of a hair algae issue starting so I have been trying to eliminate possible causes which led to decreasing the light intensity, I have also increased co2 to approx 4bps, the cardinal tetra were not happy for the last hour of co2 so tweaked it slightly and will see how they get on tomorrow.
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Since noticing some hair algae I've been paying very close attention to different areas of the tank to look for signs of it, one of the reasons for deciding to add co2 was the difference in colour from AR mini compared to non co2 tanks.

I have my external return which has an inline co2 diffuser attached along with a circulation pump both in the back left corner facing the back right corner and external outlet in the middle of the left side creating a circular flow, the bulk of hair algae I have noticed is in the front right corner on some AR mini.

Now being in the front right corner in the L shape of flow I would expect that area to be doing best.....

However looking into the tank from above the AR mini in the front left of the tank is actually doing the best, it is pretty much algae free and the new leaves are showing a much improved colour from when there was no co2 added.

Don't mind the melt in the picture it's recovering slowly.
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