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Steve's 60cm - "Old stump on the hill"

Thanks guys. I might give it a more drastic hacking back this eve. I wanted everything to root properly, ie the hydrocotyle and staurogyne. Mind, the Staurogyne is pretty fresh looking from another tank and has only been in there a few days, so isn't affected by the algae :)

Graeme, it's that tank in my front bedroom that had algae completely covering the front of it! Given the glass a damned good clean and spurced it up, so you can actually see whats inside now :lol:

Quick question though, with the narrow fern, can I be as agressive with the pruning? How about the Cyperus? Sharp scissors and trim the leaves (similar to vallis) or off at the base?

Thanks for the comments and suggestions guys :) Keep the tips/critiques comming!
 
SteveUK said:
...with the narrow fern, can I be as agressive with the pruning? How about the Cyperus? Sharp scissors and trim the leaves (similar to vallis) or off at the base?
You can prune the fern back real hard. Right back to the rhizome if you dare!

Not so sure on the Cyperus as I've never actually grown it myself. I'm guessing it needs pruning at the base, due to the leaf structure.
 
Well, I got the strimmer out last night and gave it a good going over! Heres a (crappy) iPhone snap I took this morning:

From this:

June2009_Front01.jpg


to this:
July09_Front.jpg
 
Wow, you're not scared to use the scissors are you! :p It should look great once grown back out and trimmed up nice. I always like seeing an aquascape evolve.
 
June2009_Close01.jpg


Steve the plant at the front small round leaves (low level) what is it? standing on stalks? :?:
 
Waho, check that prune out, shake the bed pal. But good work mate.

A note though. For me after a hard trim like that. I would be reducing my photo period and knocking the ferts on the head for a while. When they start coming back through, then i would tease the trace mix in and build up as growth builds up also. Keep your Co2 high high HIGH though.

Good work mate.
 
Graeme Edwards said:
A note though. For me after a hard trim like that. I would be reducing my photo period and knocking the ferts on the head for a while

i'll be devils advocate....

may i ask why?....that would render EI useless right? excess nutrients and all that? we dose WAY more than needed yet we dont reduce lighting periods.

when ever i trim i keep everything the same. i may be completely wrong though.

food for thought :D
 
Its just the way I do it Mark. I dont dose EI, im not a great advocate of it. Maybe its too techie for me, but I have other reasons.

Thats what I would of done, and im confidant it would work for me.

EI is not the only way to grow plants. The heavy pressure to do EI on this forum is not to my liking, but it seems quite popular for reasons I do understand. But its not the be all and end all.

Hope that explains it a little.

Cheers. :)
 
Graeme Edwards said:
Its just the way I do it Mark. I dont dose EI, im not a great advocate of it. Maybe its too techie for me, but I have other reasons.

Thats what I would of done, and im confidant it would work for me.

EI is not the only way to grow plants. The heavy pressure to do EI on this forum is not to my liking, but it seems quite popular for reasons I do understand. But its not the be all and end all.

Hope that explains it a little.

yeah, of course mate.

just wanted to throw in a curve ball really. it's not so much the techniques for dosing rather the excess thingy :D regardless of EI, TPN+ or any other fert.
 
I dont do that either. I aim to give the plants what they need and just enough, but I use bottled ferts. I dont put much science into it. I work off the bottle and tweek where I feel needed. It works for me and works for many of the customers I help on a daily basis.

Ive not had any personal experience of over dosing and not getting algae. This is with macro's though. It seems ok with micro's, for me any way.

I dose well with trace mix's whether it be TPN or Profito, or even ADA. But when it comes to N and P, I go careful with these. I do add them, but I balance it to the plants I am growing, the lights and Co2 levels etc.
EI is made to sound very cut and dry and I really dont see it like that. Many EI conversations dont talk about balance with plant choice, lighting, etc etc.

Thats my 3p worth.

Sorry Steve for Hijacking this, lol

Cheers.
 
last from me too steve :lol:

Graeme Edwards said:
dont put much science into it. I work off the bottle and tweek where I feel needed.

that's more science and effort than me using EI, i dont tweak :lol: just put it in and dont worry, anyways Graeme, i fully understand we all have different ways of doing things. what works for some dont work for others. :D i'm from the CEG camp

keep it up matey.

soz steve. your scape still rocks from my last post :lol:
 
Got some growth comming through already on the fern and bolbitis. I actually chopped off some bolbitus rhizome, to help shape the new growth so it hopefully doesn't take over the whole scape!

I'm sticking with my shonky EI dosing (dosing about 1/4 - 1/2 tsp of everything on week days). I'm trying to keep the water changes up too, having done about 3 since the chop. I'm planning to do water changes every other day.

I noticed the water was a little cloudy yesterday, after I'd disturbed the substrate a little. Gave it a water change and seems to be better, but I'll know for sure tonight. I added a little of the peacock and <insert name of forgotton moss here> which Matt very kindly gave me at the weekend when we all met up in Croydon. I've added this to wood at the back/right I've superglued it :D Hopefully it'll grow out. I think I've placed it quite well, and quite naturally.

I'm going to keep up the water changes, and let things grow out a little more before taking any more pics. Probably next weekend :D

Oh, I've been playing with my CO2 levels too. Got to he point where the 3 or 4 shrimp were swimming about looking dazed so backed it off again. I've tweeked it ever so slightly again so fingers crossed :)
 
Ah, the butchered tank. I've seen this before.

I told you, don't go anywhere near my hair! :lol:

saintly said:
Graeme Edwards said:
Its just the way I do it Mark. I dont dose EI, im not a great advocate of it. Maybe its too techie for me, but I have other reasons.

Thats what I would of done, and im confidant it would work for me.

EI is not the only way to grow plants. The heavy pressure to do EI on this forum is not to my liking, but it seems quite popular for reasons I do understand. But its not the be all and end all.

Hope that explains it a little.

yeah, of course mate.

just wanted to throw in a curve ball really. it's not so much the techniques for dosing rather the excess thingy :D regardless of EI, TPN+ or any other fert.

Hmmm, interesting topic.
 
I've just ordered another plant to go into this tank. Can't wait till it arrives later this week :!:

Still got green dust algae going on. I've got a few ideas after having a chat with Graeme earlier...
 
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