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Taking a sump. Back in five minutes...

Wow that is some stunning growth mate the pinnatifida has gone crazy good job keeping it low ish beautiful colours too mate and the carpet looks just right for petting hahah

J
 
Cheers @Conort2 its not very well manicured in those photos but shows how it is most days if you don’t stay on top of it.

Is that bacopa colorata at the back?

Yeah it is. Found a pot that was on its last legs and took a chance on chucking it in. There’s a half dozen healthy stems hidden at the back that will be moved somewhere more appropriate in the future.

Your myriophyllum Guyana is really dense, do you trim replant the tops and save the bottoms? I’ve only had mine going for a month but seems to be spreading upwards rather than out and it already has a lot of light hitting it. Would love to achieve the same look.

Mainly just been pinching it back to encourage bushing out. The odd really long stem I’ll pinch right at the base and replant to the desired height.

Tank is like having a tiger by the tail, it’s always requiring pruning to keep some sort of shape so pinching is the easiest method when you’re passing by and want to correct something. It’s just a string of 2 minute pruning sessions using thumb and forefinger most weeks. Tank was designed for rapid growth after all, occasionally the scissors are used in force though and I’ll throw away/replant the tops.
 
pinnatifida has gone crazy good job keeping it low ish

Actually quite long in this photo @Jayefc1 when you pinch all the longer leaves it’s more in scale and looks tight. Also know the Anubias and buce at the front is too large but had no where else to store it. Will probably replace with some mini buces at some point to get everything back in scale.
 
I'm surprised your pinnitifida is still green with that insane amount of lightning, is it due to the onf led Spectrum? Or because you are fertilising with EI?

Love the m.guyana, Beautiful little green stem with great leaf structure. :)
 
Actually quite long in this photo @Jayefc1 when you pinch all the longer leaves it’s more in scale and looks tight. Also know the Anubias and buce at the front is too large but had no where else to store it. Will probably replace with some mini buces at some point to get everything back in scale.

I was actually thinking how nice those big bunches of anubias and buce looked to be honest! What variety of anubias is it?
 
I'm surprised your pinnitifida is still green with that insane amount of lightning, is it due to the onf led Spectrum? Or because you are fertilising with EI?

Due to EI dosing this week @CooKieS



Bit of a longer answer but may be of interest to someone else on here...

How I go about cutting Pinnatifida is also related to how the tank is being dosed at the time i.e. lean dosed (minus additional nitrate, phosphate and iron) or EI.

If we’re restricting the water column I’ll just prune leaves. Encourages smaller growth due to nutrient restriction and the high light will force the leaves to tan.

When dosing full EI the focus is on cutting the runners under the nodes to encourage spreading. Green leaves, more chlorophyll, more photosynthesis, more ability to recover = better spreading growth.

The issue with dosing the water column this way just to suit one species is it may be at the detriment to everything else in the tank. Root tabs and rich soil offers flexibility. But Pinnatifida seems to operate like a conveyor belt, cutting beneath the nodes forces new growth forwards with the top section and the old section below the cut will either snuff it or become a new conveyor belt of growth if dosing is to its liking.

A lot on UKAPS about this plant being difficult/not successful in hard water/prone to burning out.... Have grown it in extremely hard water and soft water with the same success simply by dosing according to its needs that are triggered by the aquascaper through the way its cut - simple.
 
I was actually thinking how nice those big bunches of anubias and buce looked to be honest! What variety of anubias is it?

Petite I think @Wookii but truth be told I’m pretty much Anubias blind once the leaves are smaller than a five pence coin :lol:
 
Cheers @Conort2 its not very well manicured in those photos but shows how it is most days if you don’t stay on top of it.



Yeah it is. Found a pot that was on its last legs and took a chance on chucking it in. There’s a half dozen healthy stems hidden at the back that will be moved somewhere more appropriate in the future.

Looks good, I tried it ages again low tech but it just melted away and died. Please let me know if you ever have any trimmings going spare to buy as I’d like to give it a go again now I’m using co2. I don’t believe it’s that hard a plant.

Looks like il have to get on top of trimming my myriophyllum! It’s a beast when it gets going. Stem growth in high light high tech aquariums can be a pain to keep on top of.

cheers

Conor
 
Looks good, I tried it ages again low tech but it just melted away and died. Please let me know if you ever have any trimmings going spare to buy as I’d like to give it a go again now I’m using co2. I don’t believe it’s that hard a plant.

Not really tested it out yet @Conort2 so can’t say what it does or doesn’t like.

It really was on its last legs when it went in so placed it right at the back so it wouldn’t get pelted by 200 PAR thanks to some shading. Downside is it doesn’t get any Co2 mist back there.

The Amanos :twisted: have turned their attention to the Macrandra in the back left corner now so suspect that patch may become vacant pretty soon. Can try moving the Bacopa there and see how it does.

If you’re looking more immediately give the good folks at Aquarium Gardens a try and see if they have some in or coming in soon. It’s a limited edition line from Tropica so may not be on the website.
 
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Not really tested it out yet @Conort2 so can’t say what it does or doesn’t like.

It really was on its last legs when it went in so placed it right at the back so it wouldn’t get pelted by 200 PAR thanks to some shading. Downside is it doesn’t get any Co2 mist back there.

The Amanos :twisted: have turned their attention to the Macrandra in the back left corner now so suspect that patch may become vacant pretty soon. Can try moving the Bacopa there and see how it does.

If you’re looking more immediately give the good folks at Aquarium Gardens a try and see if they have some in or coming in soon. It’s a limited edition line from Tropica so may not be on the website.
Oh thanks, didn’t realise they had anymore than the limited edition plants shown on their website. Might give them a shout at some point then.

cheers

conor
 
didn’t realise they had anymore than the limited edition plants shown on their website. Might give them a shout at some point then
They have so many diffrent plants coming in I guess it would almost be a full time job just updating the web site every other day lol

And I'm pretty sure Dave or Steve would add what ever you wanted to there plant orders

J
 
Another prune...

Got busy and left it two weeks so the Pinnatifida got excited. Less prune, more land clearance:

upload_2020-2-5_23-1-17.jpeg


upload_2020-2-5_23-1-59.jpeg


Thinking of moving the super red to establish a better ‘v’ shaped valley on the diagonal. Also considering some Helferi to break up the lawn, just a dash here and there up front. Really not keen on a sand foreground on this one so think that idea will get skipped.
 
I love how fast this tank is growing! :)

Instead of the Helferi, you could try some S. repens, or some Eriocaulon? I think the leaf shape and color of the helferi would differ to much from the other plants.
 
Have had both in there before @CooKieS

The amanos ravaged the repens to a stump. Will move a lot of shrimp into the 1200 eventually though and totally agree repens would fit the bill.

The eriocaulon did well for a couple of months in there then started to deteriorate.
 
how do you go about removing the lid off the 'tickle box' - do those pipe fitting unscrew somehow?

Yes they do @Wookii you simply unscrew the unions and those sections slide out. Allows the lid to be removed or for the whole box to be lifted out for maintenance (every three months).

Also, what kind of water level do you typically get above the sponge in the trickle box? Do you get any noise from the water fall in this box?

The water level is below the sponges deliberately, this is controlled by a) how many holes you drill for the trickle plate and b) the size of holes you drill. 1mm-1.5mm holes are plenty big enough and with enough of them flow through will be more rapid than you would expect. Water doesn’t really get a chance to build up in the box.

Water falls down onto the sponge and the noise is suppressed as there is no water breaking/bubbles bursting to create noise. Just hold a saturated sponge under a running tap to experience this, exactly the same inside the filter box.

The holes drilled into the bottom of the box also trickle gently onto the K1 media underneath. The system is silent. You would have to open the cabinet door and put your head close to the sump to hear water movement. It was a priority of the design as it is located in the living room.
 
Hello mate hope your well not see you post for a while hows the tanks coming along
Any chance of some update pics on this little beast
 
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