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The Celestial Swamp - A voyage through a flooded forest fringe (Shallow Riparium)

It's time for a change...

The riparium plants are getting unruly and overshadowing almost the entire tank...

This is after a major cutback...

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And I temporarily removed all the Syngonium to dunk them in a bucket of water to hopefully kill the aphids and eggs... they aren't really killing anything but they are annoying...

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I have moved a couple of the larger Spathiphyllum 'petite' to the HOB boxes and I'm replanting the Syngonium into the overflow instead of in riparium planters... not sure what I'm going to put in those now... essentially I'm moving everything back on the left side... the newer darker Anthurium sp. has been moved to the far back right and the Cyperus alternifolius 'Gracilis' has been removed entirely... I was sick of picking out the brown spent shoots...

This all will hopefully open up the tank on the left side and give the submerged growth a chance to flourish... it's mostly Hygrophila Polysperma now but I like the look of a forest of that compared to stunted anything else I try down there... I also want to grow Ficus pumila (Creeping fig) on the left stump but up to now it's been too shaded...

Overall the tank is a mess and overgrown as I've been on vacation a lot... but it's chugging along healthy and growing...

One of these days I'll add more lights to the back, skin the stand, change out the pump and clean the filter... baby steps...
 
The syngonium is back in, filling 4 planters in the overflow and 1 aqua Verdi suction cup planter...

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Next up is a replanting of the hygrophila polysperma forest... hack down and replant the tops and move them farther back as the submerged section is more open and bright now...

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I just noticed how obvious the remaining white plastic canvas on the overflow is now that I moved the syngonium back as well as the unpainted return from the sump...
 
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Trimmed down the forest of hygrophila polysperma and siphoned off accumulated mulm... Will replant today

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I'm also thinking of adding more otociclus affinis and amano shrimp to help keep things more tidy... every once in a awhile the amano comes out of hiding and looks healthy...
 
After another mulm siphon and some house keeping, I replanted all the hygrophila polysperma in the mid ground...

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The h. Polysperma has always grown gangbusters... and it all came from half a dozen almost dead stems I rescued from a moldy in vitro cup...

For unknown reasons most of the Helanthium tenellum "Green" has become stunted in the foreground and isn't sending out runners... I've tried root tabs with no change... but the ones that seem a little shaded on the left seem to be doing better...

I really don't know why I can't get much else to grow down on the substrate when before it was lush and green... too much or too little light? The soil has depleted? The riparium plants are taking too much of the ferts? Lack of co2?

I haven't tested the water in a long time.. maybe it's something else...

Only one of the species of crypt has done well and I'm not entirely sure which species it was... I believe it's Cryptocoryne lutea... all others have stunted or died... I don't recall if I have tried c. wendtii so I should get some to maybe fill out some of the empty spaces...
 
So apparently you need to check the tightness of plumbing connections regularly... just found a leak at a union on the secondary drain on the bean animal to the sump... they were all pretty loose after 1.5 years... who knows for how long... and the bulkhead is loose too and has a very slow drip... but it seems like it just started when I tightened the union...

Those that have pvc plumbing make note...
 
If the issue is lack of nutrients at the substrate you could try something like nymphoides hydrophylla taiwan, which will send surface leaves up (but is easy to control) for co2 and has a bulb energy store. Other similar species would work well with just additional root tab feeding.
Other crypts should also do well with root feeding as they grow well even in low energy tanks with sand.

I find with my emersed growth that the submerged plants really need heavy feeding to show any growth. The only plants I've found that seem to do ok without any added frets (with emerged growth) is bucephalandra or other slow growers like anubias, java fern etc.
 
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mort said:
If the issue is lack of nutrients at the substrate you could try something like nymphoides hydrophylla taiwan, which will send surface leaves up (but is easy to control) for co2 and has a bulb energy store. Other similar species would work well with just additional root tab feeding.
Other crypts should also do well with root feeding as they grow well even in low energy tanks with sand.

I find with my emersed growth that the submerged plants really need heavy feeding to show any growth. The only plants I've found that seem to do ok without any added frets (with emerged growth) is bucephalandra or other slow growers like anubias, java fern etc.
Click to expand...

I do add fertz but it's based on Tom bars non co2 method which doesn't include emerged growth... perhaps it's not enough... I've tried using osmocote root tabs and I've seen no change where I've put them...

I need to get my hands on a PAR metre so I can see how much light I have... perhaps I have too much light in the centre and it's exacerbating the lack of nutrients...
 
I really enjoy looking at this tank. Dream set up!

Good call with the big trim back, that most recent picture looks so natural.

if you do still go with Ficus pumila I am sure it will go crazy and you will enjoy making it wrap around things to fill gaps. Just be weary of its aggressive roots, mine can take over a big area in no time and requires more trimming than all the other plants combined :lurking:
 
paul_j said:
Very cool tank. Must be nice to see the wood in the background again. Do you have any plants growing on the wood submersed?
Click to expand...

There are anubias nana 'petite' on the right stump... and the ceratophyllum thalictroides crown and roots shoved into a crack on the left stump... i have had that crazy glued to wood before so maybe i will do it again as it reproduces... I always wanted to add hygrophila pinitifada all over the stumps but what's the point? It probably won't grow for me here...
 
I can’t really tell from your photos how well the H polysperma is doing - you might compare with Tropica’s plant profile page
that should help indicate whether yours is lacking nutrient? light? or???

I suspect the emerse plants are removing water column nutrients ... they may still be shading ... it may also be that you need to adjust multiple factors rather than any single dominating factor

Looking back at your substrate layers, it seems unlikely that the relatively limited submerse plant growth has stripped all nutrition (unless your emerse plants have access)

The possibility of allelopathy is also a consideration - especially in a limited water change system

Have you tried S subulata - I find it more forgiving in my low tech tanks than H tenellum (but my tap is very soft & I tend not to add any KH/GH boosters despite intentions, recently substrate has been Tropica Aquarium Soil)
 
Very atmospheric, but I agree, very weird in such a heavily planted tank. Maybe take a glass out and see if you can tell white v. green. Fish all accounted for, no little helpers dumped a pot of food in, autodoser dumped too much?

Your submersed plants are looking really good though!
 
WELCOME MY FRIEND TO THE WORLD OF GREEN WATER ALGAE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE WORST TYPE OF ALGAE IN ALL THE LAND OF AQUASCAPING!!!!

GOOD LUCK AND HATS OFF TO YOU FOR IMMEDIATLY BUYING A UV!!!!

I never did find a real cause for it, but a UV is the only/best treatment method for it ive found.
 
That seems a bit dangerous to me... when we use UV at work we have to have it covered and wear special glasses when we work in the area in case of eye damage... be careful with this!!
 
The fact that it's Chinese made, means it's safer...

It's only temporary and I will try not to look at it... do you know if the uv light is dangerous at all distances? If I look at it out of the corner of my eye from 10feet away let's say?

I'm more worried that the light is going to degrade the plastic components of my sump...
 
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