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Where The Jungle "Destroys" Red Rock Creek..

That my little plastic Lizzard Mascot was glued to my Mountainback frame for 20 years as talisman for good luck. (An old Keltic symbol for eternal life).

He's perfect :) I think he should stay permanently!
 
He's perfect :) I think he should stay permanently!

It will.. :) It looks kinda neet.. Thanks for the idea...
 
After test running the gully a few days i noticed some need for modification. It pushed some water out at the top. Had to play with some polymer (kit) covered again with sand.. :) Finaly have it running optimaly as it should.



This is also in its maximum intended water level.

There are about 10 cherries in there already and a buch of daphnia etc. But i only occasionaly spot them.. The likely are hidding in the subterranian lava labirynth accessible via the cave.. Or in the long filter tube.
 
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Having a laugh... :)

Went to the pond shop today for some plants.. Lilaeopsis brasiliensis.. € 3.95 see the pot size.. Next to the Aqurium version potlet, internet price €2.95, yet don't know the local store price.
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We obviously get kicked in the bottoms, if you need to buy this plant during the winter. :)

The other pot is Myriophyllum aquatica Red stem.. Same price..
 
Great value for money but make sure you check and rinse the plants thoroughly, I've found leeches hiding in plants from the pond section :sick:
 
Great value for money but make sure you check and rinse the plants thoroughly, I've found leeches hiding in plants from the pond section :sick:

Did you?.. :eek: I never did fortunately.. At least not that i noticed, in the garden water party i just dump in the complete pots. But if i plan to use it in something indoors i always rinse all completely off to the bare roots , since i don't want that dirt soil in the tank. :)
 
Now i think i'm done planting :) all is there and it's waiting now for it to grow in.. All pllants established realy well, mosses are starting to show new growth already slowly spreading. Tho it's still a bit at the cool side, i think i have to wait out april and hopefully go nuts in may. A plant like Juncuns repens is actualy a very good indicator plant for this, it's the only one strugling a bit, it is known t die bellow 12°C and my average temp for now is around 15°C slowly rising to 17° during the day. This plant doesn't show any activity yet. The rest is slowly rooting and developing new growth. Exept what i planted today ofcourse, but these i don't have to worry about.

The jungle corner, there still is a Pachira aqautice cutting waiting to root in the propagator, that's the only one still planned to go in there as Begonia neighbour.
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The bog area..
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And the creek, with the Myriophyllum aquatice red stem in the back left. The water level still can go a tad heigher, but i wait for that till the Milfoil starts to grow and pop the surface.
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A shrimp hugging the water lily.. :) Can't wait for her to start making floaters..
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It's fun to see the shrimps exploring the shallows, sometimes crawling partialy out of the water..
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For this full view i have to lay down on the cautch in front of it.. I can tell it's more fun than laying in front of a television watching comercials.
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Actualy with experiencing that the temps are yet not ideal, i have no idea how the plants will react too it once fully matured. Thus not to take to much chances i'm brainstorming to find a way to give it a heater.. But it's definitively going to be a hidden one.. Found some very small 12 volt 50 watt heater cartridges used in a 3D printer. Found an easy way to water proof it.. Only have to test it's capacity to heat 35 litres of water with a small 20x6mm heater element, if i can keep the water at 19°C that way i'm more then happy. I ordered 2 elements and an external controller. When all arrieved i skip with that to the DIY section. :thumbup: I have a hunch i'm going to need it during the winter to keep all happy.

If the high tempratures during the summer stay acceptable and can keep it at a respectable temp during the winter.. Than i might consider some small fish sp. to join in. Such as Oto and the small cory sp. i have 3 to choose from. They all are not so fussy at the lower temp ranges.
 
It's surprisingly developing faster than inticipated into an intruiging setup with some steady growing interesting details. There is so much going on it is hard for the camera to auto focus on what i try to take a picture from. Need to go manual in this one.. :)

Some details on it's development..

Noticed the water temp going a tad low especialy during the night hours. Thus i decided to add a heater set to 19°C constant till the temp stabilizes naturlay and no longer needs that heater. But it kinda worked pretty well the plants seem to appriciate it.

Myriophyllum growing swiftly and popped the surface withing a few days after planting.
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The macrophytes are still in a trasition mode.. but the mosses are going mental and this is actualy for me the most intruiging part.. It is versatility in the tiniest details, simply green from a distance but up close it turns into a jugle of different grow forms. Me wondering what it all is, all is collected from nature, not knowing what i picked..
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This bigger livermoss sp. does exeptionaly good, i believe i had it before and @dw1305 once did ID it for me, but i cannot seem to find it back. I found it in the garden growing on the soil from a potted fern.
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In the above pic among the red spore caps you see tiny grassy grow form among the moss.. That is the 'Utricularia blanchettii 'Chapada Diamantina'.. A bold name for such a tiny gem iyou have to look closely 3 times to see it..

Another unidintified livermoss seems to love it, i can almost hear it growing.. In figur of speach.. :woot:
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And this one, bellow the lighter green leafmoss makes me want to dance around the table.. Did i finaly manage to unintentionaly drag home a Plagoichila sp.? It definitively looks like it.. Would be amazing, without knowing dragging a moss home that already is for years on my wish list. What are the odds?. Wishfull thinking forcing the luck?..
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Another one slowly creeping up against lava dust glued to the HOB's feeding tube..
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hydrocotyle leucocephala already flowering..
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Another intersting tiny detail, is the little white root piece you can see in th epicture bellow 2/3 down 1/3 from the right in the substrate at the glass. That small vertical white stripe.. :) There is another one showing, harder to see and growing diagonaly.. Not sure from what it is, best guess it's likely from the Echinodorus sp.. And till now it only made 2 small new leaves less than 4cm² new tissue in all those weeks, but it shot some fat new roots down already almost reaching the bottom of the tank. Another hint again towards, that a young or transpanted plant first puts most of its energy into root recovery and development. The plant tissue that generaly has most of our attention and focus, seemingly isn't the most important for the plant itself. This obviously happens outside our view bellow the substrate. :)
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Was a good hunch to give them a heater to provide some warmer feet. :thumbup: It seems to pay off..
 
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Brilliant set up, I agree the little details are fascinating and often hard to capture on a picture. Great project. T


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Hi all,I think it might be a moss, something like <"Plagiomnium affine">.

cheers Darrel

That could very well be it.. It seems to grow in abundancy reported all over the place. :) I live in the last block all the way down right hand side.
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Blue dot means Sufficiently relliable report..

Tho i personaly never found it growing in nature.. Or simplly overlooked it.. Some how i did drag it home within other moss i collected.

I might need to bring my spectacles to the forest next time i go.. :rolleyes:

For now since it still is so small i'm not going to touch it.. Later on there is ID data enough..
https://www.verspreidingsatlas.nl/3142#

Thanks..
 
Great tank. I can't wait until it fully develops.

When do you think you'll add fish? I still think kuhlis will do really well, especially f water level goes up a tad to cover some of hills.

Thanks.. :)

I realy do not know yet.. I'm waiting for some ordered materials to drop in to build a super mini heater. Thus that still needs to be build and tested. It takes time and obviously some cold days.. Tho heating it isn't my worst worry, it more like is the cooling part.. Since it stands in front of a South-East window it will recieve quite a blast of sunlight during the summer.. For the rest of the indoors aqauriums the highest measured temp was 29°C with no issues. I have yet no idea how the temps will rise in this setup.. Anyway, i feel like at least waiting till past mid summer and see where the temperature stabalizes. If it stays in an acceptable range i might add some small nano fish sp.

Since it is planted in South American biotope theme i'm definitively not putting in Asian fish.. Can't help it, to me personaly, looking at multicultural setup community tanks even tho i can find them beautifull but still i find it a bit like Cursing in the Church.. Already crossed the line with throwing in Cherry shrimps..

I did cross that line more often than i want to.. And it always bugs me.. :rolleyes:
 
Me too... I'm sure that new hobbyists would not care in the least (I didnt), but now I am a bit older and wiser, fish from the same area of the 2orld do s33ms to go better together... that said I'm not sure why!... it is unlikely that all the South American fish I have would ever be found together In the same stream!
 
Slowly but steadily.. :)
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It gets less full sun than i expected, some trees in front of my house grew bigger over the years providing shade. Till now didn't realy have any strange high temp readings, it stays pretty cool. Not yet realy over 20°C. And no significant algae growth other than the desired aufwuchs.. A bit of hair agae i can easily manage to control with regular maintenance. Shrimps and snail are happily thriving in it.
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Even tho it stands next to a south east faced window, i have the feeling i could use some more light. :)
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Umbrella Moss next to the small but steadily growing Utricularia.. Growing into eachother.
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HC is doing good in the shallows, it grew some gsa during transition, but that is 90% gone now. As suspected enough CO² for it if planted shallow enough. Nothing difficult about this plant..

All the white roots at the bottom is from the HC.. :)
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The mosses are going mental in this setup, alreade twice over grew the stream completely and had to take it out..
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Interesting is seeing the different grow forms develop in the mosses from relative dry to wet to submersed.

In the centre Liver moss and some other growing on top of a rock in its dry form. Its very compact and feels very dense and hard to the tough.
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Very same liver moss in submersed form.
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The snail wandering down stream.
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This makes me smile, some wonderfull scenery of tiny moss sp. carpeting the dw at the water line.
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Jununs repens, what a slow bugger and still not happy. But see some slow improvements comming.
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For so far, half way summer.. :thumbup:
 
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