plant newb..... 4 months later. (pics) [Archive]

View Full Version : plant newb..... 4 months later. (pics)

Nitro

11-02-2006, 10:32 PM

Hey. First off I want to thank everybody for the awesome information on this site. Everything I learned was from here. Basically I was a complete newb 4 months ago and now I have a somewhat cool planted aquarium thanks to you guys!!

I don't remember all the names of the plants, but I do remember that I currently have rotala indica (sp?), giant hygro, an amazon sword, some java ferns and glosso. I have 3 other kinds of plants that I don't remember the names on.

I use the yeast and sugar co2 method. I also dose (all seachem) excel, flourish, potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen once a week. I used to dose twice a week but I have brought it down to once because it vastly improved my thread algae situation.

My tank is a 20gallon. I have a rena filstar xp1. My filter goes in this order, course sponge, fine sponge, ceramic rings, crushed corral and then a micro sponge filter. I also have 65w of compact flourescents at 6700k.

I apologize for my poor quality pictures, but i think you will get the idea.

Lets start 4 months ago.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/8961/782006tr3.jpg
This is the tank newly cycled on July 8th. I went with the planted cycle and it worked out great for me. Even though it is not recommended for a newb, I was careful and it worked great. I originally had a hygro difformis as you can see as well as something else in the back I ended up not liking.

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6927/7292006cb7.jpg
Here is the tank on July 29. Less than a month later. The Giant hygro has gotten much bigger. I didn't realise it was going to grow so fast. At this point I was also getting tired of the fake rock. Although the fish absolutely loved it, I really hated having something fake in my tank.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/6100/8122006pe8.jpg
This is August 12th. Now this is more like it! Got rid of the rocks and added some drift wood. Much more natural looking. I also trimmed everything and moved some stuff around. I also got a few new plants as you can see. I'll tell you what, that hygro difformis on the right that you see... That is probably the trimmings of 1/5 of what it turned into. That thing got huge and fast! I'll leave it in for the time being.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/6164/9202006kz5.jpg
Here is September 20th. Hygro difformis got too much for me. I just ended up throwing it in the trash. I just got too big too fast. The plants you see here are my final configuration of plants. Man that rotala indica really grows nicely, and also looks beautiful where it gets the most light! By far the rotala indica is my favorite plant.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/4788/9262006qe6.jpg
Here we are on September 26, only 6 days later but I gave everything A good trim. I think my Dwarf Gourami got really mad about the trim this time. He had made a huge bubble nest in the rotala indica. Oh well, he can make another in a few weeks.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/1870/11106md8.jpg
Here we are... November first. I completely forgot to take pics all October. Oh well. This shot is a couple days after a trim. The rotala was so tall that the pieces from the far left and far right were touching in the middle. I'm really liking what my tank has become. Maybe in a couple more months I'll have a great glosso carpet.. I can only hope!!

I'm welcome to any suggestion and open to any questions!
Thanks so much for looking!!

cichlidkeeper91

11-02-2006, 10:53 PM

Nitro

11-02-2006, 10:59 PM

I just put a little bit of it in as you can see on the August 12th picture. Then It just spread on its own. I haven't trimmed it or touched it since I put it in. I think you gotta make sure it gets plenty of light. Some of mine got shaded by the other plants and started growing up instead of out.

Hope that helps!

cichlidkeeper91

11-02-2006, 11:03 PM

Yup I got tons of light. 4 watts per gallon. Is that enough? But did they connect to each other?

aquaman325

11-02-2006, 11:03 PM

cool tank! It is very well planted!

plah831

11-02-2006, 11:06 PM

sweet! It looks awesome!

Some of the other plants I've ID'd are wisteria, bacopa, and hornwort. At least they're in the first pic. It's so awesomely dense that you can't even see them in the later pics! Great job! You're an inspiration.

edit: I just read you got read of the wisteria (H. difformis). It is a weedy species, but great for beginners and excellent for absorbing excess nutrients. I bet most intermediate to advanced aquatic gardeners hate the stuff. So I'd say you've undergone a great evolution! Bravo! :thm:

gagaliya

11-02-2006, 11:40 PM

nitro,

very nice progress on your tank. I am surprised the glosso is growing in that substrate though. Can you give us your tank spec? watts, co2 bubble rate, ferts dosing etc.

Nitro

11-02-2006, 11:54 PM

nitro,

very nice progress on your tank. I am surprised the glosso is growing in that substrate though. Can you give us your tank spec? watts, co2 bubble rate, ferts dosing etc.

Well, it is 65w of 6700k compact flourescent(3.25wpg), I dose all the seachem products once a week. As for co2 bubble rate, I try to keep one bubble on the hagen ladder at all times. I'm not sure what that rate would be. Whats wrong with this substrate? It is made by seachem and is called flourite or something. I think it is made for plants. Are you just referring to it not being thick enough?

cichlidkeeper91

11-02-2006, 11:56 PM

Is sand good for Glossostigma? Thats what I have

justintoxicated

11-03-2006, 1:46 AM

Nice tank, very similar specs to mine, I wish I had something larger than a 20 gallon :(

The problem with flourite is that the particles on top tend to be too large to hold teh goloso down. I have the same substrate I'm trying a different gorund cover. But yours is great! As long as it isn't floating up to the top and keeps spreading I doubt you will have any issues.

gagaliya

11-03-2006, 1:47 AM

Well, it is 65w of 6700k compact flourescent(3.25wpg), I dose all the seachem products once a week. As for co2 bubble rate, I try to keep one bubble on the hagen ladder at all times. I'm not sure what that rate would be. Whats wrong with this substrate? It is made by seachem and is called flourite or something. I think it is made for plants. Are you just referring to it not being thick enough?

ah it's flourite? nevermind then, thought it was just regular coarse gravel.

you using pressurized or diy co2? i wanted to try glosso but was kinda turned off after hearing how difficult the upkeep is on them.

mfzzzoo

11-03-2006, 2:12 AM

Looks great. Nicely done!

I just started my 38G tank a couple of days ago with some green and sunset hygros, wisteria, water sprite, rotala and two hornwort-like plants. Hope to success like you.

Captain Hook

11-03-2006, 4:13 AM

Excellent work. Your tank's looking good. Just a small suggestion for taking pics, try turning all the lights in the room off and take a picture with just the tank lights on, no flash. Play around with that and you'll probably be surprised how well they turn out. A tripod will needed for good shots.

justintoxicated

11-03-2006, 4:48 AM

You can crop them as well like this

kjf91004

11-03-2006, 8:09 AM

Hey I like your glossostigma carpet. How did yours spread like that? I just put some in my tank. Does it just spread around on its own? I spread it out. Do they connect to each other and just form a carpet or what?

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/library/11951-aquascaping-journal-series-foregrounds.html

Here's a link from apc that has an excellent article on planting carpet plants!

dona

11-04-2006, 9:05 AM

Nitro

11-04-2006, 1:56 PM

Hi, I really admire your pictures. How did you get started with plants I have never had a planted tank but thought wow if you can so can I have a 20 gal how many inches of stones ? what thread did you read? any suggestions .were did you get all the info to get started. co2 is greek to me.

Well, I had a 10 gallon tank with all fake plants and rocks. I really didn't like the look of it. I also decided the 10g was too small so I went out and bought a 20g tank.

I just researched every aspect of a planted tank, starting with what you need to start out with. I got seachem flourite substrate, a filter, a heater (at a lfs) and a 65watt compact florescent fixture from ebay. The light is very important, you need as much light as you can afford (to an extent). Because i had over 3wpg (watts per gallon) I got a co2 canister. I didn't make my own, I just bought the hagen system. You can get them pretty much at any lfs. All you do is add water, sugar and a small amount of yeast (i never actually measure, i just eye it).

I then went out and got plants. I asked the lfs what was easy and they sold me some plants. I then really got into the plants.

In order to get a grasp on it, I researched for nearly a month before I bought my first piece of equipment. And I didn't really get a grasp on things until about 3 months after my first plant was planted.

I say just go for it. You will learn from your mistakes as you go. Doing is the best form of learning. My first lesson came in the form of algae. Hair algae to be exact. This happened because my co2 was slowing down (it only lasts about 2.5-3 weeks) and I was overdosing fertilizers.

So in a nutshell.
Research research research.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. The members here are great!