My 45 Gallon Slate Tank
- Thread starter GDominy
- Start date
The Pruning - Phase 1
Well tonight I finally tackled the first stage of pruning this beast. Things had gotten extremely tangled and I had to uproot, untangle each group of plants, remove old ratty growth, trim off ariel roots (I still missed a ton), regroup and replant them all. Things look really ratty tonight.. but after a week or so of growth things will look pretty good.
The next stage of pruning will be the moss. I need to spend a few hours with a pair of scissors and start shaping the stuff. I can start making the round shapes with the moss now that there is enough "bulk".
Here is the tank before the process. Threw down some plastic to protect the carpet as this gets very, very messy. Got my tools, got a beer and my smokes... I'm up for a long evening.
I start by removing all the plants on the right side. I neglected to take a picture of the tank with them out, or the plants all spread out on the plastic.. but here you can see the change.. hacked out a ton of growth.
It looks ugly now, but I've pruned the fast growing plants down more then the slow growing ones so in about a week they should all be at the height I want them to be.
http://aquafiend.plantedtank.net/images/45-Journal/04252007/after_left.jpg[img]
Here you can see the whole tank with the right side still untouched.
[img]http://aquafiend.plantedtank.net/images/45-Journal/04252007/after_left2.jpg
and after....
This shot makes me get freaked out.. I know I hacked out a ton of plant material, but I needed to open up a few plants and I removed a few plants that just weren't working for me. It's just such a huge change now.. the tank is soooo bright. I'm going to biting my fingernails for the next week hoping stuff fills in the way I hope!
Well tonight I finally tackled the first stage of pruning this beast. Things had gotten extremely tangled and I had to uproot, untangle each group of plants, remove old ratty growth, trim off ariel roots (I still missed a ton), regroup and replant them all. Things look really ratty tonight.. but after a week or so of growth things will look pretty good.
The next stage of pruning will be the moss. I need to spend a few hours with a pair of scissors and start shaping the stuff. I can start making the round shapes with the moss now that there is enough "bulk".
Here is the tank before the process. Threw down some plastic to protect the carpet as this gets very, very messy. Got my tools, got a beer and my smokes... I'm up for a long evening.
I start by removing all the plants on the right side. I neglected to take a picture of the tank with them out, or the plants all spread out on the plastic.. but here you can see the change.. hacked out a ton of growth.
It looks ugly now, but I've pruned the fast growing plants down more then the slow growing ones so in about a week they should all be at the height I want them to be.
http://aquafiend.plantedtank.net/images/45-Journal/04252007/after_left.jpg[img]
Here you can see the whole tank with the right side still untouched.
[img]http://aquafiend.plantedtank.net/images/45-Journal/04252007/after_left2.jpg
and after....
This shot makes me get freaked out.. I know I hacked out a ton of plant material, but I needed to open up a few plants and I removed a few plants that just weren't working for me. It's just such a huge change now.. the tank is soooo bright. I'm going to biting my fingernails for the next week hoping stuff fills in the way I hope!
hehe i kinda liked it better outgrown. looked very natural. whats the plants on the right corner anyway? HM?
Well I just spent the last 2 hours giving the moss a haircut. I let the tank go for a week without fertilizing and I have algae growing in the moss again. I need to get an Aquarium computer to remind me when I need to dose.
I dunno.. I think the moss looks pretty funky... I still need to do something with the moss on the far left.. but the middle turned out pretty well.
Click here for larger picture
I dunno.. I think the moss looks pretty funky... I still need to do something with the moss on the far left.. but the middle turned out pretty well.
Click here for larger picture
Sure is quite the little wonderland. Very nice. I can only hope mine will turn out so nice someday.
Q
Q
