Back in the trenches......
- Thread starter lousyweather
- Start date
myswtsins
Global Moderator
Root tabs definitely start right away under any heavy feeders (esp crypts, I find this helps lessen the melting) but ferts you could wait maybe a week or just go light the first week or just add them normal, depends on a few things and this is just my personally feelings not from hardcore research. If you add fish when you add plants (which I wouldn't do but others do without issue) I would not add the ferts at first, make the plants take up the fish waste to protect the fish. If you don't have a heavy plant load and good water that has some micro nutrients (decent GH) then I'd say go light on ferts at first. If you have lots of plants in there and your CO2 in dialed in correctly then dose regularly right off the bat.
I wanna add that having the CO2 setup and running correctly is possibly the most important thing, esp when talking about algae. Black brush algae, which can be very hard to get rid of, in particular loves an unstable CO2 environment.
Good job getting a head start on soaking some wood, it can take awhile! But where are the pics of it? How can I know you have said wood if you do not provide proof!
I wanna add that having the CO2 setup and running correctly is possibly the most important thing, esp when talking about algae. Black brush algae, which can be very hard to get rid of, in particular loves an unstable CO2 environment.
Good job getting a head start on soaking some wood, it can take awhile! But where are the pics of it? How can I know you have said wood if you do not provide proof!
Dare, me willya, myswtsins ?!
Above is my petrified wood, picked up in a creek bed in WY years ago (BTW, its my SMALLEST one, at about 50 #)....the boards are 5-1/2" wide, so this thing is about 2' long, and 8" in diameter. My plan was to put it in the tanks as it sits here, put some substrate in front of it, and fill the back, giving a terraced effect.....now that I look at it, maybe too big for the 70.....would take up half the width.....but the tank IS 28" deep...what do you guys think?
Here is a pic of my mopani. Thats a fullsize tote cover.....the piece is about 14"x18"
The backside of the same mopani
IF I can fit both (Mopani and petrified wood) in, I will....likely the only structure I can fit in the tank...my other petrified wood is waaaaaay to big for this tank.....one looks like a stump!
OCD....OCD...OCD!
Above is my petrified wood, picked up in a creek bed in WY years ago (BTW, its my SMALLEST one, at about 50 #)....the boards are 5-1/2" wide, so this thing is about 2' long, and 8" in diameter. My plan was to put it in the tanks as it sits here, put some substrate in front of it, and fill the back, giving a terraced effect.....now that I look at it, maybe too big for the 70.....would take up half the width.....but the tank IS 28" deep...what do you guys think?
Here is a pic of my mopani. Thats a fullsize tote cover.....the piece is about 14"x18"
The backside of the same mopani
IF I can fit both (Mopani and petrified wood) in, I will....likely the only structure I can fit in the tank...my other petrified wood is waaaaaay to big for this tank.....one looks like a stump!
OCD....OCD...OCD!
myswtsins
Global Moderator
I don't know about how to arrange them, I really struggle with scaping, but that piece of mopani is quite nice indeed! Looks a lot like my only piece of mopani but much bigger, gonna go look for it now.ugh! confusing, Wild!
I am wondering, If I use the petrified log, whether or not the substratum depth behind the log (will be 6-8" deep), would be too deep......setting myself up for anaerobic conditions, etc.....using Oil-Dri as substrate....
and what about backgrounds? Im not a real fan of cheesy printed stuff. Actually thinking of painting the rear of my brand new tank black.......Ive heard paper fades and doesn't tend to stayin place, and someone mentioned fabric.....I guess if I paint it black and want to remove it, I can use a single edged razor blade to do so....the choices! 
Take this with a grain of salt, as I am no expert. I might tip up either one or both of the wood decos, use the plants by themselves as foerground or maybe add some rocks (1/3 tall, 1/3 less tall, and 1/3 short, feng shui). Also, I had a friend that ran maintenance + a small retail store, she had the back of her tanks either painted either dark blue or black, and it looked fantastic and any drips on the backside did not showthrough! I am guessing maybe a swimming pool or marine paint? Just some thoughts 
Last edited:
Paint it Black! (channeling the Rolling Stones for you youngsters, lol). The "golden rule", (just to slightly disagree w/Wild West), is more like 3/5 for your focal point (wood, rock or major plant.)..but 1/3's are good too. Just don't do 1/2 and 1/2, it looks really lame & artificial.
I would suggest not mixing those 2 types of "wood", nice as they both are. It can only look forced. Rocks hopefully will echo your substrate...too much contrast is off-putting unless it's by color...to me anyway.
I would suggest not mixing those 2 types of "wood", nice as they both are. It can only look forced. Rocks hopefully will echo your substrate...too much contrast is off-putting unless it's by color...to me anyway.
