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The Dark Side or What Lurks Beneath

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Hi Troi,
Pleased you have updated this and I agree with both Paulo and Andre, the tank is coming along nicely and looks great with the wood back in 🙂
I can't wait to see those stems grown back in, the plants all look really lush.
Are you enjoying the high tech route and do you feel it offers anything more to the hobby for yourself which you couldn't achieve before?
All the best for a speedy recovery.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
LondonDragon said:
Tank is coming along nicely 🙂 also wishing you a speedy recovery, careful during maintenance 😉
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Thanks Paulo that's much appreciated. I've had to wait a couple or three weeks before I could endeavor to carry out any maintenance so it was long over due.

killi69 said:
Looking great Troi. Much better with the wood back in again IMO. Like the way the wood sits on a bed of rock and how you have merged these two elements with anubias.
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Thanks for noticing...I purposefully position the rocks to give the impression that the wood had grown around it, you obviously have a good eye for detail🙂
 
Ady34 said:
Hi Troi,
Pleased you have updated this and I agree with both Paulo and Andre, the tank is coming along nicely and looks great with the wood back in 🙂
I can't wait to see those stems grown back in, the plants all look really lush.
Are you enjoying the high tech route and do you feel it offers anything more to the hobby for yourself which you couldn't achieve before?
All the best for a speedy recovery.
Cheerio,
Ady.
Click to expand...

Hi Ady, me too, I've put the Ludwigia in the low-energy tank and placed Rotola cuttings across the entire length of the back, so I'm interested to see what it looks like...although it may not work that well aesthetically.

I am enjoying the challenges that the high-energy route offers. But the main difference is the variety of plants that actually grow rather than just hang in there. I was going to go down the T5 route but instead decided to try new Arcadia bulbs for my existing T8 luminaire. I don't have a PAR meter but I'm convinced that the supposed increase in PAR output advertised has made a big difference to plant growth; especially since the CO2 etc have remained constant and fairly well optimized.

As for a speedy recovery, thanks, so far so good. I had a double artificial disc replacement in my cervical spine, and now have a similar op to look forward to in my lumbar spine😱
 
Time for an update...just another hand held snapshot with a naff compact. Not brilliant by any means, both photo and layout, but I've learnt a lot about growing stems, and using lowish light 30 watts T8 in a 70 litre tank. I'm afraid it's somewhat neglected - due to a 2nd major spinal surgery in as many months - but I'll be breaking it down as soon as I'm able and putting my effort in to a low-energy scape.

updategrownback_zps3ba3c2ce.jpg
 
Thanks guys that's much aprreciated. The avatar foxfish is a climber dangling from an overhang. The other hobby...only I specialize in falling off stuff..hence the main reason for the surgery😵

kalymnos-grecia1_zps3b924f3d.jpg
 
Trim up the rear stems into a nice bush and I'd say you've nailed the NA concept you said you were afraid of! 😉

Good luck with the surgery and recovery, thats a lot more important than all of this.
 
Thanks all, Flygja and Faizal. It's nice to have the distraction of UKAPS whilst I recover. As for the tank...it kinda morphed in to a NA thingy whilst I wasn't looking:shifty:
 
Another update. I was going to break this down and start again, but I had to face reality, given my current circumstances I'm not yet capable. Sooo...I decided to re-gig the planting a bit, and let it do it's own thing for a while, and it seems to be doing ok.

I also changed the lighting to a DIY LED luminarie type thing, which I think is now giving me high-light. And I've notched the CO2 and ferts up as well. I can now grow glosso, (compact and dense) and hydrocotyle sp japan is growing close to the substrate. The 30 watts of T8 I had before wasn't really cutting it.

plantingre-gig2_zps829530da.jpg
 
Looking great.
I'm a little envious; stems, glosso, crypts, high light and no melt, a little glassware and some lovely wood breaking the surface...... why Troi, I think you've nailed the high tech na approach.....beautifully!
Hope the tank is easing your pain somewhat.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Aw-shucks...thanks guys that's very kind of you all to say so. I'm well on the road to recovery, just can't lift anything heavier than a paper bag at the mo.
 
Thanks Faizal...I've enjoyed following your progress as well.

Thought I'd post a photo of my DIY LED luminaire type thingy. It's basically 2 x 20 watt LED 6500k flood lights mounted on 25mm square profile aluminium tubing. All the cabling is hidden within to give it a neat and uncluttered finish. So far it works a treat (and the glitter lines are awesome) and I like its retro industrial aesthetic. All for around £75.00.

DIYLED_zps47aac461.jpg
 
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