# The Goias nook - New pics



## Antoni (24 Oct 2013)

Hi guys,

its being awhile since I have started this tank but didn't have the time to start a journal till now.

*Spec:*
*20 l Boyo nano tank* with filter, built in the lid. 
*Light:* 13V Energy Saving bulb, 5400K
*CO2:* - pressurised DIY kit - 3bps
*Substrate:* Shirakura Red Bee Sand and white sand
*Ferts:* Tropica Plant Growth Premium Fertiliser and from week 8 Plant Growth Specialised Fertiliser
*Plants:* 1-2 Grow Eleocharis sp. mini, Cladophora aegagrophila, Fissidens fontanus, Christmas moss, Riccardia chamedryfolia, Rotala mexicana sp. ´Goias and Penthorum Sedoides
*Fauna: *
*Hardscape:* Driftwood and stones from the beach

The tank has been started 6 weeks ago using the DSM. I have planted cladophora, Christmas moss, eleocharis mini, a bit of fissidens fontanus and ricchardia.

For the fissidens and the riccardia I have used the yoghurt method, as George Farmer has described it.

The light was on for 12 hours (13W PL) and I have sprayed twice a day. The tank has a lid, so I could keep the humidity very high.

4 weeks later, most of the Cladophora was doing ok(some of it the top left corner become brown and I have exchange it. Don't know why, it was wet enough and under a decent light, the lower piece was not affected, even they were close to each other. ).

For the time being, it didn't manage to attached to the wood or the stones, so before flooding I have used some super glue, to attach it to the hardscape. 

The riccardia and fissidens attached in about 2 weeks and I could see some growth, not massive, but visible.

I have flooded the tank on the 12-th of October and prior that I have added penthorum and the Rotala mexicana sp. ´Goias and Penthorum Sedoides, which are 2 new speices from Tropica. Wonderful plants.  

Here is a shot of the tank from day 2:






and couple of shots from the day for water change:


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## Michael W (24 Oct 2013)

looks just amazing.


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## Lindy (24 Oct 2013)

That rock is a lovely colour and texture. Spotless scape


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## Phil Edwards (24 Oct 2013)

That's a lovely tank.  The rocks and wood match nicely and I like how you used the Cladophora.


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## Michael W (24 Oct 2013)

Phil Edwards said:


> That's a lovely tank. The rocks and wood match nicely and I like how you used the Cladophora


 
Agreed, I really don't get why people don't use it that often, its a shame really. I recently got myself a ball of Cladophora hoping to find a use for it in my shrimp tank but until then it will stay as a ball.


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## Antoni (24 Oct 2013)

Thanks guys! I was a bit unsure at the beginning about the colour of the rocks and the combination with the white sand, but personally I like it, so I decided to go this way 

The Clado is wonderful plant, you can create instant carpet with it or moss effect on the driftwood or rock. Really easy to keep and does not need much maintenance. Only some "hoovering" during water changes  no trimming 

I have got the inspiration for the Clado from Mark at New Malden and also from the lovely little display tank there!


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## steveno (24 Oct 2013)

Lovely looking tank... I'm looking to use clado in similar manner... Just hope it turns out as good as yours... I also planning a dsm for moss attachment and was concerned if clado would survive dsm...


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## Antoni (24 Oct 2013)

Thanks Steve,

well you can always add the clado after the flood. Mine survived the DSM but the tank has a lid and it was easy to keep high humidity.


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## Deano3 (24 Oct 2013)

looks great antoni love the wood and the rocks and the moss, like others have said lovely colour on the rocks, did u get the wood from the beech aswel ? I am going to start looking for rocks and wood when at beech as would save a fortune  don't want to end up with cupboards full though lol

Dean


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## dw1305 (24 Oct 2013)

Hi all, 





Antoni said:


> Penthorum Sedoides


That is a bizarre plant to grow as an aquatic, some-one brought it in where it had grown as "bird seed alien", with Ragweed (_Ambrosia_) and something else N. American (I'd have to look and find out what the other plant was). I remember _Penthorum, _because it took me a long time to find out what it was. The plant was about 60cm tall and looked a bit Buck-wheat (_Fagopyrum_).

cheers Darrel


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## Ian Holdich (24 Oct 2013)

Very nice Ant, looks like the clada crew are taking over!


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## Mick.Dk (24 Oct 2013)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, That is a bizarre plant to grow as an aquatic, some-one brought it in where it had grown as "bird seed alien", with Ragweed (_Ambrosia_) and something else N. American (I'd have to look and find out what the other plant was). I remember _Penthorum, _because it took me a long time to find out what it was. The plant was about 60cm tall and looked a bit Buck-wheat (_Fagopyrum_).
> 
> cheers Darrel


Try it out, Darrel..........it works pretty much lke Staurogyne repens.
Mick.


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## parotet (25 Oct 2013)

Nice layout and very interesting colour combination of driftwood + sand + these stones... looks much bigger than 20 litres!
Let's see how it evolves!


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## Gary Nelson (25 Oct 2013)

Very nice indeed   and like others have said it looks much bigger than just 20L - how have you attached the Cladophora to rocks and wood? is it glued on?


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## Antoni (25 Oct 2013)

Deano3 said:


> looks great antoni love the wood and the rocks and the moss, like others have said lovely colour on the rocks, did u get the wood from the beech aswel ? I am going to start looking for rocks and wood when at beech as would save a fortune  don't want to end up with cupboards full though lol
> 
> Dean


 
Hi Dean,

thanks for the nice words  The wood is a driftwood, some of it was kindly provided by George Farmer and the rest is from my old set up. The reason for selecting those stones was as they were very unusual and the beach is just 2 minutes away from my place..  so decided to give it a go. And with this size of a tank, I didn't need many stones... All the spare stones and those in the tank will go back to the beach, where they belong after the scape is done. 


dw1305 said:


> Hi all, That is a bizarre plant to grow as an aquatic, some-one brought it in where it had grown as "bird seed alien", with Ragweed (Ambrosia) and something else N. American (I'd have to look and find out what the other plant was). I remember Penthorum, because it took me a long time to find out what it was. The plant was about 60cm tall and looked a bit Buck-wheat (Fagopyrum).
> 
> cheers Darrel


 
HI Darrel,

at the moment the penthorum behave much as staurogyne. Grow quite fast under high light (in my other setup) but with regular trimming stays relatively low. I have use it in this scape as I would use staurogyne. Will see how it will establish in this tank.



Ian Holdich said:


> Very nice Ant, looks like the clada crew are taking over!


 

Thanks Ian! Clada is nice plant and I believe will be used a lot from now on!



parotet said:


> Nice layout and very interesting colour combination of driftwood + sand + these stones... looks much bigger than 20 litres!
> Let's see how it evolves!


 
Thanks mate! Fingers crossed it will develop nicely 



Gary Nelson said:


> Very nice indeed  and like others have said it looks much bigger than just 20L - how have you attached the Cladophora to rocks and wood? is it glued on?


 

Thanks Gary! Some of it is tied to with cotton thread, but most of it is glued. So far no problems!


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## dw1305 (27 Oct 2013)

Hi all, 





Antoni said:


> HI Darrel, at the moment the penthorum behave much as staurogyne.


 I didn't even realize that it naturally grew in wet places, the plant I was given was growing out of a crack in a patio, although it was in 2012 when it rained every day. Should be pretty hardy as well. <Penthorum sedoides page>.

cheers Darrel


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## Antoni (27 Oct 2013)

dw1305 said:


> Hi all, I didn't even realize that it naturally grew in wet places, the plant I was given was growing out of a crack in a patio, although it was in 2012 when it rained every day. Should be pretty hardy as well. <Penthorum sedoides page>.
> 
> cheers Darrel


 
Interesting finding  so it was growing in the UK? 
Pretty and hardy plant indeed!


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## dw1305 (28 Oct 2013)

Hi all, 





Antoni said:


> so it was growing in the UK?


 It was, but as far as I know this is the only UK record of it. It may have occurred other times and not been identified, and I spent a lot of time trying to find out what it was. Because of its location (under a bird-feeder) along with _Ambrosia_ (Milkweed), it made "wild bird seed" from N. America the most likely source.

The most normal exotic plants that come my way to ID are _Setaria_ spp., Ragweed (_Ambrosia artemisiifolia_), _Nicandra physalodes_ and Niger (_Guizotia abyssinica_).

cheers Darrel


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## Antoni (6 Nov 2013)

Hi guys,

Small update from today's water change. The plants are taking off, The Eleocharis is covering the back beautiful, still not visible from the front, but when it grows a bit more, will start showing itself 

The Penthorum is due for it's the first trim, Goias is a bit slow, but is growing. I think that this is due to the fact that I am using old Shirakura substrate, which is pretty inert . The Rotala is lovely little plant, I think I will be using it a lot in the future!






Here a closer shot of the Goias and the Penthorum:






The riccardia and the fissidens are taking off and start to cover the wood nicely! Long live the Yoghurt!


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## steveno (6 Nov 2013)

Looking good, tank looks lovely and tidy... are you planning of putting any livestock into tank?


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## Antoni (6 Nov 2013)

Thanks mate! At the moment there are only 3 amano shrimps, but soon will introduce some RCS and BCS. As it is a small tank, don't plan to put any fish in.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk


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## Antoni (17 Nov 2013)

Not much to report, but here is a full tank shot with a flash...I was playing with the shadows and shimmers and I like this picture:


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## Antoni (2 Dec 2013)

Hi everyone,

the tank is growing slow, but very stable at the moment. Some details:
Here you can see the rotala sneaking behind the Clada and some Penthorum at the back!




Here a close up of the Clada. I love this plant or algae should I say?! But so nice and soft texture and rich green!




The Riccardia and fissidens fontanus are growing slowly:





Here the Christmas moss. fissidens and riccardia taking over the wood


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## Antoni (24 Jan 2014)

A quick video from last night with my phone.

The tank is doing well, no majour issues, slow grower, but very stable. Just have trimmed the penthorum so it does not look great at the moment, but want to create nice, dense and compact carpet. I reckon it will need another trim, after couple of weeks, to get the ultimate look of it. It stays compact with nice small leaves.  Will take some pictures, when it recovers. The fissidens, Christmas moss and the riccardia, has taken "roots" and are trying to take over the wood


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## Antoni (19 Feb 2014)

HI guys,

It's been awhile since I have updated this topic. The tank is growing well and really starting to take shape at the moment. Need a bit to shape the christmas moss on the left corner, to get a bit denser bush of the penthorum and I think will achieve the ultimate look. 





Here is frontal shot of the tank. The clada, the mosses and the riccardia are creating nice dense layer on top of the wood and I had to trim it last week. This was the first time I have trimmed riccardia......  and I felt good about it 

Here you can see the mixture of Christmas moss, fissidens fontanus and riccardia:





And another detail with 2 curious inhabitants of the tank posing in the shot:


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## Antoni (10 Mar 2014)

Hi guys,

the tank is now close to what I wanted it to be, in terms of plant growth and shape... yesterday trimmed the moss and probably will remove the Christmas on the left corner, under the Cladophora as I don't really like it's appearance at that particular spot.... 
In another week or so, the penthorum and the rotala Goias will be fully grown back after the last trim.

Here is full tank shot from last night - a lot of pearling, as I took the pic late on the evening, when the water was saturated with CO2 and for the shot I used 120W of light....


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## Robbie X (26 Mar 2014)

Love this scape, I never considered the use of driftwood from the beach as I thought it would leach into the tank. I also live on the coast, 5 min walk from the beach, I have loads of bits of driftwood in my house, mostly unusual bits of root etc. I just use them as ornaments as the textures and shapes after long periods in the sea are amazing. How does one prepare them for the aquarium? Do you bake the, on low in the oven to kill bacteria and then soak for a long period in fresh water to get rid of the salt etc? Also, what yogurt did you use for the moss and what is the technique?


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## Antoni (26 Mar 2014)

Thanks mate!
The driftwood is not from the beach, I bought it from the Maidenheads, but the stones are. Anyway, I don't see a problem to use the driftwood from the sea, I would just soak it for few days to dissolve the salt and will use it straight away. All the mangrove that we buy from the shops, comes from the coastal marshes with brackish/ salt water. And I don't believe they treat them specifically...  

Regarding the yoghurt I used greek style yoghurt with the two common bacteria cultures in... can't remember the names, but I got it from ASDA. The method I use is the method described by George here The bacteria helps somehow the moss to start growing and attaching, but don't use too much!


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## James D (27 Mar 2014)

Brilliant Antoni, you've inspired me to get my wood out of the shed!


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## Antoni (27 Mar 2014)

Really glad, James! Just go, experiment and do it! That is my motto. Does not always work from the first time, but hay hou  Will keep an eye for your journal


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## Antoni (6 Apr 2014)

Hi guys, 

quick update of the tank: It is growing steadily and is very close to what I wanted it to look like. Plant health is great and today I have played a bit with the light to get some interesting effect in the background. Let me know what do you think, please. I know is unusual colour, but It should resembles sunset and I think compliments the colours of the stones.... I called this shot Dream....


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## Greenfinger2 (23 May 2014)

Hi Antoni,  Simple but very nice little Scape


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## Antoni (24 Sep 2014)

Hi guys,

Thought will do a little update on this one. It is still going strong. Nothing ground braking, but very stable and not demanding scape.

Here are couple of pictures, hope you like them!



 
Low light shot ....

Here is a in situ shot:



 

And one of the algae hoppers, grazing over the fissidens fontanus


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## Greenfinger2 (25 Sep 2014)

Hi Antoni, Looking great Love the shrimp Pic


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## Antoni (25 Sep 2014)

Thanks mate! That was a very patient shrimp, posing for my long exposure


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## Antoni (21 Dec 2014)

Hi everyone, 

It has been awhile since I have posted anything... 

The tank is being up and running for 14 months now...  . No issues, very easy to maintain. Only black brush on the stones time to time, but I clean them relatively quickly. Just the CO2 can't get distributed around them evenly.

Here a pic of the tank from today. Not the best shot, but.... Need to find a way to lighten up the dark zones of the wood for the final picture, but can't figure out how. Any suggestions?


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## Michael W (21 Dec 2014)

Could you try increasing the exposure compensation little by little?


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## Antoni (21 Dec 2014)

Hi Mike, 

I think this way I will burn out the lighter areas, especially near the surface... I was thinking perhaps some lighting from the sides.... but don't have anything suitable..


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## Greenfinger2 (22 Dec 2014)

Hi Antoni, Looking great


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## rebel (1 Nov 2015)

Antoni said:


> Here a pic of the tank from today. Not the best shot, but.... Need to find a way to lighten up the dark zones of the wood for the final picture, but can't figure out how. Any suggestions?


Depends on how what equipment used. If you used RAW and DSLR, then you can use lightroom or similar software to recover shadows. Or you can try HDR techniques with multiple exposures.


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## Antoni (1 Nov 2015)

Thanks mate! That is a very old post, but the tank is still running... my longest running tank ever 25 months now...
Re:  edit - my idea at that point was to use more light during the shoot, so less post editing would be needed.

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## alto (1 Nov 2015)

Antoni said:


> the tank is still running...


photo update called for then!


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## Antoni (1 Nov 2015)

Hah, not in best shape- hasn't been trimmed for months and lots of stock plants in  my get a pick before I put it down next week. I am getting an 120 and need to make space for it 

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