# Roots and Grit



## alex08 (2 Jan 2017)

Figured i start the new year with a new setup in my 200 litre.
So, i worked even more on the hardscape part and i'm well aware of the grade of maintenance i'll have to do.
But where's the fun in it if there's no challenge?

*Starter pack :*

LxWxH - 100x55x45 cm
Lighting - 6x39w (3000k and 6500k bulbs)
Filtration - Hailea HF-150 and Eheim 2322, both w/ lily pipes
Twinstar - M2
CO2 - Pressurised w/ Tropica diffuser (3 in 1) - 2 bps - all the time
Skimmer - Odyssea (ebay)
Hardscape - Red moore wood, Twinty wood, Dragon stone
Gravel, sand & substrate - JBL Manado, Quartz, river sand

_Full list of plants for this setup_ :

-Anubias barteri var. nana 'petite'
-Anubias barteri var. nana 'pinto'
-Microsorum pteropus needle leaf
-Staurogyne repens
-Staurogyne sp. 'Porto Velho'
-Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini'
-Hemianthus glomeratus
-Hemianthus cuba
-Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'
-Rotala sp. Goias
-Rotala macrandra red mini
-Myriophyllum mattogrossense
-Myriophyllum sp. roraima
-Aponogeton madagascariensis
-Cryptocoryne sp. 'Flamingo'
-Cryptocoryne wendtii Compact
-Heteranthera zosterifolia

_Fish_ :

-Paracheirodon innesi

*Hardscape* - step by step, with a lot of details :
























I used the blue-ish mesh to separate the different types of gravel i used to create the hills and with the help of the Dragon stones, to keep the hills from falling apart.

More pics to come.




Happy New Year to everyone at UKAPS!


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## Greenfinger2 (3 Jan 2017)

Hi Alex, Love it  Great tip with the mesh


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## salava8 (3 Jan 2017)

Roots placed masterfully . Like!


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## alex08 (4 Jan 2017)

Let's see another set of pics :


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## Costa (4 Jan 2017)

Very nice man! Great looking tank! Looking forward to seeing the plants going in. 

I would advise against neon tetras. They are shoaling fishes and will spend most of their time just hanging around the tank. For this scape I would recommend some schooling species, eg lemon tetras, flame tetras and my favorite rummy-nose tetras.


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## alex08 (6 Jan 2017)

Thank you so much!

It is a good advice indeed and maybe i'll add them. The thing is i already have the neon tetras for this setup but they're only 10 of them, so i can add another group.

More hardscape pics :


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## alex08 (8 Jan 2017)

Last details of the hardscape before i go into "planting mode".


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## alex08 (15 Jan 2017)

Let the planting begin :


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## themodernchap (15 Jan 2017)

I can't wait to see this grown in. I love anubias. The roots are amazing. You have to put some shrimp in there, they will look great crawing through all those nooks


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## Nuno M. (15 Jan 2017)

Like it very much Alex,

Are you planning on dry start this one ?? It will help a lot securing those slopes with a carpeting plant  

Will keep following this one, keep us updated ...


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## alex08 (16 Jan 2017)

themodernchap said:


> I can't wait to see this grown in. I love anubias. The roots are amazing. You have to put some shrimp in there, they will look great crawing through all those nooks


I might get some shrimp at some point, don't know what specie for sure. 
And i also want to add some Bucep.



Nuno M. said:


> Are you planning on dry start this one ?? It will help a lot securing those slopes with a carpeting plant


I added a lot of plants, small rocks and of course some carpet plants to go along and all went well. I didn't go with the dry start till the end, but i must say i tried it for a few days with some carpet seeds of ebay (they said it was glosso, but i don't think so).

I'm far behind with the pics for now because i want to show you guys all the steps.
To be continued.


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## alex08 (22 Jan 2017)

Another set of pics with the planting :


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## Daveslaney (22 Jan 2017)

Loverly.
Stunning photos.


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## alex08 (28 Jan 2017)

Back with Day 24.

So, the plan was to try a Rotala sp. Goias carpet at first, but it seems it's quite hard to grow it like that with my aquarium height.
Although i have 234w T5 lighting for around 180-190 litres of water, it doesn't seem to be enough for this one to grow low.
Will do my best. Maybe combine it with Glosso or M. sp. Monte Carlo eventualy, to fill to free space.

Still had some brown algae on the wood, like in every setup i had for the last two years. Not a big problem.














Some more pics in a bit.


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## mibe661 (28 Jan 2017)

Looks glorious! Did you pre-soak the wood before or anything holding it under water?


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## alex08 (28 Jan 2017)

Had some big rocks on top of them for more then a week.


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## Kamiel (28 Jan 2017)

Awesome scape and foto's


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## alex08 (3 Feb 2017)

More details from day 24 :























Thank you, Kamiel.


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## bobiciupe (5 Feb 2017)

Alex, you might have too much light, that is the cause of brown algae, if we assume that the filter is cycled. I was having the same problem until i raise the lamp height above 55cm over the top of the tank


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## alex08 (5 Feb 2017)

Bobi, i had brown algae only in the first couple of weeks then it goes away. This seems to happend in all my setups.
I start with 5 hours of lighting in the first week, then go for 6 in the second and stop at 7 hours.

My battle is not with the brown algae, but with the GSA or GDA. Those are more likely to appear.

And that's indeed a problem of fertilizers or/and lighting as far as i know, and i'm working on it. 

Thanks for the advice, my friend.


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## bobiciupe (5 Feb 2017)

You welcome my friend. I always seem to have brown algae and after firsts weeks of  the life setup, they turned into GSA. So i suspected its a light issue


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## alex08 (12 Feb 2017)

Day 32 of this setup :











Crepidomanes malabaricum



Paracheirodon innesi


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## mibe661 (13 Feb 2017)

Absolutely beautiful! Can I ask what camera/lense you are using? (maybe also the settings


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## zgmarkozg (13 Feb 2017)

awsome hardscape mate, and great photos!


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## alex08 (15 Feb 2017)

Hi guys!

I have a Canon 450D that i usually use and a Phottix 3 ring auto-focus (macro lens kit).
When i'm in a rush i do go with Auto on, but when i have more free time i play around with the manual. 
I do love the get different angles of it and macros.


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## alex08 (8 Mar 2017)

Let me show you all some clips of the setup, from the beginning and from day 16 :


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## alex08 (13 Mar 2017)

More pics, more details :

Rotala sp. Goias :






Hydroryza aristata :



Myrio sp. Roraima & Heteranthera zosterifolia :



Heteranthera zosterifolia :



And changed the normal heater with an external one :


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## alex08 (23 Apr 2017)

Jumping straight to day 146, trying to get this one ready for the contests to come :





Still more work to be done.


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## alex08 (6 Jul 2017)

Aponogeton madagascariensis flower :


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## zozo (6 Jul 2017)

alex08 said:


> Aponogeton madagascariensis flower :



Realy lovely plants.. I fancy them already for a long time.. Got a A. robinsonii in my low energy tank.. But somehow i can't realy get it going..
I'm tempted to cut the crap and convert the tank to high energy.. Just to get it all going faster..


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## Tim Harrison (6 Jul 2017)

Absolutely, lovely plant and inflorescence.
I think the whole scape has some well chosen plants.
How's the Crepidomanes malabaricum coming along, I'm thinking about it for my new scape?


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## alex08 (26 Jul 2017)

Tim Harrison said:


> How's the Crepidomanes malabaricum coming along, I'm thinking about it for my new scape?


 It's a very slow grower and i had some algae problems with it at first. Managed to pull it through but it seems to grow "safer" in my low tech nano.


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## alex08 (30 Aug 2017)

Day 179 :





Algae on the wood and stones up front are still coming back from time to time. 
Besides that, i'm pretty happy how things have gone with this one.


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## jns (1 Sep 2017)

Great tank and awesome hardscape.


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## alex08 (3 Sep 2017)

Some details :


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## jameson_uk (4 Sep 2017)

Looks amazing.  What is the plant that looks to be attached to the wood at the surface?


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## sonicninja (4 Sep 2017)

Wow.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## Silviu Man (4 Sep 2017)

Very nice, Alex. I am always happy to find you, again and again.


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## Shinobi (4 Sep 2017)

Really like this scape! Great job


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## alex08 (6 Sep 2017)

Thank you all!

Jameson, at that point i had some Micranthemum sp. Monte Carlo (left) and some Hemainthus cuba (right) on top of the wood.
I thought they fit quite nicely.

_Aeschynomene fluitans_


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## jameson_uk (6 Sep 2017)

alex08 said:


> Thank you all!
> 
> Jameson, at that point i had some Micranthemum sp. Monte Carlo (left) and some Hemainthus cuba (right) on top of the wood.
> I thought they fit quite nicely.
> ...


Hadn't considered a carpet at the top!!!
How did you attach it to the wood?   HC is a no-go for me as no CO2 injection but Monte Carlo is doing OK in my low tech shrimp tank....


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## alex08 (6 Sep 2017)

Just stick it in between two little pieces of wood and it grows for sure. Mine grew relatively fast. I think high lighting was the main key to it.


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## Dantrasy (6 Sep 2017)

Looks amazing, the blending of colour and plant type is brilliant.


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## alex08 (6 Sep 2017)

Indeed it is, Dantrasy. Just remembered a photo posted a while ago, in a previous setup, with it. I was fascinated.


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## alex08 (10 Sep 2017)

New shrimps :

_Blue Tiger Orange Eye :_


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## Paulo Soares (11 Sep 2017)

alex08 said:


> Day 179 :
> 
> 
> 
> ...




This is magic!! My kind of tank that´s for sure!! 
I really do know all effort and dedication you input to this to achieve this level.
And that is remarcable. 

Many many congratulations!

Big hug


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## alex08 (13 Sep 2017)

Thank you so much! 

Right side details :


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## Silviu Man (13 Sep 2017)

Just perfect! An aquarium in an aquarium!


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## alex08 (24 Sep 2017)

Myrio mattogrossense (emersed)



high res


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## alex08 (3 Oct 2017)

Red on top :


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## dw1305 (3 Oct 2017)

Hi all, 





jameson_uk said:


> HC is a no-go for me as no CO2 injection


If you can get it so that the plant is right at the water's surface you can grew it without CO2. 

I haven't got the photo (or the HMF) any more, but it used to grew on top of a <"matten filter sponge">. 

cheers Darrel


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## alex08 (30 Oct 2017)

Shrimps and snails:


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## GHNelson (30 Oct 2017)

alex08 said:


> Hi guys!
> 
> I have a Canon 450D that i usually use and a Phottix 3 ring auto-focus (macro lens kit).
> When i'm in a rush i do go with Auto on, but when i have more free time i play around with the manual.
> I do love the get different angles of it and macros.


Hi Alex
What lens are you using....and do you have link to the Phottix 3 Ring Auto-Focus kit?
Cheers
hoggie


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## Edvet (30 Oct 2017)

http://www.phottix.com/en/phottix-3-ring-auto-focus-af-macro-extension-tube-for-canon.html
Extension rings, not as good as a designated macro but good cheap alternative.


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## Silviu Man (30 Oct 2017)

My beloved Physa !
Nice pics, like usual from you!


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## Jayefc1 (30 Oct 2017)

Wow amazing scape very pleasing to see and watch grow thanks for ur time Alex where did u get the blue shrimps from there very nice


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## alex08 (25 Nov 2017)

Jayefc1 said:


> where did u get the blue shrimps from there very nice


I got them from a fellow aquarist in my country. I think he got them from Rendo-shrimp.


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