# Dou's 90x36x30 (25G/90L)



## Doubu (16 Sep 2016)

If you guys followed my other thread, you'll know that I recently rescaped my 60P. I actually moved it to the other side of the room at the same time so that I could start on a new 90cm (25G/90L) tank. My condo restrictions put a limit of 30G (~110L) max so I had a custom tank built that was big enough to do what I wanted but also within the limits imposed on me. My inspiration for this tank is Takashi Amano's iwagumi aquascapes/nature aquariums. All of his aquascapes are simple yet complex - and it inspires others to want to take on the hobby. When I first saw them, I thought wow - how incredibly balanced.

That being said, I wanted to keep this tank true to the nature aquarium/iwagumi style, 3 plants with balanced stone arrangements (although I'm not completely following all the "rules"). I'm not going to try and overthink it/add too many plants/etc., I just want to be very clear in my intention RE: stone placement/plant selection. I want this aquascape in the end to make someone feel like they want to create something as well and have the same feeling of awe when I first saw Amano's iwagumi scapes (as well as think in their head, I want to do this too!).
*
Equipment:*
Eheim 2215 (350)
DICI Skimmer
Finnex 24/7+ Planted LED
Custom 90x36x30cm (25G) Tank
Do!Aqua Music CO2 Diffuser
Marineland 300W Heater
Fusion Air Pump
VIV Inflow/Outflow Pipes

*Layout/Substrate:*
Lava Stone
ADA Power Sand-S
ADA Amazonia Normal
ADA Amazonia Powder
ADA Kei Stone

*Plants:*
Monte Carlo
DHG Mini
Rotala Rotundifolia OR Rotala Singapore (still deciding)

*Livestock:*
20-30x of [Still thinking...]
?x Ramshorn Snails
?x Amano Shrimp

2016/09/15 - Set-up, planted, flooded, but only one picture for now =).


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## CooKieS (16 Sep 2016)

Hi, love the tank dimensions.

Stones are nice looking too but beware, they Will be covered with hc and eleocharis sp if you don't add a little height to the smaller ones.


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## Greenfinger2 (16 Sep 2016)

Hi Doubu, Great Start  What are the blue bits in the substrate.


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## Doubu (16 Sep 2016)

CooKieS said:


> Hi, love the tank dimensions.
> 
> Stones are nice looking too but beware, they Will be covered with hc and eleocharis sp if you don't add a little height to the smaller ones.


Thanks for the reminder... I will be trimming and maintaining diligently for this one so everything grows the way I want it to =D


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## Doubu (16 Sep 2016)

Greenfinger2 said:


> Hi Doubu, Great Start  What are the blue bits in the substrate.


They're the poor man's TGM substrate supports LOL. Essentially plastic sheets (meant for cutting paper on with blades) cut up to size to stop slopes from collapsing.


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## alto (16 Sep 2016)

LIKE! 


Extraordinary stone - where did you manage to source Kei stone


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## Doubu (16 Sep 2016)

alto said:


> LIKE!
> 
> 
> Extraordinary stone - where did you manage to source Kei stone



Thanks! There was a place out east in Ontario (Canada) - but I thought Kei stone was readily available though.. or is that not the case? I still see it as one of the products available on the ADA website. Shipping across Canada is not too bad and they would ship for free if I ordered X amount so I ended up picking a lot of pieces. I still have about a third left that I haven't used yet and still thinking what I want to do.


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## alto (16 Sep 2016)

I saw the photo on their FB page a while back - looked around in shops as I wondered how it looked under water/lights etc
I'll wait for your flood


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## Bolota (16 Sep 2016)

Hi
Very nice! I guess you have seen James Findley Continuity scape? One of the best for me.
I'll forward to see how you resolve that


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## Doubu (16 Sep 2016)

Bolota said:


> Hi
> Very nice! I guess you have seen James Findley Continuity scape? One of the best for me.
> I'll forward to see how you resolve that



Yes! I actually saw that video haha. If I can come anything close it will be a success to me =D


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## CooKieS (17 Sep 2016)

Doubu said:


> Thanks for the reminder... I will be trimming and maintaining diligently for this one so everything grows the way I want it to =D



Good luck! You'll need it


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## CooKieS (17 Sep 2016)

Bolota said:


> Hi
> Very nice! I guess you have seen James Findley Continuity scape? One of the best for me.
> I'll forward to see how you resolve that



Looks very artificial too me...but that's Findley style isn't it?


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## Doubu (18 Sep 2016)

CooKieS said:


> Looks very artificial too me...but that's Findley style isn't it?



Thanks for the well wishes - this is the first time I've truly said okay I am going to keep this nice and simple. I was thinking about this for a long time (your artificial comment) and realized that in the end all of this is artificial - we can only get so close to nature. When I googled photos every time for inspiration, everything in nature is very "wild". Not many people would consider what you see aquascaping (but I actually love the chaos, which is why I rescaped my 60p to be just like that). I think it's great that James Findley has his own "style" - you can definitely tell when something looks like it's been created by him.


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## tim (18 Sep 2016)

Nice start doubu, plants could make or break this hardscape and shallow tanks can be a total PITA  having seen your 60p& mini M I think you have the plant trimming side of things under control  good luck with the scape mate, watching with interest.


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## AnhBui (19 Sep 2016)

For some reasons my eyes keep being drawn to red circled area  Is there any space between rocks in green oval?


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## Doubu (19 Sep 2016)

AnhBui said:


> For some reasons my eyes keep being drawn to red circled area  Is there any space between rocks in green oval?



There is space between those rocks - I'm planting DHG mini there! The red circle area should be less harsh once plants fill in - that's where DHG/MonteCarlo/Rotala Rotundifolia/Singapore will all meet. I'm not sure yet if I want a red-ish plant in there, but I think I will try singapore if I can get my hands on it. It's actually really hard to find and the only time I found it I didn't buy it =[... Now I will be lucky if it ever pops up again. I am thinking of adding just one more plant - sagitarria subulata in key places as I think the thicker blades of leaves will help create some more balance as well.


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## AnhBui (19 Sep 2016)

Doubu said:


> I am thinking of adding just one more plant - sagitarria subulata in key places as I think the thicker blades of leaves will help create some more balance as well.



With it you need extra care to keep it under control. It's rated as easy. If I am not wrong, it does not require lot of Co2, light and nutrients to grow. Use it at the very beginning and in short term is not a bad choice. It can absorb exceed nutrients and help to balance the tank. But in long term, I do not suggest to keep it


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## Doubu (19 Sep 2016)

AnhBui said:


> With it you need extra care to keep it under control. It's rated as easy. If I am not wrong, it does not require lot of Co2, light and nutrients to grow. Use it at the very beginning and in short term is not a bad choice. It can absorb exceed nutrients and help to balance the tank. But in long term, I do not suggest to keep it



Do you have a lot of experience with it? I was asking a bunch of friends and reading online but there's no post accompanying with evidence of what they're saying. On tropica's website it says it can grow quite huge with the right conditions - which I do not want. I just want thicker blade-like grass here and there so I may end up doing a lot of trimming to keep it under control... Do you have any suggestions for something that is like a thicker blade-like, low-growing plant? Basically, a mini jungle val... I was also looking into mini aridarum but it's kind of too dark =/.


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## AnhBui (19 Sep 2016)

Doubu said:


> Do you have a lot of experience with it? I was asking a bunch of friends and reading online but there's no post accompanying with evidence of what they're saying. On tropica's website it says it can grow quite huge with the right conditions - which I do not want. I just want thicker blade-like grass here and there so I may end up doing a lot of trimming to keep it under control... Do you have any suggestions for something that is like a thicker blade-like, low-growing plant? Basically, a mini jungle val... I was also looking into mini aridarum but it's kind of too dark =/.



I had bad experience with its over growth. It looked nice at first then after a couple of weeks it started generating big leaves and my tank completely messed up. Perhaps you can give crypt lucens a shot.


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## CooKieS (19 Sep 2016)

AnhBui said:


> I had bad experience with its over growth. It looked nice at first then after a couple of weeks it started generating big leaves and my tank completely messed up. Perhaps you can give crypt lucens a shot.



My friend had the same experience with this plant, it carpeted over his whole 60P scape in about 1 month, and it was a non CO2 tank.

Plus, it looks ugly when trimmed.


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## CooKieS (19 Sep 2016)

+1 with AnhBui, some small crypts would look nice.


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## alto (19 Sep 2016)

Maybe try L uniflora for texture - it won't try & take over at least 

A Lilaeopsis might also look good (I really liked the growth from this 1,2-Grow version)

I've seen S subulata used effectively as texture (perhaps in a Mark Evans journal??? - if my recall is accurate, he ended up trimming most at the substrate level, also scape was "done" in a few months, it might be more awkward in a longterm scape)  ... anytime I've grown this it arbitrarily grows short or tall (as mentioned by Tropica )


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## Doubu (19 Sep 2016)

Thanks guys... I was going to get it tomorrow and it looks like I dodged a headache haha. The funny thing is, I actually have some lilaeopsis and now that you mention it that just might work. It grows kind of tall (like 3-4 inches) so I would be trimming that quite a bit as well. I haven't tried many crypts but from the photos I've seen they are a little murky in colour which is not exactly what I'm looking for. And wow - l. uniflora looks great! My only concern at this point is that the green will be a bit too dark in comparison to the kei stone and other plants. It may work if I plant them in the corners of stones and/or underneath the stem plant I choose...


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## alto (19 Sep 2016)

FlowGrow has a good submerse photo  - I saw it recently in a tank photo but can't find it again 

The 1-2 grow L brasiliensis seemed less inclined to height  - it was interplanted with M 'Monte Carlo'


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## Doubu (27 Sep 2016)

Photo update... planted. I think the biological filter just got going - noticing some algae now (probably due to higher nitrate levels). Plants are rotala rotundifolia/singapore, DHG Mini and Monte carlo. Just realized the photo colour is kinda skewed, I think it's cause the light setting I put it on has red LEDs on as well as the white ones. Edit// Fixed photo colour, was rushing earlier but took some time to correct the white balance.


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## Doubu (27 Sep 2016)

Fixed photo above, had a really red tinge and was rushing when I originally posted. I am also starting to see diatoms - and I can't tell if the water is actually clear or darker like the photo above (perhaps reflection of the contents?). Regardless... I'll be doing a 25% WC tomorrow. It's only been about 9-10 days since flooding (and the filter is still cycling). Last time I checked ammonia was at 8ppm+ (with API test kit). Edit// Water was actually a tannin-y colour, ended up being bothered by it and did a 75% WC. It's much clearer now... actually now that I think about it, it looks like the same colour as my nitrate liquid fertilizer. Since I'm still cycling, I have a feeling it's probably due to the conversion of all the ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate.


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## Doubu (28 Sep 2016)

The yellow water is actually humic acid being released from the Amazonia due to high alkalinity levels. I was trying to do too much from the start with neutral regulator and this is the result haha. I did another 75% WC yesterday without adding more neutral regulator back in and will let the acid settle on its own now. 

http://www.adana.co.jp/en/release/detail?id=80


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## Berlioz (12 Oct 2016)

I really like the stone and your hardscape. Really excellent! Can't wait to see how it matures.


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## Doubu (25 Oct 2016)

Quick update on the tank - added some marsila hisuta as well. Monte carlo adapted and some died off - and trimmed and replanted a ton of rotala rotundifolia. I'm actually in the middle of creating a custom wood stand that spans half of my den-ish... so once that's complete I will be able to fit EVERYTHING and possibly more (which also explains my lack of photo updates too). Hopefully when I move the tank off the current Kallax, I don't knock or push anything over...


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## Doubu (3 Dec 2016)

Just an update before I trimmed ALL of the rotala rotundifolia to get a better shape (and to see how it grows back). I got over 100 stems...

Notes: The Finnex 24/7+ can indeed grow a carpet - but the LED dispersion/cone isn't that great. My judgement comes from the fact that my rotala rotundifolia started skewing/growing towards the center. The monte carlo at the very front of the tank is also not carpeting as well as the center areas and areas closer to the light. My solution is to order another light so that I can have a better spread (in hindsight, this is probably why you would want a stronger light if going high-tech). Also noticed that a brown algae outbreak occurred when I added in too much equilibrium at one time - note to self - don't do that again. Another observation was that ramshorn snails do not like to be in acidic water - I had a huge die off which created a mini ammonia spike which also lead to algae growth. In terms of the aquascape - I am feeling the right side is a bit too open - I may try adding sagittaria subulata to take up space while leaving it a bit "open". I have yet to add marsilea quadrifolia which is also coming soon as well.


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## Alexander Belchenko (3 Dec 2016)

Looks really great, envy to your clean stones.


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## Doubu (4 Dec 2016)

Alexander Belchenko said:


> Looks really great, envy to your clean stones.



It's.. not as clean as you think - my photo editing skills are pretty good haha. I'm still learning a lot right now - and there used to be a huge amount of GSA that's been steadily dying (you can see a lot of it on the right side). If you look closely on the right side, you'll see some brown algae as well. Everything takes time...


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## Alexander Belchenko (4 Dec 2016)

Brown algae on orange rocks? That's master of hide and seek, I'd say


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## Doubu (29 Dec 2016)

Update on the 90CM tank:
- Added an extra finnex 24/7+, immediately noticed the rotata growing evenly and colouring up
- Trying to devise some sort of hanging structure (so that I can suspend lights ~4 inches form the surface, which I predict to be the right balance for my plants to grow well/colour up while not having too much GSA), you can sort of see it in the beginning stages now
- Carpet slowly filling out the front - added some lilaeopsis maruitana as well in certain areas. Everything is bound for a good trimming soon.
- Still working on my photo taking skills... haha. Noticed that the colours from all my progress photos always change as I try to match what I actually see...


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## Greenfinger2 (29 Dec 2016)

Hi Doubu, Wonderful


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## Doubu (29 Dec 2016)

Thanks Roy!


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## CooKieS (30 Dec 2016)

The more it grows, the more I like it! Congrats


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## Doubu (30 Dec 2016)

Thanks Cookie - one thing I am trying to balance out right now is GDA. Do you or anyone have any suggestions to combat it? It's not horrible and that bad, but it grows on the aquarium walls here and there (which I wipe down every WC) along with the stones. The ramshorn snails definitely love it but I would like to minimize it further... From what I read online - it's just a patience/time issue. I just don't like how the rocks get completely covered after 2 weeks or so.


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## CooKieS (31 Dec 2016)

Maybe try to dose less NO3, and maybe less light...What's your daily lightning Time?


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## Doubu (22 Jan 2017)

CooKieS said:


> Maybe try to dose less NO3, and maybe less light...What's your daily lightning Time?



It's 6.5 hours now I think... or maybe 7. I will check when I'm back in the den haha. I've adjusted intensity a bit so hopefully it helps...

And a 90CM Update: Plants growing in, trimmed rotala/trying to maintain it another way, added 30 ember tetras from April's and testing new dosing regime & lighting setting (as my skimmer is building up way too fast and onset of GDA/GSA), hung the light fixtures DIY style with metal strapping and rope =).


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## Yo-han (22 Jan 2017)

Do you know your GH, calcium and magnesium? I've seen GDA mostly in tanks with low magnesium. I've fixed it multiple times with raising Mg. Perhaps if this is low in your tank as well, it might be worth a try.


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## Doubu (22 Jan 2017)

Yo-han said:


> Do you know your GH, calcium and magnesium? I've seen GDA mostly in tanks with low magnesium. I've fixed it multiple times with raising Mg. Perhaps if this is low in your tank as well, it might be worth a try.



I don't know the levels - are there actually tests out there to check? I've been doing trial by fire methods haha. My gH is 4-6 (200 TDS) and kH is 1-3.

Thank you for the suggestion! Actually that makes a lot of sense because I starve the tank of micronutrients (always worried about algae from past experiences). I confirmed that it might be a micro issue as well since I did not add equilibrium this week and noticed plants starting to melt as well (older growth). Going to try and up micros and buy a magnesium additive (searching for a liquid one now). Or perhaps I will dose with flourish trace...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Doubu (13 Mar 2017)

I forgot I actually started a separate post thread for this tank and posted an updated photo in my other thread. Going to start updating this one again. Here is the last post in my other thread:

Biweekly maintenance before lights and CO2 came on - 50% WC and trimmed where necessary. Main learning point so far: better to trim a bit everyday than to trim all in one go (destroyed my left side carpet...). Also trying to figure out how to get a nice beautiful rotala bush (just freshly trimmed it, and replanted some stems). I also had GDA issues which have been toned back after I started dosing every day. Started dosing Nitrogen (which I haven't been for a long time due to my perception that it causes BBA, which MIGHT not be true haha) to test whether this is why my rotala isn't growing crazy.


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## Doubu (13 Mar 2017)

And the next 90CM Update:
- After posting to another FB group, friends chimed in about BBA. My initial thoughts about BBA being caused by excessive Nitrogen was totally debunked. I actually went overboard and went beyond EI dosing - and found that all my algae was dying before my eyes. There were rocks literally half covered with algae and half sparkling clean - was really surprised. No photos here... which I probably should've taken (sorry!)
- I went further and I actually upped my CO2 as well, to the point where I killed off my amano shrimp (so sad... found them all white in the corner). My TDS also spiked to 450 with my dosing - so I think the death was a combination of those two factors.
- I tested a bit more, and noticed that even after upping CO2 there was not a super huge difference in growth - meaning what I had was enough. After adding my replacement amanos, I noticed them hiding near the inflow (point of lowest CO2 concentration most likely). Something was wrong, so I decided to turn on my CO2 only to the point where my drop checker turned green (and it would shut off after that, basically 2 hours less of CO2). My amanos are definitely happier and my plants are still growing well after it was shut off. 
- I had an issue with blue green algae (BGA, Cyanobacteria) as well and it was starting to creep above the substrate level into the carpet. After doing some googling, I decided that I would go with hydrogen peroxide as a last resort and would instead opt for a blackout period. 
- The blackout period lasted about 50 hours, and by the end of it, a lot of the BGA died off. I also noticed an interesting change in my amanos; they started turning blue! I think BGA was caused by excessive nutrients. I have sinced moved onto the Thrive+ fertilizer line (with pumps instead of mass dosing individual nutrients) and noticed that the tank is doing very well. 
- The other interesting thing I noticed during the blackout period was that the plants were THRIVING! I decided that I would drop my light period by an hour. This resulted in less algae but also similar growth.
- Intuitively thinking, in the wild plants are only exposed to max light exposure for 2-3 hours most likely, and the rest of the time they are in the shade or exposed slowly. Ideally, we would have a ramp up and down period. When I take this tank down, I think I will test with the 24/7+ mode for both lights and see how the growth is like along with algae levels.
- I trimmed a bit aggressively again, and a lot of my carpet died on my left side. I'm thinking that I should try to keep it at a 1-2cm height rather than 0.5-1cm height, there seems to be a lot of dead leaves when I get too carried away =/. Same thing happened to the right front as well =(...
- Speaking of trimming, I also trimmed my rotala colorata a bit every day and it seems like it's starting to become a decent bush. Maintaining stem plants this way is quite manageable.


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## doylecolmdoyle (13 Mar 2017)

Looks great, are there two types of marsila used in this scape? I would like to try this plant, has a great contrast with the MC


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## Doubu (13 Mar 2017)

doylecolmdoyle said:


> Looks great, are there two types of marsila used in this scape? I would like to try this plant, has a great contrast with the MC



Nope - just one type. It grows like a weed... it's almost out of control...


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## jesperl.dk (13 Mar 2017)

Really nice scape and great write-up of your experiences.
Do you perhaps have a photo taken from above? I am very inspired by the format of you tank, and am wondering how it looks when you stand in front of it and looks down.


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## Doubu (13 Mar 2017)

jesperl.dk said:


> Really nice scape and great write-up of your experiences.
> Do you perhaps have a photo taken from above? I am very inspired by the format of you tank, and am wondering how it looks when you stand in front of it and looks down.



I don't but I can take one for you the next time I start taking photos - and thank you!


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## CooKieS (13 Mar 2017)

I love this tank, thanks for the tips too...I'm still trying to find the good level of CO2 and lightning for My 60F, that is the hardest part...get balance!


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## Million (13 Mar 2017)

Very interesting write up, thanks for sharing it Doubu. This is a really pleasing aquascape, feels like staring off into the distance


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## dbpelletier (13 Mar 2017)

Great writeup, excited to follow this grow.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk


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## doylecolmdoyle (19 Jun 2017)

Any updates? love the look of this carpet!


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## Doubu (22 Jun 2017)

It's been a long time, but I am finally back! I have been using Facebook more often but it can be very toxic... so I think the forum environment is a bit more suited to my personality.

Here is the last photo I took of the tank... I didn't get an actual final shot because I was in a hurry to make space (and did a fresh trim, so it didn't look right anyway). I've gotten a new tank in its place which is on its way soon.

My final notes:
- When dosing with all-in-one fertilizers (Thrive+ Nilogc), you really need to keep up with water changes. I did a test where I did not change water for 7 days while continuing to dose, and noticed a lot of cyanobacteria and green dust algae. On a possibly related note - everytime I did this, I would lose a few Amano shrimp (sadness).
- When I did a 50% WC each time I dosed, the tank remained spotless and algae was quite minimal.
- I swapped to a reactor instead of the bazooka diffuser, it was very sleek and you didn't see so many bubbles in the water. I think I enjoy this look a lot more - and it also feels much more efficient than before. I stopped using a Co2 drop checker and relied more on plant growth and fish happiness.
- I was wondering why some of my carpet started turning yellow, and not growing so well. Upon closer inspection - the substrate underneath was GONE! It decomposed or something, leaving the roots crawling towards what used to be there. I had to replenish the Amazonia (pouring powder on top of the plants, shaking it until it fell below). The plants instantly rebounded (especially the monte carlo and dwarf hair grass mini). I didn't realize that for tanks with heavy carpet growth, it needed to be replenished.
- A multiple-carpet tank is NOT easy to maintain. the Marsilea Hisuta went crazy and it was by far the "Strongest" plant. It tried to invade all sections. I dont think I will try a multicarpet tank for quite some time after this experience (unless I figure out a way to nicely section things off so it doesnt start creeping/invading into areas.
- I was wondering why the carpet up front always had spaces in the very bottom (why wasn't it super thick and lush like other tanks on this forum?). I finally understood why when I saw my ember tetras hiding underneath the plants... Looks like when they freak out they go for cover.
- All in all, constant water changes seemed to yield the best results.


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## doylecolmdoyle (22 Jun 2017)

Looks really good, I got some embers recently and they are not scared of anything, I can be poking around in the tank and they don't hide, they actually swim around my hand looking for food, perhaps they are starving (I feed them twice a day!)

Im going to try a mixed carpet in my next tank, tho also will not section things off and expect the most dominate plant to probably take over, but its something I want to try!


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## CooKieS (22 Jun 2017)

Looks awesome, I really like the textures given by the carpeting plants and the rock placement too! Well done.

Ember tetras can be ridiculously shy, and when they get frightened, they can swim right into the soil and then won't move, like they're dead...survival technique!


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## doylecolmdoyle (22 Jun 2017)

CooKieS said:


> Looks awesome, I really like the textures given by the carpeting plants and the rock placement too! Well done.
> 
> Ember tetras can be ridiculously shy, and when they get frightened, they can swim right into the soil and then won't move, like they're dead...survival technique!



I noticed that when I was netting my embers from a friends tank, they would play dead, but now they are in my 60p its like nothing will spook them, very weird!


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## Doubu (22 Jun 2017)

CooKieS said:


> Looks awesome, I really like the textures given by the carpeting plants and the rock placement too! Well done.
> 
> Ember tetras can be ridiculously shy, and when they get frightened, they can swim right into the soil and then won't move, like they're dead...survival technique!



That's what happened with mine basically - they weren't really exposed to humans walking back and forth cause I only enter the fishroom once a day to do maintenance/feed and whatnot =(... Whenever something hits the stand they also all jump.



doylecolmdoyle said:


> I noticed that when I was netting my embers from a friends tank, they would play dead, but now they are in my 60p its like nothing will spook them, very weird!



The funny thing is I noticed this with my rasbora! In my fish tanks at home, my rasbora are always hiding and scared. At my work tank, whenever someone walks close by, they SWARM the top of the tank as if they are looking for food. I think exposure to shadows walking by makes a huge difference in fishes personality.


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