# GA 90P slow grown fern tank



## viktorlantos (23 Jul 2011)

This is one of our tank also in the gallery. We used the ADA Solar Green bulb advantages to build a green mossy, fern tank with Bolbitis, Microsorum, Weeping moss, Hygrophila Pinnatifida, Anubias species. For carpet we used glosso here as we never used that before.

Tank parameters:
90P (90x45x45) Opti White
2075 Eheim Pro 3
Pressurized CO2
ADA Aqua Soil Africana for substrate
ADA Power Sand Special
ADA Fertilizers daily with Easy Carbo
30%  water change weekly with full RO
ADA Solar with green bulb for lighting
ADA Gravel and Seiryu used for decor along with Borneo Wild wood.

The tank is 6 month old now approx, and in this timeframe it had many faces, because the slow growers really started in after 3 month only.

Setup day:






1.5 months old:





2 months old with white bcg





a nice piece out of the water





3.5 months old here





shooting for IAPLC 2011 around this time. a small detail





and i shot this today the tank is 6 month old today





from bottom 





a bit overgrown here, but as you can see this changed a lot on it's way.

hope you liked this time travel with this tank.


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## Mark Evans (23 Jul 2011)

Awesome mate.

It looks like you've nailed the ADA way of things. I'm slowly coming around to the ADA 'force'   

Is the 'RO' water change system something you've learned recently? Do ADA recommend this?


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## viktorlantos (23 Jul 2011)

Thanks mate 

Well for substrate we have great results with their products, ferts works well too. This tank is an ADA system example in our gallery, but we also use EI in some of our other tanks.

I am quite happy with the ADA stuff, never had problems with it except its pricing 

On the RO stuff we decided to go the soft water way from the beginning. In our country the tap water is around 15-25GH and around 15KH. If you check the ADA tanks at Niigata they have soft water in most of their tanks. TH10, TH20, TH100 where they use Seiryu. I've seen many brilliant tanks from Spain from CAE http://colectivo-cae.blogspot.com/ with soft water also. Germany and Poland also produce a lot of soft water tanks as they have this from the tap.

So we decided to go the soft way.  Not mixed back with tap water. Just pure RO. And i have to tell you the plants looks great in all of our tanks. Even if this is ADA fertilized or EI. Fishes, shrimps love it. Actually they are breeding there like Apistogramma Agassizi. So i do not have  a reason to drop this thing. We have a large RO machine which produce enough water a day for fill an 500L barell. So we can do all maintenance a week with it.

I never seen such a healthy mosses like we have since we're using this. Ditto for Bolbitis and Microsorum species. But HC is performing well with many other plants too.


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## Mark Evans (23 Jul 2011)

Thnaks Viktor.

Interesting info on RO. 

I've wondered whether my tap water has changed over the last year. Plant health has not been to the same standard as before.But...and a big but, my 60L, with tap water is looking pretty healthy, the most vivid green.

However, my ferting has changed, so maybe this could be the reason. also ADA substrate system, lights etc. 

My way of thinking is changing. 

Thanks again.


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## Sonnyarba (23 Jul 2011)

Great tank Viktor, as Mark said, very ADAish    I'm so jealous at you because you can look at your beautiful tanks every day   

Here in my area we also have very hard water, and I was thinking about investing in RO device, but now I have become lazy with water changes and I just use a 10m garden hose to fill the water in and out. With RO device water changes would be much more complicated, with a lot of water on the floor    How do you deal with that when you change the water in your tanks? And related to that, do you add anything more to the RO water than N-P-K + micro, to compensate the loss because of RO?

Tnx


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## viktorlantos (23 Jul 2011)

We have a 500L barell where the RO is produced. At water changes we use a hose to drain the tanks, and another which push the RO with an Eheim Compact pump from the barell to the tanks. Goes quickly and no water on the floor.
We're using the Eheim locks at the end of the tubes to shut them down at the end.

Not adding any extra because of the RO. Not boosting GH, no additional salts etc. Just the regular fert regime.


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## Sonnyarba (23 Jul 2011)

viktorlantos said:
			
		

> We have a 500L barell where the RO is produced. At water changes we use a hose to drain the tanks, and another which push the RO with an Eheim Compact pump from the barell to the tanks. Goes quickly and no water on the floor.
> We're using the Eheim locks at the end of the tubes to shut them down at the end.
> 
> Not adding any extra because of the RO. Not boosting GH, no additional salts etc. Just the regular fert regime.


Thank you for the answer my friend   I have not enough space in my relatively small apartment for a 500 l barrel, but it is definately worth thinking about. I need a 100 l barrell. And an RO device too   It seems like my credit card might be in function soon   

Cheers


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## Mrmikey (23 Jul 2011)

Hey viktor, great tank really like what you do with them very natural which I'm a big fan of. 
Yes been reading above, so you just use 100% RO and don't add a drop of anything else. 
Does this mean the rocks add the hardness needed? 
Water are u water parameters? If u test the water
Also is you RO system / barrel heated? How do u get it to temp?
Cheers mate


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## viktorlantos (23 Jul 2011)

Cheers 

Yup 100% RO on our display tanks. In some cases the rocks hardening the water like in our large iwagumi scape with seiryu stones, but others are not. Hardness is around GH 2-6, KH 1-4.

We tested more the water in the first few months but nowadays just if we need to test something. Test was done by regular drop test and photometer too.

RO is not heated. Which means we have around 17-22 celsius in the barell. At winter time this is lower, for now this is warmer. Not heating it at all. All of our tanks loves the colder water. At wintertime our tanks are around 22-24 celsius more around 22-23. Now around 23-25 as we do use air conditioning to keep the tanks under 25 for sure.

Plants do not need warm water. They just grow much better in this colder water. We never have melting issues even with crypts this way.

So we just load the colder RO directly to the tanks. Fishes, shrimps just love that.


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## viktorlantos (23 Jul 2011)

In the cycling time when we had to do frequent water changes we put more attention to the pH level. As the barell has low pH. Around 5.6. With daily changes this could shock the fishes however in most display tanks we have 6.5-7pH level. Nowadays with weekly changes there aren't any issues at all. We only had an issue 1 time in one of our tanks in the past 6 months with a water change.

Of course for fish tanks, plant holder tanks we're using tap or mixed ro tap water. We only use full RO on our display aquascapes, and our sensitive shrimp tanks.


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## Mrmikey (23 Jul 2011)

Nice one viktor, really interesting to hear how you do it and maybe something for me to think about. I've always thought it should be heated a little before adding. 
My 60l is just hard tap water and will be mainly a shrimp and moss tank. Sukuras at first and if they breed I will add some crs which almost certainly will appreciate the RO water.
I think I will now start using the method you are using....100% cold RO water that I can get from my lfs. 
Really appreciate that mate I'll get back to you and let u know how I get on. 
If you say it's great for your moss and your shrimp then I'd be silly not to follow suit. 
One more thing vik , do you run you're co2 24/7 or is it on a solenoid timer? Is using RO water more susceptible to ph crashes with such low gh and kh ?


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## viktorlantos (24 Jul 2011)

CRS loves colder water. They not do well above 25 celsius. So this is kind of another advantage. Just keep all the time under 25. They really do better around 22-24. 

We only inject CO2 to our display planted tanks. There we're on solenoids for 10 hours a day approx.
But not using CO2 on our shrimp racks, however would have advance with CRS line for sure. We're thinking about to upgrade our tanks to this way. Even black tigers do much better in a CO2 tanks. CRS breed rapidly in our planted tank with CO2 injection and good filtration too.

pH issues could happen with CO2 injected tank and low KH. So just keep an eye on this on refill. We usually use active soils in our display tanks and shrimp tanks too so that could play an active role to stabilize the system and pH. Also CO2 injection or air pump plays a role too. We really not had any issues with pH swings except one time, but even there we were fast and fixed the issues with Seachem salts.


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## viktorlantos (24 Jul 2011)

By the way if you're on tap water and would like to go this way make sure you do this slowly. If you're on RO mixed tap then it's ok. 

We do add minerals by the way to our shrimps and other additives to help molting.


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## Mrmikey (24 Jul 2011)

I can't believe it's that simple. I'm going to get my sukuras settled in first  and see if they start breeding in my hard water. Had a couple berried in my nano which has same tap water. 
When the time comes I will slowly exchange all the water bit by bit as suggested. 
I'm going to be running co2 24/7 so ph swings/ crashes will be to a minimum and at the same time make the water slightly acidic which the crs like. 
My water is about 24c so for mosses and crs it should be great Let's hope it will look as good as one of ur tanks!


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## Mrmikey (24 Jul 2011)

While we're chatting can i ask a question. I just got a luminaire 2x24w t5. I have blocked on bulb off so only have 1 24w over the tank. Is this still too much light for moss? Tank is 26inch l x 12 h x 15w  cheers


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## flygja (24 Jul 2011)

Great looking tank as usual. Plants definitely do much better in colder water. Here in Malaysia, normal tank water gets up to 31-32deg in the afternoon. We have to spend a lot on chillers to keep it at 25-26deg. You guys are lucky


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## viktorlantos (24 Jul 2011)

Mrmikey said:
			
		

> I can't believe it's that simple. I'm going to get my sukuras settled in first  and see if they start breeding in my hard water. Had a couple berried in my nano which has same tap water.



Sakuras are  bullet proof species. They breed everywhere. But if you go for more sensitive lines like we have, black tiger or CRS SSSS, CRS SSS, then soft water is needed.

You also can stay with harder tap water, but then go to a mixed range of CRS. A-C or for test S grade.


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## viktorlantos (24 Jul 2011)

Mrmikey said:
			
		

> While we're chatting can i ask a question. I just got a luminaire 2x24w t5. I have blocked on bulb off so only have 1 24w over the tank. Is this still too much light for moss? Tank is 26inch l x 12 h x 15w  cheers



Too much light for moss? 
Mosses do better with more lights and other optimal conditions. 
But they survive in low light in some cases.

Check this





This is Christmas moss in our tank which survive in very low light too. But you will never see this in such a beauty form like on the photo. We're using here the powerful ATI light with 4 T5 tubes to give the max power to the stems. But moss also looks beautiful in this condition. EI ferts, CO2, Easy Carbo, weekly 40% water change with full RO.


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## viktorlantos (24 Jul 2011)

flygja said:
			
		

> Great looking tank as usual. Plants definitely do much better in colder water. Here in Malaysia, normal tank water gets up to 31-32deg in the afternoon. We have to spend a lot on chillers to keep it at 25-26deg. You guys are lucky



Thank you my friend.  
Yup we're lucky that we have warmer weather only for 2 months at sumer time.
Not so lucky with the hard tap water on the other hand.  

We have to use all the power and tricks to keep up with the Malaysian scapers by the way.  
Still too much to learn.


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## Mark Evans (24 Jul 2011)

Oh man, you nailing this ADA nature scaping!   

some great technique in the above tank.


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## Mrmikey (24 Jul 2011)

viktorlantos said:
			
		

> Mrmikey said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well I always thought I'd use low light on my moss but if all conditions are optimal I may consider using a bit more. The photo you posted is really nice, and I see what you mean about the nice form. This is what I want to achive. 
The sukuras I've heard are bullet proof that's why I wanna try a few first. 
I've learnt a fare bit from this little chat cheers viktor so I have some new things to try.


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## viktorlantos (28 Jul 2011)

#167 IAPLC 2011


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## flygja (29 Jul 2011)

That last picture you posted is not the same as the actual GA 90P slow grown fern tank right? Confused! My Xmas moss is doing quite badly at the moment. Kinda brownish/dull green. It's funny because when I trim the moss and put them in a tub, the moss actually gets GREENER than whats in the tank. I've read from Amano that it may be related to nitrogen excess... could this be true?


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## viktorlantos (29 Jul 2011)

flygja said:
			
		

> That last picture you posted is not the same as the actual GA 90P slow grown fern tank right? Confused! My Xmas moss is doing quite badly at the moment. Kinda brownish/dull green. It's funny because when I trim the moss and put them in a tub, the moss actually gets GREENER than whats in the tank. I've read from Amano that it may be related to nitrogen excess... could this be true?



Nope they are 2 different tanks  

Well i do not know what could be the issue with the moss. We only have this if we let the moss dry out in their original holder pack. This goes very well with high light CO2 tanks, but even in the shrimp tanks where only minimal ferts are added weekly, no CO2 and no high light.

This most is one of the mosses which survive in many condition. Even in very low light.


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## LondonDragon (31 Jul 2011)

Another great scape guys, you sure are leaving all of us behind now lol congrats on another great placement


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## schraptor (7 Oct 2011)

Hi Viktor,

Do you possibly have another shot of that tank with X-mas moss? Current one or maybe also the one showing hardscape beneath?
I would really appreciate if you do and could share it. Thanks.


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## schraptor (7 Oct 2011)

OK found it mate 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/viktorlant ... otostream/

Are these ADA riccia stones that you use for moss?
Have you added more moss next to the one seen on the picture or everything has grown from those small pieces?


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## viktorlantos (7 Oct 2011)

schraptor said:
			
		

> OK found it mate
> 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/viktorlant ... otostream/
> 
> ...



Cheers there  

good catch.  yup we used riccia stone on the bottom and fixed like 3-4 portions of christmass moss there. on the left tree we used like 2 portions of c. moss. from this point everything just grow in nicely.
with soft water probably the growth speed was quicker here.

1st day





1.5 month





3.5 months





in the tank lifecycle we changed a couple things. especially on the back. changed the stems a couple times.
the last verison was this with Mattogrossense at 8 months old





This week we changed again the back plants as Matto was too much and was hard to handle. So we added in Pogo Stellata, Rotala Rotundifolia, Rotala Sp. Green. Will show the result a few weeks later.


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## fandango (7 Oct 2011)

Stunning looking tank. Do you do full EI regime in it?
regards,
fandango


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## viktorlantos (7 Oct 2011)

Thanks mate 

Yup EI mix here with some Easy Carbo. Weekly water changes with full RO. So this is a super soft water tank.


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## Mark Evans (7 Oct 2011)

Nice viktor.   

As I've said before, I draw inspiration and motivation from your recent aquascapes.


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## schraptor (7 Oct 2011)

Viktor,

Thanks for replying, I was really curious how fast did it grow to such size. Looking at the pictures it grew really nice and very fast. I'm still waiting for my mosses to kick in    
My water is not too soft, but on the other hand I grew HC carpet as healthy as in your iwagumi with my tap water.


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## George Farmer (7 Oct 2011)

The more of see your display aquariums the more I want to visit you guys.  You must have the best NA displays in the world.  Seriously.  I went to a great shop in Barcelona recently - it was very very nice, but your shop is on a different level entirely.

Anyway, super aquascape mate.


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## Jim (7 Oct 2011)

Mind blowing Viktor, absolutely stunning fern tank.


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## mjohan (28 Mar 2012)

flygja said:
			
		

> Great looking tank as usual. Plants definitely do much better in colder water. Here in Malaysia, normal tank water gets up to 31-32deg in the afternoon. We have to spend a lot on chillers to keep it at 25-26deg. You guys are lucky



I also have a similar problem. The water also should be colder so I also decided to buy a chiller in order to cool down the water a bit. I have not bought a chiller yet but instead I am preferring rental chillers. If I will find a cheap offer I will of course buy a chiller prospectively but until then I am happy with renting one.


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## Martin in Holland (13 Oct 2013)

I don't know why I didn't see this earlier...but I like it...your tanks are the bomb mate


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## Nathaniel Whiteside (13 Oct 2013)

viktorlantos said:


> Thanks mate
> 
> Yup EI mix here with some Easy Carbo. Weekly water changes with full RO. So this is a super soft water tank.



What was the TDS in this tank? How did the DI resin unit perform? 
Surely it kept the TDS near zero when it wasn't dosed?

Beautiful tanks as usual viktor.


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## Orlando (13 Oct 2013)

Man Viktor your work is on par with the best so what ever tricks you do your doing it spot on. Salude to you guys, glass's up!


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## viktorlantos (15 Oct 2013)

Nathaniel Whiteside said:


> What was the TDS in this tank? How did the DI resin unit perform?
> Surely it kept the TDS near zero when it wasn't dosed?
> 
> Beautiful tanks as usual viktor.


 
Thank you guys. I almost forget this journal 

We usually have 500 liter pure RO water per day for these displays.
So 50% water change with pure RO (0-20TDS depend on the membrane age)
After water change we do check the TDS. If this is too low like 20-70ppm or so then we add in GH booster (Salty Shrimp currently) to make the water around 120-140ppm
This tank was a full soft water tank without any decoration which would raise the hardness. So these tanks need some boosting if you change with pure RO.

Active soils like Aqua Soil in this tank raise the TDS to 70-80ppm in default. And probably they help also to stabilize the water without need to worry about KH.
I never measure KH and never worry about it. Just measuring TDS changing with full soft water. With fertilizers these works well.

The DI resin....
We had this in for a test. But the tank size required larger softenizer. This ammount only decreased the hardness with 1 or 2 degrees which is nothing. This softenizer is good for smaller tanks, but we removed it later as the resin had to be recharged monthly


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