# 40"x20"x18" 235ltr - replant and scape



## Matt Holbrook-Bull (1 Sep 2007)

for everyone that wanted to see  day 1 of my new scape. early days yet, and some plants in as weeds to bulk up the biomass as fast as possible.















1/2 EI, 1.6 wpg, 2 w/c per week (50%)
totally custom tank and cabinet. tank bottom replaced by me 4 months ago, lid made by me to match as well.


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## George Farmer (1 Sep 2007)

Looks good mate.  Shouldn't take too long to fill in.

Hope you don't mind little constructive critisism...

Have you considered adding a heavier midground, or perhaps attaching some ferns to your wood?  Bolbitis or Microsorium or both spring to mind.

I may be wrong but it looks like you may get the "Field in Front of Wall Syndrome" i.e. the transistion from your hairgrass/glosso to your tall stems.

It seems a shame not the use all that 20" front to rear width. 

Keep us updated, please.  Journal style.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (1 Sep 2007)

there are actually a few plants you cant really see in the picture that should hopefully fix that.  The plants i got this time from greenline were all absolutely tiny  so its going to take some time to grow in, hopefully it will do!

criticism is good! thats why its posted


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## George Farmer (1 Sep 2007)

Cool.  Look forward to the progress, Matt.


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## Ed Seeley (1 Sep 2007)

Like the cucumber plant on the right hand side!   

I know you said you've got stuff to grow in still, but some narrow java fern would look ace on the wood.

Looking forward to seeing it all grown in.  As George said please keep it as a journal!


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (1 Sep 2007)

Id like some of the narrow java as well, i have a broad leaf one in there, which has just been heavily cut back to get rid of algae damage.  itll be fun to watch it all grow in, assuming it all grows!


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## James Flexton (1 Sep 2007)

Hi Mate, loads of potential there, this is going to be fun to watch for a few months. 

one pointer if i may. I would move the lily further to the rear left corner just in front of the filter equipment. when that thing takes off it will get as large as you want it to be so in the present position it will be squashed up against the glass before long throwing off the perspective. 

make sure it has loads of iron at the roots (laterite i've always sworn by) and it will get even redder than it already is. it should fill out to hide the equipment and will be blown nicely towards the centre of the tank by the spray bar. i know your going to adapt bits as you go through the early stages but once it's roots spread you will destroy everything else by pulling it out.

sorry if i get carried away...just thinking outloud.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (1 Sep 2007)

jimbooo said:
			
		

> Hi Mate, loads of potential there, this is going to be fun to watch for a few months.
> 
> one pointer if i may. I would move the lily further to the rear left corner just in front of the filter equipment. when that thing takes off it will get as large as you want it to be so in the present position it will be squashed up against the glass before long throwing off the perspective.
> 
> ...



 it is going to be fun to see it, warts and all. Ill run it as a full journal, mentioning changes etc as i make them.

that lotus is quite old, but highly maintained  its actually half way back, although it doesnt look it from the pics.  Ive always found it very easy to control. 

at the back is hygro. polysperma, so thatl fill in very fast indeed. substrate is a mix of laterite, compost with a sand toplayer. so that should be taken care of.  Tropic nutrition does very well in providing enough iron to the column.


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## beeky (3 Sep 2007)

When you say "laterite, compost with a sand toplayer", is that laterite mixed with _garden_ compost and then covered by sand? I've used laterite mixed with aquatic soil (sold for potting pond plants) basically because I was too tight to pay for all the laterite! In this high tech world I thought that would have frowned upon.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (3 Sep 2007)

no its aquatic compost. garden compost can have added NH4 in it, like garden ferts do.

to have a 100% latterite substrate would be rather alot I recon!


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (22 Sep 2007)

At last, I think ive discovered my deficiency issue! Thanks to my old favorite fert barrometer, H. Polysperma.  In my experience, its the best plant to show anythign thats missing, as it grows so vigorously that any signs are very quickly visible, in this case pale leaves, with reddish veins in it.

It turns out that our local water supplier has drastically removed nitrates, having previously reported 41ppm which confirmed my tests on it, to hardly registering at all.

Of course, Id been adjusting my EI dosing to compensate for huge NO3 being naturally present, but hadnt tested in a good while.... just goes to show... make sure you know whats going in, even if you think you know, confirm.

Anyway, readjusting EI and well see how it goes.


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## George Farmer (22 Sep 2007)

Nice one, Matt.  Letting the plants do the talking is better than any test kit...


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (22 Sep 2007)

Ive found theyre the only thing I can rely on  especially good old Poly. Might keep it in the tank just cos of that, out of all the plants ive tried, its the one that always talks the loudest to me, the hard bit is learning to keep your eyes open.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (5 Oct 2007)

A real warts and all photograph

1 Month on.  Tank recovering from bad NO3 deficiency caused by my tap water changing significantly, and I didnt notice.  Suddenly Wessex Water removed all the NO3 from it (had previously been 40ppm), which sent my altered EI schedule out the window!

The darker right hand end is intentional to help the Java and the stuff that looks like clover which was struggling in the high light, and as you can see, is now covered in algae, but also recovering and continuing to spread like mad.

Glosso is spreading very well, very fast now.. so all those rumours that Glosso wont grow in hard water are obviously incorrect. 9dKH out of the tap.


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## Dave Spencer (5 Oct 2007)

It is hard to tell from the photo Matt (pic is a bit small), but the clover you are having problems with could well be Marsilea _sp_. If so, the clovered leaves are the emersed form and will die off anyway.

If it is Marsilea, you will eventually get single lobed growth that, unfortunately for you, will look very similar to your Glosso. I use Marsilea as a low maintenance form of Glosso, although it tends to not carpet as densely. So, if it is Marsilea, I would cut away all the algae infected growth down to substrate level and wait for the immersed growth to show through.

You seem to be lacking a midground at the moment. the hairgrass may give you this in time, but you could consider having a little more wood poking out from your stem background and overhanging the Glosso a little. Mosses, Anubias _sp_ or Bolbitis heudelotii attached to the wood would give you nice midground.

The tank is starting to shape up quite nicely and those fish look awesome.

Dave.


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (5 Oct 2007)

thats really interesting, and i think your right on the sp. ive not seen it before so it was totally shooting in the dark, it really does carpet like glosso, and looks very similar  

there are plants in the midground, but theyre too small to be seen yet, so ill give them a bit longer to develop.

ill chop out that infected marsilia as its spreading like crazy, so it must like it to some extent! it does look very very like glosso, although if its going to stay that low, i think ill prefer the glosso over it, i got it cos i thought it was going to grow to about 3-4 inches, as it was when i got it, but if thats surface foliage, that makes HUGE sense as to whats happened to it!

thanks lots dave, settled my mind alot now!


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## Matt Holbrook-Bull (5 Oct 2007)

link to a larger picture, its a bit scary in places still! any help very much appreciated!

http://www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id ... 769&size=o


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