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This rock is highly textured and has a green blue hue to a nice earthy brown. Mostly it is thin plate like, which is most useful and it can be cut and broken without too much effort. I have about 600 kg sitting here I've collect. I sold 300 kg off thus far. I mountain biked over it along a trail...

I'm getting ready to break the tank down and redo it. Many of you know me for the wood, but I've been busy collecting some really nice rock locally here in California. I run and mountain bike a lot and many of the areas I've spotted rock that is very well suited. I'm thinking of several of these...

You might consider adding some moss(say weeping or mini Xmas) to the wood. Would give a nice feel and "age" the look more. Big water change and then add moss with super glue gel. Refill 5 minutes later.

Have you considered removing a few of the foreground plants and adding a whit sand front? Would make the scape look better I think, and be easier to care for. You'd keep the mid ground and some of the foreground plants, but it would provide a bit more space and look more organized.

You need a lot of wood to work with to get the idea done nicely in a new scape. I started with a pile maybe 3x1x2 meters and parred it down to this. Then these will be modified a little here or there as well.

Good news! I removed the wood from this tank, it is no more. This means Version 4.0 is up next. This is the hardscape as of now, but I'll adjust them a bit here or there(no sediment to support them, adjust up or down here), but they will mostly be at the horizontal relative to the sediment...

These are with the Canon 5D All you need to do is resize.

I sold about 20 Erio sieboldaniums this week. Still have plenty. It's that time of the year again when I redo the hardscape, pulled out 3-4 different sets of hardscaping materials

Yes, good post. EI has no set rule, it is arbitrary. It just offers a simple method to set a range of ppm's fairly tight or loose depending on what the user desires, or assumes as risk or wants as target range. Where someone wants to set those ranges is up to them, but you can start at 1x...

How the water flows is important, the filtration also. Shallow tank, wide lower pressure flow across the top. The 180 has much more, but is deeper and less surface to volume ratio. Filtration rate is roughly the same, but I add a Vortech power head in that tank, adds well over 10X hr/movement.

When you pull up a lot of ADA AS and replant, that makes quite the mess. Also, staying on top of things has many benefits. Those are why we do __any water changes__ (mostly). ADA suggest weekly large water changes, but we do not see anyone complaining about their dosing. I find that...

The tank is 120 cm by about 75 cm x 45 cm basically. Light is 120cm 54W T5 bulbs, a mix of mostly red and a couple of white blue. Filter, CPR 1000 wet/dry filter, herbie style overflow. Ferts are just eI, dosed 2x a week, I dose tracves more, and more frequently, 5-6x a week. Water changes...

I'm likely going to redo the tank in a while. I have 2 exams for certification for my business and contract work coming up in Oct and Nov, so I'll be in study mode for those, and redoing a tank works well somethings in that mid set. Other times, I just feel guilty if I do anything other than...

About 100 of the pork chops.

30 sec video with the schooling behavior a focus

Redid some stuff, have an open house coming up with the SF club. I will redo the Blood vomits, the Hydrothrix will fill in a lot in the next 1-2 weeks, it's a weed. I moved the Erio setaceum to the back, they did better there. I uprooted all the A. reineckii mini and replanted them last...

Tanks actually a little bit ratty too, but in a another month or so, most things will be filled in well.

Well, get funky and watch a video then, gives a good idea of the plant and fish density.

Yes, she's a poser.

They ramp up and down based on %, not no# of bulbs for the dawn to dusk effects also. 100% for 6 hours with a 1 hour ramp up and 1 hour ramp down(0%-to 100% ramp up/down).

HC to replace the EH, and some wood, trimmed things up some today also.

Next day: I did not replant all stems, maybe 50%. 2 good sized water changes. Not a shred of algae left. Good care etc, 95% of it. I did use one 1/2 dose of algaefix, but this is not much. Gets any leftovers I missed. Effective at killing Green hair algae, but not much else. It's also lethal...

10 days away and CO2 tank ran empty for 8 days before I got back to this: 2 Days later: suck on them apples.

Seems to block CO2 uptake in some plant species, maybe 10-20 Rotala and Ludwigia species mostly. Adding more gas does not rectify the issue.

CO2 uptake mostly.

Not sure about the higher KH, some species, certainly, other's, not so sure. 3-4 degrees, very likely. More? No so sure.

I'm not sure this is really a "Western" aesthetic or not. It is not traditional in either style, perhaps a long way from either style. But my own ideas and visions are not based on that. Our local Bonsai club is heavily dominated by Japanese masters. But they like other styles too. If you can...

Some influences are from Dutch, some personal and some Nature. Developing one's own style is as good as copying the best styles. Both skills are needed to learn and keep the different ideas going in the hobby.

Well, I have not trimmed the other side much lately, so it's a bit over grown, whereas I had just mowed the left. There's 3-4 plant groups that need to fill in again somewhat. But in a couple of months, it should be primed. I have a new idea and direction for the next incarnation.

Sure, I'll show up with this: I'll put an ADA label on it, using only the tears of unicorns for fuel.

Post Erio compressum thinning, I removed 15 plants actually. Blood vomits have done well and are pretty easy actually.

Post trim, did a fair amount of Erio removal so it's still pretty cloudy: Things will fill in pretty good this next cycle. The Erio setaceum type 3 in the rear right corner have come in nicely now. I had to most doubts about those. The Erio compressum will fill back in pretty nicely over the...

It's time to uproot and divide those Erio compressums. alastair, yes, Mini Pellia, grows weird in this tank, it's hard, like a scrub brush fiber.

A couple of weeks later after stuffing the holes I drilled: Limnophila wavy guinea and Erio type 3 have come a long way: Erio compressum has many many new side shoot plants.

Trying to think what to do in this bare spot, the shorter Syngonanthus did not feel right as as foreground type plant really. So I removed it and placed it in another tank. So this is all of the S madiera now. Cryptocoryne x willisii 'lucen might be good for that spot on the side. H...

I uproot the section once every 2 months or so, then replant and sell the larger crowns, keep the smaller ones for the new planting.

I have about 50 of the Trithuria blood vomits, they are growing back well after the last uprooting and dividing about 3 weeks ago? Tank is post trim so the L senegal is whacked way back as are the Rotala mini butterfly, Myrio mini and the R wallichii. No KNO3 for 6 days last week, the E...

Not in California.

That's a normal typical month. The Trithuria, downoi, Tonina or A reineckii each......... can fetch 100-200$ each per good sized replant/trim. But I only trim those once every 1-2 months. The problem, it took me 20 years in the plant hobby, 35+ in the aquarium hobby to figure out how to do it:)

I did a large hack yesterday and sold most of the cuttings. 500$ a month or there abouts from this tank. Much better than winning any ADA contest.

Water is hazy from cleaning the sponge block filters once every 3 months or so. Cleared up a bit more than I thought it might after I 1st did it. Top view: You can see a nice crown of the Erio type 3 here. You can see smaller runty rattier ones, but they are getting better and will form a...

Plants need trimmed to look their best, same with Bonsai.

then you do this: week later 2 weeks later: 3 weeks later Another iteration: and another:

Tank was 1100$ The tank today: I redid the Trithuria, blood vomit section and will treat it like hair grass basically, it's like a red based Belem hair grass etc. I think it now looks much better against the wood vs lost next to other plants. Also added more Mini Pellia and decided to...

Not sure, none of those do the super feaky red that the URI does. Might try Horticulture weed smoking hydroponic places or the UK Reef forum folks to see if they can source the URI's.

Tank continues to thrive. I hacked a lot of the groups back yesterday. Mowed others back down. I removed the P stellata narrow in the right corner and then expanded the Erio type 3 out since it is doing well in that position. The section is still weak for now, but in 2-3 months, it'll be real...

Lava rocks seem okay for the Riccardia from what I've seen, anything with texture it can cling and work it's way into. The 70 Gallon buce tank has larger mounds, it grows different in this 120 Gallon tank, 3x more light.

George, next time to use Ricciacardia and the Seriryu stone, try just wedging the mini pellia into the cracks etc. It grows better for me that way than the cotton string on branches. I ended up drilling grooves or holes all along some branches in a couple of my tanks to get a much better look...

It's been here maybe 3 months, it's a slower grower, but the biomass totals can creep up on you and you end up realizing you have a butt load of it suddenly. Good news, it sells really well here in the USA. I've tried tying it to wood, not a good method. I also assumed it liked moderate to low...

Wavepoint Red wave should be a common bulb. URI is the tough one to get, try the reef forums and see and then see which reef vendors have the brand. Giesemann aquaflora, Zoomed flora and Zoomed Ultra should be common enough I would think in the UK.

Also, with the new bulb configuration, I say the following with pretty good confidence: Positive color changes in the red direction: The R wallichii and the L senegalensis really have popped out much nicer than anytime in the past. Very rich nice color. L sphareocarpa- significant red color...

Hacked some today. Main issues overall: 1. Erio setaceum type 3 is doing well and is starting to regrow the tops and they are doing nicely. I had my doubts for a few weeks there. But it'll come back and full recovery and hopefully be as nice as I have about 1 year or two ago or so: Center...

A little earlier in the day: Well hacked back:

15 Years ago it would have won many contest, today, IAPLC # 4092 :banghead: Nice tucking of the edges along the glass, not a Japanese styling method.

I tried the Coralife colormax bulbs, but they give a weird coloration, so I nixed them, they also reduced the PAR a considerable amount(about 20-25 umol less for 2-3 bulbs addition). The mix of the 1 Red Wave, 2 Flora Sun Zoomed, Giesemann aquafloras on the ends, then the Red Sun with the 2...

New lighting: PAR is virtually identical, but the red shift is a fair amount more. Might be from a few newer bulb additions. Seems I'd tried this but did not like it in the past, but today, I seem to like it for some reason, so it shall stay.

There's a few things happening: 1. Reflective color- Obviously, a red bulb will give off and reflect more red light colour than say blue or a white. 2. Intensity. I can vary this over a rather infinite range as far as hobbyists might even encounter. I use high light to grow the Farm faster...

Switched the lighting bulbs around to what my 180 gallon has. 1 Giesemann Aquaflora, then a 2 Red wave Wavepoint, then a 3 Sunwave Wavepoint, then a 4 Red Wave Wavepoint, then an 5 URI Red Sun, then a 6 Sunwave Wavepoint, then 7 Wavepoint Red Wave and lastly a 8 Giesemann aquaflora. There's 4...

I added more soil for the Syg. on the left side there. I have 3 types there, but it's hard to tell the differences between them, but it's there. The Erio compressum have divided into 3-4 plants already. I'll nto divide them for sometime however, I want them to get to their full glory since...

Such nice clean scissors and pinchers, mine are a mess, I wipe them to prevent any rust, but that's not always happening:)

The Erio compressum is an awesome plant, it's got a few nice new side shoots already, so it's really liking the tank. E hydropiper also likes the new spot, none of the sprigs are floating up any longer. I am going to switch around the lights this week and next. I'm sure I can get better color...

EH is a bugger. Finer sediment, I suppose ADa powder type would be best, no fish and maybe only smaller shrimp, Amano's will pull some up. It likes current. Hard to get it to pile on top of its self and get really dense looking from above, but if you go and uproot it, it's much dense than...

Gilles, nothing else mate. Just the foam block. I use to run an Ocean clear 25 st ft 20 micron cartridge but it clogged too much and affected the CO2 and flow rates. PITA to clean and replace. Bag filters are about the only thing I might use in the future.

Yes, Trithuria species, it's not an erio, from Australia. Erio Compressum is from the USA as is E parkeri.

Yep George, it's a big old nice plant no one has really scaped with. Seen a few farm tanks with it, no scapes. A local club goes out hunting for various local native plants to try out. So I get to try out some nice new plants, but also to highlight and promote them to the rest of the hobby. A...

This is what the tank looked like after uprooting the EH, Cuphea and UG Nice eh? So when I folks whine about why the water is a little hazy, well, frankly they HAVE NO IDEA. A day later it looks like this: The Erio compressum is a good fit in this location. It's among the most...

Added the nice Erio compressum I got from Aaron. This was troubling because they are not easy to scape with. I found a good location and had to redo a little bit of the design, but it's a nice fit and a nice dramatic plant. Not easy to plant, extremely buoyant. I got mad at the Elatine...

E. hydropiper is growing in after much replanting, the top sloped part is still getting uprooted by the elephant noses and shrimp. The soil is new and is lighter up in that section. Blood vomits are doing well, and time to split a few already. I need to find a better home of the S. uraupes...

Yes, I had a feeling. I'm headed up to collect more wood tomorrow and then the next week a big haul till it;'s closed off for the mud snow season. We get about 14 meters of snow a year in this region average. If I spot some nice top, I'll send it.

I sent this piece thinking it would offer a nice stump top look with flowing roots coming off in the displayed position. This will take up much less area than some of the other pieces I had in mind and weighed less also. Ideally, I wanted something a bit larger, but..........in general...

Some trim the UG like grass. This should work and be fine I suspect. Some pull the mat up and then replant plugs from that. If you do not want to replant or sell UG, then trimming it like grass might be the best method. I sell about 50% of what I uproot and replant from the mat and people...

Light pretty much, it's resistant to algae, CO2 variation(not CO2 demanding, likely due to low rate of growth relative to many stem plants). Sediment does NOT matter, it has very wimpy root systems and you can see the whitish fine roots in the water column pretty well. Grows somewhat well once...

I will likely not trim anything etc in this tank for another 5-6 days. The tornado is going nuts as are most of the back ground plants, the red pant is doing very well ATM, not sure why. Tends to grow a bit paler in the middle stages and then reddens as it tops the surface. I could trim a few...

View the video.

I'll likely redo/scape the tank in the next month or two. Don't worry, it'll still have most of the same plants/colors etc. I redid a few things and trimmed about 1-2 hours ago, so there's some haze, but used a different camera.

Excellent job and use of the plants. the only things and they are small, the red plant likely should have been removed and then the left front could have had the Ech Tennellus hacked back to match the Riccia area like on the other side. Basically keeping the groups a bit more separated...

Well, that's the challenge I like and enjoy, making the tank look good from each angle. Dutch style is the FTS only. Contest shots, FTS only. But aquariums are not FTS only, we can enjoy them from many angles and we are not static 2 dimensional people. I find the rational for FTS views only...

You will note that one of the Erio's is yellowing from the base, started about 2 weeks ago, not sure why either. None of the others have done this either. Not replanted, moved, flowering or anything else I can figure. Right rear corner is coming along, but slower than hoped. UG you can clearly...

I think most of us ask, then think, "hey, I google here.........." I'm no different.

I owe you a stump I recall. I have a few, PM me.

See wet/dry filter sumps how they work on Youtube fro many versions of the same topic. Wet/dry filters how they work - YouTube

It is a wet/dry prefilter, CPR. I use wet/dry sumps on all my tanks, even the little tanks.

Colors match pretty good now, added the final plant groups. I'll trim the Red Pantanal in a couple of days since it's so weedy anyway.

Removed the tennellus and the pink ovalis. Added the pennywort and the Red ludwigia from before. See where this goes now.

So it's coming, I'll redo the hardscape in the next couple of months on this tank and do something a bit more appropriate for the scale and shape of this tank. It's just too shallow to do what I really would like. So I can buy a new tank or redo it. I'll move sometime in the next year or so...

I am okay with the green plants, but I'll need to add more color like the Right side to balance things. I might bring back the Ludwigia red, remove the Pink Ovalis. I might try it in the rear and move the Rotala mini butter fly to the spot where the A reineckii mini is now. I like that plant...

I see no good reason to ever add CO2 24/7. ADA and myself are in agreement about a number of things, this is one of them. Amano says it is "taboo"(his words, not mine). It does not help nor helps fish in anyway. Poor delivery while the CO2 is being added it much more the issue or, too much...

I keep double trunk elephant nose, they are hyper CO2 sensitive. So they are fine, same with my 180, it's sitting about 65-70ppm CO2. Realize I have good flow and wet/dry filters and higher O2 than anyone with a canister filter. This gives me more buffered room for CO2 dosing. I also am...

I will in a day or two, need to put it together now I have all the parts finally.