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10 Years Later..

If possible add some cheap fast growing plants in the beginning, this will addd stability to your tank (can be pondplants like Elodea (waterweed), watersprite (ceratopteris), Egeria densa (brazilian waterweed) aka oxygenating plants).

Ed’s post from earlier.

I agree. Pack it with plants 🙂
 
Yeah good point but I always think they aren’t going to get enough light. Like for instance at the moment I’m looking at my tank and thinking “I need to move them further apart or they won’t grow” and it ends up looking really sparse like it does now.

It’s like a mental block or something lol
 
Hi all,
jimi said:
Like for instance at the moment I’m looking at my tank and thinking “I need to move them further apart or they won’t grow” and it ends up looking really sparse like it does now.
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Honestly you could have at least x10 as much plant mass without there being any light issues.

Plants naturally grow in layers (to intercept as much light as possible). This is true of the way an individual plant arranges its leaves, and also of the layering you would get in nature, where you might have a water lily with floating leaf pads and underneath that a stem plant and underneath that a moss etc.

This is from Marcel's @zozo <"Journal - Mission Bathtub">.

dsc_0030-jpg.jpg

This @Guest's from <"Windswept Eternity">.

31491423096_76537814ef_c-jpg.jpg

This is one of mine. (From <"Water Lettuce and its impact..">)

dicrossus_clup1_resize-1-jpg.jpg

cheers Darrel
 
Thanks Darrel thats great 🙂

I was worried about putting floating plants on top in case they blocked out too much light but yours seem to be doing ok underneath!

That's given me a bit more confidence, thanks again 🙂
 
Hi all,
jimi said:
I was worried about putting floating plants on top in case they blocked out too much light but yours seem to be doing ok underneath!
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It is a bit trial and error, until you can judge how much PAR you have. I just have as many plants as the light intensity supports, so if I have a really intense light <"I just have a lot more plant mass">, and a <"more complete layer of floating plants">.

The bottom of all my tanks are <"dark and gloomy places">, with moss, structural leaf litter and the occasional <"Cryptocoryne">, Anubias or <"Bolbitis">. It isn't to every-ones taste, but <"I'm not an aquascaper">, I'm never going to try an iwagumi etc. and <"it suits the fish I keep">.

I always have floating plants, I use them for the <"Duckweed Index"> and because they have Diana Walstad's <"aerial advantage">, access to atmospheric CO2 which allows them to respond quickly to changes in nutrient level.

cheers Darrel
 
I think I am going to put in some red where I have put it in the pic and
take out the stones.

Once I can get some more plants I will remove the java ferns and try and getting it looking dutch. This is going to take a long time but the first step is to get those two lots of red in there and take it from there. I dont have the kind of free cash to be able to 100's of plants at once! lol


image.jpg
 
Hi all,
jimi said:
I dont have the kind of free cash to be able to 100's of plants at once!
Click to expand...
That is often the issue.

You can propagate your Hygrophila by pinching out the stem tops and replanting them.

This is a Fuchsia, but you need the same method for the Hygrophila.

cut_back-jpg.jpg

You should then get two shoots from the existing stem, after a while you can do the same with these etc. and that way you can build up your plant numbers.

With your Java Fern you can split those clumps into smaller bits, each clump could easily go into four bits of rhizome.

cheers Darrel
 
Have a look at the Tropica 1-2 Grow range.
Good value for money. Crypts and stem plants. At £5 - £6 a pot you’ll get loads of baby plants in a pot.

Also consider posting in the for sale section. - wanted cuttings for postage plus a small donation to ukaps. Every now and again it is common to have a massive pruning session. I know I’ve sent cuttings to people rather than throw them away, certainly enough to make a massive dent on your tank.
 
Ps. Mid ground red plants tend to be low in plant mass and that is what you need.

Instead pack it with the fastest growing stems you can find. Save the red midground for later?
 
Happy to send some rotala cuttings in a few weeks once mine is established to try and get you started if interested, just like many others on here have done in the past it's all about helping each other out one way or another 🙂
 
Thanks for your replies 🙂

I have posted in the wanted section this morning and have had a reply already and will be getting some delivered next week.

thanks for the advice Darrel and Seige I have found someone selling a load of stem plants on eBay for fairly cheap. I will wash them well...

Kalum that would be great, keep me in mind won’t you.

thank you all again 🙂
 
Siege said:
Ps. Mid ground red plants tend to be low in plant mass and that is what you need.

Instead pack it with the fastest growing stems you can find. Save the red midground for later?
Click to expand...

a couple of people have said pack it with loads of stems but the thing is I’m still scratching my head on how to place all these plants I will be getting. As I said earlier, I’m terrible at seeing the end result and you kinda need that ability if you’re having a Dutch tank. Lol.
 
Did my level tests this morning. Looking good 🙂

image.jpg
 
Hi all,
jimi said:
but the thing is I’m still scratching my head on how to place all these plants I will be getting.
Click to expand...
Just plant them in groups, once they've grown in you can move them around, discard them etc.

Over time I've swapped out most of my stem plants for Ferns, Cryptocoryne spp. etc because they are slower growing and lower maintenance, but I always add fast growing plants if I start a tank.

As well as floating plants, I have <"Hornwort (Ceratophyllum demersum)"> a subsurface floater. The advantage of this is that you don't need to plant it (it doesn't actually have any roots even if you plant it).

It is the spiky plant (below) (From <"Congo Swamp Monster">)

yn2oaCr.jpg

cheers Darrel
 
chefski said:
looking good how have you found the Fluval plant LED? Was there an issue with the Aquasky?
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Hiya, seems good so far but I have only been using it a few days. I have noticed the java fern pearling though. I don't think it’s strong enough to make the hair grass Pearl in this tank as it’s quite a depth to the substrate but no complaints so far. Will know better once I get my batch of plants next week and give it a couple of weeks.

The AquaSky is a nice light but they are defo for low light plants that don't necessarily need Co2. They are low wattage and not very good spectrum. I have it on my gfs tank now who has moved from the (ass hat of a tank) Fluval Edge to my old Roma 125. She’s just growing Java ferns and low light plants so it’s perfect for that. Can’t remember the name of the other two.

I am tempted to get another Plant 3.0 tho to up the wattage but we will see. Or maybe just get another cheap AquaSky and double up with that and the Plant 3.0

pic of my gf 125 with the AquaSky

image.jpg

If anyone can tell me what the two plants are at the front cos I have forgotten lol

oh and ignore the rocks, they will be coming out once the wood stays down by itself.
 
Hi, you seem to have some Bucephelandra on the left and right which youve planted into the substrate? These plants generally need to be attached to wood or rock rather than planted. They are likely to rot as you have them.

The other broadleaf plant is an echinodorous of some kind i thnk.
K
 
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