A pine root planted randomness

[jasonjleach]

Nice work!

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

and.. it finally arrived.. Well worth the wait...

I don't know about the light, but the box is certainly vivid.

I just looked, 130W!. I guess the shade is to stop aircraft mistaking it for a runway light and landing on your house.

cheers Darrel

 

[Lauris]

ok.. so from the state of "I know what I want" I went to "ah f*** it, sure it'll be grand" or "I'm sure fish will like it" concept in terms of planting.
A good few hours yesterday draining the tank completely, adding a few more branches, and planting turned this scape in complete randomness from the plants' perspective. I blame myself for being out of this hobby for 3 years. The list of plants that went in..

• Fissidens Fontanus
• Vesicularia Montagnei (Christmas Moss)
• Cryptocoryne Wndetii Green
• Cryptocoryne Parva
• Rotala rotundifolia
• Rotala Indica Bonsai
• Limnophila hippuridoidees
• Pogostemon erectus
• Bolbitis heudelotii
• Hygrophila pinnatifida
• Alternanthera reineckii mini
• Eleocharis acicularis mini
• Marsilea Hirsuta
• Buchephalandra: Micrantha Needle Leaf, Pygmaea Bukit Kelam, Sp.Red, Kedagang

So it looks now:
*phone picks up quite a lot of red, but it does not look like it when you look at it.



Starting with daily 6ml APT3 Complete + 3ml Flourish Excel

 

[Steve Buce]

Great looking setup and scape

 

[Lauris]

Great looking setup and scape

Thanks Steve.

I have done the first moss trim on 1st water change, just to keep it formed right away.

So far carrying on with 40% water change every 2nd day, light period 7 hours (including 30min ramp up and ramp down), CO2 on the controller. The only worry is that I have to keep the PH at 5.4 with the controller to have the lime-green in my drop checker. I hope that low PH for fish will be OK (I will be going for 40ish neons, some rasboras, and baby size angelfish) + some agae crew (siamese, ottos, amano shrimp, snails)

 

[Lauris]

A short vid of shaping my Xmas moss with 1st water change, on 2nd day after fully planted

 

[Lauris]

a long side shot.. due to its position in the kitchen I had to think about the composition and layers of its 2nd viewing angle as it often will be viewed from the long side.
I'm starting to like this side more than the frontal as it has more levels and detail.. difficult yet to say how it will play out when it will grow in..




Today is the 5th day after planting - Crypts melting some leaves away as expected, Anubias leaves above the water level have dried but I hope for new shoots in a few weeks' time (TerraTape keeps the roots away from drying out), and some growth of Rotala Indica Bonsai is already noticeable.. I think is too early to say about any other issues (e.g Algae).. tank is still in cycling, ammonia is present, nitrites are present, ph is stable at 5.5 (since it is on the controller), and water changes 35-40% every 3rd day (RO + minerals to boost it back in range of 120-140 TDS), light is blasting for 7 hours a day with 30min ramp up and down, at 70% of its power..


One thing I am really pleased about is how convenient I have made the water change system. For every 10L of changing water, I need 10 minutes of time (e.g. 40% water change = 40min tops with no evidence of water change to be found )...with no buckets, no towels, and not a single drop outside the tank 😀 .. can do it while taking my breakfast before I start my work.

 

[Lauris]

Ok, time for some photo spam. Planted a week ago. Some progress photos of w1..

 

[Lauris]

3 weeks planted photo spam
Siamese algae-eater + Buchephalandra: Micrantha Needle Leaf

Otocinclus sucking on Buce

Same lad, different angle

Limnophila hippuridoidees are slowly picking up

Alternanthera reineckii mini getting very dense


Planted randomness (Buce, Hygrophila, Bolbitis heudelotii, Vesicularia Montagnei (Christmas Moss))

Moss is getting thick.. I hope it will hold as ADA cotton thread started to dissolve in 3rd week..phew

Planted randomness foreground

Buchephalandra Micrantha Needle Leaf

1/2 side shot

Full side shot

..and full tank shot


Few points of note:

• Added algae eaters, 5 ottos, 5 Amanos, 3 Seamise
• Dropped the ball with chemistry logic on 1st 2 weeks.. Boosted back my GH in RO water and completely ignored K. Scratched my head why I have to force PH to 5.2 to get lime green drop-checker. Does not work with K below 1 in the water. LOL. Started to mix 50/50 with Tap water to get K up to 3 while my Alkaline buffer is in transit from the shop.
• Rotala rotundifolia (far right side corner) - I had to cut it back once a week (2 trims done now) to replant, and to trim back the lot before letting it form in a dense bush. The foreground grass a got a good trim too. Moss is cut back 2 times a week - just a little, but enough to motivate it grow more thick. Water changes are done every 3 days 40-50%. Ammonia this week dropped to complete zero, so the water changes will be reduced accordingly (will switch to x2 20% and x1 40-50% weekly)
• Livestock update: 30 cardinal tetras, 12 glowlight danios, 12 cherry barbs and a few snails arriving next Wednesday. +Wife is ready to interview few tricolour Angelfish on my orders.
• Warning: Chihiros Vivid 10th edition is a deadly weapon.. I cut it back from 80% of it's power to 65%.

 

[hydrophyte]

Very nice! Following along!

 

[daren]

• Warning: Chihiros Vivid 10th edition is a deadly weapon.. I cut it back from 80% of it's power to 65%

Hi Lauris, please, can you send us some feedback on fan noise of the Vivid light? Is it audible? Can you estimate the power percentage up to which it is able to run without active cooling?

PS: I really like your sense for technical order. Organisation of your cabinet is very inspiring for me.

OT: Sorry for my ignorance - can anyone advice me how to write personal messages? When I click on user icon I get "You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action." error page...

 

[Lauris]

Hi Lauris, please, can you send us some feedback on fan noise of the Vivid light? Is it audible? Can you estimate the power percentage up to which it is able to run without active cooling?

Hi Daren,

It is very low humming noise as you would expect it from a lamp with that power. I can't call it noisy, as the tank is in the kitchen and I have plenty going on in the kitchen from noise perspective (laundry, cooking, Tv and always some human traffic).. but I feel it would not be an issue if it would be in my living room. Also we have to understand that my tolerance to noise is something different.. but as a good indicator I can use my wife.. she has not yet complained about the light being noisy and that's something, as usually I breathe too loud, I type too loud, I eat too loud and blink too loud (her noise tolerance level is very low).

PS: I really like your sense for technical order. Organisation of your cabinet is very inspiring for me.

Thank you 😊

Sorry for my ignorance - can anyone advice me how to write personal messages?

For me it works clicking on your user icon that brings up a pop-up window with one of the options to start a conversation... That's on the android tablet

 

[hypnogogia]

Stunning tank, and it seems to have developed so quickly too. The green background, which is unusual, works really well.

 

[Lauris]

Stunning tank, and it seems to have developed so quickly too

Thank you. The starting plant mass matters. I'm still inpatient to see how it will develop in 2-3 months time. In my head that probably will be the shape I would like to maintain.

The green background, which is unusual, works really well.

This was a concern in my head before it got planted and flooded. But now it is adding extra depth and is pretty much in harmony with the scape 😎

 

[andy198712]

Looks amazing! I really like the moss and how you laid that out.

I’ve found good size angels will eat shrimp….

 

[Lauris]

Looks amazing! I really like the moss and how you laid that out.

Thanks. The concept of planting it was just the 'feel' approach with me getting back in the hobby after 3 years break and wanting to have all of the plants in one scape, lol

I’ve found good size angels will eat shrimp…

That's the idea, let them have a snack on baby 🦐🦐🦐. Will get some sakura red in so they can start to settle in and breed 🫣

 

[andy198712]

Thanks. The concept of planting it was just the 'feel' approach with me getting back in the hobby after 3 years break and wanting to have all of the plants in one scape, lol



That's the idea, let them have a snack on baby 🦐🦐🦐. Will get some sakura red in so they can start to settle in and breed 🫣

well it came out great!
yeah I released 20 blue dreams and it was like open season..... 🙁

 

[Lauris]

yesterday 6 Angels went in.. all in size of 3-3.5 cm (and yes, with time some will have to move out as they grow 🙂










I have some cardinal tetra and lowlight danio arriving tomorrow.

 

[andy198712]

Lovely angel fish! I do miss having them!

 

[TheOslo]

Wow the Wallpaper goes very well with the tank!