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Andyh's "Twisted Wood" UPDATED 10May14

The Boys want feeding!! The chocs seem to be getting very confident! They all appear as soon as i enter the room.

14050975042_77b00d39cc_b.jpgChocolate gouramis by andyh_2011, on Flickr

Great shot of these in their group mate. They're showing some really nice colours so are obviously very healthy and happy despite the fact you pulled apart their home.
Love the re shuffle. Definitely has more of an impact. Very nice andy
 
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Great shot of these in their group mate. They're showing some really nice colours so are obviously very healthy and happy despite the fact you pulled apart their home.
Love the re shuffle. Definitely has more of an impact. Very nice andy
The shot was luck really, had my iphone in hand and took the snap. They are happy now, they weren't when I was pulling apart their home :)
Thanks for the comments
 
Looks great andy, the plants are uber healthy. Really like the low lying trident? and the open space, gives it a really nice feel.
What other fish get to call this home?

Thanks for the kind words

I have a few:
A little gang of Corydoras habrosus
Shoal of Pencil Fish
Chocs
and a pair of Apistogramma Cacatuoides
4 Rasbora Mac's

I am a fish keeper at heart!
 
Any Trident plantlets with my name on yet.:greedy:
Maybe....

Excellent shots, plants and fish... Really great! Are you using 2x24w or 4x24w? Bright green and very healthy!
Thanks Parotet, i use 2x24w and then when taking photos i switch on all four. I have a mix of tubes and alternate which i have on for different effects.
I fond alternating the height of the light can really effect things.

Andyh
 
I fond alternating the height of the light can really effect things.

Andyh

Which effects for example? I am very interested in your experience. I also have Java trident and stem plants. I think I have finally found the point, you know healthy growth and balance between light, co2 and ferts. But my lights are really above the tank, at 40 cm (also 2x24w T5HO for a 60 cm). It's a low light system with very high CO2 (inline atomizer with 3 bps in just 60 cm tank), very stable now. But I want to play a little bit and try to put the lights closer to the tank to see if I can see faster growing. I'm sure stem plants will do well but I fear the ferns (also have Bolbitis) will get mad with that much light. Do you find Java trident suffering when getting the light closer?

Jordi
 
Which effects for example? I am very interested in your experience. I also have Java trident and stem plants. I think I have finally found the point, you know healthy growth and balance between light, co2 and ferts. But my lights are really above the tank, at 40 cm (also 2x24w T5HO for a 60 cm). It's a low light system with very high CO2 (inline atomizer with 3 bps in just 60 cm tank), very stable now. But I want to play a little bit and try to put the lights closer to the tank to see if I can see faster growing. I'm sure stem plants will do well but I fear the ferns (also have Bolbitis) will get mad with that much light. Do you find Java trident suffering when getting the light closer?

Jordi

The light spends a majority of its time sitting about 6" above the tank, which i have found to be an optimum level for my current setup
I find if i run it lower for say a week, the increase in algae growth is noticeable, generally Green spot and some black hairy stuff.

The trident as you can see is doing very well, and would suggest its not that demanding. I have an established ritual regarding lights and co2 (lights on for 7 hrs, CO2 on 2 hrs before off 1 hr before lights off.) CO2 gets my drop checker a nice Green comfortably.

For me its a balancing act, if you want quick growth drop it to an inch from the surface, but prepare to consider increasing the other elements like ferts and CO2.
This tank is aimed to be fairly low maintenance and needs about 45 mins a week, for WC, tidying and pruning.
 
The contrast in the tank is striking.
The density of the plants is brilliant compared to the open space on the right.
It is tanks such as yours that make me really want to take the plunge and purchase a co2 system to assist in getting the think dense growth which is present in your tank.
It is a real inspiration and you should be really pleased with what you have put together.

How many water changes and what volume of the tank do you change when you do it?
 
Thanks Andy, I was mentioning trident and Bolbitis as I read a Clive's post explaining that most plants can get used to low light levels just by decreasing their metabolic rate, but that low light plants have some difficulties to get used to high levels... Getting somehow mad and requiring extremely high levels of co2 or something similar. I find with my current setup than higher leaves of trident are the ones to suffer more deficiencies.

Same light hours, co2 timetable and maintenance time... Yes, low light co2 enriched tanks are very comfortable to manage :)

Cheers,
Jordi
 
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The contrast in the tank is striking.
The density of the plants is brilliant compared to the open space on the right.
It is tanks such as yours that make me really want to take the plunge and purchase a co2 system to assist in getting the think dense growth which is present in your tank.
It is a real inspiration and you should be really pleased with what you have put together.

How many water changes and what volume of the tank do you change when you do it?

Thanks for the kind words, its nice to receive such positive feedback.
CO2 is the game changer really. Its a big move when you first do it, but will guarantee once you have you will ask yourself why you hadn't.

The dense growth can be attributed to a number of factors, light CO2, Ferts and dense planting from the offset.

Water changes are the secret to planted tanks in my opinion, as a minimum i do 1 x 40-50% WC per week. Normally 2 at 30%

When the tank is first set up this is drastically different, normally 3- 4WC per week for the first couple of weeks dropping to 2-3 then down 1-2 once the tank is about 8 weeks old.
When i completed the overhaul of the tank, i must of completed 150% wc in 2 days, to help keep things on track.

Thanks
Andyh
 
Thanks for the kind words, its nice to receive such positive feedback.
CO2 is the game changer really. Its a big move when you first do it, but will guarantee once you have you will ask yourself why you hadn't.

The dense growth can be attributed to a number of factors, light CO2, Ferts and dense planting from the offset.

Water changes are the secret to planted tanks in my opinion, as a minimum i do 1 x 40-50% WC per week. Normally 2 at 30%

I don't wish to clog up your journal but i think its the not fully understanding the ferts etc which makes me a bit unsure about going co2.

But as i said your tank is an inspiration and you should be really pleased.

Jon
 
I don't wish to clog up your journal but i think its the not fully understanding the ferts etc which makes me a bit unsure about going co2.

But as i said your tank is an inspiration and you should be really pleased.

Jon
no worries Jon

Ferns in my opinion are not a demanding plant and Java Ferns can can be grown with out CO2, but will it look uber healthy, lush, dense etc? Probaly not, but it still looks great.
CO2 will allow the plant to show its full potential. True for many of the aquatic plants we all use.
 
So how was it that you went about picking the plants that you used?
 
Overtime you develop your favourites, and some of the top guys on here spend tremendous time thinking about plant shapes, structures, colours and textures and plan their plants meticulously!

I chose these plants to give me the look i wanted, and as can be seen from this journal i haven't finished up with all i started with as them ultimately didn't work for me as i didn't like the way they turned out. Pruning is the most important aspect for me as this keeps things looking the way you planned. As all the plants will grow and become unruly if left.

My advice is stick to the easy & medium plants from Tropica, especially the 1-2-Grows as you should have plenty of success.
Read the journals here on UKAPS and make notes of the plants you like and then research them on the Tropica website.

Andyh
 
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