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Breathing Jungle

gooddinglucas said:
I honestly never noticed this till now
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That's what we are here for.. :) Not to put you down, but to get you up.. It's very common for starters to not see the forest for the trees. It's a lot to take in..
And regarding scaping i consider myself still a starter too..
 
Hi all,
AverageWhiteBloke said:
I think it's position 1 mate.
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That is the one. Like "@zozo" says the stump is upside down, I have some of the reservations that "@Edvet" has, but in this case it really is just the flush cut stump. If you don't want to move it you could glue, or staple, some moss to the flat surface.
gooddinglucas said:
upside down java fern?
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It isn't upside down, it is just dry. If you look at position "2", the fronds look mat in the light, rather than glossy, and once they look like that they don't normally recover.

You can see the difference in these photos, the first one is fine.
gooddinglucas said:
...
88a14a46cb30946727e0e7af248a8386.jpg
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The fronds needs to stay wet and glossy like the ones above, which means a lot of spraying if they are out of the water for long.

The rhizome is probably still all right.

cheers Darrel
 
Lucas, if it were my scape I'd be inclined to work on the rock part of the scape a bit more.
In short, I think it may help to add more rocks to give your islands more height and presence, as well as a greater sense of depth and perspective.
Once you're happy with the position of the rocks and the general shape of the islands, try messing around with both rocks and wood to make it look like the roots grew there naturally.
Sloping the substrate front to very high at the back will also help give you a greater sense of depth and perspective and will help with the positioning of the hardscape.
You may then find it easier to create an overall look that you are happy with.
 
Filled three days ago and second water change yesterday. Started a strong 8 ppm ammonia.
Getting some very light tannons which I kinda like as the boraras brigittae often are found in quiet black water streams
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Featuring a dark DSLR picture! All jokes aside, the aquarium is doing fine; typical strong start with rapid, healthy growth. I've been trimming off any and all old leaves that are growing algae. The staurogyne repens in the front is collecting some brown algae on the older leaves. In response, I've reduced my light period from 13 hours to 11 hours.

I change 2-4 gallons (7.6L-15L) daily and dose 1 ml Flourish Excel and 2 ml Phosphersus.

Currently, I am very close to 0ppm Ammonia. I still have 5ppm of lingering Nitrates, but I'll clean the filter and see if it fixes itself. pH around 6.4. Livestock introduction in around a week...?

Wanting to order Narrow Leaf Javafern, Bolbotis Huedeloti mini, and maybe Blyxa Japonica.
the Java Fern will inhabit the rear portions on either side of the valley, and the Blyxa Japonica,if purchased, will be in a similar area. Bolbotis Huedeloti will inhabit the rear corners in an attempt to further direct the focal point into the valley.




IMG_0866.JPG
 
Just noticed my water is buzzing with very small white worms and very small white/clear bugs. I am actually a little excited at this because my Boraras Brigittae are micropreadators. I just need to make sure that these creatures aren't parasitical or harmful to fish/shrimp.
 
Bolbitis Huedelotii, fissidens fontanus, and Microsorum Pteropus added. The moss is just below the powerhead flow to keep it clean and circulated. The Bolbitis Huedelotii came is 6 very small rhyzomes which I planted in the back areas. They're not yet visible. The Very close to acceptable parameters for adding lifestock. .25ppm Ammonia, 6.4 pH, 3-5ppm Nitrate. The Nitrate is a weird story. Readings sit around 0 for the first hour, then after that is levels out at 5ppm. Is this just the test solution fully reacting or dying organisms releasing more nitrate? Confusion.
IMG_0867.JPG
 
Added 1 Amano Shrimp. 0ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrate, ~3ppm nitrate. Shrimp is acting normally. If all goes well for a week, I will introduce the rest of the livestock. All plants are growing well.
 
Hi all,
gooddinglucas said:
...... dying organisms releasing more nitrate?.
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You are fine, it isn't dying organisms.

When proteins are organically degraded they end as ammonia (NH3), this ammonia is then taken up by plants, or enters microbial filtration where it is eventually converted to nitrate (NO3). How quickly that conversion occurs depends upon a number of factors, but the time scale is always going to be longer than the hour.
gooddinglucas said:
Readings sit around 0 for the first hour, then after that is levels out at 5ppm. Is this just the test solution fully reacting?
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Nitrates are extremely soluble, so when you add them as chemical salts (KNO3 etc) you should get a very quick dissolution, and within minutes the water column will all have the same amount of NO3- ions.

The rise in readings will be to do with the test kit and probably interference from other ions. Monovalent ions are quite difficult to measure accurately, even in a lab.

cheers Darrel
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all, You are fine, it isn't dying organisms.

When proteins are organically degraded they end as ammonia (NH3), this ammonia is then taken up by plants, or enters microbial filtration where it is eventually converted to nitrate (NO3). How quickly that conversion occurs depends upon a number of factors, but the time scale is always going to be longer than the hour. Nitrates are extremely soluble, so when you add them as chemical salts (KNO3 etc) you should get a very quick dissolution, and within minutes the water column will all have the same amount of NO3- ions.

The rise in readings will be to do with the test kit and probably interference from other ions. Monovalent ions are quite difficult to measure accurately, even in a lab.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
Literallt the exact scientific explanation i wanted. Thanks

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Just started dosing Potassium. Increasing in .5ml increments until I hit 2ml/day. had a minor ammonia spike (.25ppm) during filter off period (water change) that stressed the shrimp but all is back to normal. Guessing I suspended the nitrification processes by temporarily reducing oxygen levels...?
 
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