Good idea, except we have a special much better premium sun in Norway that we pay extra for.. so it wont really look the same... Just kidding. I will try to remember to grab a photo next time I uproot them 😄
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Consistency Deficiency
- Thread starter Hufsa
- Start date
Not the sunday update but just a weird little mini guide / ramble about coconut caves and attaching rhizome plants
Blame @KirstyF , she wanted to see pics and then it turned into this
I was making another hut for my fat noodles earlier, they loved the one I made with Queen Moss, although they have complained that there was only one entrance (facing towards me).
Something about a fire hazard and OSHA violations, but I think they're just using that excuse because they want to be able to sneak in from the back side and get to the feeding area out front while feeling nice and snug 😏
One of the new shinies is the new Anubias "Mini Coin", this thing is super stinkin cute!
If it stays even half as cute withsteroids CO2 then ill be really happy 😃 (The pangolino I got turned into a huge monster, although it might have been the slightly bigger Aquaflora version)
Im making a low profile half coconut shell with three wide entrances.
One of my goals lately is to use as many hollow pieces of hardscape as I can, this makes it so that planting space doubles as living space for my dear critters 💗 (Needs must when youre always running out of room!)
So this one is just gonna look like a mound of Anubias, but will actually be a super secret hideout for 2-cool-4-skool noodles 😎 and pregnant skrimps.
The silvery noodle I call the Long Serpent is still around and kicking, he has decided that hes too good for showing up for peasants, so he usually comes darting in every feeding, grabs a big mouthful then notices me observing him and snorts something like "freakin paparazzi!" before he blasts off to wherever he likes to spend his day! ⚡💨
The cave itself, I reused an old bit of coconut because as they say recycling is in but mostly because I was too lazy to scoop out gross coconut from a new one when I could just chop off a few bits of an old one.
Theres holes in it from before, not sure what the idea was with that, doesnt really matter. The anubias will have good airflow on their feet I guess 😁
This is how I imagine it will sit, since my sand is so fine grained the hut will likely sink into the substrate a bit, so I made sure to have some allowance for that.
Sinking the feet in should keep it nice and stable despite inhabitants digging around a little bit as they do. Just imagine the sand line goes halfway up the back support as well 😅
With the Mini Coin carefully glued on. From tissue culture, there were three main clumps in the pot, but with careful separation I got 20 individual crowns/plantlets out of the 3 😄
Lucky for me all the bits had a good amount of roots, so I was able to glue them down with the glue touching only roots. I only use glue if I absolutely have to because 1. Ugly and 2. Plants dont like it.
If you get glue on rhizome it may melt immediately (days), or it may melt months to a year down the road, when the rhizome wants to expand but is unable to because of the glue. The plant then gets rid of the old rhizome and voila plants are no longer attached there and potentially need reattaching completely. The goal is only to hold the plant down on the hardscape long enough for it to set out new roots that will be attached.
The plant usually abandons the roots that were glued after that because, again plants dont like being glued (I dont either)
These Anubias had so long roots that I actually trimmed most of them down to 1 - 1,5cm. Its a bit of a risk because if growth conditions arent good in your tank then you might be setting the plants up for failure.
But in this case with CO2 injection and plant health generally being ok I decided to take the risk, it made the gluing process easier to not have a ton of long roots everywhere.
The end result looks like hot garbage and this is intentional. Im way too cheap to buy more than one pot of any plant, ever.
Im not an aquascaper so im not in a particular hurry, I prefer buying just one pot and propagating from there. This allows me to use the money saved on other precious shinies, of which there are many 🤩
If you were an aquascaper you would buy 3-4 pots of this Mini Coin and glue the 3 original clumps from the pot (times 3-4) directly onto wherever you want it. That makes it look the most "grown in" in a minimal amount of time.
But since im playing the long game I dont mind that this hut will look very bad for several months.
Some anubias varieties grow upwards, while some grow sideways, but no matter which it is, there is a front/top and an end to every rhizome.
When im planting I want these growing front/tops to face in multiple directions. When the group grows in, this will make it fill in much nicer and prevent bare looking areas of only rhizome ends.
Once these plants have put out roots and established themselves I am going to pinch out the growing points all over. This will cause them to branch lower down on the rhizome and lead to a fuller group.
Ruthless trimming at exactly the right times and under good conditions (the plants need to be healthy enough to bounce back) will lead to a very compact bush of anubias (or other plant like it).
I hope to have a very cute little cave covered with "Mini Coin" in a years time. Fortunately the noodles and shrimp dont care that it looks janky right now and will take it into use immediately 😊
Will try to snap some shots of the noodles and the "celebrity" to include on sunday
Blame @KirstyF , she wanted to see pics and then it turned into this
I was making another hut for my fat noodles earlier, they loved the one I made with Queen Moss, although they have complained that there was only one entrance (facing towards me).
Something about a fire hazard and OSHA violations, but I think they're just using that excuse because they want to be able to sneak in from the back side and get to the feeding area out front while feeling nice and snug 😏
One of the new shinies is the new Anubias "Mini Coin", this thing is super stinkin cute!
If it stays even half as cute with
Im making a low profile half coconut shell with three wide entrances.
One of my goals lately is to use as many hollow pieces of hardscape as I can, this makes it so that planting space doubles as living space for my dear critters 💗 (Needs must when youre always running out of room!)
So this one is just gonna look like a mound of Anubias, but will actually be a super secret hideout for 2-cool-4-skool noodles 😎 and pregnant skrimps.
The silvery noodle I call the Long Serpent is still around and kicking, he has decided that hes too good for showing up for peasants, so he usually comes darting in every feeding, grabs a big mouthful then notices me observing him and snorts something like "freakin paparazzi!" before he blasts off to wherever he likes to spend his day! ⚡💨
The cave itself, I reused an old bit of coconut because as they say recycling is in but mostly because I was too lazy to scoop out gross coconut from a new one when I could just chop off a few bits of an old one.
Theres holes in it from before, not sure what the idea was with that, doesnt really matter. The anubias will have good airflow on their feet I guess 😁
This is how I imagine it will sit, since my sand is so fine grained the hut will likely sink into the substrate a bit, so I made sure to have some allowance for that.
Sinking the feet in should keep it nice and stable despite inhabitants digging around a little bit as they do. Just imagine the sand line goes halfway up the back support as well 😅
With the Mini Coin carefully glued on. From tissue culture, there were three main clumps in the pot, but with careful separation I got 20 individual crowns/plantlets out of the 3 😄
Lucky for me all the bits had a good amount of roots, so I was able to glue them down with the glue touching only roots. I only use glue if I absolutely have to because 1. Ugly and 2. Plants dont like it.
If you get glue on rhizome it may melt immediately (days), or it may melt months to a year down the road, when the rhizome wants to expand but is unable to because of the glue. The plant then gets rid of the old rhizome and voila plants are no longer attached there and potentially need reattaching completely. The goal is only to hold the plant down on the hardscape long enough for it to set out new roots that will be attached.
The plant usually abandons the roots that were glued after that because, again plants dont like being glued (I dont either)
These Anubias had so long roots that I actually trimmed most of them down to 1 - 1,5cm. Its a bit of a risk because if growth conditions arent good in your tank then you might be setting the plants up for failure.
But in this case with CO2 injection and plant health generally being ok I decided to take the risk, it made the gluing process easier to not have a ton of long roots everywhere.
The end result looks like hot garbage and this is intentional. Im way too cheap to buy more than one pot of any plant, ever.
Im not an aquascaper so im not in a particular hurry, I prefer buying just one pot and propagating from there. This allows me to use the money saved on other precious shinies, of which there are many 🤩
If you were an aquascaper you would buy 3-4 pots of this Mini Coin and glue the 3 original clumps from the pot (times 3-4) directly onto wherever you want it. That makes it look the most "grown in" in a minimal amount of time.
But since im playing the long game I dont mind that this hut will look very bad for several months.
Some anubias varieties grow upwards, while some grow sideways, but no matter which it is, there is a front/top and an end to every rhizome.
When im planting I want these growing front/tops to face in multiple directions. When the group grows in, this will make it fill in much nicer and prevent bare looking areas of only rhizome ends.
Once these plants have put out roots and established themselves I am going to pinch out the growing points all over. This will cause them to branch lower down on the rhizome and lead to a fuller group.
Ruthless trimming at exactly the right times and under good conditions (the plants need to be healthy enough to bounce back) will lead to a very compact bush of anubias (or other plant like it).
I hope to have a very cute little cave covered with "Mini Coin" in a years time. Fortunately the noodles and shrimp dont care that it looks janky right now and will take it into use immediately 😊
Will try to snap some shots of the noodles and the "celebrity" to include on sunday
Last edited:
The Miniaturist
Member
KirstyF
Member
So…..you’ve planted them specifically in different directions and have a plan to pinch out and trim at the exact right time to ensure fuller growth and an ultimately compact and natural looking bush of precious’s.
Sorry…did you say you weren’t an aquascaper!! 😉
I think this is exactly what aquascaping should be all about. Nothing wrong with the long game! 😊
These are gonna look fab and even your Diva noodle should be very happy with the des res. 😍
Sorry…did you say you weren’t an aquascaper!! 😉
I think this is exactly what aquascaping should be all about. Nothing wrong with the long game! 😊
These are gonna look fab and even your Diva noodle should be very happy with the des res. 😍
Im gonna divide this sunday update into two parts because I think its just a little bit more digestible that way, otherwise there would be a lot of photos 😅
FTS, drop checker is a different color to the usual one as I usually take the FTS much later in the day.
Im doing another PH profile today (or the lazy man's version) but I think I am a little limited by the accuracy of the PH pen.
0.2 accuracy just makes it difficult to know if im actually staying within a 0.1 variance 🤔
Then again, if Josh is right then all that is needed is to just ensure "excess" when the plants get going. Who knows.
Ill do a health update on the plants later today, im as curious about it as the rest of you because I havent checked the plants from above this week at all
So im very keen to see what the photos show.
The FTS is not usable to determine health because my phone camera struggles a lot with the contrast between bright and dim parts a lot. So the white you see on Marilia, Tonina and Polysperma isnt accurate.
My little candied friends continue to do well, im really happy about it. It might not seem like much but it just means a lot to me for various reasons.
Some of them are berried now (carrying eggs), and berried shrimp tend to become very shy. I only occasionally see the mamas meandering around in the bushy undergrowth.
The picture above didnt turn out good focus wise, but I just love the expression on the chili rasbora on the right
"Pay attention to meeeeeeee!"
I know chilis are common fish, but they are one of my favorites. They bring life to the upper areas of my tank without making things seem hectic.
They are also supremely gentle and never cause any issues with my other critters. As shown in the photos they are also little piggies and like to be fed now please! 😘
They never let me forget if I have missed a feeding 🥰
I also saw last night that I am becoming a grandmother, three of the Cryptocoryne striolata "Mini" seeds have sprouted in the tub, I hope more will follow.
The cold of autumn is coming in, I absolutely love it but now I am a little worried about how Im going to keep all my emersed plants warm enough through the winter.
Most of them are tropical plants after all.
Our building is very old and drafty, so to save on energy bills and the constant battle with the inevitable entropy of the universe, we usually heat the rooms to only a moderate temperature through winter.
My orchids have done ok with this for years, but this year I will have emersed cultures of stemplants, mosses I dont have room for in the tank, and now tiny baby crypts.
I would gratefully receive tips on the cheapest way to keep the cultures from getting too cold.
Maybe one of those heating mats made for placing under terrariums?
I mentioned new shiny preciouses, and boy have there been a lot.
Im not sure what happened exactly, I seem to have suffered from a terrible lapse of will power and impulse control, and one order of plants suddenly turned into three
So many shinies were able to be moved from the wish list to the plants I keep list 😍
Some of them have also been sitting at the very very top of the wanted list for a long time, so I am almost overwhelmed with preciouses
The list:
Bolbitis heteroclita "Cuspidata"
- This one is a variety of heteroclita that apparently does quite well under water. There are a lot of so-called "Bolbitis sp." around with collectors, but I feel like many of them look very unhappy to be under water, and I prefer plants that look like they are having a reasonably good time, and that you dont have to use a microscope to see. This one is recommended in Christel Kasselmann's book, and grows larger and fuller under water than the commonly sold Bolbitis heteroclita difformis (which I personally feel is a pretty lousy aquarium plant)
Hymenasplenium Obscurum "Dark Spleenwort" (Asplenium cf. Normale / Crepidomanes sp. "Auriculatum")
- Including all the names this fern has had through the years makes for a bit of a mouthful 😅 This one is a really beautiful fern that I think could become quite popular if given the opportunity to spread in the hobby. It grows to a decent size, larger than the cuspidata but smaller than the regular Bolbitis heudelotii. This plant can actually be seen in the 2nd ranked aquascape for the IAPLC 2022
Crepidomanes sp. Javanicus
- This Crepidomanes has a very beautiful leaf, unfortunately I wasnt able to find a lot of pictures of it when I was doing my plant goblin research. Crepidomanes species seem to be very slow growing, although many keep them in no CO2 tanks that are unfertilized, so I think there may be more potential growth to be unlocked there. Also I have heard that the different varieties/species differ in how well they do under water. This makes a lot of sense, they are a diverse family from all over the world.
Crepidomanes sp. Vietnam III
- I added this one as well, I prefer the Crepidomanes varieties with a slightly bigger leaf, I think it will help the plant group to look less like a clump of liverwort/moss and more like a fern.
Brownie Ghost 2011-2012
- The impulse buy to end all impulse buys
Plantnoobdude had asked me why I didnt get some BG2011 while I was placing an order, and I prompty replied that there was no way I was spending 80 euro on ONE PLANT 🤯😵
Somehow it still got added in at the very last minute
Right now the price that I had to pay is preventing me from enjoying the plant at all.
Its definitely one of the most beautiful buces, even the little cutting has a very strong purple color in sunlight and under my relatively neutral lights.
But there are a few other varieties of buce that display the same "class" of color and intensity, they are pricy but not nearly as pricy as BG2011. Its a pretty simple case of demand driving the prices up.
My plan is to grow this one, sell one cutting for roughly the same price, and then maybe I will finally be able to enjoy this buce after that, once it has paid off its debt to me
Until then all I can feel when I look at it is
Oh god theres more:
Rotala macrandra "Mini Type 4"
- Smaller and slightly pickier version of regular macrandra. What could possibly go wrong?
Ludwigia glandulosa
- Ive wanted this one since I was a kid, but never got it because I heard it needed CO2 injection. Hope I can get it reasonably purple, it will probably come down to light intensity and some part spectrum. No blurple lights though, I would rather die
Ludwigia polycarpa
- Spur of the moment addition, tempted to call it "Ammania pedicellata Golden for losers" although some might find that offensive 😂
Bacopa caroliniana "Colorata"
- Because why not. I can also use this to gauge my light levels, I believe it only turns solid pink under quite strong light intensity.
While my moss and fern collectoritis is definitely more under control now, the stem collectoritis is still raging wildly through my system.
I think it is compounded by me now having CO2 and being "technically" able to grow whatever I want. Theres so many pretty flowery stemplants out there 🥰
Since I am new to high tech tanks I also havent gotten completely bored of trimming plants weekly yet either.
Hygrophila pinnatifida 'Uttara Kannada' / UK
- Hello darkness my old friend... @Karmicnull
Isnt there a thing where you go out and get a "new better model" to replace something that you could not keep?
Regular pinnatifida, my old nemesis, was so mean to me in low tech 😢 So mean, so cruel.
I went and got the rarer variant just to spite it, and im hoping it will grow this time around, otherwise this is going to get embarrassing 😅
This one, also called "UK" (no affiliation with the country) is from a region called Uttara Kannada. It is characterized by a tendency to go more red and deeper lobes in the leaf.
I have no idea what color this is going to turn in my tank or if I even prefer it to the regular kind. We will see.
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Mini Coin'
Cutest plant of the year! Clear new favorite anubias, in fact I sold all my petite and steroid-pangolino, Mini Coin is the new thing 🥰 Hope it doesnt grow too big
Vesicularia sp. "Tortoise"
This one wasnt entirely planned either, there is very little documentation on this moss available, no pics of how it looks submersed.
Apparently it came in on the roots of Bucephalandra sp. "Tortoise", hence the name.
My inital impression is skeptical, growing in the tissue culture cup it has a lot of brown rhizome/roots, giving it a pretty brown appearance overall.
I put some in a mesh sandwhich on the left side panel of the tank, and will document how it grows out. The rest was put in an emersed culture.
The rest should be on their way soon:
Pteridophyta sp. "Niah"
Didymoglossum sp. "Buea Goliath"
Bucephalandra Moss
Fissidens sp. Miroshaki
Fissidens sp. Mallorca
maybe Rotala rotundifolia Blood Red SG
Will write more on these when they arrive
Are you dizzy yet? I know I am
A few random photos while everyone is recovering
Flower thing on Schismatoglottis prietoi? Not seen this before
My Bucephalandra Dark Achilles continues to do well, I especially like the contrast between the peachy underside of the new leaf vs the dark bluish grey of the mature leaves.
I hope the amount of BBA will decrease soon, its kinda ruining the look of my slowest growers.
Theres still a lot more misc buce that needs to go from this corner. I shoved a lot of them under the Bolbitis for now 😅
Collectoritis: Not even once
With labels. Some of the new additions are only here temporarily, I dont want to blast them with light right after arrival. I believe they all come from no CO2 no ferts tanks as they are very small.
I didnt want to shock them by putting them through all the changes right off the bat.
When I was moving over all the crypts from the right side of the tank, I was able to pull off daughter plants from several of them.
Especially exciting is the twin daughters (they are still attached to each other) that came off the Striolata Tiger.
Both of the striolatas seem to have been very stressed by living on the right hand side, I assume it is the light being too high for them.
Right now they are both very curled and twisted, I think the leaves might have been bending backwards so much because they were trying to get away from the lights.
I have heard that crypts in low light conditions will have more stretched upright leaves, while those in a lot of light will lie flat on the substrate. I dont know if this is correct or not though.
If I can get the striolatas to put out fuller less curly leaves, I think a group of 3 striolata Tigers will look very striking.
Im undecided if I am going to keep the Striolata Mini. Might pass this on to someone else that wants it, then finding a place for it wont be my problem any more 😁
If the seeds make it then Im definitely going to need a lot of new homes for them 😅
FTS, drop checker is a different color to the usual one as I usually take the FTS much later in the day.
Im doing another PH profile today (or the lazy man's version) but I think I am a little limited by the accuracy of the PH pen.
0.2 accuracy just makes it difficult to know if im actually staying within a 0.1 variance 🤔
Then again, if Josh is right then all that is needed is to just ensure "excess" when the plants get going. Who knows.
Ill do a health update on the plants later today, im as curious about it as the rest of you because I havent checked the plants from above this week at all
So im very keen to see what the photos show.The FTS is not usable to determine health because my phone camera struggles a lot with the contrast between bright and dim parts a lot. So the white you see on Marilia, Tonina and Polysperma isnt accurate.
My little candied friends continue to do well, im really happy about it. It might not seem like much but it just means a lot to me for various reasons.
Some of them are berried now (carrying eggs), and berried shrimp tend to become very shy. I only occasionally see the mamas meandering around in the bushy undergrowth.
The picture above didnt turn out good focus wise, but I just love the expression on the chili rasbora on the right
"Pay attention to meeeeeeee!"I know chilis are common fish, but they are one of my favorites. They bring life to the upper areas of my tank without making things seem hectic.
They are also supremely gentle and never cause any issues with my other critters. As shown in the photos they are also little piggies and like to be fed now please! 😘
They never let me forget if I have missed a feeding 🥰
I also saw last night that I am becoming a grandmother, three of the Cryptocoryne striolata "Mini" seeds have sprouted in the tub, I hope more will follow.
The cold of autumn is coming in, I absolutely love it but now I am a little worried about how Im going to keep all my emersed plants warm enough through the winter.
Most of them are tropical plants after all.
Our building is very old and drafty, so to save on energy bills and the constant battle with the inevitable entropy of the universe, we usually heat the rooms to only a moderate temperature through winter.
My orchids have done ok with this for years, but this year I will have emersed cultures of stemplants, mosses I dont have room for in the tank, and now tiny baby crypts.
I would gratefully receive tips on the cheapest way to keep the cultures from getting too cold.
Maybe one of those heating mats made for placing under terrariums?
I mentioned new shiny preciouses, and boy have there been a lot.
Im not sure what happened exactly, I seem to have suffered from a terrible lapse of will power and impulse control, and one order of plants suddenly turned into three
So many shinies were able to be moved from the wish list to the plants I keep list 😍
Some of them have also been sitting at the very very top of the wanted list for a long time, so I am almost overwhelmed with preciouses
The list:
Bolbitis heteroclita "Cuspidata"
- This one is a variety of heteroclita that apparently does quite well under water. There are a lot of so-called "Bolbitis sp." around with collectors, but I feel like many of them look very unhappy to be under water, and I prefer plants that look like they are having a reasonably good time, and that you dont have to use a microscope to see. This one is recommended in Christel Kasselmann's book, and grows larger and fuller under water than the commonly sold Bolbitis heteroclita difformis (which I personally feel is a pretty lousy aquarium plant)
Hymenasplenium Obscurum "Dark Spleenwort" (Asplenium cf. Normale / Crepidomanes sp. "Auriculatum")
- Including all the names this fern has had through the years makes for a bit of a mouthful 😅 This one is a really beautiful fern that I think could become quite popular if given the opportunity to spread in the hobby. It grows to a decent size, larger than the cuspidata but smaller than the regular Bolbitis heudelotii. This plant can actually be seen in the 2nd ranked aquascape for the IAPLC 2022
Crepidomanes sp. Javanicus
- This Crepidomanes has a very beautiful leaf, unfortunately I wasnt able to find a lot of pictures of it when I was doing my plant goblin research. Crepidomanes species seem to be very slow growing, although many keep them in no CO2 tanks that are unfertilized, so I think there may be more potential growth to be unlocked there. Also I have heard that the different varieties/species differ in how well they do under water. This makes a lot of sense, they are a diverse family from all over the world.
Crepidomanes sp. Vietnam III
- I added this one as well, I prefer the Crepidomanes varieties with a slightly bigger leaf, I think it will help the plant group to look less like a clump of liverwort/moss and more like a fern.
Brownie Ghost 2011-2012
- The impulse buy to end all impulse buys
Plantnoobdude had asked me why I didnt get some BG2011 while I was placing an order, and I prompty replied that there was no way I was spending 80 euro on ONE PLANT 🤯😵
Somehow it still got added in at the very last minute
Right now the price that I had to pay is preventing me from enjoying the plant at all.Its definitely one of the most beautiful buces, even the little cutting has a very strong purple color in sunlight and under my relatively neutral lights.
But there are a few other varieties of buce that display the same "class" of color and intensity, they are pricy but not nearly as pricy as BG2011. Its a pretty simple case of demand driving the prices up.
My plan is to grow this one, sell one cutting for roughly the same price, and then maybe I will finally be able to enjoy this buce after that, once it has paid off its debt to me
Until then all I can feel when I look at it is
Oh god theres more:
Rotala macrandra "Mini Type 4"
- Smaller and slightly pickier version of regular macrandra. What could possibly go wrong?
Ludwigia glandulosa
- Ive wanted this one since I was a kid, but never got it because I heard it needed CO2 injection. Hope I can get it reasonably purple, it will probably come down to light intensity and some part spectrum. No blurple lights though, I would rather die
Ludwigia polycarpa
- Spur of the moment addition, tempted to call it "Ammania pedicellata Golden for losers" although some might find that offensive 😂
Bacopa caroliniana "Colorata"
- Because why not. I can also use this to gauge my light levels, I believe it only turns solid pink under quite strong light intensity.
While my moss and fern collectoritis is definitely more under control now, the stem collectoritis is still raging wildly through my system.
I think it is compounded by me now having CO2 and being "technically" able to grow whatever I want. Theres so many pretty flowery stemplants out there 🥰
Since I am new to high tech tanks I also havent gotten completely bored of trimming plants weekly yet either.
Hygrophila pinnatifida 'Uttara Kannada' / UK
- Hello darkness my old friend...
@KarmicnullIsnt there a thing where you go out and get a "new better model" to replace something that you could not keep?
Regular pinnatifida, my old nemesis, was so mean to me in low tech 😢 So mean, so cruel.
I went and got the rarer variant just to spite it, and im hoping it will grow this time around, otherwise this is going to get embarrassing 😅
This one, also called "UK" (no affiliation with the country) is from a region called Uttara Kannada. It is characterized by a tendency to go more red and deeper lobes in the leaf.
I have no idea what color this is going to turn in my tank or if I even prefer it to the regular kind. We will see.
Anubias barteri var. nana 'Mini Coin'
Cutest plant of the year! Clear new favorite anubias, in fact I sold all my petite and steroid-pangolino, Mini Coin is the new thing 🥰 Hope it doesnt grow too big
Vesicularia sp. "Tortoise"
This one wasnt entirely planned either, there is very little documentation on this moss available, no pics of how it looks submersed.
Apparently it came in on the roots of Bucephalandra sp. "Tortoise", hence the name.
My inital impression is skeptical, growing in the tissue culture cup it has a lot of brown rhizome/roots, giving it a pretty brown appearance overall.
I put some in a mesh sandwhich on the left side panel of the tank, and will document how it grows out. The rest was put in an emersed culture.
The rest should be on their way soon:
Pteridophyta sp. "Niah"
Didymoglossum sp. "Buea Goliath"
Bucephalandra Moss
Fissidens sp. Miroshaki
Fissidens sp. Mallorca
maybe Rotala rotundifolia Blood Red SG
Will write more on these when they arrive
Are you dizzy yet? I know I am
A few random photos while everyone is recovering
Flower thing on Schismatoglottis prietoi? Not seen this before
My Bucephalandra Dark Achilles continues to do well, I especially like the contrast between the peachy underside of the new leaf vs the dark bluish grey of the mature leaves.
I hope the amount of BBA will decrease soon, its kinda ruining the look of my slowest growers.
Theres still a lot more misc buce that needs to go from this corner. I shoved a lot of them under the Bolbitis for now 😅
Collectoritis: Not even once
With labels. Some of the new additions are only here temporarily, I dont want to blast them with light right after arrival. I believe they all come from no CO2 no ferts tanks as they are very small.
I didnt want to shock them by putting them through all the changes right off the bat.
When I was moving over all the crypts from the right side of the tank, I was able to pull off daughter plants from several of them.
Especially exciting is the twin daughters (they are still attached to each other) that came off the Striolata Tiger.
Both of the striolatas seem to have been very stressed by living on the right hand side, I assume it is the light being too high for them.
Right now they are both very curled and twisted, I think the leaves might have been bending backwards so much because they were trying to get away from the lights.
I have heard that crypts in low light conditions will have more stretched upright leaves, while those in a lot of light will lie flat on the substrate. I dont know if this is correct or not though.
If I can get the striolatas to put out fuller less curly leaves, I think a group of 3 striolata Tigers will look very striking.
Im undecided if I am going to keep the Striolata Mini. Might pass this on to someone else that wants it, then finding a place for it wont be my problem any more 😁
If the seeds make it then Im definitely going to need a lot of new homes for them 😅
Last edited:
plantnoobdude
Member
Always glad to helpPlantnoobdude had asked me why I didnt get some BG2011 while I was placing an order, and I prompty replied that there was no way I was spending 80 euro on ONE PLANT 🤯😵
Somehow it still got added in at the very last minute
Correcto, only turned solid pink under 80% strength plus from my wrgb in my tank!
very nice, will be a good year before they become decent sized plants lol.
FTS looks lovely and I love how the buce Achilles look! Looking forward to the plant health pics, (let the super-zooming-in commence!)
_Maq_
Member
What do you call too cold? I can tell you, I'm very poor person even by Czech standards. 17°C is quite normal temperature in my living room during winter, in bedroom sometimes even less. Plants both submerged and emerged can survive comfortably such temperatures, all species (known to me). Well, most plants take a winter rest, though, they don't grow much.
It doesn't. What it truly requires is acidic water. It gets dark violet even with moderate lighting. If you don't believe me, you'll force me to fish some pics.
Ive just spent about 5 hours doing a lot of trimming, maintenance and the usual water change as well as some water testing.
I am absolutely exhausted right now, I would love to write a whole essay on all sortsof things but I might have to keep things a little minimal right now and get back to it later 😅
"Oh no!" I hear you exclaim. "Your long ramblings are the highlight of my day!" you cry.
But unfortunately my friends it will have to be this way. Its a cruel world indeed.
Commence minimalistic Hufsa
This plant group was too rowdy. Wanted to try something new. Took chainsaw to the entire thing. See later pictures.
Fat chonk.
Feesh.
Pretty flower plant.
Not all the way there. Moderate disappoint. Confusion. Elaborate later.
Was replant. Might angry.
Ok.
Angry this week. 2/3 of group stunted. Maybe CO2 bad. Cut off all the tops, start again.
Worse. Strange.
Also bit angry.
Glandulosa for the records.
Old leaf on Marilia, plants withdrawing something?
Very happy Bolbitis from Darrel. Did a big grow and then stayed medium size. Optimistic that its smaller than standard.
Weird stuff is pearling under leaves.
Pretty colors on preciouses
Open sandy area for fish, also known as baby plant nursery
Did plant trimming at this point.
Thought I would include more about maintenance so people dont get the wrong idea.
New FTS taken after trimming, before water change and maintenance.
Practicing plant skills on Tonina.
Sorry about bad photos. Care levels critically low at this point.
Noodles complained about stuff. Rearranged for them. Will elaborate later.
Beep boop.
Minimalist Hufsa out 🤖
I am absolutely exhausted right now, I would love to write a whole essay on all sortsof things but I might have to keep things a little minimal right now and get back to it later 😅
"Oh no!" I hear you exclaim. "Your long ramblings are the highlight of my day!" you cry.
But unfortunately my friends it will have to be this way. Its a cruel world indeed.
Commence minimalistic Hufsa
This plant group was too rowdy. Wanted to try something new. Took chainsaw to the entire thing. See later pictures.
Fat chonk.
Feesh.
Pretty flower plant.
Not all the way there. Moderate disappoint. Confusion. Elaborate later.
Was replant. Might angry.
Ok.
Angry this week. 2/3 of group stunted. Maybe CO2 bad. Cut off all the tops, start again.
Worse. Strange.
Also bit angry.
Glandulosa for the records.
Old leaf on Marilia, plants withdrawing something?
Very happy Bolbitis from Darrel. Did a big grow and then stayed medium size. Optimistic that its smaller than standard.
Weird stuff is pearling under leaves.
Pretty colors on preciouses
Open sandy area for fish, also known as baby plant nursery
Did plant trimming at this point.
Thought I would include more about maintenance so people dont get the wrong idea.
New FTS taken after trimming, before water change and maintenance.
Practicing plant skills on Tonina.
Sorry about bad photos. Care levels critically low at this point.
Noodles complained about stuff. Rearranged for them. Will elaborate later.
Beep boop.
Minimalist Hufsa out 🤖
_Maq_
Member
Possibly magnesium.
Really?
I find that really unlikely, the tank gets 10ppm per week
Hmm well I was hoping to keep them growing through the winter, so maybe around 22 degrees or so could make a good target to stay around.
Part of my concern is very cold drafts from open windows and stuff like that. From us periodically opening windows in winter to improve air quality.
We also have a very fluffy dog that loves to sleep with her nose out of a partially opened window, so she demands this periodically as well, even mid winter 😅
I suppose a terrarium heating mat wont do much for drafts either though..
I might just need to turn the oven in the kitchen up a bit 😢
I suspected it might be more the case, still somehow I never quite worked up the courage to try before.
Hopeful to get some nice dark purple then even without super bright light 😊It gets dark violet even with moderate lighting. If you don't believe me, you'll force me to fish some pics.
I wont force any pictures but I would gratefully look at them if you want to share
_Maq_
Member
With Ammannia crassicaulis. No CO2, acidic water, moderate lighting 7 hrs a day. Never mind the algae/fungi - it was an experiment.I wont force any pictures but I would gratefully look at them if you want to share
Hi all,
cheers Darrel
I think I have <"two different smaller Bolbitis heudelotti">. I think @Hufsa got one of each, but <"I'm not entirely sure">.
cheers Darrel
Yes you sent me two samples 🥰
The other one is planted to the left of the one I pictured, its taking a little longer to recover from my overly vigorous hitchhiker treatment, but it too is coming around and putting on good mass
I hope to be able to identify them at some point, for now they are just called A and B for me to keep track of them.
My working theory is that they could be the varieties called "Compact/Kompact" and "Prothallium", but so far I dont know which is which.
Unless you are saying youre not sure if you sent me the two different ones, or two samples of the same plant?
Oh, oops 🤭 I suppose we shall see then! If they grow out practically identical then I will assume they were the same plant 😄
Im super happy to have them whether they are one or two 🥰
I mentioned I also did some water testing last night
The TDS has remained pretty consistent, about 151 before the 75% water change, and 135 the next day (so including the front loaded ferts and the macro & micro doses for one day).
It doesnt really matter so much what this so-called TDS consists of, im just trying to monitor the consistency from week to week. (I am aware that we are not in fact measuring TDS but instead conductivity.)
Compared to last week which was 153 and 134 respectively, it seems to be about the same level.
I think ~150-130 before-after is a better span to be in than the 220-120 before-after I would often have when I was dosing EI for my low tech setup. An increase of 100 TDS over one week is just excessively excessive.
Im not saying its necessarily harmful, just excessive.
On a different note, im not a huge fan of the concept of build up. Like, I dont want my nutrients to "hit the right levels" 4+ weeks later.
I want the nutrients to be where they need to be within a week, and I want them to stay there and not go wandering off much.
Front loading half the macros and then doing a 75% weekly water change seems to be working for this so far.
Im doing weekly water changes for now, but when I have most of the plants growing healthily and no big algae issues, I would like to try to find a good spot where I can do water changes every other week instead.
Part of living with a disability is the need to pace myself and find ways to do things that I will be able to keep up with in the long run.
My tank has a light stocking of fish, and I really dont think biweekly water changes will affect their wellbeing at all. But going to biweekly would mean a lot for my wellbeing, so I hope I can find a routine where everything still stays consistent nutrient wise.
Even though I am a bit more awake right now, Im still very much feeling the fatigue from the extra long maintenance I did yesterday.
Sometimes I need a few days just to recover from the sunday. This is definitely going to be one of those 😓
Ive been cleaning my one of my filters every week, and I have noticed that when I do this there is nothing to come out of the sponges, and very little detritus in the water.
Basically doing one filter every week is entirely overkill for my tank and Im going to start doing one every other week, alternating between them. So Eheim once a month and Aquael once a month, with two weeks between.
The intake meshes and the skimmer should be done at every water change though, I get this done most of the times but not always.
Back to testing 😅
If we are to believe the nitrate test (and this is a pretty big if), there was around 15-17~ ppm NO3 in my water column before this water change.
This was somewhat of a decrease since last week, where the reading was right between 15 and 30 (So maybe 20-25)
If we believe this, then it might indicate that the plants have been uptaking more nitrogen this week.
If the plants were struggling with iron or manganese or whatever before but are doing better now, then it would be plausible that overall growth would improve and uptake would increase.
This is the fiddly bit about nutrients and uptake and all of that, the demands are not independent of each other, and we're constantly looking at a moving living system that doesnt stay static.
I think it would be a mistake to get stuck in very static thinking and ideas when we are applying it so something that is so very much not.
Based on what I have tried so far it looks like my dosing might be going towards more APT Complete/APT EI levels rather than typical lean.
Im not particularly concerned about where I end up, im just looking to achieve plant growth that is satisfactory to me, and I dont really care about all the "politics" surrounding this.
I will say that so far it seems to me that lean dosing might be unsuitable or at least very hard to get right with inert substrate. I have mentioned that I didnt mind trying to "thread the needle", but if the plants arent happy then nothing is being threaded. I suppose that soon I will "officially" be departing from the Marschner/Epstein ratios when it comes to macros as well. There are lingering issues that I cant ignore, and when my plants and my gut instinct is leading me somewhere then that is where I am going. So im going to increase the K a lot next week, from 9 or so that it is now to 15 at least. This is to see if it will fix or help some of the issues im seeing with very conspicuously tattered old growth and very brittle stems.
I got two more tests to help me get a little better understanding of where my tank is. From what I have heard, they are not as problematic as the nitrate test when it comes to reliability.
Because I have had times where I know I have added a ton of KNO3 and have gotten a low nitrate test result (earlier in the journal), but for the most part the results seem consistent with what I would expect.
Im not going to rely on them completely, but I am curious to see if they are suggesting what I am already thinking, or not.
So for this week we also have values for phosphate and iron, JBL tests. I didnt get potassium, the test costs a fair bit and I just didnt want to spend that much on tests for now.
I couldnt get the cheaper refill for potassium since I need that special tube to perform the test.
I will be testing once weekly going forward to use as supplemental information, and then once I get something that works well for my tank I will stop testing as I dont see the need.
Phosphate was sitting around 0.6-0.7 and Iron came out to 0.1.
This is the first time I have used these tests at all, so im not sure if the results should be considered low, ok or high. Probably not high if my tank is taking me into low/medium EI territory.
Since im not sure what to make of it, feel free to chime in with your personal opinion on these values, even @Hanuman
I also did an hourly PH profile yesterday, I saw the values shifting a little bit when the plants really got going, which is not supposed to happen.
I discovered that the spray bar had moved slightly again, so I put it back the way it was supposed to be and increased the injection somewhat.
The plumbing sorely needs an overhaul, I want to remake the U bends and I need a system that wont shift around so easily (as @22802 has made me more aware of).
Im having issues with the suction cup slipping causing alterations in the surface agitation, and I need some sort of marker on the insertion of the tube so that I rotate it the same amount every time its cleaned.
Basically its all out of whack and it needs nailing down and improving.
This could definitely explain the tantrum of the Rotala OJ (this is not a tantrum prone plant), and the iffy unhappiness of the regular R. mac.
Im not sure what the deal is with Tonina, it got worse this week.
I was optimistically as always expecting that extra Mn and traces where going to get me the rest of the way, but it didnt seem to do that.
While I was doing maintenance I noticed that the micro autodosing line was halfway empty, thats definitely not supposed to happen.
I ran the doser manually to fill it up again, and I will be checking it daily to make sure it behaves. I cant have equipment malfunctioning going on while im trying to work out growth issues, that will drive me insane
Unfortunately dosing things manually will not be reliable, so I rely on the equipment working as its supposed to.
Definitely need to run another week with the same stuff to see if any kinks smooth themselves out or not.
As a nice little note, theres very little thread algae left in the tank now I havent been pulling out many clumps at all.
Only on the Pantanal (because of angry) and some of the mosses that are in the bright light. BBA is a different story, a fair bit of that on the slow growers at the moment
There is an increasing amount of green spot algae. Im curious if there really is any truth to the whole phosphate green spot algae thing.
Ill try increasing that too in a bit, but K first because I wanna see what happens
The TDS has remained pretty consistent, about 151 before the 75% water change, and 135 the next day (so including the front loaded ferts and the macro & micro doses for one day).
It doesnt really matter so much what this so-called TDS consists of, im just trying to monitor the consistency from week to week. (I am aware that we are not in fact measuring TDS but instead conductivity.)
Compared to last week which was 153 and 134 respectively, it seems to be about the same level.
I think ~150-130 before-after is a better span to be in than the 220-120 before-after I would often have when I was dosing EI for my low tech setup. An increase of 100 TDS over one week is just excessively excessive.
Im not saying its necessarily harmful, just excessive.
On a different note, im not a huge fan of the concept of build up. Like, I dont want my nutrients to "hit the right levels" 4+ weeks later.
I want the nutrients to be where they need to be within a week, and I want them to stay there and not go wandering off much.
Front loading half the macros and then doing a 75% weekly water change seems to be working for this so far.
Im doing weekly water changes for now, but when I have most of the plants growing healthily and no big algae issues, I would like to try to find a good spot where I can do water changes every other week instead.
Part of living with a disability is the need to pace myself and find ways to do things that I will be able to keep up with in the long run.
My tank has a light stocking of fish, and I really dont think biweekly water changes will affect their wellbeing at all. But going to biweekly would mean a lot for my wellbeing, so I hope I can find a routine where everything still stays consistent nutrient wise.
Even though I am a bit more awake right now, Im still very much feeling the fatigue from the extra long maintenance I did yesterday.
Sometimes I need a few days just to recover from the sunday. This is definitely going to be one of those 😓
Ive been cleaning my one of my filters every week, and I have noticed that when I do this there is nothing to come out of the sponges, and very little detritus in the water.
Basically doing one filter every week is entirely overkill for my tank and Im going to start doing one every other week, alternating between them. So Eheim once a month and Aquael once a month, with two weeks between.
The intake meshes and the skimmer should be done at every water change though, I get this done most of the times but not always.
Back to testing 😅
If we are to believe the nitrate test (and this is a pretty big if), there was around 15-17~ ppm NO3 in my water column before this water change.
This was somewhat of a decrease since last week, where the reading was right between 15 and 30 (So maybe 20-25)
If we believe this, then it might indicate that the plants have been uptaking more nitrogen this week.
If the plants were struggling with iron or manganese or whatever before but are doing better now, then it would be plausible that overall growth would improve and uptake would increase.
This is the fiddly bit about nutrients and uptake and all of that, the demands are not independent of each other, and we're constantly looking at a moving living system that doesnt stay static.
I think it would be a mistake to get stuck in very static thinking and ideas when we are applying it so something that is so very much not.
Based on what I have tried so far it looks like my dosing might be going towards more APT Complete/APT EI levels rather than typical lean.
Im not particularly concerned about where I end up, im just looking to achieve plant growth that is satisfactory to me, and I dont really care about all the "politics" surrounding this.
I will say that so far it seems to me that lean dosing might be unsuitable or at least very hard to get right with inert substrate. I have mentioned that I didnt mind trying to "thread the needle", but if the plants arent happy then nothing is being threaded. I suppose that soon I will "officially" be departing from the Marschner/Epstein ratios when it comes to macros as well. There are lingering issues that I cant ignore, and when my plants and my gut instinct is leading me somewhere then that is where I am going. So im going to increase the K a lot next week, from 9 or so that it is now to 15 at least. This is to see if it will fix or help some of the issues im seeing with very conspicuously tattered old growth and very brittle stems.
I got two more tests to help me get a little better understanding of where my tank is. From what I have heard, they are not as problematic as the nitrate test when it comes to reliability.
Because I have had times where I know I have added a ton of KNO3 and have gotten a low nitrate test result (earlier in the journal), but for the most part the results seem consistent with what I would expect.
Im not going to rely on them completely, but I am curious to see if they are suggesting what I am already thinking, or not.
So for this week we also have values for phosphate and iron, JBL tests. I didnt get potassium, the test costs a fair bit and I just didnt want to spend that much on tests for now.
I couldnt get the cheaper refill for potassium since I need that special tube to perform the test.
I will be testing once weekly going forward to use as supplemental information, and then once I get something that works well for my tank I will stop testing as I dont see the need.
Phosphate was sitting around 0.6-0.7 and Iron came out to 0.1.
This is the first time I have used these tests at all, so im not sure if the results should be considered low, ok or high. Probably not high if my tank is taking me into low/medium EI territory.
Since im not sure what to make of it, feel free to chime in with your personal opinion on these values, even @Hanuman
I also did an hourly PH profile yesterday, I saw the values shifting a little bit when the plants really got going, which is not supposed to happen.
I discovered that the spray bar had moved slightly again, so I put it back the way it was supposed to be and increased the injection somewhat.
The plumbing sorely needs an overhaul, I want to remake the U bends and I need a system that wont shift around so easily (as @22802 has made me more aware of).
Im having issues with the suction cup slipping causing alterations in the surface agitation, and I need some sort of marker on the insertion of the tube so that I rotate it the same amount every time its cleaned.
Basically its all out of whack and it needs nailing down and improving.
This could definitely explain the tantrum of the Rotala OJ (this is not a tantrum prone plant), and the iffy unhappiness of the regular R. mac.
Im not sure what the deal is with Tonina, it got worse this week.
I was optimistically as always expecting that extra Mn and traces where going to get me the rest of the way, but it didnt seem to do that.
While I was doing maintenance I noticed that the micro autodosing line was halfway empty, thats definitely not supposed to happen.
I ran the doser manually to fill it up again, and I will be checking it daily to make sure it behaves. I cant have equipment malfunctioning going on while im trying to work out growth issues, that will drive me insane
Unfortunately dosing things manually will not be reliable, so I rely on the equipment working as its supposed to.
Definitely need to run another week with the same stuff to see if any kinks smooth themselves out or not.
As a nice little note, theres very little thread algae left in the tank now
I havent been pulling out many clumps at all.Only on the Pantanal (because of angry) and some of the mosses that are in the bright light. BBA is a different story, a fair bit of that on the slow growers at the moment
There is an increasing amount of green spot algae. Im curious if there really is any truth to the whole phosphate green spot algae thing.
Ill try increasing that too in a bit, but K first because I wanna see what happens
Last edited by a moderator:
plantnoobdude
Member
You know what I’m gonna say…. Known standard😂
I sorta meant if people think the values should be higher or sound ok. As for the accuracy, I just dont have the spare energy to make up standards to compare to right now, I wish I had 😟 It took me most of the day just to finish up that post.
So lets just pretend they are reasonably accurate for now. If my dosing is going more towards something like medium EI then getting extremely accurate results should matter less, no?
John q
Member
I think your test results are in line with the level of ferts you dose the tank. Whilst I don't test these days I think these tests are accurate enough for our purposes.
Been down that rabbit hole myself mate and it didn't work for whatever reason. Hate to see you stressed about this, we live, we learn.
It's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.
