"Dutch something or the other" 120 Gal

[plantbrain]

Hacked some today.
Main issues overall:
1. Erio setaceum type 3 is doing well and is starting to regrow the tops and they are doing nicely. I had my doubts for a few weeks there.
But it'll come back and full recovery and hopefully be as nice as I have about 1 year or two ago or so:
Center:

This is what the tank looked like maybe 1-2 years ago, the next set of pics are yesterday's.



2. Other issue is the slow filling in of the EH on the Left corner. Perhaps finer ADA powder might help. It takes a while for it to really fill in compared to HC, Gloss, UG, etc. Which is good because then you do not need to trim it much.
But I'll need to be patient. At least it's staying much better rooted in this location than where the UG is now.

3. Sygonanthus on the left will fill in in due time. Not too worried about that. Thinking about changing the group shapes on that side some to better match the wood and growth patterns of the plant species.

4. Blood vomits. They just feel out of place in this scape. They have tripled in number and size. Nice little plant, but I have few sections where they can go effectively unfortunately.
If I get the real S uaupes, then they would be a natural or a mix of Monte Carlo in that sections, something bright green and low growing. Blood vomit will just not contrast well in this space.

5. Right corner has P stellata narrow right now, I wanted a yellow type of plant, but I might just fatten up the Erio type 3 as they grow out more.





Top view of the left Stump all "Mini Pelliaed"


Close up of the Elatine hydropiper. It has not uprooted much here even with all the critters poking around on it. The sediment is finer here and the water comes straight down on top of it.
Seems to do well even though there's less light in the corner. So maybe light is less a factor than I thought it was.


This is about where I had it before a year or two ago:

Top view:

 

[plantbrain]

Also, with the new bulb configuration, I say the following with pretty good confidence:

Positive color changes in the red direction:
The R wallichii and the L senegalensis really have popped out much nicer than anytime in the past.
Very rich nice color.
L sphareocarpa- significant red color change shift.
A reneckii mini, a little better, no change, Same for R macrandra, and Cuphea, deeper red, less mauve like colors

Plants not effected at all I can tell: Ludwgia "red", Rotala mini butterfly, H araguaia.

 

[plantbrain]

 

[Simon jones]

Does anyone know where in the UK stocks Red Wave?

 

[plantbrain]

Wavepoint Red wave should be a common bulb.

URI is the tough one to get, try the reef forums and see and then see which reef vendors have the brand.

Giesemann aquaflora, Zoomed flora and Zoomed Ultra should be common enough I would think in the UK.

 

[TOO]

Love the way the Riccardia grows in #581, sort of circular. Looks almost like a kind of coral or some sea plant. How long has it taken to achieve this?

Thomas

 

[plantbrain]

Love the way the Riccardia grows in #581, sort of circular. Looks almost like a kind of coral or some sea plant. How long has it taken to achieve this?

Thomas

It's been here maybe 3 months, it's a slower grower, but the biomass totals can creep up on you and you end up realizing you have a butt load of it suddenly. Good news, it sells really well here in the USA.
I've tried tying it to wood, not a good method. I also assumed it liked moderate to low light, but it's clear it does well over a wide range of lighting.

I just stuff it into cracks and wedge it in holes etc. It grows out just like this later and gets nicer and nicer.... much easier than Riccia to deal with. Does not have the same pretty pearls or bright green color, but there are many similar plants. Riccia is a PITA.

 

[TOO]

I have a couple of Riccardia stones, seems it has grown onto them quite nicely, used some Riccia line initially, but the growth pattern is different from what I see in your pictures.

Riccia is a PITA.

A stormy love affair at first...and then eviction (see Alpine Gardens).

Thomas

 

[plantbrain]

Lava rocks seem okay for the Riccardia from what I've seen, anything with texture it can cling and work it's way into.
The 70 Gallon buce tank has larger mounds, it grows different in this 120 Gallon tank, 3x more light.

 

[macek.g]

Hi Tom,which lamp can replace URI Sun ? at the moment i have :
Aquaflora
Wav. Red wave
Sun wave
Red wave
Arcadia Fresh Water
Aquamedic plant grow

maybe Arcadia original tropical pro?

 

[macek.g]

Hi Tom,which lamp can replace URI Sun ? at the moment i have :
Aquaflora Giesemann
Wav. Red wave
Sun wave
Red wave
Arcadia Fresh Water
Aquamedic plant grow

maybe Arcadia original tropical pro?

 

[plantbrain]

Tank continues to thrive. I hacked a lot of the groups back yesterday. Mowed others back down. I removed the P stellata narrow in the right corner and then expanded the Erio type 3 out since it is doing well in that position.
The section is still weak for now, but in 2-3 months, it'll be real nice. The Syngonanthus canuck and the maderia are doing very well, one is albino white and is still growing well, might be a mutation, but more likely just got a chlorine or the water was too hot during a water change since the in/out was on top of the plant, only 3 or the 15-20 stems were effected though and the others corrected themselves. I'll find out in a month or two, but doubtful it's a real mutation, but you never know. Elatine hydropiper is doing well, thickening up and piling on itself. I added some more along the side of the tank to see how it'll fair. Some of the older Erio compressum leaves are getting a bit of green spot algae. I'll need to trim those off sometime, plenty of nice new growth that's well out pacing any algae. I must have 12 side shoots at least now. Also got a touch of BBA for about 2 weeks, but, the gas was out for a couple of days, just kept up on everything and it's stopped about 2 weeks ago. Not on the plants, but the wood had tiny bits forming. Why? Not sure, maybe from adding the fish, maybe the CO2, maybe slacking on water changes, hard to say. Certainly manageable, but I know it need not be there at all. All new growth of BBA stopped about 2-3 weeks ago and it's slowly going away. I changed the current which increased the CO2, reduced the degassing Fish seemed a bit more sluggish, but still fine. So that might be it also, or a combo of the CO2/current ripple adjustment, more water changes, staying on the CO2 tank switch if it runs out, adding new livestock etc.
Also, there's been a huge rise in RCS population the last 2 months, they are everywhere like flies.



Filter side view


A reineckii mini. I have pruned off any raggy looking leaves, and the nice new side shoots, fill in nicely. This is the best way to prune this plant it seems. You can uproot and then replant the side shoots, but there's a little bit of delay as the plant establishes the root system, but that method is good if you need more or a larger area for planting. I just top of the taller stems from here and remove some older side leaves now.
Blood vomit, sort of like Belem hair grass almost if you allow it to fill in and grow thick. I'd hoped for something different look wise, but they sell well, I've had trouble finding an optimal location in this design for them also, they really need a long row, not what I have now.

UG continues to do even better in this version of the 120 Gallon redone. If I were to focus more on nature style, I'd use this plant mostly along with Mini pellia/Ricciacardia, mini Myrio, maybe the Rotala mini butterfly.

 

[plantbrain]

Hi Tom,which lamp can replace URI Sun ? at the moment i have :
Aquaflora
Wav. Red wave
Sun wave
Red wave
Arcadia Fresh Water
Aquamedic plant grow

maybe Arcadia original tropical pro?

Not sure, none of those do the super feaky red that the URI does.
Might try Horticulture weed smoking hydroponic places or the UK Reef forum folks to see if they can source the URI's.

 

[Bryson375]

That's a nice tank!!! Love the colour contrasts.
I'm after getting a set-up around that size. What sort of price would I be looking at for the tank alone?

 

[plantbrain]

Tank was 1100$



The tank today:


I redid the Trithuria, blood vomit section and will treat it like hair grass basically, it's like a red based Belem hair grass etc.
I think it now looks much better against the wood vs lost next to other plants.
Also added more Mini Pellia and decided to add more of that throughout the scape.
Hottonia will have a small rown hanging over the Trithuria and be pressed outward b the A. reineckii mini.
This will offer some needed contrast in this central area. I wanted to use the Limnophila guinea wavy, but I might use it elsewhere at some point later.
For now, the Limnophila has no home in this tank.
Erio Type 3 is doing better and better, but it's hard to tell from the pics.
It's growing as it should. Making a nice larger group of this plant is not easy
But at this point, it's just patience.
Same for the other plants.








Some labeling of the Sygonanthus varieties I have here, all of which are the same species, but other varieties.


Some detail on how I use a drill and add Riccardia and do not use cotton string. the mesh like form of the plant acts like a spring to hold the plant in place, then it grows out nicely from there.

Here's some algae from about 6 weeks ago when the CO2 ran out. BBA popped up and it was very minor. Some leaves got a tinge, they were trimmed off, the wood got a few tiny bits, and most were removed.


The Trithuria species against the wood. This will fill in be 2-3 months from now pretty thick. I'm good with this position for the plant and was never happy prior.
So it'll stay here for awhile I suspect.

 

[MARKCOUSINS]

Just admiration for the way you are able to grow some demanding plants,simply magical!
Tom i remember some time ago reading about you writing about Staurogyne repens and regularly trimming and selling the cuttings(hope I'm not wrong).Could you advise on at which height to trim this plant to encourage lateral growth and keep it looking healthy,as i sometimes get unhealthy looking lower leaves when it grows over aprox 5cm in height.Cheers Mark.

 

[plantbrain]

then you do this:



week later


2 weeks later:




3 weeks later



Another iteration:







and another:

 

[MARKCOUSINS]

Thanks very much for taking the time to put up those photos Tom!So i think the moral of the story is don't be scared to hack it back big time🙂 Cheers Mark.

 

[plantbrain]

Plants need trimmed to look their best, same with Bonsai.

 

[plantbrain]

Water is hazy from cleaning the sponge block filters once every 3 months or so.
Cleared up a bit more than I thought it might after I 1st did it.
Top view:



You can see a nice crown of the Erio type 3 here.


You can see smaller runty rattier ones, but they are getting better and will form a nice top crown and keep doing this for now on.
Maybe another 2 months or so, the section will be nice and full of nice large crows, roughly 4" across. In the deep corn there, the Limnophila wavy guinea I stuffed in the back, but it should do fine back there and is a bit different from the Erio. I might mix a red plant to break the green green color scheme between them, but it's not needed since you cannot see it that easily. So that brings up a question, why have it if you cannot see it much? Sort of a bank of plants in case I decide to change or move something else without ripping up too much stuff.





UG is very dense now:

ET is getting a nice rug: you can see bubbles under the sediment near the roots, any ideas on what those gas bubbles are? How does very active healthy plant growth affect their formation? What if you suddenly slowed the rates of plant growth way down?

King of the Erio's:

Ricciardia on the stump with cherry shrimp infesting it.


Couch view.