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GreggZ Planted Rainbow Tank!
- Thread starter GreggZ
- Start date
GreggZ
Member
A few days later and a bit different. Cleaned up a few things. Still working at it!! 
Is that Rotala Mexicana Goias up front? Looks like it to my naked eye. I added some in my new setup around a month ago. It's cute but grows rather slow for me.
GreggZ
Member
Yep that's it. It's known to be a slow grower.....which may be good as I have enough weeds to keep me busy!
Indeed that was my intention as well. In fact I am thinking of removing L. Meta from that tank. It's just a pain to have to uproot every week since it reaches the surface.
I want to see if I can make a tight bush of that Rotala Mexicana Goias. It grows rather erratically and crawls on the substrate if given the space.
GreggZ
Member
My tank is 26" deep so fast stems have some room to grow. You can see I just cut down the Pantanal a few hours ago. I'll post again in a few days to show the difference. People think that plants growing an inch a day is a myth.......I can tell you it's true with a few.
GreggZ
Member
GreggZ
Member
I have been spending a good deal of time talking to some of the brain trust I have access to and am going to try and make my tank more "Dutch" like. Keep my "style" but bring in more Dutch elements. Worked on it today and made it maybe 20% more Dutch. Going to keep working on it and practicing to determine if maybe I want to go full Dutch and enter the AGA next year. A long way from that now but you have to start somewhere. You have to crawl before you can walk. 
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Unexpected
Member
I mean, you have just over a week to make an entry this year!
milesjames
Member
Mate that sounds like a great idea!!
You have some fabulous plants to work with colour, texture and them being matured.
Can't wait to see it come to life 🙂🙂🙂
You have some fabulous plants to work with colour, texture and them being matured.
Can't wait to see it come to life 🙂🙂🙂
GreggZ
Member
LOL yeah a few people suggested that. At this point it might just be a DQ. Creating actual Dutch takes time to perfect a layout. I am long, long way from that right now.
Been saying the same thing to myself for the past year but each time I look at the rules made by Vin on the AGA website, I get cold sweats and I just go back to my freestyles. The amount of work to bring a tank to be a real Dutch is in my book beyond human, at least beyond myself 🤣
Amen to this, just the amount of practice and detail required to master lining up the stems to get the groups looking exactly right, and then time the growth rate of a bunch of completely different plant species so it all comes together for one picture.. as you say, beyond
I like a wide variety of tank styles, but the skill required for the true Dutch style I have a lot of respect for 💪
GreggZ
Member
Amen to both those replies. When I was just tightening things up and practicing I was already driving myself looney.
But I've done the same type of scape for many years now, and figured I might dip my toe deeper into the Dutch end of the pool for a bit.
Will I be able to create a true Dutch tank? Unlikely. But if I can create something that blends my style with more Dutch elements that wouldn't be DQ'd in a contest that would be an accomplishment enough for me. At least for now. We'll see where things go.
Some Rules for Dutch Style Aquascaping - A Quick Guide for Beginners
www.aquatic-gardeners.org
Jokes aside, I would really like to do a dutch one time too. Obviously one needs many skills for a Dutch tank but most importantly I think is knowing the growth pattern, the behavior, the trimming preferences etc of each sp planted and usually this take years to learn. Some people are more naturally able to learn these things fast, I am slow.
GreggZ
Member
The latest. Not going to make it in time for the AGA this year. Will have to plan ahead more next year and give it a shot.
Right now it's just my tank with about 30% more Dutch!
Right now it's just my tank with about 30% more Dutch!
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John q
Member
Aga can wait, I enjoy what you produce and suspect you do.....? I'll repeat aga 23 👍
GreggZ
Member
Someone messaged me with a question recently about making custom micros. I thought I would answer it here as kind of a PSA on how I make mine. So if you don’t make custom micros this won’t be of much interest. For those who do it might help make it easier for you.
There are three components to micros that are measured in VERY small amounts, Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate (CuSO4*5H2O), Sodium Molybdate (Na2MoO4*2H2O), and Nickel Sulfate Hexahydrate (NiSO4 6(H2O)). The measurements are small fractions of a gram. That’s tricky to get right.
For my micros I make a 1000ml (1000ml = 1L) solution that adds the following per 20 ml dose to my 105 gallons of actual water volume: Copper at 0.00086, S. Molybate at 0.0005, and Nickel at 0.00142 ppm. In order to make that solution I would add 0.067 gm of Copper, 0.025 gm S. Molybate , and 0.0126 gm of Nickel to the solution. If anyone has tried measuring these small amounts you know what a pain it is, and the likelihood of it being correct is probably slim.
There is another way. I make a separate 1000ml solution of just these items.
So let’s look at Copper. If I was doing it the traditional way, I would add 0.067 gm of Cu into my solution. If I calculate that I find that 0.067 gm of Cu into 1000ml raises the concentration of that 1000 ml to 17.05 ppm. This is key. The amount of Cu I would add the old way brings that 1000ml solution to 17.05 ppm.
So instead of doing that, I will make a solution that raises 1000ml to 17.05 ppm Cu. In my case I make it so that 60 ml will raise 1000 ml to my target levels.
Still with me?
So again, I am creating 1000 ml solution so that a 60 ml dose will raise 1000 ml (1L) to 17.05 ppm Cu. To do so I need to add 1.1165 grams to the solution. This is much easier than measuring out 0.067 grams each time you make a new batch.
And then it’s so on and so forth for the other components. When I’m done I have a solution that will make about 16 batches of micros. That is a long time! I can tell you that it makes putting together your micro solution batches MUCH faster, easier, and less of a chore.
Now I need to go lie down for a while with a cold compress on my forehead!!
There are three components to micros that are measured in VERY small amounts, Copper Sulfate Pentahydrate (CuSO4*5H2O), Sodium Molybdate (Na2MoO4*2H2O), and Nickel Sulfate Hexahydrate (NiSO4 6(H2O)). The measurements are small fractions of a gram. That’s tricky to get right.
For my micros I make a 1000ml (1000ml = 1L) solution that adds the following per 20 ml dose to my 105 gallons of actual water volume: Copper at 0.00086, S. Molybate at 0.0005, and Nickel at 0.00142 ppm. In order to make that solution I would add 0.067 gm of Copper, 0.025 gm S. Molybate , and 0.0126 gm of Nickel to the solution. If anyone has tried measuring these small amounts you know what a pain it is, and the likelihood of it being correct is probably slim.
There is another way. I make a separate 1000ml solution of just these items.
So let’s look at Copper. If I was doing it the traditional way, I would add 0.067 gm of Cu into my solution. If I calculate that I find that 0.067 gm of Cu into 1000ml raises the concentration of that 1000 ml to 17.05 ppm. This is key. The amount of Cu I would add the old way brings that 1000ml solution to 17.05 ppm.
So instead of doing that, I will make a solution that raises 1000ml to 17.05 ppm Cu. In my case I make it so that 60 ml will raise 1000 ml to my target levels.
Still with me?
So again, I am creating 1000 ml solution so that a 60 ml dose will raise 1000 ml (1L) to 17.05 ppm Cu. To do so I need to add 1.1165 grams to the solution. This is much easier than measuring out 0.067 grams each time you make a new batch.
And then it’s so on and so forth for the other components. When I’m done I have a solution that will make about 16 batches of micros. That is a long time! I can tell you that it makes putting together your micro solution batches MUCH faster, easier, and less of a chore.
Now I need to go lie down for a while with a cold compress on my forehead!!
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