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Hi no moto

YzemaN

YzemaN

Member
Joined
6 Nov 2007
Messages
183
Location
Copenhagen
Hi All.
Just some pictures of my 25L tank.

Tank specs: Clear-Seal 18'' x 10'' x 10'' (approx. 28.1L I know)
Lighting: 24W PC dimmed with a piece of Tesco's Finest grease paper :lol:
Substrate: JBL Aqua Basis Plus topped with fine black gravel
Filtration: Interpet PF mini
Fertilisation: 1ml EasyCarbo + 2ml All-in-One home brew daily
Fauna: Boraras brigittae, Otocinclus affinis, Red Cherry Shrimp and loads of snails
Flora: HC, Eleocharis parvula, Sagittaria subulata, Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea', Staurogyne sp., Pogostemon helferi and Java moss. I have a couple of Limnophila aromatica stems growing in there at the moment, but they're supposed to go in the 40G.

It started out as an attempt at an Iwagumi inspired by this little mountain from my home town in Greenland:
NasaasaaqTall.jpg

I tried the emersed growth suggested by Plantbrain, which worked a treat:
NasaasaaqUnderwater.jpg
NasaasaaqUnderwater.jpg

It started out quite well but eventually got completely taken over by algae. I left it for a bit as I had to go on holiday, and when I came back the poor fish barely had any room left to swim in.
I decided I would rip everything out and re-scape, but by the time I got all the bits together the algae had all but gone? I didn't really do anything, I just took out the worst algae and changed the water once a week.
In the end the lava rock kept getting covered by algae, so I decided to swap the rocks for some Redmoor Wood from AE. I didn't soak the wood before chucking it in, so I put a piece of slate in to hold it down. I took it out after a week:
25LRescape.jpg

I took a load of plants from my 40G (just ripped them out with algae and all) and tried to do a mound style NA:
25LFullTankShot.jpg
25LAngledShot.jpg
25LSideShot.jpg

I was quite happy with this scape, but as I didn't stay on top of the HC it started to accumulate quite a lot of mulm and algae:
25LCloseup.jpg

So while I was trimming the Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' I decided to give the HC a good trim, all the way down to the substrate. That's when I discovered that the HC wasn't really properly rooted and thus decided tip rip it all out and re-plant it:
25LRemovedHC.jpg

As I has already started I thought I might as well give the whole tank an overhaul, so I promptly took out all the plants and the wood, trimmed everything and got rid of the bottom parts of the Lysimachia nummularia, which still had some unsightly algae from when I moved it from the 40G. Let me tell you: Planting HC by the stems is just not worth it! I'm happy I didn't have to do it on the 40G. *Note to self: Remember to trim the HC* :idea:

I didn't change the basic structure of the scape, just tried to balance it a bit, it ended up looking like this:
25LRescape2AngledShot.jpg

And this is today after water change:
25LRescape2FullTankShot.jpg

Thanks for looking. Suggestions and critique welcome as always.
 
Re: 25L Clearseal Tank

I'm digging this tank as well 😀
The profile of the rocks matching that of the mountian is fantastic ...to then see the pics of the tank evolve is a pleasure.

Nothing wrong with chucking in whatever stems you have, making the best of them, then changing them over at a later date. Well at least I hope not, as that is how my scape started 😉
 
Re: 25L Clearseal Tank

Sorry to hear about your algae troubles, thew tank looked great in its various guises and especially with the rocks. Hope this new venture works out well for you.
 
Re: 25L Clearseal Tank

Thanks for all the nice words! Glad to hear some encouragement for a change. With the GF it's usually something along the lines of "what have you done to the tank now? Can't you just leave the poor fish alone?" 😀
I'm still not sure whether I'm going to stick with the moss. I thought about putting a Anubias nana at the base of the wood. Or perhaps a narrow Java fern and keep it small and tight. Or try my hands on a bonsai P. stellata? Choices, choices *ARRGGHH* :?:
Anyway, things seem to be a lot more stable in this tank, so I guess I can experiment a bit. Whenever I prune the stems in the 40G they instantly get covered in algae and take ages to send out new shoots. I wouldn't mind getting a circular mass of plants á la The Henge in the back, so I'll probably see if I can get my hands on some Hemianthus micranthemoides or similar.
 
Re: 25L Clearseal Tank

Small update. Not really much to report. Things are going well and the plants seem to have recovered from the shock of the makeover. Not much sign of algae, which I take is good 🙂 I've made a new batch of my fertiliser for the big tank and have started using it on this tank as well. I'm using the last bit of TPN i have left on both tanks. The plants in both tanks have responded well to the change and are picking up speed, and the holes in the leaves of the Hygro seem to have stopped appearing. I guess the iron did react with the phosphate, even though I've added vitamin C to lower the pH.Oh well, I'm almost due to make another mixture and this time I'll use the extra Tropica bottle for the traces and seperate the two solutions.

Pictures (taken shortly after water change):
25LFTS121008.jpg

I have tied down the moss with cotton string and already on the right branch, it's starting to look as I wanted it. Might even need a trim soon. The Lysimachia n. have started to grow and the HC is slowly spreading. Took a couple of weeks before I noticed any change, but I did just snip stems off the mass of HC I had, no roots or anything. Hopefully this time it will be better rooted :? The S. subulata has also settled and I cut off a couple of transparent and holed leaves but the rest is in great condition. The P. helferi is doing splendid in both tank. Doesn't really care if it's growing in shade of other plants or in "bright sunshine". Nice and easy plant. Me like! The Staurogyne sp., on the other hand, is struggling in the large tank and only grows very slow in this.

25LAngled121008.jpg

I've been thinking about swapping the Lysimachia n. with H. micranthemoides or similar small fine-leaved stem, but I do like the very bright colour of it... I've also thought about adding some small stones, but the tank might be too small and get too cluttered? What do you think?

BTW: Does anyone know how to change the heading of your posts?
 
Final Update: Hi no moto

The tank will be no more after this weekend so I thought I'd put up a couple of pictures. Maintenance has been a doodle on this tank and algae virtually non-exiting 😀 The only thing is I could have used a couple of months more to get the L. nummularia into proper shape. Dosing EC slowed things down so instead of trimming every month I've only had to trim every 2-3 months. Anyway, here are the final shots:

Full tank shot
25LFTS120609.jpg

From the side
25LSide120609.jpg

I've reduced the amount of HC as it was taking over the entire tank. What a pest :lol:
(sorry about the streaks on the glass. I didn't take the time to clean the tank before the shots...)
 
looks ace, i really love the development of tanks, so you can see the different decisions and i think your end shot looks ace. i bet your gutted that you have to strip it all down.
 
Cool Pogestemon, like the river Kwai. I love the Mosquito Rasbora, wish mine were that bold !

T
 
Thanks for all the nice words 😀
I'm quite sad to see this one go, but at least it's a very small tank and I'll set it up again as soon is I have finished the tank stand for it (and found somewhere permanent to stay 😉 )
The pogo forest sort of overwhelmed me. I had no idea it would grow that big and dense. The plants from this tank were about twice the size of the ones I had in my CO2 injected tank. But now I know what it can do and hopefully I'll be able to plan a more suitable layout next time. In a tank this small it does seem to play the part of E. tennelus. Good to know :idea: . And the L. numerularia has taught me one or two things about trimming stems so next time I'll opt for something a bit more challenging. It's very gratifying to see something living evolve into something beautiful. If nothing else it has given me the bug big time. The other tank nearly made me ditch the whole idea of having plants in a fishtank... :lol:
All the plants will shipped out to a few lucky UKaps'ers today and I can start cleaning up the "mess".

I'll be back!
 
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