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mark's 1st planted tank . update

revised plant list is now Gymnocoronis spilanthoides , ludwigia repens " ruben" , limnophila aquatica , echinodorus ozelot , crypt becketi "petchi" , crypt undulata broad leaves , Hydrocotyle leucocephala and HC
 
Those plants look great. Be interesting to see how they fill out. Just an observation but I would change the green outflow pipe, spray bar, suction pads and piping for black ones. They will 'disappear'!

Keep us posted - really enjoying this Journal.
 
thanks . i do plan on getting an eheim installation kit , which has black pipework . the ugly powerhead on the right is just a temporary measure as i felt i needed a bit more flow once the plants were in . il get something more subtle soon
 
Why don't you use clear acrylic? If your lighting hits the black pipe it will show up grey.
 
hardware will be tidied up in due course . with this being my st planted tank , im more worried about healthy plants tbh . once that side is mastered i will move onto a cleaner looking more discreet setup.......... which of course will require a braceless optiwhite tank ;)
 
really must stop being lazy and do some decent photos instead of using my iphone :) snapped these just before lights out . amazed at the difference in the ludwigia after just 2 days , its grown above the wood at the back already . now that the Gymnocoronis spilanthoides has straightened up , it just needs to fill in . although i removed 1 troublesome stem that simply refused to stay in the substrate , and i got the hump with constantly re-planting it . the Hydrocotyle leucocephala seems to be taking really well too . have to say im really enjoying it at the moment :) still getting a tiny bit of wjite fungus on the wood , but its almost ran its course now .

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IMG_0055 by mark pettican, on Flickr

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IMG_0057 by mark pettican, on Flickr
 
Looking great.
Pleased all is going well now Mark. It's certainly looking much less chaotic and purposeful after a few days of straightening stems, it's always the way, very rarely do things look as we envisaged just after planting....a bit like waking up on a morning, a shower and a shave changes the way we look and feel :)
Cheerio
Ady
 
cheers ady . really pleased with the way the ludwigia repens is taking , looks to have grown more even today , its making a beeline for the surface . rekon il be giving it a trim soon . the hc on the other hand is doing my head in . it really doesnt like staying put ! il persist with it for a while , but im considering swapping it out for eleocharis acicularis . will stick it out for a while with the hc 1st though
 
quick update 1 week in . the Gymnocoronis spilanthoides had reached the surface , so thats had a pretty hefty trim , the limnophila aquatica has had an even more savage cutting back , with only the nicest new growth being kept , the rest ruthlessly disgarded. ozelot has been reduced from 2 plants to just the 1 , and is now doing better . slow but steady . new growth on the Hydrocotyle leucocephala , although tbh im undecided if i like it or not . for me it just doesnt really seem to fit . star of the show so far is the ludwigia repens rubin . really doing well , lovely red tips . i know its time to trim it , but i just cant bring myself to yet , its looking too nice :) touch wood , so far no algae or diatoms , crypts looking healthy still too . 1 failiure though has been the hc . it was looking really bad , all yellow and rotten , so i have removed it and will most likely replace it with hairgrass . as you can see in the full tank shot , the trimmed up plants really need to grow back in , deffinately starting to see the potential though . overall so far i think this has been the tank that i have enjoyed most out of all the setups ive had over my time .

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iphone1 by mark pettican, on Flickr

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iphone2 by mark pettican, on Flickr

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iphone3 by mark pettican, on Flickr

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iphone4 by mark pettican, on Flickr
 
Looking great mate, shame about the HC. Ime HC struggles with new aqua soils...maybe something to do with the ammonia. I think the hairgrass will look loads better. If I was you I'd buy the tropica 1-2 grow stuff.
 
thanks mate . ammonia shouldnt be an issue with the aquasoil really , as it had been in the tank for about 5 weeks with twice weekly waterchanges , and a filter seeded with mature media before i planted it , so i would have expected the leeching to be done with by now , although to be fair i have no experience regarding this, so i could well be wrong . flow at substrate level is good and strong , plenty of co2 bubbles getting down there too . perhaps the flow was too strong , lifting the hc and it couldnt root properly ? either way i figured that the best thing to do would be to remove it rather than leave it in and risk triggering algae problems.
 
to me that looks champion it will grow in to shape
give it a couple of weeks :thumbup:
 
thanks . the aquatica is starting to bounce back from its hacking down , the ozelot is going well , steady rather than quickly though . it now sits around 4 to 5 inches high , and has 11 leaves with another new leaf just sprouting . cant wait for that to get some real height to it , its going to be a beauty of a plant . crypts still nice and healthy , had the odd leaf melt , which were removed , but they seem in pretty good shape .
 
had a slight outbreak of hair algae . found to my surprise that the filter pipes were clogged with thick black sludge . must of sucked lots up when i planted/refilled and disturbed the aquasoil too much . spent a couple of hours when i got in from work today taking all the pipes off and cleaning them through , along with the filter . the affected plants were limnophila aquatica , Hydrocotyle leucocephala , the crypts and some on the wood . looks like i caught it early as it wasnt long like the pics i found online , but really short . i took out the affected plants and wood gave them a good wash and got all the algae off , put them back in and then did a water change . i have also upped the co2 as much as i dare ( got 10 copper tetra in the tank now ) . no visible algae present now , hopefully the maintainence along with increased co2 will sort it out . going to have to keep a close eye on things
 
time to get some serious plant mass in the tank , and get it heavilly planted . the Gymnocoronis spilanthoides at the left rear corner , i just dont really like , so it getting replaced with a couple of pots of nomaphila stricta . where the Hydrocotyle leucocephala is i am going to swap that out for blyxa japonica . the Hydrocotyle leucocephala will be moved over to the right hand side and kept trimmed low in the front . a little clump of Staurogyne repens around the base of the wood , and a carpet of eleocharis acicularis filling in the foreground . most probably going to tie some moss to the wood too . will post some pics in the next few days once plants arrive and the rescaping is done
 
been busy with the tank since getting home from work this morning . wasnt really feeling the Gymnocoronis spilanthoides rear left corner , so that has been swapped for nomophila stricta , some blyxa japonica front left , a good spread of eleocharis acicularis to hopefully get a nice carpet going , and although you cant really see it yet , some rotala rotundifolia in between the ludwigia and the lim aquatica . 10 cherry shrimp have also been introduced .

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iphone b by mark pettican, on Flickr
 
Yep, well spotted mark, I suggest some mini narrow leaved java fern or anubias nana bonsai. Looks healthy mate, well done so far.
 
Looking good!
I say Anubias will look great there, maybe if theres room you could even squeeze in a fern behind an Anubias nana petite to add more height and depth transition? Or alternatively use 2 species of Anubias, a petite in the foreground and a larger leafed taller variety behind? The darker leaf colour of Anubias will add a nice contrast to the brighter greens of the existing plants.
The blyxa and hair grass will work really well and add to the nice shape the planting has currently.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
cheers ian . have to admit , ive surprised myself at how well its going . helped no end by the 1st class advice i have received on here in the planning stages , so a big thank you to the members here is in order .

cheers ady . im liking the idea of a fern/anubias mixture . i rekon if i used a fern towards the rear and a couple of smallish anubias in front that i could get 2 or 3 plants on there no great drama. have to say , im so pleased that i bought the blyxa to go in the front left corner . it was looking a bit bare and that has filled it in nicely . i love it :) looking forward to the hairgrass filling in , a lush green carpet is what i crave in the tank more than just about anything ;)
 
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