Saintly's 120cm 'hill's of desire'

[Mark Evans]

much to report!

conservatories and open top tanks don't mix!..... fact! i nearly got hung from the rafters. simply put the evaporation hitting windows and roof just turned most of the room into a swimming pool. a dehumidifier has been installed.

secondly, i was suffering from the lack of co2, slight hair algae developed on the sand and stone. 26 amano shrimp, an new diffuser and an extra korolia has put pay to that. in 3 days, it's nearly all gone. the checker now shows lime green lights on and stays that way all day.

rotala has been trimmed, moss is getting adventurous now and the ship is steady again. i've also received confirmation from the wife, that i can have this tank at home next set up 😀....she likes it natalya

 

[samc]

no pics 😵

bet you cant wait until the next one now you can have it at home 😀

 

[Mark Evans]

no pics 😵

i dare not to post samc. this thread has gone a little wayward recently. :?

 

[samc]

shame. i look foward to seeing this progress

 

[Mark Evans]

heres me making a mess of someone else's house i'm not a tidy dude. lights cables etc....

 

[AdAndrews]

Hi Mark, i was wondering if you are able to point me in the direction of a guide, or an article about pruning plants, i want to learn how to prune my stems correctly and shape them into what i want.
thanks

 

[Mark Evans]

every case is different ad really. I'm still learning. it's knowing when to trim certain types of stem. TBH rotala is indestructible, no matter how you cut it. HM is different.

this image shows the lack of light getting to the left side of the tank due to over grown rotala.



after trimming much need light is hitting HM. the first trim will double the mass, and from then on you trim giving shape. this tank is working better than the MA tank due to even light the whole length of the tank. in the MA scape this wasn't so.

i've left HM to grow strong. r wallichi is crawling. i'm hoping it goes up at some point!

 

[AdAndrews]

cheers, i cut my rotala back hard a few days ago, but i was wondering if i should have just it right down to the substrate, to show all of the new growth.

 

[Mark Evans]

rotala will grow back what ever height you cut it, as long as there's a node or 2.

i've gone higher because the HM should fill out hiding the lower parts.

 

[Maurits]

ghe ghe, nice tank for a beginner 😀 😀

Seems to me that your rotala is doing much better than mine, mine lies still on the ground and no sign for a proper growth.

 

[aquaticmaniac]

Woo, that's a trim alright 😱 I've never had the guts to do that, but after seeing this and reading various things on trimming, I know that's probably the better way to do it. Do you just trim rotala this way? To the point, I'd like to know if you'd treat Limno sessiliflora the same way? I'm sure it went bits up the first time I tried it out because of the way I was trimming. 😀

 

[Mark Evans]

here's a quicky on the MA stems. i let it go in the end including keeping the HC flat.

 

[Mark Evans]

I've never had the guts to do that, but after seeing this and reading various things on trimming, I know that's probably the better way to do it. Do you just trim rotala this way?

you sure do. you must let it grow stron though. look for strong thick stems. not like the new thin ones that grow from the nodes. most stems will react to trimming.

ghe ghe, nice tank for a beginner 😀 😀

thanks mate

mine lies still on the ground and no sign for a proper growth.

you mean wallichii?....i remember yours was down on the ground. mine too though. only a few are starting to reach upwards. and a few grow horizontal. tell the lab

 

[AdAndrews]

Thanks for the help, im gonna see what it grows out like with its current trim and then go from there.

 

[Mark Evans]

This is similar to one other pic i took, The moss is taking off now and looking really vibrant. All of the algae in the front has gone and the sand is spotless again (wipes brow) i've even got some Malaysian trumpet snails which keep turning the sand over.

I feel i can relax a little now, and not keep wondering what's going wrong whilst I'm not there.

 

[AdAndrews]

edit: and also, would mts turnover corser sand, my ADA xingu sand is pretty much the same as gravel

 

[JamesM]

what type of algae did you have, and how did you get rid?

edit: and also, would mts turnover corser sand, my ADA xingu sand is pretty much the same as gravel

MTS would turn over a house given the chance mate 😀

 

[Maurits]

I am looking forward to see some more detailed pics buddy. to see all the beautiful spots you have made, the whole tanks is nice to see but then you miss most of the nice parts.

Have I seen correctly that you have some riccia between your moss ?, very nice, breaks the color

 

[AdAndrews]

what type of algae did you have, and how did you get rid?

edit: and also, would mts turnover corser sand, my ADA xingu sand is pretty much the same as gravel

MTS would turn over a house given the chance mate 😀

i will get looking for some, thanks.

 

[NeilW]

This is similar to one other pic i took, The moss is taking off now and looking really vibrant. All of the algae in the front has gone and the sand is spotless again (wipes brow) i've even got some Malaysian trumpet snails which keep turning the sand over.

I always wondered wether MTS would go mad and uproot plants or do they just stay in the sand part? Also don't they reproduce crazily? If not they sound a good plan for me!

Thanks,
Neil