Stability

[dallen98]

Hello friends, it's been a while. Shortly after getting my aquariums up and running in my previous journal, a rare opportunity presented itself that required a "temporary" relocation without promise of return. It has been an adventure including working on a timber framed barn by hand, reading books I never would have considered, and doing architectural work for a manufacturing company building hospitals. A year and a half later and I have finally gotten enough of a whisper of peace to begin again this beautiful hobby that demands ... stability! The twist is it's not true stability. I have a year and a half left on this lease (which is in Birmingham Alabama, a wonderful city but far cry from my beloved Chicago) after which I will relocate again - but I think that's enough time to grow something beautiful. While in Alabama I have observed some remarkable ecosystems and natural + unnatural landscapes. All of which kept this hobby on my mind. Something about desiring always to be near such landscapes, curious about the inhabitants they nurture, and aspiring to create. I'll begin with a few choice photos of the above.

I was looking forward to the direction of my last two aquariums and decided to pick up a similar thread with the two I am bringing to you now. The larger 45P aquarium to be a simple layout with lots of green, more focused on Utricularia Graminifolia and Epiphytes, the smaller, 30CM aquarium to be arranged more as a dutch garden with all of the stem plants my heart desires. I realized one of my biggest failing points on the last run, as short as it was, was the fact that both aquariums sat in windows and got some amount of direct sunlight every day. That, combined with the hard water of the city of Chicago and I think I set myself up for a struggle. For these reasons I chose a secluded room in my apartment with no windows to set up as the aquarium workshop. It used to be an elevator shaft in the center of the building, meaning it should be warmer during the winter and cooler in summer. I also invested in a 5 stage RO/DI filtration system from BulkReefSupply and fill up a 30 gallon drum regularly from the tap in my guest water closet.

For this run, I am using all of the same hardware- Oase Filtosmart 100 Thermo set to 74 degrees F on both / UNS MINI Dual Stage CO2 regulator on both / CO2 Art in-line diffuser on both / ONF Flat Nano+ for the 30CM cube and a Twister 45 S-series for the 45P. With an out-of-the-box flow rate of 160GPH, crazy bright lights and a solid CO2 system, I feel confident I have no hardware to blame for any of my impending shortcomings.

Because of my fascination with UG and deep desire to "get it right," I decided on a long dark start. This gave me time to get my hands on an RO system and think about my plant selections as well. I began this back in November, so it was a solid 2 months for both tanks. I started with dechlorinated tap and some Seachem prime which was running low. Whilst researching on bacterial supplements I came across this thread which gave me some strong reason to doubt the trusty system I have used so many times in the past. Further reading through this forum and I found this piece from another thread:

I agree with Ian. You can get billions of bacteria for free by simply digging up the largest weeds you find in your garden and scraping the soil from the roots. Mix it into the substrate as well as mixing it into the filter media. Job done.

Cheers,

I decided to scrap the bottled stuff altogether and do precisely that. I went out to a lake I enjoy, pulled out some of the plants growing along its perimeter, cut the roots and mixed with dechlorinated water in a bucket. This concoction was then poured equally into both aquariums with the aid of a strainer. This was perhaps 1 month into the dark start.

A few weeks later I acquired a lovely SW380T trinocular microscope from Swift and began exploring samples from the bottom of the aquarium. The desert I saw got me thinking about just how much life I would need crawling through the soil for the UG so I decided to visit a local pond to collect some detritus - old leaves etc, to add to the mix. This time I just dumped it all in, including some crushed up Catapa leaves I've had laying around.

I had introduced the RO/DI water, remineralized with APT Sky, to the system at this point and let the thing run for another several weeks. Finally, I did a water test, removed all of the detritus, and put in a large plant order. I started using a Hagen test kit from Nutrafin after inconclusive results from my old API test kits. The results of this 2 month dark start were encouraging.

• 6.6 PH
• 9 dGH
• <0.5dKH
• 0.00 ppm Iron (free or chelated)
• 0.00 ppm Ammonia
• 0.1 ppm Nitrite
• >10ppm Nitrate (just slightly more, for scientific accuracy ...)
• 0.25ppm Phosphate
• ~ 160ppm Calcium, which corresponds closely with the 9dGH measured earlier after converting ( divide by 17.8575...)

Planting the 45P:

• 4 in vitro cups of Utricularia Graminifolia. I broke these into very small portions and planted them quite deep in the front 2/3rds of the aquarium.
• An assortment of mini Bucephalandra variations glued to the stone, including some brownie ghost, phantoms, mini reds, and a marbled variety.
• A few of these petite albino Anubias laughably called "White platinum petite". I am fascinated by them but don't have high hopes for their success.
• Several loose portions of Riccardia Chamedryfolia glued to the stone (with some other mosses mixed in ...).
• 2 bare root bundles of Lilaeopsis Brasiliensis (allegedly, who's to say it's not another variation of micro sword until it fills in ... I am not an expert on these) planted along the back of the aquarium.

As far as layout I wanted to keep it simple and these are two stones I came across at a lovely aquarium shop in Chicago several years ago. After a quick drive around the town here and finding nothing satisfactory, I decided to make do with just these two stones. A bit big for the layout, perhaps, but I think they will work once the carpet fills in. I am not happy with the soil thickness at the front but I really wanted to bank up the back as high as I could. I tried several different slopes and let the filter run and shape them naturally. After a few adjustments I found this to be the soil slope / filter arrangement that held the best, so I decided to keep it. Fertilizing with 1mL of APT "Zero" daily.

Planting the 30CM Cube:

• 2 In vitro "bags" of Micranthemum Monte Carlo in the foreground. Much less than I wanted but should fill in just fine.
• 1 in vitro "bag" of Hygrophila SP Chai to mix into the foreground. I was getting some amount of growth before the move last time, they just had to compete with some larger neighboring plants, so I figured I might have better luck in a mixed foreground carpet?:
• 1 in vitro "bag" of Alternanthera Reineckii Mini on either side of a green bush
• 1 in vitro "bag" of Staurogyne Repens in the center
• 2 loose-cut bunches of emerged growth Rotala Florida in center behind the S. Repens
• 2 in vitro "bags" of Rotala Indica (bonsai) flanking the Florida on either side
• 1 in vitro cup of Rotala Macranda Mini Butterfly planted in a line behind the Florida and Indica
• 1 loose-cut bunch of emerged growth Ludwigia Arcuata just behind the Mini Butterfly, flanking on either side
• 1 loose-cut bunch of emerged growth Ludwiga Super Red just behind the Arcuata
• 2 loose-cut bunches of emerged growth Rotala Rotundifolia mixed close to the back
• 2 loose-cut bunches of emerged growth Rotala HRA mixed close to the back
• 2 loose-cut bunches of emerged growth Rotala Rotundifolia Green lining the back

A very similar layout to my previous attempt except I decided to keep it simple with a full frontal approach as opposed to the corner layout I was trying before. It's just easier and right now I simply want to grow some nice plants. I don't enjoy working with emerged growth stems but they tend to be much cheaper and transition just fine with time. I will likely mow the whole thing down to zero in a few weeks and possibly save some converted tops. I will admit I may be attempting to stuff this little aquarium with too many plants. I assume after the growth really picks up I will need to do a bit of rearranging / thinning, and may take over more of the foreground depending on how thick the back ends up getting. Fertilized with <1mL of APT complete daily.

I hope to be setting myself up for success here. At this rate, it is simply up to my patience, attention to nutrient levels, and ability to balance lighting and CO2. As far as lighting is concerned, here is my lighting schedule on the ONF Flat Nano+

How do you feel about the above cycle for a fresh, heavily planted aquarium running CO2? For the Twister, I'm running it with a Way2Top dimmer system with 8 programable modes, (2 of which are set to zero to encapsulate the "off time", since the thing ramps continuously between modes until it hits the target brightness). I run it for 10 hours from 12-10PM, ramping from 0-25 for the first hour, 25-50 the second hour, and 50-100 the third hour, before sitting at 100 for 4 hours and ramping from 100-50 over the next hour, from 50-25 the hour after, and finally 25-0 for the last hour of the cycle. Does this seem like too much light for the new setup? I am considering dropping the first and last hour ramps down to 5%. Do you prefer a short period of intense light or an extended period of gradual and less intense light?

If you've made it this far, thank you for your time! Cheers,

Daniel

 

[ElleDee]

I'm not a CO2 user so I won't take a stab at your questions, but I loved the intro and will be watching. I am in North Carolina and quite partial to the rural South myself.

 

[dallen98]

Two week update. A friend shared this quote from god knows whom: slow is smooth, smooth is fast. I have heard many times that lighting is like applying gas to a car. If the rest of your systems are robust and if you have the reaction time required, you can use high lights to go quite fast. On the flip side, without proper care, going fast is a great way to crash. The 30CM garden is doing splendidly with no visible signs of algae and very little melt outside of a few terrestrial flowers falling off of the Rotala Florida. I have already needed to do some trimming. The 45P is a raging battle - solid growth, diatoms, and filamentous algae. Nothing out of the ordinary for a sparse, slow-growing aquarium getting beamed on by a Twinstar! In general, I attribute the algae to 1. too much lighting intensity and 2. decaying organic matter that came in with the moss I applied to the stones. This stuff has been breaking off and getting caught in the substrate, leading to algae around otherwise healthy growth as I have seen no signs of melt in any of the carpeting plants. (p.s. the drop checkers in these photos will look blue because I took photos earlier in the day after a water change and before reaching peak CO2. I maintain my tanks at a lime green, with CO2 starting 2hrs prior to lights).

Regarding the 45P I am positive about all of the little runners I am seeing at the edge of the glass and the beginnings of blades poking out where I had deeply buried some plugs of UG. The chainswords seem to be doing well? I have little experience with them and plan to just wait until growth is really taking off prior to a trim. No signs of melt and I can see deep root growth + runners. I did a spot dose of excel on all of the algae, 5.5 ML targeted at infested areas across the entire thing, and let it sit without the filter running while I took care of the 30CM. This week I reduced the lighting to the following: 1.5 hour ramp from 0-5%, 0.5 hour ramp from 0.5 to 50%, 1 hour ramp from 50% - 75%, 4 hours at 75% and then ramp down 75%-50% for 1 hour, ramp down from 50%-0.5% for 0.5 hours, and ramp down from 0.5%-0% over the last 1.5 hours. So, in total 1 hour of light between 0.5% and 50%. 2 hours of light between 50 and 75%, and 4 hours of light at 75%. I have an order of shrimp and snails coming in next week that I hope, coupled with this reduction, will do the trick.

Excited to see that the roots on the Buce are already beginning to hug the rock and explore. One of my favorite things is a rock covered with epiphytes completely networked with roots. I will need to practice / consult with you all on aquatic photography through glass at an angle - I have always found it quite difficult! Finally, parameters seem good after a test.

• pH: 6.4
• GH: 11dGH, which seems a bit high. I will have to look into my remineralization process.
• KH: 0dKH.
• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: 5ppm
• Phosphate: < 0.25ppm

Switching over now to the 30CM cube.

It is looking clean and promising. After just over a week the emerged growth stems in the back were tangled and drooping over everything so I simply hacked them back. I had noticed deep roots running down the side of the glass so decided they were probably robust enough for a trim. I also would like to note that the Hygrophila sp Chai seems to be doing well. Now I will play a little game of how frequently I need to cut back the Monte Carlo to prevent choking out this slower growing plant! I have found that this tissue cultured version is much easier to manage than transitioning from emergent growth, as is seen from the lighter colored new growth already appearing. S. Repens remain an incredibly easy and rewarding plant through and through. In no-time they begin to put on a beautiful arrangement.

I am enjoying the Rotala Mini Butterfly very much. Looking forward to seeing this plant at its full potential. The Rotala Florida boasts a gorgeous purple tinge but has been incredibly slow growing, which I have heard is characteristic of this plant. I did trim back the emergent growth so I suppose patience will be a virtue with this one. I took some time to remove old growth on the Alternanthera Reineckii to make way for new and healthier leaves. Finally, Ludwigia is a true weed! The Arcuata and Super Red have required the most maintenance / cutting back as to not drown out the rest of the plants I'm trying to grow. I think it will be another two weeks before the rest of the Rotala properly transition and make themselves easy enough to ID for replanting and arranging. Lastly, I adjusted the 2 hours of 50% brightness up to 100%, providing this aquarium now with 6 hours of 100% lighting and 4 hours at 10% for extended viewing purposes. After another few weeks with no issues I will bring that photoperiod up to 8 hours, although I think I will still only do 6 at 100%, 2 at 80%, and 2 at 10%. The water parameters on this tank were also pleasing:

• pH: 6.4
• GH: 11dGH. The fact that both aquariums have the same high level tells me the proportion of mineralization I am doing is too steep after a water change.
• KH: 0dKH
• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrite: 0
• Nitrate: 10ppm. It makes sense nitrogen levels would be higher in an aquarium being dosed with APT3. Still, I believe this level is too high. I have been generous with my dosage, 1mL every morning. I will cut back to 0.7mL.
• Phosphate: < 0.25.

Lastly, a few photos of the aquarium room. A friend of a friend recently offered me a 30 gallon salt water biocube. While I know nothing about salt aquariums, I have always been curious and was planning on adding a final tank underneath the larger painting so I think we will be adding another feature to this room (not to be tracked on this forum).

In summary, I am hopeful the 30CM will continue to truck along nicely. Fingers crossed that the lighting shift and impending clean up crew will help level out the 45P. In the end I am anxious for a full carpet to develop and proceed with fish from there. Any thoughts on fish selection? I have a few in mind but curious what others would immediately land on. Thanks!

 

[Andy Pierce]

View attachment 215558
I am enjoying the Rotala Mini Butterfly very much. Looking forward to seeing this plant at its full potential. The Rotala Florida boasts a gorgeous purple tinge but has been incredibly slow growing, which I have heard is characteristic of this plant. I did trim back the emergent growth so I suppose patience will be a virtue with this one.

Beautiful aquarium room. Love the microscope! Where did you source the Rotala Florida from?

 

[dallen98]

Beautiful aquarium room. Love the microscope! Where did you source the Rotala Florida from?

Thank you! I sourced all of my plants from Aquarium Plants Factory in the U.S. They have a great selection, although most of their stems will be emergent growth.

 

[dallen98]

Well folks it's been a minute. I wish I was more diligent with process updates as some of you are. Looks like this is week 5! Algae has diminished and growth is becoming more stable. I'm now finding some frustration with the actual growth patterns of a few plants but other than that I think things are turning out.

For starters, the 45P:
Shortly after my first post I trimmed back the U.G. This is about 3 weeks post trim and I am still quite unhappy with the progress. Patchy, loose connection to the soil, and feeling slow. The Lilaeopsis in the back seems very filled in although in truth I hadn't noticed any progress until comparing these photos to my earlier ones. The diatoms have all but dissipated and I'm finding almost no signs of other algae save on the remaining dead patches of moss or on leftover food for the shrimp I added. I am paying the consequences of this impractical layout with poor growth directly under the largest stone and feeling conflicted about light placement, whether focused on the front, mid-section or back of the aquarium.

I did a major trim of the entire tank right after the above photos. This was followed by a few handfuls of aqua soil distributed across the entire surface to better cover all of the carpet plants. I have seen others do the same and felt too insecure about the rooting of the U.G. despite how deeply I planted it initially! I will say, it's not keeping this plant alive that is difficult but actually getting it to form a compact carpet that proves daunting and frustrating. I reached out to Jordan Stirrat and learned how frequently he trimmed his so will be attempting an aggressive approach for those types of results. Lastly, after the trim and some thinking about lighting I decided not to compromise. I remembered I had this little Current Satellite + Pro and decided to throw that on the back, just for 2 hours a day on maximum brightness, to help support the Lilaeopsis whilst I keep the ONF pushed all the way to the front of the aquarium to compensate for the depth and shadow. Finally, I'm considering adding some Vallisneria nana to the middle background. A patch just visible between the two stones to be swept to the left side of the aquarium. My intention was for this to be quite minimalistic but I feel I have failed on the arrangement and that this could add some dynamism + habitat for eventual fish. Thoughts?

Below I'm highlighting that the Buce and little white Anubias are doing quite well! Absolutely no algae covering those delicate white leaves and the buce is really grappling the stone now with roots. This makes me quite happy, I now wonder how to get it bushier!? The moss in general is doing well. I regret gluing on clumps of aquarium grown moss. In future I will look for tissue culture or else will chop everything up before glueing it on. I feel the growth is constrained to the original glued clump patterns and have been trimming aggressively to encourage fresh growth. As for the Lilaeopsis, it was doing just fine before the trim but I felt it was rooted well enough and wanted to remove the emergent growth + give the carpet the opportunity to thicken up. I did not replant any runners as I have heard others do, hoping this treatment works?

Now for the 30CM Cube Garden:
This aquarium in general has not caused me any grief. As you can see below there is one inhabitant missing which is the Hygrophila sp. Chai. It seemed to be thriving and putting out new leaves so I decided to rearrange it to a patch in the middle, away from the choking Monte Carlo. I then became impatient and also noticed how thick the initial clusters were so removed it, broke them up into smaller portions and replanted. After a week I wanted to switch my dosing to a more lean approach to bring out reds in the stem plants so I added some Tropica root capsules and thoughtlessly put two down in the small, shallow area of soil where the Hygrophila was planted. Almost immediately the plants began to melt and I attribute this to the reshuffling + excess nutrients. I will try again in the same patch after some time.

Other than the Hygrophila, everything else is doing quite well. I have already cut the Alternanthera back and replanted both patches once, separated and replanted the Rotala Bonsai, and uprooted and replanted every single stem in the back. The Rotala Florida I was most eager to attack and while it grows tremendously slowly is still quite rewarding as a tiny stem in the center. The Ludwigia Arcuata has proven to be the most difficult plant in this arrangement. First because it grew gigantic leaves under high nitrogen dosing, was messy and aggressive with the rest of the aquarium, and secondly because it seems quite demanding to color up! These images show it after being uprooted, replanted, and severely trimmed even after that. I still have hope for it and will wait until it becomes bushier and redder to make a final judgement. I have heard some people say it is appropriate for a nano tank but the jury is still out for me... has anyone had experience with this plant, especially in a confined and densely planted space like you can see in the bottom right image? Another disappointment is that I don't believe any of these Rotala variants will color up red? I had better luck in the past in less time so I am under the impression I was given the wrong emergent growth plants. While this is quite a disappointment I am focused on the rest of the aquarium first before going and doing another replanting exercise with a new species. As for the arrangement, I am not quite settled on it. I feel I have given too much space to the foreground, that the Bonsai is too dense as it is and the Rotala + Ludwigia is being forced to crowd in too small of a space in the back for a proper tall bush. After some time I would like to bring the entire thing forward, thin out some plants, and give more space for a large bush in the back. I especially want to give the Ludwigia Arcuata some space and may do an asymmetrical layout to give it its own corner if that seems necessary. The last element of concern for this small aquarium is the mortality rate I am seeing with livestock. I added Neocardidina shrimp and Nerite snails to both set ups but the 30CM is the only one to have mortalities, despite its lack of algae and nutrient spikes. Perhaps the nutrient capsules I added are having an affect or I haven't balanced the calcium levels ... this will require some more testing but I would like to see some more stability prior to adding fish.

Finally, I have begun to think about fish selections for both aquariums. Any thoughts? For the 30CM I am thinking about Celestial Pearl Danios due to their playful and shy nature + color. I think they would enjoy playing in the dense canopy and do not school tightly so will seem more like little independent explorers. I reduced the flow with a spin outlet as well which I think will suit those little guys better. While I have heard some folks say they need a larger set up I have kept a handful in an aquarium of similar size with no problems? Classic Ember Tetras or Chili Raspboras are of course also an option, just less dynamic unless in a larger group. For the 45P I am thinking about adding some Pygmy Corydoras, a Scarlet Badis, and some tightly schooling fish, like Blue Axelrodi Raspboras, Hummingbird Tetras, or Tucano Tetras.

In any case, it is much past my bedtime so I will leave you at that. Until next time!