CODESERV.US » Planted Aquaria

Aquarium Update

jmpease — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 20:39:05 +0000

Haven’t updated in awhile. As you can see there has been some significant growth and aquascaping changes since the last update. I removed the Telanthera rosefolia since it never seemed to adapt well to the environment, slowly dying off. The Aponogeton was moved to the 30 gallon bottom tank. Also removed was the Amazon sword since it grew extremely large and was casting a shadow over most of the tank, resulting in the Glosso and Baby Tears growing upward. You can see the Red Rubin has grown quite large. I removed the Cabomba since it was growing too tall and stringy in favor of the bushier red myrio. Although I liked the Madagascar Lace plant, I removed it as well. My goal is to keep the bushier, leafier plants that fill up more of the tank than those plants with large, broad leaves that tend to overcast the shorter carpet plants. You can see that the Glosso and Baby Tears have really started to fill in the foreground.

Since the last update, what appears to be a Cryptocoryne wendtii began to grow out of the substrate on the right. I’m not sure where it came from (I didn’t plant it), so I’m assuming it came from a bulb that had been added to the substrate sometime ago. It’s a nice surprise addition.

Aquarium Update

jmpease — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 19:18:20 +0000

A couple days after the last update I did the aquascaping I described. I’m making another change today, but wanted to post some pictures of the current setup beforehand. As you can see, the current arrangement is off balance with a significant overgrowth on the left side compared to the right. My plan is to try and balance this out some by spreading out the Telanthera rosefolia and moving all of the Ludwigia repens in a single grouping a little off-right of center. I also trimmed down the Cabomba quite a bit. The Glosso has started to take hold to carpet the right front of the tank near the Red melon sword. Once the new arrangement has settled in I’ll post some more pics.

Aquarium Update

jmpease — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:17:01 +0000

You can see there has been some significant plant growth in the top tank since the last update. My next step is to do some aquascaping…I’m planning on grouping together the Telanthera rosefolia behind the Red Rubin and Amazon Sword and relocating the Wisteria and Moneywort to the bottom tank. The Baby Tears have filled in rapidly, but the Glosso is still growing vertically and has not quite taken hold to carpet horizontally. The explosive plant and algae growth resulting from the addition of the 4 hours of extra lighting with the second bank was undesirable, so I’m back down to just one strip of 2×65 watt lighting.

Aquarium Update

jmpease — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:15:35 +0000

The plants look great and are already making a big difference, filling in a good deal of empty space. I really like the red/pink color of the Telanthera rosefolia. I took a couple more lousy photos to show the immediate difference. In the left foreground you can see the Baby Tears and in the right foreground I planted the Glosso, separated by a rock to keep some variation and to avoid these plants choking one another out. Hopefully these plants will take hold and fill in the remaining gaps to make a nice carpet.

Aquarium Update

jmpease — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:13:13 +0000

For a couple months I had only used 1 bank of the lights in my 4×65w coralife for the 55g (essentially 2×65w). Disappointed somewhat with the growth rate of my plants, I’ve been using both banks for the full lighting period for the last couple weeks. Unfortunately, along with much faster growth, I’m noticing an increase in algae, especially GSA. Yesterday I went and bought a timer for the second bank to run for about 4 hours in the middle of the lighting cycle to, hopefully, find some middle ground here.

The plants from AquariumPlants.com should be on my doorstep this afternoon. There was a shipping delay finding Ludwigia peruensis. It seems they didn’t have any and couldn’t find any more, so in exchange I’m receiving some Telanthera rosefolia (Alternanthera reineckii) and Pogostemon stellatus. Nice bright red plants!

Aquarium Update

jmpease — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:11:15 +0000

Here’s some pics…obviously I have a lot to learn about photography. As you can see, these tanks need a lot more work. Believe it or not, they are much improved after making some recent changes: getting rid of the black shark, filtration improvements (moved power filter from top tank to bottom and added canister filter), increased CO2 addition based on drop checker indication and some minor aquascaping improvements. I expect with the addition of the new plants and a couple months of patient observation things should be in good shape.

Aquarium Update

jmpease — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:07:39 +0000

Pictures coming soon. Recently turned my Black Shark in to the LFS…hopefully they can find it a bigger home. My plants should fare much better now with the remaining 55g occupants. Expecting an order of Baby Tears (Hemianthus micranthemoides), Cabomba Green (Cabomba carolina), Glossostigma (Glossostigma elatinoides), Ludwigia peruensis and Red Myrio (Myriophyllum heterophyllum). I meant to order some HC (Hemianthus callitrichoides) but screwed up! The Baby Tears aren’t potted either. Oh well…we’ll see how everything goes.