Rob's 4ft (120 x 45 x 50) - Planted Aquascape

yeah - after a chat with ivan it makes sense. ... sorry for the confusion, btw anybody have Rotala wallichii get some to somebody that has ada soil and lets get cutting going.

Looking good Rob, so when you starting the next tank - let this one sit and grow a bit ..

Later Ferdie

 

I have some wallichii... It's not doing too great at the moment, but it's slowly coming right...

Rob, dude... You really should try that P. stellatus in there! It would look amazing. You could replace the Myaca with it. It is a much nicer plant.

 

Not a problem, like I said it works out better this way.

As for the next tank, I would love to set up one up but I have a wedding to pay for in the near future and the fiance is already not happy with the costs of the first one

 

So its been a while since I setup the tank....

Being my first tank I learnt quiet a few hard lessons in the last months. Including battling algae and wiping out all but a few of the my first lot of tank occupants.

However the tank is coming along, looks a lot different to what I first imagined it but happy with the results so far. The java fern, rotala and tenellus are all groing well. Star grass is growing slowely... need something for the middle through, something green or yellow with nice leaves... any suggestions?

 

Update 20-08-2012

Just thought I would update on the progress of my tank.... been a few months now and of the last few been battling cyanobacteria big time... almost wiped out all my plants.... finally cleared it up with some erythromycin.

Also my co2 ran out, took it to East Rand Fire to fill but got home to find the valve is leaking... should have got them to replace it with a turn valve!



The plants have started to recover but no where near where they should be, anyway hopefully with the co2 fixed and the cyano gone they will be looking great in a couple of months.

 

Love the green wood - something different. Very natural looking
The only time i can get that effect is when the sun shines directly on it.

 

Hey @RobSA, Have you looked at Tiger Lotus? Very nice Red Yellow plant with beautifull leaves. Tank looks great BTW.

Just a question. Why did you place the dropchecker at the back of the tank? I was just wondering if this wouldn't affect the color seeing that you are looking through a big volume of water. Just wondering.

Good luck with growing the plants. Mine are only starting now a month since planting.

 

the tank looks nice man

 

Ye also noticed it went green... suspect its algea bloom due to nutrients still in the wood and, like you say, in the highlight it flourished. Will see if it stays that way or fades.

 

Tiger Lotus is a stunning plant but wary of having to much red in the tank... the plan is to have the red rotala behind the log and in front of the vallis. Might look nice though between the fern on the right and the rotala, do you have any? Busy sourcing some stargrass to fill the gap between the fern on the left and the rotala/log.

Wrt the drop checker I put it there as I attempting to see if the circulation in the tank was affecting the co2 levels in different parts of the tank... I since read that this shouldn't matter as the drop checker is a glorified ph check. At the moment though its not doing anything since the co2 isn't hooked up.

Thanks, you 2!

 

Update 27-09-2012

The tank is looking a lot better since the last photo shoot.



Still in need of some star grass to fill the middle left but in the mean time the rest of the plants are looking good after sorting out the BGA and fixing co2 reg.

Also got an inline atomizer and used the spray bar I got with my filter to distribute the co2 a bit better over the plants (since the above was taken). Plants are pearling fantastically now. Think I need to get new lights though and make use of some reflectors to get the rotala to redden a bit more.

 

Hey.
Im a noob, so please bear with me.
Is the green on the logs and rocks algae or some kind of moss?
Also on your last pic there seems to be a lot algae on the heater?
How do you control this?

EDIT: Sorry forget to say: Your tank looks awsome. Im looking at doing alow tech planted tank for my first tank, and if it looks anything like yours I would call it a great success

 

Wow. This tank looks great and that is some serious pearling. Congrats man.

 

@Wynies - thanks man much appreciated. Good luck with the low tech tank... if you get it to look like mine I will be most upset considering the cost sunk into the above lol. Having said that though I think one can certainly get a fantastic scape with low tech setups and I have seen some amazing scapes using low tech on the web.

With regards to the green stuff, yes that is most definitely algae and I am still learning how to control it myself. At the moment I have 3 alga eaters but I considering increasing this number, I recently put a rest period of an hour about half way through the light cycle and hopefully as the plants continue to grow the soak up more of the nutrients that the algae is feeding off.

@MarcHawke, thanks mate, pics are from about 2 weeks back and since I did the change with the inline atomizer they pearling has gotten even better, starting to see it on the lower leaves of the rotala as well now.

 

Well done Rob. The tank looks great. :top: Love the ferns in there, and your Vallis have grown alot hey. How about adding anubias in that hole in the wood?

 

oooh...co2...:drool2:

 

i like the algae covered wood must say

 

Yeah I must say that's something we don't see every day. I generally try to avoid algae. :tomato: And Rob wants it.. :hahaha:

@RobSA, How did you manage to get it that green without affecting the rest of the tank? You said algae bloom... But I suspect foul play... :secruity:

Come on Rob give up the secret. :deal:

 

Ha Ha, well one thing to bear in mind is that this pic was taken after I cleaned the sand in the front and did a scrub of the tank walls to get rid of the stuff. The algae growing on the rocks I can't do much about and I suspect the log still has quiet a bit of nutrients in it that the stuff feeds off.

@SloMo.00. The Vallis grows like wildfire, every few days I have to get rid of adventurous little shoots before it takes over the rest of the tank and I have to trim it near the top to stop it hogging the light from the rotala. As for the hole, I quiet like it and the algae eaters often pop out through it which is quiet nice to see. @f-fish promised some Bolbitis heudelotii to try propagate and which I was thinking of putting below the fern on the left of the tank.

 

well done Rob, your plants are doing well and looking good