Aquascaping The Fluval Spec 3 - Progress

So I forked over the 60$ that this 2.6 gallon tank costs. Yeah, I know. But space and appearance is a huge issue for me, and apparently the light is suitable for plants.

So far, I'm pretty happy with it. The box lists the following for the light:

Watts: 6.4
Lumens: 738
Color temp: 7000K
LEDs: 32

It doesn't list the PAR and neither does Fluval's website, and people who have contacted Fluval to ask haven't ever gotten a definitive answer. I'm going to assume that it's low light, at the very most medium light. The pictures make it look more blue than it is, though in person I can still visibly see how much bluer it is than my 6400K light.

The footprint of the tank space not including the filter in the back is about an 8.7 x 8.7 inch square.




For now what I really need help with is the hardscape! I guess I kind of lack a vision with where it's going. I'd love to have a typical nature style with some nice plant density but also open space at the front. It's going to be stocked with shrimp.

These are the pieces of manzanita I have to work with, left over from scaping my 3 gallon. I think the two larger pieces at the top are most interesting.




I don't have any rocks yet. I can either collect some from outside as I did for the 3 gallon, or I could buy some.

I've done a few arrangements with what I have, but I'm just not feeling it.








I'm going to take my own advice and say I need more vertical height or bigger pieces than what I currently have.

Most likely next week we'll be driving through another city that has a bigger LFS than here, last time I was there they had some nice spiderwood. Can't remember if they had rocks, if they don't I'm eyeing dragonstone from online.

As for plants, I'm going to be trying a carpet of magic seeds and wild collected hydrocotyle, the rest is still undecided. I'd love a red plant but I don't think the red will really come through in this type of low tech tank. Vals are off the table since I will be using excel. I will say I'm not a huge fan of the most common easy plants. The LFS we might be going to carries tropica 1-2-grow in vitro plants, so I'll have a look there.

I'd love any ideas or suggestions for how to proceed!

 

I just got mine yesterday! I would definitely focus on a verticle presentation. My LFS did an aquascape on the spec iiI and they used vertical hardscape. It might have been dragonstone. Don't recall the plants though. Have you thought about monte carlo for carpeting and perhaps staurogyne repens further back and cyprus helferI as a background? I'm new at this aquacaping as well, but that was what I was thinking. I was also thinking of tying some jubwassartang on some hardscape.

 

Your lighting is more than adequate. Here is a guide:
The right light for your aquarium - Tropica Aquarium Plants

I would definitely moss up the manzatina pieces add 3 or 5 rocks and maybe do an easy carpet like
Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini'
Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' - Tropica Aquarium Plants
They look great with sticks and stones on nano setups.

 

Hi,

Might not be what you want but if you want to try a marine look I made this to document my progress

How To Make A Convincing Artificial Reef Tank In A Freshwater Aquarium (in My Opinion)

Hope it gives you inspiration

Good luck!

Ethan

 

I just got mine yesterday! I would definitely focus on a verticle presentation. My LFS did an aquascape on the spec iiI and they used vertical hardscape. It might have been dragonstone. Don't recall the plants though. Have you thought about monte carlo for carpeting and perhaps staurogyne repens further back and cyprus helferI as a background? I'm new at this aquacaping as well, but that was what I was thinking. I was also thinking of tying some jubwassartang on some hardscape.

I definitely thought about monte carlo since I have it in the 3 gallon, but I'm hesitant to try it because it barely grew and attracted algae until I got DIY CO2 set up. Now it's growing very well and I think I'll have a nice carpet if only I can get my algae under control. If the magic seeds don't work out I might move some over. S. repens seems like a good option, I've seen it recommended as a carpet for larger tanks, but haven't thought about it as mid-background for nanos. I'm not a huge fan of cyperus helferI or subwassartang (they kind of remind me of river plants haha), I really appreciate all the suggestions though!

Your lighting is more than adequate. Here is a guide:
The right light for your aquarium - Tropica Aquarium Plants

I would definitely moss up the manzatina pieces add 3 or 5 rocks and maybe do an easy carpet like
Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini'
Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' - Tropica Aquarium Plants
They look great with sticks and stones on nano setups.

Thanks for the info! I do hope it's enough for any plants I end up getting.
Eleocharis minI looks great, though tropica and the green machine say it's harder than dwarf hairgrass? And I'd always thought dwarf hairgrass needed CO2 to truly carpet.

Hi,

Might not be what you want but if you want to try a marine look I made this to document my progress

How To Make A Convincing Artificial Reef Tank In A Freshwater Aquarium (in My Opinion)

Hope it gives you inspiration

Good luck!

Ethan

Thanks, I've actually seen your thread! I'm going for more nature style here, but artificial marine looks awesome, if I ever get an african cichlid tank I'll try it out.

So I did think about it a little, and got out my tablet to sketch this:




I think I know where I'd like to go with this now, with some very vertical rocks to create a tall layer in the back left. Somewhat like these, just much more... compressed haha.

 

These tanks are a pain. haha! Their extremely small footprint with their height makes them a tough one. I'd centralize an idea around a nature-styled Aquascape. Your #1 and #4 pictured layouts are the best with #4 being a the better of the two, so I'd chose between those two and pick a corner on which to start.

I've done a Mountain-Styled one and a Nature/Island styled one of the Fluval Chi, which is similar in size. Rocks were the tough part because I wasn't able to find small enough stones to buy, so I found my own. With whichever Layout you chose I'd build the substrate higher in the back corner, lay some stones down, then lay your driftwood and then lay more stones to weight it before filling in with substrate.

Before thinking too much on what other plants to add I'd select a focal-point plant. Something that's going to do well in the lower light of the back corners and fill in nicely with strong leaf structure, or a bushing feature. The Immediate plants that come to mind are:

Main:

Cryoptocoryne WendtiI 'Green'
Anubias BarterI var. Nana
Some Variations of Bucephalandra
Microsorum Pteropus 'Needle'
Microsorum Pteropus 'Narrow'

Then I'd pick some support plants:

Anubias var. Nana 'Petite
Cryptocoryine Parva
Weeping Moss
Christmas Moss
Java Moss

If you leave yourself some room you could hope to fit some reds in there:

Rotola Rotundifolia

It should still get some red coloration towards the tips of the plant as they near the light, but what I've had work may not work for you.

So I did think about it a little, and got out my tablet to sketch this:

View attachment 288322

I think I know where I'd like to go with this now, with some very vertical rocks to create a tall layer in the back left. Somewhat like these, just much more... compressed haha.

I do like the design you sketched!

 

These tanks are a pain. haha! Their extremely small footprint with their height makes them a tough one. I'd centralize an idea around a nature-styled Aquascape. Your #1 and #4 pictured layouts are the best with #4 being a the better of the two, so I'd chose between those two and pick a corner on which to start.

I've done a Mountain-Styled one and a Nature/Island styled one of the Fluval Chi, which is similar in size. Rocks were the tough part because I wasn't able to find small enough stones to buy, so I found my own. With whichever Layout you chose I'd build the substrate higher in the back corner, lay some stones down, then lay your driftwood and then lay more stones to weight it before filling in with substrate.

Before thinking too much on what other plants to add I'd select a focal-point plant. Something that's going to do well in the lower light of the back corners and fill in nicely with strong leaf structure, or a bushing feature. The Immediate plants that come to mind are:

Main:

Cryoptocoryne WendtiI 'Green'
Anubias BarterI var. Nana
Some Variations of Bucephalandra
Microsorum Pteropus 'Needle'
Microsorum Pteropus 'Narrow'

Then I'd pick some support plants:

Anubias var. Nana 'Petite
Cryptocoryine Parva
Weeping Moss
Christmas Moss
Java Moss

If you leave yourself some room you could hope to fit some reds in there:

Rotola Rotundifolia

It should still get some red coloration towards the tips of the plant as they near the light, but what I've had work may not work for you.

Thanks so much! I completely agree, this is going to be a real challenge. A fun one though! Do you have any suggestions for what kind of substrate supports I can use for the slope?

For the mains, I do like crypts, though my concern is them getting too big. I think I'd like mostly epiphyte plants for the back left "pile" such as buces and anubias petite. The rotala seems like a good red option. I've also been looking at ludwigia palustris- apparently an easier red plant- and also ludwigia grandulosa. Hygrophila araguaia might be an option for lower growing reds, as might those weedy magic seeds.

I also really love the look of weeping moss. If I can get some that'll be going on the wood.

The in vitro tropica plants at the LFS will be my best bet for some of these, I wish my nearby LFS carried tropica. If not, online is always a (sometimes expensive) option.

 

Thanks so much! I completely agree, this is going to be a real challenge. A fun one though! Do you have any suggestions for what kind of substrate supports I can use for the slope?

For the mains, I do like crypts, though my concern is them getting too big. I think I'd like mostly epiphyte plants for the back left "pile" such as buces and anubias petite. The rotala seems like a good red option. I've also been looking at ludwigia palustris- apparently an easier red plant- and also ludwigia grandulosa. Hygrophila araguaia might be an option for lower growing reds, as might those weedy magic seeds.

I also really love the look of weeping moss. If I can get some that'll be going on the wood.

The in vitro tropica plants at the LFS will be my best bet for some of these, I wish my nearby LFS carried tropica. If not, online is always a (sometimes expensive) option.

#1 problem you're going to run into with the majority of any ludwigia that I can think of is their size vs your tank size. I don't mean you can't use them, but you'd have to select a plant that visually works with the larger size of ludwigia leafs. Bruce could do this well I think. Any true red plants I've tried in low-tech/low-light turns a rusted color. I've also seen people get reds under low-light out of the more common version Alternanthera.

You're probably right about the crypt being too big for the tank. I don't mind plants that outgrow a tank under low light. It's not growing fast enough that it needs to be pruned so often it's a chore, but they fill in areas very thick. All just depends on how much trimming you want to do. Haha!

EDIT: Substrate supports - I've cut up old Glad containers, used rims I've taken of other tanks, and most recently found a company that deals with acrylic where I could by 1/16 or 1/8 inch colored acrylic that matches the substrate for ridiculously cheap. When it's that thin all I do is use a straight edge and a utility knife and cut pieces to fit areas where they should go.

 

Aquariumplants.com is having a tissue culture sale right now

Second the needle Java ferns, or trident as well. While Java is common, these cultivars are not and they can make stunning centerpieces.
As for the moss I love my weeping, after that my flame, but more then both I love love my fissidens...
Drawing is nice, agree w Sil I like photos 1&4, but I prefer 1. More height though for sure
Pogostemon helferI is amazing as an accent.
Marsilea or hydrocotyle triparta Japan could make nice excel "carpets"
Hygrophilia araguaia didn't move me much, did ok but was too... spindly?? for me. Alternanthera reineckiI roseafolia might work for a red accent, mine are just fine in excel tanks (minI needs co2 and better lighting).

 

Aquariumplants.com is having a tissue culture sale right now

Second the needle Java ferns, or trident as well. While Java is common, these cultivars are not and they can make stunning centerpieces.
As for the moss I love my weeping, after that my flame, but more then both I love love my fissidens...
Drawing is nice, agree w Sil I like photos 1&4, but I prefer 1. More height though for sure
Pogostemon helferI is amazing as an accent.
Marsilea or hydrocotyle triparta Japan could make nice excel "carpets"
Hygrophilia araguaia didn't move me much, did ok but was too... spindly?? for me. Alternanthera reineckiI roseafolia might work for a red accent, mine are just fine in excel tanks (minI needs co2 and better lighting).

I got excited about the sale, then they let me down.

No Utrcularia Graminifolia... Trying to start a carnivorous plant tank to eat things.

Might still get their Riccia Fluitans or Crypt Spirals.

 

#1 problem you're going to run into with the majority of any ludwigia that I can think of is their size vs your tank size. I don't mean you can't use them, but you'd have to select a plant that visually works with the larger size of ludwigia leafs. Bruce could do this well I think. Any true red plants I've tried in low-tech/low-light turns a rusted color. I've also seen people get reds under low-light out of the more common version Alternanthera.

You're probably right about the crypt being too big for the tank. I don't mind plants that outgrow a tank under low light. It's not growing fast enough that it needs to be pruned so often it's a chore, but they fill in areas very thick. All just depends on how much trimming you want to do. Haha!

EDIT: Substrate supports - I've cut up old Glad containers, used rims I've taken of other tanks, and most recently found a company that deals with acrylic where I could by 1/16 or 1/8 inch colored acrylic that matches the substrate for ridiculously cheap. When it's that thin all I do is use a straight edge and a utility knife and cut pieces to fit areas where they should go.

Ah, old plastic containers sound good.

What you say about the ludwigia makes sense - I'd like smaller plants in the tank to give a better sense of scale (which is why I dislike large plants in small tanks).

Aquariumplants.com is having a tissue culture sale right now

Second the needle Java ferns, or trident as well. While Java is common, these cultivars are not and they can make stunning centerpieces.
As for the moss I love my weeping, after that my flame, but more then both I love love my fissidens...
Drawing is nice, agree w Sil I like photos 1&4, but I prefer 1. More height though for sure
Pogostemon helferI is amazing as an accent.
Marsilea or hydrocotyle triparta Japan could make nice excel "carpets"
Hygrophilia araguaia didn't move me much, did ok but was too... spindly?? for me. Alternanthera reineckiI roseafolia might work for a red accent, mine are just fine in excel tanks (minI needs co2 and better lighting).

Thanks! I like the look of needle java fern. I also considered p. helferI since I love the look, but from what I've read I don't think I'll be able to keep it alive haha.

If the magic seeds fail, marsilea crenata is what I'm thinking about for foreground. Hydrocotyle I can collect from my yard actually, not triparta, I have no idea species it is or if it'll grow underwater, but if it works that'd be pretty cool.

If I get all tissue cultured plants, could I dry start everything at once? I feel like dry start wouldn't work so well for stem plants.

 

Marsilea Minuta is an even smaller variation than Marsilea Crenata. They're both supposed to be able to 'carpet' under low light, but I'd imagine you'd have better luck with Crenata. Smaller plant = farther from the light = less drive for growth and a weaker demand for Co2, which in turn could mean it's easily outcompeted and doesn't do much.

I think tissue culture plants have leafs closer to the immersed leafs, so what may happen is they have to acclimate to emersed growth for a DSM, then once you submerge the tank they'd be acclimating back to the immersed form. May take longer - I don't know 100%. Might be better off getting a pot of immersed grown plants in this case.

Stem plants are probably the easiest to DSM - I have these growing emerged in all sorts of various spots on my tank where they just happened to end up, get caught, and then decided to grow out of the tank - where rhizome plants and mosses are likely the hardest. Mosses being next to impossible unless grown on the substrate.

PatrickShrimp's DSM with A. ReinekiI sp. MinI and S. Repens -

Dsm - Dry Start Method

EDIT: I'd ask him form of plants he got because (at least to me) his A. ReinekiI and S. Repens both look emersed grown previously which in a DSM would be beneficial in terms of acclimations and speed of growth.

Again, I don't know %100, just a concern that came to mind.

 

Update! Went by the LFS. They didn't really have any tropica in vitro plants that I wanted besides Fontinalis antipyretica, which in the cup looked half dead. I got it anyways because one of the shopkeepers told me he put some in a display tank in worse condition and it's doing great. I'm hoping after I put it in my CO2 injected tank it'll grow out a bit and then I can transfer it.

I did get an interesting piece of spider wood:





Not too satisfied with the rocks I collected outdoors, so I'll be getting some off buceplant. It'll go under the wood.

Thanks for the info on DSM, Sil. I think I might actually skip it, just depending on what plants I finally go with. Still considering different things.

 

How's it going?

I got excited about the sale, then they let me down.

No Utrcularia Graminifolia... Trying to start a carnivorous plant tank to eat things.

Might still get their Riccia Fluitans or Crypt Spirals.

Silister Trench
Amazingly enough petco by me has utrcularia graminifolia tc... just saw it today... go figure!!!!! It's in the bags, not the tubes.

 

It's going well! I ordered 6 lbs of dragonstone and two buces from buceplant, which will arrive sometime this coming week. They had great customer service when I asked how much I'd need. One thing I noticed is that their UNS Plant food is completely identical to Nilocg Thrive. They gave a sort of vague answer about it when I asked about it, so I'm not sure what's up with that.
I also bought some bacopa colorata, pearlweed, and ludwigia red hybrid off Han Aquatics. They got here today and I'm very satisfied, the plants are all in good condition. I do like Han Aquatics, they have a good selection of less common plants and newer plants.
I planted the pearlweed in my 3 gallon CO2 injected tank temporarily, but have absolutely no room for the other two.
Would floating them in there work until I can get the hardscape in the Spec set up? A little worried about algae if they're so close to the light, as my 3 gallon is rather prone to it since the light is a bit too much. Currently they are still in their bags under the spec light.

Still looking for some marsilea crenata. I did consider aquarium plants, but their shipping to me is much too high for just one or two plants.

I'm constantly reminded that this hobby is not cheap lol

 

Good luck and take your time! Mine didn't turn out so well. I was impatient lol. I'll just call it a jungle scape and be done with it.

 

Good luck and take your time! Mine didn't turn out so well. I was impatient lol. I'll just call it a jungle scape and be done with it.

Thanks! I have a little experience after scaping the 3 gallon, but this will be a new challenge because of the unconventional dimensions. I'll try to go slow but it's hard

Update: Buceplant stuff arrived yesterday, I ordered two bucephalandra and 6 lbs dragonstone, I think they gave me something closer to 8 lbs though




There was a crack in one of the larger pieces, so I was able to pry off another medium sized pieces and small piece from it. The medium pieces that came off is in the top right of the second photo, and it's actually the best looking one IMO. The two smaller rocks turned red in water, so I don't think I'll be using them.





Plants arrived healthy. I like that buceplant sends you more than one rhizome when you order a single plant, so technically you're getting more than one plant. They are being held in the 3 gallon (which now looks like a jungle) and so far no melting.


The ludwigia red from han aquatics has basically completely melted, including the stems, and I was only able to save the very tops of two plants. I'm hoping they'll make a full recovery.

I've been playing around with some ideas for the scape, but I'll get serious tomorrow.

So I played around with the hardscape a bit, this is the only one I've done so far that I'm satisfied with. Any tips? It looks very blue, but is less blue in person.







I know we typically use an odd number of rocks, but this layout has only four. The fifth one doesn't seem to go anywhere in this particular layout.

I left a little bit of open substrate behind it all for the bacopa colorata. I want to slope it a lot more but my substrate is literally little smooth round balls of soil, so they don't stay in place very well. Maybe I'll bury some wild collected rock underneath it all to give it height and keep the substrate in place.

 

I like it

 

I like it

Thanks! As per some advice over at plantedtank I rearranged it a bit, I like it a lot more now.




I started planting, I'll post some pics when I finish, perhaps tomorrow or in the next couple days

 

Love it!!!!!!!!

(Wasn't a huge fan of the last layout, felt something was off but couldn't pinpoint. Love this!)

Any planting this weekend?

 

Yup, just a bit of adjusting. Since the Ludwigia melted I plan on getting some more, so when that arrives I'll update. It's taking longer than expected unfortunately.

 

Always does. I had ordered some tissue cultures for a few new tanks, unfortunately the petco dollar per gallon sale started a week later then I expected and haven't had time to plant since! Poor cultures are in my fridge now until I get the time.

 

Breathes
Well I think I'm finally done planting for the most part, I just have some extra moss that I'm not sure what to do with.

I think it turned out quite nice, but the beginnings of brown algae are already showing despite my overdosing of excel and ferts and nearly daily water changes. Hoping that it won't get any worse and the shrimp will control it once I get them in there. I look forward to watching the tank mature





Fingers crossed the ludwigia makes it this time and stays red!




The hydrocotyle from the yard isn't dead, which is a relief. The leaves that went in are looking pretty sad and a few are melting, but the plants are putting out healthy looking new growth, so I hope the new leaves adapt to immersed growth. I love the look of hydrocotyle, if this works out I have a free supply of it! They are total weeds outside and are growing everywhere.


Edit// I woke up this morning to find a small snail on the glass. Probably came from the new ludwigia. No biggie as long as there aren't anymore and as long as it didn't lay any eggs. Felt sorry for him, but I'm keeping all of my tanks strictly snail free.

 

Oh no!!!! Had the same thing happen in one of mine, found a huge pond snail... looked like he had been there for some time and I didn't see him!!! Argh! Waiting for more now, checking every day!

 

Tested parameters today, got 40-80 ppm nitrates! I knew I was overdosing ferts, but I didn't know it was by that much! I'll dial it back a bit haha. However the good thing is, it was just more proof to bury the old "N and P cause algae" myth, the only algae I have are a few strands of diatoms and bits of cyano that were brought over on plants from the 3 gallon. The monte carlo with cyano will be completely removed, I don't want to deal with that in a second tank.

 

Thought about getting more Amanos? I tranferred mine to the fluval spec iiI and so far, so good. Been there maybe a little over 2 weeks. Even if it wanted to escape, I don't think it could, being that the feeding gap is in the middle of the lid and away from the edges close to the walls.

 

Thought about getting more Amanos? I tranferred mine to the fluval spec iiI and so far, so good. Been there maybe a little over 2 weeks. Even if it wanted to escape, I don't think it could, being that the feeding gap is in the middle of the lid and away from the edges close to the walls.

Yep, I'm actually about to set out to the LFS actually! And yeah, as soon as I set it up I noticed how all around the lid reached the top of the tank, so the only way for anything to escape is to directly launch itself out of the feeding hole. I might grow them out in there and transfer to the 3 gallon if I can figure out a way to shrimp-proof it.

 

You really did a fantastic job -Mak-! I'm impressed. It's no easy feat to scape a small tank and I can definitely envision and "end" design to it in my mind's eye.

I'd give it a bit before adding shrimp if you found pest snails - just saying. 200 pond snails in a 20G was a mess that was uncontrollable for me. Breeding pest snails in a tank as small as that could really mess with water perimeters, and in aquascapes the typical fish owners methods of removal are ineffective at best.

I've had to dose cupramine to finally kill them all in one Aquascape in particular of mine, which will kill all shrimp as well.

If you found 1 just assume there's a clutch hidden somewhere that you haven't seen.

 

You really did a fantastic job -Mak-! I'm impressed. It's no easy feat to scape a small tank and I can definitely envision and "end" design to it in my mind's eye.

I'd give it a bit before adding shrimp if you found pest snails - just saying. 200 pond snails in a 20G was a mess that was uncontrollable for me. Breeding pest snails in a tank as small as that could really mess with water perimeters, and in aquascapes the typical fish owners methods of removal are ineffective at best.

I've had to dose cupramine to finally kill them all in one Aquascape in particular of mine, which will kill all shrimp as well.

If you found 1 just assume there's a clutch hidden somewhere that you haven't seen.

Thanks Sil! I'm sure there's still room for improvement but I think it's a big leap from my first scape.

So far I haven't found any more snails, but I'm definitely keeping my eyes open, at least until it's been about a month since I found the first. I've already got an amano in there, but I've read amanos eat snail eggs and sometimes adults (boy do I hope that's true). I will continue to monitor for eggs and snails.

 

Thanks Sil! I'm sure there's still room for improvement but I think it's a big leap from my first scape.

So far I haven't found any more snails, but I'm definitely keeping my eyes open, at least until it's been about a month since I found the first. I've already got an amano in there, but I've read amanos eat snail eggs and sometimes adults (boy do I hope that's true). I will continue to monitor for eggs and snails.

Hopefully no more in the future! But they're really very hard to spot just hatched or clutches of eggs that may have been dislodged into the substrate or just hidden well. I bought a patch of micro swords a few months ago - killed one snail right of the go and then a month later I had more snails than plants... that was a bummer!

After trying the "humane methods" of blah-da-blah and catching them and trapping them and all that cupramine became my best friend. Haha!

 

Hopefully no more in the future! But they're really very hard to spot just hatched or clutches of eggs that may have been dislodged into the substrate or just hidden well. I bought a patch of micro swords a few months ago - killed one snail right of the go and then a month later I had more snails than plants... that was a bummer!

After trying the "humane methods" of blah-da-blah and catching them and trapping them and all that cupramine became my best friend. Haha!

So far so good! I'm holding off until the end of June to get the cherries since I will be busy until then.

Small update: (excuse the ugly mesh in the back, I still don't know where to put all the extra christmas moss)




Everything's been growing well. Bits of brown algae here and there, and I need to give the glass a good wipe just to prevent algae taking hold, and I think there's a a small amount of red brush algae on the chilI pepper buces (time to whip out the excel) but I'm pleasantly surprised at the way things are going.

I'm still unsure about the hydrocotyle from the yard. It's doing well underwater, but the new leaves have stayed quite small. The runner/stem thing that the leaves come off of is incredibly stiff (like the terrestrial version) and extremely hard to get to stay in place. I might cut everything into individual nodes and replant because it's making me lose my mind and my amano's favorite thing to do is uproot it.

The best part is the ludwigia hybrid red from hanaquatics I think, it hasn't really dulled and the stem closest to the light is purely red. Even the newest leaves are red. It's been 2 weeks since planting and they've grown a huge amount too. Need to trim and replant them along with the bacopa, which is starting to grow above the water.
The most curious thing is, these stems of ludwigia in this low tech are more red than than the one I popped into my 3 gallon high tech. I think it might be because I've been neglecting the high tech a bit, ferts-wise.

 

So far so good! I'm holding off until the end of June to get the cherries since I will be busy until then.

Small update: (excuse the ugly mesh in the back, I still don't know where to put all the extra christmas moss)

View attachment 317289

Everything's been growing well. Bits of brown algae here and there, and I need to give the glass a good wipe just to prevent algae taking hold, and I think there's a a small amount of red brush algae on the chilI pepper buces (need to whip out the excel) but I'm pleasantly surprised at the way things are going.

I'm still unsure about the hydrocotyle from the yard. It's doing well underwater, but the new leaves have stayed quite small. The runner/stem thing that the leaves come off of is incredibly stiff (like the terrestrial version) and extremely hard to get to stay in place. I might cut everything into individual nodes and replant because it's making me lose my mind and my amano's favorite thing to do is uproot it.

The best part is the ludwigia hybrid red from hanaquatics I think, it hasn't really dulled and the stem closest to the light is purely red. Even the newest leaves are red. It's been 2 weeks since planting and they've grown a huge amount too. Need to trim and replant them along with the bacopa, which is starting to grow above the water.
The most curious thing is, these stems of ludwigia in this low tech are more red than than the one I popped into my 3 gallon high tech. I think it might be because I've been neglecting the high tech a bit, ferts-wise.

Man, that's looking very nice!

 

Looks amazing! That's some growth since planting time, almost no rebound issues!

 

-Mak- What are you using for the substrate, it's interesting.

 

It does look Instresting

 

Man, that's looking very nice!

Thanks Sil!

Looks amazing! That's some growth since planting time, almost no rebound issues!

Indeed! All of the plants came from submersed growth situations so luckily no melt and regrow stage. I'm kind of developing a technique in my mind for how I'd like to plant future tanks, mostly involving heavy planting and daily water changes with fert overdosing for the first few weeks of a tank's life.

-Mak- What are you using for the substrate, it's interesting.

It does look Instresting

It's UP Aqua Sand. Really not very well known, I happened to stumble across a review of it on spec-tanks and saw it was available on amazon. I was originally looking at getting an ADA soil but the prices put me off a bit. UP Aqua Sand give you more for the price you pay, I think. From what I can tell, the substrate is really hard, compacted balls of soil with a black outer casing. When the black casing comes off the soil still stays in place, which I like. It needed no pre rinsing and didn't cloud the water a single bit, which I also like. No idea how much it helps the plants though, I don't have anything to compare it to. It also claims to buffer water to 6.5-7 ph, which I can't comment on either since my water is extremely soft and my low ph of 6.2 could be a result of the wood as well as low KH.

I might write a review of it on the appropriate forum section, it's really quite interesting as you say and very easy for the shrimp to graze on, but that's a summary of my thoughts on it.

 

Interesting... I thought it was the fluval shrimp stratum... have you used it before?
My concern with the shrimp stratum was that people had said when the balls break they make a mess, super hard for general maintenance or rescaping... wonder if this is improved with the up aqua?

 

Interesting... I thought it was the fluval shrimp stratum... have you used it before?
My concern with the shrimp stratum was that people had said when the balls break they make a mess, super hard for general maintenance or rescaping... wonder if this is improved with the up aqua?

I think it's the same with all soil. My LFS uses both ADA and Fluval, and you can tell their display tanks have been set up for a while because the soil is compacted like clay or mud. I actually think it looks better and more natural that way. As far as scaping is concerned, it does take a while for the soil to break down, so there are plenty of opportunities to redo or adjust the layout.

 

Sorry for the lack of replies guys, I must have missed the alert for this thread

Interesting... I thought it was the fluval shrimp stratum... have you used it before?
My concern with the shrimp stratum was that people had said when the balls break they make a mess, super hard for general maintenance or rescaping... wonder if this is improved with the up aqua?

Haven't used shrimp stratum, this tank and my 3 gallon are the only proper planted tanks I've set up and this single bag was more than enough for both. I can definitely see the up aqua sand being an improvement on the breaking, but even with these I think they break down after a while. If I tried to rescape my 3 gallon I'm sure I'd have a mess with at least some of the balls of substrate. I suppose it's just the nature of soil based plant substrates.

I think it's the same with all soil. My LFS uses both ADA and Fluval, and you can tell their display tanks have been set up for a while because the soil is compacted like clay or mud. I actually think it looks better and more natural that way. As far as scaping is concerned, it does take a while for the soil to break down, so there are plenty of opportunities to redo or adjust the layout.

Agreed, the surface layer of this substrate has held its shape quite well and I haven't had too many issues with it breaking down yet.


My biggest complaint with this substrate is the difficulty I have with planting, it may be my cheapo aquascaping tools but the balls of substrate completely move out of the way when planting and don't come back to fill in the space very well. I have to push my tweezers in really deep to get plants to stay.

 

I really like the up aqua tweezers (pincets to be proper), both the straight and curved are super thin... way easier to plant with then what I had before, got on Amazon...
Any new growth pictures?