Robs 3 ft planted tank attempt

So, I've had half attempts in the past, gave up the hobby for a few years due to work/life commitments and a massive meltdown of the last attempt, but now am giving it a go. Appreciate any and all comments, advice or criticisms.

The equipment:
Cade CB900 - 90 x 50 x 50 (3ft x almost 2ft x 2ft)
Eheim Pro 2073
Hydor Inline Heater 300W
Cal Aqua Lily pipes
Lighting
Cade Lighting Stand/hanging kit
EcoTech Radeon XR15 x 2
Ecotech Radeon Rail Kit - Long
Substrate
ADA Amazonia Soil
ADA Amazonia Powder
Hardscape
Seiryu Stone - like a tonne!
Co2
Co2 Pro tank from my attempt 4 years ago
AquaMedic Solenoid
Tunze regulator
Sera Flore 500 reactor

Inspiration after months of following the work of a few forum members from various forums, Tom Barrs gorgeous work, plus Amano etc etc.

Setup initially 6 weeks ago:


Tried working on scapes using a towel that fit the dimensions of the base.


First scape attempt, planning a sand/rock riverbed:


Scrapped that and went for straight soil with a hill to the

a week later, prepping/planting was a 14 hour marathon of elecharis belem mainly, and others.



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result


growth progress next post and a lot of questions for you experts!!

DAY 8

after a full meltdown thanks to an accident with Excel

Pogo replaced and parkerI added! The Lud. Inclanata pantanal and normal are also in although I'm not sure which was which exactly. Chucked em under the light so had to move the Lud. Glandulosa down a bit. So between the 2 main rocks is mostly red...I do have a small bunch of baby tears in there for colour contrast. Will see how it grows in.

you'll see quite a bit of space behind and around the main rocks, this is for the hemianthus micranthemoides when i'm able to trim and spread it out more.

Eleo growing fast, the part of the 'field' directly in the path of the filter outlet and co2 is growing really fast. Not sure if it's just the submersed grown batch outpacing the rest of it though...


Full tank shot


DAY 27

sorry, heavy - some updated pics using an actual camera. Love the pantanal and senegalensis, but can't capture the reds/oramges correctly.
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DAY 31 DISASTER

went away on 3 day business trip and an office assistant was over helpful and decided to dose some of the ferts. And accidentally knocked the co2 regulate so dropped the bubble rate.

Returned to this


I actually did a scrub down on the glass cut out the affected stems and got 5 SAE to help the otos and 20 odd shrimp with the cleanup especially in the hair grass which has massive chunks of thick algae mats.

Got a uv sterilizer in there too.

Lost 2 otos with the cleanup though :s

 

Very nice! Thank you for putting in the time and effort to document this project. You have given me some ideas.

Please keep us up to date.

 

Thanks mate. I got so much from reading other people's journals, I figured this might be helpful... at least to someone.

Day 45 update christmas day

so algae update... the Darwin Algae Shrimp, Otos and SAE have made short work of cleaning off all of the hardscape and are slowly cutting into the algae clogged HG. I just did a massive trim of the HG and cut out the worst of the algae clumps. Still a little left, but at the rate the cleanup crew is going, shouldn't be an issue. Sorry for phone shots.
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Trimmed back the stems and shifting the remaining Lud. Senegalensis into the centre of the tank. want to try keeping the borders green.
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Updated flora, added Alternanthera reineckiI minI and new HC to the little plot where I had to pull out algae engulfed HC.
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Added staurogyne repens and Micranthemum umbrosum to the background to see if it does better than the Glomeratus which isn't doing as well as in my low tech tank.
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In other news, the little bit (one stem) of what I thought was limno. vietnam (but in fact turned out to be incorrectly shipped Rotala sp green) that survived my excel accident a few weeks ago has come back in force!
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FTS
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Started PPS Pro dosing this week as my various premixed ferts have run out and the tank has settled in. I was advised to let it grow in with just the nutrient from the aquasoil for the first month and a bit.

 

This is so awesome. I love everything about it. I got excited that my anacharis was doing well and then looked at this haha. I will definitely be following your progress.

 

Looks amazing! You did a great job!

 

This is so awesome. I love everything about it. I got excited that my anacharis was doing well and then looked at this haha. I will definitely be following your progress.

Looks amazing! You did a great job!

Thanks!!

A work in progress and happy for any feedback. Contemplating making the rock in the field on the right bigger.... to give it more character, but I think I like the open field. Thoughts?

 

Thanks!!

A work in progress and happy for any feedback. Contemplating making the rock in the field on the right bigger.... to give it more character, but I think I like the open field. Thoughts?

I really like the open field. I think it makes it look bigger.

Thanks!!

A work in progress and happy for any feedback. Contemplating making the rock in the field on the right bigger.... to give it more character, but I think I like the open field. Thoughts?

I really like the open field. I think it makes it look bigger.

 

Day 60 (ish) update

Cleaned a fair amount of GSA off the glass and trimmed the 'lawn' today. Most of the algae clumps are now gone and the SAE got right into the trimmed grass to get at more of it. Busy little dudes.


Yellow cherries are all berried again. Either the shrimplets are hiding in the plants or the SAE have found then all already The Darwin Algae Shrimp are doing their thing and keeping hardscape clean. Glomeratus, umbrosum, senegalensis, HC and staurogyne. repens are all doing well with stable co2.


My ludwigia glandulosa and AR have not reddened up much despite high light, high co2 and PPS Pro dosing + extra flourish iron.

Not sure what the issue there is. Happy for any help/suggestions from you experts.

I'm off for 3 weeks away. TrI'm of plants done, water change done, auto doser set up, up sterilizer in, photo period schedule reduced.

Fingers crossed
TRIMMED STEMS AND DOG


FTS

 

I looks amazing! If you don't see the tank, it almost looks like dry land. Wow! You did a great job. I can't wait to see it with fish.

 

I looks amazing! If you don't see the tank, it almost looks like dry land. Wow! You did a great job. I can't wait to see it with fish.

Why thanks! That's the look I was going for. fingers crossed it's still like that when I get back in 3 weeks

 

Absolutely gorgeous Rob!

Question - Radion XR15? They're "meant to be" a Marine/Reef fitting. How did you decide to invest in these? (For a reef, I wouldn't question them, but Freshwater planted )

EDIT: Sorry, forgot they do Freshwater fittings now

Obviously they work great for Plants too

 

Absolutely gorgeous Rob!

Question - Radion XR15? They're "meant to be" a Marine/Reef fitting. How did you decide to invest in these? (For a reef, I wouldn't question them, but Freshwater planted )

EDIT: Sorry, forgot they do Freshwater fittings now

Obviously they work great for Plants too

Haha... yes... and they're still super new so not a lot of testing. I love the controllability, spectrums and all that jazz. I am waiting to assess whether the lack of red in my lud glandulosa and AR is related to ferts or the lights at depth.

To be fair, fert dosing just started proper with pps pro so I'll give it a month and if no change then it can only be the lights.

In saying that, this is the worst time to go away for 3 weeks. Fingers crossed it all goes ok with my new auto doser.

3 weeks away!!

I came back to some GSa and what looks like algae mats in my DHG but all in all, it looks good. Thanks to my auto doser and lowered lighting schedule. This is a half-trimmed FTS with the Glomeratus trimmed at the back already.

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However, there is algae on all the slower growing leaves which I atrtribute to the fact that Phosphate is reading as zero. Thoughts?

Also, guessing my lud glandulosa and AR has turned green due to lower intensity while I was away.

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And my Stauro Repens seems to have either melted or my SAE have gone to town on it. ?!

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Incredible looking tank. Keep it up!

 

Lol a shrimp molt!

 

Indeed it Is. Happens after every water change. Just can't figure out what's happening to the stauro

 

HI Rob, how do you get ur HG to grow so well? Although mine has been in there for only 10 days, I can't see it growing so lusciously like yours.

 

Hey Vincent, that looks ok for 10 days. Look back in this thread and see mine at 10 days. Same as yours.

 

Any updates on this project?

 

That looks so good! I can't wait to get my tank looking like that. I could take a few pointers from you
How long did it take to get the hairgrass to start filling in?

 

Thanks so much

It took about a month! Are you using belem?

Updated shots below

 

Beautiful!

 

Thanks so much

It took about a month! Are you using belem?

Updated shots below

Oh man I must be the biggest noob. I don't know what belem is, can you enlighten me? All I have so far is fertilized substrate, co2 and plant feeder. x3 I just ordered a bunch of dwarf hairgrass that should be here in a couple days. I have a 55gal ^_^ I hope it comes out like yours.

 

Looking great

 

Wow, that looks amazing!

 

Looks amazing!

 

Yep, out this world so to speak.to an awesome piece of living art!

 

Come do my tank pretty please

 

Hey ropate I am curious where you procurred those stones in your tank. They have the character I want to show in my next tank but I can't find any good ones in my area of CA.

 

Thanks everyone. Dennio they are seiryu stone. Bought here in sydney but I think theyre japanese

Hey Ivoryangel belem is a variety of dwarf hairgrass that only grows a couple inches long. Not hard to find normally. Normal dwarf hair grass can grow to 6 or 8 inches

Come do my tank pretty please

Proper little update on the tank.

Now with the auto dosing of NPK fixed for a couple weeks, my tests seem to have balanced out except P is now low again so againssuming it's being consumed, hence the accelerated growth on my pogo and others that were stunted. So have doubled my monopotassium phosphate to see how that goes.

Stock update:
Added a pair of GBR and an A. MacmasterI
Added 15 green neons yesterday
50 red nosed shrimp from Darwin today
Removed 2 of the 7 siamensis, but will remove all eventually

Just received my frosting for the bank of the tank. Next project will be back lighting, but need to figure that out.










FTS with the baby green neons just visible

 

Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! I love your tank! And your photos are amazing!

 

Beautiful! Absolutely beautiful! I love your tank! And your photos are amazing!

why thank you!

a few things happening...nutrient balance still to be worked on when I have time to test etc etc. Outbreak of BGA unfortunately which I am trying to figure out... if anyone has any suggestions other than erythromycin, I'll happily buy it. manual removal so far but its spreading.

on top of that the same problem with green coating (GSA?) on the AR minI and other slow growing plants despite increasing Phosphate and reducing light intensity. The flow (listed as 1050 l/h) from the Eheim Pro 3 350 is compromised with my inline heater and CO2 reactor so I think increasing the canister size might be better for flow and circulation which might help with the algae, I've read. Looking at the Pro 3E 450 or the Pro3 600 at the moment.
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Other than that:
Green neon school complete today with the second delivery of 10 fish to make 20
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Have been looking at easy options for backlighting. And came across a $39 LED strip at Bunnings which can stick onto the back of the tank and reflect off the back wall. Currently have it attached to a metal bar and trying out angles. Also, got a $5 window frosting cut to size which I need time to put on. Intensity doesn't seem high enough to make a difference when the lights are on though, however once the frosting film is on I may try directing the light directly up and onto it which may show up more.

Other than that, have added Blyxa as a transition between the L Senegalensis and DHG. Doing well so far, but I fear that's how the BGA got into the tank. It replaces the HC that the GBRs have had a field day pulling up, hence the bare area in the centre of the tank.

SAE grew large and aggressive, so have been happily rehomed, and the GBRs have spawned twice, seem happy with their MacmasterI buddy, no aggression and often together in the tank hanging out.

 

Looks amazing dude. Well done

 

Well done. Love the layout and the back-lighting idea.

 

Looks amazing!

 

Nicely done

 

Thanks everyone. Anyone successfully gotten rid of BGA without antibiotics?

 

No algae guru like @dolphan but from what I know about BGA is that it is commonly linked to fertilizer over-dosing outside of aquariums that we commonly see in lakes/streams close to farming after spring runoff.

Is there a possible link with ferts and the bga your seeing? One key factor contributing to the growth of blue-green algae is the amount of available nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen.

Is the area of infection having good circulation or is it random in various parts?

Take a cautious approach, as some varieties of this algae can produce toxins that are harmful to both humans and animals so gloves, mask would be highly suggested.

 

It's Dolfan Dadio, lol.

 

It's Dolfan Dadio, lol.

Hey, I was close and typing on phones really bags it at times lol

 

It's Dolfan Dadio, lol.

No algae guru like @dolphan but from what I know about BGA is that it is commonly linked to fertilizer over-dosing outside of aquariums that we commonly see in lakes/streams close to farming after spring runoff.

Is there a possible link with ferts and the bga your seeing? One key factor contributing to the growth of blue-green algae is the amount of available nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen.

Is the area of infection having good circulation or is it random in various parts?

Take a cautious approach, as some varieties of this algae can produce toxins that are harmful to both humans and animals so gloves, mask would be highly suggested.

thanks for that! I think it came in on the blyxa I introduced but its also obvious I have not gotten my balance right on my ferts. however the plants seem to be consuming all the P and N from the ferts, so at a loss.

the areas mostly affected are definitely in low flow areas and I do think need to up my circulation. either I get a powerhead which will be an unsightly addition or I get a bigger canister filter perhaps.