My Big Tank

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DTWGulo

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 23, 2016
Messages
138
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Recently trimmed, so not quite as impressive as usual with the red ludwigia on the left side, but it's coming along. I've done some fairly recent shuffles and moving about, adding new harder-to-find plants, getting rid of stuff with algae or performance issues.

150 gal
LED lights from buildmyled.com (1 double-bright, one standard)-no longer available
CO2 system from Greenleaf Aquariums
FX5 filter
Aqua Ultraviolet Classic
 
Beautiful looking tank ?

55 gallon elephant nose tank.
30 gallon boraras ,bamboo shrimp, crs,rcs and different snails.
 
Very picturesque how often do you have to trim it to keep it looking so good.


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Absolutely gorgeous tank! The placement of DW divides the tank into layered, colorful, plant filled regions.


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Superb! Love the lay-out. So BML are no longer doing LEDs?

They've shut down their aquarium division. They still do lights for terrestrial/hydroponic plants. I'm bummed. Loved the lights, and I was saving up for one of the RGB bars.
 
Very picturesque how often do you have to trim it to keep it looking so good.


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I futz around in the tank almost every day. Big trimmings happen every 1-2 weeks, usually.

The ludwigia on the left side, for example, is now all the way to the top of the tank and it's been about a week or so. The star grass, rotala, and ludwigias grow like crazy. I trim them weekly most of the time.

Thanks for the nice comments!
 
I futz around in the tank almost every day. Big trimmings happen every 1-2 weeks, usually.



The ludwigia on the left side, for example, is now all the way to the top of the tank and it's been about a week or so. The star grass, rotala, and ludwigias grow like crazy. I trim them weekly most of the time.



Thanks for the nice comments!



I think people don't realise just how much Time and effort it takes to stay on top of things in freshwater Specially in the plant side , as well as needing the knowledge to understand how to look after the plants Long term, and this is coming from someone like myself which is big into salty side of things.

Just one more question with the plants you have do some or all burn their self out eventually after so many trims.


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Just one more question with the plants you have do some or all burn their self out eventually after so many trims.


I haven't had any problems so far with individual plants giving up. Sometimes the upper portions have much better color, so I'll take out the stem below and replant the clipping. So there is some turnover. That sword plant in the back right corner is 4 years old. The star grass is 3, the corkscrew swords are 3. So I'm getting pretty good mileage out of each plant.
 
Thanks for the quick reply,
Never really had the opportunity to speak to someone into the plant side of things have had many fresh water tanks myself over the years in between doing the marines. Could always keep the fish alive but always struggled to keep the plants alive for a length of time, so have questions building up all the time I hope you don't mind. With the plants again do you find you stay clear of certain species and tend to stick to the more Robust ones. Or you choose exactly what you want.


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so have questions building up all the time I hope you don't mind. With the plants again do you find you stay clear of certain species and tend to stick to the more Robust ones. Or you choose exactly what you want.

I don't mind questions! Ask however many you have. :) I can point you toward some great sites that helped me out also, but I know that when I was researching it helped more to have someone to actually ask questions.

This particular tank has everything needed for high-demand plants, so I get whatever I want for this one. I have had other medium and low tech tanks, plus a high tech cube 12g that's new. I adjust the plants based on what will grow in the particular tank's conditions.

That being said, I had a hard time with a type of hygro that just did not want to grow in my tanks. Mosses are supposed to be easy, but in high light they are algae factories in my experience. Sometimes where you put plants matters too. Some plants actively secrete things that harm other species. You just have to try stuff out and see how it goes.

If you're looking for an easy start, go with Anubius, Java moss, cryptocorynes, Amazon sword, valisneria. You can buy little fertilizer tabs to put in the substrate to feed those plants, and they'll do well under a marine land double bright LED, or high output fluorescents. Maybe even regular fluoro bulbs. I also recommend Flourish Excel to give them some carbon to work with. You won't get amazing growth with this, but you can easily green up a tank. :)

I had a small Anubius in a Betta tank with a small low-light LED clip on light. It grew slowly but happily with almost no input from me. I think I put in a small amount of liquid fertilizer when I did water changes. Flourish bottled.

Anyway, you can do it! Start small and easy and work your way up. :)
 
Thank you for the information and sharing your knowledge with me.[emoji846]


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Recently trimmed, so not quite as impressive as usual with the red ludwigia on the left side, but it's coming along. I've done some fairly recent shuffles and moving about, adding new harder-to-find plants, getting rid of stuff with algae or performance issues.

150 gal
LED lights from buildmyled.com (1 double-bright, one standard)-no longer available
CO2 system from Greenleaf Aquariums
FX5 filter
Aqua Ultraviolet Classic

WoW! It's like Wonderland!
 
thank you!

I really appreciate all the nice comments on the tank! I've not posted much in the way of photos anywhere, so I sort of just built based on what I saw in magazines and online, and what I liked. I'm super happy to know that it looks good to other people, too. You guys are great!

I'm happy to answer questions or let you know more about what I did, so don't be shy!
 
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