6 Month Progress of my 110 gallon

[Purrbox]

I've found that severe trimming of HM will sometimes encourage it to creep.

[HiJaC]

Originally Posted by 30searay

On a sadder note, I neglected to notice that I was out of water conditioner until well into a significant water change a couple weeks ago. As it was well past 10pm a couldn't run out to my LPS and pick some up. Ended up having to put tap water into the tank which wiped out my entire school of penguin tetras that I have had for several years. They were huge, very colorful and most importantly, a peaceful schooling fish. Live and learn I guess.

wow, that is some scary tap water you have got there.

sorry for your loss.

I have actually taken to putting a hose directly from the tap into the tank to save time filling. Adding a few squirts of water conditioner as i go. Works for me as the tap water here is straight off the scottish hills. Only bad side is the temp difference, especially during winter. The other week i came back through from the kitchen after turning the tap off and all my fish (all 50 of them) were falling asleep on the bottom of the tank.

Very scary moment.

I fill a bit slower now with additional heaters used.

Jac

[yellowtangs]

This is a very nice looking tank. Very healthy. Great Job!

[pitt420dude]

Cool lights, I wish you the best of luck with them!

[30searay]

Well, I have spent this evening cutting back and throwing away a lot of really nice plants. The anubias were so large I had to throw most of them away. I am up and running with my new T5 set-up and now run 416w of total light in three spectrums. Note how well lit the tank is - the debris is from the water change just completed. I am having good luck so far with any algae outbreaks even with the new lights.

I have come to the determination that I have little artistic ability in designing a really appealing and well laid out land scape. The pic below shows the crypts immediately after a hard cut back. I am attempting to get the HM to spread, and have planted several batches along the front and really hacked down the big patch. I am finding it quite difficult to get it to spread due to the tank depth. It only wants to grow upwards. I really struggle with just the immense size the plants grow into. Everything just gets so big. The big red crypt and the sword to the right of it have almost grown from the front of the tank to the back (18" !!) - I really have to rip a lot out.

The large java fern continues to do very well.



Some of the baches of HM I am attempting to spread.




The spiralis in the front corner is likely going to have to go. I don't like how it spreads everywhere and completely shields the plants in the back of the tank (I have a have a nice rotala back there). I will try some of the anubias here along the base of the drift wood. I have also ordered Limnophila ‘hippuroides’, some Ludwigia Peruensis, and some Rotalla Wallichii from Aquarium Plants.com to try some red stems again with the new lights. Reds previously rotted out with 3wpg lighting.

[Purrbox]

Looks like you've got Crypt Wendtii 'Red'. That particular variety gets huge as you've described. You could look at some of the other Crypt Wendtii varients, since they don't get nearly as large. Perhaps Crypt Wendtii 'Bronze' would be more to your liking.

HM really is much easier to use as a foreground bush than it is as a carpet. You might want to try looking at HC or Glosso instead. These tend to do a much better job of forming a carpet with less encouragement.

The plants look extremely healthy, so I'd say that you are getting the hang of growing plants. The next step is to select plants appropriate to your aquarium and desired scape so that they work with you instead of fighting them to get them to do what you want.

[30searay]

Thanks Joy. Seems like all the stuff I have put in the tank has become quite large. I have actually ordered some glosso (again) to see if i have better luck this go round. The last time I got some it took off quite nicely - then suddenly rotted out.

I can't wait to get the spiralis out of the front of the tank as the one I started in the back has taken pretty well as of late. Interestingly, the one in the back has browner leaves and the one in the front has greener leaves.

[Purrbox]

With any carpet plant you need to thin it out periodically or it will crowd itself to death. Not sure if this was the problem in your case, but it's good to be aware of.

[neilanh]

Don't be surprised if your crypt melts. New lighting, or any new conditions really, can trigger them to do so. It will come back if it does melt.

[pitt420dude]

Huh, I didn't know that about carpet plants Purrbox. Very interesting. I just "trimmed" the HM growing through my plastic netting and was thinking to myslef "duh" if you want a "lawn" you have to cut it that way, even grass (like real grass, as in your front yard) wouldn't look like it does if we didn't cut it to look that way so it was sort of a common sense point that I just re-realized.

My crypt did exactly what Neil said would happen when I moved it. All the leaves fell off and now some nice new algae free ones are appearing. I think this is a cool feature of this plant. The ability to stay healthy without leaves for a time. It's a very resiliant species.