37 gallon Tall Rescape

[fort384]

hmmm... how are your nitrates? The rotala could be sucking up most of the excess nitrates in the water, leaving your swords with an N deficiency, which could appear in the form of yellowing leaves. Of course, this would more likely occur in older leaves than newer leaves. It could also be an Iron deficiency, especially if it is the brand new leaves that are yellow in color.

It won't hurt the rotala to thin it a bit... it is very hardy.

 

[Coleallensmom]

I haven't noticed a big drop in Nitrates since plantiing- just a drop in my PH and alkalinity. I'd say it's older leaves, not necessarily just new leaves.


Hmmm...might be doing some rearranging during my next pwc!

 

[redfisher1139]

Thank you!!!

Thank you! I assume you are talking about the Rotala? I am honestly in love with it. So far even in my low-med light it is keeping some of it's red hues. At this point, I rather wish I had not gotten the vals (not impressed by their growth so far) and had just gotten more Rotala. I bought plants from sweetaquatics.com and also from thatfishplace.com and both places carry Rotala Indica (or rather Rotundifolia).

I just checked out sweetaquatics.com and was very impressed by their prices and selection. On top of that, shipping is pretty fair. I learned a valuable lesson about using a place with a "free shipping" offer not too long ago (seems like forever, though), as they shipped from Canada and I still do not have my plants 20 days later!!

 

[Coleallensmom]

Wow, that's rough I've had a fairly good experience with plant purchasing so far. I ordered a choose-your-own plant package from sweetaquatics and while waiting for it to arrive, I went to That Fish place and bought the Rotala. I have had a few baby pond snails that I've had to pull out and squish since planting and I think it's safe to say that they came from That Fish place. I will say that it will take Sweet Aquatics a week or so to fill your order, BUT they do two day shipping and will give you extra of the plants you order. I received several extra vals, and an extra crypt and chain sword when I ordered from them.

 

[fort384]

I haven't noticed a big drop in Nitrates since plantiing- just a drop in my PH and alkalinity. I'd say it's older leaves, not necessarily just new leaves.

If everything else is growing nicely, and it sounds like it is, I think it is some sort of nutrient deficiency, and not lighting. If your N is good, I would consider looking at K a/o Fe. It might be worthwhile to look at dosing something like this:
leafzone (Iron and K mix)

It is a good mix for a medium/low light tank... You could give it a try and see if you notice improvement. If you really wanted to get to the bottom of it, you can actually get an Fe test kit and see if you have a serious iron deficiency... but the test kit costs more than the bottle of fertilizer and the titration test for iron is pretty involved (takes 20 or so minutes to complete).

How much did your pH drop? It is interesting that you had a noticeable pH change after adding plants...

 

[Coleallensmom]

I still have half a bottle of Florapride left from before I fully planted the tank. Would that work?

PH has dropped gradually from 7.4 to now 6.8 over the last month. My alkalinity has gone from moderate to low which I can only assume is from adding the wood and may be the cause of my PH lowering.

 

[fort384]

sure, that has Fe and some K in it. I would start dosing that per the instructions and see what happens.

I think you are right, it is probably the drift wood.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Just added some of the Florapride. Hopefully that will do the trick!

Petco is having a $1 per gallon sale until the 15th which has me thinking of all the things I could do with a new tank. I am so tempted to go pick up one (sale includes 10G, 20G High, 20G Long, 29G, 40G Breeder and 55G) and pretend to my husband that it's for my birthday coming up in a few weeks . If I did, I could take the bridge and the Vals out of my 37 and just let the Rotala take over....

 

[fort384]

Ahh MTS is already setting in. That didn't take long

 

[Coleallensmom]

Not really, huh?

Big kicker- I just got a 30% off coupon in the mail for thatfishplace with fine print that says it can be used for 15% off light fixtures. That is where I bought my Nova..that could save me some $ if I used it! Just have to figure out what size tank to get...I'm thinking either the 29gal or the 40 breeder...would depend on what sort of stand I can find cheap.

 

[Faile]

I would heavily recommend the 40 Breeder. The shape makes it awesome to scape, where as the 29 gallon is a bit narrow from front to back which makes it hard to fit a middle ground between the foreground and background.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Thanks.. that is certainly something to take into consideration. I have that problem with my 37 gal. Since it's a tall tank, depth is only about 12 inches or so. Certainly not a whole lot of room to play with. I priced it out and the 40 gal breeder would only cost $30 more for everything I'd need than the 29 gal tank. However, I'm sure it would be a lot easier for me to able to find a stand/table for the 29 gal.

 

[redfisher1139]

If you can work with wood at all, you might want to consider getting clearance cabinets (for the kitchen or bathroom) from Lowes or Home Depot, and finishing them up yourself. It could possibly save you some money, and in the end, you will have a custom stand.

 

[Faile]

For my 40 gallon I actually ended up picking up a 48" x 18" stand instead of one that was only 36" wide. This allowed me to pick a stand that I like much better without spending a ton more on the stand. The extra 6" on either side is actually nice, since it gives me a place to put my tools while I'm working on the aquarium. It actually looks quite good too, since the extra width on either is so small in comparison to the aquarium. If you don't want to buy, I'd definitely recommend this as an option.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Thanks for all the ideas, guys! The stand would be what would make or break my budget, I think. I've been trying to look on CL, but haven't found any 29gals-40gals that I like or can afford. Did find two 20 gals w/ stands for around a $100 a pop though. One has a crappy light but has a fluval; the other has a crappy filter but has a Current USA light on it. Would I be wasting my time with a 20 gal?

 

[Faile]

A 20 gallon long would be good, but a 20 gallon high would be hard to aquascape again.

 

[Coleallensmom]

In the end, I decided to go ahead and get the 20H with the Nova Extreme on it. The fixture is a dual 24W just like on my 37 gallon, so I am anxious to see what I can get to grow with it. I did take the vals out of my 37gal and moved them into the 20 gal. Will def be adding some more Rotala to both tanks as well as soon as TFP gets more in- it was out of stock last night when I went in to get some.

Updated 37gal pic. Tank minus vals. One month's worth of plant growth.

 

[fort384]

It is really looking nice Alisha. The bridge is gowing on me as the moss matures... looks like the rotala has almost doubled in a month.

 

[Coleallensmom]

Thanks! I enjoyed the rotala more when it was bunched thicker, but I've been reminding myself the last few days that it will spread. I agree, it certainly has grown MUCH taller in the last month. Still not completely satisfied with the setup, but I do like it better now that the vals are gone. I've pretty much given up on the bacopa. I couldn't get it to stay put in the gravel and only had one or two strands left so I ended up replacing it with chain sword today.

 

[tyspot1000]

Looking great! Keep us updated!

Tyler