AA Community Tank... Attn. Janis and Brian

[mandoborg]

I've finally decided to take a few pictures of my tank to post !! Like the titIe says I consider this an AA community tank as i would NEVER have been able to do this w/out the help of everyone on here answering my questions, even when they were silly !! Riverats aand NanoBrian were a really big help ID'g what i had growing in there and how to take care of it all !!....I hope the pictures came out ok............

First up is the Rotalla Mini butterfly sent by Rivercats that's really starting to grow......... the leaves start out green i guess, then turn bright red........

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[mandoborg]

This ones for Janis, aka Rivercats......
This is on one i'm REALLY into that came suggested by folks here. I just couldn't get a decent picture.It's an Alternanthera Reinecki Mini. I was looking for a short red 'hedge' style plant to be a colorful centerpiece . It was a little touchy for a while, i lost a few, but these two are taking hold and apparently it will spread out pretty thick !!! This plant

[/IMG]was not only recomended, but offers of cuttings were made by TWO members. Just pay Shipping......too kind..... I LOVE THIS PLACE !!!

 

[mandoborg]

Last is the overall tank..........again, terrible picture, but i've been threatening to send Rivercat a picture for some time now !!......... I just did a 'preview post' and it looks terrible !!! I'll try to get some better quality pictures in the future but Hopefully you can make at least a little of it out. I find if you do the old 'control+' you can actually make out some of the plants !!

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Clockwise from the bottom left corner are:

Ludwigia sp Cuba
Limnophilia Aromatica ( barely visible)
Luwigia Repens
Amazon Sword
Ludwigia sp Cuba
Rotalla sp Green
Amazon Sword
Rotalla sp Green
Limnophilia Aromatica

Along the front of the driftwood, L>R are :

Rotalla Mini Butterfly ( will probably replace the Ludwigia Repens)
Alternanthera Reinecki Mini
Annubias ( tied to a rock)
Rotalla Mini Butterfly

Theres also another Annubis tied to the left side of the driftwood

The ground cover is Hydro sp Japan, but that might not last much longer..... that stuff is tough to keep looking good, it grows up and around and basically makes a mess !!!


THANK YOU to everyone here that helped along the way !!!

Also, if these pictures are in the wrong place i appologize, but i figure this is the forum i got all my advice from so i know those folks lurk here often !!! Feel free to delete/move if i've put them in the wrong area !!!


Jim

 

[Scottyhorse]

That is a beautiful tank.

 

[Rivercats]

Is that the only Mini AR that made it? How sad since I sent so much and had some intense color. It just might have been too cold. Did all the little Rotala Mini Butterfly make it? Even in my high light tank new lower growth deeper in the tank come in greenish and turn the dark red-pink as it gets closer to the light.

The tank looks good and now you just need it to fill in! Talk nice to the Mini AR so what little lived grows and you can take cuttings. Once it acclimates I've found it grows really fast!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

I like the FTS! Thanks for the shout outs!

 

[mandoborg]

Thanks for the kind words !!! No worries on the AR Mini Janis, these two are going to do me just fine. What happened was i couldn't keep the smaller cuttings buried !! I tried everything, but like clockwork, the next morning, floating on top..... with a bunch of lil fish eyes looking at me saying 'I didn't do it ' !! All the Mini butterfly made it, i'm going to have all kinds of that stuff soon because that is growing new leaves like crazy !!! I took your advice and put a root tab between the AR Minis and that really is helping, i just wasn't sure you could use one on such a young plant. I was afraid it would damge the young roots.............

Everything looks fine in there........... THANKS !!!!

Jim

 

[Fresh2o]

Nice tank. Thanks for posting your plant stock. Carpet is gorgeous. For your smaller plantings, you could try using toothpicks to hold them in place. Worked for me for the most part (Malaysian trumpets snails have a way of uprooting small plants AND toothpicks).
Are you using a FugeRay or Ray2?

 

[mandoborg]

Thanks Fresh20 ! The carpet looks ok, but it's a pain in the butt to keep neat !!! It grows up and around stuff more than it 'creeps' along the bottom which is what i really wanted. I have to keep pushing it down, or constantly trimming it. Still on the fence with it. Also, everytime a new shoot comes off a plant that's near it, the Hydro wraps around the shoot and as the shoot starts to grow upwards, it just pulls the hydro right along with it !!...............One day i'm just going to rip it all out !!! If you look closely at the bottom right corner, i took a chunk out to plant the mini-butterfly, and just the black eco-complete doesn't look so bad there !!!!!

I'm using just a regular Finnex Ray2, again recomended by the folks here after giving my $$ range. It's a great light !!

Jim

 

[Old Scales]

Great looking tank Mando! You did a great job with plant arrangement.
Are you doing Glut or CO2? Remember to keep your PO4 up to about 3-5 ppm for the red plants. LOVE the driftwood too! OS.

 

[mandoborg]

Ahhh OS i was wondering if you were going to get to this thread !!! Again your kind offer was appreciated !! I'll be 100% honest and say i had nothing to do with the plant placement !! This is my first planted tank and i had no idea what to do !! I knew the Rotalla grew tall so i put them in the back, other than that, it's plain crap luck that it came out the way it has !! I dose this tank with Seachem Flourish and Excel, Leaf Zone and GLA PPS system ...... i just switch it off with whatever i feel like putting in at that time !!! The leaf Zone i'm just trying to empty the bottle so that's getting used more than the Excel right now. I was putting something in there everyday, but backed off becuase everything is growing like crazy !! It also has a paintball CO2 system running.
Right now my Phosphates are at 2. Should i add a little more of the Phosphate powder from the PPS to the bottle already mixed you think ??

Funny story about the Driftwood. I live on an island surrounded by the Atlantic ocean. We walk the coast all the time and find AMAZING pieces of driftwood..... i read this or that, saltwater good or saltwater bad, but all i do is bring them home...... soak them for a couple of weeks in a bucket of water, changing every other day or so, then scrub them, wieght them if needed and drop em in and i've never had a problem ......sometimes i think you can over-think this stuff......

I hate to sound redundant, but there is no way i could have done this w/o the answers i've gotten here.......I want to get this AR Mini to glow red, red, red and look great for Rivercats, it's her baby in my tank !!.

I look at the tank all the time and think' how the heck did i do this ' !!

Jim

 

[Jkeating8]

I really like this scape. For a first time tank, this is great. wait for everything to color up and fill in and you have a winner.

 

[flitabout]

Beautiful!!!! I would never have guessed this was your first tank!

 

[Old Scales]

Don't alter the concentration of the ferts. You adjust by adding more ml's per gal till you get the desired ppm. OS