Diary of the 75G planted tank.... New pics 6/26/06

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

iron deficiency makes new growth yellow, potassium deficiency makes old growth yellow. Nitrate deficiency makes plants red (thos this is still a tossup with bright lights), phosphate deficiency typically comes with green spot algae, but I'm not sure what it does to a plants leaves.

 

[kaz]

just wanted to say wolf I just bought the exact same tank, 48 1/2 x 18 1/2 x 20
oak trim. bigger than i thought it would be now that I have a visual for it.

 

[sherry]

A renicki seems to be holding it's red for me well.

my ludwiga glandulosa is holding it's purple well, but of 4 stems to start, one survived. Trying a few more stems.

My mac keeps growing in red.. but stunts... ;(

 

[Lonewolfblue]

hi again...

Here's another pic of one of my Bristle Nose Plecos. Look how well they are cleaning the driftwood.

 

[Creamhorses]

Nice! How big will they grow.....aren't these the variety of Pleco that remain small? Also, our Pleco does a lot of eating[cleaning] on the larger leaves of Anubias. I don't know what he's eating, we have no visible algae.....has anyone seen any damage to plants by this activety?

Dave

 

[Jchillin]

Algae is not always visible to the naked eye...microscopic spores are everywhere and our plecos know it. Bristlenose's and most other pleco's rarely make plants a part of their diet and of the 11 I have (various sizes), they all rasp on the most tenderest of plant leaves but leave behind no damage.

Of course, my 8" Sailfin is a little clumsy of late and uprooting plants is a problem...but no damage.

 

[sherry]

your plecs will also appreciate a slice of zuccini a couple of times a week ( I rubberband it to a rock, cat turkey skewers hers to the gravel)

 

[travis simonson]

My mac keeps growing in red.. but stunts... ;(

R. macrandra can stunt in the presence of even moderately high (20+ ppm) NO3 levels. This is one of the reasons it is considered difficult to keep. Using EI and its weekly water changes you should be able to keep your NO3 levels in the ~15 ppm range fairly easily once you work out your dosing amounts. If you can manage to keep NO3 right around 10 ppm (not easy to do without a good test kit), your red plants will look their best

 

[Lonewolfblue]

New update.....

Looks like I do have 2 male and 1 female bolivians. Today I did a 40% PWC, and did some trimming on the plants. But when I got to one ares, the male just went bolistic, attacking me big time. I looked around, but couldn't find anything. Then I went back to that area, and got attacked again. Then after watching a little, the male and the female started picking things up, taking them back further back in the tank, and depositing them under some of the other vals. They've been doing it now for 20 minutes. Could this be eggs that I might have disturbed? Also, they won't let the other bolivian near the area either. But what's really interesting, they let all the GBR's mingle around them no problem. And the common pleco is doing some cleanup back there also, and the Bolivians don't seem too alarmed about that either. Just won't let the other Bolivian or my hand near the area. Quite the interesting day....

Edit:

I do think I see eggs. They are still moving them. They also don't seem alarmed with the cories except for the Pandas. Won't let them nearby either. But the julii's aren't a problem, nor the other cories I have. Why would they shoo the pandas and not the others?

Nice! How big will they grow.....aren't these the variety of Pleco that remain small? Also, our Pleco does a lot of eating[cleaning] on the larger leaves of Anubias. I don't know what he's eating, we have no visible algae.....has anyone seen any damage to plants by this activety?

Dave

They say 5-8 inches, depending on the species. As for the plants, they are very gentle, and do a great job cleaning.

 

[Jchillin]

But when I got to one ares, the male just went bolistic, attacking me big time. I looked around, but couldn't find anything. Then I went back to that area, and got attacked again.

I'm not surprised...did you happen to see this thread?

Bolivian biting Jchillin

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Cool thread. Is the male bigger? That's the one that attacked me. And that bigger one also chases away the other bigger one. So if the male is bigger, then I have 2 males in there and a female. She's back by the eggs and he's out on patrol. If it's the other way around, then I have 2 females. But I do think I have 2 males.

Edit:

I'm also making another change. Instead of the CO2 from the glass diffuser going into the filter intake, going to use this instead. Should be shipped Monday, and get it the following week.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7727311891&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

 

[Jchillin]

It appears that he is...but then when someone is biting you, they look way bigger than they really are. So far nothing has come out of that little adventure.

 

[GlitcH]

Edit:

I'm also making another change. Instead of the CO2 from the glass diffuser going into the filter intake, going to use this instead. Should be shipped Monday, and get it the following week.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7727311891&rd=1&sspagename=STRK:MEWN:IT&rd=1

I think i'm gonna get this inline reactor:
http://www.bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_sku=15733
I guess its just as good as the intank reactors......without the eyesore.
Anyone have any experience with it?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, I got a bunch more pics. Hopefully they all load fine for you. Since I have so many, they are all placed on my server again. So it should load pretty quick for you all.

The Left side of my tank.

Red Fox Tail pearling. Also some Ludwigia repens.

Right side of my tank after trimming the vals and doing some pruning of the anacharis. They all had over 6 inches floating on the surface.

Supposedly 4-leaf clovers.

Dwarf Hair Grass after getting a haircut. Marimo Ball to the right.

Other patch of Dwarf Hair Grass after trimming.

Creeping Mint in left front corner. I pulled out a huge clump of them, they were making a mess dropping shoots all over the place. So I replanted just 2 stems rather than a clump. It just doesn't stop growing, lol. And spreads via shoots real fast. Not sure what's in the middle? It's twisted. Is it a twisted val or something? I think it's supposed to be a foreground/midground plant. It's spreading fast now too.

Creeping mint again in the right corner. Also most of my swords, etc. And the Bristle Nose down below.

My anacharis and vals.

My baby Red Tail Shark.

Red Tail Shark again.

Red Tail Shark again.

If you look right in the middle, you'll see part of the head of my female Bolivian Ram. She's way back, possibly with eggs.

Another shot of her in the middle. Hard to see her or to get pics.

 

[Jchillin]

corkscrew or contortionist val. Pretty cool pics you got there LWB. Very impressive indeed.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I love this camera. The more I play, the better I'm getting at taking pics.

 

[MickieFish]

I am new at fishkeeping, and I know I'd like to have a planted tank one day. SO keep those pics coming, b/c I'm really enjoying this!!!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Not to get too far away from the 75G, but thought I'd post some pics of my other tanks as well. Here's pics of my 26G and 55G.

26G:

My Hornwort after major trimming. The one shoot up the middle only took 3 days to surface.

55G:

 

[rich311k]

Fabulous pictures Wolf. All your tanks are looking great.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

All but the 55G, lol. Everything but the hornwort is fake in it, lol. Worst looking tank I have, lol. The other 2 have been converted to planted, fully. And look much better.

I'm also just now starting to get spot algae in my 26G. It came the day I added the first dose of CSM+B. I knew I was looking for trouble by changing my routine, lol. Sticking to my original routine and hopefully they will slowly fade away.

My routine on that tank was Excel every day or every other day, Flourish Trace twice a week, and Iron twice a week. I guess the CSM+B was too much, lol.