Massive Plant Removal -- To no avail?

[dapellegrini]

The trimming! The TRIMMING! Ughhhhh... Whoa be me...



Well, I've had it, and am finally taking some of my own advice. Too many fast growing and large plants. Last week I got rid of TONS of Pennywort and 2 large Swords. The LFS was a very happy recipient.

I just got back from CA and once again the tank is overrun. The first thought I always have is "did some of my lights burn out?". Nope, they are just conquered by my plants. So today it is the Wisteria, Anacharis, Cabomba a smaller Melon Sword and an Amazon Sword.

Here are some shots of the outgoing plants:

Melon and Common Swords, OUTTA HERE:

Just alittle bit of Pennywort that I can't deal with this week: :?

Anacharis, GONE:

I really liked the Cabomba, but it just won't stop growing!

Don't even know which end of this Wisteria is the top: 8O

Also rooted out some more rocks, to give me more room for plants:

BEFORE (a couple weeks ago):

AFTER (today):

 

[Innovator]

Beautiful tank and very well designed. What's its stats?

 

[dapellegrini]

Click on the "myinfo" button at the bottom of my post for Equipment, Fish, plants, etc...

** EDIT **

I guess I could just paste it here too

***********
EQUIPMENT
***********
72g Freshwater Bowfront
Pressurized CO2 w/Regulator and Solenoid
SMS122 pH Monitor
Reactor 1000
Inline 300w Heater
2x Rena XP3 Canisters
324w HO T-5 Lighting (10k bulbs)

***********
FISH
***********
3x SAE
3x Cory Cats
1x Kuhli Loach
12x Neons
12x Rummynose
6x Oto's
4x Bumblebee Gobies
1x Farlowella

***********
INVERTS
***********
10x Ghost Shrimp
20x Cherry Shrimp
7x Crystal Red Shrimp
6x Red Nose Shrimp

50x Nerite Snails
20x large MTS
millions of small MTS

***********
OTHER CREATURES
***********
4x African Dwarf Frogs

***********
PLANTS: Background
***********
Aponogetons Ulvaceus
Aponogeton Boivinianus
Hydrocotyle Leucocephala - Brazilian Pennywort
Myriophyllum Simulans - Common Milfoil
Vallisneria Americana - Jungle Val

*****************************
PLANTS: Midground
*****************************
Aponogeton Madagascariensis - Madagascar Lace Plant
Alternanthera Reineckii - Telanthera Rosefolia
Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Red
Cryptocoryne Undulata
Microsorum Pteropus - Java Fern
Ludwigia Repens - Primrose
Ludwigia Peruensis / Glandulosa
Ludwigia Palustris
Proserpinaca Palustris - Mermaid Weed
Rotala Macrandra
Rotala Roundifolia
Rotala Wallichii
Mayaca Fluviatilis

*****************************
PLANTS: Foreground
*****************************
Cladophora Aegagrophila - Algae Balls
Cryptocoryne Wendtii, Green
Eleocharis Acicularis - Dwarf Hairgrass
Marsilea Quadrafolia - Four Leaf Clover
Glossostigma Elatinoides - Glosso
Hemianthus Micranthemoides - Pearlweed
Elatine Triandra
Nymphaea Zenkeri - Red Tiger Lotus

*****************************
PLANTS: Misc
*****************************
Lemna Minor - Duckweed
Vesicularia Dubyana - Java Moss
Vesicularia sp. Christmas - Christmas Moss
Hygrophila Polysperma - Green Hygro

 

[mom2reds]

That is a very impresive tank and also very pretty!

 

[An t-iasg]

That after picture is just simply, utterly amazing! Congrats on the big trim job - I know how hard it is to get rid of plants you like - but the after photo shows a much better organized tank!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Awsome looking tank.

 

[Glenc]

Very nice, much cleaner looking. Liked it before to!
Absolutely beautiful tank. I'm in a bit of a rut at the moment, not real happy with any of my tanks.

Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[drobertson]

That tank is an inspiration. Beautifully done. See the red in the middle better and can see the driftwood again. Beautiful job!!!!

 

[dapellegrini]

It is so hard for me to get rid of my aquarium plants, I feel like an idiot... I also do a lot of gardening / landscaping in my yard, and I don't think twice if I need to uproot or trim back those plants.

I think I will slowly cure myself of this strange illness...

 

[JustOneMore20]

The tank looked awesome before, and looks even better now!

I am going through the same phase....I have had it with my stem plants! They just grow too fast, and I don't even have CO2. I'm redoing my 29g soon to have new substrate, and I'm seriously considering taking out alot of the stems.

Nice work!

 

[exactionfigure]

Looks insane! I hope I can get my tank to that level at some point.

If your sending some of that out I wouldn't mind taking it off your hands

 

[fish_4_all]

I love it but where is the Anubias! One of the smaller species growing really tight bunches down in the front right would really set it off.

Very nice and I hope you get up the courage to keep it trimmed. Then give me some to keep up with my lowly 10 gallon monster.

I am so jealous! I had to remove my DIY CO2 and use a "chemical" to grow plants like yours.

 

[dapellegrini]

I actually have a nice piece of Anubias in my shrimp tank that I could move over. The tank was at it's upper limits in terms of how many plants it could hold before yesterday and I literally did not have a spot to add anything without removing something else. The idea originally was to fill it with a large plant biomass to get things off to a good start, and I think I succeeded at that. The next phase is to scale back on the fast growers while maintaining stability.

Thanks for all of the words of encouragement. I will start shipping plants out again next spring. Until then they will either be given to a LFS (if they will take them) or else composted

 

[newfound77951]

I feel your pain...several times I've gone away for a few days and come back to the "Insane Jungle Tank" too...the fish don't like it either.

I have such a hard time getting rid of plants, right now I have a huge ozelot sword and a Aponogeton crispus that need to go...I'm waiting for the sword plantlets to get big enough to plant and then out it goes....

Tank looks amazing! I'm jealous that you can maintain a midground without the plants getting too tall...of course the extra depth of your tank helps compared to my 55. I love the big red Alternanthera in the (almost) center....great focal point!

 

[GlitcH]

Tank still looks amazing Dap.
I feel the same way about getting rid of plants.....I know that as soon as I toss the last clipping of something I'll change my mind and want to grow it again.

 

[dapellegrini]

-- ONE WEEK LATER --

Well, somehow my massive plant removal has not decreased my trimming schedule much.

Here is the tank last week after the removal:

Here it is today (6 days later):

I think the Hygro is going to be the next one to go... It took weeks to go from tiny to a few inches. Then one week to 2ft...

I may also have to get rid of one of those Apons...

I think the fact that more light is getting through to different plants has created nearly as much plant growth (in different plants)...

(sigh).... well tomorrow is PWC and trimming day.

 

[docrak]

This might be a stupid question, but have you thought about reducing the amount of light you output and reducing your CO2 output? If growth is that rapid, slow it down. Looks more like your tank is controlling you than you enjoying your tank. Don't get me wrong, rapid growth is great and your tank looks great and you obviously know what your doing, but what are you achieving with such a high growth rate. You have over 4 wpg and with T5 High output lights your tank isn't high light its super high light. I did a rough calculation and you have about 35 Lumens per Square Inch. That’s really high light by any standard.

I don’t know, just my opinion, but what do I know.

 

[rkilling1]

This might be a stupid question, but have you thought about reducing the amount of light you output and reducing your CO2 output? If growth is that rapid, slow it down. Looks more like your tank is controlling you than you enjoying your tank. Don't get me wrong, rapid growth is great and your tank looks great and you obviously know what your doing, but what are you achieving with such a high growth rate. You have over 4 wpg and with T5 High output lights your tank isn't high light its super high light. I did a rough calculation and you have about 35 Lumens per Square Inch. That’s really high light by any standard.

I don’t know, just my opinion, but what do I know.

I wouldn't do either of those. You never want to reduce the CO2, because you will run into algae issues. Reducing the light output is a alternative, but why waste something you put so much money into?

What I would do, if I didn't like the amount of growth rate, is lessen the photo period. If you are running it 12 hr's per day, then lower it to 10 or from 10 to 8 ect.

I really don't mind the growth rate. With that amount, I can supply many AA members with plants. You can also find a LFS that needs plants and that way you can get supplies cheaper or whatever deal you make with the LFS.

EDIT: Having that much growth is more pleasing then anything. That lets you know just how happy the plants are. I know it gets tedious, but it is also very rewarding. I really think this post is about how well Dan is doing with his plants vice not wanting them to grow this fast. Though there are some species that grow too fast for a high tech planted tank and I currently have some of those.

Like Dan, I have also been removing some of the faster growing species for some that are more demanding and grow slower.

Here is my 2 weeks of growth. I have had to trim it atleast weekly and that does not include cutting up some plants for AA members.

 

[dapellegrini]

docrak -- I am actually very happy the way that this has all worked out... I don't mean to complain (too much). At first it was really great, but it is slowly becoming a bit cumbersome. My current solution is to remove the really fast growing plants, a phase that I have not completed yet. I would not reduce my CO2 and I really enjoy the lighting that I have on there, but I have toyed around with the idea of reducing the photo period. Perhaps in my next phase of tank adjustments, though I am not convinced...

I was actually out of town this week and was not expecting quite as much growth upon my return today, thus the updated post

Randy -- I like the side-by-side. Is this the same one from your thread or is that last pic a new one? That is exactly the kind of growth that goes from really cool to extremely annoying with a hope, skip and a jump

 

[czcz]

I'm no aquascaper, but I agree with the points above about slowing growth. I've not yet managed tanks of your guys' size, but find it best to keep one fast growing species, which is enough of a saftey net while allowing me to attempt to advance my scape. In the 75gal in my head, I can't imagine having more than five fast growing species. (Fast growing being an L. aromatica or R. rotundifolia. Growing most Cambomba and Anacharis in a high light tank is insanity to me )

Sweet tanks btw. I want.