Post pics of your Pearling Plants!

[dapellegrini]

Here are a few shots I just snapped before my full light blast cycled off this evening --

Cabomba Furcata when it is happy:

Java Moss:

Bolbitis Heudelotii w/ Crypt Wendtii Green behind it:

Bolbitis again:

The Crypt back there:

Anubias Nana:

I cut this stuff down to almost nothing (received emersed growth) and am just starting to see some small shoots come back (Hydrocotyle verticillata):

Starting to see more 3 and 4-leaf variants (Marsilea quadrafolia):

A little bit of stargrass that is starting to take off (Heteranthera zosterifolia):

Microsorum pteropus (Java Fern):

Trying to get a bottom up shot of a piece of Ranunculus papulentus:

Limnophila indica:

Quick shot of some roots coming down off of Limnobium laevigatum:

Cladophora aegagrophila:

If you got 'em, post up some pictures of your pearling plants!

 

[theotheragentm]

Wow. Great pictures. No cheating and spraying a mist of bubbles into plants! We want real pearling!

 

[GlitcH]

Damn Dan.........do you have ANY algae in that tank AT ALL?

lol...........great pics man......my Furcata is not lookin so hot.
I think I'm gonna loose it.

 

[dapellegrini]

I thought my c. furcata was a goner and when I went to pull it out, I noticed a bunch of new growth at the base of most of the stems. Of course them I moved it again, which I think is its least favorite thing in the world. One stem is starting to look bad, but the rest seems to be hanging in there. I am hopeful now that once it adjusts to being moved it will start growing well again.

 

[An t-iasg]

Dan.........do you have ANY algae in that tank AT ALL?

Yes, he does...the Cladophora aegagrophila!!

Dan, those are such great pictures. I see the lace plant is doing wonderfully too.

 

[GlitcH]

Dan.........do you have ANY algae in that tank AT ALL?

Yes, he does...the Cladophora aegagrophila!!

Dan, those are such great pictures. I see the lace plant is doing wonderfully too.

Doh.........that doesn't count!
He put that in there.

 

[dapellegrini]

Actually kind of a funny story (I sure felt stupid)... I decided a few weeks ago to put another timer in my setup to turn off my CO2 at night (previously was running 24/7). I run an automated system, so my wiring looked kind of like this

|Solenoid| --> |pH Meter| --> |Outlet|

So I thought, this should be easy, I will just stick the timer in like this:

|Solenoid| --> |Timer| --> |pH Meter| --> |Outlet|

Yep, I am not always brilliant... Certainly one of my low moments... And it gets worse. It actually took me a couple of day to figure out what I had do wrong. I changed the timer out thinking that it was bad, etc. If you aren't seeing it, what was happening is that every time the pH Meter turned the solenoid off, it also stopped the clock on the timer. End result was way too little CO2 for 5-7 days.

Well, anyways, I finally realized what an idiot I was being and got it correctly plugged in correctly like this:

|Solenoid| --> |pH Meter| --> |Timer| --> |Outlet|

By that point though I was starting to see a lot of Cladophora (I hear those algae balls can do this to you) spreading around my tank and even a couple tufts of BBA... Well after I got my CO2 issue fixed I still was not seeing the explosive pearling that I am used to... Perplexed, I upped my CO2 until my drop checker went solid yellow and super-dosed my ferts until my fish were swimming sideways (exaggerating a little bit). All to no avail. Well it ends up that my pre-filters were plugged up from small pieces of HM (from many recent trimmings) and my water flow was perhaps at 1/4... Within 5 minutes of cleaning that off and getting my flow back up everything was looking right again.

Now, that whole long story to say that yes, I do have some algae (probably a little bit of every kind in existence). Just not enough to worry about. GSA was the bane of my existence for a period and can still be found on some of my slower growing plants. Decreasing my full light blast has helped with that. Cladophora started to get noticeable, but luckily my fish and shrimp like to eat it and with the CO2 up it seems to be in remission. With my flow issue I even started to see a little bit of BGA, but never more than a small bit and it has been easy to clean.

The key is to remove or treat as soon as you see it and correct whatever caused it. Oh and don't take close up pictures of it and then post them on the internet Don't let me fool you into believing that I don't have to deal with algae though... I wish. I think only Travis maintains a 0-algae environment.

 

[GlitcH]

Well it ends up that my pre-filters were plugged up from small pieces of HM (from many recent trimmings) and my water flow was perhaps at 1/4... Within 5 minutes of cleaning that off and getting my flow back up everything was looking right again.

So I guess your saying it was my fault.

Inside joke....those trimmings he mentioned were for me.

Ya we all do brain dead things now and then Dan.....just the fact that you found it on your own means that you should at least have long stretches between them.

BTW the HM is slow to take hold for me....I've got 2 BN plecos that keep fudgin with it. The three leave version seems to have a better hold than the other but I think it's just the location its in. [not part of the BN's route]

 

[gu2high]

dapellegrini, you don't have algae issue at all if compare it with mine. I have terrible algae issue, especially hair and thread algaes. Your plants look so clean and beautiful. What is your CO2 level?

 

[dapellegrini]

Brian - The HM was slow to take hold for me too, but once it starts going, it can get out of hand fast. It is kind of a squirrelly one to figure out how to plant and in the end I decided it doesn't really care. Patience and it should come around.

gu2high - My CO2 must be nearer to 40ppm than 30. I just eyeball my drop checker (calibrated to 4 dkH) and try and keep it greenish with a little yellow ting. Because I am starting to suppliment RO/DI water in every week I am never sure what my kH in the tank is anymore. Last I checked it was 4-5, with the pH between 6.4-6.5.




Dan

 

[Zezmo]

Those are some real nice pictures. THe pearling looks great, and the pictures themselves are well done. Do I even have to mention that of course the plants look awsome

I wonder why you would use a timer and a Ph meter? Each one is individually a solution to the same issue. FWIW, I have stopped using solenoids, and now run CO2 24/7. Result is less algae, and more stable Ph...heh go figure. No issues with fish either, but also consider I makes sure my tanks have some surface agitation to keep O2 levels up at night and in the AM.

Here is a pearling shot I took a while back. This is at the end of the day when a large O2 bubble collected over my Java Fern. Also, on the left side of the glass the surface is still, so lots of O2 from other plants is just sitting there. THe right side is where the agitaion is, so the surface is clear.

Over all I was not getting much pearling for a while. After chasing my tail a bit on it, I realised 2/3 of my 65w CF bulbs were over 16mos old. I replaced them (all 6) and things are pearling nightly again.

Here is an older shot of some ferns pearling too. For all the exotic plants I have played with, Java fern is still one of my favorite plants.

I also found this shot lurking about, of a Male Croaking Gourami defending his fry from a Ramshorn snail. There are some nice large O2 bubbles under the leaves of the Lobelia cardinalis.

 

[dapellegrini]

Nice! What is that purple looking stuff in front of the Java Fern in Pic #2?

Funny to hear that you have gone the other way with CO2. I never had a problem running CO2 24/7, just thought I would try something different. I don't think it came on much at night anyways. My CO2 does not run all of the time, mostly because I have a meter (so why not use it) but I have also found it very hard to maintain stable CO2 by counting bubbles. So mine just blasts ~50 bubbles a second when the pH steps out of line (well probably not that fast, but too fast to count anyways)... I have the timer click on about 1 hour before dawn lighting which brings my CO2 into line way before full blast, 3 hours later.

 

[GlitcH]

Zez........nice shots.......my java ferns pearl like crazy too.
Hey I love the Croaking Gourami.......how big do they get?
They are dwarf right?

Dan.......the only thing I see that is close to purple are the roots of the fern.

 

[dapellegrini]

You're right those are the roots. I am just starting some java ferns and mine don't look like that. Very cool

 

[Glenc]

Beautiful pics guys. Heres a couple from my ten and 20 gallon tanks. I found a weird little piece of moss in my backyard, threw it in my ten gallon for the heck of it. It's pearling like mad and growing. My camera sucks but you get the idea. I love my java ferns as well, have them in my 75 and 20 gallon tanks

 

[dapellegrini]

Wow. Nice Glen! That moss looks cool. Wonder what it is...

I get a little O2 froth at the top as the Oxygen as trouble finding its way through the thin film on the top of the tank water. I have my outtakes angled up to stir it up a bit, and that helps, but still get the effect. Here is a bottom up of the tank:

Not as dramatic as the HUGE air bubble that Zezmo shot though.

The Pearlweed has been hacked a few times recently, but as usual coming back with no issue. I have sent off 3 large portions of this stuff to different folks in the hobby over the past several weeks:

Here is a shot of the Riccia in my nano pearling:

 

[Glenc]

That tank of yours is just stunning. Crystal clear, bright and beautiful. I don't see ANY algea. Amazing. I'm getting a pretty magor brown algea outbreak in my 75, frustrating. Nice to look at your tank and see how great a tank can look. Thanks for the inspiration

 

[GlitcH]

Love that moss Glen.....wish my backyard had stuff like that.

OK......here are my shots, I'm also having an outbreak.

 

[rkilling1]

Very nice pictures gentlemen.

How about some Rotala macrandra:

And because you want to talk about algae, how about some cyano:

Gotta love it when the only thing in your tank that pearls is the algae.

 

[dapellegrini]

Brian - Good shots!

Randy - There is no bigger insult than pearling algae. [shaking head]...

The macrandra looks happier than mine ever has... I ended up trashing mine. Have you got it to bush out at all for you?