FresH2O's 20g planted rescape

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Hi Fresh!
Hope you are well. I looked at a twenty long at petsmart today while on my pet food run. I just have to figure where in the heck I could put it. I just love yours. Your plants are growing awesome. Way to go! OS.
 
Old Scales said:
Hi Fresh!
Hope you are well. I looked at a twenty long at petsmart today while on my pet food run. I just have to figure where in the heck I could put it. I just love yours. Your plants are growing awesome. Way to go! OS.
Click to expand...

I like the footprint. The low height helps with the lighting intensity (vs a 29 gal). Some of the taller plants would be too tall for this tank.
Initially with a dual T-5 NO the plants were struggling. After switching to the FugeRay growth was better but after adding the CO2 overall growth improved dramatically. I moved the dual T-5 NO to my shrimp tank and the moss, crypts, and Bacopa are thriving (no ferts or CO2). It's a low maintenance setup so growth is slow (less work).
 
Was busy last night prepping my tank for new (plant) arrivals.
Here is my tank 7 days ago:
http://i.imgur.com/iGC5oPR.jpg
I decided to remove a bunch of broadleaf chain sword (30+), dwarf sag, and moss:
http://i.imgur.com/fazpDRp.jpg
I've placed them in 6.6 g holding tank for now. Either going to the LFS, RAOK, or compost pile:
http://i.imgur.com/suZiV4U.jpg
Here is the messy tank afterwards:
http://i.imgur.com/eZa0BeL.jpg
A couple of hours later things cleared up:
http://i.imgur.com/pYoF2aP.jpg

The A. reineckii was hiding behind the chain sword. It will serve as a backdrop for some mini AR arriving this weekend (Merry Christmas to me!) The chain sword grows like a weed. 3 months ago I thinned it out and left about a dozen plants in the tank. Even though I have been clipping off runners when I could find them, they have been multiplying and growth became so thick that they started to reach the surface. So I only selected 5 plants and moved them to the back left corner.

Had some four leaf clover in there but the growth was inconsistent so I removed them. Removed stray moss (algae magnet) and moved plants away from the edges so that the mag cleaner can get to those sections of the tank. Still not happy with the right side of the tank since it is a hodgepodge of crypts, dwarf sag, and cabomba. Might work on that side this weekend.

In my quest to find the right look for this tank (it is a constant evolution) I am thinking less is more perhaps and diligent maintenance is needed to keep things in balance. Rescaping a tank takes a lot if time. Thankfully I also have a low light tank...more watching and less doing.

Cheers!
 
Sorry...same post but with embedded pics...

Was busy last night prepping my tank for new (plant) arrivals.
Here is my tank 7 days ago:
iGC5oPR.jpg

I decided to remove a bunch of broadleaf chain sword (30+), dwarf sag, and moss:
fazpDRp.jpg

I've placed them in 6.6 g holding tank for now. Either going to the LFS, RAOK, or compost pile:
suZiV4U.jpg

Here is the messy tank afterwards:
eZa0BeL.jpg

A couple of hours later things cleared up:
pYoF2aP.jpg


The A. reineckii was hiding behind the chain sword. It will serve as a backdrop for some mini AR arriving this weekend (Merry Christmas to me!) The chain sword grows like a weed. 3 months ago I thinned it out and left about a dozen plants in the tank. Even though I have been clipping off runners when I could find them, they have been multiplying and growth became so thick that they started to reach the surface. So I only selected 5 plants and moved them to the back left corner.
Had some four leaf clover in there but the growth was inconsistent so I removed them. Removed stray moss (algae magnet) and moved plants away from the edges so that the mag cleaner can get to those sections of the tank. Still not happy with the right side of the tank since it is a hodgepodge of crypts, dwarf sag, and cabomba. Might work on that side this weekend.
In my quest to find the right look for this tank (it is a constant evolution) I am thinking less is more perhaps and diligent maintenance is needed to keep things in balance. Rescaping a tank takes a lot if time. Thankfully I also have a low light tank...more watching and less doing.
 
Hey Fresh,
What was your experience with the four leaf clover? I'm going to do a total rescape of the 29 this Feb or March even all new substrate. I have high light (Quad 24w T5 HO), Pressurized CO2 and PPS Pro ferts. The four leaf clover is one carpet plant possibility I'm looking at. I'm looking to emulate, with some modifications, the layout #75 on the Tropica website layouts. Thanks, OS.
 
Old Scales said:
Hey Fresh,
What was your experience with the four leaf clover? I'm going to do a total rescape of the 29 this Feb or March even all new substrate. I have high light (Quad 24w T5 HO), Pressurized CO2 and PPS Pro ferts. The four leaf clover is one carpet plant possibility I'm looking at. I'm looking to emulate, with some modifications, the layout #75 on the Tropica website layouts. Thanks, OS.
Click to expand...

Meh. It may have turned out better if I started with stronger lighting than a dual T-5NO. Initially I trimmed down the emersed clover to about .5" as per shipping instructions. Within a few days numerous shoots appeared. For the first few weeks growth was great. The two pots of clover I received were packed in a rockwool material. I did not separate the individual plants. Perhaps taking a knife and cleaving the tangled trunk and root structure into sections might have helped. Or simply removing the wool material prior to planting. So it sat in the tank for a month in one spot, then I moved it to another. When I switched to the FugeRay LED and later CO2, growth improved. It was sending out runners in several directions. At the same time I was battling either BBA or string algae and the older stems appeared to be a magnet for those. A few months later I replanted as separate vines; growth was good at each end. I then separated each node (had to have some roots on each node) and planted those. The old growth pretty much died off and got covered with algae. New growth was present but it was quite slow. I think I just lost my patience with it. Oh, dosing was with liquid ferts. This is just my experience with it.
 
Thanks Fresh, good info to know. Hopefully Quad T5HO's will get it to grow. If not no big loss. Will try something else. I think it would look good as a contrast in front of a stand of AR mini. Even though I now have pressurized CO2, I'm still going to dose enough glut to help with algae control. OS.
 
Old Scales said:
Thanks Fresh, good info to know. Hopefully Quad T5HO's will get it to grow. If not no big loss. Will try something else. I think it would look good as a contrast in front of a stand of AR mini. Even though I now have pressurized CO2, I'm still going to dose enough glut to help with algae control. OS.
Click to expand...

I think the quad T5HOs will be more than plenty. When I introduced DYI CO2 they responded by pearling from the roots. I think once you get them going they will do fine. Just not the fastest growers.
 
Good news: Plants arrived!

Not so good news: Plants got delayed enroute and arrived 3 days later than the USPS Priority 2 Day. And they arrived 30 minutes AFTER I left town for Christmas for 4 days. Neighbor picked up the box and held it until I got back. That's about 9 days packed in darkness. Plants include mini AR and a few extras. I set them out to get some sunlight before I add them to the tank. Hoping these little guys make it! Here they are.
KaAFYGj.jpg

More pics later...
 
Mini AR has arrived (thanks OS!)
Despite the extended travel time it looked pretty good. Some Rotala indica as well:
url]

Mini AR planted close up:
url]

I was thing about swapping places with the mini AR with the Staur repens to provide som contrast:
url]

Full tank shot...
url]


Now I need to get rid of these plants!
url]
 
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