Coralline's 20 gallon rescape

[Billbug68]

Looks really good, I did notice it seemed a little dark back there. What kind of lights are those LEDs? I've never seen them before.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Looks really good, I did notice it seemed a little dark back there. What kind of lights are those LEDs? I've never seen them before.

They're 6000K LED floodlights. They're very bright. I actually have to turn down the brightness on my camera anytime I take pictures or the plants look white (not in person but through the camera). I'll try not to turn down the exposure quite so much next time. Thanks for the heads up!

I only had one 20 watt up until yesterday and it gave me strong growth in my dwarf baby tears in just the past 10 days! I added a 10 watt for the left side where the wood was blocking light to the back left side. I'm a bit worried about having to much light now.

The 10 watt cost me less than 15 bucks shipped and the 20 was $25 shipped. Got em on eBay. They grow plants better than my 2xT5 light I had before.

 

[Softie Guy]

Great stuff my brother! The pics look great! I look forward to seeing it in person on Thanksgiving day.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Great stuff my brother! The pics look great! I look forward to seeing it in person on Thanksgiving day.

Can't wait! I added 8 red cherry shrimp and a few tiger, zebra and olive nerite snails yesterday. You won't believe how fast the dwarf baby tears are spreading! I thought they'd be slow growers. I also picked up a Fluval Spec V for Emilie at Petco yesterday. She's so excited.

 

[Billbug68]

How is the tank handling the extra light? No algae blooms?

 

[CorallineAlgae]

How is the tank handling the extra light? No algae blooms?

I can see a little bit of brown diatoms on some of the HC's leaves in the front center of the tank. The wood, glass and other plants are totally clear of algae.

I guess I better add a blanched pea or an extra bit of algae wafer each day. I do have Fluval shrimp food for the RCS.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I'm still seeing nitrate build-up from the Osmocote. Doing daily water changes is keeping it under 20ppm but it's tiring none the less. I decided to take out the Purigen and go back to ammo chips (Marineland White Diamond Mix). I'm only getting slight trace amounts of ammonia but it must be steadily seeping in because one day after a 70% PWC and nitrates shoot up from 15ppm to 40-60ppm. That's with zero ammonia and nitrate from the tap.

Still not a single death and almost no algae. HC is giving me lots of trouble staying rooted in some places and it's rock solid in others. It's growing scary fast from what I expected to see. I stopped all dosing for the moment due to the shrimp. I was only using micros anyway. Phosphates are also high, 1.5 from the tap and 2-2.5 in the tank. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Here's a picture from a couple days ago as an update. I think it may look better with all the Brazilian pennywort moved to the left corner behind the wood. I also took out the glosso on the left side and replaced it with some HC.

Latest tests:
NO3 = 15
dKH = 12
GH = 179ppm
Po3 = 1.75

I'm a little worried about the hardness levels since I switched to 100% tap water. I was using 50/50 tap and RO until I got the Python water changer. I went ahead and ordered some Indian almond leaves just to try out for the RCS. Any advice on how to improve the look of the tank, water parameters or anything else would be wonderful.

 

[Billbug68]

Yeah, I'd say move it all over. If you have enough i think some just to the left of the rock that's kind of behind the driftwood would look great.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Yeah, I'd say move it all over. If you have enough i think some just to the left of the rock that's kind of behind the driftwood would look great.

Thanks for the advice! I took it and moved the pennywort all behind the driftwood. Let me know what you think.

I have a red tiger lotus bulb that's starting to root and show a couple of leaves right in that spot behind where the rock and wood meet. It may take a while before it starts to show itself.

Sorry for the glare but the door and windows show up unless I take photos in the evening.

Anybody know what this little reddish plant is? I found a tiny bulb in my old substrate when I was rinsing it out. I put it here and this is what came up. Must've been in the substrate for a few years.

 

[Billbug68]

Oh yeah! It's perfect!

 

[Rivercats]

The little bulb is a tiger lotus and I actually liked the tank with the pennywort on the right side... go figure.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

The little bulb is a tiger lotus and I actually liked the tank with the pennywort on the right side... go figure.

Really! Thank you for confirming that. The bulb was maybe the size of half a shelled peanut and I found it while rinsing my old Flourite out. It's just so tiny I wasn't sure it was possible. Can't wait for the tiger lotus I ordered to fill out. That thing is enormous!

I liked it a lot on the right too, but I'm really starting to dig having all my large plants on one side. It only shades the wood with the pennywort back there. Hum, I could always train the pennywort to grow along the spraybar at the top. It could travel all the way back to the right corner from the left. I don't know. I'm pretty bad at aquscaping freshwater.

Should I move that mini tiger lotus to the back right corner? Could liven that corner up now that the pennywort got booted out.

 

[Rivercats]

Really! Thank you for confirming that. The bulb was maybe the size of half a shelled peanut and I found it while rinsing my old Flourite out. It's just so tiny I wasn't sure it was possible. Can't wait for the tiger lotus I ordered to fill out. That thing is enormous!

I liked it a lot on the right too, but I'm really starting to dig having all my large plants on one side. It only shades the wood with the pennywort back there. Hum, I could always train the pennywort to grow along the spraybar at the top. It could travel all the way back to the right corner from the left. I don't know. I'm pretty bad at aquscaping freshwater.

Should I move that mini tiger lotus to the back right corner? Could liven that corner up now that the pennywort got booted out.

The reason I liked it on the right was because on the left the plants are so crowded and all being green they become a mush where you can't appreciate any one plant. When aquascaping you need to put plants with very different textures, color, leaf shape next to each other so they not only stand out from each other but also compliment each other. Adding one red/pink leaf plant can make everything else stand out. And as for the pennywork a nifty little trick I learn a long time ago is if you want a plant like pennywort to go in certain places get some clear small suction cups, put them in the path you want the plant to go, then hang the stems. If you use 2 or more stems per suction cup you can usually hide the suction cups and hooks. I'll have to go back and look at the pic and see where the lotus might look good.

 

[Rivercats]

IMO if you put the lotus right next to the back rock and DW so as it grows it not only will have room but it will soften the DW.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

IMO if you put the lotus right next to the back rock and DW so as it grows it not only will have room but it will soften the DW.

In front of where the DW and rock meet? I could definitely do that. The big tiger lotus is planted right behind that spot. I hadn't considered it there. Thank you.

 

[Rivercats]

In front of where the DW and rock meet? I could definitely do that. The big tiger lotus is planted right behind that spot. I hadn't considered it there. Thank you.

Where the big one is planted is where I was talking about but you could then put the little one where you said but over to the right alittle so the two plants will be at an angle to each other and will fill in together quite nicely.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Here's an update of my tank at week 7. The plants are still coming along. My red tiger lotus bulb is finally growing leaves (it's in the back). The shrimp are reproducing and I see tiny babies every once in a while. I'm thinking of adding 5 glass catfish unless somebody thinks it's a bad idea.

I'm really not all that pleased with the overall look of the tank. I'd greatly appreciate any advice on what to change to improve the tank. I'm pretty much willing to change anything except for the rocks and the HC.

Here's a couple of pics. One is the day after I first planted the tank and the other is from half an hour ago. I'd love to hear any ideas you have on how to bring the scape together.

 

[Rivercats]

What don't you like? I think once the Lotus grows in and adds some color and the HC fills in it's going to look great. You have to hold judgement until the tank completely fills in. Just look how much better it looks already!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Humm... I'm just not sure the left and right sides work together. It almost looks like two different tanks were cut and pasted together. Maybe I'm over thinking it. I pulled up the glosso in the left front and planted a bit of HC. Maybe when that grows in it'll connect the two sides better. You're right, though. Maybe I should give the tank more time to mature.

Edit: I decided to let my daughter have the tiny red tiger lotus for her new Fluval Spec 5. She really wanted it. ^_^