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Both tanks contain a lot of bucephalandra stems I have recently melted by feeding my caridina tanks with mulberry leaves. I have no idea what the heck happened but all buces melted in those tanks heavily over 3 days with every other plant + shrimp being fine. Don't wanna risk the plants dying so I'm throwing them back into high tech for a few months to recover.

Set Up:
Both tanks uses heavy co2 misting
Horticulture LED lights (dimmed, so probably 25-30 watts?)
Will steadily increase light weekly if I see no issues, max is 40 watts.
Dual sponge filters. (Air bubbles help prevent co2 gassing, also seems to really help stabilize tank, so less algae)
1 Internal filter with an atomizer for misting.

Regime:
All tanks get a 30-50% water change, twice per week.
Micros dosed daily (unless I forget, which happens fairly often.)
Macros Front Loaded and only in new incoming water.

6 Gallon bucket water change:
~350tds (Using seachem equilibrium remineralizer)
~22ppm KNO3, using KNO3 + KH2PO4
~40-50 ppm Potassium due to remineralizer
~4-5GH

Buce Lottery Colors
Lots of buces, various names, collected over the years. A lot of them were ultra rare and I cannot buy them anymore. Most of the ultra rare I probably accidentally killed from trying to grow them in a "no filter, no co2" style tank. Either way, not much color in low tech, will see what lottery colors we pull once they get going with better colors in higher lights + co2.

Both tanks are planted tightly front to back with bucephalandra. Kinda hard to see it all with moss blocking the way, but my view will be your view.

Random Mosses
Some mosses I've collected as well, honestly I grow a lot of them free floating so they kinda look the same. We will find out how they look after I attach them to something.

15 Gallon, very aged sand + pebble tank.

20 Gallon long, aged aquasoil I pulled from an existing caridina tank.


Wanted to take some macro shots, but does anyone know how to take an angle show on the glass without distortion? I have a DSLR long tube lens that works under water but color rendition is really bad.

Why so much moss?
Mostly to help stabilize the tank and to reduce light bleed. Less surface for algae to grow.

I've really been digging pearlweed in my low tech tank, and thinking of growing a shaped pearlweed bush in my high tech experiment tank.

But I came across this listing for a white/platinum variety of pearlweed. Can't find any info on it anywhere. So I ordered 5 stems, the most expensive pearlweed stems on earth!

Think it'll actually survive/be platinum or light colored?

We really need some lighter colored plants in this hobby. Myrio 'Golden' is one I've successfully used, but it grows too crazy and the trimmings drove me nuts so I ditched it. What other white/platinum plants are there?

Main idea/inspiration:​

Since my main 150p aquarium is in our front room and is the first thing we and our guests see, I can't afford to experiment much with it. I also spent like $600 on aquasoil to fill it, so I thought I'd like to try something different.

This tank will be 100% BDBS substrate, no fertilized substrate. No root tabs (yet), no aquasoil. Only water column fertilization, to challenge myself to see whether I can grow plants well without aquasoil or not! Inspired by the @Burr740 BDBS journals and many other amazing inert-substrate aquariums out there. This isn't a dutch style, only a general "garden" style tank.

So a graphic designer that we use for some of our site's work suggested that ScapeCrunch should have a mascot like Reddit's Snoo. They sent me their suggestion for us to consider which was very kind of them.

Please meet Doc CO2:


Like Reddit's Snoo, the idea would be to include this cute little guy into the site but not to replace our current logo. He would be around in images, upcoming badges, etc.

While being kind (we didn't pay for this), what do you think? Should we start to use Doc CO2 or does it not fit our site? Please vote and comment.

Has anyone had much experience with this plant?
A local shop has just received stock of this version of bacopa, and I’m struggling to find many reports of people’s experiences growing it.
I’m a bit gun shy when it comes to white variants of plants that seem new to the hobby, and it’s not cheap so hoping to hear from someone whose grown it before I take the plunge!
Does it hold it’s white form? How much more sensitive than regular bacopa is it?

Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @TRR!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?

I'm in a bit of a quandary. I have a 4 yr old low tech 20g tank. Despite being an experienced aquarist of decades it was my first successful planted tank.

It has inert 2mm gravel (with small amounts of aquasoil underneath, injected in boluses, instead of root tabs) and amazingly most plants have done really well for most of its life. It has also housed a variety of shrimp and small fish, who have also generally thrived. It has been a lovely planted mixed display tank.
Here's a pic of it in its past glory


Sadly over the last 6-12 months some of the plants (definatley not all) have got harder and harder to keep going nicely and many of the shrimp have also been getting cloudy and passing away. GH/KH have remained rock solid stable. In fact nothing measureable has really deviated.
A real measure for me has been some Myriophyllum mattogrossense, which has lived in this tank for its entire life, growing superbly like a weed providing a lovely background stem jungle. However, recently even it is struggling, with dull colour, weak, thin stems and slow growth. I also used to have lovely Crypt wendtii, but the last couple now are simply holding on for dear life it seems. Growth is VERY slow.

Here's are recent pics


Its not a disaster. The java fern and buces are doing well but the crypts and Myriophyllum are hanging on (the pics don't really show the colour differences compared to earlier generations). However, the clearest indication for the Myriophyllum for me are the delicate, thin stems, which are definately a new thing.

The only things that have actually changed over the last year or so have been firstly (and possibly obviously) that the tank has aged another year, and secondly that I have converted to a new fertilizing schedule. Literally nothing else has changed.

My thoughts are ..................

1/ Maybe the build up of mulm and detritus in the substrate has become so much that it is increasing toxic dissolved organic compound levels, increasing the growth of nasty suspended bacteria, with negetive results on delicate shrimp (these are mainly softwater Caridina that are suffering. The Neos seem to battle on regardless). Maybe this same detritus build up is also affecting root growth and function in the rooted plants. Note - it certainly seems that my rhizome plants are still growing really well. Does this substrate and tank just need a jolly good clean out ? if I take all the substrate out and rinse it with clean dechlorinated water I should hopefully not completely wipe out the substrate microflora.
THis pic doesn't show the build up in the deeper substrate well but it does show that the substrate surface is really nice and clean. No detritus at all.


2/ Maybe this tank just doesn't get on well with the new fert schedule. This would be very surprising to me, as I use exactly the same chemicals and ratios (scaled up) for my large CO2-injected tank (again similar inert substrate with aquasoil injection) and the plant growth for virtually all in that tank is outstanding.

In this low tech tank I use weekly doses of 1.1g KNO3, 1.1g K2SO4 and 0.22g KHPO4. My micros are provided by a weekly dose of 0.21g of Solufeed Sodium-free TEC, which claims this composition ....

Element	Soluble in water (%)	Chelated by EDTA (% min)
Boron	(as polyborate)	0.92	N/a
Copper	(as CuNH4EDTA)	0.23	0.23
Iron	(as FeKEDTA)	8.4	8.4
Manganese	(as Mn2KEDTA)	2.00	2.00
Molybdemum	(as molybdate)	0.15	N/a
Zinc	(as Zn2KEDTA)	1.16	1.16

I change around 30% of the water weekly. Water is RO, remineralized to 6 dGH, zero dKH. COnsumer nitrate test kit tested levels in the tank seem fairly stable around 10-15 ppm.
I see no obvious signs of copper toxicity in the shrimp (any variety of movement disorder or spasms).

It will be a royal PITA to wash out the substrate and I don't want to do it unless its necessary.

If anyone had some words of wisdom I would be very grateful. I would love this tank to start thriving again

The adventure begins...again. After a substantial absence from the hobby, I dunked my toe back in last fall with a small 60F shrimp tank, a Chihiros WRGB slim, and a Chihiros CO2 (citric/baking soda) system. A lot has changed since I started this hobby in the 90s, and it's been about 20 years since I tore my last tank down. 'Aquascaping' per se wasn't as much a thing back then. I didn't know anyone running CO2, and LED lights didn't really exist. The 60F was fun, and the shrimp seem happy, but I have been itching to get to building something with more elbow room.

I did happen to find a pic of my old 75 gallon bowfront tank a few weeks ago that was taken just before I tore it down prior to a big move. It ran great for 7 years. Was a simple low tech setup, with one hunk of driftwood, no rocks, plain gravel (no soil) a lot of simple plants (the sword plants did great), and some peaceful fish. Algae wasn't an issue, filtration was pretty subpar by current standards, but the tank did well despite that, and algae wasn't really an issue. Aesthetically blah by today's standards, and certainly not my goal for this build, but I remember being proud of how well this tank ran back then, and wasn't too demanding. Important as my life was very hectic back then.



So, the tech plan so far for the new 150U:


I ordered the tank and stand from UNS, and to my amazement, despite the worst mid-January winter storm we had in some years here, it was delivered on time by the freight company. I do not recommend trying to move a 5ft wide 400+lb tank and stand across snow and ice, down a slope, into to basement. Very thankful to have a tractor with forks, but still was a bit stressful getting this into the house. Miraculously we got it in the house in one piece, and I seriously questioned ever getting a tank larger than this in the future!



It did require disassembly outside the basement door to actually get it into the house around a berm of snow, along with some extra muscle from a few friends. (This was originally meant to be a 120P, until I realized the hardscape plan I had wouldn't quite fit. What's a another foot in length? )



Just getting the tank through the snow and ice was enough, and the base cabinet and tank just sort of landed in the room, and stayed there for a few days while devising a strategy for the next step. After recruiting a tall and strong friend, and sourcing some of those giant suction cup handles you use for moving shower glass walls, a few days later the tank was finally hoisted up onto the base.

As there is a dropped ceiling in the basement my plan was to hang the lights directly above the tank from the ceiling, rather than using a light stand. A few tiles were removed to investigate the structure above, and with some 2x4 extra bracing for the anchors, as none of the joists were in quite the right spot, two Chihiros Vivid 3 lights were installed directly above the tank. At this point I discovered that none of the electrical circuits in the basement were GFCI protected, so obviously that was immediately remedied. Too much gear and too much water to mess around with unprotected circuits.




With the ceiling open, I decided to run the lighting cables over the top of the wall to the left of the tank, and down into the mechanicals room there. The advantage being that the power cords are hidden from view after going through the ceiling tiles, and it's two less large power sources cluttering up the cabinet under the tank. Had to add an outlet in that closet, but I like how it turned out.

With the tank in position and leveled, and the lights finally installed, the next big issue is water. The well water here is liquid limestone. That was the initial mistake I made with the shrimp tank. Sure, neocaridina like hard water, but not THAT hard, and I quickly had to shift to remineralized distilled. I knew before even getting serious about planning this tank that the only reasonable option, for any future tanks here, is RO. The well water might be fine for Malawi Cichlids, but that's not my plan for this tank, but it will be great to have flexibility going forward. It's a big glass box, at just over 140 gallons, and it won't be the only one here (I hope), so the water part I want to get right from the start, and to make it easy to do water changes. The basement is a walkout, so draining water during water changes will be easy, and I would like to make filling it just as easy. I sourced two 70 gallon storage tanks for the RO water from Northern Tool, and ordered a Vectra S2 pump which will help with transfering water between tanks, as well as pumping it out through a hose to the aquarium(s) during water changes. Forgot to take a pic when I was done, but the pvc is all glued up now. I will finish installing the RO unit this weekend.



So, aquarium set up, lights in, and RO system with storage in progress. Next up? The exciting part. Hardscape! I have been hoarding Manzanita, Hakkai stone, and substrate for several months, so I'm excited to move on to the next step! Tank so far pictured below (although I have already removed the privacy film on the back in favor of adding the ARC RGB light screen in part due to the stair rail being visible and distracting. First screen was damaged in transit, so waiting on a replacement).

I spent more hours than I dare admit yesterday finally planting out my 150U (no photos yet, I got a bit absorbed in what I was doing). This morning over coffee I have some thoughts.

The first is someone please start a scaping store with me, a la Horizon or Aquarium Gardens!? I am not anxious to delve into retail, but between hardscape sourcing struggles, and access to fresh healthy plants, this hobby feels more challenging than I remember. It is really frustrating not having a local resource for plants here. Being at the mercy of online vendors, purchasing plants sight unseen, can be an exercise in frustration, and buyer-beware.

I know that packing and shipping is expensive, but so are plants! What on earth is up with live plant shipping practices in the US? Maybe I have watched too many Tropica, Dennerle, or AquaFlora plant unboxings online, but shipped direct from the grower, their plants seem to arrive at their destination in an organized, contained manner, either in trays, or packed in layers. Not that well-packed plants can’t get jostled in shipping, but the number of what had been healthy plants I received tossed loose in a box with upside down cultures in gel (really appreciating the trend toward liquid media for just that reason), or pots literally thrown in bags and smashed together arriving with their leaves torn off, is BS. (I am looking at you specifically, west coast). How on earth is a plant supposed to arrive in good shape when the pots are crushing the delicate leaves and stems of the plant next to it? I think shippers need to spend a day with FedEx/UPS/USPS and see the abuse these boxes have to endure during a journey.

I do now have vendors on my ‘no buy’ list based on plant condition on arrival this past week. I also judge vendors of potted plants based on how wretched the box smells when I open it!

Some plants were smashed to oblivion when I received them, but technically not ‘dead’ so not eligible for a refund. Also not eligible to go in my tank until I wait and see if they survive, and are ‘recovering’ in a tank. Others arrived entombed in algae, or had rotted at the roots in their rock wool and smelled truly awful. Ultimately, I resorted to planting mostly tissue culture plants in my 150U build yesterday. It’s just difficult to get much plant mass that way.

One vendor has taken over two weeks to even ship plants out, and they are supposed to arrive today after being delayed by USPS for two days. Every other order at least arrived before I drained the tank. As they are epiphytes, they will have to wait now until a water change.

In hindsight, I should have started a large farm tank first, to have access to healthy plants on demand, and already CO2 adapted. If you are new, and lurking on Scapecrunch, looking for inspiration, and wondering where to start, build a Dutch-style tank (as it keeps your plants organized), as a farm tank. If you then want to move on to something with hardscape, you will already have robust, healthy, and adapted plants ready to go, and it’s an excuse to have more tanks. Otherwise, the following were my best plant buying experiences for this build.

Aqua Forest Aquarium (AFA) in San Francisco. Hindsight being 20/20 and all, I really wished I had jumped back into the hobby while I was still living in the Bay Area. Everything AFA shipped was in perfect condition on arrival. ADA Bio Mizukusa No Mori plants were pristine. No soup. Nothing broken. Granted, their shipping costs were also the highest, but it’s cheaper than throwing out plants.

My BurrAqua plants were in excellent health, and were packaged great, and I am grateful for having that resource available here on Scapecrunch! If Joe has a plant you are looking for, go for it!

Aqua Rocks Colorado's (ARC) Tropica tissue culture plants were the healthiest Tropica brand plants I received, and I ordered Tropica plants from several vendors. Packed well, and shipped at light speed. Everything from ARC was fresh, vibrant, and healthy.

The Tropica Marsilea hirsuta, and Eleocharis I purchased from someone else arrived as brown rotten soup (those are being refunded). Tropica needs to pay attention to who is vending their plants. It is clear that some are sitting on them way too long, and although Tropica has no control over their vendors, those vendors are acting as Tropica representatives, and it doesn’t look good for the brand when plants arrive rotten. Especially to people new to the hobby. I wonder how many failed, rotten, soupy plants chase new people out of this hobby at the start? I think starting with healthy stock, plants or fish, is important for success in any new setup, rather than it being an uphill battle from the start.

As I probably can’t start a scaping store this week, I would rather see at least one vendor online taking grower pre-orders, receiving plants directly from the grower, and then immediately dispatching plants every couple of weeks, than buying a bunch, sitting on them, and hoping they sell on Etsy or Ebay before they die.

I totally understand now how some aquascaping stores get started. Dave Pierce at Aquarium Gardens was interviewed several years ago, and admitted he started his store out of frustation at not being able to have the access to plants and hardscape he wanted. I feel you Dave. He now has one of the most successful operations in the UK. Maybe I need to fully retire from my day job?