Journal Attempting a True Dutch

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Album (44) Thread 'Attempting a True Dutch'

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Kwyet

Kwyet

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This tank was a Dutch-ish tank before we moved 2 months ago. This was one of its last pictures, very overgrown I know.

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This time I want to make it a true Dutch, so anyone can chime in and help me. 🙂

After we moved, it ran low-tech with just a few tissue cultures until this week when I finally had time and materials to finish setting it up. This is what it looks like now:

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I know there’s some bubbles showing in the vinyl cling. I’m having trouble reaching back there to smooth it out. I’ll have to think about how to fix that, although when the plants grow in it may not be visible anyway. I did read that you can have 1 rock in a Dutch scape, so I kept one. I may put Monte Carlo on it again, I haven’t decided.

So, details…

Tank: UNS 90U, 68 gallons

Light: Week Aqua P900 Pro, current settings R 40%, G 51%, B 20%, UV 0, Fan 100, Power 51%.
8 hours of light with 30 min ramp up/down
Par—no idea

Filtration: Fluval Fx4, currently running at 75%. Any higher blows the fish around. I expect to be able to increase it when the plants are grown in.

CO2: Yugang stainless steel reactor, 370 mm long, working really well. I had to turn down the CO2 a bit today because the drop was more than I expected (from degassed 7.4 to 5.9). I’ve already changed the end cap to the medium setting, but I think I’m just going to make further adjustments with the regulator. Call it laziness, but since there aren’t any double taps available for the Fx4 tubing that’s going to be easier for me. Anyway, I really like it. It’s completely silent and does its job well.

Substrate: Aqua Natural Galaxy sand, with a few Aquarium Coop root tabs.

Other: Oase CrystalSkim 350 skimmer, Kactoily 6-in-1 water quality monitor

Fertilizer: Until today I’ve just been using Easy Green. Today I installed the Chihiro’s dosing system with PPS-Pro, 6 ml macros and 3 ml micros daily. On water change day, I’ll add another 2 ml macros. I’m currently changing 20% of the water once a week. I’ll increase if necessary.

Parameters: Ammonia and Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 ppm , gH 6, kH 2, TDS 222, 70-74 F

Plants (mostly from @Burr740 thanks!):

Leopard Val
Echinodorus Aflame
Hydrocotyle Tripartita (coming)
Penthorum Sedioides
Crypt Wendtii Sindoor
Lobelia cardinalis mini
Bacopa colorata
Rotala (? back left corner)
Limnophila wilsonii
Nymphae Peru Puerto Maldonade
Rotala macrandra Kochi
Nymphoides Taiwan

I’m not sure I like the Leopard Val in there. Should I put it in my 125 gallon instead, and move the Limnophila wilsonii to that spot?

Fish:

1 Honey Flame Gourami
4 Ember tetras
8 Otos
2 Pygmy sunfish
4 Red neon blue-eyed rainbowfish
9 Pygmy Cory catfish
9 male Lime Green Endlers
1 Leopard Danio (last of a group)
A few random Amano and Neocaridina shrimp and snails

The fish list will change as I get more tanks set up. I would like to end up with just the gourami, Otos, Rainbowfish (but more of them), and Pygmy Cories.

Well, that’s a start. Thanks for reading!
 
SkaleyAquatics said:
Do you feel like there is enough light in the front and corners with only one of these lights? I am considering upgrading to the same size tank but wanted to see your opinion.
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I’ve been wondering if I should take the back shade off, as I’ve read that some people do. I haven’t checked par at all though. I just started with a setting that looked bright but pleasant to me, which ended up at about 50%, and figured I would increase it by 10% every few weeks. It also might help to know that you can set the dimensions of your tank in the app. It does actually make a difference too, because I set the wrong dimensions at first, and when I fixed it I could see that it spread to cover the full tank. At any rate, I think it will be bright enough for my purposes, but I don’t know about you. As for the tank, I really like it. The only downside is that I have to stand on a step to reach to the back comfortably. It’s worth it though. 😄
 
I put the Hydrocotyle Tripartita in today (also a tissue culture). Do my streets look okay? I’ve never tried to make them before.

A couple of the leaves of the lotus melted and I removed them. I hope it’s just because of adjusting to my tank. There are also a few holes in the lower leaves of some of my stem plants, so hopefully the same story and will disappear with future trimming and replanting.

I’m getting a consistent 1.3 pH drop which stays steady all day long. I’m happy with that so I’m not trying to tweak it anymore. I think this is a good place to stay.

Here are some pics from today, plus one of a new project that I’m just starting and hope to maintain as a blackwater tank. The rock and sponge are just to hold the wood down and protect the glass.

Thanks for reading!

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FrankZ said:
Looking good so far. I wouldnt worry about the melt to much. Your plants are still adapting. Give them food and time and it should come around.

Give this a read it will help a lot with Dutch style planning
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Thanks! I read through the link, and see I’ve already broken some rules, or at least recommendations (like having 2 streets in a tank less than 6 feet and having 3 too many plants). I’m not planning on any contests, but I want to prepare it as if I was going to. How strict are those rules? Do I need to change one of the streets to a different grouping, and force myself to remove some plants altogether?
 
Well, I read it again, and there’s so much that I need to work on that if I try to do it all at once I’m afraid it’s going to be overwhelming. I think for now, I’m going to take the mini lobelia out, but otherwise leave the layout alone. I’m going to focus on shaping, trimming, spacing, growing healthy plants etc and the other considerations can be worked on later after I’ve gotten better at these things.
 
Kwyet said:
Thanks! I read through the link, and see I’ve already broken some rules, or at least recommendations (like having 2 streets in a tank less than 6 feet and having 3 too many plants). I’m not planning on any contests, but I want to prepare it as if I was going to. How strict are those rules? Do I need to change one of the streets to a different grouping, and force myself to remove some plants altogether?
Click to expand...
I would leave your layout alone for while probably even add more plants until things stabilize.

As for the strictness of rules, I don’t know for sure as I haven’t enter a contest before. From my research the main rule is number of species. You can go over it by 1 or 2 if it makes a significant impact. Beyond that’s it’s all about contrast - shape, height, color, etc
 
Yes absolutely, worry about growth and stability. Can always shift things around once the plants have established and are more resilient to change 👍🏻
 
Kwyet said:
Well, I read it again, and there’s so much that I need to work on that if I try to do it all at once I’m afraid it’s going to be overwhelming. I think for now, I’m going to take the mini lobelia out, but otherwise leave the layout alone. I’m going to focus on shaping, trimming, spacing, growing healthy plants etc and the other considerations can be worked on later after I’ve gotten better at these things.
Click to expand...
Get plants to grow first then adjust layout from there, currently you have very little plant mass even though your substrate is close to 70% planted. You can usually get away with 2 extra species in a tank if entering it. 3 species extra is nothing just leave it in for now until plants become fuller. Give it 6 weeks or so before changing anything.
 
SkaleyAquatics said:
Get plants to grow first then adjust layout from there, currently you have very little plant mass even though your substrate is close to 70% planted. You can usually get away with 2 extra species in a tank if entering it. 3 species extra is nothing just leave it in for now until plants become fuller. Give it 6 weeks or so before changing anything.
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Thanks, I’ll do that. I might have more hydrocotyle coming, if it arrives alive. I forgot to change my shipping address so it went all the way to Florida and is now being forwarded here. 😄
 
Kwyet said:
Thanks, I’ll do that. I might have more hydrocotyle coming, if it arrives alive. I forgot to change my shipping address so it went all the way to Florida and is now being forwarded here. 😄
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I’ve done that before, but with fish 😳
 
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