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Journal Skaley Aquatics || Plant Adventures

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Jun 20, 2023
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Alright everyone This Journal is going to translate into anything plant related to me besides the 180 Main Dutch. That Journal was getting a little cluttered with other experiments/projects and I want that to be back to focusing on the Dutch. Moving forward that means all the farm tanks will be located here along with any other current or future experiments/projects.

I will start this by saying that I have a new tank on the Horizon, something completely new for me and out of my comfort zone. 20260122_162837.webp
This is the 40gallon Office Tank:
its a 40gallon Breeder dimensions 36" x 18" x 16.75".
It is going to be nature-esque style aquascape. If you have followed along my Dutch journal I had mentioned I would be working on a tank like this.
It currently has 40# of Elephant rock in it and smaller pieces of spider wood. Im currently leaning toward the elephant rock being a barrier (small "Cliff") where planting will not occur in the front third section of the tank. And it will have a relatively thin layer of PFS. In the planting zone I am going to be using top soil in mesh bags topped by PFS.
This tank will be running co² and I will be using my tap water as this tank is literally at work behind my desk. There is no way I am transporting RO water to this tank every week. I expect this to be a huge learning curve for myself and will be instrumental in my continued growth within the hobby.

Filter wise I will be running a Fluval 407 canister filter with an ARC yugang diffuser hooked up to it.
Lighting will be a Chihiros 90 WRGB 2 Pro that I have laying around.
In terms of livestock, I am currently at a stand still to what I want to put in this tank. I was thinking a group of luminatus blue eye rainbows but still unsure.

I already know that I want to use some pea gravel to raise the level of the barrier up a little bit as it is only about 3-4" currently. I play to use the spider wood in a couple of different ways. 1 some sticking out about the plants over-hangin the open area and some looking like roots growing on the rocks. Glue will need to be in hand to complete this. Tank is currently on standstill as I do not want to put the dirt down until I can wet it and since we are facing windshields of 0°F and below ordering plants has been kinda out of the question the past few weeks. I primarily want this tank to be minimumal trimming and plan to use anubias, buce, crypt mostly thoughout the tank. I may try some echinodorus and a few stems to add color and texture. I am hoping I can use some bylxa japonica in select spots but we shall see.
 
With an unexpected heatwave the past few weeks I was able to get plants ordered and this tank setup over this past weekend before I came down with what I suspect was Norovirus.1000011478.webp1000011479.webp
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Almost everything was from tissue culture besides the Myriophyllum 'Roriama' and Anubias nana petite. Other plants are:
Crypt pink panther
Crypt axelrodi
Crypt balanse
Cyperus helferi
Marilsea minuta
Schismatoglottis prietoi

I still need to add some moss but havent decided if I want to use Pilo moss or christmas moss yet.
I am not sure all of these plants will stay but we will see as the tank develops.
 
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In other news, the farm tanks... oh the farm tanks. While they have been smooth sailing for the most part. I am needing to consolidate 2 of them into one tank and move the Aponogeton out of the 40s as they are just too large for these tanks(Ive been procrastinating this for far too long). I need to do this because of the need to rebuild the stands they sit on as they have been moved out of the fish room and sit in the general basement now and the stands they are on no longer suite the needs for these tanks. This requires another co2 canister and regulator. Hoping I can get by with a finnex light on a 75gal for the apono's.

Ideally this will allow me to do a restart of sorts on these tanks as I think they could use it, as I have been battling some algae to do my laziness the past several months. Nothing serious but there is definitely something contributing to the cyanobacteria I am seeing. Which will be good as I want to switch these tanks to canister filters and yugang reactors as these have become my favorite way of injecting co² into the aquarium, as it creates the least amount of headaches.
 
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