What did you do to your tank(s) today?

[gnatster]

Today I did nothing for the first time since setup. I did not test or mess with anything.

Just enjoyed the view.

 

[techman81]

Today, I'm continuing the transfer of plants and a lot of Neocaridina shrimp from a 20 gallon farm tank to a new 40 gallon farm tank while trying my best to avoid transferring bladder snails or their eggs.

 

[gnatster]

Sunday means Water Change Day.

 

[Bsully]

Sunday means Water Change Day.

Lol , same here

 

[BenB]

Lol , same here

That makes 3 of us.

 

[Whitecloud09]

I am prepping the tanks for my absence. I will be gone 1.5 weeks, but thankfully, I have someone feeding them who used to keep 100s of gallons of tanks, back in the day, so thank goodness.

 

[Whitecloud09]

That makes 3 of us.

4 except I did mine early this week

 

[techman81]

4 except I did mine early this week

5 of us, plus some trimming and completing the farm tank move from a 20 gallon to a 40 gallon. It was a busy Sunday aquarium day.

 

[Dennis Wong]

Dennis, how long can you maintain a tank like this with just APT daily fertilizer before you have to do something more significant like add APT Jazz or change out the substrate? Do these high energy tanks burn themselves out quickly or can you maintain them for long periods.... like maybe at least a year minimum?

I don't think that adding root tabs is a significant event at all - its an effortless action compared to what really needs work in the long run - which is that stems eventually age and deteriorate at their lower portions, and have to be topped and replanted (and older portions need to be uprooted and discarded). Erios get fat and have to be split. Enriching the aquasoil, whether by adding new aquasoil or by adding root tabs is the easy step when replanting is done. The actual uprooting, selection of fresh tops and replanting is what takes a lot of time. The burnout is not in the plants or aquasoil, but in aquarist maintenance.

When doing layouts I think it is a good idea to plant a bunch of stuff that does not have to be replanted as often. Then the remainder can be more intensively maintained so to say. I would consider this layout an easy layout to maintain as most of the stems can be trimmed in place many times before needing uprooting/replanting. Rotala 'blood red', Ludwigia arcuata, Lobelia cardinalis bushes can all be trimmed many times before replanting is required (if your tank is healthy, stable and algae free). The stable and algae free criteria is a major determinant though, if the tank is unstable the lower portions will not be healthy enough to regenerate from a straight trim - and I think that this is the problem that prevents many folks from executing what I'm doing.

Lysimachia parvifolia, Buceps, downoi, S repens can all be trimmed in place. Monte carlo carpet has its own time scale/trimming cycle. The Myrio golden can be trimmed in place for quite sometime, but is quite vulnerable to algae, so if the bottoms get algae, I'll replant tops. All bushes will be replanted in time on a rotational basis.

This is the trimming cycle before the photos above were taken. I replanted the golden myrio, and straight cut the blood red and arcuata.



There are also other things one can do to slow down growth. Dosing less in water column, using less CO2 are both valid approaches once you can grow plants well enough. I can straight cut again this month end. But I envision replanting the blood red and Ludwigia arcuata bushes by end of Aug. If I replant those 2 bushes, it will take them a full month to thicken back up. Usually this is where adding a portion of new soil or root tabs is ideal - it provides a short term boost to growth.

In a simple layout such as this, you can farm such displays infinitely if you keep enriching the soil, and keep replanting the bushes. This tank is a standard format I revert to for a plant box display - with 5-6 contrasting stem plant bushes that is easy to maintain. The tank below (from the past) is more than 1 year old when the photo was taken - every bush has been replanted more than once, and even the carpet was switched to hairgrass from HC at some point of time. Notice the similarity in plants used lol. You can tell the golden myrio was more recently replanted, while the Ludwigia arcuata is way past its replanting cycle.

 

[Sb1415]

When doing layouts I think it is a good idea to plant a bunch of stuff that does not have to be replanted as often. Then the remainder can be more intensively maintained so to say. I would consider this layout an easy layout to maintain as most of the stems can be trimmed in place many times before needing uprooting/replanting. Rotala 'blood red', Ludwigia arcuata, Lobelia cardinalis bushes can all be trimmed many times before replanting is required (if your tank is healthy, stable and algae free). The stable and algae free criteria is a major determinant though, if the tank is unstable the lower portions will not be healthy enough to regenerate from a straight trim - and I think that this is the problem that prevents many folks from executing what I'm doing.

Lysimachia parvifolia, Buceps, downoi, S repens can all be trimmed in place. Monte carlo carpet has its own time scale/trimming cycle. The Myrio golden can be trimmed in place for quite sometime, but is quite vulnerable to algae, so if the bottoms get algae, I'll replant tops. All bushes will be replanted in time on a rotational basis.

Thanks Dennis very helpful. As i am starting a new tank i am curious if you have a list of plants that works well for such layouts that one can hope to maintain a long time without needing to uproot.

Based on your website, I am thinking the following works well for getting bushy and now also reading likely will be easier to keep trimming,

• Rotala blood red sg
• L.Arcuata / L.super red
• P.decannensis.

What about midground plants

• Good to know about L.Cardinalis
• any other suggestions ?

 

[Art]

Just back from a trip. Guess what I’ll be doing today?

 

[Joel Armstrong]

How long were you away for?

What do you think causes this?

 

[BenB]

Just back from a trip. Guess what I’ll be doing today?

Hopefully you just have to clean the glass good and behind that everything looks great.

 

[techman81]

I don't think that adding root tabs is a significant event at all - its an effortless action compared to what really needs work in the long run - which is that stems eventually age and deteriorate at their lower portions, and have to be topped and replanted (and older portions need to be uprooted and discarded). Erios get fat and have to be split. Enriching the aquasoil, whether by adding new aquasoil or by adding root tabs is the easy step when replanting is done. The actual uprooting, selection of fresh tops and replanting is what takes a lot of time. The burnout is not in the plants or aquasoil, but in aquarist maintenance.

When doing layouts I think it is a good idea to plant a bunch of stuff that does not have to be replanted as often. Then the remainder can be more intensively maintained so to say. I would consider this layout an easy layout to maintain as most of the stems can be trimmed in place many times before needing uprooting/replanting. Rotala 'blood red', Ludwigia arcuata, Lobelia cardinalis bushes can all be trimmed many times before replanting is required (if your tank is healthy, stable and algae free). The stable and algae free criteria is a major determinant though, if the tank is unstable the lower portions will not be healthy enough to regenerate from a straight trim - and I think that this is the problem that prevents many folks from executing what I'm doing.

Lysimachia parvifolia, Buceps, downoi, S repens can all be trimmed in place. Monte carlo carpet has its own time scale/trimming cycle. The Myrio golden can be trimmed in place for quite sometime, but is quite vulnerable to algae, so if the bottoms get algae, I'll replant tops. All bushes will be replanted in time on a rotational basis.

This is the trimming cycle before the photos above were taken. I replanted the golden myrio, and straight cut the blood red and arcuata.

View attachment 9378

There are also other things one can do to slow down growth. Dosing less in water column, using less CO2 are both valid approaches once you can grow plants well enough. I can straight cut again this month end. But I envision replanting the blood red and Ludwigia arcuata bushes by end of Aug. If I replant those 2 bushes, it will take them a full month to thicken back up. Usually this is where adding a portion of new soil or root tabs is ideal - it provides a short term boost to growth.

In a simple layout such as this, you can farm such displays infinitely if you keep enriching the soil, and keep replanting the bushes. This tank is a standard format I revert to for a plant box display - with 5-6 contrasting stem plant bushes that is easy to maintain. The tank below (from the past) is more than 1 year old when the photo was taken - every bush has been replanted more than once, and even the carpet was switched to hairgrass from HC at some point of time. Notice the similarity in plants used lol. You can tell the golden myrio was more recently replanted, while the Ludwigia arcuata is way past its replanting cycle.

View attachment 9381

This is great info. I'm dealing with having to uproot and replant some mid-ground plants now but probably could have gone much longer if I had a fraction of your knowledge on plant growth and health. I've learned a lot from your posts here, on FB, and on the 2HR Aquarist website. Have you thought about putting out a book? Your tanks have inspired me to try a Dutch style scape as one of my next.

 

[Dennis Wong]

Thanks Dennis very helpful. As i am starting a new tank i am curious if you have a list of plants that works well for such layouts that one can hope to maintain a long time without needing to uproot.

Based on your website, I am thinking the following works well for getting bushy and now also reading likely will be easier to keep trimming,

• Rotala blood red sg
• L.Arcuata / L.super red
• P.decannensis.

What about midground plants

• Good to know about L.Cardinalis
• any other suggestions ?

Ludwigia brevipes is similar to arcuata. Pearlweed is a good candidate also (but quite weedy). There are many rotala rotundifolia variants, so there are choices for green, orange/yellow tones. Limnophila aromatica
For midground, Limnophila vietnam, Staurogyne repens, Lysimachia parvifolia, Blyxa japonica, smaller crypts like C. Hobbit, C. Parva, Eriocaulon vietnam, Alternanthera reineckii, are all decent.

This is great info. I'm dealing with having to uproot and replant some mid-ground plants now but probably could have gone much longer if I had a fraction of your knowledge on plant growth and health. I've learned a lot from your posts here, on FB, and on the 2HR Aquarist website. Have you thought about putting out a book? Your tanks have inspired me to try a Ditch style scape as one of my next.

I find that books are difficult to update. I like the website format as it is because I can make changes and updates frequently. Even as recent as this month I rewrote some key concepts that I thought were not phased as well or lacked certain data points. I think there are many more discoveries to be made as time goes by, exciting times !

 

[Art]

How long were you away for?

What do you think causes this?

I was away for about 5 days.

I did the rookie thing of making a change before leaving on a trip. The plants were not growing at the rate I thought they should so I upped the light levels and compensated with a good dose of fertilizer.

As the plants mass is not at the level where these types of changes can be easily absorbed, GSA was bound to happen. Thankfully, the plants are doing well with no algae. It's only a glass issue.

Easy to clean up with a little elbow grease.

 

[DutchMuch]

View attachment 9385
Just back from a trip. Guess what I’ll be doing today?

Wishing you the best of luck with that battle lol!

 

[BenB]

I don't think that adding root tabs is a significant event at all - its an effortless action compared to what really needs work in the long run - which is that stems eventually age and deteriorate at their lower portions, and have to be topped and replanted (and older portions need to be uprooted and discarded). Erios get fat and have to be split. Enriching the aquasoil, whether by adding new aquasoil or by adding root tabs is the easy step when replanting is done. The actual uprooting, selection of fresh tops and replanting is what takes a lot of time. The burnout is not in the plants or aquasoil, but in aquarist maintenance.

Thanks for all the effort you put into that. I wasn't thinking of the labor. I believe I phrased my question poorly. I think you and I see differently (and it's OK) about what the next step is once the substrate gives out of ammonia.

In a normal high tech tank with a lower PAR, when the substrate ammonia is depleted, many people just increase whatever the are dosing. They add extra APT or whatever. However, I would consider the set-up above a super high energy tank. The PAR is 150. So my question is, is the decision to increase water column dosing or whether to replete the substrate of ammonia a personal choice, or do you think the super high energy tank has to have that ammonia to be successful.

For a regular high tech tank, many people obviously just use water column dosing, but I'm inclined to believe the high energy set-up needs that ammonia.

FWIW, There is some APT Jazz in the mail on the way to my house as I type. I might have my tank finally on track, and I'm curious to try some different stuff.

 

[Dennis Wong]

Thanks for all the effort you put into that. I wasn't thinking of the labor. I believe I phrased my question poorly. I think you and I see differently (and it's OK) about what the next step is once the substrate gives out of ammonia.

In a normal high tech tank with a lower PAR, when the substrate ammonia is depleted, many people just increase whatever the are dosing. They add extra APT or whatever. However, I would consider the set-up above a super high energy tank. The PAR is 150. So my question is, is the decision to increase water column dosing or whether to replete the substrate of ammonia a personal choice, or do you think the super high energy tank has to have that ammonia to be successful.

For a regular high tech tank, many people obviously just use water column dosing, but I'm inclined to believe the high energy set-up needs that ammonia.

FWIW, There is some APT Jazz in the mail on the way to my house as I type. I might have my tank finally on track, and I'm curious to try some different stuff.

Some folks claim that heavier water column feeding plants + inert substrate is the same as feeding plants through water column + rich substrate/aquasoil. However, as someone that grows plenty of pickier species, I find that growth with aquasoil/ammonia produces better growth in many species. Better in the sense of not only faster growth, but better growth forms - thicker leaves, fuller crowns, denser bushes etc. It can be observed in macro photographs of plants when you look up close. A little goes a long way also - small amounts of ammoniacal nitrogen in substrate substitutes a lot of NO3 in the water column.

Its not only about being able to grow X plant, but being able to grow X plant with density, ability to recover from trimming sessions, to be shaped and grown into dense bushes with competing plants surrounding them. You need many small optimizations to stack up cumulatively to a system that is robust enough to give such outcomes.




Mini macrandra type 4 Green.


Ludwigia pantanal in a lean water column tank (residual NO3 close to 0ppm in water column, but with rich aquasoil below - so water column juggling becomes very lenient when rich aquasoil is available).


Bacopa salzmannii - easy plant to grow, but its thin in many tanks. Do you want to be heavy handed with your water column levels to get thicker leaves, or just have a touch of ammoniacal N in substrate?

Substrate feeding N also allows other low N water column tricks, such as bringing out reds in some species (while still having branching growth pattern and density), keeping hardscape free of green dust in high light tanks etc. Plant focus folks tend to hate this approach, while hardscape focused folks tend towards it.

 

[JohnPilon]

Some folks claim that heavier water column feeding plants + inert substrate is the same as feeding plants through water column + rich substrate/aquasoil. However, as someone that grows plenty of pickier species, I find that growth with aquasoil/ammonia produces better growth in many species. Better in the sense of not only faster growth, but better growth forms - thicker leaves, fuller crowns, denser bushes etc. It can be observed in macro photographs of plants when you look up close. A little goes a long way also - small amounts of ammoniacal nitrogen in substrate substitutes a lot of NO3 in the water column.

Rotala kill tank comes to mind whenever people bring up heavy water colum+inert