gBOYsc2 Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Hi! I decided to start a journal of my tank here.... so here's the story. I recently broke down a 50g and downgraded it to this 20g. This is my 3rd go at planted tanks and is probably the first one I am really happy with. I always found it hard to scape with wood in the 50g as I couldn't get any pieces big enough so I decided to try with rocks this time. I think the rocks are too low to the ground though and might possibly try to find some larger pieces. I wanted to set one of these journals up because I like creepin other peoples journal pages but I have been slackin and just never got around to it. Substrate: Seachem Flourite Black Lighting: Aquatic Life Dual Lamp T5HO 1x24w 6500k 1x24w Roseate 650nm @ 8 Hours a Day Filter: Eheim Ecco 2234 Heater: Hydor 200w ETH C02: 5lb Pressurized Tank Milwaukee MA-957 Regulator Ceramic Glass Nano diffuser Cal Aqua Labs Double Drop Checker Ferts: Dry Fertilizers using Estimative Index Flora: Hemianthus callutrichoides, Pogostemon helferi, Hemianthus Micranthemoides, And what I believe is to be Rotala nanjenshan(please let me know if that is wrong) Fauna: 9x Iriantherina werneri 7x Caridina japonica 1x Pseudomugil furcata(soon to find a new home) Here are a few pictures taken very shortly after the transfer from the 50g. Dec. 15, 2010 - Some shots of the Threadfins displaying in the plants. Dec. 29, 2010 - GDA starting to cover the rocks. I thinned out the HM as it had some dead matter towards the bottom as it was all clumped together when I bought it. I also added a black background and changed out the diffuser to a 3 dollar cheapo nano one from ebay and am actually getting finer bubbles then I did with the expensive one I was running on the 50g. Jan. 04, 2011 - Starting to get some algae growth in the HC. My furcata rainbow died out of nowhere 2 days ago. I didn't really like him anyways. He was kind of a bully. LOL. I decided to then go and get 6 more threadfins! Yay! I did a water change today and took a couple pics.... The HM isn't growing as fast as I thought it would. Jan. 09, 2011 The Helferi is lookin good. Can you believe I got all that for just 10 bucks? I even threw about half of it out when i planted. It was in a tissue cultured aqua 'tub' from Aquaflora Nurseries here in Canada. Can anyone ID the plant in the back left corner for me? Enjoy! I plan on updating this every week with water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubr0ke Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Rotala indica....or some kind of rotala anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 On a different site someone speculated it was Rotala nanjenshan. I got it from Aquaflora Nurseries and they had it labelled as Alternathera reineckii but it most definitely is not LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubr0ke Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 ya aqua flora miss labels a lot.. They might be right about it being a rotala nanjenshan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 It seems like it could be. The plant is still young and it is still changing. It looks much much different then it was when I got it. But it still doesn't look like the nanjenshan I see in the pictures on google. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubr0ke Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 ya i found some info but nothing concrete...I found a pic of your exact plant that says its rotala indica- About half way down the page But other pics I have of indica look similar but not exact... Nanjenshan is thought to be a hybrid according to aqua flora so maybe look of the plant can differ??.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 It's definitely not indica. I have some floating indica in the tank. The leaves are much slimmer and longer. I will get a closeup pic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubr0ke Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 Im thinking nanjenshan is right... You mention your hc is getting algae...try placing your drop checker close to your hc to estimate the co2 levels in that area...I found hc to be very co2 sensitive.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 That's a great idea. I never thought about that. Does it really vary that much around the tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubr0ke Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 yes it can vary a lot... You might need to throw a hydor nano just for better circulation. The filter you have running moves a lot of water but that doesn't guarantee there are no dead spots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted January 17, 2011 Report Share Posted January 17, 2011 (edited) Ahh, your 20 gallon looks way cooler than mine! Good placement of the stems in the left back, they fill it in nicely. Hope the fissidens does well in your high-tech tank. (convinces me I should pick up one of those co2 diffusers) Edited January 17, 2011 by Iceturf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Thanks Iceturf. I'm not gonna be using the fissidens in there but in the high tech nano I am going to be setting up soon. Just waiting on the bulb in the mail and I'm good to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceturf Posted January 18, 2011 Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 Just waiting on the bulb in the mail and I'm good to go. What kind of light are you going to be using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2011 (edited) This is the light I will be using but I will be changing out the bulb to a 6700k. http://www.adana-usa...products_id=450 I think I will be starting a Journal for that as well. Edited January 18, 2011 by gBOYsc2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gBOYsc2 Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) Jan. 24, 2011 - I got lazy last sunday and didn't take any pics or do any updates. That week I had been dosing 1.5x EI to try and combat algae and feeding about 4x as much as normal because there was a runt in the 6 rainbows I recently added and I wanted him to get enough food. I consequently lost 2 shrimp and one of my rainbows had half of a fin rot away and another one had a damage to his dorsal fin. Last sunday I did a large water change and only dosed about half the amount as usual during this week. The fin has healed up druing this week and is looking much better now. I wont be 1.5x dosing anymore nor overfeeding like that. Also one more shrimp looks like he's on his last days. He is all cloudy and milky lookin kind of like how they look after they die, but it is still alive. I took a chunk of the HC out of the center and spread it around the outsides a little so it will fill in faster. I sold some of the downoi because I wanted to make room for another kind of stem plant. I added some Diplis diandra from an aquaflora nurseries tub. I have read mixed reviews about the plant and it's difficulty to grow but I decided to give it a shot. It seems to be doing good so far. The HM is growing ever so slowly but sure is lookin nice. I can't wait till it is very bushy. Here is the updated pic taken just a few minutes ago. I got lazy again and didn't do my water change today cuz I was a little busy. I will do it tomorrow early in the morning. Edited February 2, 2011 by gBOYsc2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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