SETUP: Dimensions: 48"L x 18"W x 20"H
Volume: estimated about 227L
Lighting: 4x65 watt PC @ 10 hours
Filter: Eheim 2217
CO2: pressurized @ 3-4 bps
Substrate: Aqua Soil - Amazonia, PS special, Tourmaline BC
pH: 5.8-6.0
Temperature: 84ºF
Plants: Blyxa japonica, Hemianthus callitrichoides, Anubias barteri var. nana, Anubias barteri var. nana 'Petite', Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow leaf', Taxiphyllum sp. 'Peacock', Fissidens sp., Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Green Gecko', Various "starter" stems... will be removed and replaced later
Just wanted to start a thread with my newly re-done 75g, Due to growth issues I was having in the old set up, and a burning inner desire to actually set up an aquascape rather than a "farm". I did a tear down and started from the bottom up! I would have really liked to have gotten my issues figured out, and plant growth where I wanted it before doing this.... however I was just sick of looking at my hazy mess.... and really felt the old substrate was a big part of the problem.... so two days worth of hard work later and it was done.
I went with ADA on the ground, the whole work up along with bright sand. I know this is sort of a "generic" idea in a way, on the other hand every tank is unique in its own right, I took a basic idea that I liked, and fit it to my tank, with the plants I wanted to use. All the plants listed above are staying..... there are some stem's in both corners.... they are all going to go, just things i had on hand and was able to get locally that I used to get it started. I have a lot of plants on the way and by next week it should be filled with everything that I intended to have for the long run.
I am pretty pleased with how things turned out. I really like the over all layout. The idea was to pretty much set up a lower maitence, long term scape. There are going to be some stem plants, but not so much that it gets out of hand and a chore to maintain.
This is my first time using ADA substrates, I am really hoping to see better, more lush growth than I have in the past. Another big change I am making is swiching to name brand trace's. I have used CSM+B for a long time now and I have never really gotten the deep lush colors I see some achive. I decided to swich over to Tropica Plant Nutrition... It is expensive but those who use it speak highly of it. I bit the bullet and bought a 5 liter jug to save in the long run.
On the old set up I tried both extremes, from light dosing to heavy EI type.... both pretty much produced similar outcome.... always weak colors, often stunting of stem plants, and a lot of die off on older leaves. I am really hoping to avoid all of that this time around
As of right now I really havn't been adding anything... been doing a lot of water changes, about twice a week @ 50% (still getting a lot of tannins from the wood) After the WC i have been adding 1 tsp of Seachem EQ, and about 2 ppm P from KH2PO4 (noticed after testing the tank water, the PS seemed to be leaching N, but there really wasnt any P at all)
Like I mentioned I have never used AS, or PS before in any of my set up's... for those of you who have, how do you go about adding ferts? guess im just looking for a place to start off with. It seems that a lot if not most seem to pretty much just let it go the first 2-3 weeks, maybe just adding some K and/or traces.... but then there after what have you all had success with? If i had the money I would go the full line of ADA ferts also.... but that just isn't an option so it will be basic dry powders, along with the TPN for traces.
Let me know what you all think, and any advice on how to keep everything healthy!
oh and sorry for the bad quality pics!
~Matt
75g Re-Scape *fingers crossed* 
Cant wait to see grow in all the way.
Hybrid Mode
