jimmyjam

i totally agree roy the 2217 is much better... good luck with the balance out... have u changed your food source recently?

rjfurbank

Thanks jimmyjam. I haven't changed my food source but I think I have been feeding more generously lately to keep up w/ my angels growth.

apm

thats a good call jimmy. maybe u should move a bit from the dry flakes and try some blood worms to beef them up a bit... perhaps less phosphates?

rjfurbank

Time for an update. . .

Things have been growing very well and were getting a bit out of hand. Here's a pic from 7/11/09 before I trimmed:



Here's a pic this morning before I changed the water, lightly vacuumed the substrate, and cleaned one of the 2 Eheim 2217's I have on this tank:



I am pretty pleased w/ how it is coming along. Added some Ludwigia Cuba to the left side. Thought I had removed all the lotus but as you can see I must have missed a few. I am very happy w/ how the needle leaf java fern is exploding on the right--however, Texgal was right that I would soon lose all sight of the large piece of DW I attached it too. Oh well--looks cool anyway IMO. . .

Also added a few runners of E. tennellus and a mat of flame moss from AFA in San Francisco on another recent business trip--that store is awesome!

Not sure what I want to do w/ the foreground yet. I would like to open it up a bit and maybe reduce it to 1-2 species. Not sure which I would keep as I really like them all (need to set up a grow out tank!). Really love the HM so maybe keep that w/ some of the tennellus mixed in. . . we'll see. . .

Also, I have still been battling BBA. Not sure how to get rid of this--anyone have any experience/ideas??? I have tried the upping the CO2 and nitrates thing but this doesn't seem to have helped. I can keep it under control w/ regular spot treatment w/ Excel but would like to see if I can get away from this. I don't have carbon in my filters anymore so I am testing the hypothesis that a buildup of organics may be causing the BBA (the tank definitely smells a lot more fishy than it used to when I was running a lot of carbon). During the filter clean today I added 2 x 100mL bags of Purigen to see if this can help.

Comments/suggestions welcome!

Thanks for looking!

-Roy

rjfurbank

Not much happening but things are growing well. Getting a little crowded but I like it.

The L. inclinata var. verticillata 'Cuba' is really looking stunning though so wanted to capture a few shots. All this started w/ 2 scraggly stems I picked up as a trial from my LFS for $3.

The purigen in my filter has really seemed to help as well (I added 2 x 100mL packets each in 'The Bag' to one of my Eheim 2217's during my last filter clean. The "fishy" smell is gone and the water seems much clearer. Also, the BBA hasn't been much of an issue but not sure if this is due to the purigen, my more regular tank vacuuming, or the excel I've been dosing. Nothing like a good controlled experiment. . .

Anyway--here are the shots: an FTS and then one closer up of the center.





Thanks for looking!

rjfurbank

Time for a trim and a minor rescape. Am hoping to redo the foreground and improve the open space in this area.

Here it is this am before the trim:



And after the trim/rescape:



Removed, trimmed, and replaced all of the stems on the LHS: rotala macranda's, Ludwigia Cuba, L. Aromatica, bacopa (moved this to the right side).

Moved and thinned out the HM from the foreground. Removed the glosso completely as well as the few remaining pieces of Alternanthera reineckii and the red lotus. I think these were the only 3 species I lost from this rescape. . .

Also, moved the blyxa japonica to the LHS and removed most of it. Spread the E. tenellus across the foreground and left some space in the area near the glass. Am hoping to get some downoi to add to the foreground. Another note on the foreground: I thought I planted the big crypts in the back but the ones in front seem to have grown the biggest. I have some large wendtii's in the back that are still quite small--hopefully with the lotus removed they will get more light and become more visible.

Also, moved the Crinum calamistratum to a clearer spot to hopefully get this more visible (and more light!).

I'm sure I did some more but can't recall right now. Will have to wait and see how things grow in. . .

Thanks for looking! Any comments/suggestions/etc. welcome.

-Roy

davemonkey

I can't believe how large and robust your needle-leaf is. It nearly goes 2 feet across!!

The rescape looks good already, I can't wait ot see it filled in.

-Dave

rjfurbank

Thanks Dave! The needle-leaf is awesome. Starting to get worried about having to trim/remove some if it keeps growing though. . .

I think a tank of this w/ a bunch of crypts would be really cool--however, I'm too attached to my stems right now. Need another tank--ha!

rjfurbank

Just a quick update to show the growth over 1 week:



Also, managed to get a few stems of pogostemon helferi (downoi) from AFA in San Francisco last week during a visit :



Seems to be doing well in my tank after the journey back to PA.

Also, added some root tabs around the crypts in the back center to hopefully get them up to speed. I have a number of wendtii's back there that I am hoping will grow and become visible at the back center. The crypts in the front have really taken off and grown much bigger than I had expected. Will have to see if a relocation is in order. . .

*Michael*

amazing tank !