ghengis

Wow, that broadleaf Stellata is awesome! I have the narrow leaf, atm, and think it's one of the nicest plants around...the broad would make a fantastic offset...

Nice tank, btw. Will be watching this one, for sure.

theblondskeleton

Thanks, Ghengis! Yeah, the stellatus is pretty awesome. I wanted the narrow leaf myself, but I was afraid I'd kill it. That's just brutal - like killing a butterfly.

theblondskeleton

The more I looked at the substrate, the less I liked it. You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but it was sloped the wrong direction (front to back, as opposed to back to front). This really threw the whole perspective of the tank off, and killed all the depth I had struggled to create. So with great trepidation, I tore it down and started over. Let it be known that 90 gallon tanks are HUGE. Bigger when you are inside one.

I don’t have pics of the hardscape unplanted, (slaps forehead and exclaims “D’oh!”) but I got some new rocks that better fit the scale of the tank and the layout I had originally designed. I still feel as if It could use more hardscape to define the space, but It seems it’s going to be quite a while before I’ll have the opportunity to add a few of the plants I want, so I’m working with what I have and adjusting the design to accommodate the plants I have - most of which are pretty awesome anyhow.

I took out the lobelia cardinalis small form, red melon sword, and ludwigia brevipes, as I felt they were taking away from the plants I have in there. I really wanted a simple layout with a minimal variety of plants so I could focus on composition. It took two days to tear it down, redesign and assemble everything, but I think it was totally worth it. The layout is so much closer to what I had originally envisioned and I’m no longer annoyed by the backwards slope. The slope now comes right up to the edge of the frame, making the tank look about 6 inches deeper!

I trimmed everything back quite a bit, as the plants I had were several months old, and the lower stems were showing their age. I topped the rotala, and discovered how much I actually had of it. That stuff grows like crazy. I also topped and replanted the pogostemon stellatus broad leaf, as I was getting mighty tired of seeing those leggy green emersed leaves. The tops are still converting, but they have amazing color. I can’t wait until it grows in. I found about 9 side shoots growing from one of the stems, and I replanted those as well, doubling the number I originally had. I wanted more density for that grouping, and I guess I got it!

The blyxa aubertii is doing well, it’s growing in a deep maroon, and a little more compact - as I read in the plant finder, it is likely due to the light intensity. I don’t mind. I may cut back on the wattage later, but until I get some growth and height out of everything, I’m going to keep everything stable and consistent.

While I always had difficulty with l. aromatica, it seems that is no more. I feel a little like a mad scientist breaking the laws of god and nature MWAHAHAHA!! I topped and replanted the HM, and the HC was so dense, I had to get rid of half of it, even though I planted a larger area!

As I look at the ‘scape now and allow my imagination to guess at the shape of things to come, I couldn’t help but think of some photos I’d seen on the internet of the Columbia River Gorge at sunset. I took a hike out there this weekend (as did half of Portland, it seemed) and had lunch with my (as of this coming Saturday!) wife on the edge of a cliff. I got some great inspiration there.

Anyhow, here is the new layout. I think it may be a while before I do any major trimming, as I really want everything to fill the space. There is a lot of it, after all.

theblondskeleton

PS- The angels are fine I have them in a separate tank until the HC roots. They tend to rip it up in wee mouthfuls. Currently the only fish in there are the rasboras, white clouds, otos, gouramis, and the farlowella acus my daughter affectionately named "Twiggy".

rjfurbank

Looking awesome! That must have been a huge amount of work re-doing the substrate.

I really like the open space you have created--I have not been able to muster the discipline required to leave that much foreground but it looks stunning!

I also like your placement of rocks (especially the LHS)--did you decide to go w/out any DW?

Keep us posted as it grows in--will be interested to see how it matures.

-Roy

theblondskeleton

Yeah, I've relocated the DW for now. I've been considering some manzanita, but I'm not sure that I'm ready for it yet. I think I'm going to hunker down and wait for this scape to mature this time (talk about discipline).

Haha as for the substrate, my wife replies (in the flattened tones of a survivor of traumatic events): "Yes. Yes it was."

Sandman

Looks great. I'm getting ready to rescape my 90 too. I really like what you've done with yours.

yikesjason

Nice rescape. I can see the Columbia Gorge influence there. The rescape and especially the slopes really do add the depth you wanted.

It will be interesting to see the grow out. You might end up needing to add some mid ground plants to ease the transition from carpet to stems.

I can't believe you got rid of half of your carpet plants and still had that much left over. It didn't look like there was that much in the original scape.

I can see why you took out the lobelia and other plants, they don't really match the feel of the current lay out. But it is too bad I didn't see this journal earlier. I have a bunch of blyxa japonica and am running short on lobelia. The japonica is always splitting, but my abertii never has.

Good luck and I hope to see you at the next swap meet.

theblondskeleton

Hey!

Well, I got married. We were gone for 4.5 days and I was nervous about leaving things for so long. It seems my concern was justified a bit. I had a quiet explosion of brown fuzz that is slowly choking my HC carpet. It seems to be struggling to grow but - surprisingly enough - succeeding anyhow. Everything else - well, see for your self (I also added three stems of b. aubertii and more b. japonica to fill in the space. I may have to thin out the aubertii):



Here’s a fat little oto taking a break from snacking on the fuzz:



The big chunky hunk of machinery in the dead center is my power head reactor. Here’s the story with that:

I’m assuming since my CO2 level is consistent with when I left, the lights were on a 5 hour + 3 hour time cycle with a 3 hour hiatus, my nitrates were at about 7ppm, PO4 was at 0, and my canister filter flow rate was significantly reduced, the algae was caused by a combination of PO4/micros shortage, (also indicated by the paleness of the new growth in the plants) and lack of flow on the bottom of the tank. I cleaned the filters the day before I left, so I wasn’t sure what to do there. The shortages I expected, and resumed ‘ferts the day after I returned at previous levels. The algae continued to get worse, despite my resumption of the ‘ferts, and observation showed I was getting no circulation at the bottom.

So, I decided at least until I can figure out some better plumbing, I need to get a cheapo big-box power head to help out. I installed the monster. I think it’s a little big. Plus, it’s GODAWFUL unsightly.

Recently, I had rigged my CO2 tube to a tiny ceramic diffuser that is shaped like an air pump diffuser and crammed it into my Jebo intake strainer to use the Jebo as a reactor. That seemed to work all right before, but when I rearranged the spray bars it totally changed the circulation in the tank. This meant that only the left side was getting CO2. I had to pull it. After a couple hours of research on APC and other forums, websites, and such, I decided to rig up this temporary system:



The clear tube is just undergravel filter tubing cut to length with an X-acto razor saw. I drilled a 1/8” hole in the side of it to fit the ceramic diffuser, and then assembled the works. The diffuser creates tiny bubbles, and the power head makes those tiny bubbles microscopic. Keep in mind that my water is crystal clear - except for bubbles.

Here is a link to a video of the bubbles. I don’t think it’s clear enough to appreciate the cloud that is spewing forth from my power head, but It’s pretty phenomenal - at the expense of looking about as klunky as anything could.

http://s137.photobucket.com/albums/q...nt=bubbles.flv

So, here’s my issue: Now what? I don’t like the klunky mess the power head creates, but I do want to get as much CO2 in there as possible. I also really want to clean up the filter plumbing. I want a single, full-length spray bar in clear tubing across the top of the tank. I also think that I can get rid of the Jebo if I can increase the flow from the XP3. I have an idea that I have been researching for precedent, but there is none. I think it could work, but I’m no engineer, nor am I a plumber, and I’m a little concerned about the physics.

What are the flow solutions you have tried for a big tank like this? I’m looking for the goose with the golden egg, like everyone else: I want the components invisible or outside of the tank, and I want one inlet and one outlet. I’m tired of the mix-and-match-glass-bucket-full-of-multicolored-pipes. Oh yeah, and I want it free.

Vadimshevchuk

Wow! you have a great tank. I will be following this thread. I really like your koi angels.