Aquatic Plant Central

my new junglescape

nicpapa — Thu, 03 May 2012 03:36:30 GMT

hi there this is my new setup it runs 4 months .

Tank size : 100x40x45cm
Fertilization : EI
Lighting : 6x30watt T8HO (8hours) + 2 x 35 t5 (6hours)
CO2 system : Pressurized,ph controller
Substrate system : seachem flourite
Filtration : 2 x ecco pro 300 eheim 750lt/h
Temp : 24-26C
fish 30 hemigrammus bleheri, otos,sae

i am listening for andvice or changes to make it better
Thanks

By null at 2012-03-29

100 Gal Planted :)

AheartlessFish — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 01:19:47 GMT

Hey guys havent been on this forum in awhile. Just wanted to share some pics of my recent tank. feel free to suggest any changes to it. I dont claim to be an expert and ill be glad to hear some constructive criticism :)

Tank mods:
100 gallon long (72"), 2 fluval 404s, t5ho lighting (468 watts with 12 blue moons at night, x6 6000k and x6 pink bulbs...i plan to change the pink bulbs to 6700k) 10 hours a day, co2 injected (just bought a kh test kit so not sure what the ppm is right now but its about 3-4 bps diffused via output hose with gravel tube attached) on a timer to turn off at night, flourite gravel, turbo twist x6 UVS, a whisper air pump (just for o2 exchange)

Current Dosing schedule Index method: (just started today seeing how it plays out)
1 tsp KNO3,
1/2 tsp kh2po4, k2so4, csm+b,
1/4 tsp cacl2, mgso4
Dosages done on M W F and Su* when 50-70% wc is done
I know im suppose to dose csm+b and kh2po4 on different days but i have a bad way of keeping record which day i did them on.
Usually i only dose Kno3, kh2po4, and Csm+b but im trying something new since i have all the chemicals anyway

Fish: Checkerboard pigion discus, 18 tiger barbs, 1 glass catfish, about 10 aus rainbows, a few corys, 5 blood fin tets, 6 rasbora hets, 2 clown loaches, sail fin pleco (hes gona go once i catch him since hes not doing a good job at eating any algae :P)

Driftwood stacked in the middle, plants are mainly wisteria, and others too lazy to list/dont know technical names for them :P

Heres what tank looked like empty:

Then a few days later:

Then had problems with green water for 3 weeks then added the UV and it was amazing.
(im assuming the tank didnt cycle all the way and i had added tons of fish even though my filters came off of a 55 gallon planted tank that cracked, i just moved everything over)

Before UV

2 days after i added the UV (took 2 days, some people say within hours but i guess that depends on your filter)

Ill get more pictures up soon.

60l iwagumi

zchauvin — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 13:06:59 GMT

Hey guys finished my new stand and iwagumi setup yesterday, tell me your thoughts!!

Attachment 16866 Attachment 16867

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Attached Thumbnails

Evolution Planted Tank - 54 G - 35x20x18

galettojm — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:37:03 GMT

Aquarium description:

Volume: 54 Gallons
Months since established: little less than 6 months
Dimension: 35X20X18 inches

Video 6-Month Evolution:

YouTube Video
If you are able to see this message it means that you don't have flash installed or that the video server is down.

Foreground:
Blyxa japonica
Fissidens
Hemianthus calichitroides
Liliaopsis mauritania
Ranalisma rostrata
Staurogyne sp
Utricularia graminifolia

Midground:
Pogostemon helferi
Blyxa japonica
Cryptocorine Nurii Pahang
Microsorum pteropus
Hottania palustris

Background:
Poaceae sp. "Purple Bamboo"
Alternanthera reineckii
Rotala macrandra
Rotala indica
Rotala wallichii
Tonina sp "Belem"

Light: 2 PLL 840 55W and 2 T5 HO 6700K 39W
Light Time: 10 hours per day - 10 horas por d�a.

Fish:
Crossocheilus siamensis
Paracheirodon axelrodi
Boraras Brigittae
Otocinclus sp.

Shrimp:
Taiwan red fire (Neocaridina Heteropoda)
CRS (Caridina cantonensis)
Amano shrimp (Caridina multidentata)

Substrate: ADA "new amazonia" - Powersand.
Weekly Fertilization (ppm) : NO3 26 - K 17 - PO4 2 - Fe 0.57
CO2: Milwauke Co2 Regulator MA957 -- 4 bubble per second with light on.
Water Change: Once per week, 30 to 40% of the tank volume.

Thanks:
http://sfbaaps.org/home.html
http://www.croa.com.ar/ipb2/

DFW emersed plant collection started

kimcadmus — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:32:33 GMT

Thanks to this forum and Zapins� sticky/article, �Beginner's Guide to starting your first Emersed setup!!,� I now have my first true emersed experiment started.

I have had windowsill dishes and floating riccia islands of emersed plants going for several years but never anything soil or substrate based so I decided it was time. A local DFWAPC club member and friend Michael Parkey has inspired me as well with his dish gardens and discussions of venturing further into emersed arrangements. A couple of years ago our club president took a pole and found that we had over 120 varieties of plants within the club. Combine that with the collectoritis syndrome of my 90p rimless has led me to cultivate these plants outside of my aquaria.

So I scavenged the garage and found most of the things I needed then hurried off to pickup soil and fresh light bulbs. I have plenty of room for expansion as well.

Wish me luck!

Material list:

Free 4� pots from local nursery
Miscellaneous glass bowls and plastic containers
60qt Rubbermaid Snaptoppers clear container and lid (stained by having stored used aquasoil)
4� plant stand fluorescent fixture
2 Phillips 45w 6500k fluorescent bulbs
Vital Earth topsoil

Plant list:

Anubias nana petite �gold�
Bacopa monnieri
Clinopodium brownoi
Cryptocoryne parvula
Cryptocoryne ???
Cryptocoryne cordata "Rosanervig"
Cryptocoryne wendtii �Tropica�
Eleocharis acicularis
Eleocharis vivipara
Glossostigma elatinoids
Hydrocotyle sibthorpioides???
Hydrocotyle verticulata
Hygrophila corymbosa compact
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Limnophila aromatica
Limnophila guinea sp. �broad leaf�
Lindernia Rotundifolia �varigated�
Ludwigia arcuata s. repens
Nesaea pedicellata
Poaceae sp. �purple bamboo�
Pogostemon stelata �broad leaf�
Ranunculus inundatus
Riccia fluitans
Staurogyne Repens
Taxiphyllum alternans (Taiwan moss)
Vesicularia montagnei (Christmas moss)

emersed setup 1_15_12start by kimcadmus, on Flickr

emersed setup 1_15_12standlight by kimcadmus, on Flickr

emersed setup 1_15_12planted by kimcadmus, on Flickr

My 200 gallon plywood build

Gilles — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 02:21:56 GMT

So i have been a bit quiet over here, due to the fact that i was very busy at work and i have worked on my secret project. I've managed to finish my new tank a little over 7 months ago.

Specs are:
- 180x70x70 plywood tank with glass front
- No stabilizers (e.g. i have full movement over the tank)
- Pump connections all through the bottom of the tank
- 2x Eheim 2078 filtration
- Up Aqua Atomizer for CO2
- Profilux 3 controlled
- Profilux 3 dosing computer
- 5x 80w maxium light, dimmable by the Profilux 3 (DALI protocol)
- LEDs for the Profilux 3 (thunderstorms)
- Auto top off
- Auto water change with RO water (5% every night)

Here are the pics of the build.

Design:
The blue parts on the canopy are ventilation shafts. As you can see inside the canopy i have placed my ballasts and made such a channeling that the outside/room air flows from the center back over the ballasts inside my hood (warm air) and at the sides the moist air is going out.

Construction:
I was constructing this tank for over 2 years. It was a hobby project so a lot of time and money went into it. It all starts with supplies :)

Reinforcements:
First, i painted the plywood with an epoxy resin to make it water proof. Next i wanted absolutely NO stabilizers in the tank. Therefore i had to reinforce the front since the top bar has to little 'wood' to support the front window. So i ordered a steel beam and got crazy with the drill.

Background, attempt 1:
Next up was the background. First i applied several layers of fiber glass matt to enforce the casing. In total there are about 3 layers of fiberglass. I wanted to incorporate wood into my background, although i am aware of the risks (rotting and the fact that it becomes a part of the layout)

Background, attempt 2:
I was not happy with the above background. The friend which helped me had some good insights, but i wanted to have a planted tank. To much background equals less space for plants. So i decided to redo it. This is the result. If you look closely, you can see the return pipes (in both sides at the front of the glass) and my emergency overflow, the green cascet). Pump intakes are behind in the tank.

Background, finalizing:
Next up is to finish the background. First step involves adding concrete to the background. Why concrete? Since this makes it possible to smooth out holes and make a more rock-like structure. After the (Portland) cement i started adding "Elastopur" basically this is rubber like, 2-component glue-ish stuff which hardens in about 45 minutes, so you have to work fast. The color is yellow-ish but you can add pigment to make it more your own taste. I added brown and immediately after putting on the elastopur i added sand to make it even more naturally. It then looks like this....

Next up, canopy:
So i've used some lamp holders from ebay and arraged my lights according to the design which is at the top of this post. Not a lot of pictures, but here goes.

Moving the tank:
After one month of test running in the garage where i built the tank (my wife is not that happy with 750 liters of water in the living room), i decided to move the tank indoors. I already had the holes for AWC so that helped a lot. In the pictures you also see my trafo, giving 12v. It is behind my tank so that means i can't access it anymore but as long as it works i am happy. It powers my Profilux and connected appliances so i don't have to use that much power adapters. The first picture shows the reinforcements i made at the back of the tank to make sure it doesn't bend.

Plumbing the AWC:
Not much plumbing to do, i had everything pretty much figured out and since i had to fill the tank with water anyway, most of the parts where already in place. However, i still had to do my AWC system which is illustrated in the next pictures.

The 'beast' consists of the following parts:
- The left pipe is the pipe which is directly connected to the tank. This means i can use the valve to quickly drain my tank or to get some water to water my plants :)
- The second pipe from the left is attached to a water solenoid. Currently i am using a different solenoid since the one in the picture required back pressure before it opened. Picture is to follow.
- Third pipe from the left (the long straight one) is directly connected to my emergency overflow and goes to my sewer. Basically the drain pipe.
- Forth pipe from the left (e.g. the right one) is connected to the blue waste water line of my R/O unit.

The last picture shows the different solenoids i have used. The left one is now in place and works like a charm, draining 5% (40 liters) in about 2 minutes. I could have increased this, but that meant i had to use a bigger pipe (20mm) instead of 16mm which is now in place.

Finalizing the build:

Adding the LEDs to the canopy:

Next post will be about the stainless steel tubes which i have used to connect the dosing unit, and the first pics of the second scape (sorry, no pics of the first one)

One way to attach mini Fissidens on the rock or carpet

tien13378 — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:44:18 GMT

Hi All,

I introduce one way of my friend how to attach minifissiden to rock or carpet, my English not good enough to explain detail so please see pictures

First step
Set up your hard scape whatever you want

Wash the fiss

Use grinder to grind the fiss

Spay the water to moist the fiss, rocks and carpet

Rub the fiss that grinded to the rock

Remain fiss put on gravel

Cover tank with anything to keep the fiss/rock ... moist

After 5-7days you can fill the water

After three weeks

Ref other tank did same way

Visit here to see more pictures of this tank

Saintly's 120cm. (Mark Evans)

saintly — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 02:52:30 GMT

Hi everyone. It's been some time since i've posted here...maybe over a year or so.

Here's a few pics from my latest 120cm x 55 x 55.

It's been running for 5 weeks now.

Here's a short clip from 3 weeks ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7ckOBFB9g0

And a few images

Thanks for looking :D

More Flowers & Fruit (Yay!)

asukawashere — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:24:22 GMT

Just wanted to share some of my recent progress in the way of flowers with everybody:

Limnophila sp. 'Vietnam'
Buds:

Bloom:

Side View:

Staurogyne sp. 'Bihar'
The whole plant:

Flower:

and Fruit!

(tried to use the backlighting to candle the pod, so we can see a bit of what's inside...)

Will post more as things continue to bloom. :)

Collect Barclaya in Viet Nam

tien13378 — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 05:27:11 GMT

Hi all,

Just share some pics collection Barclaya red and green leaf in Viet Nam.

In my tank

By the way introduce one new crypt

The Bonsai Chi

XJfella95 — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 18:46:20 GMT

Hello everyone. This is my first post but i have been lurking for a few years now.

My name is Brandon and I am from Lancaster County Pennsylvania.

I have been keeping Apostogrammas for a few yard now but have always wanted to create my own aquascape but never wanted to do anything too big. I was more the nano type of guy just for the small pure aesthetics.

I had bought a Fluval Chi that I was keeping a goldfish in. She has since out grown the 5gal version of this tank so I released her to my mothers outdoor pond where she is doing great!

Anyway this tank started off low tech so I could test the waters in a purely planted tank and getting everything just right with the tank. Slowly i added brighter lights. Co2 and a fert dose regimen.

I'll give specs in the next post.

The tank before the rescape:

I got some time to wade through a local trout stream that saw record flood levels over the summer and was able to find some great wood that was uprooted and washed into piles along the banks.

With the wood I created this hardscape:

And this is the initial rescape that I completed today. Let me know your thoughts.

100 cm - "Yakusugi's king and his throne of rock" - France - My IAPLC 2011 entry

kirua 666 — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:45:48 GMT

Hi everybody,

I would like to present my last tank.

Ranking IAPLC 2011: 206
Title: akusugi's king and his throne of rock
Dimensions: 100x70x55

The pictures step by step, this tank had several versions:

My 150 CM tank.

waratep — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:25:34 GMT

Tank from Bangkok Thailand.
Just the picture before trimming.
I just love to add more plant as much as I can. :p

DIY ADA Stand + De-Rim 20L

GitMoe — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 21:45:11 GMT

I've been wanting to do this for a while and the current $1/gallon sale at Petco gave me the inspiration. Picked up the tank the first day of the sale. De-rimmed it about a week later and then yesterday got to building the stand for everything. Still need to do some adjustments of the door on the stand, sand + finish the stand, and drill the holes for the filter tubes and C02 lines. Still undecided on a light fixture. I'll definitely be getting an Odyssea fixture but I can't decide on the 24" 48w or 24" 96w fixture. Going for high light high tech so I'll probably end up with the 96w. I haven't really seen anybody copy the style ADA stand where the hoses run through the top of the tank. Thought I'd give it a shot. I also recessed the tank about 1.5" in the stand since the silicone on the base of these cheap tanks is really hard to clean up. I still have to finish the silicone removal on the top of the tank.

Overall view:

View of where the tubes will come up:

Drilled the filter lines and Co2 line...

30 Gallon Shallow - "diy galore"

griffin_pak — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:46:47 GMT

I will update this thread as I go along, enjoy!

This is what it looks like today: (updated Aug 30th)

30 Gallon with dimensions of 25x25x12

My only regret with this tank:
I wish I had dropped another 50$ to get this tank rimless

DIY STAND
Approximate cost 40ish, primary source: Home Depot
What I own: a Drill!! wood was cut at HD, bought a drill bit for the screws, found some gorilla glue for wood! and thats about it!

used this site: http://www.fishandtips.com/index.php
for planning, however I altered a bit and used 2x4s

NOTE: 2x4 ARE NOT 2x4, they actually measure 1.5x3.5!!!!! Keep that in mind while planning

So this is the plank for the base, see later image

used these screws 5 inches so that I could join a 2x4 to a 2x4, on the long arm, see later image

3 inch, for the small arm, see later image

drill bit

water proofing spray, about 3$

drying away

the basic construct

short - hence the 3 inch screw

This is where you I need the 5 inch screw, since the three inch screw would only just make it into the horizontal 2x4

good old gorilla wood glue

making sure its level!

the plank I showed you earlier x 2

finally done!

El-cheapo stand! time to build (one person only) - 2 hours ish