[skewlboy]

Ok, so figure I would share my latest obsession. It is a rotala dominated tank that has been filling in here for a little over 2 months. I really wanted a tank I could grow small leaved species in and have the impression that the tank was much larger. Never really done rows before so I figured I would grow them then scape them.... I'm actually happier with the pockets of color and don't know what to do about rows...

Tank specs

20 gallon long tank
4 x 24 Watt T5 lighting
co2 - 2-3 bps w/ DIY reactor
aquasoil type I
fertilization w/ seachem line (mostly flourish - w/ occasional tweaking of npk and iron)

only fauna in there are yellow shrimp (harder to see when taking photos and more hardy than the CRS I had in there before) and a lonely flagfish.

left

middle

right

1 Sphaerocaryum malaccense
2 rotala nanjenshan
3 hydrocotyle verticillata (true form)
4 rotala macrandra narrow
5 rotala gia lai
6 limnophila aromatica broad
7 ludwigia senegalensis
8 Staurogyne porto vehlo
9 eriocaulon blood *****
10 rotala araguaia
11 rotala Singapore
12 rotala indica (ammania bonsai)
13 rotala macrandra green
14 tonina fluviatilis lotus
15 eriocaulon sulawesi
16 mini pellia
17 rotala mexicana belem
18 ludwigia inclinata
19 limnophila repens mini
20 rotala macrandra super red
21 rotala mexicana goias
22 limnophila Vietnam mini
23 rotala mini type 2
24 rotala macrandra mini butterfly
25 bacopa japan
26 lindernia sp India
27 indernia rotundifolia variegated
28 rotala Vietnam
29 rotala mexicana green

 

[freshyleif]

Absolutely AWSOME !!! I love it. Those colors are great and I think the tank size is great. I have been slowely building a 20g long similar to this in my head only. This is so motivating and again I LOVE all the color and the full look already, can't wait to see more pictures as it grows.

 

[JustOneMore21]

Wow....I really like this tank! It looks very structured to me, but I like it. The differences in leaf shape and color make it work IMO.

I'll be looking for your for sale threads....I'm all about some Rotalas!

 

[bratyboy2]

nice collection. i was just thinking about doing a tank like this. they are my favorite too.

 

[skewlboy]

thanks for the kind words. It is becoming a labor of love..

"I would love to do an all stem tank w/ great color" - careful what you wish for sometimes... Now I must trim

 

[Jessie]

LOVE this tank!

 

[Phil Edwards]

You're my hero! This is absolutely awesome.

 

[skewlboy]

growing out some dwarf riccia and some rotala sunset for this tank... muhahahahahah.
May do away with the bacopa japan as it just doesn't fit right in the tank.

Any other ideas for plants w/ small leaves and relatively slow growing?

 

[Bunbuku]

Fantastic! I love the contrasting colors in both your tanks! I am sure you will find a lot of buyers for your trimmings (incl me:loco - with that you could finance a 3rd tank!

 

[skewlboy]

now if only the weather would cooperate...

Too bad you all don't live in Phoenix. We have fall and then Summer - your 4 seasons just confuse me.

 

[bratyboy2]

yah im getting winter right now cold and snow its 12 degrees here right now

 

[Tex Gal]

growing out some dwarf riccia and some rotala sunset for this tank... muhahahahahah.
May do away with the bacopa japan as it just doesn't fit right in the tank.

Any other ideas for plants w/ small leaves and relatively slow growing?

So you found Rotala sunset? Great!

Bacopa salzmannii would go well. (aka Bacopa sp 'Araguaia'), do you have that one?...

 

[GlitcH]

wow!
Well you certainly have made this look larger than a 20.
Now you've gone and inspired me to pretty up my 20.

Really nice though skewlboy.

 

[skewlboy]

So you found Rotala sunset? Great!

Bacopa salzmannii would go well. (aka Bacopa sp 'Araguaia'), do you have that one?...

Yeah, currently just one stem of the sunset but see new node growth already after chopping it to bits

The bacopa araguia - I've had it and it had a nice deep purple in my CRS tank but think the leaves would be too big to fit into this setting. I did like the fact it was slow growing

An all bacopa tank would be cool, (carolina, araguaia, colorata, monnieri, japan - great color spectrum)

 

[ashappard]

nice job with scale and color.
Its collectoritis gone pretty.

 

[Tausendblatt]

Somehow, I think I have seen this before. Nonetheless, I am applauding the exquisite use of a single diverse genus. The dutch influence is apparent and dominant in the layout, although some stems are so short that it is unlikely that they will be maintain-ed without a lot of... maintain-ance.

Great job! Eriocaulon carpet is interesting!

 

[skewlboy]

It is the upkeep that is the fun part. I don't think I am done arranging the groupings in this tank. Was thinking about rows of different colors from back left to front right... ideas? A lime green, an orange, a pink, a red, and a purple/light purple.

 

[TNguyen]

Very colorful tank.

 

[skewlboy]

Somehow, I think I have seen this before. Nonetheless, I am applauding the exquisite use of a single diverse genus. The dutch influence is apparent and dominant in the layout, although some stems are so short that it is unlikely that they will be maintain-ed without a lot of... maintain-ance.

Great job! Eriocaulon carpet is interesting!

agreed - bushing was the hope but the stems want to get tall if I dose nitrates. If I choke the nitrates I seem to get better compact growth but doesn't seem as lush. Fun to adjust and see a difference though.

It works well when well groomed.

The goal was to make a tank that looked like it was 75-125 g but one that would be easier to maintain and fertilize on a budget.

inspired by

and

and

and

 

[AquaLTU]

yap These four photos aquascaping are on my computer