My First Rock Layout

[davemonkey]

AAAAARG!!! Anubias ia SOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!! Honestly, I should have much more patience than this, given I've been without an aquarium for so long...but there's almost ZERO change (except some of the other plants) so far. On top of that, now I get to figure out how to put a hold on the various algae issues without any fish to eat algae ('cause they'll disturb the Anubias that is not rooted yet). So, that means less light, or same light for fewer hours, which means...you guessed it...more time before the Anubias roots in.

This think better look awesome when all is said and done.

[sunkenmetal]

dose the hell out of the tank

[aquabee]

What kind of anubias do you have? I had just a regular anubias nanas in my 8 gallon planted nano with 3.4 wpg and CO2, and that thing grew and flowered like a fiend. Wasn't even dosing ferts at that time either, just root tabs.

[aquabee]

And on the other hand, my anubias hastafolias, cogensis, and nanas petites won't even budge. So annoying.

[davemonkey]

HAHA! Yeah, I'm being careful with dosing so I don't get a sudden algae outburst that I have to deal with. It's an office tank so I"m not here everyday to watch over it. Aquabee, these are 'petites'. I have found, as you have, that a plain ole Anubias will actually grow quickly (for an Anubias) wen it's roots are well established in a nutrient rich substrate. I'm hoping the 'petite' will do likewise, but with tiny leaves come tiny roots, so it takes a long time before their roots really get down in there. Just eyeballing it, the roots seem to be growing at a rate of 1" per month...and are just now getting into the tip of the substrate (most are not flush on the surface of the substrate). I think in another month I'll be able to remove all the "riprap" holding some of them down, and then they SHOULD start to fill in.

So, 2 months after initial flood-up, my scape will be in the "beginning" phase.

[davemonkey]

It's been 8 weeks since I went fully submersed. The Anubias 'petite' is NOT doing what I want. No matter how deep it roots into substrate, the leaves are just too bouyant for the plant to stay put with any amount of disturbance. So, it'll will all come out (except what is attached to rocks...once they attach to rock/wood, they are there for good). I have found a dwarf hairgrass to replace it with and will leave the Anubias in until the hairgrass starts to grow.




I'm not very please with the back corners either. On the right side, I have some Najas guadelupensis that is just starting to do well. I like it alot and want to leave it, but I don't know if it will look right...depending on what I do with the left. Here's a pic where you just make out the Najas in the back behind some Rotala romasior.



Here is the left back corner. There is the same Rotala at the far edge of teh back part of the pic, but the 3 stems that I think need to come out are Ludwigia octovalivis.



The Ludwigia have been extremely slow. But here's the thing: they have been emersed and had a hard time converting over. I want to keep them because it's never been tried in the hobby before, and they are actually starting to look okay. BUT, they have to have ALL LIGHT (or more lighting than I can offer them, and then laybe a little shade might not hurt). So my problem is, I want to keep them for the sake of giving them a fair shot...but I want the scape to look good...so I'd like to replace them with Blyxa that is going bonkers in here or the Najas so the back corners match.

Oh, and in the very back, middle-back, I am trying out Ruppia maritima (Widgeon grass). The thin leaves look great IMHO, but it also need ALOT of light so I have to be careful since my lights are not that bright (bright bulbs and high watts, but poor reflectors).



Anyway, there's an 8-week update.

[wesleydnunder]

Comin' along nicely, Dave.

Mark

[davemonkey]

Okay, so as of this morning, here is proof of gross neglect:




The guppy grass actually is doing phenomenal! Not only is it staying rooted, but the color at the tops is really attractive. I'm starting to like!


Overcrowded plants....very clean water...trimming will NOT be fun (and it wasn't).


New plant that I tried on a whim (thinking I had tried before and failed). It very promising...but I need to actually see how it grows in it's own "scape"...so post-trim will involve replacing much of the Blyxa with this to really test it out.

[davemonkey]

Trimmed out most of the stems leaving the Blyxa...



And then started ripping out everything except the foreground, the very back/right corner (which I left alone) the crypts (which got trimmed heavily) and the 'petite' Anubias (left it alone as well).



Finished scape...which I think is kinda risky since I don't know what that plant is going to do. I placed it in the back-middle and at the left edge/back area. Replaced some Blyxa in spots...

[davemonkey]

These are the survivors of what I pulled out...about half of the full volume...

(This first one with Blyxa is a gallon-size bag...not a quart like the others shown.)

[Mike&stef]

Wow we're you still dosing anything the whole time you left the tank go wild?

[davemonkey]

Wow we're you still dosing anything the whole time you left the tank go wild?

Actually, no. I had been dealing with a lot of algae on the glass and some hair algae and GSA on the Anubias and Crypt leaves. (I think the hair algae was just because it was a relatively new set-up...but I'll juts what I did and what happened and let you draw your own conclusions.)

After the last set of pics I had posted, the algae really started coming on, so I stopped dosing and cut back on the light intensity. I am now running only 2 bulbs of Geisseman Midday on t-5 not-so-HO ballasts (two fixtures, 1 bulb in each so I can spread them apart more). The plants continued to grow and I'd dose just a pinch here and there when I thought it was needed.

Then, I went out of town for a week...which meant a whole week, plus a weekend of neglect. When I got back to the office (where the tank is) I was SHOCKED. The plants looked fabulous, there was some diatom algae on the glass (no big deal) and the hair algae was COMPLETELY GONE, and the GSA on the leaves was fading quickly (now completely gone). I have no idea what happened to it...it was just gone, without a trace. I did get some nerites and some malawa shrimp, and I'm sure they cleaned up quite a bit...but the fact that no more is growing is astonishing to me. I've ALWAYS had at least SOME algae growing noticeably in a tank.

So, I decided to just leave it alone like that...a water change maybe once a month, no ferts, and the 2 bulbs on for 10 hrs with a modest amount of CO2 (2 bps or so on this 15 gal long...12x12x24). The plants just kept growing and overcrowding...and ZERO algae on the plants...just a bit on the glass now and then. About 6 days before I did that trim I started dosing again because I noticed the leaves were fading a bit (overcrowded, blocked light, nutrients gone from water column, etc...).

I'm not entirely sure what I'll do now having just trimmed. I don't think I'll need to dose...I'll just have to keep an eye on the plants and see what they tell me. I do expect to get a heavy algae outbreak until I get some plant mass back in there.

[davemonkey]

Full Tank Shot now that water has cleared over the weekend:


Right Side (notice the far back corner Blyxa was not trimmed/thinned with the rest...only the various stems were cut out):


Left Side (notice the far back corner was HAMMERED during trim/thin):


All of my Anubias were covered totally in algae (GSA) a month ago...now they are all cleaned...and I did ZERO cleaning on these. Also, the yellow stem poking up is Ludwigia linearis...trial run for this guy.


A tiny bit of Fissidens I had forgotten about:

[davemonkey]

I finally trimmed the forground...and tore out the back-right corner while I was at it. I found a bit of Staurogyne that I had completely forgotten about...but don't really have a spot for it, so for now it's in that back corner with some random other stuff. Trimming the hairgrass revealed much of the hardscape again...and some plants that had been hidding in it.
I apologize for the photo qulaity. I had it set on marcro and didn't realize until after the photos were uploaded. Also, you'll notice the rt side looks "brighter" than the left. That is from the auto setting on the camera. In reality, the opposite is true...the RT side is more shaded and the LFT more bright (because of the Crypt). The camera just adjusted the exposure on each side. Anyway...

[JAYGEE]

Wow! I'm digging your tank! I need to add more plants to mine!