I didn't have time to do any plant pruning or maintenance since the previous update (truthfully, i was just being lazy again), so the plants had absolute freedom to grow and take over the tank.
Here is its latest look...
Cyperus Helferi grew crazy as expected, quickly covering the water surface and arching over to the other side of the tank... i measured the longest leaves and they were more than 110+ cm in length!
Blyxa Japonica also went nuts and ballooned into huge bushes, the cluster on the right has grown tall enough to almost the reach the water surface by a few cm.
Eleocharis sp. 'Mini' continued growing even more densely but still retained its compact and short growth height, interestingly even the areas under shade grew well too. I've still not had to trim it ever since tank startup (which was more than a year ago). Its indeed one of the lowest maintenance carpet plants i've ever kept so far.
It was enjoyable keeping and maintaining this tank for the past year... but i'm expecting less free time due to my increased workload in the near future, so the tank will be re-scaped to a much lower maintenance setup. It'll still be running the same equipment setup (ie. Co2 injection), but instead with slower growing plants and a simpler layout. :)
Nice tank!!, was thinking to do something like your tank!
ReplyDeleteI really like this scape, I am planning to do one soon but non-co2, I wonder what else besides moss...
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to your next scape!
Sad to see this tank go. Overall it's already a simple layout with few types of plants.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious -- If you are planning for slower growing plants, would you still need to continue with co2 injection?
What plants are you thinking?
I'm planning to convert the layout into a sand-based tank with mainly branchy wood, sort of a modular layout which i can change around and manage easily. I'm probably looking at various combinations of moss, anubias, bucephalandra etc... basically plants that can be tied to objects.
DeleteAlthough these types of plants are slower growing and can survive in low-tech conditions, from my experience, they usually grow more healthily and lush in Co2 injected environments, so i'll continue to inject Co2 in the tank to bring out their nicer colors and improve the overall plant density. :)
Do you trim hairgrass? any other secrets to grow such green and bushy hairgrass
ReplyDeleteFor the Eleocharis sp. 'Mini' species of hairgrass in this tank, i didn't need to trim it at all for more than a year as it naturally has a short and compact growth, so its very easy to manage.
DeleteI guess the secret to growing this type of hairgrass is simply good lights, ample Co2, sufficient nutrients... and patience. :)
Hi, could you let me know how you quarantine all your new plants? Do you have a solution to kill off all the hitchhikers ?
ReplyDeleteWhenever i get new plants, i always wash and rinse them thoroughly in clean running tap water, then put them in a quarantine tank (just a small plastic tank with hang-on filter and LED lights), and then dose the quarantine tank with Easy-Life AlgExit, ISTA Snail Remover and Seachem Paraguard... those treatments combined help eliminate algae, snails (and other hitchhikers) and parasites from the plants.
DeleteI treat the quarantine tank like a regular planted tank, fertilizers are still dosed and it has a regular light photoperiod.
The new plants will usually be kept in the quarantine tank for 7-10 days (sometimes longer), once i'm satisfied the plants are clean, then i shift them to my main tanks. It requires more work, but so far this practice has ensured my tanks are mostly free of troublesome algae, snails and parasites. :)
Wow .. you really do have patience and discipline when it comes to your tanks. How do you manage to restrain yourself from adding in the new plants the moment you buy them. All I want to do is put them in and see how it looks and grows. :)
DeleteThanks for your advice. Will try to follow it as much as i can.
I keep separate grow-out tanks to house new plants (or plants i've not grown before) so that i can observe how they grow... here is an example from one of my previous grow-out setups:
Deletehttp://www.urbanaquaria.com/2013/05/32-litre-tapestry-garden-tank.html
These are basically tanks with a mix of different plants added in groups, with ample light and fertilizer dosing, but no actual aquascaping, just for grow-out purposes. :)