Back to black

[thuctoanvietnamese]

The frogbit is so long !!

 

[AquaBarb]

The frogbit is so long !!

This is @seangee way of helping global warming. We have our very own Amazon rainforest in the UK

 

[Retired Viking]

Wow, that frogbit really has long roots, nice healthy looking plant but looks like it is taking over your tank. I am trying hornwort as a floater. I have a large castle in the center of my tank so frogbit probably would not work out because of the long roots but I like the look and how it looks on the surface.

 

[seangee]

Ha - looks l ike I'm in danger of losing the lid off the tank
I used to trim the roots and thin them out weekly. Just leaving it for a while as the fish do like it. Its probably dark enough on the right now that even the cardinals can breed (if the corys didn't find the eggs first).

Seen a couple of posts recently about low maintenance plants, it doesn't get much lower than this.

 

[seangee]

Suddenly the vals have sprung into life. When I changed the substrate I pruned the leaves and roots really heavily and its taken a while for them to recover. I am no longer retrieving them from the surface and I reckon in another week or two I will have to start thinning / trimming them. The lotus is still hanging in there. I have spotted the BN in there several evenings and its surviving his attention. Its not sending shoots up to the surface yet but I am seeing new leaves regularly.

The sword hiding behind the dragon stone is not doing so well. It has some browning on the leaves with some turning almost transparent in the centre (suggestions welcome). Its not too little light because I have another two in the back right corner where it is almost pitch dark and they are doing really well.

 

[seangee]

And for everyone who laughs at my roots - decided to do a rare test before water change today and nitrates were 0. So was ammonia, nitrite, GH and KH, and as you can see this tank does is nowhere near lightly stocked.

If you really want the full picture pH = 6

I also transplanted two new shoots from the crypt in the nano to this tank to see if they do anything.

 

[AquaBarb]

Thanks to seeing your lotus plant Sean i purchased a couple for my tanks. The one in my 55 litre is still tiny but the one in my 220 as gone from blub to this in under a month.

Are there different varieties because yours is bright redish pink where mine are green and purpley red?

 

[seangee]

All change again. When I did the substrate I wanted 20kg but the usual supplier only had 10. So it was an inch thick and not really adequate for rooted plants. The crypts and hygrophilia I tried floated up into the frogbit root mass where they were never to be found again. I finally got around to ordering another 10kg and tipped some into the light side. I shoved the frogbit over to the right so its back to 50% of the surface, added a couple of substantial bunches of cryptocoryne wendtii and hygrophila costata. I also threw out most of the vals.

The sorry looking amazon sword in front was retrieved from the root mass. If it doesn't recover its for the bin. There is also an anubias up there somewhere but that will survive indefinitely floating in the dark. I might see if its accessible when I do tonight's water change.

 

[seangee]

And yes - the right hand side really is that dark...

 

[seangee]

All right then I can afford to lose a few

Only 1 bucket mind

 

[Retired Viking]

Wish I lived next door, I would be happy to take some of that off your hands for my empty 40 gallon "snail" tank.

 

[seangee]

Wish I lived next door, I would be happy to take some of that off your hands for my empty 40 gallon "snail" tank.

There's a full 10 liter bucket in the kitchen if you want to pop around

 

[seangee]

The new plants look a bit more like they belong now that they have recovered from being squashed in a plastic bag for shipping. And there is a lot of frogbit in my bin.

 

[Retired Viking]

nice, I like it. What plants did you get?

 

[AquaBarb]

Looking good Sean, new plants have made a big difference

Really like the tall plants at the back by the vals. Are they hygrophila?