After a conversation with members eaglesaquarium and widbetta I have decided to start my first ever planted journal. In my minds eye I have a clear vision of what I'm trying to achieve but as we all know with and in this hobby, even the best laid plans are hard to bring to fruition. Pics and stats will be added tomorrow...
Tank Philosophy
I don't really have a theme or philosophy. The aim is a "Colourful Dutch" aquascape but in truth a densely planted aquarium is more of an necessity due to the bain on my planted experience, nitrate. My water supply has too high a ppm and almost every algae problem I've had so far has used Nitrate as an ingredient to flourish. To combat this, my EI mac ferts have only a third of the recommended nitrate mixed into the solution and although this may not sound ideal, I'm confident that I'll be able to spot any nitrate deficiencies and adjust if need be.
Lighting
Standard juwel 2xT5HO 70W total. 5 hours per day to begin with
Ferts
EI
CO2
Pressurized 1bps
Plants
Some of these I've grow, others I've had zero success with (Cuba) and other's I've never tried before so it's a bit of a gamble some might say. The plant list is as follows...
Micranthemum 'Monte-Carlo'
Utricularia graminifolia
Pogostemon helferi
Microsorum pteropus narrow
Bacopa crenata / monnieri
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Staurogyne repens
Alternanthera rosaefolia
Hygrophila corymbosa
Riccardia chamedryfolia
Proserpinaca Paulustris 'Cuba'
Hygrophila sp. ''Araguaia''
Ideally, the hope here Is to create a contrast of colours: yellowy green - next to brown - next to dark green - next to red with pink thrown somewhere in the mix. I'm aiming for this in particular because most of my tanks, including my best, to date have all been amazon sword green (if that makes sense.) And whenever I see a scape that is high in contrast to me, personally, they seem grand and I immediately start my wishful thinking which some might call delusions. Hence the scape/journal name.
Tank Philosophy
I don't really have a theme or philosophy. The aim is a "Colourful Dutch" aquascape but in truth a densely planted aquarium is more of an necessity due to the bain on my planted experience, nitrate. My water supply has too high a ppm and almost every algae problem I've had so far has used Nitrate as an ingredient to flourish. To combat this, my EI mac ferts have only a third of the recommended nitrate mixed into the solution and although this may not sound ideal, I'm confident that I'll be able to spot any nitrate deficiencies and adjust if need be.
Lighting
Standard juwel 2xT5HO 70W total. 5 hours per day to begin with
Ferts
EI
CO2
Pressurized 1bps
Plants
Some of these I've grow, others I've had zero success with (Cuba) and other's I've never tried before so it's a bit of a gamble some might say. The plant list is as follows...
Micranthemum 'Monte-Carlo'
Utricularia graminifolia
Pogostemon helferi
Microsorum pteropus narrow
Bacopa crenata / monnieri
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Staurogyne repens
Alternanthera rosaefolia
Hygrophila corymbosa
Riccardia chamedryfolia
Proserpinaca Paulustris 'Cuba'
Hygrophila sp. ''Araguaia''
Ideally, the hope here Is to create a contrast of colours: yellowy green - next to brown - next to dark green - next to red with pink thrown somewhere in the mix. I'm aiming for this in particular because most of my tanks, including my best, to date have all been amazon sword green (if that makes sense.) And whenever I see a scape that is high in contrast to me, personally, they seem grand and I immediately start my wishful thinking which some might call delusions. Hence the scape/journal name.
