George's Latest Aquascape

[RadaR]

Nice work George.
Changed quite a bit since it's last scape.
Im warming to these slow growing, low light tanks. I think your's displays it perfectly. Being forgiving as they are, you could miss a weeks water change/fert dosing without problems?
Anubias flowered yet?
We have some Pentazona Barbs at work and they are fantastic. I think the addition of Botia Striata would be good. You've had one before if I recall?

 

[aaronc]

Looking good George, like it alot

Aaron

 

[lljdma06]

Welcome to the dark side! Now loose the EI and opt for Yeast CO2 and I'll have a little clone running about. I'm trying to loose the stems in my 36g as well. But I'd like to find a nice home for my A. reineckii, it's just too pretty to bin.

Tank looks great! I like it a lot. In my setups, the algae for the most part went away on its own after about 3-4 months depending on how stable the system is. I initially dosed my tanks with ferts but I found that as the tank matured, I could begin reducing the amount I dose until I now no longer dose anything, not even trace. But, I also overfilter, overstock, and perform possibly more frequent waterchanges. My tapwater may also have more dissolved minerals in it. You could definitely add more pentazona barbs or possibly consider a shoal of chain loaches to keep with your SE Asia theme.

They are scapes for the patient, but these types of setups really reward you later. I am very pleased with my 20g right now, which is similar to yours except I don't have pressurized.

llj

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks everyone.

Being forgiving as they are, you could miss a weeks water change/fert dosing without problems?
Anubias flowered yet?
We have some Pentazona Barbs at work and they are fantastic. I think the addition of Botia Striata would be good. You've had one before if I recall?

Indeed, Fred. I've been away from home for a couple of weeks in the last month or so and the tank did not see any attention at all. Upon my return it looked better than ever.

I can highly recommend low light for those with little spare time/lazy. With good CO2 and substrate/ferts I suspect one can grow more demanding plants than previously assumed with low light. For example C. parva and C. calamistratum I always thought required med-v.high light (see Tropica site).

Yes, I've had two Anubias flowers so far. It's as if the plant doesn't realise it's underwater!

And yes, I've had two B. striata before. I'd like to keep a group of five next time, as they prefer company of their own kind.

Pentazona's are great. Nails to photograph though....

 

[mlawson]

Looks brilliant, I especially like the Crinium.

 

[stang1]

Looks stunning and the Pentazona Barbs are a great choice of fish!

 

[SuperColey1]

George

I am so jealous of your Crypt Balansae. Mine seems to curl rather than grow up, which is strange as my Wendtii just grows into a monster within a couple of months and I have to rip half of it out.

How do you do it? Has it been settled for a good length of time (mine has been unmoved for 2 months now)

Have you thought about White Cloud Montain Minnows. I think they look sooo pretty lolling about in the upper reaches of the tank.

Andy

 

[plantbrain]

Glad to see you got away from HLD, high light disease.
Much easier to keep and maintain such tanks.
These are the types of tanks that run for decades.

BTW, you can run about 1/2 EI for fert dosing and perhaps 2x a week.
More does not hurt, but it's not needed here.
You can still have decent fish loads though if you keep up with the water changes.

C parva has never come to look that great as really dense mat, always sort of thin.
You might try another foreground plant, eg U grammifolia Petite Anubias, C x willisii, Hair grass(yes, it does well at low light), Dowoni, even Erios, HC etc.
Erios/Downoni and hair grass are the least weedy over time.

Lobelia is another nice plants.

Or just some nice open space, clean front, see some of the NBAT contest tank's front layouts.
Also, see about narrow leaf Java fern, it makes nice groups.


Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[gt568]

Looks good mate, hope the move is going swimingly.

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks again everyone.

I like the dwarf chain loach suggestion (Yasuhikotakia sidthimunki) as these are more active mid-water than B. striata. Good call llj.

Andy - The balansae has been in there a good few months. It didn't grow for ages then suddenly took off. The tank gets a fair amount of natural light and I assume the longer days triggered something.

I actually considered WCMM but these prefer cooler water, as I'm at 26C. I anticipate a hot summer too - http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...g.php?blogid=95

Tom - Thanks for the input. Will downoi stay short in low-light?

George - Thanks mate. Take care out there at the sharp-end!

 

[lljdma06]

Glad to see you got away from HLD, high light disease.

That was funny. I like that. Still, it is good to know how to do both. Trying different methods is always something that you've advocated, Tom.

I'm glad you like the suggestion, George. I'm never going to get used to that name change, though. Almost impossible to pronounce without putting a cramp in your tongue. Too many syllables.

llj

 

[zig]

It looks wonderful George a testament to your plant growing skills, particularly like the sides how you have encapsulated the scape as it were, very nice.

Don't think Downoi would suit this scape myself, I have some growing in a tank atm and it gets quite tall in low light, could always be trimmed I suppose but still not sure if it would suit this setup, funny actually I was looking at some C parva yesterday with a view to buying it, didn't in the end.

What ppm CO2 are you adding or did you mention already?

Glad your not entering the PFK competition

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks again.

Peter - I'm not overly happy with the composition but have some neat ideas I will implement in the coming weeks/months. The main thing is that I know I can grow things well at this stage. It's reassuring to be able to do this with such low light. Maybe I'll even turn the CO2 off and minimise water changes one day.... Go proper low-tech.

CO2 is around 30ppm. I was using the 4dKH ref. method but took out the dropper after I established a bubble rate. Even if it's lower I know it won't be a major issue due to the low light. If I see algae, simply up the CO2 or add Excel, or both - not that I see algae, of course! Water column is fed well with mod-EI.

I like the parva, it's painfully slow though but I'm getting to like painfully slow....

I'm glad I'm not entering the PFK contest too.

Thanks again.

Here's some pearling for you. Remember, 1wpg....

 

[SuperColey1]

George

I think you've been pricking those plants with a pin just to get them to pearl. you little show off.

On the summer info, many thanks. I might start looking for a cheap chiller on ebay cos I love the look of the WCMM and they would tie in nicely to the 22degrees I am aiming for to get the pitbull plecs to get it on.

Chain Loaches are gorgeous looking fish too. Last time I ran out of 'inches' so couldn't get them and this time I've gone for the pitbulls again. Maybe one day I'll get some.

I know Tom is vastly more knowledgable than myself, and I have to agree that Anubias Barteri 'Petite' are beautiful plants, but wouldn't it cost a lot or take a year or more to make a large enough foreground with them? Or with you being GF would you get them gratis? lol

Andy

 

[Liam]

Its beautiful George, I also like the name you have given it, I have a few C. parva in my five gallon since last September they have hardly grown at all, but they still look good. Granted they are very shaded with only 11 watts of light.
I have chain loaches they only got comfortable enough to show themselves when I had six. They do keep the ramshorn numbers low but they don’t seem to touch the mts, which is fine by me.