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I meant to get this journal started sooner, but there wasn't much to report on while doing a dark start, and then I had a small mishap with some of my plants getting partially frozen while getting driven around timbucktoo in a FedEx truck. Now that I got my plant replacements in and some of my fish in the tank, I figured now is a great time to start since I have some nice photos.
Here's the sparks notes as to what I got going on so far:
Equipment:
Landen 100p (52 gal with a shallow footprint, roughly 47 gallons factoring in water displacement)
Two Week Aqua T90 Pros
UNS Controsoil Supplemented with APT 1 Dosed Daily
Oase Biomaster Thermo 600
5 LB co2 tank with inline diffuser
Flora:
Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini'
Staurogyne Repens
Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini'
Ranunculus Inundatus (to be added to midground pending delivery)
Rotala Ramosior 'Florida'
Bacopa Salzmannii 'Purple'
Rotala 'Blood Red' SG
Bacopa Colorata
Limnophila 'Belem'
Persicaria 'Sao Paulo'
Nymphoides Taiwan
Cabomba Furcata
Fauna:
20x Cenepa Red Pencilfish
2x Wild Type Honey Gourami
A Few pink Ramshorn snails I plucked from my low techs
To be added once tank stabilizes:
20-30 Hastatus Corydora (I have a group of 20 in their own 20g long breeding project, my wallet broke with the Pencils and Hastatus aren't cheap either) 25 Blood Orange Neocaridina
What's happened so far:
The tank was filled and dark started on 1/17 using some Fritz Turbostart and seeded ceramic from one of my established tanks. I got impatient and planted on 1/30, after the ammonia dropped. The tank cycled on 2/4, so 18 days from fill.
Last night I moved the Pencilfish and Gourami out of QT since I don't work on the weekends and am able to monitor them with the co2. I had my co2 dialed in quite well, at 45ppm. Today was day 1 with the fish in and about halfway through the photo period my plants started lightly pearling for the first time, but unfortunately I could tell the fish were not feeling well. I backed off the co2 a bit, but one Pencilfish in particular started acting drunk. They were $30 a piece so any loss would be a huge disappointment, so I cut the co2 early and slammed some extra oxygen into the tank and all was well. The Gourami were totally unfazed as expected. I turned the flow up on my WaveMaker, turned the co2 down some more, so tomorrow will be ground 0 again with dialing in the co2. Other than that, things are going very well with the plants. It's only been 8 days but the hairgrass is spreading very quickly, the cabomba and bacopa colorata are throwing some very nice colors at the tops despite being low to the substrate, since I've been aggressively propagating everything to fill in what I can. The slower ones to transition and grow are the Ramisior (expected), Limnophila, and Persicaria.
I'm currently running the T90 Pros at 50% on the "Red" preset, which averages about 120 PAR at the substrate. I took about a hundred data points with my rented PAR meter of all of my preferred color settings, including increments of intensity so that I have the data on hand should I need to adjust later. These lights are very impressive. The spread is in line with what I'd expect with a pendant style, but I favor the Kessil-like shimmer effect which is why I chose Pendants. On my 17.71" high tank, they could easily put out 300+ PAR at the substrate and 500+ at the surface.
What's next?
I'm waiting on my Ranunculus Inundatus to arrive and will be planting that scattered throughout the tank like the AR mini to give a nice transition from the hairgrass carpet to the stem plants, I also have two pieces of cut glass coming to make a two piece lid to help prevent evaporation and preserve my boyfriends deer mount. I'm going to start doing larger water changes on the cory QT tank with water a few degrees colder than the tank to stimulate breeding, I'm hoping they will breed themselves into a larger colony, as my main vision for the tank is a massive school of these little cuties. It's my first time keeping them but I find their appearance far more attractive than regular Pygmy Cories, and their mid-level tight schooling behavior will be quite the spectacle if I'm successful. I feel the tank is stable enough to add my shrimp, so I'll be getting those shipped in at the end of the week. I'm hoping once I gain some more plant mass to output more oxygen, I can turn the co2 back up past 35ppm. I can't get any more surface agitation and flow than I already have, without turning the tank into a Kitchenaid mixer. The Pencilfish have been very forgiving with my harder, more alkaline tap water when in the QT tank, so I was hoping they'd be more tolerant of high co2, but apparently not. Long term plans are to add some Jazz caps in a few weeks to feed the stems, but I anticipate sticking with APT 1 since my tap contains both nitrate and phosphate, and I'll have a moderate bioload. I also have had a 5 stage BRS RODI system for a few years that I never bothered to hook up, so I'll be making plans to get the tank switched over to RO water once my soils buffering capacity is about kicked.
Anyways, that's it for now. I'll update back tomorrow with how day 2 went with the Cenepas' tolerance for co2. I've been practicing my cellphone photography skills so enjoy my photo dump below, the Cenepa are absolutely spectacular to watch, and between my toddler, Kaiseri Newts, and these guys, I'm going to have to invest in some external storage for my camera roll. Also, honorable mention for those who replied to my "Center or not" thread regarding my driftwood. It's placed slightly off to the right and it should look very nice once I'm done propagating and can let my stems get some real height. The fish love all of the holes, tunnels, and caves that this piece of wood has.
Here's the sparks notes as to what I got going on so far:
Equipment:
Landen 100p (52 gal with a shallow footprint, roughly 47 gallons factoring in water displacement)
Two Week Aqua T90 Pros
UNS Controsoil Supplemented with APT 1 Dosed Daily
Oase Biomaster Thermo 600
5 LB co2 tank with inline diffuser
Flora:
Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini'
Staurogyne Repens
Alternanthera Reineckii 'Mini'
Ranunculus Inundatus (to be added to midground pending delivery)
Rotala Ramosior 'Florida'
Bacopa Salzmannii 'Purple'
Rotala 'Blood Red' SG
Bacopa Colorata
Limnophila 'Belem'
Persicaria 'Sao Paulo'
Nymphoides Taiwan
Cabomba Furcata
Fauna:
20x Cenepa Red Pencilfish
2x Wild Type Honey Gourami
A Few pink Ramshorn snails I plucked from my low techs
To be added once tank stabilizes:
20-30 Hastatus Corydora (I have a group of 20 in their own 20g long breeding project, my wallet broke with the Pencils and Hastatus aren't cheap either) 25 Blood Orange Neocaridina
What's happened so far:
The tank was filled and dark started on 1/17 using some Fritz Turbostart and seeded ceramic from one of my established tanks. I got impatient and planted on 1/30, after the ammonia dropped. The tank cycled on 2/4, so 18 days from fill.
Last night I moved the Pencilfish and Gourami out of QT since I don't work on the weekends and am able to monitor them with the co2. I had my co2 dialed in quite well, at 45ppm. Today was day 1 with the fish in and about halfway through the photo period my plants started lightly pearling for the first time, but unfortunately I could tell the fish were not feeling well. I backed off the co2 a bit, but one Pencilfish in particular started acting drunk. They were $30 a piece so any loss would be a huge disappointment, so I cut the co2 early and slammed some extra oxygen into the tank and all was well. The Gourami were totally unfazed as expected. I turned the flow up on my WaveMaker, turned the co2 down some more, so tomorrow will be ground 0 again with dialing in the co2. Other than that, things are going very well with the plants. It's only been 8 days but the hairgrass is spreading very quickly, the cabomba and bacopa colorata are throwing some very nice colors at the tops despite being low to the substrate, since I've been aggressively propagating everything to fill in what I can. The slower ones to transition and grow are the Ramisior (expected), Limnophila, and Persicaria.
I'm currently running the T90 Pros at 50% on the "Red" preset, which averages about 120 PAR at the substrate. I took about a hundred data points with my rented PAR meter of all of my preferred color settings, including increments of intensity so that I have the data on hand should I need to adjust later. These lights are very impressive. The spread is in line with what I'd expect with a pendant style, but I favor the Kessil-like shimmer effect which is why I chose Pendants. On my 17.71" high tank, they could easily put out 300+ PAR at the substrate and 500+ at the surface.
What's next?
I'm waiting on my Ranunculus Inundatus to arrive and will be planting that scattered throughout the tank like the AR mini to give a nice transition from the hairgrass carpet to the stem plants, I also have two pieces of cut glass coming to make a two piece lid to help prevent evaporation and preserve my boyfriends deer mount. I'm going to start doing larger water changes on the cory QT tank with water a few degrees colder than the tank to stimulate breeding, I'm hoping they will breed themselves into a larger colony, as my main vision for the tank is a massive school of these little cuties. It's my first time keeping them but I find their appearance far more attractive than regular Pygmy Cories, and their mid-level tight schooling behavior will be quite the spectacle if I'm successful. I feel the tank is stable enough to add my shrimp, so I'll be getting those shipped in at the end of the week. I'm hoping once I gain some more plant mass to output more oxygen, I can turn the co2 back up past 35ppm. I can't get any more surface agitation and flow than I already have, without turning the tank into a Kitchenaid mixer. The Pencilfish have been very forgiving with my harder, more alkaline tap water when in the QT tank, so I was hoping they'd be more tolerant of high co2, but apparently not. Long term plans are to add some Jazz caps in a few weeks to feed the stems, but I anticipate sticking with APT 1 since my tap contains both nitrate and phosphate, and I'll have a moderate bioload. I also have had a 5 stage BRS RODI system for a few years that I never bothered to hook up, so I'll be making plans to get the tank switched over to RO water once my soils buffering capacity is about kicked.
Anyways, that's it for now. I'll update back tomorrow with how day 2 went with the Cenepas' tolerance for co2. I've been practicing my cellphone photography skills so enjoy my photo dump below, the Cenepa are absolutely spectacular to watch, and between my toddler, Kaiseri Newts, and these guys, I'm going to have to invest in some external storage for my camera roll. Also, honorable mention for those who replied to my "Center or not" thread regarding my driftwood. It's placed slightly off to the right and it should look very nice once I'm done propagating and can let my stems get some real height. The fish love all of the holes, tunnels, and caves that this piece of wood has.
94 Replies
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8542 views
Supporting
I Donated 2026
Rockstar
I hadn't seen it mentioned by others that attended Aquashella, but if you hadn't already heard about it or seen it in Aquashella videos, ADA has come out with Amazonia Pro. It's not a replacement for Version 2, but an addition. It is essentially Version 2 on steroids with higher nutrients and of course the negative side effect of potentially higher initial ammonia leaching and, if your not prepared and skilled, more chance of algae. That's even from the mouth of Homma-san himself. The scaping competitors were using it in the competition and AFA was selling 9l bags at the show. They said it would be available on the website within the next couple weeks.
26 Replies
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547 views
Supporting
I Donated 2026
Rockstar
Article Contributor
Like my no-tech bowl scaping thread where I have a list of inspiring bowl scapers, I thought it would be awesome to do the same with a Dutch-inspired / True Dutch thread! I have a ton, but I'll post them over time. If anyone else finds good examples of dutch tanks, post them here, too!
First up:
I translated the transcript and got as much info as I could. Here's the things I find interesting:
50% WC weekly
He front-load doses the incoming fresh water volume to:
If you were to look at it through full-volume dosing lens, it's:
Micros are dosed 3x per week, but nothing specific provided. Probably ~0.3-0.5ppm/week? He does say the iron is all gone/undetectable by the evening.
Beautiful tank! I love the balance of colors, textures, and plant groupings. That tiger lily is amazing. Very little algae, too!
First up:
I translated the transcript and got as much info as I could. Here's the things I find interesting:
50% WC weekly
He front-load doses the incoming fresh water volume to:
- NO3: ~30 ppm
- PO4: ~4.2 ppm
- K: ~34 ppm
- Mg: ~3.4 ppm
If you were to look at it through full-volume dosing lens, it's:
- NO3: ~15 ppm
- PO4: ~2.1 ppm
- K: ~17 ppm
- Mg: ~1.7 ppm
Micros are dosed 3x per week, but nothing specific provided. Probably ~0.3-0.5ppm/week? He does say the iron is all gone/undetectable by the evening.
Beautiful tank! I love the balance of colors, textures, and plant groupings. That tiger lily is amazing. Very little algae, too!
8 Replies
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679 views
Rockstar
Journal 22 gallon long bookshelf
Time to start a new thread.
I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.
90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.
Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.
I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.
I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.
90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.
Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.
I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.
295 Replies
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32885 views
I feel i need to do a journal so I have a internet calendar on what's happened or Ill forget lol! This is now 4 months back into the planted tank world and I'm happy to be back yet lost on true aquascapingI I have a current 29g as a farm tank for future builds going. zrdr 4l co2 bought locally full setup for 40.00, 29g free. A 20long I just bought with metal stand, hygger decent new led light.new heater. few foam bubble filters, ar a nice dual air pump. some new stratum about 16lbs , tons of good food, etc etc and 6 live plants crypts, swords, anubis about 30 stems of rotundifolia 12" tall for 85,00 it was a decent deal with what is came with , I thought!
Original plans was a 29 and 20 long. Well 3 weeks forward to 3 days ago picked up a free 36 bow front with stand, foods.heater, some dragon stone, bubbler all working freeby deal of the year for sure! The tanks pretty clean, some light hard water stains lll razor blade off very clean. Did come with about 35lbs stratum and blk rocks mix.
I threw substrate in tank after light rinse. LOL it went to pitch blk even after 2 big filters with filter floss still blk water after 36 hours later its muck now the stratum is crap imo other than deeper substrate to cover up with build. I have no clue on any age of the stratum 2 months or 5 years no info was free on side of road literally. I decided today to dump the stratum its a dam mess! may strain the stratum with my several size buckets to strain out small materials away from the blk gravel and use it with eco!? Just got 2 20lb bags of eco complete for 55 shipped my 2005 go to, easy no breakdown and same cost as bulk gravel from pet stores in the end.
I Would do the blk blasting sand its cheaper but don't want all sand and in end as I still do some gravel clean monthly oops.. The eco complete last imo forever I have 20 year old eco now in tank. Yeah its inert but still whole rocks. I"Ill be posting many pics of the my dry scapes holy hell! And more as it goes. Its been 19 years since I've done a planted tank def not a newbie just don't remember as much as I did and things have changed any help appreciated for sure! Joe burr has been help sure thanks dutchscape god!
Posted few pics of old tanks 19 years ago when I didn't know what an aquascape was lol no co2 just dry ferts, metride 14 and power compacts it worked! algae was very null. Im calling my new tanks the cheap skape 20 and now 36g the freebie. I usually try to go cheapo as I can get Im not rich rather spend 30.00 on steaks at home than 30.00 on stems lol. I'm mr diy I only buy what I cant build usually.
Original plans was a 29 and 20 long. Well 3 weeks forward to 3 days ago picked up a free 36 bow front with stand, foods.heater, some dragon stone, bubbler all working freeby deal of the year for sure! The tanks pretty clean, some light hard water stains lll razor blade off very clean. Did come with about 35lbs stratum and blk rocks mix.
I threw substrate in tank after light rinse. LOL it went to pitch blk even after 2 big filters with filter floss still blk water after 36 hours later its muck now the stratum is crap imo other than deeper substrate to cover up with build. I have no clue on any age of the stratum 2 months or 5 years no info was free on side of road literally. I decided today to dump the stratum its a dam mess! may strain the stratum with my several size buckets to strain out small materials away from the blk gravel and use it with eco!? Just got 2 20lb bags of eco complete for 55 shipped my 2005 go to, easy no breakdown and same cost as bulk gravel from pet stores in the end.
I Would do the blk blasting sand its cheaper but don't want all sand and in end as I still do some gravel clean monthly oops.. The eco complete last imo forever I have 20 year old eco now in tank. Yeah its inert but still whole rocks. I"Ill be posting many pics of the my dry scapes holy hell! And more as it goes. Its been 19 years since I've done a planted tank def not a newbie just don't remember as much as I did and things have changed any help appreciated for sure! Joe burr has been help sure thanks dutchscape god!
Posted few pics of old tanks 19 years ago when I didn't know what an aquascape was lol no co2 just dry ferts, metride 14 and power compacts it worked! algae was very null. Im calling my new tanks the cheap skape 20 and now 36g the freebie. I usually try to go cheapo as I can get Im not rich rather spend 30.00 on steaks at home than 30.00 on stems lol. I'm mr diy I only buy what I cant build usually.
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1076 views
leaves curled up after the water change in the aquarium.
100l, change 35
Add 30ppm Ca. 8ppm Mg in 35l
100l, change 35
Add 30ppm Ca. 8ppm Mg in 35l
3 Replies
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61 views
Rockstar
Journal Desktop nano paludarium.
I’ve had this idea in my head for a couple of years now and it’s finally taken shape. The inspiration came from a local conservation area/regional park. I wanted a tall nano scape with stone/wood hardscape with a pump/filter in the rear plumbed so the outflows exited at the top and trickled down the face of the scape. Primarily a moss scape dotted with some native accent plants.
Tank: 15cm x 15cm x 25cm ultra clea low iron nano tall with floating bottom.
Light: random plant light from local store.
Substrate: random top fin black pebble gravel that came in a bag with a marketplace tank setup.
Pump: random pump from my dad’s garage from one of my brothers super old tanks.
Plumbing: extra black RO 1/4” tubing and quick connect fittings from a reptile mist kit (for another project).
I started by building the frame with divider panels. There are two ledges that propped up the hardscape, and the whole frame was draped and buffered with 3d spacer mesh (Epiweb) to retain moisture and humidity near the top of the scape without needing a lid. The mesh also helps keep the wood in contact with water, and aids establishing moss.
3d spacer mesh:
Back filter installed:
And the dry fitment test. Had to file down the rock on both sides so it fit without being forced in there. I constructed it this way so the whole scape could be pulled out at once if I needed to reset it, or just the pump if it needed to be serviced. More 3d spacer mesh was wedged in all the crevices for additional wicking.
Topped up and testing:
Additional hardscape up top to help hide all the outflows, and provide space for the finishing flora (maybe some air plants and/or orchids).
Tank: 15cm x 15cm x 25cm ultra clea low iron nano tall with floating bottom.
Light: random plant light from local store.
Substrate: random top fin black pebble gravel that came in a bag with a marketplace tank setup.
Pump: random pump from my dad’s garage from one of my brothers super old tanks.
Plumbing: extra black RO 1/4” tubing and quick connect fittings from a reptile mist kit (for another project).
I started by building the frame with divider panels. There are two ledges that propped up the hardscape, and the whole frame was draped and buffered with 3d spacer mesh (Epiweb) to retain moisture and humidity near the top of the scape without needing a lid. The mesh also helps keep the wood in contact with water, and aids establishing moss.
3d spacer mesh:
Back filter installed:
And the dry fitment test. Had to file down the rock on both sides so it fit without being forced in there. I constructed it this way so the whole scape could be pulled out at once if I needed to reset it, or just the pump if it needed to be serviced. More 3d spacer mesh was wedged in all the crevices for additional wicking.
Topped up and testing:
Additional hardscape up top to help hide all the outflows, and provide space for the finishing flora (maybe some air plants and/or orchids).
7 Replies
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885 views
Journal High-Tech 90P Build
Hi guys!
I'm new here, but not entirely new to planted tanks though I've been out of the hobby for the better part of the last decade between kids and moving a couple of times - but finally in a spot where I can do something again. I'm mostly going to be making things up as I go along, but plan on a lot of automation (I want to integrate everything into home assistant) and a lot of DIY as I love the challenge of building things out myself.
The starting point:
I picked up a 90P rimless, low-iron tank on a great deal.
I have a rough idea in my head for a stand to be built from plywood - just have a couple other house projects to finish off before starting that built.
Wife says I can only have one aquarium, so for this tank, I want to go all out with a sump to allow for auto top off, and auto water changes, auto fertilizer dosing etc. etc. I have half a plan in my mind.
I've also started on the light fixture which I've modeled up in CAD, and plan on making out of an 8020 extrusion, and some 3D printed bits.
I'm using bridgelux gen 3 thrive CW (3000k) and WW (5000k) LED strips which have super high CRI at 98+ along with some specific XPE2 wavelengths that I'll solder onto some starboards. Far Red (730nm), Red (654nm), Cyan (495nm), Blue (455nm), Visible UV (415nm). Each segment of the white channels will be on its own driver so I can adjust left to right brightness in thirds, and each colour channel on its own driver so I can vary each channel on a time-based approach.
These will be run from a custom PCB board with Meanwell N-LDD drivers, and will run ESPHome on an ESP32 so it can link up with my Home Assistant installation.
That's it for now, this will probably be a very slow build so be warned if you follow along!
I'm new here, but not entirely new to planted tanks though I've been out of the hobby for the better part of the last decade between kids and moving a couple of times - but finally in a spot where I can do something again. I'm mostly going to be making things up as I go along, but plan on a lot of automation (I want to integrate everything into home assistant) and a lot of DIY as I love the challenge of building things out myself.
The starting point:
I picked up a 90P rimless, low-iron tank on a great deal.
I have a rough idea in my head for a stand to be built from plywood - just have a couple other house projects to finish off before starting that built.
Wife says I can only have one aquarium, so for this tank, I want to go all out with a sump to allow for auto top off, and auto water changes, auto fertilizer dosing etc. etc. I have half a plan in my mind.
I've also started on the light fixture which I've modeled up in CAD, and plan on making out of an 8020 extrusion, and some 3D printed bits.
I'm using bridgelux gen 3 thrive CW (3000k) and WW (5000k) LED strips which have super high CRI at 98+ along with some specific XPE2 wavelengths that I'll solder onto some starboards. Far Red (730nm), Red (654nm), Cyan (495nm), Blue (455nm), Visible UV (415nm). Each segment of the white channels will be on its own driver so I can adjust left to right brightness in thirds, and each colour channel on its own driver so I can vary each channel on a time-based approach.
These will be run from a custom PCB board with Meanwell N-LDD drivers, and will run ESPHome on an ESP32 so it can link up with my Home Assistant installation.
That's it for now, this will probably be a very slow build so be warned if you follow along!
70 Replies
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4987 views
I Donated 2026
Expert in Residence
MOTM Winner
I have always liked Rotala florida as plant due to its strongly colored leaves, but realized that I haven't actually aquascaped much with it - meaning to integrate it as part of a layout and not just growing a bunch of it in farm/collector style tank. Using plants in a layout in tighter bunches, and in competition with surrounding plants/hardscape is much harder than growing it farm style in a single patch - it also means be able to shape/trim the bushes to match the overall curves of the layout.
Back in 2016 or so when I first received Rotala florida samples from north america, I could only grow it in sparser bunches. It looked nice in macro photographs but I could not envision using it an bush that would show off well as part of a layout unless I can grow it much denser. In the recent years, there were two main discoveries that I found in my experimentation, the first is that it grows better in moderate GH (5 dGH+) compared to super soft water (say <3dGH), and that it grew better in certain soil mixes (I experimented with different garden soil mixes when engineering the composition of APT Feast). Eventually I integrated some of the soil data into APT Feast's composition, and paired with the higher power lights readily available today, I find that I could finally grow the plant the way I envisioned as part of overall layout. I could prune it dense, as the base stems were healthy enough to sprout dense side shoots after trimming - and the secondary/tertiary shoot tips were as fully colored and sized similar to a primary shoot tip that hasn't been subjected to topping yet.
As a midground stem, it works very well due to its slower growth rate vs other colored stem plants.
Against the deep purple of Rotala florida, I found that Golden white clouds worked quite well. So now they are the main inhabitants of the tank.
Tank this week (25/6/2025)
Tank started out like this:
A week or 2 after initial planting (5/5/2025). I reused old aquasoil from the previous scape, so I planted all plants up front rather than waiting more time for the tank to stabilize, with the idea that I could out-grow any algae issues. Initially wanted to add H. Chai but it really didn't fit the overall color scheme, and the bushes by the side were too invasive to be compatible with having a chai patch I think.
Since it was going to contain Rotala florida, I thought I might as well throw in other high demand troublesome species such as the Red Eriocaulon quinguangulare, blood vomit. I settled on Rotala tulunadensis for the background as I wanted something dense and shapeable.
Tank specs:
60x36x36cm
Filter: Oase biomaster 250, all sponge media
CO2 injected through inline atomizer
Substrate: APT Feast
Water column: APT Sky to raise GH to 5dGH, 2ml of APTe per day.
Light distance. Interestingly, not crazy high PAR - just around 200-250 umols PAR at the substrate level.
Trimming and shaping: Most bushes were shaped by cutting individual outlier shoots one by one. Only Rotala blood red and the Rotala tulunadensis was straight trimmed across the entire top once.
This is how the Rotala tulunadensis looked like after a straight trim on 29/5/2025. About 3 weeks from when the top picture at top of this page was taken. It took the plant a whole week + to show new shoots. It seems straight trimming slows down the plant quite a bit, but allows for a very dense & neat canopy afterwards.
There are some interesting plants stuffed here and there. Some Eriocaulon caulescens? bolivia? that local hobbyists passed on to me. Carved out a patch for Syngonanthus vichada - slow grower, but the couple of babies that came have doubled in size so I think they should be alright. I think I will move them to a larger tank with more space.
Only discovered the color combination with the Golden white clouds when the tank matured, but its one of my favourite fish-plant combinations now. I think that while some of the species are a bit picky about growth conditions, one thing I really like about this tank is that most things have moderate/slow growth rates, which makes maintenance with regards to removing excess growth less tedious.
Elatine triandra is used as a low growing green filler plant - it does this role well. As it does not root very deeply, I can easily cut and pull off excess growth easily. Its the fasting growing plant in the layout that requires frequent removal of excess growth.
Some more close-ups.
I'm trying to replicate concepts of this layout (slowing growing bushes) into my 4ft tank.
Back in 2016 or so when I first received Rotala florida samples from north america, I could only grow it in sparser bunches. It looked nice in macro photographs but I could not envision using it an bush that would show off well as part of a layout unless I can grow it much denser. In the recent years, there were two main discoveries that I found in my experimentation, the first is that it grows better in moderate GH (5 dGH+) compared to super soft water (say <3dGH), and that it grew better in certain soil mixes (I experimented with different garden soil mixes when engineering the composition of APT Feast). Eventually I integrated some of the soil data into APT Feast's composition, and paired with the higher power lights readily available today, I find that I could finally grow the plant the way I envisioned as part of overall layout. I could prune it dense, as the base stems were healthy enough to sprout dense side shoots after trimming - and the secondary/tertiary shoot tips were as fully colored and sized similar to a primary shoot tip that hasn't been subjected to topping yet.
As a midground stem, it works very well due to its slower growth rate vs other colored stem plants.
Against the deep purple of Rotala florida, I found that Golden white clouds worked quite well. So now they are the main inhabitants of the tank.
Tank this week (25/6/2025)
Tank started out like this:
A week or 2 after initial planting (5/5/2025). I reused old aquasoil from the previous scape, so I planted all plants up front rather than waiting more time for the tank to stabilize, with the idea that I could out-grow any algae issues. Initially wanted to add H. Chai but it really didn't fit the overall color scheme, and the bushes by the side were too invasive to be compatible with having a chai patch I think.
Since it was going to contain Rotala florida, I thought I might as well throw in other high demand troublesome species such as the Red Eriocaulon quinguangulare, blood vomit. I settled on Rotala tulunadensis for the background as I wanted something dense and shapeable.
Tank specs:
60x36x36cm
Filter: Oase biomaster 250, all sponge media
CO2 injected through inline atomizer
Substrate: APT Feast
Water column: APT Sky to raise GH to 5dGH, 2ml of APTe per day.
Light distance. Interestingly, not crazy high PAR - just around 200-250 umols PAR at the substrate level.
Trimming and shaping: Most bushes were shaped by cutting individual outlier shoots one by one. Only Rotala blood red and the Rotala tulunadensis was straight trimmed across the entire top once.
This is how the Rotala tulunadensis looked like after a straight trim on 29/5/2025. About 3 weeks from when the top picture at top of this page was taken. It took the plant a whole week + to show new shoots. It seems straight trimming slows down the plant quite a bit, but allows for a very dense & neat canopy afterwards.
There are some interesting plants stuffed here and there. Some Eriocaulon caulescens? bolivia? that local hobbyists passed on to me. Carved out a patch for Syngonanthus vichada - slow grower, but the couple of babies that came have doubled in size so I think they should be alright. I think I will move them to a larger tank with more space.
Only discovered the color combination with the Golden white clouds when the tank matured, but its one of my favourite fish-plant combinations now. I think that while some of the species are a bit picky about growth conditions, one thing I really like about this tank is that most things have moderate/slow growth rates, which makes maintenance with regards to removing excess growth less tedious.
Elatine triandra is used as a low growing green filler plant - it does this role well. As it does not root very deeply, I can easily cut and pull off excess growth easily. Its the fasting growing plant in the layout that requires frequent removal of excess growth.
Some more close-ups.
I'm trying to replicate concepts of this layout (slowing growing bushes) into my 4ft tank.
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I Donated 2026
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Hello Welcome, Rachel Smith
Welcome to ScapeCrunch, @Rachel Smith!
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
We would love to get to know you. Please tell us about yourself. What tank do you have?
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Staff member
I Donated 2026
Founding Member
This is the future home for the announcements when someone obtains an achievement badge. Let the games begin!
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