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Anonymous

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vitz":2s1hsz65 said:
it's a complete mystery to me why this one patch is thriving while all the others are fading away.

quite possibly caused by the floaters sucking up available nutrients faster than the majority of utricularia can ;)

I dunno, if that were the case I'd expect to see less growth on the HC and the lobelia then I have. Plus, UG is supposed to do better in tanks running leaner in terms of nutrients, and I'm not seeing the typical sign of nutrient deficiency in them (yellowing blades).

Still, might be worth the shot to up the ferts in the tank and see if it makes a difference.
 
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Anonymous

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What a great thread.
I'm going to have to pick your brain one of these days...planted freshwater tanks are the last frontier for me...I can't wait to do this.
 
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Anonymous

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JimM":2vp7vtcv said:
What a great thread.

Heh. "Great" I don't know about it - but it's definitely a prime case of a set up not evolving as planned at all. Even if the downoi and UG had thrived and taken off, I have to admit at this point that the 15 gallon tank I'm using may just be too small to give the proper sense of scale of the much larger tank Oliver Knott did his layout in.

Since I'm left with (for the moment, anyway; it's always possible the remaining UG will rebound) an HC and lobelia tank, I'm asking myself the question of, is the current layout the best use of these two plants I can make? I'm pretty sure the answer to that is 'no', so I'm figuring before much longer on completly dropping the attempt to emulate the look of the Knott tank.

I'm kicking around a few ideas and intend to do some shopping for hardscape materials over the weekend. If I can find what I'm looking for, I may go ahead with one of the ideas I've got. We'll see. Mostly depends on whether or not I can find The Right Piece of Driftwood. And I need to buy about a half dozen loufas, for obscure reasons :D

I'm going to have to pick your brain one of these days...planted freshwater tanks are the last frontier for me...I can't wait to do this.

Sure, shoot me a PM whenever, or just use the thread here, whichever. Or if you like shoot me your email address... there's a short document I threw together called 'A Reefkeepers Guide to Setting Up A Planted Aquarium' I could send you a copy of.
 
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Anonymous

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Text post to follow. Day One pic
 

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Anonymous

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Okay. As you can see from the photo, I've completely changed things around. The last scape really wasn't coming together the way I'd wanted it to, and the UG just wasn't faring well. By the end I had only a couple of square inches of it left, so I've moved the little bit I still have into an emersed set up where hopefully I can coax it to do better in case I want to use it again down the line.

The new setup is using HC for the lawn, lots of isoetes lacustris (the tall plant, occcasionally called octopus plant or quillwort), a couple bunches of HM, a little bit of the lobelia I'd been using, and riccia.

The riccia is a short-term resident. As you can see in the photo, it's attached to the driftwood under mesh, and also used on three stones in the back right corner. What I really want to use in those places is fissidens zippelianus, a difficult to get moss. It may take a few months to get a supply of that, so the riccia is my 'for-now' solution. It's a pain to work with and maintain, but on the plus side it really shouldn't take more then a few weeks to completely fill out.

Not long ago I picked up some ADA 'old black wood' driftwood from the Senskes. One rather large log they sent was unique in being the only piece of ADA wood I've seen that had clearly been sawed off a larger piece of wood. That gave me a completely flat, even surface on one side of the wood and I've used that here, placing that side flush against the left side glass of the aquarium.

The isoetes is positioned in a row behind the wood, and two additional plants are positioned in front of it and all the way up against the side glass. Hopefully this gives the impression of the wood peeking out of the edge of a much larger strand of these plants. Isoetes was used instead of vals mostly because isoetes is completely non-invasive. It's multitude of extremely thin leaves helps with perspective and scale in a small tank, as well, and fortunately it's a slow grower.

I'm unsure about the layout in the back right half of the tank. Right now I have a couple bunches of HM in there, and then a small hill in the right back corner on which are placed a few riccia rocks for texture. I'm thinking as the HM grows to trim it on a diagonal angle, so it 'slopes' down to the right. I'm open to suggestions on what to do with that end of the tank, though.

Thoughts, opinions, impressions?
 
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Anonymous

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Hmm, needs more cowbell :P ;) I like it so far, but yeah that mesh is distracting.
 
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Anonymous

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Lawdawg":1gqtupbc said:
Hmm, needs more cowbell :P ;) I like it so far, but yeah that mesh is distracting.

Yeah, won't be for long though. The good thing about riccia is how fast it grows; the mesh should end up thoroughly overgrown and invisible within just a few weeks. Of course, the bad thing about riccia is also how fast it grows. But hopefully by the time it needs a complete new tie-down I'll have my hands on the moss I'm looking for.
 
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Anonymous

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On the subject of the riccia and it's replacement, here's what I eventually want to be using in it's place:

m2fiszipgi3.jpg


Fissidens zippelianus is slow growing, rather pricey, and hard to get. It's growth pattern reminds me very much of those you see in some species of gorgonians and briareums. Right now the only source of it I can find is a guy in Malaysia who sells it at a rate of $10 for 20 "leaves". Hopefully I can locate a better option for purchasing it than that.

If I can't get a reasonable supply of it before the riccia reaches Colossal Pain In the Ass status, I'll pick up either fissidens fontanus:

m1fisfonam7.jpg


...or susswassertang ("freshwater seaweed"):
m3swtvb5.jpg


Both of those are relatively easy to get. The susswassertang is interesting in that it's appearance is much like a slightly larger version of riccia with one key difference; it doesn't float.
 
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Anonymous

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;) keep searching for the FZ, and when you do find it grow it out for resale :P
 
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Anonymous

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Heh. It is nice looking stuff, isn't it? Just wish I could find some being offered domestically. I'd really rather avoid dealing with another week+ long shipment of plants from out of the country.
 
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Anonymous

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I'm sure after the last go round. But...but...but must have, its so green and lucious ;)
 
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Anonymous

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Riccia is growing visibly day-by-day and pearling like crazy, but it's not enough yet to justify taking new pics. Maybe by the end of the week.

I've given myself a sort of deadline on trying to source the FZ. Robert Hudson of AquaBotanic is bringing in a large shipment of mosses (including both of my alternate selections mentioned a few posts up) around the middle of July. If I haven't found a supply of FZ by then I'll just bite the bullet and settle for one of the other choices (right now I'm leaning towards susswassertang, some pretty good photos of which can be found at http://www.aquarminy.yoyo.pl/ang/do%20f ... rtang.html if anyone wants to check them out).

Hard to believe that stuff is a fern - or at least, one stage of the lifecycle of a fern species that seems to have forgotten how to reach the next stage.
 
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Anonymous

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Just a quick photo...
 

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Anonymous

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Me too. Muchos.

But now I'm wondering how long you'll give it before trying a new approach. :wink:
 
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Anonymous

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The Escaped Ape":3bze2mq5 said:
Me too. Muchos.

But now I'm wondering how long you'll give it before trying a new approach. :wink:

Trying to go slow and steady on this one. The only thing I do plan to do, as mentioned previously, is ditch the riccia if I can find one of the mosses/ferns I'm looking for. The riccia is gorgeous, and it's ridiculous how nice it looks when it's pearling (which it does, like mad)... but I'm not looking to do the long term maintenance it requires.

You can see in the photo I didn't quite get the initial tie-down of the riccia on the wood right... not enough riccia near the outside edges of the mesh, so the edges of the mesh still show. Glad I gave this stuff a try, even if I haven't got the patience to tie it all down again and again every couple months. Could really do an "instant aquascape" with it.

The isoetes have thinned out a good bit, losing a lot of 'leaves'. Not sure if it's from the heat (tank has been hitting mid 80s, but nothing else seems to mind) or just from being transplanted to my tank in the first place. I'm keeping an eye on it, hopefully it will thrive. If not, I'll just replace it with HM... that bush of it I have grows like mad, so trimmings from it wouldn't take long at all to fill in where the isoetes is if it's required.
 
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Anonymous

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When I had a FW tank, I remember being driven mad trying to get riccia to look the way I wanted it to look. You've may not be exactly where you want, but you're a lot closer than I ever got.

I really like the different levels and layers you've achieved with this layout. 8)
 

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