My 2ft Planted tank

[Vez]

okey,

after i got my new plants from Khalid (Thanks Dude),

this is how my tank is looking now, will still sort of some of the plants, as some needs to go into my 3Ft (once i can get rid of all those snails in my tank).

how does it look?

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Vez

[Vez]

a pic of the small little dudes in this tank.

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[Vez]

then i played around with this one pump, and the air pump, and got this "Jet", and the fish love it, and on the one site, they said, plants and moss like water flowing over them, and it needs to be rich with oxygen.
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[Vez]

then one pic of the moss

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[shihr]

looking good so far man! :)

[TomK]

Is that big bunch of green stuff not a bit overwhelming? Suppose it is necessary if you have fry in the tank.

[Vez]

Is that big bunch of green stuff not a bit overwhelming? Suppose it is necessary if you have fry in the tank.

haha, jip, thats why i said, some of the plants will be going into the 3ft...

[Skaapietjie]

the bunch of green stuff floating is hornwort.. It looks really nice if you plant it , or just use a peace of rock to keep a peace under the water.. It also tends to grow like a bush when you do this.. I have got some in my tank , and i have to say , it looks better than youd think..
Regards

[Vez]

the bunch of green stuff floating is hornwort.. It looks really nice if you plant it , or just use a peace of rock to keep a peace under the water.. It also tends to grow like a bush when you do this.. I have got some in my tank , and i have to say , it looks better than youd think..
Regards

thanks skaapietjie

still need to do that, and some will be planted, and the rest will end up in my 3ft,

i really love the llok of that plant, and this even more

[Skaapietjie]

Just be warned , hornwart grows incredibly fast , so you nood to trim it often , i usually take the peaces i cut off and plant them again.. Post some more pics when you are done , id really like to see..
regards

[Vez]

Thanks skaapietjie,

i did a small test, i got a small piece a week ago, planted it, in marked it on the side of the tank, and diff last night is almost 2cm.......

[mydummyname]

looking great dude ;)

if you borrow a clown loach from a friend, he'd take care of those snails for you in no time :)

what i normally do is soak all plants in a (unscented) bleach solution for 10 minutes, then rinse thoroughly befor adding to tank..

[Vez]

looking great dude ;)

if you borrow a clown loach from a friend, he'd take care of those snails for you in no time :)

what i normally do is soak all plants in a (unscented) bleach solution for 10 minutes, then rinse thoroughly befor adding to tank..

thanks dude

i want to get one, a real snail killer, haha

why do you do that with your plants?

Vez

[ryanj252]

Looking nice Vez


they said, plants and moss like water flowing over them, and it needs to be rich with oxygen

You mean CO2? Not oxygen?

I see you using the moss/mesh technique. You should get some rocks, wrap them in moss. Then wrap that mesh over the rock, creates a really bushy rock design.

[mydummyname]

why do you do that with your plants?

Vez

kills the snails and any eggs before they get into the tank :)

[Vez]

mmmmm, will do so, once the moss is long,

the guy i got the moss from, said to keep them in the mesh till i need to trim it,,

but thats the plan, want to wrap some on my new driftwood, and on some rocks, almost time to trim the moss, so i really cant wait to start with the moss

oh ja, sorry about the oxygen, jip, should be CO2,

[Vez]

kills the snails and any eggs before they get into the tank :)

please tell me more? what do you use?

[Khalid]

after i got my new plants from Khalid (Thanks Dude),
you welcome


once i can get rid of all those snails in my tank).
oops.. forgot to tell you to rinse them off before you place them in your tank

[Vez]

oops.. forgot to tell you to rinse them off before you place them in your tank

haha, no thats fine, the few that was on the plants i got from you is fine, i mean the ones in my 3ft, i have almost 60-80 small apple snails, that need a new home, or that will be lunch for some other fish......

[mydummyname]

please tell me more? what do you use?

well, i was ignorant about snails and snail eggs, so i never suspected that adding plants to my tank would also cause a snail explosion..

so i tried using a skunk loach. worked like a bomb. problem was he also decimated my white cloud population in a week.

i have since learnt that clown loaches are equally good at killing snails, but not as aggressive as skunk loaches toward other fish, but these days however, i just soak the plants in REGULAR, UNSCENTED HOUSEHOLD BLEACH. this gets to the snails and eggs.

no more snail problems ;)

the problem with snails is that (besides golden apple / mystery snails) they breed even if there is just one in the tank, and you can end up with hundreds of snails all over your tank if you allow them to get in there in the first place, just removing the snails is not enough as they tend to lay their eggs in the substrate and even hide themselves in there... its a real mission to get them out and besides breaking down the tank and rinsing everything in there in a bleach water solution and re-starting, the best bet is to leave a few clown loaches in there for a few weeks.

[ryanj252]

then i need to get myself a clown loach :)

[Vez]

makes 2 of us, but what about puffers? i think Vis said they also chow snails??

[Vis]

Tey do Vez, dwarf puffers will however only go after the babies and smaller ones.

Other puffers need brackish water.

[Vez]

oh okay,

as i was thinking of added the puffers to my 2ft, only them, but only once the whole moss thing is sorted out, and i have planted my 3ft again, will they be fine in that water type?

[Skaapietjie]

How is the lighting in your tank Vez ? My hornwort tends to grow at about 1cm daily , but i have ferts in the water and CO2..
And then , im not entirely sure about this one , but it has worked for me so far , the LFS recommended that i soak the plants in saltwater to kill snails , but
as i said , im not entirely sure about that.. mydummyname The bleach sounds dangerous though , are you sure it cant harm the fish or throw the ph off? (Just curious , i might learn something new =D)

Regards

[Khalid]

these days however, i just soak the plants in REGULAR, UNSCENTED HOUSEHOLD BLEACH. this gets to the snails and eggs.
Just be careful with this method as it works wonders for some plants, but for the more delicate plants it "burns" them.

[Vez]

How is the lighting in your tank Vez ? My hornwort tends to grow at about 1cm daily , but i have ferts in the water and CO2..
And then , im not entirely sure about this one , but it has worked for me so far , the LFS recommended that i soak the plants in saltwater to kill snails , but
as i said , im not entirely sure about that.. mydummyname The bleach sounds dangerous though , are you sure it cant harm the fish or throw the ph off? (Just curious , i might learn something new =D)

Regards

well, i was running one small T5, 20cm tube, 6200K, and midweek, i added a Phillips Genie 8w CFL, and the plants love it, no ferts at all, only the lights and the WC

[Skaapietjie]

I thought the bleach might be a bit dodgy..
Sounds like the lighting is fine , so i guess its either the ferts or the CO2 (I think its the CO2) that makes myne grow a bit faster..
Are you planning on getting CO2? As far as i know , its not a necesity , and when it comes to the hornwort , id prefer it if myne grew a bit slower (less work)

[Vis]

as i was thinking of added the puffers to my 2ft, only them, but only once the whole moss thing is sorted out, and i have planted my 3ft again, will they be fine in that water type?


Dwarf puffers will be OK if you mean freshwater

[Vez]

I thought the bleach might be a bit dodgy..
Sounds like the lighting is fine , so i guess its either the ferts or the CO2 (I think its the CO2) that makes myne grow a bit faster..
Are you planning on getting CO2? As far as i know , its not a necesity , and when it comes to the hornwort , id prefer it if myne grew a bit slower (less work)

i was thinking of adding the DIY CO2, using yeast, but that will also be in a while, i also dont have the time to trim plants every day :-)

[Vez]

Dwarf puffers will be OK if you mean freshwater

thanks vis, any other type of fish that will be fine with them?? and what to they eat?

[Skaapietjie]

DONT!!!!! I used diy CO2 using yeast , and ya , that made a mess..
The first few days the plants growth improved , and all was well , but then i started to notice a whitish algea like thing form on the leaves of my plants , and the water went milky..
Thats when i stopped and i bought a CO2 set for only R180 , its very easy to operate and works wonderfully..
Il pm you the details if you are interested..
Haha , i trim weekly , but i want to cut of big parts of the hornwort so that i can replant them.. =)

[ryanj252]

Skaapietjie - There must've been something wrong with your balance of fertz/lights and CO2 because i know lots of guys who use DIY CO2 to great success!! I seen their tanks myself.

[Skaapietjie]

Okay , might have been a balance problem , but i stil dont trust the stuff.. Maybe i did it wrong or had to much of it.. But i still prefer the little kit that i bought , it works very nicely for me..
But thanks for correcting me then , now i have learned something to (Although i wont go the DIY route again soon)
regards

[ryanj252]

Lol dont worry man. thats how we all learn. Inevitably, a pressurized CO2 kit works better in the long run than a DIY CO2 Kit

[Skaapietjie]

Thats to be expected as it costs more.. But i think its worth it (Although my kit is by no means high tec , i find it to be sufficient.. For now.....)

[Vez]

DONT!!!!! I used diy CO2 using yeast , and ya , that made a mess..
The first few days the plants growth improved , and all was well , but then i started to notice a whitish algea like thing form on the leaves of my plants , and the water went milky..
Thats when i stopped and i bought a CO2 set for only R180 , its very easy to operate and works wonderfully..
Il pm you the details if you are interested..
Haha , i trim weekly , but i want to cut of big parts of the hornwort so that i can replant them.. =)

please send me the details of this????

[Skaapietjie]

sent you a pm with details on this , if you have any questions , feel free to ask..

[Vis]

thanks vis, any other type of fish that will be fine with them?? and what to they eat?


They eat snails. You can keep ottos with them who eats algae.

[solex69]

Unless my eyes are deceiving me or I'm out bigtime of practice in the hobby, you seem to have Anubias Bateria var nana planted in the substrate. If that is the case, attach the rhizome to a piece of wood cos it'll die if covered.

Can you post a close up pic of the plant to confirm pls?

Ciao
Dale

[Vez]

will take a few pics now, busy with this tank, busy sorting the plants, and plantings some of the hornwort

[Skaapietjie]

Kwl , id really like to see it with the hornwort planted..

[Vez]

so last night i replanted the tank, did not use all the plants, the rest got planted in my 3ft:
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[Vez]

Unless my eyes are deceiving me or I'm out bigtime of practice in the hobby, you seem to have Anubias Bateria var nana planted in the substrate. If that is the case, attach the rhizome to a piece of wood cos it'll die if covered.

Can you post a close up pic of the plant to confirm pls?

Ciao
Dale


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this plant?

it was removed and planted in my 3ft tank....

[solex69]

Yup, attach to a piece of wood with some nylon. It it is covered with substrate, it'll die very fast.

[shihr]

rather tie with cotton thread.. reason? cotton will rot with time.. but by that time, your plant will be firmly attached to the wood/rock u used. so no need to disturb the whole look just to cut off old thread.

[Vez]

will do so tonight.....

[Skaapietjie]

looking good.. i prefer to have the hornwort in the back of my tank , as it grows quite bushy in time..
Its an easy plant to move and experiment with , so dont be scared to try different things..

[Vez]

when should i start to trim my Moss?

pics added

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[ryanj252]

Hey. Looking good. I think you should let it grow much more... We do get excited sometimes...but id let it grow some more...

[shihr]

i think let it grow out abit more?

[Vez]

thanks, how long must it be?

[shihr]

hmm.. actually u could start cutting it.. just that it wont look nice because you would just get back to square 1.. or u could cut and plant again?

[Linga]

nice looking tank, shew thats alot of hornwort, i used to cut and remove a 2 liter ice cream container of the stuff every 2 weeks from my old setup. so try and keep it to the back of the tank it will grow very thick and very fast. as for the moss i think it best to let it grow nice and full first then trim. or if you didnt start with too much then as shihr mentioned you can trim and replant to spread it more :)

[Vez]

i think i could trim 50% of it, and give the 50% that i trimmed away? Lizid has the first few...the rest are up for grabs.....its Flame or spiky moss

[Lizid]

Shot dude I have some awesome news check your mails in 5 mins...

[Vez]

cool, but im not at work today, so dont use my email...

[Lizid]

HAHAHA I just sent it to you, ok then I will have to shhow you later then bud...
So when do you plan on clipping?

[Vez]

haha, just sent you a sms, haha

will only be back in the office next week. uhm will do some this weekend, let me know how yor weekend looks

[Lizid]

dude I am free most of the weekend I think... I know I have a thing with my son on Saturday but dont have details yet...

maybe saturday afternoon

[Vez]

sounds fine to me....

[Vez]

Good news, my moss has started to get new fingers,,,,i see, every finger, now has 2-4 new ones on, so its seems that the moss is doing well,

[swordtail]

where can i get some flame moss. i want to create a fairy land

[Vez]

i have, not alot, but im in Jhb??

[solex69]

rather tie with cotton thread.. reason? cotton will rot with time.. but by that time, your plant will be firmly attached to the wood/rock u used. so no need to disturb the whole look just to cut off old thread.


More often than not, the cotton doesn't last long enough for the plant to attach. To be safe, use nylon instead.

[shihr]

More often than not, the cotton doesn't last long enough for the plant to attach. To be safe, use nylon instead.

but ive always used cotton with no problems? it doesnt take java moss 3 months to attach to wood or rocks..

with nylon (if u want to cut the thread off) will be a hassle in the long run

[Vez]

update on the tank.

removed alot of the hornwort and the small guppies, and they are in the 3ft now.

got a few new plants from the LFS, got home and had a look in my Fish and Plant book, (as the ppl at the LFS dont know the names of the plants they sell) and see that some are on our BL, so i will say no more on them

anyway,

7684Full Tank Shot

7685Flame Moss

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7682Moss again

7681Moss Again

[Vez]

o ja,

what type of plant is this, as i know it as Monkey tail? and what it that white root like thing growing from it?

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[f-fish]

Monkey tail BL'ed elodia I think.




white root like thing growing from i Think you can refer to them as air roots.

[Lizid]

Looking good there dude, that filter looks familiar... LoL

[Vez]

BL'ed elodia I think.



Think you can refer to them as air roots.

eish, thanks ferdie

are the a "planted" plant, or a floater plant?

[Vez]

Looking good there dude, that filter looks familiar... LoL

hey dude

thanks, REALLY??????hehehehe

works well man, chat to you later re those other plants.

[Vez]

Update:

today i did the PFP and replanted my plants.

this tank will be my grow out tank, as my 3ft will be re-done in the next month or so with PFP, then most of the plants will go into the 3ft.

will post a few pic now now

[Vez]

Pic update

tank is on the busy side, not looking like anything cool i know, tank will be to grow my own plants, and thats it, i can see that the PFP is working, one plant is doing GR8!!!!!!

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[Lizid]

Dude I like the effect the mini Busi makes at the bottum right of the pic...

[Vez]

haha, i love them, got more mini bikes, than fish, hehe

[Vez]

could some1 help me with the following?

i have seen that some1 said, he/she adds Sodawater to the tank? can this be done, and how much can i add?

thanks

Vez

[Lizid]

What for dude?

[Vez]

the soda water has CO2 in it, and as the tank has no fish......

[Lizid]

hmmm this could be an interesting chat any one out there in TASA done this before?

[shihr]

guys.. its not a long term soln..

its expensive
there is NaCl so too much of that is deadly
you cant really control it

overall.. it will work but is not a long term solution. i'd rather go buy some excel.

[shihr]

read here:

http://www.aquaplantedtank.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid=43

mr amano tried it b4

[Vez]

guys.. its not a long term soln..

its expensive
there is NaCl so too much of that is deadly
you cant really control it

overall.. it will work but is not a long term solution. i'd rather go buy some excel.

hey dude

whats this?

[shihr]

flourish excel - its liquid carbon.. basically its does what co2 does for your tank.. but its more expensive in the long run too.. and it kills sensitive plants if used incorrectly.. oh and another -ve.. apparently its bad for environment..

if u have a smaller tank, it could be more viable, also rem to empty out water into ur garden rather than toilet..

[shihr]

here take a read.. laure put a post:

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?5411-So...who-uses-Excel-(Gluteraldehyde)&highlight=excel

[Vez]

mmmmm

okay, and what is the $$$$ of a bottle?

dont think i ready for the whole CO2 thing now....

[shihr]

hmm... think its.. around 150.. not sure.. havn looked at it for long.. think jungle stock it too.. take a look and also at the dosages..

its pretty cool to see your plants "pearl" in the absence of co2 but instead liquid carbon :P

[Vez]

mmm, may be this will work in my 3ft

[shihr]

imo, it'll be pretty pricy for a 3 ft'er.. Rather go for pressurised.. Excel imo is more suited for nannos..

[Vez]

thanks shihr, i will do so, see how the pfp is doing.....i'll give it a month or two