New scape in a "old" tank for the new year.

Hey man. Awesome looking tank. Now i know getting Pressurized CO2 is the way to go

 

i see..

 

Photo update as promised.
The Rotala rotundifolia was added a week ago in the hope that it will add some "red" to the scape,but as you can see the new growth is a "nice"green colour.Not what I wanted.
Yesterday I added another light bulb to help intensify the light,so that's 120 watts over 40L.Not what I wanted either.
We will now see what happens over the next week or so.Hold thumbs for RED.:bigsmile:
Rest of the plants are doing well,I did some trimming but it's more like hacking.The plants should bounce back with denser growth.
I left the equipment in again,please excuse that.

 

Update,
The foreground carpet is almost done.
Then my attention will shift to the stemplants and some creative trimming.

 

Man ground cover plants make such a big difference

Liking it more Rudi.

 

Certainly fulfilling its potential, well done!

Rudi, I see you have gone the Flourite route, any thoughts on the minimum ratio you can get away with when mixing with silica with out short changing the plants ? I am currently setting up a 1.8m, so have already invested in six bags mixed with silica....

 

dude.. i should have done the same thing u did..first let the tank grow out b4 adding fish.. its so much harder to balance fish and plants in the 1st phases.. cannot dose nitrates phosphates etc..

with just a planted tank you can go crazy with dosing and just worry abt algae and not dead fish.. weldone man! its looking great

 

wicked stuff the tank is really looking good. any suggestions on a stem plant that doesnt grow too fast and maybe has a little red in it.

 

@Vis,thanks.
@Trevor Pleco,even a little Flourite can make a big difference.I think you will do well with six bags.
@shihr,what are you dosing at the moment?Or what fert regime?I've done the "rush" tank setups before and it is always a struggle.This time I planned the project well in advance,from the tank,stand and lights to the substrate,Co2,filter and plants.I'm still undecided on the livestock,I may even wait for shrimps to be legalized and then decide what to add.
@Linga,Limnophila aromatica doesn't grow to fast and can get very red,even purple.But it also depends on your setup.Thanks for the comments.

@shihr,
I thought I'll just give more info on what I'm adding,fert wise,to the setup at the moment.

Macro ferts:
Kno3 - 15ppm
Po4 - 1.64ppm
K - 35ppm
CA - 10ppm
MG - 3ppm
Fe - 0.14ppm

Micro ferts:
Trellmix - 1.5 ml

This is for one week.

 

Looking awesome Rudi. Really a top job!

 

u see, what actually happened this time was exactly what u planned..

I planned the size of the tank, cabinet, lights, everything.. But because tyis was an upgrade, i was too eager to add my old fish strait away..

Atm, i dont have a dosing reigeme..didnt want to stress out the fish more.. Ive started to dose(in small amounts) nitrates,phosphates, potassium, trelmix, dolomite pills..

Specific regeme though? Ive never had one.. I basically watch my plants and fish carefully and dose accordingly..

But i use apsa's fert calc as a threash hold to how much is the max i can dose.. I do experiment from time to time to see what happens if i add extra of any fert..

 

Shaky ground that you travel on brother.IMO it is best to choose a fertilizer regime,learn it well and stick with it.Plants seem to do better in stable conditions,so do fish for that matter.

 

@Linga,Limnophila aromatica doesn't grow to fast and can get very red,even purple.But it also depends on your setup.Thanks for the comments.

thanks Rudi did a search and its a wicked looking plant, now the only problem were the heck do i find this in durbs, the shops here are useless in terms of plants

 

Update:
The Rotala wallichii has filled out nicely and I added some White Cloud Mountain minnows,at last.

 

Update time.
All the White clouds systematically committed suicide and jumped out the tank.Don't know why.Even after I covered the tank with some glass they still managed to escape.So I'm fish less again.This gave me the opportunity to rescape the tank.
I removed everything,plants and substrate.Washed the substrate and the tank,trimmed the plants and put everything back in before the Stormers-Bulls game started.
The glosso and Micranthemum umbrosum was thrown out completely.
The last image shows some laterite I used under the substrate as an additive,just to give the plants a boost.
All comments,advise or critic is welcome.
Some photos:

 

Hi Rudi

I don't know if its just me but tanks with the scape feature on the left somehow just look wrong ??
maybe because I am right handed.
Would like to see it grow out a little but so far I prefer the older scape.

 

loving this scape rudi!

hc will fill in nicely, and cant wait for the left to have some depth...

 

Maybe you just not meant to keep fish and only continue with your amazing scapes.

 

@Vis,
Never thought about that.When I started I just began on the left,and when I stopped.... Let's see how it develops.What I like about this scape is it can grow "into it self" if you now what I mean.The last one never really developed into something.It was "done" from the start.
@WBS,thanks dude.
@ Zoom,
Don't know,about that.Got to have some fish sometime,or it won't be an aquarium.Thanks.

 

Know what you mean. Do not know why my brain wants it the other way round, really weird
Love the scapes that need to grow they always look great when you look back and see how they started.

Have you used that laterite before?