Scapes, stems and CO2 arguments
6 members · founded by @plantedpeteMy tabby now sits on the stand the minute the tank lights fade to moonlights and stares at the rasboras till bedtime. Pic below of her at it tonight. So far zero paws in the water but the lid is getting a lot of nose prints. Do you lid up completely or leave a gap with a cat around?
Saw discusdan's nitrate thread and it got me thinking. I've got a long pothos cutting with the roots dangling into the sump of my 55, no other changes. Nitrate was 15 a couple weeks ago and I haven't tested since. Has anyone run emersed pothos or similar and logged real numbers before and after? Pic below of the sump setup is not mine yet, still deciding where to hang it.
Running a 75 with five grow-out discus and a decent amount of stems. Doing 50 percent changes twice a week and nitrate still sits around 20 right before the change. Feeding beefheart mix twice a day plus granules. Pic below of the stand setup. Part of me thinks the fish are just eating a lot at this size, but I'd rather hear from people who run heavy planted tanks. Do you dose nitrate for the pla…
Tied a few golf ball portions across a flat slate piece about a month ago and it's thickening nicely, but a few strands are getting long and wispy on the edges. Pic below of the rack where it's growing out. Do you trim on a schedule or only when it starts to look messy? I've been going every two weeks with scissors and it seems fine, curious what others do.
Moved a few of my newer locales into a different tank last week and one rhizome is going translucent at the back end, leaves still firm up front. I'm tempted to slice off the soft section but don't want to make it worse. Pic below is the tie-down setup I used, nothing too tight on the rhizome. What do you do when a rhizome starts to go soft?
Got asked a few times lately so a quick mini guide. I lay the runner in a loose circle, never tighter than a coffee cup, and tuck it under the leaf stalks so it can't flap. Then damp paper towel over the whole root ball and the coiled runner together, inside a bag with air left in it. Cut runners only if there's no plantlet on the end, otherwise the plantlet is the whole point. Pic below of the s…
Pic below of my upside-down soda bottle on the shelf. I've been getting spotty hatches, maybe 50 percent, with about 28 grams of salt per liter and a heater loose in the water. Looking for what numbers other people settled on before I buy a proper hatchery cone.
The sprouted bulb I planted shallow a few weeks back now has two pads touching the surface in the 120. Pic below of the hydrocoleus clumps I keep for shade, not the lotus, sorry. Lower stems underneath are starting to look pale so I think the lotus is shading them. Do you trim the floating leaves back or leave them to feed the bulb?
Moved a handful of colorata tops to the 120 under the brighter fixture about nine days ago. Top few nodes are blushing orange already but the lower leaves are still green. Running CO2 with nitrate around 10, no iron dosed yet. Pic below of the test tubes from this morning. Is this normal pace or should I add iron to push it?
Posted a couple weeks back about frogbit shading my crypts in the 20 long. Only been a few days since I trimmed roots and pulled half the cover, but there's already a tiny new leaf unrolling on the wendtii. Not claiming victory yet, just glad I didn't buy a new light. Pic below of the scape day mess from when I rearranged things, still sorting plants.
Pic below of the nano cube, I tied a few buce plantlets onto stones about two weeks ago with cotton thread and the thread is still visible. Some already have little white roots gripping the rock. Do you cut the thread at the first roots or wait for a month? Shrimp keep tugging at the loose ones.
Packing the sword auction box for whoever wins tomorrow and some of the runners are a couple feet long. I tried coiling them loose in the bag with the roots wrapped in damp paper towel but they kink at the nodes. Anyone have a trick that keeps the baby plantlets on the runners intact? Pic below of the fertilizer shelf is just what I'm using to pad the box, ignore the mess.
Pic below of one of the swords I left in the 120 after pulling the big mothers. Older leaves are getting glassy holes along the edges and the new ones look fine. Nitrate sits around 10 and I haven't dosed anything since the rescape. Do I wait it out or push root tabs under it now?
Pic below of one of my sprouted lotus bulbs from this week's batch. I always plant with the top of the bulb exposed but a customer asked if it should be fully buried in sand. In a 29 gallon with fine sand, do you bury it halfway or just rest it on top and let the roots find their way down?
I have frogbit covering about half the surface of a 20 long and the crypts underneath are barely putting out new leaves. Is it worth thinning the frogbit to a quarter of the surface, or should I just add a stronger light and live with it? I keep it for the fry cover but the plants below are starting to stall.
