Nano journal

[Stan]

I like the hard scape mate!
I've used that sticky back drop in blue before with limited success, always seem to have a bubble or wrinkle that needs hiding with a plant or rock etc...

 

[FF MkII]

I like the hard scape mate!

Cheers Stan, it looks as though there are 2 different colours of rock but its only the one type. Some were wet when i put them in.

 

[FF MkII]

Next is the planting stage.

I filled up the tank with a little water first to make it easier to plant then took the potted plants and removed them from the pots and gently took of the rock wool that they are grown in. Ensure they are kept moist while doing this as they can dry out pretty quickly. Remove any dead/dying leaves and trim the roots to promote new growth. Here is a pic of Pogostemon Helferi being prepared.



Now it is time to prepare Hemianthus callitrichoides. Same as above but i have split the plant up. Doing this you can put a few bunches around the tank, the plants will grow better and hopefully fill in quicker. I have used this plant in the past with great success with just enough light and liquid CO2. it does however require regular pruning to keep it from growing too high.




Using tweezers plant the plants how YOU want them but keep in mind the eventually height and spread of the plants. You dont really want a a low growing carpeting plant at the back of the tank where it will not be seen. However if you scape is much higher at the back using small plants like Hemianthus callitrichoides could work well, providing you can see it.

 

[FF MkII]

Time to plug it all in and see it if works!

As i bought this tank from Germany it came supplied with European plugs. No big deal.
I took a trip to Maplins and found some very good adaptors, not the kind you take away on holiday. You can see the adaptor looks like a normal UK plug with a slot in the bottom. Just push the 2-pin Euro plug into the slot and secure using the screw in the middle of the plug. They have a fuse too and a much safer and less time consuming option to the regular adaptors or cutting the 2-pin off and replacing it with a UK plug



Here it is Secured and ready to plug in.

 

[Stan]

:clap: Good work mate!:thumbup:
When you plant the HC do you separate into individual stems or plant small clusters?

 

[FF MkII]

Hey Stan. In the past i have planted just individual stems. At the moment its in clusters. I think i will be replanting individual stems though as it gives them a much better chance.

 

[Stan]

I've watched a couple workshops in HK and usually they use the single stem method. Takes more patience then I have though...

 

[FF MkII]

So here it is. The tank all set up and everything in place, or is it..........




After a day of looking at this scape i decided i didnt like it so......

 

[FF MkII]

..... I rearranged the rock.



Much happier with this layout.

This is still a work in progress. Im still waiting for some hairgrass and another bunch of vallis nana for the background that was supposed to be with me last week. Im dosing daily with liquid CO2 and weekly liquid ferts. At the moment there is no livestock. Im sure i will have problems along the way but i will share them with you all.

Also i will try to do monthly photo updates so you can watch it grow with me. Any questions or criticism please dont hestitate to ask.

I hope this has inspired some of you to try your hand at a planted tank, they dont have to be big and they are not as difficult as some people think.

 

[Stan]

Dude! The new scape looks great! You may want to fiddle with the positioning of the piece of stone on the rear left of the pic, it looks slightly out of place to me but again I don't know your full planting plan either..
I know I think after looking again it just needs to come away from the side pane a bit.

 

[FF MkII]

Hmmm yeah, i think you are right.
Im having more V. Nana at the backand the hairgrass and will be going around the edges of the rock so would make sense having more room on that left side

 

[Akraziatic]

Looks great. You've inspired me to set one up in the near future as I'm limited with tanks in the new house. What was the brand of set up you bought? I'm gunna have a hunt around in Aus..

 

[FF MkII]

The one i used was Dennerle. Nano tanks are big business at the moment so you shouldn't have a problem locating one

 

[smart]

i like it alot, will look great when the plants have grown. now looking at mine i think i may have to come to you for some ideas when the time comes

 

[Doodles]

Looks pretty darned good:clap::clap:

We could take all the setup posts and copy them to another thread and have it like an article and put in the planted tank article forum, then copy any updates to it???

 

[FF MkII]

I was going to ask if you could do that, I'm going to give you a quick update this week

 

[Doodles]

I was going to ask if you could do that, I'm going to give you a quick update this week

ok, ill sort it tonight.

 

[FF MkII]

UPDATE:

After Stans suggestion of moving the far left rock i had a think and set about moving it. Looks better IMO. The remaining plants arrived (hair grass and another bunch of vallis nana) so i planted those.

I was using Easycarbo from the outset and didnt think it would cause any problems, However looking on another forum i found out this is pretty potent stuff and that it "melts" Vallis species....Not good as this was my choice of background plant. Unfortunately the easycarbo did melt the first lot of Vallis and i stopped using it. I think it also had an adverse effect on Pogostemon Helferi as a few of the leaves turned mushy. So i am now looking to get a pressurised CO2 kit.

I also separated the Hemianthus callitrichoides into individual plantlets, a big pain to do but better in the long run.

Heres the tank with ALL the plants minus a few vallis nana



And a shot of the Hemianthus pearling after a cool water change.

 

[Jo Crane]

It is going to look really cool when the plants take hold

 

[smart]

looks great, well worth the extra work