Dutch/ plant farm 75 gallon (and other projects)

[gjcarew]

Did a bit of trimming today, I'll need to do a water change tomorrow. Overall still fairly pleased with the layout, though it needs refinement 

[gjcarew]

Did some more rearranging. I think I need to get rid of some more species, maybe the crypt Jacobsenii 😭

It just doesn't like the high light, and grows too flat. With lower light it was fantastic.

The groups also need more separation. It feels too crowded right now IMO.

[Mmiller2001]

Left side looks good though.

[gjcarew]

13 minutes ago, Mmiller2001 said:

Left side looks good though.

Seems I can only ever get one side looking good at a time

[nabokovfan87]

If you're up for one of those, "if this was my project, maybe this would make sense to do?" type of feedback posts I can share what I see.  I understand it's a very technical setup and something I see might not make much of any sense! Perfectly happy to admit that. 🙂

One day.... One day! 😂 I'll be so happy when my tank is stuffed with plants like both of yours.

How are the plants on the grid in the back doing?

[gjcarew]

1 minute ago, nabokovfan87 said:

If you're up for one of those, "if this was my project, maybe this would make sense to do?" type of feedback posts I can share what I see.  I understand it's a very technical setup and something I see might not make much of any sense! Perfectly happy to admit that. 🙂

One day.... One day! 😂 I'll be so happy when my tank is stuffed with plants like both of yours.

How are the plants on the grid in the back doing?

The buce is doing well, but I need to break it up so I can use it across the tank. 

I always appreciate ideas and feedback!

[nabokovfan87]

1 minute ago, gjcarew said:

The buce is doing well, but I need to break it up so I can use it across the tank. 

Ah, this is a good thing though!  I wasn't sure if the plan was to add more grids or not.

If I screw up plant names it's totally fine, but I'm going to try to guess some of them and not goof it up too poorly. I totally did end up going back and looking up at older photos.  Don't give me too much credit if they are right! 😂

Red arrow on the foreground, I am just unsure if this is meant to be there and carpet across the entire tank or if it's something that is causing issues for you.  I think it looks good as a carpet, but it's still growing it.  If you were trying to carpet that out, maybe even out the spacing across the whole front and propagate it out?

The red arrows at the top, mainly on the val, it's a very striking visual look and I love the concept for placement that you have.  I think that wisteria "bush" you have is competing with that piece of wood and with giving that val a thick enough base.  The base of the val might be able to be expanded just slightly.  I don't know if it is best to trim off the struggling leaves?  Lastly, finding a way to hide or determine if that piece of wood needs to be there?

Light blue arrow, the wisteria we've discussed a few times.  It goes left and it's making the dutch street, which is your specific intent with that plant.  It looks good, the slope is good, it works well and the textures on those 3 plants on the left are complimentary.  I don't know what works better, the wisteria contrasting with the val or the contrast of that plant with the Lilly and the limnophila in the back that admire to death.  You mentioned separation.  My eye went to that chunk of wood in the foreground on the left and I thought it was a plant until I looked closer.  My eye keeps trying to trim the wisteria back into a spherical bush, but maybe it's just a matter of the trim on the dutch street aesthetic and letting the limnophila in the back have a bit more height to highlight it's shape.  I would consider also, the option of letting the val grow towards the back of the tank a little bit, but keeping it pinned against that wall.  Maybe that is another lane in the dutch street? 

The pink arrow (pointing at the limnophila on the back left corner) is just there to indicate trimming and keeping that as a highlight.  It looks great, but it's on the verge of getting hidden.

Moving a little bit right of center we have that taller eleocharis species located in the middle of that defined and established.... what I would argue is one of the feature plants in this setup.  Looking back, I think it's the hygrophila serpyllum, but I am not sure.  It has a unique leaf structure compared to everything else.  I would prefer that eleocharis to be either behind that plant or to the right, potentially replacing one of those two plants in its location.  If it goes behind the plant in the foreground I would keep it trimmed below the red stem behind it.

The shorter red plant up front, I think that's the crypt you're mentioning as well.  It's so lost in the substrate unfortunately!  It's hard to see it given the color of the substrate.   If it was able to grow taller or be lifted in some sort of way it would contrast so well with the bolbitis right behind it.  I thing that contrast, being the direct inverse of the contrast you see on the left side of the tank is actually a good thing.  Right now the foreground (crypt) is a bit washed though.

The hydrocotyle all the way to the right it just looks like it's struggling.  It might just be the variegation on the leaves I'm seeing?  I don't know if that means swapping a location of one of the other plants, which is thriving, or if there is just a bit of a nutrient adjustment that would fix the issue.  Maybe that right wall is where the eleocharis or the crypt can move to replace it and give better contrast with the glass as a background?

The Ludwigia repens 'Rubin' in the current photo might just need be adjusted (the stem leaning into the bolbitis).  I'm excited to see how that plant looks in the final setup.
 

The white arrow, back left corner, I am excited to see what that does!

[Mmiller2001]

7 hours ago, gjcarew said:

Seems I can only ever get one side looking good at a time

If it makes you feel any better, my tank is a dumpster fire.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Mmiller2001

[gjcarew]

On 6/12/2023 at 11:47 PM, gjcarew said:

 

7 hours ago, nabokovfan87 said:

Ah, this is a good thing though!  I wasn't sure if the plan was to add more grids or not.

If I screw up plant names it's totally fine, but I'm going to try to guess some of them and not goof it up too poorly. I totally did end up going back and looking up at older photos.  Don't give me too much credit if they are right! 😂

Red arrow on the foreground, I am just unsure if this is meant to be there and carpet across the entire tank or if it's something that is causing issues for you.  I think it looks good as a carpet, but it's still growing it.  If you were trying to carpet that out, maybe even out the spacing across the whole front and propagate it out?

The red arrows at the top, mainly on the val, it's a very striking visual look and I love the concept for placement that you have.  I think that wisteria "bush" you have is competing with that piece of wood and with giving that val a thick enough base.  The base of the val might be able to be expanded just slightly.  I don't know if it is best to trim off the struggling leaves?  Lastly, finding a way to hide or determine if that piece of wood needs to be there?

Light blue arrow, the wisteria we've discussed a few times.  It goes left and it's making the dutch street, which is your specific intent with that plant.  It looks good, the slope is good, it works well and the textures on those 3 plants on the left are complimentary.  I don't know what works better, the wisteria contrasting with the val or the contrast of that plant with the Lilly and the limnophila in the back that admire to death.  You mentioned separation.  My eye went to that chunk of wood in the foreground on the left and I thought it was a plant until I looked closer.  My eye keeps trying to trim the wisteria back into a spherical bush, but maybe it's just a matter of the trim on the dutch street aesthetic and letting the limnophila in the back have a bit more height to highlight it's shape.  I would consider also, the option of letting the val grow towards the back of the tank a little bit, but keeping it pinned against that wall.  Maybe that is another lane in the dutch street? 

The pink arrow (pointing at the limnophila on the back left corner) is just there to indicate trimming and keeping that as a highlight.  It looks great, but it's on the verge of getting hidden.

Moving a little bit right of center we have that taller eleocharis species located in the middle of that defined and established.... what I would argue is one of the feature plants in this setup.  Looking back, I think it's the hygrophila serpyllum, but I am not sure.  It has a unique leaf structure compared to everything else.  I would prefer that eleocharis to be either behind that plant or to the right, potentially replacing one of those two plants in its location.  If it goes behind the plant in the foreground I would keep it trimmed below the red stem behind it.

The shorter red plant up front, I think that's the crypt you're mentioning as well.  It's so lost in the substrate unfortunately!  It's hard to see it given the color of the substrate.   If it was able to grow taller or be lifted in some sort of way it would contrast so well with the bolbitis right behind it.  I thing that contrast, being the direct inverse of the contrast you see on the left side of the tank is actually a good thing.  Right now the foreground (crypt) is a bit washed though.

The hydrocotyle all the way to the right it just looks like it's struggling.  It might just be the variegation on the leaves I'm seeing?  I don't know if that means swapping a location of one of the other plants, which is thriving, or if there is just a bit of a nutrient adjustment that would fix the issue.  Maybe that right wall is where the eleocharis or the crypt can move to replace it and give better contrast with the glass as a background?

The Ludwigia repens 'Rubin' in the current photo might just need be adjusted (the stem leaning into the bolbitis).  I'm excited to see how that plant looks in the final setup.
 

The white arrow, back left corner, I am excited to see what that does!

Excellent critique, thank you. I'm going to come back to it as a to do list before my next trim.

1 hour ago, Mmiller2001 said:

If it makes you feel any better, my tank is a dumpster fire.

Your tank is not a dumpster fire, it's just growing in. You are too hard on yourself!

[Mmiller2001]

1 hour ago, gjcarew said:

Your tank is not a dumpster fire, it's just growing in. You are too hard on yourself!

No, I tried to fix it, and created a dumpster fire 😆. Tonight will be my second rearrangement this week 😐.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:14 AM, gjcarew said:

Your tank is not a dumpster fire, it's just growing in. You are too hard on yourself!

Definitely true!! We keep saying that. 🙂

Edited June 24, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Odd Duck]

On 6/24/2023 at 12:41 AM, gjcarew said:

I think I need to get rid of some more species, maybe the crypt Jacobsenii

Oooh, oooh, oooh!  👋🏻 🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️🙋🏻‍♀️  Just in case you don’t have another tank to put that jacobsenii into, I just happen to have plenty of tank space.

[Odd Duck]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:30 AM, Mmiller2001 said:

If it makes you feel any better, my tank is a dumpster fire.

That’s the biggest BS I’ve read in a long time.  Your tank is looking fantastic, only needs some growing time and maybe a tiny bit of tweaking.  You really are far too hard on yourself.

[gjcarew]

@Mmiller2001 gave me his old 120cm WRGB2 and wow! I'm not sure if the pictures show it off but the difference in color saturation is outstanding. 

Thanks @Mmiller2001!

[Mmiller2001]

On 7/2/2023 at 11:53 PM, gjcarew said:

@Mmiller2001 gave me his old 120cm WRGB2 and wow! I'm not sure if the pictures show it off but the difference in color saturation is outstanding. 

Thanks @Mmiller2001!

Omg, yup….that sir is a gorgeous tank! Wow! 
 

Most welcome my friend.

[anewbie]

On 7/3/2023 at 12:53 AM, gjcarew said:

@Mmiller2001 gave me his old 120cm WRGB2 and wow! I'm not sure if the pictures show it off but the difference in color saturation is outstanding. 

Thanks @Mmiller2001!

That was very kind of him - but what i think you are seeing is the blue tint of the light. I have a couple of them and after a while i've become less fond for this reason - visually it looks great but all the pictures end up cold/blue. I've found the blade much more neutral so i've been slowly migrating in that direction.

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

I think that although somewhat blue the red and greens pop as well, I personally like the balance struck. 

[gjcarew]

Been a while since an update! I was going through my "records" and it looks like it's been 3 - maybe 4 weeks since the last water change. Not ideal! I've mentioned it before but I typically trim then water change, but these days it seems like I rarely have time for both. I have been prioritizing trimming since water quality is pretty stable with this plant mass. Unfortunately, this is not the kind of behavior that gets you an award-winning tank, and it is pretty evident that the tank could use some more attention. For whatever reason, while growth has been slow, the plants are actually doing fairly well.

I'm making up a batch of all-in-one to dose when I'm between water changes to hopefully make sure I don't bottom out on ferts, recipe here: 

To reach your target of 0.7ppm NO3 you will need to add 16.2 grams (equivalent to 2 tsp + 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp ) of KNO3 to your 500mL dosing container. 

To reach your target of 0.9ppm PO4 you will need to add 23.43 grams (equivalent to 1 tbsp + 1 tsp + 1/32 tsp ) of K2HPO4 to your 500mL dosing container

To reach your target of 1.5ppm K you will need to add 47.45 grams (equivalent to 2 tbsp + 1 tsp + 1/4 tsp + 1/8 tsp + 1/32 tsp ) of K2SO4 to your 500mL dosing container.

To reach your target of 0.09ppm Fe you will need to add 15.03 grams (equivalent to 3 tsp + 1/2 tsp ) of CSM - CHELATED SECONDARY MICRONUTRIENTS to your 500mL dosing container.

[gjcarew]

And here is a full tank shot. Obviously not at the right trimming levels right now, but that's the nature of the challenge!

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/19/2023 at 9:25 PM, gjcarew said:

And here is a full tank shot. Obviously not at the right trimming levels right now, but that's the nature of the challenge!

It reminds me of a tropical reef.  That is.... all I can say to try to describe it.  Beautiful tank.

[gjcarew]

I finally got some bacopa caroliniana. It's for sure a bad idea to be replacing a group right now. Let's hope it works out! 

The limnophila aromatica is finally doing something, but is still more of a midground group in terms of height. I may have to play with the location a bit still.

I think this picture really illustrates how much space you want while planting - look at all that empty substrate between groups! When it grows out, from the front view everything will hopefully look like it's *just* touching.

 

[anewbie]

The only thing good i can say about  bacopa caroliniana is everytime i trim it - it smells fantastic - a nice minty smell....

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/9/2023 at 12:00 AM, anewbie said:

The only thing good i can say about  bacopa caroliniana is everytime i trim it - it smells fantastic - a nice minty smell....

S.Repens is the same way for me.  I like them both!

[gjcarew]

On 8/9/2023 at 12:00 AM, anewbie said:

The only thing good i can say about  bacopa caroliniana is everytime i trim it - it smells fantastic - a nice minty smell....

Do you not like it otherwise?

[anewbie]

On 8/9/2023 at 11:04 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

S.Repens is the same way for me.  I like them both!

S. Repens i really liked but it is more sensitive plant and my wonderful cluster quickly died after it became shaded. I'm moving in a couple of weeks and will probably buy some more - the new bedroom aquarium is 30x72 (old one is a 40b so 18x30); and will keep the front area completely void of floating thing - one i move and replant things i;ll take what i learned about plant behavior and reorganize things a bit and the front 10ft make a real effort to keep under rigid control - shading have killed quite a few of my prized plants including the wonderful purple aflame which i had for 4 years.

On 8/9/2023 at 11:05 AM, gjcarew said:

Do you not like it otherwise?

There is nothing really wrong with it - it doesn't rot at the stem like ludg so you never have to replant it - and it isn't picky if you trim it - i just didn't find it all that interesting or 'pretty' either in leave shape or colour tone - so i never pulled it out but i mostly ignore it and let it do what it does. for small plants i prefer s. repens and for larger stem plant PSO (though it grows a bit on the fast side so can't be totally left alone). If you have an open top PSO will produce a lovely flower when it break the surface - though i suppose it isn't compatible with dutch scape.