Dutch/ plant farm 75 gallon (and other projects)

[nabokovfan87]

How did you do the moss wall?  What size mesh?  Technically asking about what you did on your setup shown.  I understand how, but hesitated because I read that fish can get trapped behind it in that position if you have smaller species. 



I'm thinking it's tied?

[gjcarew]

On 6/1/2022 at 10:14 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

How did you do the moss wall?  What size mesh?  Technically asking about what you did on your setup shown.  I understand how, but hesitated because I read that fish can get trapped behind it in that position if you have smaller species. 



I'm thinking it's tied?

It's needlepoint mesh zip tied to rigid airline tubing, and attached to the wall with auction cups. It's held far enough from the wall that I don't think anything would get stuck back there. Even when I had the needlepoint mesh pressed against the wall in my last setup, I didn't lose any fish behind it.

I used fine bird netting (for protecting ponds, fruit trees, etc) to attach the moss. It's a little faster and neater than tying it IMO. I have worried that I'm putting essentially a miniature gill net in my fish tank, but I haven't had any issues with it so far.

[nabokovfan87]

On 6/1/2022 at 10:19 PM, gjcarew said:

I used fine bird netting (for protecting ponds, fruit trees, etc) to attach the moss. It's a little faster and neater than tying it IMO. I have worried that I'm putting essentially a miniature gill net in my fish tank, but I haven't had any issues with it so far.

Yeah, I've seen some kits come with 2 sets of mesh to sandwich it.  I think I might end up just gluing it and calling it good on one sheet. Order the smaller mesh, or a roll, and just going that route.  The kit I ordered for mine, didn't have suction cups in it. 😕

I finally found a good place to buy some plants, that carries the ones local that the ACO doesn't, they have no moss.  Seems to be in short supply for the one I want.

Edited June 2, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Odd Duck]

On 6/2/2022 at 12:37 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

The kit I ordered for mine, didn't have suction cups in it

Try these.  They come with zip ties in the kit and a hole through the base of the suction cup for you.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0856WJMF4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

[gjcarew]

I haven't been liking the blyxa japonica recently, I just wish it was more green. I tore it up and am going to try out some other looks. I don't know what I'd replace it with yet. I'm gonna play with it over the weekend and see if I can come up with something.

The rainbows were acting really spooked today, even though they were colored up. I think maybe my cat has been messing with them, usually they come right up to the glass for me.

The crypt nurii "Luminous Green" doesn't stand out against the gravel, which is a real shame since it's such a pretty plant up close! I'm gonna try to get it into the hands of a bunch of people at GSAS since it's kinda rare.

FTS with floating blyxa 👇

[anewbie]

On 6/10/2022 at 1:29 AM, gjcarew said:

I haven't been liking the blyxa japonica recently, I just wish it was more green. I tore it up and am going to try out some other looks. I don't know what I'd replace it with yet. I'm gonna play with it over the weekend and see if I can come up with something.

The rainbows were acting really spooked today, even though they were colored up. I think maybe my cat has been messing with them, usually they come right up to the glass for me.

The crypt nurii "Luminous Green" doesn't stand out against the gravel, which is a real shame since it's such a pretty plant up close! I'm gonna try to get it into the hands of a bunch of people at GSAS since it's kinda rare.

FTS with floating blyxa 👇

Which one is the luminous green? I see the nurii rosen. Also this plant was labelled as luminous green but it looks different than yours:

 

[gjcarew]

On 6/10/2022 at 9:08 AM, anewbie said:

Which one is the luminous green? I see the nurii rosen. Also this plant was labelled as luminous green but it looks different than yours:

 

They all are. I'll get a picture later today, the luminous green indicator I look for is deep green stripes across a background that looks like nurii rosen. All these were propped from two plants, the leaf shape and color is highly variable. Some of the leaves are not presenting that indicator, others do.

Edited June 10, 2022 by gjcarew

[anewbie]

On 6/10/2022 at 12:10 PM, gjcarew said:

They all are. I'll get a picture later today, the luminous green indicator I look for is deep green stripes across a background that looks like nurii rosen. All these were propped from two plants, the leaf shape and color is highly variable. 

I'm not sure which green indicator; does my plant agree with your indicator?

[gjcarew]

On 6/10/2022 at 10:12 AM, anewbie said:

I'm not sure which green indicator; does my plant agree with your indicator?

Yeah. You see how some of the "tiger stripes" on the leaves are a deep green in the picture you sent? It's very pronounced on the picture i attached below.

Also, the leaves just look like nurii rosen in my conditions. It's clearly very variable depending on the conditions it's growing in.

Edited June 10, 2022 by gjcarew

[anewbie]

On 6/10/2022 at 4:52 PM, gjcarew said:

Yeah. You see how some of the "tiger stripes" on the leaves are a deep green in the picture you sent? It's very pronounced on the picture i attached below.

Also, the leaves just look like nurii rosen in my conditions. It's clearly very variable depending on the conditions it's growing in.

My plant is so totally different than yours. Yours have a lot more green - mine has more red; no offense but i kind of prefer mine 😉

Having said that I think I need to dig out the slr and get a clear picture - for some reason the phone refuses to achieve critical focus on the leaves.

[gjcarew]

That was to show what the green lines look like, I found it on Facebook. That one looks like it was grown in low light. Here's a better picture of mine. You can see the variety of leaf colors on one plant

[anewbie]

It is really a strange plant. Mine as i noted has more reddish veins where your has green veins. Also my leave is more olive. The one i photograph is from my hi-tech tank under wrgb2. I do have a 2nd one in a low tech tank - that tank has decent light but of course the ph is different and it has no co2. It looks a bit closer to the one you photograph off the web. I wonder if ph has an impact on this plant - as some nurii are extremely sensitive to ph and will only grow in acidic water.

[gjcarew]

I took the java fern off the back wall and put it on a piece of driftwood to try to create another mid-ground layer, but it's kinda weird looking. I don't know if it works next to the sword plant either, I'm gonna move it around and see if I can find a better spot for it.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I am no expert- but for some reason the tall plant on the far left is bothering me. Keeps drawing my eye- like I want to move it to the right or change its color. I think it would have worked better with the Java there. 

When I put my hand over that plant I like it. 

[gjcarew]

On 6/13/2022 at 8:41 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I am no expert- but for some reason the tall plant on the far left is bothering me. Keeps drawing my eye- like I want to move it to the right or change its color. I think it would have worked better with the Java there. 

When I put my hand over that plant I like it. 

The myriophyllum roraima? Great minds think alike, I was just considering moving it.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 6/13/2022 at 9:14 AM, gjcarew said:

myriophyllum roraima?

Yea that's what I meant 🤣 It's got to go....somewhere....else

[Mmiller2001]

Just needs to be more forward.

[gjcarew]

Pretty happy with this layout overall. I'm on a hiatus from moving plants to let everything grows in a bit more. The actual groups are pretty garbage, but once they grow in more I think it'll be good.

[Mmiller2001]

Looking pretty good! I wish I could come up with something like your arrangement. How many plants total are you going with?

[gjcarew]

 

On 6/15/2022 at 7:22 PM, Mmiller2001 said:

Looking pretty good! I wish I could come up with something like your arrangement. How many plants total are you going with?

Thanks, I'm going with 12 or 13. Might see how hydrocotyle leucocephala looks on the right side.

It just comes down to practice and not being afraid to change what isn't working. This is probably layout 30 for me 😆

[Mmiller2001]

On 6/15/2022 at 8:41 PM, gjcarew said:

This is probably layout 30 for me 😆

Wow, and I thought I was OCD!

I'm having too much trouble finding and midground plants.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Mmiller2001

[Torrey]

On 6/15/2022 at 8:41 PM, gjcarew said:

It just comes down to practice and not being afraid to change what isn't working.

That's great advice for life in general, tbh

[SkaleyAquatics]

Tank is looking good! Looking forward to it growing out. 

[gjcarew]

Still on a plant moving hiatus so I've been trying to get the equipment squared away. This tank is in the "guest bedroom" (in quotes because there is not yet a bed in there) and we will have some of my wife's family coming to visit in July. The filter is currently loud enough that it might keep someone in the same room awake. It has never been really silent, which is disappointing considering how quiet the Biomaster 250 was on my 22 gallon. 

Someone on another forum used a Fzone DC controllable pump inline instead of the pump included with the Biomaster. I wanted to do the same but they apparently don't make the Fzone pump anymore 🤷‍♂️ I bought a Current Eflux dc controllable pump instead. Unfortunately, the inlet for that pump is 1" and the outlet is 3/4", while the Oase tubing is 16 mm (approx 5/8"). While I pondered the plumbing mess of trying to get these to match up, I realized it would be cheaper and easier to get something like a Jebao pump. Sure, it's not name brand, but their pumps have worked well for me in the past and the inlet and outlet are both 3/4" fittings meaning I just have to try and stretch the Oase tubing over it.

I'm gonna do an update tonight (hopefully) with the new flowmeter and the some cabinet updates.

Edited June 21, 2022 by gjcarew

[Patrick_G]

Great post, these are the little problems that YouTube aquascapers gloss over. I’m glad I’m not the only one who has a lot of head scratching time spent on finding the right fitting, piece of tubbing or whatever.