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My 75 Gallon Amazon inspired tank


Jungle Fan

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Everything worked out as I planned it, I learnt something new in regards to Amano shrimp and Pogostemon erectus, that once they reach what is described as their maximum size, or slightly above, they develop a distinct liking for the fine needle like leaves of the Pogostemon and will destroy it in short order.

i have had to increase my fertilizer dosing quite a bit even with highly reduced light  intensity because none of my plants are really high light requirement plants, yet they grow at quite a pace.

The Bucephalandras definitely prefer locations that are much shadier than even Anubias prefer, and the Anubias, as strange as it sounds seem to prefer, and thrive more in a heavily planted tank as my constant blooms seem to have shown.

The only fish I've lost were due to extreme cold weather when they were shipped to my LFS, even after a several day quarantine period at the LFS there were two of the cardinals that expired shortly after I had acclimated them to the tank. I also lost one rummynose tetra that got so excited over freeze dried bloodworms that he jumped and boinked his head audibly loud into the glass lid, never to recover.

Other than that I have had no losses, the 6 Blue Dream shrimp I initially bought as tiny babies have developed into an extremely large colony, of moss, and plant cleaners, probably in the range of 80 to 90.

I also learnt something about rummynose tetras that I did not know before that if you plant dense enough they will hide. They seem to prefer to settle in among plants. Some visitors will exclaim loudly when I feed the fish and for the first time they notice that there is another large school of tetras in the tank besides the cardinals when the feeding frenzy occurs.

I love the way my moss has filled in and the way the transition between the Christmas moss, and Phoenix moss has worked out, much like stumps with the transition from the Cryptocoryne parva to the Anubias nana petite, to Anubias nana, and from it to Anubias afzelli, and Java fern. In regards to growing moss, patience can't be overstated, it takes a good long while to establish but then comes a point when you have to reign it in, much like all the other plants. 

I loved the way the darkstart helped me skip the brown algae phase completely, and how cycling was as without problems as never before.

I really used to love Japanese style aquascapes several years ago, with open tops, and all but I must say I much prefer the more natural style now that reminds me of what I used to see snorkeling in rivers. I'm happy with my version of the "Amazon" jungle, my water parameters have been stable and where I wanted them to be, and yes trimming is  a chore sometimes but I got what I wanted it to be, and much as I groaned over the steep price when I bought them, the Kessils are totally worth it.

 

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In many ways your scape is similar to an Amano style nature scape after it has grown in. You have more of everything but the basics are similar. Your scape even gives the impression of negative space with the lighter colored Crypts in front. It’s really well done! 

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I applied a lot from the Amano style but without the elements that are now pushed by the competitions like the path in between islands, the open area all the way around the glass, Im not using charcoal in my filters, instead my filtration is done by the bacteria colonies in the lava rock and all throughout the tank, and by lots of sponge in the pre-, and canister filter, coupled with a bit of extra sintered glass. and the surface skimmer.

Other than the Amano aquaria I run an airstone at night and the CO2 during the day. I did not limit my choice of rocks to one kind, or only one type of wood. The stone was going to become mostly invisible in my tank anyway, and regardless of what some will claim over time all the wood will turn a nicely deep dark brown in the tank so that no one now could tell the difference between spiderwood, Mopani, or Pacific driftwood.

The negative space, and the use of colors to evoke the impression of depths is something that Amano took from photography, since what few remember, he started as a photographer long before he entered aquascaping. Photography is all about the light, after all it is the reflected light we take pictures of, not the actual object. Studying light, and composition is a huge benefit when imagining what you want to create.

I had planned this tank for a good long while and had collected wood for it from all over to be able to have a branch that pointed forward that I could drape the Christmas moss over, or several stumps I could use to create caves for the rams, and a hollow stump for the Java fern. None of the pieces I combined exceeded $30, only one cost that much and that was the Pacific driftwood stump on the left that reaches the surface. All the pieces were assembled over several years.

The Aquario Neo CO2 diffuser from Aquarium Co-Op disperses such a fine mist of CO2 bubbles that they are hardly visible but their effect sure is, I've had to trim my Amazon swords continually and have given away quite a few baby plants now. The bubbles rise from the diffuser only to be picked up by the stream from the filter and distributed throughout the tank.

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On 7/30/2021 at 2:00 PM, Jungle Fan said:

In regards to growing moss, patience can't be overstated.

I loved the way the darkstart helped me skip the brown algae phase completely

I'm happy with my version of the "Amazon" jungle, my water parameters have been stable and where I wanted them to be, and yes trimming is  a chore sometimes but I got what I wanted it to be

I appreciate hearing this about the moss. My first-ever moss is currently en route to me. 

What's darkstart?

The happy success story is good to hear. Makes me smile. ❤️ 

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  • 7 months later...

After several months of dealing with renewed cancer and having my hands full with doctor's appointments and just being able to keep up with basic maintenance I finally got some time to take a few new pics now that the jungle is slowly approaching the two year mark. Had to give the Crypts a long needed haircut.

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The Rummynoses still love to hide in the Ludwigia, Swords, and Lobelia, and my Blue Dream shrimp are in love with their Phoenix, and Christmas moss meadows.

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On 3/14/2022 at 4:35 PM, Jungle Fan said:

After several months of dealing with renewed cancer and having my hands full with doctor's appointments and just being able to keep up with basic maintenance I finally got some time to take a few new pics now that the jungle is slowly approaching the two year mark. Had to give the Crypts a long needed haircut.

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20210925_204308a-Edit.jpg

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The Rummynoses still love to hide in the Ludwigia, Swords, and Lobelia, and my Blue Dream shrimp are in love with their Phoenix, and Christmas moss meadows.

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I’m ORD, but this looks fantastic!

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@quirkylemon103 The Crypts had filled nearly half the space in the aquarium, and the Red Flame, and Ozelot Green swords were huge, even the Java fern needed trimming. Here some pics of the before, although they were not intentionally taken for comparison and not necessarily under the best day time for the light cycle of my Kessils.

Before:

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After:

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@anewbie I've never had a problem with either Cardinal Tetras, Rummynose Tetras, or my Bolivian Rams attacking the Blue Dream Neocaridinas, or the Amano shrimp. Mind you I have a swarm of fairly large Rummynose Tetras in this tank as well about equal the number of my Cardinals but they really enjoy hiding in the background plants, and mostly only show up during feeding frenzy. My Blue Dreams are so prolific that I must admit I've lost track of how many there are, despite the fact I've given lots away to friends who were much appreciative of the fact they didn't have to pay the $9.00 each our local source charges. My blues are mostly a deep, almost black blue, despite the fact I don't cull because my wife and I actually enjoy the occasional albino, red and white striped, red, blue with white stripe along the back, a lot more varieties than any book on them even mentions. Also my Otocinclus are almost all still alive, I lost one. but all the others I see frequently.

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You mentioned above that your red flame is huge; what is huge? I mean how tall. I have a 5 year old red flame and it has stayed small despite co2 injection. My other swords like ruffle, red mellon and such are huge with leaves over 20 inches tall but not the red flame.

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@anewbie my tank is a 75 gallon with about 2.5" of substrate at the bottom due to the bottom layer of crushed lava rock underneath and the Red Flame is reaching higher than the Green Ozelot which you can see in the before side view above. I would go take a picture of it but I removed all the leaves that kept protruding past the water surface last week when I did the trimming. I've also had to give away baby plantlets several times already as it was spreading. I like the darker red pattern of Red Flame over the Green Ozelot but it continually keeps me on my toes with its growth. I use Easy Green All In One added about every three days due to my plant load, root tabs, I add liquid iron now and then, I apply Mironekuton deep sea mineral powder with every water change, and I also add Brightwell Aquatics Blackwater Clear Plant/Shrimp to add tannins without the tea color, and as you can see in my previous posts on this thread I use CO2 injection. Over the years I've noticed that sometimes you get plants that exceed what is mentioned in books, other times you get some that stay way smaller, most of the time they are right within what's listed. It's an individual thing, the same with fish, and shrimp.

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A few very short clips of the Cardinals, and Shrimp. You'll probably have to go to settings and ratchet the resolution up to 480 to get a halfway decent picture since YouTube always defaults to the lowest and 480 is the highest they allow for free.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPimZgyp8O0

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1i2Eb4QrI8

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wibSC9IXCzo

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@anewbie So I looked up the Echinodorus Red Flame in my Kasselmann plant book today and she states max. height at about 30cm which would be 11.81 inches. I trimmed the leaves that were protruding above the surface last week, and here are some today already almost at the surface again. Took this picture just for illustration, not my best work but it serves the purpose. Actually measured the length of the leaves while I was at it, and they range from 13 - 15 inches. They love their root tabs and the extra iron and potassium.

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On 3/16/2022 at 8:43 PM, Jungle Fan said:

@anewbie So I looked up the Echinodorus Red Flame in my Kasselmann plant book today and she states max. height at about 30cm which would be 11.81 inches. I trimmed the leaves that were protruding above the surface last week, and here are some today already almost at the surface again. Took this picture just for illustration, not my best work but it serves the purpose. Actually measured the length of the leaves while I was at it, and they range from 13 - 15 inches. They love their root tabs and the extra iron and potassium.

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Bit confused - you have a 75 gallon aquarium that is 21 inches high but you said the leaves were only 12ish inches long and were at the surface. Are you only filling the tank 1/2 way ?

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