[ao]

I'm glad I'm not the only one, always though it looked like some alien creature's legs :/

 

[JDM]

New plant time. Easy one this time, a dwarf water lily from bulb. I've looked at these a few times and they were just bulbs in dry packaging, these were already sprouted nicely which makes me feel a little better about getting them.

Apparently colour variations are more due to lighting conditions than any species selection.

I'm curious to see it it makes it to the surface. I'm pretty sure that if I plant the bulb it will rot so I am going to leave it on the surface of the sand. It at least holds itself down well enough.

Jeff.

 

[avraptorhal]

+1

 

[ao]

ooohhh that lily looks purple

 

[JDM]

ooohhh that lily looks purple

Yah, I think it will go greener in my lighting, lower lighting seems to do that to coloured plants but if I get my act together and get that aquatic light system it should let me keep some more coloured varieties... although I anticipate having to get more surface coverage to compensate.

I just need to decide between reducing the bulb span from 17" to 15" while upping the light level by over a factor of two (three if you count the RGB bulbs) or increasing the bulb span from 17" to 21" while upping the light levels by over a factor of three (four if you count the RGB bulbs).

Jeff.

 

[ao]

have you looked into the finnex rayii?

 

[JDM]

have you looked into the finnex rayii?

It came up before here... just couldn't find any solid information on the product even from their site. I know the Marineland product somewhat now and can see it in the LFS being used. To be honest I would probably choose to assemble my own given a little incentive and time but both are lacking right now.

Jeff.

 

[ao]

it's fairly highly recommended in the aquarium hobby for planted aquariums. And the majority of reviews I've heard from it have been positive. you can also try one buildmyled.com as those tend to bring out more vibrant colors~

I'm not a big fan if marineland >.< to me their quality vs price is just average. haha

 

[fish monger]

The lilies have worked well for me so far in my 55g with two 6500k T8 tubes. The lily pads seem to get to the surface in a couple of days. I don't want the lily pads and try to keep them pruned back.. At the advice of a friend, I buried them about half way and use root tabs with them. Placing the bulbs on top of the substrate is a popular way to handle should work out fine. A rich substrate in apparently appreciated. By the way, My plants are tiger lotus and have stayed kind of a dull red.

 

[JDM]

I was putting in my new driftwood piece last night and noticed these little java moss shoots in behind the original piece. I thought it was interesting to note how they have "rooted" into the sand. These look more like a proper stem plant here than what the idea of a "moss" should be.

In pulling out some other stuff I inadvertently pulled some other java moss out and found that it had developed some roots as well. I forgot to take a shot of that but I left it in my "extra plant pail" for now anyway along with some other stems... until I decide what to do with them.

Jeff.

 

[beaslbob]

I was putting in my new driftwood piece last night and noticed these little java moss shoots in behind the original piece. I thought it was interesting to note how they have "rooted" into the sand. These look more like a proper stem plant here than what the idea of a "moss" should be.

In pulling out some other stuff I inadvertently pulled some other java moss out and found that it had developed some roots as well. I forgot to take a shot of that but I left it in my "extra plant pail" for now anyway along with some other stems... until I decide what to do with them.

Jeff.

Aren't those anacharis?

 

[JDM]

Aren't those anacharis?

Well, you need a frame of reference I suppose. The gravel in the picture is actually grains of sand and the stems, leaf and all, are less than 1/16" across.

That and I've not ever had anacharis in the tank.

Jeff.

 

[ao]

baby elodea XD My fissidens does the same thing i keep puling plants out that's attached themselves to the gravel. then I'm like noooooo why you steal my gravel?!

 

[JDM]

New plant, but it's my first repeat.

Cryptocoryne beckettii

This is a shot of the one I bought previously... the fish are in night mode so I just used an LED trouble light... actually turned out not too badly and the barb was not as darty so it actually looks like a fish rather than a blur.

Anyway, I liked the specimen today and bought it only to realize upon returning home that is is the same as the last purchase. At least the new one has separated plants whereas the old one is all one root ball. I'm liking the leaf plants more than stems anyway so more is certainly not a bad thing. Only so much selection at the LFS.

Jeff.

 

[ao]

a lot of planted tankers eventually cut down on stems and go for the rosette plants(or the runner ones). I think it's due to their infinite vertical growth. lol

 

[fish monger]

For years, the only plants I had luck with were Amazon Swords and stem plants. Now, the rosettes seem to be working and the only stem plant I have consistent success growing is Brazilian Pennywort.

 

[JDM]

My pennywort is all now on dedicated floater duty. It was doing fine as a stem but I needed more floaters and more substrate space.

Jeff.

 

[JDM]

a lot of planted tankers eventually cut down on stems and go for the rosette plants(or the runner ones). I think it's due to their infinite vertical growth. lol

Actually, in my case I just didn't like the way the plant was progressing, larger leaves than it started out with and a lot more scraggily or stemmy than I wanted, probably due to the lower light. I've decided that I like a crypt look and plan on expanding on that with some various height varieties with some other medium light plants mixed in.

I'm even going to remove the last stem of the regular hygrophila I think. It looks out of place as the only tall stem in there. I have a couple of other stems that I will probably keep short, they are much smaller leafed varieties. The vals are shooting out runners now... only in the wrong direction so I'll need to move some plantlets.

I think that my shotgun selection is being narrowed down now, which is where I figured I would end up as a huge plethora of species isn't the most pleasing look in the long run.

Here's an updated shot. There isn't much changing in there, not like there has been but now the flash of blue is back as Oscar is in the shot again... top left corner in his favourite hidey spot now.

Jeff.

 

[fish monger]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I suppose; however, your tank still looks great. I have seen tanks with 2-3 species of plants that look incredible and tanks with a wide variety of plants that look beautiful. The tanks with few species tend to be theme or regional in make up. The wide variety approach achieves a lush jungle effect. You have a wet green thumb. I'm finally learning to go with what works. That has led me to the rosettes. If I had success with the stems, my tanks would probably contain a wider variety.

 

[JDM]

I dropped a dwarf lily bulb into my tank about three weeks ago and it wasn't really doing much. Last week I moved it up to the driftwood to get it closer to the light and removed some of my excess duckweed. Nice difference with some new roots from a node that wasn't apparent initially so I can probably split it soon. I'm looking forward to seeing it reach for the surface.

I attached my overall tank shot. Not as much change as I was getting used to now that I have more slower growing plants in place. I am liking that mass of floating pennywort. It is even shooting out some leaves above the surface of the water now, not just on the surface.

Oscar is right there in the shots again, nice to see him swimming around back to his old self, eating like a pig too.

Jeff.