Three weeks ago, I setup this 2.5G aquascape, and if you compare it with my previous update, you can see that some progress has been made. The HC has grown tremendously, largely due to the injection of pressurized CO2. The java fern in the background as stayed largely the same, but that’s about how I want it to be.

Aquascape, 3 weeks after initial setup.

Unfortunately, the downoi has all but melted. I suspect that the combination of the buffers in the ADA Aquasoil and the added CO2 has made the water a bit too acidic for its taste. I think the tops have started growing again, so hopefully in a few more weeks it will grow back, obscuring the ugly CO2 reactor on the left side. (Sorry, I don’t remove equipment when taking incremental shots. Note, however, that if you ever enter a contest to do so because some judges view a perfect aquascape, but see a filter intake, and act as if a mortal sin has been committed. End rant.) Comments welcome on what I can do to improve this scape.

My 2.5G aquascape is now planted, and a week old. I haven’t really seen a ton of growth yet, but I’m hoping that the plants are just getting themselves acclimated to the conditions. I am running pressurized CO2 into the aquarium in hopes that it will speed things along.

The plants are pretty bread and butter type plants for a nano tank. From left to right, in the back I’ve got Downoi, Narrowleaf Java Fern, and Java Fern ‘Trident/Fingers’. In the foreground, there’s Hemianthus callitrichoides (HC) and Anubias barteri var. ‘nana petite’ in the midground. I’m going to need to thicken up the downoi a little bit, and let the HC grow in, but otherwise, if those two things happen, I’m pretty happy with this aquascape. As always, I would love some comments/critiques.

I’ve finally gotten around to setting up my 2.5G tank for the GWAPA Member  Nanoscape Contest. I tore down the soil experiment tank, and loaded it up with a small 3L bag of ADA Malaya Aquasoil that I had on the shelf for over a year. I ordered a bag of Malaya and Africana awhile ago to compare them to ADA’s Amazon, but haven’t had the opportunity to until now.

Malaya is a bit lighter in coloration than that of Amazonia, and has little flecks throughout. For the hardscape, I’m sticking with a porous mossy rock only composition, largely because I don’t have any pieces of driftwood small enough with the amount of character that I’d like.

This is my first attempt in terms of positioning the rocks. I haven’t fully determined what plants I’m going to use yet, so I’m going to have to update this more once I figure that out! In any case, any suggestions on the hardscape?

I am concluding my comparison of the soil and worm-casting-based substrates. The picture below sums it all up — neither tank met or exceeded my expectations. Now, in this case, the winner appears to be the wormstrate, but in truth, there is no winner, and the biggest loser is me.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to really conduct a fair experiment for these two tanks. I rarely dosed any Excel, and the lights themselves probably made the tanks too warm to successfully grow many plants. Factor in my travels recently, and it adds up to a lot of neglect. I’m amazed that the wormstrate was able to maintain a growing carpet of Marsilea quadrifolia. The soil tank on the other hand, saw nearly all of the plant life disappear. The only plant that really did well in that tank was Limnophila aquatica (now removed), which grows in just about anything. I want to make clear that this is not an indictment of soil substrates because I know many GWAPA members who have absolutely amazing results with soil. It’s only a failure of execution on my behalf. So, I’m tearing down the soil substrate tank, and am finally going to set up my 2.5G aquascape for the GWAPA contest. I have until October 1st to make it into something fabulous!

Admittedly, I’ve been milking my Nova Scotia pictures for all the blog posts I can get out of them. Let me fill you in on why that is. Exhibit A (for algae), see below:

Apparently, it was a bad decision for my to hang some house plants above my tank. At the time, I figured that they would help with high humidity levels, and add a nice accent to the room. Well, what I didn’t realize is that the hanging baskets leaked. I instructed my “tank watcher” to water the plants while I was away in Nova Scotia. Well, apparently, much of that water dripped through the fertilizer laden pots, and straight into my 40G tank.

Multiply that by 2 weeks worth of time, lots of light and additional dosing, and I came home to algae soup. I literally filled a quart container with just algae. I did a huge water change, and am still pulling quite a bit of algae from the tank. I’ll probably end up just tearing the whole thing down, and redoing it. It’s time for a new aquascape anyways! At least the fish don’t seem to be affected by the algae bloom.