After looking at an overgrown mess for several weeks, I broke down and spent the day on Sunday rescaping my 50g aquarium. I emptied everything from the tank, but the substrate, including dozens of bristlenosed plecos. I overturned one of the previous pieces of wood, and saw probably a hundred baby plecos scurrying everywhere. It probably took me an extra 30 minutes to pull all of those tiny 1/2″ fry from the tank.

I recently bought a large amount of Malaysian driftwood from a local store, and wanted to use some of those pieces in this aquascape. I was looking to recreate the base of a tree submerged in the water. I don’t know if the above hardscape is exactly that, but I did create three distinct lanes running from left to right; one on the left behind the centerpiece, the center lane, and another that goes behind the large piece on the right. In addition, knowing that I would put dozens of plecos back into this tank, I chose pieces of wood that have caves or crevices that I hope they’ll occupy. Some always insist on digging underneath the wood!

Next, I replanted the tank using most of the same plants that I had in previously. All throughout the tank is Ranalisma rostrata, with Hygrophila pinnatifida both used as stems and attached fern-like plants on the wood itself. I used some Staurogyne sp. to help add some more intrigue throughout the Ranalisma, along with Hygrophila sp. ‘Araguaia’. I still need to add some mosses to the wood, particularly the center piece that has a visible sawed off area. I will post updated shots once the tank completely clears. Initial comments/critiques welcome!

I snapped a few pictures before feeding the fish today. The Bookshelf tank is basically filled in. I’m starting to get a little bit of algae in this tank, but the combination of shrimp/baby bristlenose are keeping the problem at bay. If anyone has found a good solution for getting consistent and constant water circulation in a tank of this dimension, please comment below.

The 33g tank has exploded in growth. I was suffering from a terrible spirogyra outbreak, but managed to successfully eradicate that with AlgaeFix. I am not usually a proponent of chemical solutions, but the infestation was bad enough, and this tank does not have any invertebrates, so I decided to drop the bomb. I’m wary of any product that lists its ingredients as known carcinogens, therefore, during treatment and for several water changes later, I took extra effort to avoid any physical contact with water from this tank.

The only issue I’m having now is some green spot on the glass. I’ve adjusted my phosphate dosing upwards to address this issue. Otherwise, I’ve added a dozen black-neon-tetras which hang out in the open. I’ve noticed that they seem to have calmed down the sunfish some, so they are out in the open more as well, which is a nice development. Comments/critiques welcome!

This weekend, I decided it was time to rescape my 33g cube. This aquarium has a few other changes, namely that I replaced the 4x24w HOT5 + 250W MH light with two Finnex Ray2 LED bars. It doesn’t take a mathematician to calculate the energy reduction from this change to “a lot.” The amazing thing is that as soon as I put the LEDs on top, the plants in my previous aquascape started pearling more than they normally did with the metal halides on.

For the hardscape, I’m using some new Manzanita from Msjinkzd.com that I got over the summer. If you’ve never looked at Rachel’s stocklist, check it out now, as she carries amazing nano fish and inverts for our planted aquariums. For this hardscape, I wanted to do something a little bit different than I’ve done before. I wanted to have the hardscape flow throughout the aquarium in a more artistic way, while still looking somewhat natural.  You can see the bare hardscape above. Since I didn’t soak the manzanita ahead of time, I tied all of the piece together using florist wire so that I could keep them from floating via angular resistance between pieces, and a large rock that I put on the largest pieces for a couple days.

In planting the tank, I had a bunch of plants from the previous aquascape that I wanted to carryover, namely the Anubias barterii ‘nana petite’, Java Fern ‘Trident’, Cryptocoryne lucens, Limnophila repens ‘mini’, and chain sword. I also pulled some Ranalisma rostrata, Gratiola viscidula, Syngonanthus anomalous ‘Madeira’, Fontinalis hypnoides, Nymphaea micrantha, and Didiplis diandra to the tank. I’m still figuring out exactly what direction I want to take this time in terms of how the plants should fill in, but I’m happy that the first planting is complete and looking forward to see how the LEDs perform in their first aquascape. Comments welcome!

Below is a picture I snapped today while working in on my tanks. It’s been three weeks since I posted a picture of this aquarium, and as you can see, the Lilaeopsis is growing in very nicely. I’m getting a few leaves with fuzz algae, largely in areas that aren’t getting a ton of flow. That’s definitely one of the problems with this tank size. I have to used nano-sized powerheads, so they don’t push a ton of water. If I upgrade to the next size, the powerhead disturbs both the substrate and the water surface.

So, I’m going to simply re-position the powerheads I have to try and fix the problem. I’ve also dimmed the LEDs just a tad to slow the growth a little bit. I have to say that I love that this is possible with many LED fixtures! Let me know if you like how it growing in. (Or if you don’t!)

I’ve been working on an Iwagumi scape in my bookshelf tank since August. Back then, I spent several days working on the hardscape, using ADA Aquasoil (powder and regular types) to create the mounds. Originally I planted the entire aquascape with an Eleocharis species that I found growing abundantly near my house. In nature, it looked very much like Eleocharis parvula, the 1-2″ tall dwarf hairgrass that makes such a nice foreground plant. Unfortunately, my lights must not be as strong as the sun, and so it turned out to likely be Eleocharis acicularis, the 4-8″ tall hairgrass that remains as my background plant.

Hardscape – Click for larger

About 6 weeks ago, I pulled most of the hairgrass and replaced it with two types of Lilaeopsis, L. brasiliensis and L. sp. ‘micro’. Below, you can see that it’s starting to take off. The hardscape itself has remained pretty much unchanged since the initial setup. I have added a frosted background to the back glass, and finally put a heater in this tank, which has definitely helped to speed the plant growth.

Aquascape – Click for Larger

I’m not currently using any filtration, but the two nano powerheads do a good job keeping the water circulated and my weekly large water changes keep it in good condition. The only livestock right now are a Dario hysgninon, a few rosy loaches, and a few baby bristlenoses that I pulled from my 50G. The hairgrass on the right background always seems to want to clump together and lay to the right. I need to figure out how to make it stay more like the hairgrass on the left. Otherwise, I’m really happy with how this is turning out, and am looking forward to it filling in. Comments/suggestions welcome!

I recently returned from a week of travel for work. Before I left, I did my water changes, dosed a little bit extra, and made sure that the fish would get fed. Most of the tanks were already in pretty good shape, but I had recently replanted my 40g farm tank, and it was still in the process of recovering from that shock.

Click for larger version

Much to my delight, the farm tank (above) really rebounded and grew in beautifully while I was gone. In addition, I think the lack of dosing caused the plants to temporarily color up due to needing more nitrate. This is one of those times where I find myself sitting and starring at my farm tank constantly, even though it’s not really aquascaped. Healthy plants are mesmerizing!

I did my usual weekly water changes this weekend, and want to update on the 50G aquarium. This tank has had a number of changes over the past few months. In terms of equipment, I replaced a 2x96W power compact DIY kit from AHSupply with 4-TrueLumen LED bars from Current USA. While I’m still coming to terms with the coloration and perceived brightness, there’s no question that the plants are getting more usable light than they did with the old lamps, as growth has taken off, particularly in the foreground.

The Ranalisma rostrata has completely filled in the foreground areas, and I have been regularly thinning it out for other hobbyists (and to keep the plant from getting way overgrown.) The Hygrophila pinnatifida has almost entirely stayed in it’s creeping form, attaching itself to the driftwood in this tank. I have a fresh batch of bristlenosed pleco babies, hence the uneven foreground where they’ve dug out until the wood to form their caves. I do still have a maintainable amount of BBA on some of the wood pieces, but the plecos keep it from spreading beyond that, and the plants are free of algae, minus a few older leaves of the Hygrophila. Basically, I just need to focus on trimming this tank a little bit better, particularly the Blyxa japonica in the background, and the stems in the back. Comments welcome!

I did some water changes this evening, and snapped a photo of my 33g as it stands today. The Elatine triandra is responding well to a trim that I did last week, and the rest of the plants are growing in well. I had to trim off a few leaves with black brush algae (BBA), since I got a little bit lax in my dosing over the past week or two, but it didn’t get out of control.

I’d love to hear any suggestions to refine the scape even more.

Here’s another video from my fish room, featuring my F1 Peruvian Angelfish and Apistogramma sp. ‘Breitbinden’.

I was enjoying my fish tanks this evening, and decided to shoot a short video of my 40G farm tank. The plants are crammed in there, but are healthy and pearling at the end of the day.

I have Oryzias woworae and Pelvicachromis taeniatus ‘Moliwe’ in the tank right now. I suspect that once the cichlids get bigger, I may need to find a more secure home for the O. woworae. Everyone’s getting along now, however.