It’s been about a month since my last update on this tank. I recently pulled out a large number of plants for the GWAPA auction, harvesting plenty of Utricularia graminfolia in particular. I’m pleased that the tank is growing well, despite measuring 0ppm nitrates yesterday (prior to dosing more), but some parts are growing out of my favor. Largely, the Anubias heterophylla on the right side is getting a bit unwieldy.

Also, the Pogostemon stellatus in the back right has gone in and out of looking great to looking like crap. So, I got some Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata ‘Cuba’ and Eriocaulon sp. ‘Type 3’ at the last GWAPA auction that will hopefully replace the P. stellatus in the back right. My problem is that I haven’t found the best transition plant for the right mid ground. On the left, I have the Utricularia graminfolia in front, with Hygrophila sp. ‘Low Grow’ and Crypt. affinis behind that, stepping up to Blyxa aubertii. That’s a nice transition. On the right, it’s the Utricularia to Crypt. willisii to the stems. Unfortunately, the stems usually look like crap after a trim, messing up the transition. I’ve thought about moving some Eriocaulon sp. ‘Type 2’ over there, but that plant may then be repeated too closely together.

Maybe I’m thinking too much?

I noticed some increased fin flashing activity in my 40G tank, and decided to try and capture a few good shots of my Apistogramma sp. ‘Rotpunkt.’ Some of the shots are better than others, but there’s no doubt that these are some pretty fish, whose colors especially pop under the new 2x96W lights!

Apistogramma sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Flashing Fins

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Front On

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Female in Spawning Colors

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Close Up. Notice how brilliant the blue on the face is.

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Non-Dominant Male. Not nearly as impressive, huh?

A. sp. ‘Rotpunkt’ Male Coming at You.

I should have used a flash above the tank to shoot at a better quality ISO, but I always end up spooking the fish in order to set that up.

Thanks for looking! Any comment/critiques are welcome, as always!

I’ve been growing Ranalisma rostrata in my 40G tank as the foreground for some time. When I originally setup my 20H, I decided to also plant it in there. As the 20H progressed, I realized that I had too much light, too little CO2, and too little desire to maintain the tank as I really wanted. Therefore, I removed the 55W PC light from overtop, and replaced it with an ordinary 15W fluorescent light strip. Over the past few months, besides being considerably darker than it was before, I’d noticed a huge change in the form of the Ranalisma rostrata in that tank.

Witness how the grassy plant looks in my 40G. Compact growth, overlapping each other, where each blade is thin and relatively uniform.

In my 20H, the growth is quite different (below), with blades more resembling a sword plant, than grass. The blades are longer and the growth is much slower. I suspect that the plant is sending out broader leaves to try and soak up more light since less is available. The color is also slightly different, with the broader leaves being a bit more pale, with a yellowish tint, where the regular form is a bright green.

I’m sure that this same phenomenon is present in a wide variety of plants, which is why it’s difficult to say exactly how a plant will grow in another person’s tank. I’m often asked at GWAPA meetings whether a plant is high light or not. In general, I can usually only respond that I’ve only ever grown it in high light, but that they should try it out, and see if it survives in their tank. Now, I can’t even guarantee that it’ll look the same!

Back in June 2007, a few GWAPA members went down to Florida to see what kinds of plants/fish we could find for our aquariums. One plant that was absolutely everywhere was a Hydrocotle species that mixed into the grass of people’s lawns, and existed in virtually every roadside ditch we visited. I grabbed a small amount, expecting it to completely take over my tank.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. This small plant has been living in my 40G tank for over 6 months, while only throwing up a single new stem. Recently, I upgraded my lighting to a 2x96W setup from AHSupply and I’ve noticed that the Hydrocotle sp. has started to grow, sending up a new stem and leaf in just the last week. Right now, the stems are approximately 6 inches tall, which is slightly taller than I’d prefer them. I’ll be sure to post if it evens out, and becomes a nice accent plant in my aquascape.

On Saturday, I decided to install a new AHSupply 2x96W kit into the canopy over my 40G aquarium. I used to have ODNO lighting on this tank, but I wasn’t comfortable with the amount of energy being wasted to squeeze out a little bit more light from the 36″ 30W bulbs. Below is what that configuration looked like: 4 bulbs driven by 4 ballasts, over cheap shop-light reflectors.

After I removed the existing equipment, I was pretty happy with the condition of the wood. When I built this canopy, I put extra coats of finish to prevent moisture damage. It held up to the moisture and heat pretty well!

I chose to go with AHSupply’s 96W kit because they have fantastic aluminum reflectors, and the 96W bulb fits a 3′ tank perfectly. I know that T5 lighting is all of the rage these days, but I’d prefer to stick with a consistent power compact lineup so that I can buy replacement bulbs in bulk for all of my tanks.

The kit comes with a set of very detailed instructions for installing into a canopy, or building a DIY strip-light enclosure. Everything you need for either configuration is included. To start, I installed the reflectors and bulb clips into the canopy.

The reflectors come with a yellow plastic film over top of them to avoid scratches during installation. They’re a fantastic parabolic reflector that really focuses most of the light output from the bulb down into the tank. They claim that their reflectors make their setup produce 2.5X as much light as a store-bought solution.

Wiring up the ballast was very straight-forward thanks to the included wiring diagram. The hardest part was trimming the wires to length, and stripping them to use the wire nuts. After screwing down the 2 ballasts, and installing the bulbs, I was all done.

Time to fire them up — Man are they bright! It seems like they’re 10X brighter than my old ODNO lights, using equal or less the wattage. By mid-afternoon, the entire tank was pearling more than I’ve seen it pearl in years. This continued for 3 straight days, so I’ve increased my CO2 injection, and dosing amount to compensate. The fish really pop under these lights as well. I’d recommend AHSupply products to anyone looking for a DIY lighting solution.