# Tank pics..



## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Just thought I would share some pics with you. -I just did a 60% water change, and trimmed the plants. The stem plants in the back were trimmed from the bottom, and the Micranthemum umbrosum,(mid/front right) and Heteranthera zosterifolia(left back) was trimmed from the top, for a bushy effect when they grow back..
Here is a full tank shot.. 








Middle/right..








Left side








closeup of M. umbrosum








Would you believe that I found Cryptocoryne wendtii 'Tropica' -the hardest wendtii to find- over at Petsmart??
















Charlie got scared or something.. he rarely hides! But if he does, it is just after a water change, and behind the Ludwigia inclinata var verticillata 'Cuba'..









Comments/critique welcome as always, hope you enjoy!
Argh, sorry for all the water marks all over the glass.. bah!


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## Doktordet (Sep 22, 2006)

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

I'm speechless man... DiPpY your tank is awesome, superb







... great great job man







!


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Doktordet said:


> I'm speechless man... DiPpY your tank is awesome, superb :nod: ... great great job man
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow, thanks Mr hannibal!! I really appreciate that!!









Oh, and the floating plants are getting shipped tomorrow.. they don't make for an appealing picture, but I usually take shots when I'm thinking about the tank.. lol


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## soon2breed (Aug 30, 2006)

wow thats an incredible looking tank


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

a freakin mazing


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## therizman1 (Jan 6, 2006)

Looking very good Dippy... that dwarf hairgrass has really not done much for me, I dont think it likes me.

My Petsmart has wendtii tropica too... not the best looking, but it is there, I was really surprised to see it there.


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## thebluyak (Apr 14, 2006)

awsome man awsome. I dont have enough paitence to (or the light) do that heavy a lanscape. I plant mine and let it grow in till its blocking lot lol


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## DC2RJUN (Aug 31, 2004)

WOW that looks really nice dippy!


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

soon2breed said:


> WOW that looks really nice dippy!


I appreciate all the comments!

I am going to take another pic in a few days, after things start to grow back, and next time, I will be sure to clean the glass!! it is bothering me now lol


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## mikfleye (Jul 27, 2006)

dippy you always amaze me with your tanks, i plant to venture into plants very shortly with my empty 75g, and plan to put a Solitary S. Geryi in there. so expect alot of question from me lol, once again, amazing tank man


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

mikfleye said:


> dippy you always amaze me with your tanks, i plant to venture into plants very shortly with my empty 75g, and plan to put a Solitary S. Geryi in there. so expect alot of question from me lol, once again, amazing tank man


Thanks bro!

It is much easier to help people once they read the pinned topics in AP's, and then ask away! That will make it easier to answer questions..
A planted tank can be work at times.. well, with high light like this one.... lol


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## Round Head (Sep 26, 2005)

WOW Joe!!!
That tank looks awesome.








Seems like you have alot of plants in there but they are very well placed.








I can't really tell the ratio of area between the background taller plants compare to the foreground plants. The reason I ask is that I think that I am leaving too much space for my foreground plants which occupies half of the tank width.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Round Head said:


> WOW Joe!!!
> That tank looks awesome.
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Lane!

There are TONS of plants in there. The foreground is the hairgrass, (some riccia fluitans on right) which I tried to slam up against the midground as tight as possible, trying to leave no space at all.. but some places it won't grow yet.. I could put some Anubias nana in the bare spots..
Then, midground is mostly B japonica, with places where C. wendtii tropica, and M umbrosum contribute to the Midground.. Again, slammed right up against each other.
The background plants, I trimmed slightly above the midground this time, because I didn't want to trim the tank for 2 weeks, maybe 3..(that is pushing it)
The background plants are in layers, first row slammed up against the midground. --I know the L 'Cuba' grows a lot faster than the Pogostemon stellatus 'broadleaf', so I trimmed it a bit shorter.

I try to take off the bottom 5" of the leaves on the background plants, so they don't rot and fall off, making much more organic waste in the tank.
They fall off anyway from not getting any light or water movement. 
Did that help with your scaping ideas any??


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## Round Head (Sep 26, 2005)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> WOW Joe!!!
> That tank looks awesome.
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Lane!

There are TONS of plants in there. The foreground is the hairgrass, (some riccia fluitans on right) which I tried to slam up against the midground as tight as possible, trying to leave no space at all.. but some places it won't grow yet.. I could put some Anubias nana in the bare spots..
Then, midground is mostly B japonica, with places where C. wendtii tropica, and M umbrosum contribute to the Midground.. Again, slammed right up against each other.
The background plants, I trimmed slightly above the midground this time, because I didn't want to trim the tank for 2 weeks, maybe 3..(that is pushing it)
The background plants are in layers, first row slammed up against the midground. --I know the L 'Cuba' grows a lot faster than the Pogostemon stellatus 'broadleaf', so I trimmed it a bit shorter.

I try to take off the bottom 5" of the leaves on the background plants, so they don't rot and fall off, making much more organic waste in the tank.
They fall off anyway from not getting any light or water movement. 
Did that help with your scaping ideas any??
[/quote]

Oh heck yeh Joe. That helped alot. I never did any clippings of the leafs on the bottom and in the dark crowded areas that is why my tank looks so dark and gloomy near the bottom of the tall plants and there is so much sludge build up on some area of the substrate. 
All this time I only trim off the top as they get too taller. But then they would produce off-shoots and get denser near the top leaving the region from the mid level to the bottom all dark and rotted out. Now I know why all of your tanks look so densly grown yet the bottom layer as well as the whole tank looking bright, luscious, and clean.
I suppose that my elbows and armpits need to get wet more often, lol.








After those new plants received from you get a good growth spurt, I will replant and adopt your method.

You are alway so helpful my friend.
Thanks again.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Cool, Lane.
Your method of trimming the tops is how I trim the shorter midground bushes, like Micranthemum umbrosum, and Heteranthera zosterifolia. (many other midground plants lend themselves to that type of trimming as well)

The only time I uproot those guys is when the bottoms are rotting out too badly. Then it is time to replant, and vacuum a bit under there. 
Trimming like that makes tons of offshoots, which is perfect for a bushy midground look.
I trim my background plants like that only when I need more stems of that particular plant.
I find that 1 stem plant looks better, and is easier to control the way it looks, if always trimmed from the bottom, with one top on it.
When they produce offshoots, sometimes I will let them overgrow a tad, so I can harvest and use the newer offshoot that might look a bit more perky than the mother plant.


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## MONGO  (Feb 7, 2006)

Impressive.


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## harrykaa (Jan 10, 2005)

DiPpY,

I am interested on hearing about the technical side of this "botanical water garden".
Like - lights (W, hours per day) - CO2-system - filtration?

Harry


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

harrykaa said:


> Impressive.


thanks, bro


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

ya my6 hair grass aint doin crap what care dose it kneed for it to spred?


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## Deaner (Apr 18, 2006)

I just dont understand how you vac out the gravel in tanks like that?


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## chomp chomp (Oct 28, 2003)

Dippy, your tank is truley stunning!









It motivates me to want to try a planted tank. The hairgrass in the tank looks awesome!


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## eiji (Sep 16, 2006)

best planted tank i've ever seen...

Dude, you're a f*cking God!!


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Joe! as usual you tank looks great! 
Carniverous bladderwort ehh? Nice. whats it eat tho. does it not bother the surrounding plants? 
I just did some rescaping/trimming myself as well last night I will post up in my journal when I get a pic after the water clears up.


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## Devon Amazon (Apr 3, 2005)

wow, that is an amazing achivement








Beautiful tank


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## RGS38 (Aug 25, 2006)

Man, im in love with ur aquarium adn fish


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## harrykaa (Jan 10, 2005)

OK DiPpY,

Obviously judging the looks of your tank, problems are quite minimal, awesome work.
I find that PO4 bondage an interesting issue, something is preventing plants from using it, 3-4 ppm levels seems a bit high.
You said those new plants brought an algae problem. Well was it only on the new plants or did it spread (Cladophora hair algae)?

Harry


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## Σņįġmã (Mar 25, 2006)

RESPECT(not aplant man my self but thats something else)RESPECT


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## C0Rey (Jan 7, 2006)

Outstanding as always!


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## Bigkrup444 (Oct 6, 2003)

awesome looking tank i love it







That i a ver impressive setup


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## boozehound420 (Apr 18, 2005)

thats one of the nicest tanks ive ever seen, perfect home for a rhom


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## RedSpilo (Mar 18, 2006)

hott tank!!!!


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## redbellyman21 (Jun 27, 2004)

very nice tank, I am envious..


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

cueball said:


> RESPECT(not aplant man my self but thats something else)RESPECT


Thanks!

ok, this post is getting very long..lol Thanks so much C0Rey, I am very glad you like it!
Bigkrup444, boozehound420, Red Spilo, redbellyman21, Thank you for sharing your opinions in here! 
The tank can be time consuming somewhat, and your responses make it easier to make the descision to go at it again LOL
Thank you very much..

Here at P-fury, myself and many others who frequent the Aquatic Plant forum, can help any of you if you decide to venture into the planted realm.
It can get slightly technical, and a bit tempermental in the high tech end, like my tank. But there are low tech tanks that can look superb as well, if you don't want to take the plunge deep into it.


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## CloneME (Feb 24, 2006)

Amazing as always dippy. Wish your piranha wasn't chillin in the back though. I bet he loves his aquatic jungle.
E


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## harrykaa (Jan 10, 2005)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> There is a water condition called phosphate and iron precipitation.. Maybe you know something of it?
> The clado came in on the hairgrass, and on the E tenellus 'micro' -both great plants.. I thought I would be able to deal with it so it didn't get too bad.. but it had other plans.. lol
> It sticks to just the plants it came in on. They are the only plants it can attatch itself to, and not get pulled out entirely.. So it sticks to those plants 99%


Right,

Ferric phosphate will easily precipitate in the water. These compunds do not dissolve easily. Phosphate also forms calcium phosphate, and that is also easily precipitated. That would mean phosphates take iron and calcium from the water.

Some algae are really hard to get rid of. I usually rip such leafs off and hope the plant recovers from that.

Harry


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

CloneME said:


> Amazing as always dippy. Wish your piranha wasn't chillin in the back though. I bet he loves his aquatic jungle.
> E


I'll be posting more pics this week hopefully. He was only hiding for a few mins.. He is quite a terror! 
He swims to the surface, and thrashes around pretty violently when he is hungry lol
He is out 99% of the time, the lights do not bother him in the least.



> Ferric phosphate will easily precipitate in the water


Harry!!
I'm very glad that you know something about precipitation.. How is it caused?
And also, what can I do to prevent it?? --thanks!


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## harrykaa (Jan 10, 2005)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> Harry!!
> I'm very glad that you know something about precipitation.. How is it caused?
> And also, what can I do to prevent it?? --thanks!


DiPpY,

Well the chemical called ferric phosphate (FePO4) is widely used as a pestiside against snails (on land). You can see this link:

EPA

I think it is the property of phosphate ions and ferric (Fe3) ions to form ferric phosphate. You could of course use bivalent iron (Fe2++) and not the trivalent one.
It is also true that the precipitation is stronger in basic water. So it dissolves better in acidic conditions.

I was just thinking when you said the phosphate levels of your tank were 3-4ppm. Well if this analysis has been done from the water column, it is the concentration of available phosphate (not knowing the level of iron, though), not the precipitated one. So lowering pH will cause this level to increase even further. Do you want that to happen? Perhaps you should just add more iron.

Harry


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Hmm, Harry..
I use mono potassium phosphate from gregwatson.com, and Flourish iron, which is, I believe, in the ferris state..
My water is at 6.3-6.4pH at all times..

I add a lot of iron, 20ml every other day.. Any other advice, or comments about this?
Thanks Harry


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## harrykaa (Jan 10, 2005)

Well it seems you do it very right, so fine.










Harry


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## Leasure1 (Jul 24, 2006)

always love looking into your tanks!!!


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

> Well it seems you do it very right, so fine.


Thanks Harry.. I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, and realize that precipitation is with us.. lol



Leasure1 said:


> always love looking into your tanks!!!


Thanks Leasure1.. Nice to know!


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## bc_buddah (Dec 18, 2005)

oh my wow, dippy, u get the tank of the century award lol, wait

make that tank of eternity award lol

it's a jungle in a tank, u dont even need that fish in there, lol

rhom btw? size? share rhom pix plz n thx?

peace n luv


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## HumanBurger (Jan 11, 2006)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> Hope someone besides Harry will read all of that lol --call me a windbag..


hahaha, i got your back man....








always willing to take in some of that plant knowledge you readoff like a tome... haha

i think i speek for lots of us that are dabbling with plants that one day, we all want our tanks to look just like that...









cheers man
jones


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## leviathon13 (Sep 11, 2006)

WOW!!!!


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

> rhom btw? size? share rhom pix plz n thx?


Thanks Buddah! welcomed comment!







There are many incredible tanks that smoke mine though, do some searches on ADA's Takashi Amano, ADG's Jeff Senski, Germany's Oliver Knott, etc, etc.. Just to name a few! 
--Jeff Senski did email me over the summer, to get permission to use one of my tank photo's in his presentation on the American aquascaping scene, in Japan at ADA headquarters..
I have a compressus in there though. I bought him when he was a puppy.. now, 1 year later, he is pushing 6-7".
I'll post pics from last january, and from today to show how he has grown..


> i think i speek for lots of us that are dabbling with plants that one day, we all want our tanks to look just like that...


Jones! Nice to see you in here! Hope all is well! Hey, thanks for stopping by and adding your .02$! Always love hearing from you as well! --love your artwork man! how are the tanks comming?>?
Thanks as well leviathon
Here are some more pics


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## Trigga (Jul 1, 2006)

Dippy man your tanks make me wanna go by 300 dollars in plants right now!!! But for two reasons i cant do this.
#1 Im broke









#2 Theyd die by tommorow since i have nowhere CLOSE to an eighth of your skill man. I too will be hitting up with a pm soon man with some questions about planted tanks...

ur rhom is living in a palace...he must be grateful


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Hi Trigga
I get plants for a steal with my local aquarium plant club I belong to.. I have had so many spiecies of plants through them, it is silly.. 
I have bought many plants too, but mostly through the club, which is a lot of trading, and just giving..
I don't have much real skill.. I just read what others have done, and did a lot of work trying to keep algea down lol
I learned from other hobbyists, and from my mistakes.. lol


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Almost forgot!
Here is a pic of the occupant, Charlie the compressus.. And I'll toss in a pic of my bedroom 10g with harlequins in it..


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## NeXuS (Aug 16, 2006)

nice pics. charlie looks like one happy compressus


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Thanks NeXuS!

Here is a couple more shots..


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## RedSpilo (Mar 18, 2006)

amazing tank man sickkkk


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## Dezboy (Apr 2, 2006)

ONE OF THE BEST TANKS I HAVE EVER SEEN, GOOD WORK


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## gloom (Nov 11, 2006)

great plant selection and placement.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Thanks guys!

I have some new ideas for the plants.. same basic placement, just fine tuned a bit.. 
I think I can pull it off, not sure yet.. it might take a little time


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## MONGO  (Feb 7, 2006)

Dude you should seriously enter your tanks into some contests.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

RockinTimbz said:


> Dude you should seriously enter your tanks into some contests.


Thanks! But this tank needs some tweaking









I gots ideas.. small ones, but to me, it would make a big difference.. I just have to get up the energy to do it lol


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## cueball (May 24, 2005)

whats this plant/moss called dippy? i seem some at a friends tank but never herd of it


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## NeXuS (Aug 16, 2006)

awsome.


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## gloom (Nov 11, 2006)

i like the crypto.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

> whats this plant/moss called dippy? i seem some at a friends tank but never herd of it


That plant is Riccia fluitans. I hair net this stuff to rocks

Thanks NeXuS
And Gloom, that Crypt can sometimes be found at Petsmart, believe it or not. It is Cryptocoryne wendtii 'tropica'


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## HumanBurger (Jan 11, 2006)

whoa... that 10gallon tank is lookin flawless!!! i can only imagin the colors much more specatular in person... my 10gallon is a green slime algae farm, hahaha

luckiest compressus every i'd say thou...
i like the hair net idea with the ricca... i love how it looks, but floating plants seem to be the bain of my excistance!!! haha, ill try that out one day...

again, nice work...
jones


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