# 75g heavily planted P tank progress



## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Hi, thanks for looking









Welp, when I first started this tank, I had a much different thing in mind for it.. But I figured that I would go with what the tank wanted to do, and not me, since I've never had a planted P tank..
So far, I axed the hairgrass, glosso, and vivipara idea because they just were not doing good in there. 
So I got a few different plants and waited to see what was going to do well.. I replaced the glosso with Elatine triandra, vivipara with Heteranthera zosterifolia, and pygmy chain sword, and red micro tenellus for the hairgrass.
So far, so good! I am hoping these plants will continue to do good in there.. Just have to make sure I keep up with maintenance comming down home stretch now.. I think I will get some Ottos, and 2 more SAE's just in case. There is enough plants in there that they may be able to evade the jaws of death.. 
Here is the head of the household









here are some tank shots.. comments/critique welcome

Here is the Elatine, Blyxa japonica, L repens rubin, and H zosterifolia


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2006)

That tank is a beauty!









I would get into an interesting discussion about the different species of plants with you...but I dont know what they are, and I can never remember scientific names when I need to









That Dracena is going wild tho isnt it









What is the grass on the left?

P.S- That P looks familiar!


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## SouthernBoy (Dec 15, 2005)

That tank is simply beautiful.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Thanks danny, southernboy! appreciated!

Yep, that is my Compressus, LOL! BTW, what is a Dracena?:rasp: Here is my attempt to name the plants for you, Danny..

1) Tiger Vals
2) Nymphaea micrantha
3) Bacopa caroliniana
4) Heteranthera zosterifolia
5) Cryptocorine parva, wendtii, walkerii
6) Elatine triandra
7 & 8) Pygmy chain sword, red micro tenellus
9) Rotala rotundafolia
10) Nymphoides sp. 'Taiwan'
11) Hygrophila angustafolia
12) Ludwigia repens-ruben
13) Lymnophila aromatica
14) Blyxa japonica

Not sure, but I think that's it lol

well that was hard to see, maybe this will help


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2006)

Oh those are Tiger Vals!

Cheersm Dips, Im goin to research all of them, hopefully it should give me some ideas for my tank







BTW, my birthday is on the 27th, so youd better start sending those cuttings now









Whata tank :drool"


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

thanks danny.. glad you dig it..








I was origionally shooting for about 8 or so less spiecies of plants.. That's what happens I guess when you are in a plant club.. lol


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2006)

Lol! I want to try and have only a few species, Glosso and maybe another plant as centrepeices, then maybe a few more for variety. I'll move the ones I decide against to my next tank....









I like the look of yours tho Dippy, its like a jungle of plants, all looking healthy and there is some good contrast.

BTW, I really dig the Heteranthera zosterifolia


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Thanks again Danny

The great thing about H zosterifolia besides its beauty, is that if you have enough CO2, light and iron (and everything else too lol) it grows like mad. 
If is hands down the fastest growing plant in my tank, even faster than the vals--and it is very evasive. I had it up front when I first got it, and it tried to smother 4 other spiecies. 
It would outcompete every plaant in the tank if I would let it. lol


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## Guest (Jan 3, 2006)

Well next time you propagate it, shoot me a pm :laugh:


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

DannyBoy17 said:


> Well next time you propagate it, shoot me a pm :laugh:


Pfff, Now that I think back on what happened last time I shipped to Canada, even if it got there ok, 3-5 day shipping was like $17.50.. You are better off finding plants from fellow Canadians selling on aquabid, and aquaticplantcentral.com


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## jiggy (Jun 27, 2004)

u should do floating hydroponics too.. thatd be sweet


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## rbp75 (May 2, 2004)

looks great man! Everthing looks perfect. I cant wait for my ludwigias to get that tall.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

jiggy said:


> looks great man! Everthing looks perfect. I cant wait for my ludwigias to get that tall.


Thanks Nick!

Things are really starting to ...'take root' -bad pun, bad pun.. lol

I have been neglecting to give full potential light to this tank for a reason. But it all stays well, I will open up the light more, and bring out the full potential of the rubin.. it gets a solid red through the whole thing.. a stunning plant. 
They will take their time getting used to water params, they always grow slow when switched from tank to tank.. once it starts growing, you will have a field of it shortly.


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## Winkyee (Feb 17, 2003)

Your tank looks great. 
Very inspirational to me and others to add real plants.
The days of buying plants just to watch them die are over.


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## Z♠NGT♥KER (Dec 27, 2005)

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is ONE NISE TACK fo0l


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Dr.Zoidberg said:


> WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is ONE NISE TACK fo0l


thanks, i think


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## Trystan (Jan 2, 2006)

Amazing tank. Looks so much better than my planted tanks. One day I will get mine ta take off.

Trystan


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## mr_b401 (Jul 6, 2005)

Stunning tank. Such a great job









Your compressus must be thinking "What a guy







"

badass planted tank man...


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

trystan said:


> Stunning tank. Such a great job
> 
> 
> 
> ...


wow man thanks a lot.. it was kind of a battle to get it 80-85%, where it stands now lol it still needs to settle in, but it is almost there


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## Trystan (Jan 2, 2006)

This is the start of my planted. Just hoping that i can get it to take off. Still looking for some type of carpet cover as well.

View attachment 89347


View attachment 89348


Any suggestions??

Trystan


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

HI, welcome to p-fury! 
before i post a bunch of suggestions, I would like to know what you plan to accomplish in your tank? what is your equipment?

tank has a good start. my only suggestion at this point is, get a bunch of different plants, and see which ones do well in your tank, and stick with them.
it is usually better to plant densely if you have a good bit of light. not sure if you have that or not yet..


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## PWRDrill (Oct 28, 2005)

Just thought I'd chime in.

Damn! I would love to do that with my tank someday.

Nice work, very nice!


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

PWRDrill said:


> Just thought I'd chime in.
> 
> Damn! I would love to do that with my tank someday.
> 
> Nice work, very nice!


Thanks! There are quite a few guys on this site with very nice planted P tanks.. I am glad to hear you guys chime in, it keeps me going on this tank! it had some problems, and I had to do a bunch of work to get it like this, to be honest.. it is comming along tho. Here is a pic from today


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## Trystan (Jan 2, 2006)

right now running 1w/ gal plus tons of natural daylight. about 4-5 hours daylight and 13 hours flourescent.


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## Oheye8one2 (Nov 8, 2005)

Dippy that tank is just awesome
















I'm going to begin to plant my 75 gallon over the weekend and just try to test and see what will work and not work over the next couple months. By April i will have 2 75 gallon tanks planted and 1 55 with just a couple plants. I'm wondering if sometime down the road i can make use of your expertise?


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Oheye8one2 said:


> right now running 1w/ gal plus tons of natural daylight. about 4-5 hours daylight and 13 hours flourescent.


12 hours is about all most plants' photoperiod lasts. any more than that is probably not too good. That is what I hear anyway. Do you have algea problems? also, i hear lots of stories about natural daylight bringing on algea as well.. 
that is just what i hear anyway, never tried it myself.


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## Trystan (Jan 2, 2006)

I really don't have that much algae problems with that tank. just a slight haze on the glass that needs to be scraped about once every two weeks(every third or fourth water change) and a little on the rocks once in a while(quick brush every month or so). How often should I be fertilizing??? For the carpet I was thinking something that only gets a few inches max three inches high. would be content with shorter though. any thoughts???

Trystan


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

trystan said:


> I really don't have that much algae problems with that tank. just a slight haze on the glass that needs to be scraped about once every two weeks(every third or fourth water change) and a little on the rocks once in a while(quick brush every month or so). How often should I be fertilizing??? For the carpet I was thinking something that only gets a few inches max three inches high. would be content with shorter though. any thoughts???
> 
> Trystan


Well, if you don't have algea problems, stick with it!







it doesn't get any better than that. Fertilizing depends on your setup, fish, and plant intake. 
==Nitrates should be maintained between 10-25ppm or so. Phosphates, 1-2ppm. If your plants are getting pale, or yellowing, up the iron. I have 3wpg PC flourescents with reflectors, and I dose 7-8ml micro nutrients daily. This is working for me. 
but if your plants are growing, and you have no algea, should you really change what you are doing? that is a good question.


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## Trystan (Jan 2, 2006)

The thing is they are growing but at really slow rate. One new leaf for each plant if I am lucky every two to three weeks.

Trystan

what kind of micro nutrients are you using???


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

trystan said:


> The thing is they are growing but at really slow rate. One new leaf for each plant if I am lucky every two to three weeks.
> 
> Trystan
> 
> what kind of micro nutrients are you using???


that sounds like a lighting issue. but, with higher lighting, comes more ferts, with more ferts comes the the CO2 issue.. but you don't need CO2 unless you want to get over 2-2.5wpg

flourish comprehensive or equalibrium is a good micro suppliment. for long term cheap micros.. Plantex CSM+B @ gregwatson.com


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## Guest (Jan 7, 2006)

Hey Dips, when you planted your Glosso, how did you do it? Vertical stalks or horizontal?


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

glosso is a carpet plant, but it can grow vertically.. I personally like it horozontal








the way it is usually used


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