# my 75g planted redone!!



## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

Here is my original thread when I first planted my 75g

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=183038

It was going great for a while then I was gone for training for a month in july and friend took care of tanks. Things grew a lot while I was gone and he dosed with ferts a couple times a week but no maintenance was being done while I was gone (besides wcs).

I trimmed and moved things around when I got back and everything was going very well. I didn't anticipate how some plants would grow and how they would look in the placement I had them. Some plants (Heteranthera zosterifolia, rotala sp. green, and Ludwigia repens x arcuata) just grew out of control and blocked a lot of light for the other plants.

I cut back a lot of the rotala sp. green and Ludwigia repens x arcuata and had so much of it for a while.

Anyways I got really busy starting back up with school, rotc, and working 25-35 hours a week, and sort of let the tank go. Stop fertilizing on a daily basis and let the algae grow out of control. Last week I spent a couple hours scraping the algae off, ripping a lot of dead plants and debri out and replanting some plants. I like the way it looks now and hopefully it will grow in the way I think it will in my head.

Anyways here is an updated pic, I will get back to weekly water changes and dosing every day

Lost a lot of plants, my original list was
Hemianthus micranthemoides for ground cover
Rotala rotundafolia
Rotala sp 'green
Rotala wallichi
Limnophila aromatica
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Blyxa japonica
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne balansae
Ludwigia repens x arcuata
and one or two anubias and a couple large rocks with flame moss attached.

Now I have 
Hemianthus micranthemoides for ground cover
Rotala rotundafolia
Rotala sp 'green
Limnophila aromatica - only a few small stems left, trying to get more, one of my favorite plants
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Cryptocoryne balansae
and an anubias and the flame moss

Lost all the blyxa japonica and would like to get some more and all the Ludwigia repens x arcuata but that was given with some other plants I purchused so I put it in the tank anyways, was never in the original plan. No more Rotala wallichi, couldn't get it to grow at all in the beginning.

trying to get the tank they way I like it before adding either the manuelli back to the tank or a brandtii.

first couple pics are the what the tank first looked like, and progression over the months.

LAST TWO PICS are the updated pics taken today.

first set up-









couple weeks in-









about a month after the last picture, after adding co2 and ferts









the next picture with the manuelli in it was taken less than a month and a half ago. probably early late august early sept, prob two months after the last picture.

and the last two after the one with the manuelli is the present.

as you can see I lost a lot of plants between those two updates, hopefully with persistent care now I can get it back to full looking with a nice carpet


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## THE BLACK PIRANHA (Dec 8, 2003)

I liked it better when it was a little overgrown but still looks good.


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## His Majesty (Apr 5, 2005)

nice setup

i have to agree with TBP, it looked better with the over grown look to it.
but still good looking none the less


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

I liked it better overgrown also, I just neglected it a bit too much and a lot of the plants started dying, so I had to rip out a lot of it.

I also will be adding a 2 or 3 hour blast with double the light in the middle of the day. Should get back to that look in no time.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Looks good richie.

Hey, when I get my project going again, can I drop by for some trimmings?








-Thanks


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## ismheg (Oct 2, 2009)

ooks nice


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## jacks (Aug 6, 2007)

looks excellent the plants really took of well!


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> Looks good richie.
> 
> Hey, when I get my project going again, can I drop by for some trimmings?
> 
> ...


absolutely
should have plenty soon


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

thedude8 said:


> Looks good richie.
> 
> Hey, when I get my project going again, can I drop by for some trimmings?
> 
> ...


absolutely
should have plenty soon
[/quote]
let me know what you got when the time comes! Thanks bud! ~always appreciated


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## TJcali (Mar 27, 2009)

nice set up


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

So quick update on the tank!!

I bought some more driftwood, removed the rocks, Trimmed the moss back and have it covering the back of the driftwood already in the tank with the top of the driftwoods points poking out from the "bushes"

Then.... I got hit the dreaded cyano bacteria!!! Whiped out most my hm in a matter of days and covered my entire substrate, driftwood, and, tops of the stem plants.

I treated one full dose of erythromycin (anti bacteria!!) but kind of expensive to treat a 75g. 18 for a 20pack, supposed to use 7 packs for the 75g... The next day I took out all the stem plants (PLUS A BUNCH I JUST HAD SHIPPED TO ME) and put them in a 20gl. Added my filter and co2 to the 20gl with all the plants sort of thrown in there and treating that tank 2 packs a lot easier and cheaper...

Then took the 75g drained all but about 10g of water and added a pack of the erythromycin and letting it sit for half of today.

When I get done writing this paper I will drain the rest of the water from the 75g and begin the new tank!!

Set up will be very similiar except no hm, will be replaced with HC (dwarf baby tears)!! I will be growing the HC and a lot of plants in there will stay emerssed for a few weeks. This meaning, substrate will be soaked, but no water in the tank. I Will be spraying constantly with ferts and adding water to keep the substrate soaked along with completely covering the top to keep the tank moist. Plants staying in the tanks will be crypts, anubias, japanico, and the HC. once the HC gets a good start and enough of a carpet going I will fill the tank up, add water and the rest of the plants and voila!!

The reason I am doing it emmerssed is I read an article on plantedtank.net about benefits of starting a tank emerssed specifically for HC. I have had a ton of problems with HM trying to plant each little stem and getting it to grow and spread into a carpet (I am no dippy eggs). It seemed every time I would trim and replant I would have twice as much floating on the top. Now by starting emmerrsed I can plant the HC a lot easier and exactly where I want it, it will be able to establish roots without my fish kicking it up and without the threat of algae or cyano bacteria.

I will post pictures later today or the set up and wish me luck!!


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

here are the pictures.

Will be draining the remainder of the water and planting the hc soon.

I am also going to grab clear plastic cups to place over the anubias to ensure they are staying hydrated

the bottom picture is where the hc will carpet


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## maknwar (Jul 16, 2007)

Your trying the dry start method by Tom Barr. Very good choice, especially with the HC.


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

maknwar said:


> Your trying the dry start method by Tom Barr. Very good choice, especially with the HC.


yup, what I wanted the most was a nice carpet, and what was the hardest to get for me was a nice carpet. so trying something different


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

here is a basic layout of the tank. Have the HC in right now trying to spread across the right side, will give plenty of room for swimming for the tanks future occupant, probably my manuelli

the cups are covering some cypts and anubias, keeping them from drying out, may just remove them and hold in another tank. They crypts dried out a lot more than I thought they would before adjusting to the emerrssion

the left side will be filled with stem plants


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## notoriouslyKEN (Jul 31, 2003)

That's really cool. I've never seen that done before, but it makes a lot of sense. Good luck with your endeavor, I look forward to new pictures.


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## roccov12345 (Sep 26, 2008)

I've always wanted to try this but never had the patience to have a tank un-stocked for a lengthy period of time. Good luck!!!! Keep us posted....


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

roccov12345 said:


> I've always wanted to try this but never had the patience to have a tank un-stocked for a lengthy period of time. Good luck!!!! Keep us posted....


ya Im fighting to not throw fish in it now...


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## thedude8 (Oct 6, 2008)

I am hoping they establish a foothold by the new year while i am away on vacation and can put fish back in the tank when I get back


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