# Elective Affinities



## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

So it begins.... 

As the title suggests, and for everyone that is not familiar with Die Wahlverwandtschaften, i really don't have much of plan for this tank. I'm going to add/remove stuff over the next couple months until i get a good pairing of plants. The only thing i really have in mind is trying to keep this limited to easy, accessible plants, and just focus on arrangement and scale. That, and i think I'm going to do all the foreground with Riccia fluitans.

As it stands, i'm starting with a standard 10 gallon tank and a junker of 65w power compact bulb.


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## jimmyjam (Nov 6, 2007)

sounds like a solid plan my friend... can't wait to see more pics


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

ill like to see how you use the riccia  nice start!


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## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

Not much has been going on with this tank as of yet, but i have planted the middle ground. I'm thinking a few if the Riccia stones up in the front are a little too big so i may break up the slate a bit more and start placing some smaller stuff closer to the foreground. Other then that, it feels like a little DHG in the back and some, glosso in front of the rocks and some HC to fill in the front. Depending on how the hair grass grows in i may add in some micro sword to break it up a bit, but that will only make trimming hell as it all grows in. 

Fish selection is still up in the air. Given that this is pretty much an iwagumi, I'm going to need something that is pretty comfortable in open water.


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## 03pilot (Oct 7, 2010)

Love your scape a lot! Full of potential and I think you time it well as the riccia is going to look great by June. I can't wait to see more


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## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

The timing is pretty hard. I started out with a handful of Riccia three weeks ago and grew it out with it floating on the top of the tank. By the end of three weeks the entire top of the 10 gallon was filled. I was thinking i would need 6 weeks to get what i did. 

The reef people need a good 6 months to get their tanks together, but with the planted tanks, unless it is low light with lots of slow growers, then really 3-4 months max. After that, your just timing and hoping you can keep up your dosing up to avoid an algae out break. I guess it will give us lots of time to work on little details. 

Now that i have said that I'll probably wake up tomorrow morning with green water or hair algae all over everything.


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## 03pilot (Oct 7, 2010)

I know exactly what you mean. I have a bucket full of riccia from my other tank. You probably already know when riccia grows nice and thick, the bottom will start to rot and eventually it will come loose. You don't want that to happen in June so its important to time this right. IMHO they are hard to maintain. I am a newbie so what do i know 

Anyway 6 months feels like eternity for us. We have a lot of time to tweak our tanks.....


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

Rmwbrown said:


> Not much has been going on with this tank as of yet, but i have planted the middle ground. I'm thinking a few if the Riccia stones up in the front are a little too big so i may break up the slate a bit more and start placing some smaller stuff closer to the foreground. Other then that, it feels like a little DHG in the back and some, glosso in front of the rocks and some HC to fill in the front. Depending on how the hair grass grows in i may add in some micro sword to break it up a bit, but that will only make trimming hell as it all grows in.
> 
> Fish selection is still up in the air. Given that this is pretty much an iwagumi, I'm going to need something that is pretty comfortable in open water.


loving how the stones and scape are looking


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## Rmwbrown (Jan 22, 2009)

Thanks... it's looking all a bit yellow right now.. i'm hoping to get the rich greens you have going on in your tank!


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## ShrimpieLove (Apr 26, 2010)

thank u  not sure how I got it so green in there lol 
I love how u have laid out the stones, looks great


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