Today's efforts....

[Ron Sower]

After a lazy morning sleeping in til 9..... Miss Lucy and put on the Nebraska/Iowa game, muted it, put some easy listening Christmas music on, and we began to re-do her 12g bookshelf tank.

[Ron Sower]

In process right now is adding substrate to my 55g. I'm using Saf-T-Sorb. One of the top aquatic horticulturists in our club, The Greater Seattle Aquarium Society, is Roy Sletvold (Seattle_Aquarist on several fora). He introduced me to using Turface several years when I re-activated my interest in the hobby. It's not as easy to find, and in the meantime he began experimenting with STS, which is a similar natural clay product, with a lot of success. One of the benefits of this item is that it supposedly holds nutrients from the water and makes them available for the roots of the plants.  I've had great success with the Turface, and expect the same with STS.

A disadvantage is that both products are dusty and require a lot of rinsing. Then it even clouds the water for 1-2 days, but I don't mind that.  Right now I have 2 AquaClear 110's in addition to my Rena XP3 clearing the water up.

And yes, that is a 55g. It's an Oceanic with a 36'' x 18'' footprint. Different....I yikes it!

[Mugwump]

Nice pics, sounds like a productive day.... ...keep us posted, please.....


try resizing to 'med'...see if the pics are a little larger???...

[Ron Sower]

Trying this...

[Ron Sower]

Better?

[Mugwump]

Better?

Lots!...thank you...

[Ron Sower]

Let's try this one now...

[Ron Sower]

Using Razor, I'm getting there!

[Mugwump]

Perfect.............but you may have to drop a size to fit two in one post??

[BallAquatics]

I've heard that the Special Kitty: Natural Cat Litter works really well too.  It is made from 100 percent natural ground clay with NO added fragrances or scents.

I wet some in a bucket and it looks very nice, but I haven't planted a tank with it yet.....

Dennis

[PaulineMi]

Both tanks are looking good.  I love "Miss Lucy's" tank.

[Ron Sower]

Both tanks are looking good.  I love "Miss Lucy's" tank.

Thanks Pauline. She goes for the minimalist look. We're going to put Ruby Tetras in her tank. I'll get some Ottos also. They're good little workers.
I try to get my own tanks crammed with plants! I'll be 'scaping the 55 tomorrow. Kinda ran out of steam today. Plus i gotta get out some plastic to cover the floor and then put towels on in for me to remove the wood with plants glued on it so I can terrace the substrate. I just didn't feel up to it tonight. It's definitely a lazy weekend for me!!!! I'll post photos when done with it.

[Barb]

Looks good Ron,  that cave looks familiar, is it one of  mine?  How do you glue plants to wood?  I have not tried it yet, can you glue live plants onto wet wood and if so, what kind of glue?  Thanks,
Barb

[Ron Sower]

Looks good Ron,  that cave looks familiar, is it one of  mine?  How do you glue plants to wood?  I have not tried it yet, can you glue live plants onto wet wood and if so, what kind of glue?  Thanks,
Barb

There's a reason it looks familiar...yes...it's yours!!!
You get yourself some Crazy or Super Glue - Cyanoacrylates - Gel form is easiest to use. Pat the wood or rock with a towel to get extra moisture off. I trim the roots off the rhizome of the anubias or fern then apply the glue to the bottom of the rhizome. Then i place it where I want it on the wood or rock. Hold it there about 30-40 seconds to set up a little bit, and then move on to getting the next one on. If you place it back into the water before it's completely set up, it'll set up faster. The glue will turn white, but in a few weeks it'll be covered with roots and rhizome and not be noticed.

This method is one that the frag specialists in the marine aquarium keeping use to glue frags to the little plastic plugs.

Just recently I tried gluing a small Crypt to a log. The roots are taking off toward the substrate! Leaves are smallish right now.

[Barb]

Thanks Ron, that is just the info I need.  I will be gluing instead of tying from now on.  Does it work with Java Fern too?  Or just Anubias?
Barb