Steve's Hallway of Aquatic Plant Pictures

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The 49 Gallon Tank

Dimensions: 4' length, 1' width, 18" height. CO2 injected; Lighting: 250 watt Metal Halide pendant

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Arranged from left to right showing a panoramic view of tank shots.

  1. Cryptocoryne lucens centre foreground, Bacopa right background, Hygrophila corymbosa left background
  2. Cryptocoryne crispatula centre foreground, Microsorium pteropus "Java Fern" on a Mopani root.
  3. Cryptocoryne crispatula left, Microsorium pteropus centre, Heteranthera zosteri(ae)folia "Indian Stargrass" right foreground.
  4. Heteranthera zosteri(ae)folia left foreground, Sagittaria subulata var. subulata "Dwarf Sag" right foreground, Echinodorus amazonicus "Amazon Sword" right background.

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  1. Cryptocoryne lucens
  2. A leaf of Echinodorus barthii X or Echinodorus osirus X, Ludwigia spp. background.

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A number of shots from above the water level.

  1. Hygrophila corymbosa "Temple Plant, Giant Hygro" alternate names or possibilities: H stricta, H augustifolia
  2. Red Ludwigia spp
  3. Rotala macrandra "Giant Red Rotala"

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  1. Hygrophila polysperma variegated "Sunset Hygro"
  2. Sunset Hygrophila polysperma close up

The 75 Gallon Tank

Dimensions: 2' length, 2' width, 28" height. CO2 injected; Lighting: 250 watt Metal Halide pendant

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This aquarium can be viewed from three directions due to it's unique shape. Since you can move about and view through a larger frontal area, you get a kind of three dimensional effect which is nice.

  1. A front view. Echinodorus horemanii left foreground, Echinodorus barthii right foreground, red and green Cryptorcoryne spp centre foreground and left background, Aponogeton crispus extreme right, Cryptocoryne crispatula, Cryptocoryne blassii centre.
  2. Close up Echinodorus barthii centre, Aponogeton crispus right.
  3. Close up Echinodorus horemanii leaves showing distinctive pattern.

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Views from the "left" side of the aquarium.

  1. A well developed colony of red Cryptorcoryne spp which are trying to take over. The leaves are up to 1 1/4" width x 5" long with 10" stems.
  2. Another view of the Echinodorus horemanii surrounded on all sides by Cryptocorynes!

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Heteranthera zosteri(ae)folia "Indian Stargrass"

  1. Close up of the growing tip grown under high light conditions
  2. Another close up grown under high light conditions.
  3. A dense colony grown in high light.
  4. Contrast this specimen growing under low light! Note the narrow leaves the long internode distance.

The 27 Gallon Low Tech Tank

Dimensions: 30" length, 1' width, 18" height. Lighting: Natural window light (no sunlight) supplemented by 20 watt compact fluorescent.

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  1. A young A. cripus grown from seed set by the mother plant in the 49 gal. tank.
  2. Some Philodendron roots allowed to grow into the tank.
  3. (same) you can see a female Cynolebias nigripinnis maschwitz All the killifish are very difficult to photograph. I promise to make some good pictures after Christmas.
  4. A brown C. wendtii with wide undulate (crinkly) leaves. This is a nice contrast Crypt but who knows how large it will get!

Hardware and Gadgets

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  1. A 250 watt metal halide (MH) pendant made by Lighting Liquidators in Vancouver. Total cost: $150.00 Cdn. Not too ugly, eh? It also includes a special glass enclosure shield. You must be insistant if you want this on your kit since it's a hassle to add.
  2. A CO2 regulator showing the pressure guages.
  3. An ARO model N01 fine metering valve used for CO2 injection control. Note: a pH controller is not used in this system.

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  1. 20 lb CO2 tank, regulator, Y gang adaptor and metering valve connections. This system is used to inject CO2 into two aquariums. More aquariums can easily be added by attaching more metering valves onto a multi-way gang adaptor. (or by adding more Y adaptors)
  2. An underwater view showing how where the CO2 PVC tubing is attached to the aeration inlet of a powerhead. Note the 1/2" ID tubing added to the outlet of the powerhead to increase efficiency. Be careful where you aim the outlet as its quite capable of digging a deep hole in your substrate over several days. This system can also be used with yeast CO2 generation system without danger of collapsing the plastic yeast bottles and injecting your aquarium with a deadly yeast alcohol mixture. I use a simple filter uptake tube with grills to prevent fish mortalities at the powerful inlet. An even better idea is to add a filter inlet sponge which cleans the water nicely and prevents the powerhead from becoming plugged. Mine requires cleaning about once or twice a month. Other folks use a micron filter attachment but this requires frequent cleaning and is prone to plugging. This approach is as close to a zero maintenance CO2 system as you can get. pH controllers require monitoring and regular probe replacement and calibration.

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  1. Another above surface view of the CO2 powerhead injector.
  2. The plastic sheet glued to the outlet of the Whisper trickle filter helps guide the flow of water smoothly into the tank. The Whisper filter is good for removing floating debris and improving the water clarity but the filter media must be cleaned every 3-4 days. An annoying maintenance chore. Note the interesting growth of blue and green algaes on the filter outlet. The plastic cover of this filter is sprayed with a flat black paint to reduce algae growth on the filter media. These type of box filters are low cost and easy to clean. They tell you when they need cleaning by creating an annoying trickle of water flowing back out the inlet side.
  3. If you want to breed Killifish you probably need to hatch baby brine shrimp. A one gallon jar filled with sea water, 1 tsp of Artemia eggs, a small air pump connected to a 2' length of PVC tubing weighted at one end with a small slate stone and rubber band and a 60 watt bulb in a clamp on fixture with reflector guarantees good hatches. I keep it lit 24 hrs a day. When it's time to collect the nauplii, I switch to 25 watt bulb positioned at the side, remove the aeration and use a glass turkey baster to suck the youngsters into a net. Putting tinfoil around it prevents the light from reaching other tanks but raises the water temperature too high. I'm experimenting with a large piece of cardboard with tinfoil taped to it as a light shield but this also tends to raise the temperature too high. The water temperature should be between 80-85 degrees F. The drawback to this design is that the bottom of the container permits eggs to accumulate on the bottom and fine bubbles bursting at the surface send salt spray around it.

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This page last updated on December 1, 1997.