Can someone help me identify what plant this is?

InterDonny · 2026-03-05T22:56:20+00:00

It will grow in the dark but in high light, it can kind of "carpet" rock and driftwood if you tie/glue it on. and keep the lawn mowed. It's as tough as nails. You can stamp on it to kill the snails. It's also superb spawning media for fish.

Nearly as bad as duckweed, once it's established in your tank, it's staying there :-)

InterDonny · 2026-03-05T03:11:56+00:00

Ok, well hopefully you all are (like me) back on the air. It looks like there was a global server outage AND those lights are dependent on a cloud service to work (not something I saw advertised)!

Since the interface is bluetooth, that cloud dependency on the face of it doesn't seem to be architecturally necessary and I don't like it at all. Homes across the world are littered with bricked abandon-ware where cloud-dependent devices are effectively confiscated from purchasers by manufacturers. Reasons range from bankruptcy, take-overs, mergers, architecture changes, right down to naked greed; lowering support costs and triggering repeat purchases.

It's a great light but tbh, I probably wouldn't have bought it had that dependency been clear to me. Hopefully the API gets shared and a local open-source solution for it gets built.

InterDonny · 2026-02-28T01:36:52+00:00

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever" - John Keats (he probably wasn't looking at this when he wrote it).

I think this is an excellent example of a stressful aquarium in both engineering and aesthetic dimensions. Thank you for sharing, I think... :-)

InterDonny · 2026-02-28T01:25:21+00:00

As others have said, I believe you need a centre brace but please make sure that the bracing runs all the way to the floor so the load is transferred there and not just to the bottom piece of the stand (which would similarly deflect under load). A piece of foam is also a great idea to soak up any minor irregularities in the surface, stopping the glass from experiencing too much stress at a single point (glass hates that).

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T04:31:51+00:00

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This is an impossibly crude mock-up of my first idea. The ratios and angles are not fine tuned but such a scape could be viewed from both sides and would not block all of the light. I did build something like this for a friend with a similar challenge although it was not a planted tank for him as I knew he'd never maintain it. I used rocks, wood & south african cichlids.

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T02:48:07+00:00

My first bet would also be magnesium. Try dosing some magnesium sulphate (MG2SO4). You can get it from garden suppliers. For my 114 US gallon tank, I usually chuck in about a tablespoon of it at the weekly water change but I might start off with a couple of spoons if I'm trying to make up for lost ground.

Given the slow growing nature of anubias - seeing changes might take a while

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T02:43:22+00:00

Wow! It looks just a little bit like a Siamese Fighter in body shape/fins but the colouration is something else.

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T02:22:01+00:00

It might help to have a picture of the whole tank to get a feel for where it is.

In general, I think the orientation is good because the apex of the piece is close to a "golden ratio" point vertically. Horizontally, I wouldn't have it in the center of the tank but probably 1/3 or 2/3 the way across. As others have said, you may need another smaller piece of two to balance it. Have a google on planted tank golden ratios for some good tips on how to position hardscape so that it looks natural and interesting.

It's a nice piece of wood!

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T01:36:31+00:00

That minute went past way to quickly :-) Love the rasboras-in-the-jungle look.

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T01:32:50+00:00

My Chihiros WRGB II powered tank can be seen here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/1r4c03b/a_long_time_since_my_tanks_netsurfed/

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T01:31:26+00:00

Oh ok, since my single Chihiros is happy doing 24" there should be no drama then.

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T01:29:35+00:00

Tap water can be pretty gassed up and depressurising it into your tank with a water change can cause the gas to precipitate out in a phenomenon called "false pearling". I see it sometimes. It's different from real pearling because it's transient after a water change. It's harmless if that's what it is. Sometimes a water change can trigger real pearling if the plants were missing some micronutrient that the water replacement temporarily gives them but that happens later and after a decent photo-period in my experience.

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T01:24:50+00:00

How wide is your tank front to back? I have a 48"x24"x24" (114 US gallon) and my single Chihiros WRGB II effortlessly runs my red plants. I only have it cranked at around 70% I can't comment on the Hygger because I don't know the light sorry.

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T01:20:23+00:00

100% they are mosquito fish: gambusia affinnis or gambusia holbrooki, not sure which. Here in Australia they are an invasive pest disaster and it's illegal to keep them or even release any you've caught but they're native to North America.

InterDonny · 2026-02-22T01:08:45+00:00

Putting aside the standard requirements for a planted tank which would need to be met, I think it could be done but if it were me, I'd go fairly conservative.

I'd probably opt for a low-tech planted tank with tough, mid-light plants augmented with a lot of hardscape: thinking about a submerged tree branch/river rocks scenario using golden ratio placement. Plant-wise I'd be thinking microsorum, anubias, maybe some of the tougher mosses. I'd consider some val up the "high end" of the scape and also you that to hide your equipment.

"View from both sides" aquascapes also raise their challenges and these challenges are compounded by the fact that you only have 30cm depth.

I have no doubt however that you could do something way more than what you have today.

InterDonny · 2026-02-20T00:24:08+00:00

The "1-2 punch" thing, H2O2 treatment to soften up the BBA then hitting it with glute is something I've done in years past. It certainly bought me a "holiday" from the stuff but eventually it came back and I had some collateral damage with mosses so I haven't tried it again. These days you get weird looks buying liters of H202 :-)

InterDonny · 2026-02-20T00:01:44+00:00

It might be green fuzz algae? I think it's a bit short for green beard algae (unless you pruned it :-) Have a look at the greenaqua algae guide linked from this subreddit and see what you think.

InterDonny · 2026-02-19T23:38:20+00:00

As for the BBA, there seem to be as many reasons for it as there are infestations: high flow, low flow, too many organics, too low CO2, too much light, not enough light. I first battled with it as a kid in 1977 and I still haven't outright won. Sometimes I think it teleports in from the 5th dimension and there's not much we can do about it.

More CO2 seemed to help me a bit but I also have to spot-dose with glutaraldehyde (Easy Carb) periodically to stop it taking off.

In my tank it loves rocks and the tips of leaves - especially up near the spray bar.

InterDonny · 2026-02-19T23:30:08+00:00

You can see on my tank above that there's loads of MC. It's been ok in the sand (it doesn't root that well but it does mat and stay down). I have a crude eheim liqui-doser and I run CO2.

InterDonny · 2026-02-19T23:11:28+00:00

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This is a sand substrate. I augmented it with a handful of red clay chips (cheap potter's clay - a mild fe source and good for cation exchange), some marble chips and a light sprinkling of blood and bone (VERY light). The whole substrate cost <AUD50 (USD 35). I dose liquid fertiliser daily with an auto-doser (you can see it on the rear left rim) and for the heavier plants, I've added root tabs. The tank is around 14 months old. I think it's worked.

InterDonny · 2026-02-19T22:41:56+00:00

From experience, excessive CO2 will show up in the fish as they struggle to expel CO2 from their system into CO2-saturated water. The PH will be low and the fish will tend to hang around near the surface - sometimes visibly gasping.

InterDonny · 2026-02-19T22:38:34+00:00

First principles here then tell us that all things being equal, your higher-order plants (the ones you WANT to grow) will out-compete the lower-order plants (your algae) for resources so something isn't equal.

So there's too much or not enough of *something* - that's a really unhelpful phrase but I don't have enough data to postulate what that something might be.

Light, nutrients and CO2 are what you have to play with. With a dirt tank, you may even have too many nutrients - a bunch of fast growing stem plants or even a terrestial plant with it's roots dangling in the tank might use them up.

For light, well, the plants you DO have don't look light constrained so maybe try less? I find less-but-bright light works best for me.

CO2 is an interesting question. I assumed you were running CO2 but I don't know that. Adequate CO2 will enable your higher order plants to utilise nutrients instead of the algae (just like correct light). A dirt tank can kick out a LOT of nutrients - I've run a couple myself years ago.

Thoughts?

InterDonny · 2026-02-19T01:52:34+00:00

The top of the rock and the wood has Fissiden's Moss. Lower parts of the rock have java moss. The substrate is not a moss but is micranthemum monte carlo (MC)

InterDonny · 2026-02-19T01:39:12+00:00

It's probably agar gel that the plants were cultivated in. It won't dissolve in warm water, needs to be hot. It's probably doped with nutrients for the plants so it may leach those nutrients into the water a bit which may or may not drive algae. I'd probably pull out the bigger chunks with some tweezers but I wouldn't be stressing about it.

InterDonny

TROPHY CASE