Aquatopia - 6x2x2 Low-Med Light, High Tech Nature Aquarium

[Aquatopia]

The Malaysian Trumpet Snails have also just turned up! So Damo's Fish does seem okay, he may not be the best when it comes to sending out the right orders first time... ...but he has sent the correct one out very quickly once I messaged him. They are now in the tank.

The tank lights are currently ramping up and... ...the water is very coudy and brown!

I have had filter floss in both filters since I started them up so I think the cloudiness is biological.

 

[Aquatopia]

I forgot to say - the floating plants didn't work out. The corral I made for them failed to contain them and there is too much surface agitation/flow for them to just float free. In the end I decided to give up on them, so I won't be having any.

I've just put the first lot of dry nutrients in for my EI mix. Those who have been following me will know I am front loading the macro's dry for the week then dosing the micro's on the other 6 days in a liquid mix. I'll start dosing the micro's from tomorrow.

I think the EI dosing is going to be a bit messed up at first though. I mean once the fish are here on Wednesday I'll probably be doing a 50% water change every day (unless it's not needed). So the macro's I've just added for the week will be reduced and then gone. I'm thinking the plants are just going to have to manage with what they can get whilst the tank is getting going. There is going to be ammonia in there for them.

 

[Aquatopia]

I've been watching the pH change throughout today, which has been cool. Before I turned on the CO2 at 10am this morning the pH was 7.26 then after 30 mins of the CO2 going in it had dropped to 7.11 and has been dropping slowly ever since. It's currently at 6.88 and seems to be dropping by 0.01 every 30 mins. I'm just waiting for it to stabilise now.

I've also got 3 full size prawns in the tank to produce ammonia as they rot. Maybe they aren't rotting yet but the Ammonia went up to a high of 0.165 at 3am this morning and then started dropping. It's currently at 0.059 and seems to be stable around there at the minute. It has been since 1:30pm anyway. There should have been ammonia from the aquatic soil and peat as well as the rotting food though. Maybe the plants are consuming most of it?

 

[Aquatopia]

Sorry but I just grabbed another crappy photo as the tank is very cloudy and brown.

It actually looks darker than that in real life. The tank lights are currently on about 35%. Do you think I should turn them up with the tank being so dark with the coudiness/tannins? There's no signs of any algae.

 

[Aquatopia]

One cool thing I just noticed - the O2 level has just started to go up! It's been at the same level all day but now it's going up after the CO2 has been dosing all day. I think this is because the plants are producing more oxygen and increasing it.

 

[Aquatopia]

Do you think I should take the filter floss out of the filters yet? It doesn't seem to be helping and it'll be slowing down the flow.

 

[Aquatopia]

I removed the filter floss from both the filters. I think it did its job!

Now that is out of the filters the flow should be going a bit better.

Looking at the tank without the lights on this morning it looks clearer but it looks very brown. I'll have to see how it looks once the lights are on.

 

[Aquatopia]

The tank has definitely cleared some more overnight but is still fairly cloudy and very brown. I've been doing some more research on Purigen and it appears that the amount recommended by Seachem to remove tannins is nowhere near enough to actually remove tannins, so the amount I have in the filters is just not enough.

I've ordered some more Purigen, when that gets here I can see if it makes any difference. At the minute I have 200ml of Purigen in the tank (100ml in each filter), when the new Purigen gets here I will have 500ml in the tank (250ml in each filter) so hopefully that will then do the job.

The pH is higher today. From the CO2 turning off yesterday to this morning the pH went up from 6.9 to 7.52 but that is with the air stones on through the night, which will drive the pH up.

I have the CO2 coming on at 9am at the moment, 4 hours before the lights are on full at 1pm. By 1pm the pH had only dropped to 7.23 and it's now 2:30pm gone and the pH is at 7.19. I've checked the CO2 and it's still going in at around 4 bps and the reactor looks fine. I'm guessing that with the air being on overnight, driving the pH up high, the CO2 is just not bringing the pH down as low today.

The pH is still going down though. I'll see where it stabilises and how long that takes but it looks like I may need the CO2 on even earlier for it to be stable by the time the lights are on full.

The plants are all stlll looking fine, nothing melting away or anything. I can only see new growth on the Hygrophila polysperma 'rosanervig' and the Limnophila sessiflora so far. it's early days yet though. There's still no sign of any algae or even biofilm.

Now you can see the tank fairly well I'll get some proper pics a bit later, there's too many reflections during the day.

 

[Lcc86]

I like the tannins personally! I have some purigen in one of my tanks but not the other (just wanted to try it as an experiment), I put tannin water in both tanks at each water change and then slowly watch the one with purigen get lighter and lighter as the day goes on. It's really good stuff! I forget how much I have now, but my tanks are far far smaller than yours!

 

[Aquatopia]

I like the tannins personally! I have some purigen in one of my tanks but not the other (just wanted to try it as an experiment), I put tannin water in both tanks at each water change and then slowly watch the one with purigen get lighter and lighter as the day goes on. It's really good stuff! I forget how much I have now, but my tanks are far far smaller than yours!

Yeah, I don't hate the tannins, it's just not my taste. I don't like not seeing the full colour of the plants/fish clearly and I don't want to have to run the lights higher to get the same growth/health in the plants. I like my colours to pop.

According to Seachem 1ml per US gallon should be enough. My tank is 180 US Gallon so 200ml should have been enough, clearly it's not though! (pun intended )

 

[Aquatopia]

For those interested - this is the dashboard overview for my tank on the Seneye monitoring page. This is where I am able to see the history of the tank water readings. As you can see the pH has now stabilised around 7.18.

 

[Aquatopia]

Here's some pics as promised.

The plant in the centre above is Microsorum pteropus 'sunrise' with Bolbitis heudelotii to the right and some Christmas moss to the left.

You can see the two lotus bulbs (with leaves) in the centre above and Subwassertang on the left and right rocks.

At the back above you can just about make out the Sword plants. There are 2 Echinodorus 'Red Diamond' and an Echinodorus ozelot 'green'.

The plants at the back above are Cryptocoryne balansae and the smaller ones are Cryptocoryne spiralis 'red'.

The ruffled Crypt behind the rocks above is Cryptocoryne hudoroi.

 

[Aquatopia]

More pics.

The tiny Crypt beside the rocks above is Cryptocoryne nurii 'Rose Maiden' which has been grown 'In Vitro'.

The small plant hiding behind the Cryptocoryne lucens is Cryptocoryne 'flamingo'.

There's also more of the Cryptocoryne 'flamingo' in a gap in the wood behind them but you can only see it from above, until it grows.

These monster leaves belong to the Cryptocoryne aponogetifolia.

Closer look at the Microsorum pteropus 'sunrise'.

Ludwigia Mini Super Red, in emersed form for now.

Hygrophila polysperma 'rosanervig' - The tops were pink, the lighter green growth is new.

If you look around the gap in the wood you can just see the Limnophila hippuridoides, center above - still in emersed form and quite small, for now. You can't see it from the front, until it grows and pops it head over the wood.

Rotala 'blood red' above, still in emersed form, for now.

Microsorum pteropus 'Trident' above.

Closer look at the Bolbitis heudelotii above.

Subwassertang above.

That's all the pics now. I'll get more once it's fully cleared.

 

[Aquatopia]

Quick teaser video now it's up and running!

 

[Aquatopia]

Today the Cryptocoryne parva turned up so I put those in the right hand side foreground.

Excuse the crappy pics.

I have got a little biofilm on the wood that sticks up in the middle of the tank now, but that's the only place I can see any and there isn't much.

There is also new submersed growth on the Limnophila hippuridoides now.

The tank is still quite cloudy and brown but everything is looking good. I think the cloudiness is maybe 10% better than it was yesterday. There's still no sign of any algae. One Cryptocoryne hudoroi leaf melted but that's half expected.

It's been a little weird with the CO2 and pH. After the pH didn't stabilise until around 2pm yesterday I started the CO2 an hour earlier today (8am) but today the pH didn't stabilise until 3pm, 2 hours after the lights were on full.

In order to have the pH stable by the time the lights come on I'd now have to turn it on at 6am, 7 hours before the lights are on full!

I am guessing that because the CO2 injection is on the low-medium side (for the size of the tank) it is taking longer to build up to the level where it stabilises.

Is there any CO2 experts here that can advise? Do I still need to get the pH stabilised for the time the lights come on or is it less likely to matter in my case, with the low-medium background level of CO2 dosing and mostly low energy plants?

I've also had another play with the Gyre pump and it's now on an alternating flow, around 90 seconds ramping up to 50% forward flow then 30 seconds ramping down to 100% reverse flow (reverse flow is weaker for some reason) and then ramping up again.

The alternating flow is better as the reverse flow unsticks any plant leaves that have got jammed in the back of the Gyre, it gives a bit more flow to the bottom plants at the right side too and it adds flow underneath the wood 'cave' I created on the right.