Planted Tank Update

[AndyTaylor]

After a productive weekend stripping my tank apart to remove some bad fish choices, namely two Syno Eupetrus and an Bagridae catfish of unknown species (this one was 6 inches and growing, must stop rescuing fish!) i thought i'd post a couple of full tank shots.

http/s25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/Andy...ank%20May%2006/

Running 2 x 36w CF's with diy CO2.....going pressurised this week hopefully and so should be able to turn on the other bank of 2 x 36's and re-start my EI dosing, which should deal with my growing algae problem.


All comments, advice, ideas, criticism etc, more than welcome.....particularily for the gap in the back right corner between the lily and the anubias nana...

Andy

 

[Luke_e]

Is this you're diary?
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=113804&st=48
Tank looks cracking mate, do you have your pressurised equipment already?

 

[AndyTaylor]

Nice one Luke_e, that's the one I couldn't find! I'll tidy it up later!
Pressurised equipment is on the way, thankfully. The algae is becoming unsightly, mostly because I removed all my fast growing stem plants after I got sick of pruning them all the time!

 

[zig]

Good start Andy, it looks good allready, lots of potiential, it has a good balance to it, are you going to add a foreground carpet type plant? maybe a hairgrass species like Eleocharis acicularis or Elocharis parvula might suit, both of these are quite easy on maintainence, any ideas yourself? I think Gavin from Wackers should be due a shipment this week, although i haven't gotten an email yet with the list, although with your setup i would be selective as to what i would put in it, less can be more sometimes, maybe add a bit of colour? Basically i dont think it needs much at the moment, i would definatly stick in a foreground carpeting type plant

You might also want to consider staggering your lighting, have 2x36watts come on first of all for maybe 3 hours and then the other 2x36watts come on later for 4 hours (both sets together) and then back to just the 2x36watts for the last 3 hours. This will definatly help with the algae initially, but its probably the way to go all the time with this tank, your lighting is ideal for this IMO, at the low light periods you will still be running 1.7WPG so its still a pretty decent amount of light, and then at the higher end you will be running 3.4WPG.

Im coming more around to thinking that this is definatly the way to go with highlight planted tanks, they dont need the full 3.4WPG (in your case) all the time, they just need a burst of high lighting for 3-4-5 hours per day depending on what you are trying to achieve, and then the rest of the time use the lower amount of light, this will definatly cut down quite significiently on potiental algae problems and at the same time make the tank easier to maintain.

Anyway just my .02 cent, but good start on your behalf, looks good so far.

 

[AndyTaylor]

Thanks zig,

I've had such bad luck with carpeting plants that they're not high on my list of priorities, but......The new plant shipment is in on Friday so depending on whats available I may try again. I haven't got the email list yet though.
I've tried hairgrass and dwarf sag before so maybe something different this time?
It definitely needs a color injection, any ideas? Reds or pinks, maybe?
I'm going to add some small broadleaf crypts around the base of some of the wood....crypt wendetti (sp?) perhaps?

Even at the moment I have the 2 36's staggered on timers, pretty much the way you suggest so i'll do the same when I turn on all the lights. I don't want to blast the tank with light because I like the Anubias and similar and don't want to lose them to algae, and, as you say, mostly 1.7 WPG for most of the day should make looking after the tank much easier.

 

[AndyTaylor]

The updates have been sporadic at best so far, i'll try to post more regularily in future!

Finally, with lots of help from zig, I have pressurised CO2 from a fire extinguisher.

Pics here : http/s25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/Andy...%20CO2%20Setup/

I'm giving it a couple of days for the CO2 to build up before I test but it's running steady at a bubble a second.

I have 2 single 36W T5's PCs and 1 twin 36W T5 PC.. which gives me loads of flexibility with my lighting.

A single 36W gives me .8 WPG so I start the day at .8 WPG for an hour at 10am, add another to bring it up to 1.6 WPG an hour later. I run the full 3.2 WPG for 4 hours in the middle of the day and reverse the process to lights out at 10pm. This will change as I tweak the system but it seems ok for the moment.

I wish I had a photo of myself and zig in our LFS on Friday evening last when the new Tropica shipment came in.....3 huge boxes stuffed with the best plants in perfect condition!
Like kids in a sweet shop, we were! As they were being unpacked we were going through them getting the pick of the order! Major change from 1 year ago when it was next to impossible to get any plantsaround here!
So i've started a Pogostemon helferi carpet which should look great if the plecs don't eat it first!

Right, must go do some work...I'll finish this later....

 

[zig]

That looks familar........yep its a nice feeling when the bubbles are running consistant and knowing that DIY CO2 is a thing of the past, im pleased with the new equipment no problems to report so far, everything is working as it should. gf if your reading this, buy a solenoid for your CO2 setup, i'd highly recommend it!

Andy i would say running one bubble per minute is about right, although i dont think you will have to wait a couple of days for the CO2 to build up, at that bubble rate your Ph will drop from normal levels at the rate of about 0.1 every ten minutes or so, it only needs to drop about 0.8 to 1 for you to be in the 30-40ppm ballpark as regards CO2, so about an hour or so of CO2 injection and you should be at about the right ppm level.

 

[AndyTaylor]

1 bubble per SECOND, mate! Mondays Eh?
TBH, I just didn't have the time over the weekend to get the tests done but i'm noticing growth already so it must be going the right direction.
The regulator/solenoid combo is fantastic and I'd recommend it to anyone....set it and forget about it. The needle valve is so precise that it's simple to get the bubble rate right.
I'll test later and post results....

 

[Themuleous]

What regulator you using? Im in the market for a second one and have realised the JBL one I have is crap, it fluctuates hugely from day to day and I dont even touch it!

 

[AndyTaylor]

The regulator came from here http/www.aquaristic.net/shop/shop.php/si...25f0e6.10491710

It's a quality piece of engineering (based on 3 days use ) I'd recommend it....