Want to have a planted tank

[Cheese Specialist]

I had the same collection and I never had a lot of plants the same. I had a bag labelled Ech Tenellus and its contents were a lot different to the bag labelled pygmy chain sword. The pygmy chain swords were just like small sword plants, but the ech tenellus was like a grassy plant. I also had some straight vallis, I don't remember what type, and then the corkscrew vallis.

I don't know a lot about plants, just stating what I experienced.

Cool! Could you maybe point them out in this pic?

Is there any you wish there had been more of etc?

Your tank is looking really good already, it'll be great when mature.

 

[ChriX]

The small leafy plants in the foreground were labelled as pygmy chain sword, as for the ech tenellus, you can't really see it, but it's on the gravel directly infront of the dark red plant on the left, theres also some to the left of the corkscrew on the far right.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Ahhh I see it!!

There's not very much of it, I take it doesn't grow tall? When the plants come, do you get any information on them, like what their height will be so you know where to plant them or should I find it out in advance?

Thanks for all your help

 

[ChriX]

Some of the bags are labelled foreground/midground/background, the names are labelled on all of them though. I just sorted them into height and planted the tallest at the back.

The ech tenellus...

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Ooooh I like that one! I might order a bit more of it. Looks very different to the other one!

You have been a great help to me and I can see you plants are doing well, which is good with you having 40watts of light. I am sure I can manage 40 but I will be looking for more.

Thanks again

You said you wanted some java moss? I have lots growing so I am sure I will soon have plenty to send you some if you like, as a thanks.

What do you reckon?

 

[ChriX]

No problem!

I'd love a cutting of java moss when you get enough, that would be brilliant.

 

[scott1000]

The other one I have seen had the bottle in a bucket of some kind, do you know anything about that?

I think that was probably to keep the CO2 generator warm, the bucket is filled with water then a small water heater is added.

 

[Lateral Line]

There is a picture of Pygmy Chain Sword, Echinodorus tenellus here.

I suspect the bucket was to allow the temperature of the reactor to be controlled, the reaction rate is temperature dependent.

My own system uses 3 bottles and a few valves. I start one bottle, then 7 - 10 days later a second, that way, when the first is running out, the second is still going strong, it keeps the CO2 concentration more constant rather then from high to low then high again. The two bottles lead into the third bottle which is simply there in case either of the reactors go mad and froth goes up the pipe, if this happens, the crud drips into the third bottle rather then going up into the tank. It isn't particulaly dangerous, but makes a mess. A pipe from the third bottle takes the gas to the inlet of one of the power filters.

 

[scott1000]

My own system uses 3 bottles and a few valves. I start one bottle, then 7 - 10 days later a second, that way, when the first is running out, the second is still going strong, it keeps the CO2 concentration more constant rather then from high to low then high again. The two bottles lead into the third bottle which is simply there in case either of the reactors go mad and froth goes up the pipe, if this happens, the crud drips into the third bottle rather then going up into the tank. It isn't particulaly dangerous, but makes a mess. A pipe from the third bottle takes the gas to the inlet of one of the power filters.

What size tank do you have that hooked up to? And what is your CO2 level? Just curious....

 

[Lateral Line]

720 litre. Concentration varies a bit, I aim for, and generally average around 25mg/l.

 

[scott1000]

720 litre. Concentration varies a bit, I aim for, and generally average around 25mg/l.

So, that's a 190 gallons, right? And I'm sorry, but how do you convert 25mg/l to ppm (or is mg/l the same thing as ppm?)? Thanks

 

[baitball]

I have a question about the CO2 DIY system, I tried it on my old tank, and the pH shot down to 6.4 from 7.0. Is there any way of preventing that? Is too much CO2 bad? I was letting the bubbles enter into my powerhead, which were almost dissolved by the time they came out

 

[ChriX]

You can't prevent it, adding CO2 will naturally drop the pH of the water. The best thing to do is keep a steady supply of CO2 to keep the pH stable, this will be less stressful to the fish than a constantly fluctuating pH. There are tables in the sticky at the top of this forum that show the relation between KH, pH and CO2.

 

[scott1000]

A PH of 6.4 is very dangerous. You can prevent such an extreme drop by lowering the dose of CO2 though. I believe you would want to lower the amount of sugar in your mixture.

 

[ChriX]

Or you could lower the dose like scott said, forgot to mention that, that was assumed knowledge on my part.