Simon's Planted Tank Journal

Sam,

I think I was looking at the wrong Splitter (he has two in his list of items) This one looks like the one simon purchased. Even cheaper!! Hopefully simon can confirm that he is using a hose between the splitter & cylinder.

http/cgi.ebay.co.uk/Co2-splitter-Super-s...1QQcmdZViewItem

James

Themuleous said:

Was just wondering how you attach the CO2 'splitter' to the cylinder? The connector seems to have a male attachment and I thouht pub cylinders need a female connector? Or are you using a hose between the splitter and the cylinder? I take it too that the thing on the bcak is a solenoid?

Click to expand...

It doesnt fit to the cylinder Sam, it fits to your reg or solenoid, basically you unscrew the nipple your co2 pipe fits into and screw it in the splitter.
You might need to purchase a extension of some sort, depending on how you want to set it up.

The one in the link is a different, to the one i bought, mine has a nipple for the co2 pipe to fit on and a nut to secure it (and I'm not being rude ) where as the one in the link is a push fitting.

Here's a pic of the back to give you a better idea.

Oh I see! So that splitter is only connected to the cylinder by a 6mm CO2 hose? I get it now. So the solenoid attaches to the male thread on the splitter and the 6mm CO2 hose goes on the back of the solenoid? How would you get it to fit to a reg?

Well if Im ever lucky enough to have two planted tanks next to each other Ill know what to use!

Themuleous said:

Oh I see! So that splitter is only connected to the cylinder by a 6mm CO2 hose? I get it now. So the solenoid attaches to the male thread on the splitter and the 6mm CO2 hose goes on the back of the solenoid? How would you get it to fit to a reg?

Well if I'm ever lucky enough to have two planted tanks next to each other Ill know what to use!

Click to expand...

Ether a length of co2 pipe from the reg to the solenoid, or you can get a threaded spacer, to jut it away from the reg and attach the splitter to that.

Hi Simon,

Have been borred at work today so thought I would read your journal from start to finish. A very good read I have to say!! Extremely informative. You must be really happy with how far you have come with the tank.

I have really taken to the planted tank side of the hobby and have a few questions for you. Originally you used the substrate heater as the main heating for the tank but with all the algae problems you had at the beginning you turned it off! Do you think it was the tetra substrate and the heater cable combined that was causing the problems & would you use either again??

Ive just purchased the tetra substrate for a two foot tank im about to set up & because I will be using an eheim aquaball as filtration I thought undergravel heating may save a little space but after reading the problems you had at the beginning am re-thinking my plans!! Any advice??

Hows the tank doing now anyways?? Any updates?? Pics??



Thanks

James

jkc said:

Hi Simon,

Have been borred at work today so thought I would read your journal from start to finish. A very good read I have to say!! Extremely informative. You must be really happy with how far you have come with the tank.

I have really taken to the planted tank side of the hobby and have a few questions for you. Originally you used the substrate heater as the main heating for the tank but with all the algae problems you had at the beginning you turned it off! Do you think it was the tetra substrate and the heater cable combined that was causing the problems & would you use either again??

Ive just purchased the tetra substrate for a two foot tank im about to set up & because I will be using an eheim aquaball as filtration I thought undergravel heating may save a little space but after reading the problems you had at the beginning am re-thinking my plans!! Any advice??

Hows the tank doing now anyways?? Any updates?? Pics??



Thanks

James

Click to expand...

Thanks glad you liked it, its been quite a journey to get this far.

In the end i come to the conclusion that my algae issues where due to three reason the first being, lack of fast growing plants at the beginning, to out compete the algae for the available nutrients.

The second, trying to clean, trying to suck up all the detritus, basically i was taking away some of the essential nutrients the plants need.

And third a lack of iron, in the substrate, most of the plants i had where of the echindorus species which are heavy root feeders, the tetra complete substrate didn't seam to contain the iron they needed, which is why i ended up adding laterite (i tested this by adding an iron supplement and the plants picked up with in days)

I wasn't that impressed with the tetra complete so i wouldn't use again, in stead i would like to try seachems onyx sand or eco complete.
For my new setup I'm going to give the ADA Amazonian a try.

As for the heater cable IMO they do help but arent essential, they seam to help plants recover and root faster than without, i noticed this when i switched it off for a time when i though it was causing an excess of nutrients in the water column.
I'm still using it at present but I'm not going to bother in my new set up as some have said on here already its money better spent else were.

If your going to use tetra complete i would pick your plants carefully, and I'd recommend a lot of fast grower's you kick your tanks off, once you substrate has matured, you can slowly change them for others.

Hope this helps, Simon.

PS i should have some new pics soon, I'm in the middle of some planting at the moment, but when I've done, all comments and criticism's are welcome.

Time for another update

The HC i got from greenline didn't survive, so I'm not impressed with greenline, what makes it worse is i didn't send an email, and its a bit late now.

But on a good note Sam rescued my hopes of a HC lawn, with some of the top quality gear from his tank, cheers you should start selling it you'd make a fortune on eBay, especial on the USA market

Other than taking out the grass to make room for the HC, I've pruned the amazon sword, the leaves where getting to big and blocking the light to the Rotala sp. Nanjenshan on the right, which was stunted slightly.
I want to replace it later, with a stem plant of some description possibly Heteranthera Zosterifolia, but I'm unsure at this point.

Here's a few pics

full tank



showing off the new African hardwood



Sam's HC i hope it takes hold or else i will be upset.



And the Anubias

Looking great Simon.. good job Sam saved the day, it will look immense when it takes a hold. What substrate do you have? Seems an unusual mix of colours and shapes, looks great though!

Luke_e said:

Looking great Simon.. good job Sam saved the day, it will look immense when it takes a hold. What substrate do you have? Seems an unusual mix of colours and shapes, looks great though!

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Thanks Luke its a mix of black splintered glass (which i though was black quartz) and tetra complete, i ended up adding literate for its iron content.

Simon

I've been reading through your thread -- what an amazing transformation! Your tank is lovely - I especially like the african hardwood.

These journals are great -- so much we can learn from each other.

Nice wood mate! I knew i should have bid against you for it

I've been reading through your thread -- what an amazing transformation! Your tank is lovely - I especially like the african hardwood.

These journals are great -- so much we can learn from each other.

Click to expand...

I have some more pieces of the driftwood in a bucket soaking, I'm hoping to remove some of the bigger bits some time in the future and replace them, I'm trying to replace what i have with small leaf plants and smaller pieces of wood to make then tank seam bigger then it is.

Nice wood mate! I knew i should have bid against you for it

Click to expand...

That's it..... its war now mate.... no more links for you

Nice re-scape simon, looks much better and that wood is something else, there seems to be quite a few people able to find it now, it really does add to a scape thats for sure.

The HC looks good, Im sure it'll take hold and I see you took the time to plant it seperately, you've given it the best chance of success, so here's hoping

One word of advice, mine doesnt seem to want to put down deep roots, so when you come to prune it be careful not to lift it up as it gets uprooted very easily.

Oh and sell HC on ebay? Now where did I leave my ebay account details again...

Hi all time for a little up date

As far as look go's not much has change, apart from the HC is starting to fill out, another 3 to 4 weeks and it should of completely carpeted the front.

I'm having problems with bushing the HM out i keep trimming it and replanting the tops, but it dose not seam to be throwing out many side shoots, any on any advice.

I'm having a few problems with tread algae stats as followed:

PH 6.4
KH 5'
GH 9'
NO3 25ppm (I've raised and lowered it to no effect)
PO4 2ppm (holds steady)
CO2 45 to 55ppm (I've raised lowered it to no effect)

I've turned my heater cable off to see if it that that's causing the problem, i wonder if it due to the build up of mulm on the substrate, the convection currents are causing the nutrients to rise into the water column, il give it a try for a couple of weeks to see if it makes a difference.

Any help appreciated

Simon

Hi Simon,

As to the HM, when I had it I used to cut it back hard every few weeks and it does come back more busy it just needs time, trust me I had exactly the same problem (which is why i got rid of it in the end, never looked good!) but given time it will busy out.

As to the thread algae, I has a huge problem with this too, especially on the HM, shrimp cleared it up in two days! I did put lots in, well 17 I think it ended up being. Worked wonders.

Sam