My 170l Planted Tank Diary V6 03 12 05

Ok. The tank is finally filled. Not fully planted thanks to Java having a problem with my order but it's getting there.

Stats:

GH: 60
KH: 30
PH:6.5
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 5
Phophate: 0

This seems to give me CO2 at 16ppm but the units have only been running for 2 days.
The algae is dying off but i've added 5 Amano shrimp just to be sure. I've done my riccia with 3 hairnets so hopefully it'll stay put this time! The glosso is growing, but it's mostly growing up so the next job will be the T5 upgrade. I've only got a shade over 1 WPG at the moment so when the CO2 builds a bit I'll stick in the new lights - I have to figure out how to build them. I obtained 2 twin digital ballasts from work so 4 x 36W is what i'm aiming for... a few bits and pieces to get yet.
I'm sure i need to start adding phosphate before I have a crash so i'm off to get my head around EI.
Thanks to zig, jimbooo and everyone else for their help so far. The tank is looking real good (I think). I'll post some photos shortly. All comments welcome.


Andy

thinking of a few Apistos down the line...

AndyTaylor said:

Ok. The tank is finally filled. Not fully planted thanks to Java having a problem with my order but it's getting there.

Stats:

GH: 60
KH: 30
PH:6.5
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.1
Nitrate: 5
Phophate: 0

This seems to give me CO2 at 16ppm but the units have only been running for 2 days.
The algae is dying off but i've added 5 Amano shrimp just to be sure. I've done my riccia with 3 hairnets so hopefully it'll stay put this time! The glosso is growing, but it's mostly growing up so the next job will be the T5 upgrade. I've only got a shade over 1 WPG at the moment so when the CO2 builds a bit I'll stick in the new lights - I have to figure out how to build them. I obtained 2 twin digital ballasts from work so 4 x 36W is what i'm aiming for... a few bits and pieces to get yet.
I'm sure i need to start adding phosphate before I have a crash so i'm off to get my head around EI.
Thanks to zig, jimbooo and everyone else for their help so far. The tank is looking real good (I think). I'll post some photos shortly. All comments welcome.


Andy

thinking of a few Apistos down the line...

Click to expand...

You have exactly the same water as me KH and Gh, the KH is a bit to low so i buffer my water with bicarbonate of soda (available in any supermarket and cheap) it helps keep the Ph stable as you inject the co2, my tapwater Ph is 7.

The phosphate you can get in the chemist shop, go down to the local chemist and ask for "Fleet Enema" its a phosphate based liquid used for constipation, it comes in a green and white box and cost me 1.25 euro and will last for about a year, so its dirt cheap premixed and all, when your down there ask them for a plastic syringe with ml measurements on it, you just need a small one, i got a couple for free just by asking in the chemist shop, mine measure 5ml in 1 ml increments, its dead handy for measuring the chemicals.

The Kno3 (potassium nitrate) you will have difficulty finding, i had major difficulty finding it, it would be easier to order 500grams from litteimp (a member here) again this is cheap and will last well over a year.

When you get the lights up and running you will definatly have to fertilise this tank.

Also once you get the lights going i bet the ammonia and nitrite readings will drop to zero because the plants will start to grow quicker and use the ammonia up before you get a reading for it.

Thanks zig, i'll drop in to a chemist later and pick that up.
I'm noticing plant growth already so it's heading the right direction anyway!
I may have been a bit premature in saying that the algae is dying...the grey stringy stuff seems to be going but now i have wierd little things that look like the heads of dandelion plants - a series of spores on a single stem attached to the leaves of one plant (which appears to be fine, growing well) ...they're about 3 mil in diameter and look more like seeds of something than algae!
I've also got a few little threadlike worms, white and about 10 mil long swimming around. i'm guessing that the fish will deal with them but i want to find out what they are first just in case.
I'll post a query in the general forum and see if anyone has any ideas.

Andy

Couldn't find Fleet enema but i got Fletchers Phospate enema instead. Ingredients are Sodium Acid Phospate, Sodium Phospate, all good so far, it also contains DiSodium Edetate and Benzalkonium Chloride.
Is this the right stuff? Is it safe?

Got any pics andy?

Should have some later, mate. having camera problems.

AndyTaylor said:

Couldn't find Fleet enema but i got Fletchers Phospate enema instead. Ingredients are Sodium Acid Phospate, Sodium Phospate, all good so far, it also contains DiSodium Edetate and Benzalkonium Chloride.
Is this the right stuff? Is it safe?

Click to expand...

Its probably safe to use, those are the same ingredients as in Fleet enema, they would have to be in the same proportion as Fleet in order to be able to work out a dosage and thats probably where the problem lies, does it say on the packaging "Active ingredients" and does it give a % breakdown of the ingredients?

Sodium Acid Phosphate : 10.0% w/v
Sodium Phosphate: 8.0% w/v

The girl in Boots thought my 'I need it for my fishtank' story was the most elaborate excuse ever for buying constipation medicine!

While i'm waiting for the rest of the chems should i start dosing?

BTW, another problem. despite washing the tank out well first i seem to have a strong smell of new tank, silicon etc still, along with an very light oily slick on the surface. Should I add more carbon to my filter? maybe replace the anti-ammonia stuff with activated carbon?

problems, problems...

Ok the Fleet label says.......Sodium Acid Phosphate 21.4g (18.1% w/v) Sodium Phosphate 9.4g (8.0% w/v)......so i dont know the difference TBH, if i had a phosphate test kit i would dose the tank and do a test an hour or so later when the phosphate has circulated a bit more and you will get a proper reading, i would dose 1 ml of the solution and i would guess this would not be more than 1ppm of phosphate (for your tank volume) , i dose 1 ml of Fleet to give me 1ppm of phosphate and your tank is roughly the same as mine.

When you do the test later i would expect to see a reading of 1ppm or under, this is an ideal level.

My tapwater has 0.20 ppm phosphate in it, you should test yours as well.

So basically i would dose 1 ml and do a test in an hour or so and see what reading you get, this is the only way to find out the phosphate content for your enema, yours may contain more or less phosphate than fleet, and then you can dose accordingly.

Are you doing a fishless cycle on this tank or something?

For the surface scum just use kitchen towels to scoop it up.

I dont know why you are getting the smell of silicone still, it usually drys totally within 3 days and then the smell usually disappears, i make my own tanks and have never had that problem, so im not sure maybe someone else has experienced this? this could be to do with the addition of the ammonia for the cycle but i dont know.

Thanks zig, I'll dose and test later.
I'm aiming for a fishless cycle as I have enough materials from my 70L to seed the big tank, i've used some of the matured gravel and most of the plants at this stage. The addition of the shrimp were an attempt at algae control but my Ottos are going in as soon as the tank stabilises as the little seed pod algae things are spreading as is the grey stringy stuff although it seems to be leaving the glosso alone now.
I'm not 100% that it's silicon i'm smelling but it's that new plastic smell. I know that the tank was in the shop for at least 3 weeks before I bought it so the silicon couldn't still be fresh. I'll remove the oily stuff later and see does that make any difference, i doubt it though. Think i'll add more carbon to the filter to be sure...

Ok, plastic smell is gone... i didn't do anything in particular so not sure about that one.
Anyway, dosing PO4 slowly, i'm at 0.5 PPM tonight up from 0.25 last night.

I refilled my CO2 last night and added a teaspoon 95 (5ml) of bicarb.

Tonight
PH: 6.5
KH: 20
CO2: 10ppm

I added 5ml bicarb to raise the KH.

sitting at 40 now.
Ph has risen to 6.8

How do i get my CO2 levels up with my diy CO2. Am i doing the right thing in raising the KH? I can't seem to get my head around this at all!
And my Vallis is slowly dying...leaves are turning brown and falling apart? And i've still got that wierd spore kind of algae! It's growing strong! My team of Ottos is on standby ready to go! And i've still got little white worms and snails!

On the plus side I ordered my T5 upgrade today 2 Twin 36W T5's and a reflector. 3.4 WPG! My glosso will grow now! My riccia has taken off nicely B)

AndyTaylor said:

I'm aiming for a fishless cycle as I have enough materials from my 70L to seed the big tank, i've used some of the matured gravel and most of the plants at this stage.

Click to expand...

I'm just curious, is a fishless cycle absolutely necessary for a heavily planted aquarium? Sorry to hijack your thread, but I've read some sources that say it's not necessary.

I'm sorry about your Val. Perhaps with the lighting upgrade, it will perk up. My source says they like bright light and some varieties like an iron rich substrate. My crypts also like iron and have shown improvement since I started dosing it.

T5s are nice, you will enjoy the upgrade, trust me on this one. I have a set of T5s for my 15g, and I can't believe I never used them before. 3.4 WPG is nice. Have fun!

TBH, i'm not really setting out to do a fishless cycle as such.... I just haven't added any fish because i've been playing with the CO2 mix and ferts and moving plants around. I haven't added any ammonia or chems as I figured that the plants would handle the cycling, as you say. As far as I can tell the tank is cycled now so i'll probably move my Ottos over later, for a start. I'm going away for a few days next week so I don't want to move all my fish over in case something goes wrong while i'm away.
I'm hoping the T5's will help the Vals too, unfortunately, aquaticsonline have just told me that they won't be able to ship them until Friday at the earliest so it'll be next week before I can install them.

Have pics now...can't seem to post them. Is there a max file size?

This is a test, I think i have it sorted. 1 full tank shot to start. All and any comments, advice on layout etc are welcome.

bit small..One more...

Golden Apple snail......If he could talk, he'd say 'Woo Hoo' coz he has the whole tank to himself!

Wow that is a really nice tank, looks stunning. That bogwood (is it multiple pieces) looks superb.