Aaron's 216l Planted Journal!

[Nick16]

you guna chuck some egeria or elodea in there whilst you are away? - might help reduce the risk as well as lowering lighting and co2

 

[keenonfish]

Yeah I'll be interested to know what you are going to do aaron. Just went away for four days myself and decided on a tank blackout. Lights off, Co2 off and cover the tank but when I got 180 miles away I realised I hadn't turned the filter outlet and as a result there was absolutely NO surface movement! Not a good thing with plants not producing oxygen and a tank that is stretched to the limits stocking wise. Came back and all seems to be ok thankfully but it did spoil my holiday a bit!

Check list in future me thinks!

Anyway, have a good'n!

 

[lljdma06]

Have a great holiday!

llj

 

[aaronnorth]

cut lighting back to 6hrs, (and also lowered CO2 injection accordingly). Still full EI, i also measure out food in small plastic bags to avoid overfeding.
it is only going a further 3 days without a water change so i am not to worried.

There is rotala & ceratoperis in there, along with floating plants.

Thanks, Aaron

just chucking it down here, whats rest of hurricane Bill lol

 

[aaronnorth]

day 88 (today) and this is how it is looking.



only problems i had on returning from holiday is surface scum, and my pump has packed in

Added some serpae tetras too.

dont ask me why i have left the pump in lol.

 

[keeton]

looks amazing aaron! what plants have you got in there?

 

[aaronnorth]

thanks,

cryptocoryne wendtii green
Crypt becketti
rotala rotundifolia
ludwigia palustris
cyperus helferi
microsorum pteropus "narrow"
echinodorus bleheri & parviflorous
echinodorus tennelus
eleocharis acicularis

 

[ben1987]

Looking really nice mate

 

[Geoff1991]

What did you do to get rid of the surface scum aaron? I had it before and wondered where it came from/why it went away

 

[RadaR]

What did you do to get rid of the surface scum aaron? I had it before and wondered where it came from/why it went away

is surface scum, and my pump has packed in

Coincidence? Providing some surface movement will keep the scum from forming. Can be a result of protein or not enough ferts, never been clarified. Common in planted tanks with no surface movement.

 

[Nick16]

it has been identified that it occurs worse in tanks with crypts, i guess they leach 'chemicals' (incl proteins) into the water perhaps more than others.

i have only had it on my tanks with fast growth rates, decent lighting, ferts, co2 - so iguess the plants are working harder and this is a bi-product

CLEAN YOUR LILIES, it is borderline criminal now

 

[saintly]

Aaron dude, clean that glass!!!!!

 

[aaronnorth]

my brushes come today (along with a koralia ) so next time you see pics you will also see some clean glassware lol.

how do you get the tubing off the lilies without breaking them ?


I just increased the surface agitation and it soon goes,

 

[Geoff1991]

If found they slide off quite easily if you do it carefully. Also maybe soaking them in warm water, im guessing boiling work crack the glass though...

 

[AdAndrews]

my brushes come today (along with a koralia ) so next time you see pics you will also see some clean glassware lol.

how do you get the tubing off the lilies without breaking them ?


I just increased the surface agitation and it soon goes,

my tubes slide off fairly easily by twising as you are pulling if you get what i mean.
i never find the need for brushes(except for piping) as a bleach/water mix seems to work very well against algae.

Adam