Adventure Into Planted Tanks

[watertown28]

Alright guys. The time has come.  I finally upgraded as many tanks as I could with large 120 gallon tanks.
 
To keep this simple, I will give descriptions on tanks by names. Example would be 72 bow front east. I have multiple tanks and this way I can just more or less just name the tank, as as needed you can come back to look at the specs of the tanks. When I change something I will reflect this in this main post.
 
Now, for the meat part of the posts. I will be listing specs of the tanks. Here we go.
 
72 Bow Front East
40 gallon sump
Lights: 4x 13W CFLs 6500k In reflector hooding.
Sand
500GPH pond pump
 
75 Gallon East
30 gallon sump
Lights: 4x 9w BR30 LED flood lights 5000k
Sand
500GPH pond pump
 
120 Gallon West #1
40 gallon sump
Lights: 4x 10.5W BR40 LED flood lights 5000K
Sand
800GPH pond pump
 
120 Gallon West #2
40 gallon sump
4x PAR38 17w LED flood lights 5000K
Sand with pea gravel under the sand.
800GPH pond pump.
 
Others: 2x 120's not set up yet.
 
So there is the set ups.
 
As for chemicals, I use something not many people do due to the volume of my tanks to dechlor my water. I use the Seachem Safe product. Comes in a dry power, I get 4 LBS of that for 100 bucks and it seems to be on the way to last me for a very very long time. Even with 40 gallon water changes weekly on each tank, all I need is a 1/4 teaspoon of the stuff to treat the tank.
 
Ferts:
Ill be keeping a log also here on any adjustments I make.
DYI Root tabs. Ill update the type a bit later. I usually use one tab per plant per month.
Before till about 2 days ago I was dosing lean on Seachem Flourish. I have now gotten some dry ferts from a site and its the PPS-Pro Fert Package. I have now for 2 days been using it at what I think is a lean dose from my understanding of 1ml/10 gallons.
75 gallons: 11ml/day
120 gallons: 16ml/day
2.6% Glut 75 gallons 6.9ml/day 120s get 9.6ml/day
 
The only thing I might be a little worried on from this package is the lack of iron. I dont think its in anything, unless its in the micro blend.... which might be the case, I can not find it on any info on the site. I guess I could ask.
 
Alright, now time for the photos! I hope the progress goes well. BTW, I need to order some scaping tools. It stinks trying to trim with a scissors that is not ment for it let alone being only 6 inches long. I am up to almost my shoulder when I put my arm into the 120s lol.
 
These pics are from last week so I will have new ones later on.
 
72 gallon Bow

 
75 gallon east

 
120 West #1

 
120 West #2

 
The glass on a few tanks need to be scrubbed I know. Its getting the hand and scraping the hard water stains off it can be a real treat.
 
I have noticed in the last week I am starting to see some new leaves appear on my Anubias plants. That has me super stoked because I was under the impression that they are super slow at doing such things so to me that means they are happy.
 
I am BTW, still playing around with the light setups. I am going on the low end for wattage for right now for a few tanks to see what happens. Mainly on the 72 bowfront. Using the lower CFLs and see if that along with the ferts will help bounce the plants back. I do however love the shimmering effect the PAR LEDs lights on the 120 West #2 give though. I might have to bite the bullet and see if I can find something a little stronger later on. The BR LEDs dont do this and was disappointed but still experimenting. As it stands right now, I am not fully understanding the advantages of the same wattage of CFL over the LEDs... as in how they compare on performance and how well they provide lights to the plants. The next tank I am setting up right now will be using the 100W CFLs.
 
O and any input and suggestions are welcome. If I did not want it I would not post this lol.

 

[Akasha72]

Nice 

 The only thing I would point out is that the tank with the gravel with sand over the top (120 gallon) is unlikely to stay that way. Over time the sand will work it's way through the gravel and you will end up with the gravel on top, especially should you add any bottome dwelling fish. I'm mentioning this now in case you want to change it at this early stage

 

[watertown28]

Nice 

 The only thing I would point out is that the tank with the gravel with sand over the top (120 gallon) is unlikely to stay that way. Over time the sand will work it's way through the gravel and you will end up with the gravel on top, especially should you add any bottome dwelling fish. I'm mentioning this now in case you want to change it at this early stage

Yeah now that you say that, I have 5 zebra loaches in there. This is the newest of the tanks set up, and the sand I use in this tank is out of season ( pool filter sand )....so I had gotten the very last bag at the store and a 50 LBS bag is not nearly enough for a 120 gallon tank, at least not enough to add any depth to it anyways. I was shooting for having enough on top for that reason to see if Even if it started to fill in under the gravel, that it would run out of room so to say and not sink any lower. I have for now done the current work in progress with silicate sand, its very white though. I plan on keeping this tea color water. The wood in there is a nice chunk like I would say is over 2 feet long and gosh knows how tall, I got this chunk for a whole $60 bucks which it has to be around 15 LBS in weight to say the least. I got it because is has kind of a bow down on the bottom which I had the loach in mind for that, they like those things, and I used to never see them hardly ever in the other tank, but now in this new home I have been blessed seeing them just swimming around.

 

[StevenF]

 
 
Before till about 2 days ago I was dosing lean on Seachem Flourish. I have now gotten some dry ferts from a site and its the PPS-Pro Fert Package.

Seachem flourish covers all the necessary micro nutrient and includes a small amount of the macro nutrients.  The PPS-Pro fert only has a small fraction of the micro nutrients.  The manufacture is assuming you have all the micro nutrients you need in your tap water.  However water utilities are under no requirement to make sure the water has everything a plant need.  If however you water doesn't have enough to make up for the omissions you could have problems such as slow or no growth or maybe higher nitrate levels.  It may take weeks or maybe even months for the micro nutrient deficiency to show up and it may be difficult to diagnose.  
 
The same issue could happen with your DIY root tabs.  Don't over fixate on the lack of iron in your current fertilizers.  I would worry about everything that is on the flourish label but not on the Pro Fert package.  If it is not on the label assume it is deficient.  Now I could be wrong and you will be lucky and won't have any nutrient deficiencies.  But I wouldn't count on luck.

 

[NickAu]

Charlie once suggested I use ferts in my tank and I taught he was saying add ferrets to the tank.
 
I went natural, I change water and feed my fish, Nothing else I do not even vacuum the substrate. Indian Almond Leaves are left to rot in my tank, If a live plant sheds a leaf I leave it in the tank, Snails and shrimp eat these.
My tank is over stocked 1 Betta, 18 Kuhli Loaches ( aprox ), 2 big Mystery snails, 100 plus Red Cherry shrimp, and who knows how many Malaysian Trumpet Snails these provide all the ferts my plants need.
 
My advice is keep it simple and low tech and let it grow wild, Less things can go wrong.
 
My tank.

 
A view from the top

 
 
Maybe not everyones cup of tea as they say but it works.

 

[watertown28]

 

 
 
Before till about 2 days ago I was dosing lean on Seachem Flourish. I have now gotten some dry ferts from a site and its the PPS-Pro Fert Package.

Seachem flourish covers all the necessary micro nutrient and includes a small amount of the macro nutrients.  The PPS-Pro fert only has a small fraction of the micro nutrients.  The manufacture is assuming you have all the micro nutrients you need in your tap water.  However water utilities are under no requirement to make sure the water has everything a plant need.  If however you water doesn't have enough to make up for the omissions you could have problems such as slow or no growth or maybe higher nitrate levels.  It may take weeks or maybe even months for the micro nutrient deficiency to show up and it may be difficult to diagnose.  
 
The same issue could happen with your DIY root tabs.  Don't over fixate on the lack of iron in your current fertilizers.  I would worry about everything that is on the flourish label but not on the Pro Fert package.  If it is not on the label assume it is deficient.  Now I could be wrong and you will be lucky and won't have any nutrient deficiencies.  But I wouldn't count on luck.
 

I can see what your saying, but would that not also on the other hand be a huge benefit of having the ability to do your own ferts? Plus, when you look at the price of Flourish, you figure 5ml per 60 gallons 2x a week. Add in the amount of tanks I got that is running around 600 gallons worth of tanks. So using the premix that would be like a little over a months worth, at 12 bucks a pop.
 
I asked Greenleaf what is the breakdown would be for the micros on the mixture they provide per 500ml mixture. I will see if they respond. They dont have anything listed on what is actually in it so I cant tell you one way or another what micros are provided. Its not the same as the macros, that is pretty straight forward for your mixing each macro.
 
Okay so they sent me a link to a site that does calculations and I plugged in my numbers and this is what I got:
 
To reach your target of 0.1ppm Fe you will need to add 28.98 grams (equivalent to 1 tbsp + 2 tsp + 1/2 tsp + 1/4 tsp + 1/32 tsp ) of Plantex CSM+B to your 500mL dosing container. Add 16mL of that mix to your 160gal aquarium to yield:
Element ppm/degree
Fe 0.1
Mn 0.029
Cu 0.001
Mg 0.021
Zn 0.006
Mo 0.001
B 0.012
dGH 0.005
 
Now of course that is using the 28.98 grams per 500ml mix.... in which I am using 40g/500ML.... but its still little weak in the iron. Then again this is daily dose instead of the 2x a week of them Flourish. I guess the key here will be keeping an eye on the growth of course to watch for signs of deficiencies in one way or another.

 

[watertown28]

Mhhh I orders a plant pack off amazon in hopes it would be here by Friday, person has not shipped it yet and I am getting worried. I did also order some nice 11 inch scaping kit.
 
Mhhhhh lights came on the tanks and I got to look see how things look before work ( my schedual is messed up for the time being for winter hours, and become more stable in the summer ) and I noticed an interesting issue with one plant, its my Anubais plant, one of the new leaves seems to be "rotting" . Intresting being a new leaf I have not seen that. Its like its melting or something. I will post a pic of that in the morning.

 

[Akasha72]

I use easylife Profito and easycarbo in my tank. My amazon swords are out the top of the tank. One flowered last summer and gave me at least 6 plantlets now the other one is in the process of doing the same.
 

 

[Far_King]

Charlie once suggested I use ferts in my tank and I taught he was saying add ferrets to the tank.
 
I went natural, I change water and feed my fish, Nothing else I do not even vacuum the substrate. Indian Almond Leaves are left to rot in my tank, If a live plant sheds a leaf I leave it in the tank, Snails and shrimp eat these.
My tank is over stocked 1 Betta, 18 Kuhli Loaches ( aprox ), 2 big Mystery snails, 100 plus Red Cherry shrimp, and who knows how many Malaysian Trumpet Snails these provide all the ferts my plants need.
 
My advice is keep it simple and low tech and let it grow wild, Less things can go wrong.
 
Maybe not everyones cup of tea as they say but it works.

 
I've done the same with one of my tanks.  No ferts or ferrets.  Just a whole lot of plants, some fish and I leave the leaves for any fish that want them and the shrimp and snails.  The water is crystal clear and the parameters all stay good.  The plants thrive as do the inhabitants.  Just ignore the slightly gnawed sword on the back right, it's where the SAE like to loaf!
 
Ugh....stupid Flickr...not providing a proper link.  I'll try again later!

 

[watertown28]

Okay here is a pic of the leaf.... mind you this is a new growth leaf no less.
 
Just a bit of backround though if it does matter, these plants in this tank are about 3 weeks old. Nothing I have seen into digging into this at least briefly, tells me what this is from
 
120 Gal West #2

 
Yes, I will be doing lotsa trimming when my new tools get here Friday. I would assume once a deficiency is shown on the leaves there is more or less now way for it to rebound correct?

 

[Akasha72]

it's early days if they've only been in the tank for 3 weeks. They won't have established their roots yet. Give it more time

 

[watertown28]

it's early days if they've only been in the tank for 3 weeks. They won't have established their roots yet. Give it more time

Yeah. Your right in that sense. I was actually amazed how far the roots for the Anubias gets. I had to move a few a while ago to a new tank because I was tearing down the 55s and I just kept digging trying to find the end of it... man they do dig in pretty good.
 
BTW, updating time the lights are on which is 6 hours a day. I might bump that up a hour and see how that goes. Tried to edit original post but I guess I cant do that anymore.

 

[watertown28]

Well got one of my new toys and cant wait to use them!
 

 
11 inch long so this will help a lot. Plus the tweezers should help picking stuff out of the tank instead of chasing it around when it gets clipped.
 
Update on the lights now. I have slowly come to the realization no matter how much I wish that the 23 watt bulbs were going to be enough for the 120s, its not. So I have bit the bullet, paid the money for some 40w CFLs now. So the 120s are now housing 4x40W Daylight CFLs. I notice it more from the struggling Argintine swords more than any thing else. Plus with the other plants .... which I might add were to be here TODAY of course are not, so now I have to rush to get them in saturday of all dats....will need the lights.

 

[watertown28]

New plants got here and man, more than I had expected. I was ready to tear out all the older plants I was trying to save to have room for all these. Here is some pics of a few packages I got:
 

 

 
Also got a Red Amazon Sword and a few other plants not pictured.

 

[watertown28]

Man its been a while.
 
I have become a little bit more "educated". Its great that planted tanks have such a diverse following and not everyone has the same advice as the next guy lol.
 
Anyways, lots of trail and error here with multiple tanks. Some are doing way better than others of course. I have finally cleaned up one tank for the most part that has fish in it from algae almost all gone.
 
So, with that I will tease you guys of my hard work so far.
 
First tank:
120 #2 east. No fish. Set up about a month ago. A good assortment of plants. This is the tank that has the 4x 23W LED PAR 38 bulbs. They are about 26 inches from the bottom of light to the sand in distance. Ferts are normal DYI root tabs inserted a few weeks ago.... 12ml GLA PPS Macro with 4.5ml GLA PPS micro dose. Also, 15ml Glut. All 3 daily before lights come on:
 

 

 

 
 
 
Now this is what my really hard work has done at least for this tank. This is 120 #1 west. This was a huge diatoms problem tank. Has fish in it, about 12 male guppies. I have started root tabs in there, along with the 12/7/15 regimen like the above 120 gallon tank.
 
The lighting on this one is 4x 23W CFLs with the reflective domes on them. They too are also 26 inches from bottom of light to the sand.
 
This is the before pic, did not look all that great and only got worse. Leaves were just caked in algae, glass was just as bad. I thought I had lost all the plants. I then did my adjustments and added more plants. So far its been a huge improvement:
 
Heres kinda before...algae not all that bad but it was starting to take hold:
 

 
Now here is where it stand right now:
 

 
Cosmetially I need to do some work as in where the cords are coming up out of the tank and all that, but for now, I am just happy its clearing up. I do however, do 2x week WC of 40 gallons or more along with changing the filter floss weekly. I have made DYI overflows for the tanks, so no more of the tubes going all the way down to the bottom and back up. I feel this also helps clear the water much better, at least getting all the stuff on the surface before it sinks. I also have been cleaning the sand at least once a week. Its a bit more work, but I have finished the pipes for each sump and each sump has its own pump that can drain it by a flip of a switch.... I have tons of invested time in this lol.
O one more thing, on my amazon swords, you can see them in the third pic above.... I see that they are getting the yellow/brown spot on a few of the leaves... what is that from? Nitrogen issues?