Aquascaper 600

[Wills]

Just to add the little powerhead in the back right corner is not on yet - its rated for 6000lph!! Nearly double an FX6! Marine products are nuts eh... Even at 10% power its going to be 6x turn over... it has quite a complicated control panel that I need to get to grips with but dont want to put it in the tank as I think it will just throw the water out the tank haha!

 

[mbsqw1d]

View attachment 112199

2 Weeks since planting tomorrow, I trimmed the background plant quite a bit as it was really taking over the back left corner, it will come back bushier but I want to work out how to shape it without it getting too bushy. I want to add some background plants behind the stump on the left, I'm thinking Rotala H'ra for the fine red leaves, hoping it would compliment the Hygrophila Araguia and AR mini when it comes through. I have some soil space infront of the Hair Grass in the background I want to fill too but not sure what, needs to be something bigger than the mini hair grass and that blends the two tones of green - any ideas?

Rotala Bonsai? Can get some red tops on that too Stauro repens? Leaf shape might contrast between the two rather than blend

 

[Wills]

Rotala Bonsai is a good shout - I think S.Repens leaves are too big towards the back.

 

[Wills]

Having a bit of a night mare with this algae - I think it is filamentous diatoms and it grows at an insane rate once it gets into the long strands the tank is full in a day had to hack a lot of my plants back tonight - these pics are from a few days ago. Any have any advice on how to get rid?

I've cut my lights down to 80% power when its on, going to change my timers to have the photo period for 2 hours less and less intense light as well as keep up with more water changes and I've just ordered a few more plants to fill in some gaps too. Went for the Bonsai, some H'ra and some Marsilea Hirsuta for the front sections to fill in some of the monte carlo that I have lost.

This is the tank after the algae prune - it was worse than the first pic within a few days though...

 

[mbsqw1d]

I would have to agree and say its lighting intensity
Is the long term plan for the floating plant to spread out or are you keeping that to a minimum?
I think if you can identify which plants need the most light, then create some cover over the ones that don't and that should allow you to bring your lighting back up to full whack.

 

[Wills]

So think I found the source of the problem today, as the plants have been growing some others have got swamped and been failing. All three areas are where the algae has been worst so had a good gutting today. The problem areas were on the far right of the tank with the Myriophyllum Guyana and also on the right side of the left 'tree' with the same plant. Then the Monte Carlo had issues on the far left of the tank and the right, on the left it had grown too thick and the base of the plant wasnt rooted properly but on the right it was being swamped by the Ranunculus Inundatus. I syphoned out a lot of Monte Carlo that just wasnt rooting to make space for the more successful ones to spread into their space.

I've also moved the hairgrass at the back to round the back of the stump on the right - I've ordered some more plants to try and boost the plant demand. I've got some Rotala Bonsai, Rotala H'ra and some Marsilea Hirsuta, the 2 Rotala will go back middle and put the Marsilea Hirsuta front left and right. Hoping a faster growing foreground plant might help, I wanted to add it initially but it was out of stock really like the random shapes it produces.

Today was the first water change I didnt have to brush the roots of the floating plants with a toothbrush so hoping now I've got the dead plants out I should be on the winning curve? There are a bunch of plants you cant see from this angle which is kind of annoying, you cant really see any of the crypts or AR mini, the Hygrophila Araguia does not look too noticable here either but they are all in there!

Wills

 

[Wills]

Bit more of an update today, found more failed plants now I know what I'm looking for its quite easy to spot. I dont know how to fix some of it its mainly the Myriophyllum Guyana that just goes white at the base. I've thinned it out now so I think it will get light better. I've moved all the AR mini to the right side of the tank which is a bit more visable now and moved some of the Ranunculus to the middle right. Wondering if the Hygrophila Araguia on the left will get swamped by the Ranunculus too so might move that to the right and all the innundatus to the left.

New plants have not arrived yet was hoping they would be here over the weekend.

I've decided on some more livestock now - I want some Blue Shrimp and 2 schools, Galaxy Rasbora and Rummy Nose Rasboras. I think I am going to aim for 10 of each but might add more Galaxy Rasbora over time.

What sort of stocking numbers do you think I should do?

Wills

 

[mbsqw1d]

what temp do you keep this at Wills?

 

[Wills]

Currently set to 26 - been thinking of lowering it though the fish will need it around 21/22

 

[Wells]

Currently set to 26 - been thinking of lowering it though the fish will need it around 21/22

Tank is looking good, very jealous! Look forward to seeing it stocked.

One note, I don't claim to have the most extensive knowledge, but was watching a Green Aqua youtube video earlier where they rate people's tank setups, and one thing they kept repeating was keeping tank temp to 23-24 to avoid algae, just a thought.

 

[mbsqw1d]

There'll also be more gas dissolved into the water at a lower temp, I wouldn't know if it'll make a noticeable difference, in that you'd need to dial back the co2.

I've never paid much attention to temperature requirements of plants, are you aware of any with yours?

 

[AilyNC]

Lovely tank!

 

[Wills]

So back to square one today - thought I was winning... all of the hairgrass that I moved died just went white. I didnt know that would happen as it arrived in submersed form so surely moving it 6 inches is less traumatic than being shipped?

My new plants arrived today - not the best condition for the Rotala Bonsai but I have planted it. The Marsilea looks good and the Rotala H'ra has some really good roots on it so fingers crossed it takes.

My new suspicion along with the decaying plants issue is that I have not been dosing my fertiliser enough so the plants have been struggling and algae is getting in. I was holding back on the ferts as with me doing so many water changes I didnt know what level I should be dosing. I've decided to just up it to what ever it says on the bottle as I am doing large water changes nearly every day at the moment so if I am over dosing right now it wont really be an issue as it will just come out with the water.

Wish me luck! If this is not fixed or I dont see an improvement pretty soon the Co2 and the powerful light are out of here and I'm going for a regular tank and will find some fish from my bucket list - maybe puffers, maybe shell dwellers... best not to throw in the towel just yet though.

 

[mbsqw1d]

So back to square one today - thought I was winning... all of the hairgrass that I moved died just went white. I didnt know that would happen as it arrived in submersed form so surely moving it 6 inches is less traumatic than being shipped?

My new plants arrived today - not the best condition for the Rotala Bonsai but I have planted it. The Marsilea looks good and the Rotala H'ra has some really good roots on it so fingers crossed it takes.

My new suspicion along with the decaying plants issue is that I have not been dosing my fertiliser enough so the plants have been struggling and algae is getting in. I was holding back on the ferts as with me doing so many water changes I didnt know what level I should be dosing. I've decided to just up it to what ever it says on the bottle as I am doing large water changes nearly every day at the moment so if I am over dosing right now it wont really be an issue as it will just come out with the water.

Wish me luck! If this is not fixed or I dont see an improvement pretty soon the Co2 and the powerful light are out of here and I'm going for a regular tank and will find some fish from my bucket list - maybe puffers, maybe shell dwellers... best not to throw in the towel just yet though.

Best of luck, this tank deserves to be successful its too beautiful to die!!

What are the nitrogen levels like? I'm guessing your ferts don't dose nitrogen?

 

[Wills]

I have 25-30ppm nitrate out of my tap water, due to how regularly I am having to change water I dont have time to use my nitrate filter at the moment but I figured it cant be that bad? I've had much worse water at other houses with other tanks and never had anything like this. I went for the tropica fert that does not add nitrate or phospate as my tap has that too... I really dont want to go down the RO route though it is possible. I've just sunk so much money into this tank now its at the point where if I give up its wasted but i could spend more and it might fix it - but its spending even more...