Bowfront 180 Litres

[Biulu]

I know that for CO2 gas it is dosed 2 hrs before the lights go on. Don't know whether it is the same for liquid though...

 

[ian]

liquid carbon has a 12/24 hr halflife so it doesn't really matter. Its not looking to bad considering you were away.

 

[Biulu]

liquid carbon has a 12/24 hr halflife so it doesn't really matter. Its not looking to bad considering you were away.

Ok, thank you. I am only a bit worried about the stunted growth of the alternanthera. Do you know what is causing it?

 

[ian]

stunted growth can be a mixture of c02 and Nitrogen. Do you dose a macros?

 

[Biulu]

stunted growth can be a mixture of c02 and Nitrogen. Do you dose a macros?

I dose mainly potassium as I consider that my bioload is high enough to take care of the nitrogen part. Then I dose 1x week seachem flourish separately.

 

[SuperColey1]

I think the problem often occurs when people move from non CO2 to a C added setup.

The bioload may well be enough prior but consider that with pressurised you speed up growth 10-20x. With liquid C it will be less but most likely the N won't be enough in this scenario.

If dosing C in any form and therefore speeding things up I would sugges N an P addition. Not necessarily EI levels but some.

I used JamesCs PMDD+PO4 for a long time with success. Reason I used that instead of EI was at the time couldn't be bothered with 50% water changes and therefore the leaner route suited my aim.

Even with mine being non CO2 I can still see some N and P shortage occasionally and therefore I add some of the old EI macro solution monthly/bi monthly as I see signs. That is with zero water changes

AC

 

[Biulu]

I have only recently started dosing liquid CO2 but do have liquid N, P and K from Seachem. Getting the dry salts here is too cumbersome and the US doesn't ship to Mexico, so that is out of the question. I will start adding nitrogen as well then. Thank you.

I think I can also enhance my growth if I can get my 2 T5s to work. Not so much because of the extra light, but because of the better spread. My 2 T8 are located in the back, whereas my T5 are diagonally covering the back to the front (my tank is a bowfront) This will enhance light in especially the mid and side sections. Today I will buy the 2 converters and have them installed by a friend.

 

[Biulu]

Originally my lighting had 2 T8 15 W and 2 T5 HO 24 W. I have been running only the 2 T5 which gave me only 0.6 WpG, but the worst is that these are located completely in the back and therefore the mid/front section does not receive any light. I considered though that a total of 78 W would be too much, that would give me 1.7 WpG and would more than double the light I have now. So I opted for 2 normal T5s of 14 W each. This brings me to 1.25 WpG. The other advantage is that the HO have to be imported from Europe (in my case)whereas the normal T5s I can get here. Today I got myself 1 tube of 6500K. I wanted to have another one of 8000 - 9000 but it was not available. So I have to go to Mexico city to find a real plant lamp in one of the fish shops.

But already now the difference is noticeable. The first picture is of the tank with only the T8s and the second with 2 T8 and 1 T5.

IMG]http/i178.photobucket.com/albums/w244/Biulu/DSC05809.jpg[/IMG]


Edit: My anubia had made 2 plantlets and I was able to separate these from the rock they were on and put them with an elastic band on a piece of wood. Hopefully they will not get too many algae as they are not yet shaded by the E. ozelot.

 

[Biulu]

An update on the fish and plant front.

I upped my corydoras to 5 and I added 4 ramirezis in the hope some will pair up with the existing male. It was very hard to find females as some were still too young and others due to stress didn't show their pink belly, but it seems I have been doing well and got myself at least 2 females. I also bought 4 otocinclus to keep the algae in check. This makes my stocking complete. My congo tetras are growing well, but it looks like all my 7 are females!

To fill out the gaps left by the hydrocotyle and the partly dying off of the H. polisperma, I bought new hydrocotyle; I want to give this plant another try. And yes llj, I think they are harvested in the wild somewhere. Some don't come with roots, and that makes them useless I think as these are rhizome type plants and don't form roots at their stems, right?

I also laid my hands on some H. diformis I think. My tank is now fully planted, but I am not too happy with the plants. Especially I would like to ditch the cabomba, it is too messy.

Now I have the luck to go to Europe next week and was thinking of bringing back some plants. I want to get some more crypts, and windelov fern. What else would you guys recommend me to get? I now have 2 T5 14W and 2 T8 15W, which makes 1.2 WpG.

Oh, and the second lamp I got is a 10000. I wanted a 8 or 9000 but they didn't have it. i will post more pictures later, after I have cleared the diatoms of the front.

 

[ian]

sounds good...where are you going in Europe?

 

[Biulu]

Netherlands and Switzerland. I will have to buy the plants in Switzerland though as that is my last stop. Unfortunately I don't know any fish shops in Zuerich, but there should be a yellow pages of somes sort, I assume

 

[Biulu]

I have turned my 2 T8s off during my absence to avoid algae. I left the T5s on as they are located in the middle of the hood and not in the back as my T8s.

 

[jonnyuk]

i've not been following this so read it all at once. you have had some rotten luck, i'm sure some people would of given up but you stuck with it and have a really good looking tank, for that you deserve a medal!

keep up the good work and hope your luck holds out.

 

[Biulu]

Thanks very much Johnny! Well, I am known to be persistent, I guess . Today I went to a local fish shop here in the Netherlands, which I really value, since the owners are fish keepers themselves. They told me that the lighting in the higher kelvin ends > 8000 should only be used in the back of the tank and only 1 to avoid algae.

So now I am wondering whether I should change my T5, which is located in the middle of the tank should change to another 6500 K instead?

 

[Biulu]

I have not had any comments on my lights, so I will ask again about whether to change my 10000 K for another 6500K in the other forum.

In the meantime I have bought plants here in Zurich, Switzerland. Boy, is this an expensive hobby over here! You guys sometimes complain about prices, but here they are going through the roof! 10 USD for 1 simple C. paleatus, 25 USD for 1 congo tetra, 1 cherry shrimp for 12 USD etc. etc. I had been thinking of bringing some fish as well, I wanted some sparkling gouramis for a small tank I am setting up for instance and was thinking about shrimp but after seeing the prices I didn't even bother anymore...

Also the plants were expensive, I bought myself 150 USD of plants more or less and had the following:
1 cryptocoryne moehlmanni
1 cryptocoryne petchii
1 java fern
1 bolbitis heudelotti
1 limnophyla aquatica
1 shinnersia rivularis (oak leaf they call it here)
1 lysimachia numularis

Not much I would say.... So, they'd better get well to the other side of the ocean....

I bought the java fern and the bolbitis for the large parts of wood I have, which currently look a bit bare I think. With the limnophyla I want to replace the cabomba which I do not really like and the shinnersia rivularis will take the place of the bacopa and part of the alternanthera. The bacopa did not do well in my tank and the alternanthera is too dominant in my opinion.

The other plants are to fill the mid/foreground sections. Especially there where the cryptocoryne died off during my last disaster.

I had wanted also a better hydrocotyle, but they had only a carpet type one and I wanted it to be a more vertical growing, otherwise you won't see it behind the wood. I now plan to put the lysimachia there. Some plants I had thought about like the aponogeton crispus and ludwigia glandulosa they did not have, but I think I have suitable replacements and enough to change the scape the way I want it.