Cal's High Tech Planted 20 Long

[_Cal_]

lol Then Ill wait to put the lighting on, I have my 20 watt old light currently, has been on for over a week. How long will they be alright wiht my 20 watt lighting?

 

[jimbooo]

thats still 1 wpg. enough to keep the plants alive indefinatly (well most of them anyway). as soon as you hook up the co2 and new lighting any withered plants will spring back to life in a week or so.

if you put the new light on now all your plants will be a tangled mess of algae rather quickly, you'll end up chucking the lot and starting over. sorry to be a bore but this is the best way of doing it, co2 first, get the level to about 30ppm, then add the lights.

 

[_Cal_]

Well that is better news, gives me some time to try to get opressurized co2.

 

[_Cal_]

What about Carbo-Plus? Anyone hear of it, or have it? Is it any good?

 

[modernhamlet]

What about Carbo-Plus? Anyone hear of it, or have it? Is it any good?

Very expensive and of dubious actual results. It costs a lot less in the long run to just go pressurized, with measurable and controllable results.

 

[_Cal_]

Well pressurized is out of the question now, I tried. My mother even offered to order me Carbo-Plus, so Im taking that route.
*Update*
It was my birthday yeasterday so I decided to get soemthigs I've been wanting. I bought 10 micro swords, 2 peices of driftwood, and mounting legs for my light, which are just sitting there begging for me to put them on and see what they look like.

 

[_Cal_]

Tank is looking really good placed my order at drfostersmiths and I got
-Carbo-plus
-carbo-plus replacement block
-searchem potassium
-nitrogen
-phop.
-gh/kh test kit

The tank looks awesome, I want to put up pics, but my current family computer cant handle to put pictures on here, so by the end of the month when I finally get my computer Ill post some pics.

 

[George Farmer]

The tank looks awesome, I want to put up ics, but my current family computer cant handle to put pictures on here, so by the end of the month when I finally get my computer Ill post some pics.

Are you running your tank (lighting) at the moment without CO2 and ferts then?

 

[_Cal_]

No I have my old light strip, 20 watts, on until I have the co2, then Ill test it to make sure my levels are correct, then my light comes on.

 

[_Cal_]

Finally got a 6700k for the aqualight, cant wait to put it on, have been waiting, most likly before christmas, then comes pics.

 

[_Cal_]

UPDATE
My order came in and I installed the Carbo Plus, and tommarow I will start using nitrogen, pottasium, and phopuhus. Pictures will be added soon, after I figure out how to transfer from my computer to this one. As for the plant status, I lost a wisteria but for the most part everything is fine. I decided to only use one of my light strips, lowering myself to 3.25 watts per gallon. I also added a 50 watt heater because I couldnt keep my temperture above 75 and now its stable at 77.2. As it goes for the tank, Ive been adding flourish and flourish iron, and I haven't had any algae, for a month now, actually to me sounds weird. Feedback and questions please!

 

[George Farmer]

Nice update Cal.

What CO2 levels are you reaching with the Carbo-Plus unit?

How long have you been running 3.25 WPG or have you been running with 1 WPG up til now?

Glad to hear you haven't had any algae. The cricial stage will be when you up your lighting. Ensure your CO2 is at least 25ppm before increasing your lighting and if you haven't already cover at least 50% substrate fo substrate with fast-growers.

 

[_Cal_]

Here are some pics, its my first time putting pics up here, tell me what you think.

And to answer your question I have running 1 wpg till a couple days ago.

 

[George Farmer]

pic 2


I've resized the pics for you as they were much too large for easy viewing. You can do this yourself by using MS Paint and the "stretch/scew" option in the "Image" menu.

Looks like a good start Cal. I suggest re-planting the foreground plant though. If you space each plantlet it will carpet more effectively. At the moment it is too compact and light is restricted from reaching all the plants.

What CO2 level are you reading?

 

[_Cal_]

Thanks for resizing them for me. I will tell you the co2 reading tommarow its to late and Im tired. As for the micro swords I didnt know that, Ill get on it before I get to bed. Also I started EI today, well everything besides flourish iron and flourish, but should I do this once a week? Actually I came to thinking is my jewel when he is bigger goign to up root up my plants and turn my tank into a war zone?