Getting CO2 this week! Journal of tank's evolution

[mbsqw1d]

No, the tank is not near a window. I will clean the tank tomorrow and will monitor the algae situation. It is not too bad now.

Whats your plant feeding regime? Which brand are you using? Sorry if you've already mentioned earlier in the thread

 

[FishBR]

Whats your plant feeding regime? Which brand are you using? Sorry if you've already mentioned earlier in the thread

I am using NilocG's Thrive All In One liquid fertilizer as prescribed (3x per week).

 

[FishBR]

This journals has focused on plants and the addition of CO2 to the setup. Time to introduce my rainbowfish. I have three varieties. Here is one of my Melanotaenia Boesemani “Aves Creek” males:

The most colorful Melanotaenia Parva male:

One of my Melanotaenia Maccullochi "Stark River" males:

 

[FishBR]

Fifth day with CO2. Things are going well, but had a major setback. The Alternanthera Reineckii "Mini" are melting:

Quite upset Any ideas why?

On the other hand, the dwarf baby tears are doing well:

The only problem is that my panda garras keep unrooting them

Today the cheap CO2 inline reactor I got to try to solve the micro bubbles issue arrived:

I will install it in the next few days and will report on the results.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

The Alternanthera Reineckii "Mini" are melting:

For a lot of plants this is actually pretty common that it will melt back a lot and then regrow. Sometimes its due to having to convert to growing submerged.

I have read that Alternanthera Reineckii can be pretty picky and a pain to grow anyway and the mini version even more so. Not necessarily anything wrong with your setup.

I would trim of any very dead bits and see if it comes back.

Today the cheap CO2 inline reactor I got to try to solve the micro bubbles issue arrived:

Very interested to see how this works. Still using a ladder diffuser in my tank at the moment which works great but is ugly. I have a few DIY methods that I know work fine but if I can buy something cheap that does the job with less hassle that would be great.

 

[FishBR]

Time for an update. The Alternanthera Reineckii "Mini" completely melted. I was surprised to find the same plant at Petco, so I replaced the dead ones with new ones. Hopefully they will do better.

The Ludwigia Repens are starting to change from green to red. My phone camera does not do them justice:

Here is how the tank is looking today:

The big news is the installation of the CO2 inline reactor. I connected the reactor between the canister and the inline heater:

The results are impressive! Here is the flow of my canister's spray bar when I had the inline diffusor attached to the canister's tubing:

Flow with inline diffusor

As you can see, micro bubbles everywhere. And here is the flow with the external, inline CO2 reactor:

Flow with inline reactor

Almost no bubbles! I am very impressed with the product. It is made of cheap plastic, and I am not sure if it is durable and safe, but it practically eliminates bubbles during CO2 usage. It adds a bit of water flow noise, but otherwise works perfectly.

 

[itiwhetu]

Alternanthera is a South American plant that likes iron enriched water you may find your hard Alkaline system just doesn't suit it. Try to find plants that suit your pH and hardness.

 

[FishBR]

Alternanthera is a South American plant that likes iron enriched water you may find your hard Alkaline system just doesn't suit it. Try to find plants that suit your pH and hardness.

Thanks, but I have read online that alternanthera reineckii can grow well in both hard and soft water, even though they prefer soft, slightly acidic water. Here are some examples:

Aquarium Plants Profile: Alternanthera Reineckii

How to grow "ar"

Anyone keeping them in hard water?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks, but I have read online that alternanthera reineckii can grow well in both hard and soft water, even though they prefer soft, slightly acidic water. Here are some examples:

Aquarium Plants Profile: Alternanthera Reineckii

How to grow "ar"

Anyone keeping them in hard water?

I have them in hard water but only just planted so too early to say.

 

[FishBR]

I made a video of the tank:

Rebuilt 55g rainbowfish tan

 

[FishBR]

My Parva rainbows get really colorful in the mornings

.

 

[Wills]

Tank and fish are looking fantastic! I tried AR mini in my tank with hard water and everytime they failed.

Wills

 

[FishBR]

Tank and fish are looking fantastic! I tried AR mini in my tank with hard water and everytime they failed.

Wills

Thank you. Let's see how the AR mini will do in this second attempt. Three of the four plants that I recently introduced have survived and seem to be doing OK:

The Ludwigia Repens are doing really well, developing a beautiful red coloration. The pictures make no justice:

 

[FishBR]

Time for an update. It has proven difficult to grow plants successfully in New Orleans’ very alkaline and hard water, even with CO2 injection. Several plants died or faded away, including: Alternanthera Reineckii (regular and mini), Nasea Pedicellata Golden, Rotala Macrandra "narrow leaf," and Rotala Wallichi. I also had a major outbreak of BBA. However, after getting a pH meter and doing the 1 full point pH drop test, I realized that I was not injecting enough CO2. I replaced the plants that were not doing well with Ludwigia Repens, Nomaphila Stricta, and Rotala Rotundifolia Red, and things look much better. The rainbowfish are doing well and I added a pair of Kamakas to the tank. Here is an update video.

 

[Stan510]

My advice would be to stop or slow the melting,stop making water changes. Let it age and those plants will thrive. Alternanthera is not too sensitive but when I stopped that whole weekly water change? Algae that had plagued it died off..mostly.
The whole idea of Co2 to me is to reduce fussing with the water and CONSTANT dosing. I mean you paid good money for the Co2 and ferts and then drain it out and down the sink? Why? If you don't drain every week..you wouldn't need constant dosing - for those who do that.
My biggest problem is my M. boesemani will eat so many types of aquarium plants and its hard to guess what they will ignore.