Simon's Planted Tank Journal

[simonbrown403]

jimbooo...... i,m going to replace the tubes as soon as possoble, wich will probably be in a few weeks.

hunterm8..... i,ve turned the UG heating off already, and blacked the tank out, to see if it will help a little.

 

[George Farmer]

however 4 new tubes = £60 and it's christmas. damn it these things have no consideration for us little people

http/www.firstlightdirect.com/scp/Aquari...cent_Tubes.html

 

[simonbrown403]

Thanks for link george there quite cheap

 

[George Farmer]

Thanks for like george there quite cheap

No probs mate. I'll be replacing my tubes with them when the time comes. I know oldwhitewood has success with them.

Check out this link for more info - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=107609&hl=

 

[simonbrown403]

Thanks for like george there quite cheap

No probs mate. I'll be replacing my tubes with them when the time comes. I know oldwhitewood has success with them.

Check out this link for more info - http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=107609&hl=

I think your right it works wonders for winter blues, wife and chilldren troubles, i think doctors should perscribe it as a cure

 

[simonbrown403]

I,ve not gone down the road of total destruction yet, but i have done a major prune have a look at pic below and see what i mean



I,ve took all the pygmy sword grass out, it was covered in algae, i managed to save a bit, that had found it's way around the back
I,ve thinned out the vallis, hygropilia polysperma/deformis and the swords.
I,ve also added a little bogwood.

What i,ve decided to do is cut down the ferts a little until i sort the light out, i,m going for the little and often about 3ppm nitrate ans 0.5ppm phosphate per day.
I have just bought some seachem trace mix, i,m not sure how to dose this yet, i was thinking about 2ml twice a week, it recommends 5ml in a 250ltr once to twice a week.
I bought a solenoid off ebay a Christmas present off my sister and brother in law, my mums giving me a little money as well, so i,m planing on getting the new tubes after Christmas.

 

[kamel_007]

REally different...

 

[Krib Crazy]

Really nice tank great improvement

 

[simonbrown403]

Time for an update, I,ve made quite a few changes to the layout of my tank my fert routine.
Things seam to be coming together for now.

I got to thinking, that the constant rise and fall of the levels of NKP might be causing some of the problems, along with the, crappy liquid feed i was using and the fluctuation in co2 levels.

Co2, i,ve now added a solenoid on a timer to, stop the waste of co2 and, don't know why but the levels now seam to be more stable.
I set the timer so that it comes on an hour before lights on and it turns off and hour before lights out.

NKP, instead of the standard dosing routine of the EI method, where your doing every 2nd day, i,ve started to add 3ml of no3 evert day and 0.5ml of po4 every 2 days, which seams to keep a more constant level.

I,ve changed over to seachen flourish which, i,m dosing at 2ml every second day.

Have a look at the new pics, which i posted in members pic section, ant comments welcome.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=119980

 

[simonbrown403]

I think I've just made a big mistake, the water change was due to day, and as you do, i did a bit of pruning and got carried away and ending up ripping all the plants out, which was a shame as i was happy with most of it, it nearly broke my heart when i took all the vallis out.

I'd also been thinking of taking the juwel filter out and replacing it with a external there's a special on at my local shop 50% off.
I'm blaming George for putting ideas into our head lol, i had a little pull to see how easy it would be to remove oops! it came out quite easy.
Lucky i have a atuman 3338 filter which was ticking over on another tank, over kill i know but what do you do.
I'm looking at a ehiems later on down the line once I've sold some of the junk i have stashed away, i want to make a in line co2 reactor to go with it.

This was may tank unto this dinner

After

Apart from the total annihilation of my tank I've mixed the substrate in my tank with some fluorite.
I been reading what i can find on tetra complete, all it comes up with is it contains humic acids to help nutrients uptake by making the nutrients more available, and not much else.
I came to thinking that this is why Echinodorus species general don't do to well in my tank as they require iron rich substrates, so I've mixed in 2kg of fluorite in to the substrate to see if it helps.

I've been reading on lights and have took a long look at mine, the tubes i have in are Acadia the ones that bring out the reds, and is probably why i cant get rid of the algae problem i have.
I could of just bought new tubes, but I've always fancied the open top tanks so I've ordered a luminar light of the net with 3 * 24watt T5 tubes which will give me 72 watts (3.2 per gal) which will hopefully improve my lighting situation and the look of my tank.

I've piled the substrate up at the back right hand side where I've positioned the 2 pieces of bog wood from the the pic above, and planted mainly with hygrophilia and vallis to keep it going.

Below is a list of plants and a rough planting diagram its not a picasso but it will give you an idea.

(1) Echinodorus tenellus
(2) Echinodorus angustifolius
(3) Hemianthus micranthemoides (or something with small leaves, that i could keep small)
(4) Ludwigia arcuata (or something along that lines)
(5) Hygrophilia polysperma (or something along that lines)
(6) Nymphaea glandulifera..... this is just a tought i have seen it on some one elses tank and liked the idea of lilly pokeing out of the grass, something to shade under.

All comments and suggestions welcome

 

[IovaykInD]

ALL THAT BEAUTIFUL VALLIS

Definately a shame...the tank looked really good. Why did you prune it when it was doing so well? It didn't look like it needed a pruning yet.

 

[simonbrown403]

ALL THAT BEAUTIFUL VALLIS

Definitely a shame...the tank looked really good. Why did you prune it when it was doing so well? It didn't look like it needed a pruning yet.

I'm started to think the reason why my Echinodorus species where not doing so well was the lack of iron rich substrate, they where growing but the leafs where showing signs of iron deficiency, very pale, so i mixed the fluorite in to see if it helps.

Plus i established i can grow vallis, its time for a change, I'm want to try some things out ready for my big tank that i want to build eventually

 

[George Farmer]

I really like the plan Simon, it should look excellent. The lily idea is wonderful.

You'll definitely have enough light now too .

 

[simonbrown403]

Time for an update, it's algae city in there at the moment, I've tried allsorts, increasing and lowering NKP even the CO2, I've mixed fluorite with the gravel for extra iron which seams to of helped, all the plants seam to be throwing out lush green leafs.

I ordered a new light a few weeks ago had a few problems with the order, it turned out my 2year old son had ordered another light on eBay while my back was turned, so they went going to send it me until i payed for the second Ouch!
It was sorted out eventually and i received it this morning so all's well that ends well.

Next step i think is to save up some more money and order the plants .
I've changed my mined a little on the lay out (above), i think i have to many plants for a small tanks.
So i though I'd get rid of the E tenellus and E angustifolius and use hair grass instead.
I'm going to stick with the Hemianthus micranthemoides, but might end up changing the Ludwigia arcuata for something else, something with small leafs.

Here's a few pics to look at, the tanks rubbish but the light worth a shot

EDIT~for gramma and spelling

 

[godzuki]

Golly Gosh guys, i was going to look into doing a planted tank.... but now I dont think I'll bother.... having your teeth pulled sounds less painful and I dare say less expensive...