Si's Low Tech Tank Journal

[PDSimon]

Is this the right shade of green?

thats 3bps Fish all seem well...

 

[ian]

looks good to me!

 

[PDSimon]

Good, I thought it was possibly a bit too much on the yellow side of green so wanted to make sure.

It means my pH will be in the low fives!

 

[SuperColey1]

Good, I thought it was possibly a bit too much on the yellow side of green so wanted to make sure.

It means my pH will be in the low fives!

May not Thats the reason we use 4dKH and not tank water. The KH can determine how much the Ph changes so for a lower KH in the tank the difference may be 0.2Ph. For a higher KH the difference may be over 1

The 4dKH then means that we know the Ph and the KH and the difference is unaffected by tank variation.

Test the water towards the end of the photoperiod. Compare it to your normal. You'll most likely find you are much closer to your normal Ph than you think

Oh and bingo on the limeade Keep watching to make sure it doesn't go further. Limeade is around the 35ppm average. Its what we always aim for because it won't be as high as that all over the tank. Will be near 100ppm at the diffuser

AC

 

[PDSimon]

I suppose so, my pH test kit doesn't go below 6 anyway so not sure what it'll be...

I've been away all today (back to do 3rd year at uni) and the fish are all alive and the colour is the same as yesterday. Thats quite a good balance already so pretty happy. Could've gone wrong today but it hasn't

Gunna start forgetting to dose in the mornings I imagine, it won't make any difference if I dose TPN+ and easycarbo in the evenings?

Ech. Ozelot 'green' and Ech. rubin and ludwigia repens 'rubin' seem to have noticibly changed in colour and shape since co2 so its doing what I wanted it too. Might trim the rubin so it spreads out more though

 

[SuperColey1]

Dose daily is fine at any time but preferable before the photoperiod. Get it ready in syringes or little medicine cups the night before and then dose quick before you leave in mornings

AC

 

[PDSimon]

so is the best thing I can do to prune stem plants like ludwigia repens is to chop the top off?

 

[SuperColey1]

Chop it where it becomes visible behind the plant in front or behind the hardscape. then it branches, then when you prune you shop a little higher each time and it keeps branching.

AC

 

[PDSimon]

Chop it where it becomes visible behind the plant in front or behind the hardscape. then it branches, then when you prune you shop a little higher each time and it keeps branching.

AC

Thats gunna cut half the plant apart, the top part I should be able to plant and it'll re-root too?

Valves working great btw - cheers

 

[SuperColey1]

Yeah you double your haul each time.

AC

 

[PDSimon]

Tanks going well, the h. difformis is getting a bit big though. Might replace it... the tank needs a bit of rearrangement too. I like swords too much... and they are dotted everywhere. I'll probs get some plants next weekend and organise everything a bit better. not sure yet...

If anyone wants to buy a big hygrophila difformis, then just ask might rid of the big sword to and put the ech.osiris I have there instead. Pics will come this weekend...

 

[PDSimon]

my drop checker seems to be staying green? it doesn't go back to blue. I replace the bromo blue and the 4dkh solution weekly...

 

[PDSimon]

Update: nothing new except growth plus colour and shape improvement of the plants themselvs. Difformis was getting on my nerves so was going to pull it out and replace it but its behaving a bit better now so leaving things be for a while. Might change to HC if the parvula doesn't get a move on sorry about the picture, couldn't find the decent camera

drop checker still isn't going back to blue, not sure whats going on there?

 

[Verminator89]

I like it, i like the parvula the most. I think its great how it is, a tight mat across the bottom is always nice, but a meadow isnt always the most naturally occuring Personally i think its looking fantastic how it is.

 

[PDSimon]

Cheers James, I guess you're right!