Sophos9 - Planted Tank Journal

[sophos9]

I have my diffuser at the bottom of my tank beside my filter outlet, blasting CO2 bubbles around the tank. I thought of placing it below the filter intake, and may yet give it a go. Stick with your plan and see what kind of results you get.

Groovy, will do... see how it goes and report!!

 

[Tsi_User]

I like the background, but the line down the middle kind of ruins it for me . How heavily planted will the tank be, hopefully enough to cover up the line?

 

[shawn-b]

Anyone have any thought about the CO2 diffusion?

Is it best to keep the ceramic disc job or to pump direct into filter inlet..... OR to leave it how it is?

Looks like the same CO2 set as I got, D&D I think it was.

The ceramic diffuser I couldn't get on with as it kept spinning round on its single suction cup thingy. Soon gave up on this and went with

not very clear here but as I said in the earlier post its a gravel vac connected to my filter outlet, I'm fortunate and have 2 external filters on my tank so this one has the water running through it and exiting via a spray bar along the bottom of the rear of the tank whilst the other filter pumps water out via a spray about an inch below the surface from the oppsite end.

 

[Themuleous]

Good start not sure about the rock back but thats just me BTW what have you got in the filter for mechanical filtration? See plenty of biological but no sponge?

Sam

 

[sophos9]

I like the background, but the line down the middle kind of ruins it for me . How heavily planted will the tank be, hopefully enough to cover up the line?

Hey man, me too but I have plans to grow it out!

Looks like the same CO2 set as I got, D&D I think it was.

The ceramic diffuser I couldn't get on with as it kept spinning round on its single suction cup thingy. Soon gave up on this and went with
not very clear here but as I said in the earlier post its a gravel vac connected to my filter outlet, I'm fortunate and have 2 external filters on my tank so this one has the water running through it and exiting via a spray bar along the bottom of the rear of the tank whilst the other filter pumps water out via a spray about an inch below the surface from the oppsite end.

This CO2 diffuser seems to be working well... time will tell though

Good start not sure about the rock back but thats just me BTW what have you got in the filter for mechanical filtration? See plenty of biological but no sponge?

Sam

Hey Sam, sure I understand... the backing is not everyone's thang! Once the tank is grown, it will look much more subtle

 

[sophos9]

Ok, new tank setup and running.... will post some pix tomorrow!

 

[sophos9]

Above is the spoils from a trip to Pets at Home, they were crammed with Tropica plants so I bought some Hygrophila Polysperma, some crypts, twisted valis etc... Once the tank is ready, I'm going to cover to of the larger rocks with moss and have a riccia bed in the centre





So here it is, bad photo so will try to get some better shots - you get the pic tho... This is my first ever attempt at planting a tank so constructive criticism will be great!

CO2 is going at 1 bubble per second, how long usually for a 180ltr tank to get to 30ppm?

Water stats are currently KH 6 and PH 8 using a Tetratest strip, this would mean that my CO2 is currently around 1.8ppm??

 

[Dave Spencer]

That`s a very nice piece of kit you have assembled there!

What light levels do you have at the moment, and do you fertilise the water column? I am thinking of early algae problems.

I would question your CO2 levels, if I were you, especially if you are injecting 1BPM. Try using the 24 hour pH drop test for a fairly accurate estimation.

 

[sophos9]

That`s a very nice piece of kit you have assembled there!

What light levels do you have at the moment, and do you fertilise the water column? I am thinking of early algae problems.

I would question your CO2 levels, if I were you, especially if you are injecting 1BPM. Try using the 24 hour pH drop test for a fairly accurate estimation.

Hi thanks, for the compliment!

Lights are currently standard 2 x 25w Juwels, I will be swapping then tubes for Interpret full spectrum daylights soon and upgrading to a twin ballast 2 x 25w - 100w will give 2.4wpg

I have a Sera live CO2 kit in the tank, its reading I need more! I used this CO2 table to work out approx CO2?

I'm looking to fertilise although have no specific product in mind, anything you can suggest?

Thanks for the help...

 

[cleekdaFish]

I like it so far , I like ur riccia in the middle and moss on the rocks idea, its gonna look fantastic.

I would put a focal piont plant, a showy plant in the corner , like an amazon plant, like a raneria amazon that doesnt spread too much or add some red plants to go along with ur green plants. the contrast betwen the red and green would be nice

I have a 5 gallon cylinder tank for my c02 ,it runs all day and night , it can last me like 4-5 months. I have 28 ppm

[I'm looking to fertilise although have no specific product in mind, anything you can suggest?

Thanks for the help...
[/quote]


flourish is a great product

 

[Dave Spencer]

Lights are currently standard 2 x 25w Juwels, I will be swapping then tubes for Interpret full spectrum daylights soon and upgrading to a twin ballast 2 x 25w - 100w will give 2.4wpg

Before you upgrade the lights to 2.4WPG, you will want to make sure you have a lot more plant mass, consisting of stems of fast growing weeds to give 75% substrate coverage. Otherwise, algae will take a firm grip on your tank.

I have a Sera live CO2 kit in the tank, its reading I need more! I used this CO2 table to work out approx CO2?

Personally, I found the pH/KH very difficult to use. They boil down to a persons interpretations of colour using test kits. I could get CO2 levels between 10ppm and 80ppm just by slight differences in assessing what my test kit was telling me. The 24 hour pH drop works quite well IMO.

I'm looking to fertilise although have no specific product in mind, anything you can suggest?

If I have got you spending more money on plants, then the cheapest option for ferts is using PMDD. I am using these pretty successfully at the moment.

The principle behind what I am suggesting is that with lighting above 2WPG you must have a flourishing plant mass to out compete the algae issues that tanks get early on.

 

[sophos9]

I like it so far , I like ur riccia in the middle and moss on the rocks idea, its gonna look fantastic.

I would put a focal piont plant, a showy plant in the corner , like an amazon plant, like a raneria amazon that doesnt spread too much or add some red plants to go along with ur green plants. the contrast betwen the red and green would be nice

I have a 5 gallon cylinder tank for my c02 ,it runs all day and night , it can last me like 4-5 months. I have 28 ppm

I'm looking to fertilise although have no specific product in mind, anything you can suggest?

Thanks for the help...


flourish is a great product

Cheers!

I purposely left out red plants until I upgrade the lighting, I agree it will look better with. Ahhh... CO2, sorry the question was not worded great. What I meant is after 100% dechlorinated tap water being added, how quick should I be able to achieve 30ppm?

In response to Dave Spencer, I get what you are saying. Not sure I can start mixing all that stuff, yet.... soon but I'm still a newb. I've been looking around since cleekdafish's post and Seachem Flourish seems to get a good write up, what do you think?

What do you think about adding plants say over the next month then upgrading?

Can you tell me more about the 24hr PH test?

 

[Dave Spencer]

In response to Dave Spencer, I get what you are saying. Not sure I can start mixing all that stuff, yet.... soon but I'm still a newb. I've been looking around since cleekdafish's post and Seachem Flourish seems to get a good write up, what do you think?

I am a newbie myself (two months) and have no problems mixing the ferts. It is the cheapest method. You can even add the powder directly to the tank, if you wish.

Seachem Flourish appears to have a good reputation, but I have never used it.

What do you think about adding plants say over the next month then upgrading?

You may be OK doing it this way, but try to get some fast growing stems in fairly quickly. I took no chances and planted very heavily from the word go.

Can you tell me more about the 24hr PH test?

Take a sample of water from your tank and leave it to stand, open to the atmosphere, for 24 hours. This allows the dissolved CO2 content to equalise with atmospheric CO2. Then, measure the pH of it and the pH of a sample of water fresh from your tank. The standing sample pH will increase by a value of one if you have 30ppm of CO2 in your tank. The readings are affected by other factors, but it should give you an idea as to whether you are close to target.

 

[sophos9]

I am a newbie myself (two months) and have no problems mixing the ferts. It is the cheapest method. You can even add the powder directly to the tank, if you wish.

Seachem Flourish appears to have a good reputation, but I have never used it.

You may be OK doing it this way, but try to get some fast growing stems in fairly quickly. I took no chances and planted very heavily from the word go.

Cool, thanks for the info, will look into it. I'm fairly confident that the substrate mix I added should take care initially (Tetraplant complete substrate, Laterite and Floropol)

Take a sample of water from your tank and leave it to stand, open to the atmosphere, for 24 hours. This allows the dissolved CO2 content to equalise with atmospheric CO2. Then, measure the pH of it and the pH of a sample of water fresh from your tank. The standing sample pH will increase by a value of one if you have 30ppm of CO2 in your tank. The readings are affected by other factors, but it should give you an idea as to whether you are close to target.

Brill idea, will check it out and post results!

 

[Dave Spencer]

I agree, with a decent substrate you should get some nutrients finding their way in to the water column.

I like the pH drop test method, but can`t take the credit for it.