Sophos9 - Planted Tank Journal

[Themuleous]

Yes plants only take in CO2 while the lights are on, release O2. They take in O2 and release CO2 at night.

If the plants are pearling then it's probably not a lack of O2, as the plants only pearl when the water is saturated with O2, hence is doesn't dissolve into the water and creates a bubble well that's as I understand it.

Sam

 

[sophos9]

Thanks Sam, that makes sense!

I guess I'm losing my train of thought here... I'm going to agitate the surface for a few hours per night and see what happens from that, also going to kick the CO2 in a couple of hours before the light start coming on!

Thanks for the help

 

[Themuleous]

Good plan on having the CO2 come on before the lights, give it a chance to build up before the plants start needing it.

Sam

 

[griffgrogg]

Riccia anyone? Just bailed like 1/4 of a 16ltr bucket out! DOH!

sophos

I suggest to earn a few pennies you sell this on ebay..............I do this every now and then when I need to cut back on it and I sell a tangerine size for £4 easy............good way to recoup some money for maintenance

 

[sophos9]

HI... Following my last stance against algae I had a 50% water change with a background and glass scrub then dosed with macros etc...

You can follow my algae busting thread here...

So picture time

Tank when started

Tank now...


Cheers

 

[wei0204]

A nice one, wish to see more in future changes... good job ya...

 

[sophos9]

Lastest updates have been on this thread

 

[lljdma06]

The tank looks excellent, and I'm so very glad you're winning the algae war. A lot can be said about a good dosing regimen. It's no lie when it comes to high-tech tanks.

llj

 

[Themuleous]

Excellent work mate, perseverance has paid off

Sam

 

[sophos9]

Hi thanks for your comments!

Will get a picture up of the tank after the water change and prune, it really looks much much better!

 

[sophos9]

Previous pic for comparison

Ok, front view shows the mass to the right cut down, top cuttings replanted and bottom stems in the bin. You will notice the background has been cleared of algae. Wisteria on the bogwood is still apparent but nowhere near as bad!



and the side view shows things a bit clearer

 

[cheesy feet]

Nice tank & plants! Your female Kribensis looks as though she has some eggs in her?

 

[sophos9]

Nice tank & plants! Your female Kribensis looks as though she has some eggs in her?

Thanks for the thumbs up! Strange you say that about the Krib, only added them yesterday and already she is doing the mating dance

 

[cheesy feet]

Np,she as some nice colouring

 

[sophos9]

Mini update due to some minor changes...

I've ordered and glass bubble counter/spiral diffuser, its a Spiro VIII or something from China (anyone got one of these? Review?) or somewhere with some clear CO2 tubing. The diffuser I have is a bit like a badly made toy. I'm now looking at moving the diffuser to the other side of the tank below the filter outlet. Currently the diffuser is below the filter inlet so it sucks up all the diffused bubbles and they go through the filter. Problem is the filter keeps getting airlocks

Spraybar will stay in its current position as it circulates water well, my fish are happy with it and even the BN Plecos have come out in the last couple of days (first time since they went in the tank!)

Dosing schedule is nearly there, will see how it goes over the next week then will post it up

Been reading back through the thread, the amount of people that said 'throw fast growers in or you will get alage', oh boy... I should have done that! Oh well lesson learnt and things are going great!