Supercoley's First Planted Tank Adventure

[Dave Spencer]

The Hydor 200W fits 12mm hose, and the 300W fits 16mm hose so, unlike me, make sure you get the right heater for your filter.

Dave.

 

[SuperColey1]

I will take that on board Dave.

What do you think of the beard algae?

At first when the CO2 was going it consisted of quite thich strands much like human hair whereas since I sorted the CO2 out (a good clean) it has turned into fur rather than hair!! Is it on its way out?

I haven't removed it because the molly fry are chomping away on it. Very useful this depleting squadron of algae eaters that I get each month.

Andy

 

[SuperColey1]

Just a quick update

After deciding the CO2 wasn't enough (Light green to light blue all the time, I added a 2ltr DIY to the line making 2 Nutrafins + the 2ltr.

After 1 hr and bubble counter giving 3 bubbles per second and my drop checker going very light green I started to monitor very closely.

It finally hit yellow and I have removed the oldest Nutrafin and hope that this will send me to green.

Can I assume that a 2 Ltr bottle is better than the Nutrafin cannister?

Any thoughts welcome but thats how it seems to me

Andy

 

[SuperColey1]

2 of the new plants arrived today from Aquatic magic, which cost me the grand total of £7 inc postage

They were:
Phillipine Java Fern
Nympea Rubra (Tiger Lotus Bulb)

Obviously the bulb isn't much to look at and I have just let it rest on the substrate in the right of my tank where hopefully it will end up shading the Java Fern and Crypt Wendtii a little.

Aquatic Magic came up trumps again though These are pics of the enormous amount of Java I got (There were about 20 different sets of Rhizomes!!!

This was it in the bag

Then out of the bag

Then laggy banded to a piece of bogwood

And Finally in the tank next to the Crypt Wendtii

It stands 15cm (6") above the bogwood and is big


May as well put some updated tank pics in so here goes:

Jimboo Stylee

And from the front

I still have some Anubias Barteri 'Petite' to come and am still working out where to put it!! Any ideas

Lastly will come the Rotunda Rotundifolia which I am hoping will fill out the whole of the back right corner of the tank, then will come my rescaping (which only involves moving a few plants into different positions) but this will happen when I get my new external (Tetratec EX700) and inline heydor heater.

Andy

 

[Themuleous]

Excellent looking plants, my first experience of AM wasn't so good unfortunately, the HC arrived weeks late and was completely dead. Anyway, yours look excellent so that's good

Tanks really coming along mate it can only get better

Sam

 

[SuperColey1]

Sam

I've had nothing but good product from AM, so maybe I'm the lucky one.

Interesting you say its coming along because from the distance the pictures don't whot the staghorn/beard algae up and believe me, anything that is in the way of the PC gets literally covered with it within a week.

Am doing full on EI with TPN as trace. drop checker is bordering on yellow.

I think the only thing it can be is not enough plant mass. What do you think?

Andy

 

[cheesy feet]

2 of the new plants arrived today from Aquatic magic, which cost me the grand total of £7 inc postage

They were:
Phillipine Java Fern
Nympea Rubra (Tiger Lotus Bulb)

Obviously the bulb isn't much to look at and I have just let it rest on the substrate in the right of my tank where hopefully it will end up shading the Java Fern and Crypt Wendtii a little.

Aquatic Magic came up trumps again though These are pics of the enormous amount of Java I got (There were about 20 different sets of Rhizomes!!!

This was it in the bag

Then out of the bag

Then laggy banded to a piece of bogwood

And Finally in the tank next to the Crypt Wendtii

It stands 15cm (6") above the bogwood and is big


May as well put some updated tank pics in so here goes:

Jimboo Stylee

And from the front

I still have some Anubias Barteri 'Petite' to come and am still working out where to put it!! Any ideas

Lastly will come the Rotunda Rotundifolia which I am hoping will fill out the whole of the back right corner of the tank, then will come my rescaping (which only involves moving a few plants into different positions) but this will happen when I get my new external (Tetratec EX700) and inline heydor heater.

Andy

if you were to buy that java fern from tropica they would charge like £20,but with them you can't go rong .I have recently ordered of AM a onion bulb and anubias.Been 5 days so far .All the way from malaysia!

 

[Themuleous]

From the pics it looks really nice, but I know algae can be hard to see, my tanks have lots but you cant see it in pics. You seem to have a decent plant mass in there. Two questions, remind me of the size of the tank and how often you do water changes. Increasing water changes to say twice a week might help. Other than that keep up the EI, ferts, CO2 etc and it should sort once that tank stabilises. Are the plants showing any signs of deficiency? Prob not but worth a thought.

Sam

 

[SuperColey1]

The tank is 125Ltr (tall) 30inch. EI dosing using solutions in JamesC pin.

20ml x KN03, 10ml x KH2PO4, 10ml x K2SO4 x 3 (slightly reduced Pot Phos because Lincolnshire water is high in phosphates and added a bit more K)

6ml TPN x 3 days

50% Water Change Weekly (Probably more like 45% but is 5 x 12Ltr buckets)

Lighting is 4-6-2, 4hrs 18W (0.6WPG) 6 hours 73W (2.8WPG) 2 hours (0.6WPG)

No signs of defficiencies, just these huge swathes of afghan hounds hair attached to the leaves of almost every plant (including Anubias)

CO2 is DIY but drop checker is virtually yellow and I am a bit cautious to add another bottle

Fish Stock is approx 40" + 200ish MTS + 10 Algae Shrimp (who seem to hide all the time and not eat algae. lol)

Andy

 

[Themuleous]

Humm tricky one Andy. Seems like everything is going ok. If you were able 2x weekly water changes couldn't hurt and might help stabilise the system. Other than that what water are you using in the drop checker? Is it the AE 4dKH, did you hear about the trouble with the first back of that?

Sam

 

[lljdma06]

It's harder to maintain Nutrafin CO2 levels in a larger tank. When I initially setup my 36g, I had 3 Nutrafin units running and I have a lot less lighting than you. I'm trying to think back to when I had my BBA outbreak in my 20g. I used Excel to get rid of it, but I nearly killed my A. reineckii doing it. You might be ok with your plants, though. This type of algae also doesn't like current. Florida Flag fish seem to eat this algae, and I also occasionally saw my cherry barbs pick at it, but not enough to make a big difference.

What is the filtration in this tank?

llj

 

[SuperColey1]

Sam

I never bought any from AE. Can't see the point when I can buy 5 Ltrs DI from Boyes or Wilko for £3 and the Bicarb is already in my house. I measured 6g Bicarb which was the amount people seemed to agree on in the end after the baking changing the bicarb etc

I have one of those drug dealers digital pocket scales which weighs in .01 increments with a max load of 150g (bought from ebay, no requests for a score please) then mixed the 6g with 5 ltrs DI, then 10ml of this with 90ml DI and thats is my 4kDH.

Thats the only way I check my CO2!!!

llj

I find it OK, I have 2 Nutrafins and 1 DIY which all go onto a gang valve, therefore when I change a mix I can close the valve on that line and not lose all the pressure (and all the CO2) from the other lines which happens with the T connctors i.e take 1 nutrafin off the CO2 escapes from the outlet that the removed CO2 was connected to!!

Its also connected to a really good ceramic diffusor which blast bubbles out all day and night!!

Its strange that you should say this type of algae doesn't like current because the main place it grows is under the lights but right in front of the spray bar where the current is quite high.

I only have a Fluval3Plus at the moment but in 2 weeks will be buying a Tetratec EX700

I have already got a Hydor external 200W heater that I won for £20 off ebay and am waiting to get a UV8 external as well before getting the filter and the bits linked together.

Then I'm considering getting pressurised sorted out but not too sure which way to go yet.

AM have a regulator/solenoid and he says he thinks it will only work on disposable and not refillable (I think it is probably the other way round and have asked him to clarify) I prefer the 500g disposables so I could just e-order them each time rather than have to leave the safety of my computer to go to get cannisters refilled. lol

Andy

 

[lljdma06]

Its strange that you should say this type of algae doesn't like current because the main place it grows is under the lights but right in front of the spray bar where the current is quite high.


Andy

My bad, Andy. I mixed up algaes, though most species tend to grow in stagnant oxygen poor environments.

 

[SuperColey1]

I'm a little lost here then because it can't be an oxygen problem because all the fish are in their usual routines and the only ones near the surface are the danios when they chase each other and the (yet another batch) molly fry who just nibble on the floating riccia all day.

Llj - One for you here. Got my latest present to myself today :

Anubias Barteri 'Petite' there are 4 well leaved plantlets so looking at this pic of my tank, where would you plant it?

(Bearing in mind that there is going to be a major movearound of the plants once the new filter, heater and UV are all in place)

Pick a spot for me (The large piece of bogwood is a bugger to attach things to because with it being a curved shape any thread/line is basically a lacerator for fish!!)

Just as a guide here are my plans for after the equipment is out of the tank

1. Hygrophylia Polysperma Rosanervig - Staying in same position
2. Hygrophylia Polysperma unknown sp - Staying where it is
3. Giant Hygro - Going in the bin because it takes over the tank within weeks and is the biggest algae magnet in there
4. Hygrophylia 'Thai' Stricta - Not sure this is the right name although thats what I bought it as. suffered a cryptlike meltdown and is now recovering, will stay similar position to now
5. Cryptocoryne Balansae - This will all be moved to the back left of the tank
6. Anubias Barteri Ver Nana - Staying where they are (attached already)
7&8. Bacopa Caroliania and Monnieri, will stay in a similar position as they are in
9. Riccia Fluitans staying where it is but is so easy just to move anyway
10. Echinodorus Bleheri - Of the 3 plants I will pick the best and it will go in the left rear corner, The other 2 face the chop
11. Vallisinera Spiralis Leopard - The best few will go in the front Left and Right corners, so that their leaves can create a frame of the front window.
12. Ludwigia Repens - The fastest grower in this tank, will be moved to behind the 'tree' rather than in front of it, where I plan to use it as the central third's background plant
13. Phillipine Java Fern - Will be moved back slightly as it is huge.
14. Cryptocoryne Wendtii (Brown) - Will not be moved but may be pruned a little
15. Mini Pellia - Waiting for this to grown on a bit yet before deciding what to do with it
16. Fissidens Zippelianus - I am hoping that this will grow on well now I have thread tied it to the 'tree'
17. You can't see it but there is a Nymphea Rubra 'Tiger Lotus Red' behind the bogwood of the Java Fern and is already sprouting.
FUTURE PLANTS.
Alternatha Reinecki - I plan to use this in front of the Crypt Balansae as the Left Third of the background
Rotala Rotundifolia - I plant to plant this all the way round the back of the slate 'mountain' creating the background for my right third

Look forward to suggestions
Andy

 

[Themuleous]

Id plant it below 9 the riccia, fill that hole nicely the petite variety is very slow growing so you need to protect it from direct light or it'll get algae like its going out of fashion.

Sam