Hi everyone,
This is the tank I've been working on. This is my first very own tank, but I've had experience with geophagus and many large saltwater aquarium via my dad.
The tank is on DAY 25.
But I've kept pictures throughout the process
Equipment:
Tank
ADA 60p
Aquarium stand
DIY stand
Lighting
24" Ecoxotic E-series (E-60)
DIY light stand
Filtration
Eheim Classic Canister Filter 600
Eheim Skim 350 surface skimmer
CO2 System
GLA GRO CO2 Regulator
CO2 Tank - 5lb
DIY Cerge's CO2 Reactor
Substrate/Additives
ADA - Amazonia Aqua Soil normal type - 9L
ADA - Amazonia Aqua Soil power type - 3L
ADA - Power Sand S
ADA - 5 substrate additives (clear super, bacter 100, Tourmaline BC, Penac W, Penac P).
The Plants:
Background
Bacopa caroliniana
Ludwigia repens 'rubin'
Ludwigia palustris
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Shaded
Anubias 'Petite'
Anubias barteri
Mosses on rocks/driftwood
Riccia fluitans
Vesicularia ferriei 'weeping'
Midground
Rotala "bonsai"
Staurogyne repens
Foreground/Carpet
Hemianthus callitrichoides 'cuba'
The Hardscape
This is what I decided to go with:
Fast-Forward to Day 0 - PLANTING DAY.
The planting part was alot harder than anticipated because the amazonia powder wouldn't "hydrate" and just float to the top.
I attribute this to the fact that I had everything under the light for several hours for a few nights to finalize the position of the hardscape. I think that dried out the powder.
The plants all looked pretty miserable by the time I was done with them.
Initially, i was going to attach the riccia on meshes, but i was so tired that I just jammed them into the rock and called it a day.
Day 1
The water cleared up pretty quickly.
Did some rearranging of some of the stem plants as I noticed they were all tangled up.
Day 3
Everything looks pretty much the same. Except I noticed the riccia is noticeably bigger. Take that as a good sign. It's better than melting. XD
Day 8
Noticeable growth now on most of the plants.
Day 11
Let's test the water..... and the result is.... "OMG... DAT AMMONIA ! ! !"
Day 14
Picked up some weeping moss and added it on the driftwood.
Up to this point, I was running 1.5 bubbles per second.
Day 20
The ludwigia palustris is growing faster than all the other stem plants.
They are colouring up quite nicely.
In terms of water perimeters, ammonia is gone now but nitrites still off the charts.
Day 25
I have just let it grow out to be a jungle. I thought I could use the plant mass to prevent any algae outbreak.
No significant amount of algae I can see right now (small amounts of algae on some of the anubias leaves that I clean off with a toothbrush).
I've dialed the bubble counter back from 1.5 to 1 bubbles per second as a precaution.
Also, as you can see the light is angled towards the front.
My thought is that the stem plants in the back will have a much easier time to reach enough light, than the HC in the front at the substrate level.
The good news is this:
Water looks good, nitrates almost looks too low now. The plants are really soaking that all up I think.
As for ferts, when do you guys think I need to start dosing?
Everything seems to be doing fine.
I might hold off on Ferts till maybe a week or two after, at about ½ the dose (PPS-Pro).
But let me know what you all think.
Plans for the week:
I will probably do a major trim this week, followed by a water change (been doing twice weekly as recommended by Patrick from Canadian Aquatics).
Check the water chem's again end of the week, if all is still well, I will add some shrimp (amano's for algae duty). As for fish, recommendations are welcomed.
That's all I have for now.
-KC
This is the tank I've been working on. This is my first very own tank, but I've had experience with geophagus and many large saltwater aquarium via my dad.
The tank is on DAY 25.
But I've kept pictures throughout the process
Equipment:
Tank
ADA 60p
Aquarium stand
DIY stand
Lighting
24" Ecoxotic E-series (E-60)
DIY light stand
Filtration
Eheim Classic Canister Filter 600
Eheim Skim 350 surface skimmer
CO2 System
GLA GRO CO2 Regulator
CO2 Tank - 5lb
DIY Cerge's CO2 Reactor
Substrate/Additives
ADA - Amazonia Aqua Soil normal type - 9L
ADA - Amazonia Aqua Soil power type - 3L
ADA - Power Sand S
ADA - 5 substrate additives (clear super, bacter 100, Tourmaline BC, Penac W, Penac P).
The Plants:
Background
Bacopa caroliniana
Ludwigia repens 'rubin'
Ludwigia palustris
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Shaded
Anubias 'Petite'
Anubias barteri
Mosses on rocks/driftwood
Riccia fluitans
Vesicularia ferriei 'weeping'
Midground
Rotala "bonsai"
Staurogyne repens
Foreground/Carpet
Hemianthus callitrichoides 'cuba'
The Hardscape
This is what I decided to go with:
Fast-Forward to Day 0 - PLANTING DAY.
The planting part was alot harder than anticipated because the amazonia powder wouldn't "hydrate" and just float to the top.
I attribute this to the fact that I had everything under the light for several hours for a few nights to finalize the position of the hardscape. I think that dried out the powder.
The plants all looked pretty miserable by the time I was done with them.
Initially, i was going to attach the riccia on meshes, but i was so tired that I just jammed them into the rock and called it a day.
Day 1
The water cleared up pretty quickly.
Did some rearranging of some of the stem plants as I noticed they were all tangled up.
Day 3
Everything looks pretty much the same. Except I noticed the riccia is noticeably bigger. Take that as a good sign. It's better than melting. XD
Day 8
Noticeable growth now on most of the plants.
Day 11
Let's test the water..... and the result is.... "OMG... DAT AMMONIA ! ! !"
Day 14
Picked up some weeping moss and added it on the driftwood.
Up to this point, I was running 1.5 bubbles per second.
Day 20
The ludwigia palustris is growing faster than all the other stem plants.
They are colouring up quite nicely.
In terms of water perimeters, ammonia is gone now but nitrites still off the charts.
Day 25
I have just let it grow out to be a jungle. I thought I could use the plant mass to prevent any algae outbreak.
No significant amount of algae I can see right now (small amounts of algae on some of the anubias leaves that I clean off with a toothbrush).
I've dialed the bubble counter back from 1.5 to 1 bubbles per second as a precaution.
Also, as you can see the light is angled towards the front.
My thought is that the stem plants in the back will have a much easier time to reach enough light, than the HC in the front at the substrate level.
The good news is this:
Water looks good, nitrates almost looks too low now. The plants are really soaking that all up I think.
As for ferts, when do you guys think I need to start dosing?
Everything seems to be doing fine.
I might hold off on Ferts till maybe a week or two after, at about ½ the dose (PPS-Pro).
But let me know what you all think.
Plans for the week:
I will probably do a major trim this week, followed by a water change (been doing twice weekly as recommended by Patrick from Canadian Aquatics).
Check the water chem's again end of the week, if all is still well, I will add some shrimp (amano's for algae duty). As for fish, recommendations are welcomed.
That's all I have for now.
-KC