An update on what happened to my 10 year old tank as I stopped updating the journal - it sprung a leak at the top half of the tank, so I had to drain half of the water out and left the tank on "life support" while waiting for a new tank. Plants were alive after that but many stunted. Took 10 days for the tank to arrive.
As the previous tank was getting a bit crowded, I got a larger 90x45x45 tank this time. Poured in 27 litres of Amazonia 2, transferred most of the remaining water over (using the Canister filter as a 'pump), and replanted.
Using old plants, the water from the old tank, and canister filters with mature media seemed to be enough to cycle the tank as I didn't get any diatoms. I went straight to GDA on the glass after I started pumping up the lights (started at 50%, now at 70%) 😅
I'm not ready for a full tank shot because my background is the last item to be delivered - I'm using my old 60cm background for this shot.
I'll post a full tank shot once the background arrives and I set it up. An extra week will give the plants more time to hopefully convert fully. I think I managed to save most of my plants.... Erio Quin the only casualty - i've replaced it with Crypt Flamingo.
So for now, here's a 'teaser' showing the recovery of my Pantanal/ Metas. Wasn't sure if they would pull through, but they apparently have.
Quick specs
90x45x45 tank. 'overgrown style' (lower maintenance, and so many plants, you don't notice the algae... 😅)
Fluval 307 and 407 (outlets both on the same side now - flow seems better than trying a circular/racetrack pattern in my old tank), 1 x usb pump at substrate level pushing 100l/hr.
Teco TK-1000 chiller set at 25.2 °C (in a warm country, have to compromise between how cool I want the water and how often the chiller kicks in)
27 litres of Amazonia 2 (3 bags full)
WRGB2 Pro front (about 70% - target 100/80/90/85 🌞)
WRGB2 rear (about 70% - target 100/80/90🌻 )
Fertilisation (it's only been 2 weeks, will tweak once things stabilise, just following the dosing in my previous tank +50% due to increase in tank size)
Daily: 1ml of APT EI and 0.5ml Tropica Specialised Daily.
4ml Seachem Trace over the course of the week.
p.s. I haven't used any test kits so I can't answer any questions about water parameters, I'll just watch the plants....
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