Some images showing fish
Hi @Douglas Mason really nice tank couple of things someone else might chip in if I'm wrong
Spray bar across the back.pushes water forward all good but skimmer and power head fight against the flow from left to right you would have a much better all round flow if there facing the same way as your spray bar I think this may be going some way towards your alge on the hair grass at the front as the power head is pushing the water as it hits the glass stopping it going in the circular motion
The other thing is just the hard edges on the wood where they have been sawn off I know you cant do much about them now but if you just saw a little then use pliers to take the smoth edge and make it rough it will look more natural
Have you moved the drop checker around the tank to see if your getting a even distribution
Really not meant to be a negative post as the tank looks really good
Ok it just seems very diffrent to most planted tanks as we are taught a circular flow motion I'm not sure I see the point of the spray bar if you just had a lilly pipe or similar facing the same direction as the skimmer as power head you would get much better co2 distribution in any case IMO
Good water circulation 24hrs long is just as important as when co2 is on
You are lucky you get really high quality <"Lake Vyrnwy"> water. You should be able to get exact figures from your water supplier, "United Utilities" I assume?I've been doing some water tests today and my water has a Kh value of 1. The water in Liverpool is very soft.
You could add a little bit of <"potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3)">. Details are at <"James' Planted Tank">.Is it recommended to add anything to my tank to raise the Kh levels. If it is this what should I use and what level should I aim for.
Hi all, You are lucky you get really high quality <"Lake Vyrnwy"> water. You should be able to get exact figures from your water supplier, "United Utilities" I assume? You could add a little bit of <"potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3)">. Details are at <"James' Planted Tank">.
You definitely don't need to go higher than 4dKH.
cheers Darrel
Don’t worry about nitrates, phosphates etcFurther to the above I also do about a 75% water change every Sunday, would it assist if I did an additional water change in the middle of the week to assist with the nitrate level until the algea is under control.
Thanks
Doug
Nice tank..I can understand your frustrations with algae. This is a new tank and diatoms are inevitable...some people seem to have better luck than others but still deal with it nonetheless.
Amano used to use carbon in the first month for this reason.
Keep your lighting at 60%. Dont go higher just yet.
Light accelerates everything...co2; ferts...
Are you dosing full EI? Not needed your soil is releasing lots of nutrients for now.
The soil in my tank was used for more than a year so when I set up the new tank I had to start dosing from the get go but that’s not the case with fresh new soil.
For the first 2 weeks, you need daily to every other day water changes to keep the excess nutrients in check.
Definitely don’t mess and adjust co2 cuz it’ll bite you. Aim for lime green drop checker in all parts and levels of the tank.
Tropica has a nice app explaining all this + more.
Don’t worry about nitrates, phosphates etc
Your soil is leaching ammonia and you need water changes to get rid of it...lots of them.
If a tank is in bad shape with minimal plant mass and lots of DOC then sure, PO4/NO3 will not help the cause.
It would be a good idea if you could add stem plants to aid with the initial step then take them out when the tank stabilizes if you don’t like them.
Plants soak up ammonia and based on scientific data they even prioritize it over nitrate.