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NA 65 cm

pepedopolous

Member
Joined
22 May 2011
Messages
678
Location
Prague, Czech Republic
Hi guys,

Got a lovely 65 cm set-up from NA. It's been running for 6 days now and here is the first photo that I have ever taken with a tripod!

9265199356_7d83634962_c.jpg

I'll add some more details soon,

Cheers,

P
 
Yeah, I admit I always hurry the planting process too much. Each bit of HC has a bit of rockwool at the bottom. I think I'll leave it be for now and hope it spreads out eventually.
 
Hello

Great scape, really nice stones, where did you get them?

I think you will need to make some adjustments along with the plant grow. I fell that you can improve a lot with plant scape.

Any way you got to show us more pictures about your NA setup. give us a entire system photo.

cheers
 
Thanks Nice!

The stones are ADA Unzan stones from Aquascape.cz
Impulse buy!
I bought 5 of them but one of them floated when I filled up the tank! :( They were really expensive. I planned to use Dragon Stone or some other inert rock but I found it really hard to find nice-looking pieces.

About the planting I think you're right! I'm worried about getting the HC and middle plants established first. Then I'll sort out the background. Behind the main rock there's another impulse buy (Limnophila hippuridoides) but despite that I think it's the healthiest-looking so far.

Cheers again,

P
 
Hi,

Here's some more photos.
9291861634_1d27650810_c.jpg

I've re-added the floating rock to the back right. It would be perfect for an Oliver Knott-Avatar-style scape! It sinks more now and there's a fishing weight sat on top to keep it down properly.

9291847490_32bc4b0137_c.jpg

The HC is spreading out a bit. At the moment, I just want the pieces to join up and keep the foreground as sand. I'm really disappointed that the Staurogyne to the left of the rock is growing much slower than the Alternanthera to the right. It isn't really rooting yet and I know from previous experience that this plant should have massive deep roots. It also seems that snails are eating it now. I've upped the CO2 and put the Koralia on 24/7 so we'll see if this helps. Also there are 8 Amano shrimp in here now. No jumpers yet!


I'm very much a beginner when it comes to photos!
9289066605_db21a4195c_c.jpg
Cheers,

P
 
Plant List

Background
Ranunculus inundatus 1
Limnophila hippuridoides 1
Myriophyllum matogrossense 1
Heteranthera zosterifolia 1
Bacopa caroliniana 1
Rotala macrandra 1 (in-vitro)

Middle
Staurogyne repens 1 (in-vitro)
Alternathera reineckii ‘Mini’ 1 (in-vitro)
Ammania sp. ‘Bonsai’ 1 (in-vitro)

Foreground
Hemianthus callitrichoides 3
Eleocharis sp. ‘Mini' 1 (in-vitro)
 
Hi,

Here's a photo after 4 weeks. The filter and pump are off so when they are running normally the stems are angled much more to the left.
9445533542_75245c1962_c.jpg

Most of the plants have been growing well, the Staurogyne is much better.
I took out the Heteranthera zosterifolia and put it in another tank. Because of the circular flow, it kept on being sucked up into the inlet. I might try replanting it another time.

The Rotala macandra was in a really bad state when I bought it. It was melted and yellow and the bottom with a little healthy-looking material at the tips. I planted it in pretty random places where it wouldn't get too blasted by the flow. Luckily it seems to have survived the transition and now there are quite a few healthy stems which I can re-plant closer together.

It should be quite obvious from the photo that the HC is not doing very well. As always seems to happen to me, the HC was growing fine only for the first 2 weeks (when I was doing daily water changes). The pieces were joining together in a carpet and felt soft and 'cushiony'. Then it started to go yellow and though there is new green growth, the leaves are tiny. At the moment it feels 'wiry' to the touch. There are still lots of dead or dying old leaves.

To help the HC, I've increased the CO2 so that the bubble rate is pretty much uncountable (the Amano shrimps don't seem bothered and there's lots of surface movement). As I'm using an Up in-line atomiser I can see the CO2 mist and it does reach the HC at the substrate level. By lights on the drop checker is lime green and it's yellow by the end and every plant including the HC, is pearling. I've also moved the pump so it blasts the HC as much as possible but doesn't blow away the sand. I hope this might help the HC turn around and get healthy again. Any tips/reassurance would be greatly appreciated!


The PAR measured with a Seneye is about 50 where the HC is growing and I'm dosing EI macro and micro ferts on alternate days. I do a weekly water change of 50%.

In about a week I'm going to finally add some fish. I might need to throttle down the CO2 so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the HC will still somehow get better.
 
Hi mate, love the unzan stone, IMO it's worth holding of on livestock until you get the co2 delivery right, needs to be yellow at lights on and fading to lime green at lights out whether you adjust the timing of co2 on/ off or the injection rate. Good luck with the hc it can be a bugger of a plant. Maybe worth upping the water changes to 2 or 3 times weekly until hc takes a good hold.
 
Thanks very much tim! I'm hopeful that I can turn this HC around.

I've changed the timer this evening so the CO2 is on even earlier (over 3 hours before the lights are fully on).

I hear what you're saying about water changes and I'll try to fit in a couple more this week.

I'm not sure why HC would 'need' more water changes though. There is no detectable Ammonia (well 0.001 PPM according to the Seneye), but even if there was a little bit, wouldn't the plants use it for nutrition?

As for Nitrite, I only have a test kit to measure this. However, it was also undetectable (Sera test strip).

Cheers,

P
 
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Thanks very much tim! I'm hopeful that I can turn this HC around.

I've changed the timer this evening so the CO2 is on even earlier (over 3 hours before the lights are fully on).

I hear what you're saying about water changes and I'll try to fit in a couple more this week.

I'm not sure why HC would 'need' more water changes though. There is no detectable Ammonia (well 0.001 PPM according to the Seneye), but even if there was a little bit, wouldn't the plants use it for nutrition?

As for Nitrite, I only have a test kit to measure this. However, it was also undetectable (Sera test strip).

Cheers,

P
Hi mate, I don't think hc needs more water changes as such think its more to do with the added co2 from water change that helps over come any shortfalls from our injection methods/ timings , co2 delivery has been the most difficult part of the hobby for me so far :)
 
So about time for an update! I would add some photos but flickr seems to be down at the minute.

I now have some fish and more shrimps and I'm still failing to grow HC. They other plants are mostly OK health-wise.

I think I have got the CO2 level quite high, somehow without troubling the fish and shrimp. Using an UP in-line atomiser and a Koralia circulation pump, as far as I can see the micro bubbles get everywhere, even at the level of the substrate.

Just to double-check the drop checker, I bought a Voltcraft pH meter and spent yesterday measuring it hourly.

The pH at midday just before the CO2 comes on is 6.90.
13:00 = 6.44
14:00 = 6.21 (the lights start to ramp up)
15:00 = 6.08 (the lights are on full from 15:00 to 21:00)
16:00 = 6.01
17:00 = 5.95
18:00 = 5.95 (the CO2 goes off)
23:00 = 6.26

So the pH change is from 6.90 to 5.95.

It seems quite low but the KH is about 3. To measure the KH I used a cheapo multi-test strip so I will definitely get a dedicated test so I can get a more accurate measurement.

According to the various pH / KH charts I've looked at, the CO2 could be as high as 80+PPM!

I have inert rock hardscape and a sand substrate so not much else should be affecting the KH apart from the weekly water change.

Thanks for looking!


P
 
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