160 lt from Malta

[id_darren]

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This is day 2 ,my first attempt for a planted tank. After months of reading very interesting tutorials on this site , especially on Akadama and Co2 injection this is what I came up with.
I started with 6 hrs co2 injection with the standatd 30 bpm , and 6.5 hrs lights with 2 hrs delay.
Akadama substrate and daily dosing of macro and micro nutrients and 2 arcadia stretch Led.

I sacrificed aesthetics with flow , and do not like the clogging of the ceramic discs . I decided to go with a small variable water pump and co2 is mixed nicely with the vortex created in the green
tube.
This is day 3 and my main concern right now is a faulty Arcadia stretch led , which I bought from the UK and shipped it with a third party Maltese courier , I think that I am covered by warranty but I have to pay for the expensive shipping charges. I am afraid that the Ludwigia Glandulosa will suffer. And the HC was already showing signs of deterioration so I will probably loose that too.

I am surprised with the amount of time I keep staring at the plants , such a pleasure to watch and relax.

 

[liam11712]

I dont know if its just me but the image isnt loading

 

[id_darren]

No surprise , I am trying to figure out how to properly upload from flickr. I think I forgot , thank you.

 

[liam11712]

Lol no problem look forward to seeing it

 

[id_darren]

It is uploading but in the top left corner of my screen (above the ukaps logo ! )

 

[liam11712]

I use tapatalk on my mobile and just upload on there.

Would whoever you got the led off not also pay for the courier again?

 

[Edvet]

6 hrs co2 injection with the standatd 30 bpm , and 6.5 hrs lights with 2 hrs delay.

30 BPM could be terribly off. Best way to see if you get plenty CO2 is a ph profile (take a reading each hour) in correlation with your GH value.

 

[id_darren]

I will do the ph readings , but I have to find a free day.

If I get a drop of 1 ph unit , I should be on the right track , right ?

Sent from my RM-914_eu_euro1_327 using Tapatalk

 

[Andy Thurston]

I don't know the kh or gh in my tanks other than its fairly soft and i lower ph by 1.4. I just lower my ph as much as possible without stressing fish
A 1 ph drop will give about 30ppm co2 in 4 dkh water, which is a good starting point but if your water is harder then you wont need as big a drop and if your water is softer then you will need a bigger drop to achieve 30ppm. There are plenty co2/kh/ph tables on the net to help you.

Just to give you an idea of what your looking for heres a copy of my current ph profile with drop checker colour. Note the delay in drop checker colour

1200 ph 7.3 blue
1300 Co2 on ph 7.3 blue
1800 Lights on ph 5.9 blue/green
1900 ph 5.9 green
2000 ph 5.9 lime green
2100 co2 off ph 5.9 lime green
2200 ph 6.2 lime green
2300 ph 6.4 lime green
2330 lights off ph 6.5 green
0000 ph 6.7 green
0030 ph 6.8 green
0600 ph 7.4 blue

 

[Martin in Holland]

I will do the ph readings , but I have to find a free day.

If I get a drop of 1 ph unit , I should be on the right track , right ?

Sent from my RM-914_eu_euro1_327 using Tapatalk

No...if you have a KH of only 1 (which I had) your pH should drop way more than just one.....anyway if your KH is lower than 4, it is almost not possible to get a good pH reading.