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Island Shore - 60 x 30 x 45 Rock, grass and hopefully class!

Hi Paks,

All tanks will require ferts to some degree and I like the EI method but I am not dosing for a tank full of fast growing stem plants. I believe the issues I'm having revolve around balancing the needs of a relatively low biomass of plants within the high light intensity environment provided by the Aquasky Led. things are improving greatly now that I am getting a better grip on my CO2 provision. I'm using a fire extinguisher cylinder with a Dennerle 2 stage regulator. I got the cylinder from a local company that fits and maintains fire fighting systems on ships etc. they also re-charge it as needed.
 
Things are improving on the algae bloom front but I'm not fully out of it yet. I am enjoying myself learning more and sharpening my game so to speak. I've read a lot from Tom Barr this week regarding algae, fertilisers and CO2 that makes total sense to me.

I have a few plans for some technical changes in the week ahead but more about that next week. This week I added some Riccia by parceling it up in some net weighed down with shot as a way to get it to fill a crevice in the central stone and then lower down between the stones I'm hoping that the hair grass with grow through and amongst it in a natural manner. It's made some progress between Wednesday and today but just how satisfactorily it grows in remains to be seen.

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Thank you for your response Chris. The reason im asking for co2 tank is because the CO2 Set here in our country is damn very expensive with small volume too :(
 
Well now this past week has seen the introduction of some light reduction as this seemed the best way to favour the plants over the algae. I found some great little inline dimmers that hook straight into the existing plug and sockets on the Aquasky units as described here http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/led-dimmer-solution.35341/

So now the first light unit comes on at 2pm at about ⅔ power and then the second unit comes on for the final couple of hours between 6 and 8 at a similar level to give the riccia particularly a boost. It seems to be working.

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I've got the CO2 going well now with a PH at 6.45 come lights on and dropping to 6.3 or a little lower by lights out which should guarantee well over 30ppm with my KH 5 water. Previously I was targeting PH 6.7 which was clearly not enough. I've discarded my edge drop checker as it was lagging so many hours behind what was actually going on in the tank that it was pretty much useless.

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Next task is further improving circulation. To get an idea of what things are running at now I measured the outflow from my filter into a bucket prior to rinsing it out today and in 1 minute it pumped 3 litres or 180ltr per hour which is a far cry from the 700ltr per hour that Eheim quote for an Experience 250T. Having rinsed and squeezed out the coarse foams in the lower basket and the rinsed the ADA Bio Rio in the upper basket I discarded the fine filter pad and measured the outflow again. The result was 4.7ltr/min or 288/hr which is a fair difference but still a bit low. Certainly the grasses aren't all swaying easily in the current in the way I'd envisioned in the beginning so next up will be an increase in pump power but that's for next week.
 
Getting back on track now...lots of growth and algae well into decline. Not sure about the Riccia caterpillars at all but it is a work in progress..

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I've been in the workshop again and created a secondary powered CO2 reactor/water polisher inspired in part by Foxfish's http://www.ukaps.org/forum/posts/377498/.

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I found a used Iwaki MD10-220 (As in 10 lpm and 220v) pump on eBay of the type used on the ADA Powerjet filters and have mounted it onto a water filter housing inline with my Ehiem 250T filter. An UP CO2 atomiser is connected between the two with the atomised CO2 water then being drawn in down a central tube to the bottom of the water filter housing and then flowing up through and around 75 18mm bioballs. The idea being that a good percentage of the CO2 bubbles are being slowed or trapped on their journey and so reducing the fine mist in the tank and whilst the bio balls give the filter return water an extra "polish" with minimal flow restriction. The Iwaki pump is industrial quality with a powerful 32w motor and manages a real 6.6ltr per min combined with the Eheim as measured by weighing a minutes worth of output into a bucket. I tried removing the impeller in the Eheim and running things on just the Iwaki but there was naturally some slowing in turnover so I settled on running the two in tandem.

The whole thing is totally over the top really and I'd probably have done almost as well to simply add a stock Eheim Classic with bio balls or not to bother at all but where is the fun in that!

However the result is that the CO2 misting in the tank is dramatically reduced which is what I wanted. Crystal clear water rules!

Hopefully the grasses will grow in well now and I'll get nearer to my original vision for the scape. :happy:
 
Those riccia pods you have made and dropped onto those two rocks to the left really look great! Nice work, I must ask, did the fishing weights effect the Ph levels of the water?
 
Hi Jack glad you like them..

I'm liking them more myself as they are growing in and no there was no change to PH and I like to think there are plenty enough water changes to be sure lead poisoning isn't an issue though I'm not sure that the shot is actually lead but as the pack didn't say "lead free" that is my only concern. If you plan on doing something similar then I reckon lead free shot is a safer option.
 
Thanks yes I think the Riccia is overpowering the stones and contrasting too much with the hair grass as seen in the last photo particularly as there is still so little plant growth in the background. I now have Juncus repens added behind and I'm liking the look of it with the riccia much more. I'll be posting a new photo update in the next few days...
 
Happy New Year!

Here are a couple of photos. New addition is an outflow with surface skimmer combined from Co2 Art...works a real treat though it is a bit more intrusive than the previous Cal Aqua model. Maybe if everything is absolutely perfect then you don't get surface films but this ain't perfect yet and I strongly suspect that my TNC trace solution is a film builder because there is a particularly marked increase in film if I add a heavy dose. So don't overdose! Ha that's a work in progress...

In the meantime I have sparkly clear surface water with a nice mild ripple and good gas exchange..

Second change has been to ditch the UP Atomiser as I really didn't like the bubbles even if they were tiny, it wasn't so much the 7up look but rather the mousse of a fine champagne!

I've now reinstalled the T piece I was using to bubble CO2 directly into the filter at the beginning of this project but instead set it inline between the main filter and the secondary reactor/filter. I've modified the reactor a little by fitting a central chamber (re-purposed gravel cleaner and CO2 ladder reactor parts) full of bio balls so that the inflow with CO2 bubbles is sent down through the bio balls. Two small holes drilled in the top of this allows gas lock build ups to release automatically but still ensures that the CO2 gets trapped and swirled around the bio balls. This is working really well and I again have lovely clear water and excellent CO2 absorption from around 3 bubbles a second. A glass of tank water showed a PH of 7.5 after standing for a day. I'm getting 6.3 for lights on now and watching that closely, plants seem very happy and algae is staying in check though by no means completely gone yet. I added Juncus Repens on Xmas eve and this is settling in well. The Riccia was added primarily to increase biomass to help with my algae issues and I'm still not convinced about it as things stand, though it does look far better in the flesh than these photos suggest. Oh and I double checked my shot weights and they are definitely lead free...

Till next time....

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Update time...

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So the algae is receding whilst the plant growth is mostly improving as evident by the lush carpet of MC that is growing a bit out of control. The Juncus Repens I added on Xmas eve however has not settled in very well after all. There is new growth but the original leaves have melted and been ravaged by algae and tonight I trimmed it right back to almost to the base which has rooted well so it may recover. The dwarf hair grass is throwing out a lot of algae free new growth but the old growth is still a bit rank and a sod to trim out without also catching the new growth but these things take time.. The riccia is a pretty rampant as well..

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What has changed? Well CO2 and distribution for sure and less light. I have one bank of LED on about ⅔ rd power for 6 hours (2-8pm) with the second bank coming on at nearly full from 5:15-7:00pm at which point everything pearls like crazy. I've made an acrylic spray bar using tube and a silicone tube bender bought from eBay (Google and Youtube for how to info) and it is working very well directing flow down the front of the tank onto the MC carpet. Initially this meant very little circulation behind the stones so I added a couple of more holes to the bottom of the tube to direct flow behind the stones and now I think I'm dead spot free. Holes are 3cm apart and 3mm diameter, 15 in all.
The surface skimming output is superb and I now have zero surface film and more aeration which does mean I have to pump in a bit more CO2 on the one hand but it also means the CO2 rises (PH lowers) and then levels out whereas before the PH would tend to get lower and lower as the CO2 level rose. Over night the CO2 off gasses with plenty of O2 being supplied to feed the filter bacteria.

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Fertiliser wise I was adding less than full EI amounts because I'd read so much about the nutrient supply from Aquasoil Amazonia that I figured there was no way I needed a huge supply of ferts but as I upped the dosage things firstly improved but then went back the other way to some extent and I was still getting some slime algae on the Juncus particularly which still suggests low KNo3 so I've backed off on the EI solution a little and am adding a bit more KNo3 because something tells me I really don't need so much MgSO4 but that is only a hunch and not scientific at all.

A bit of a redesign is in progress and I've added some new plants today but more on that another time...
 
I've just got through reading this journal and have to say great comeback in the ever going battle against algae. I also have trouble working out the correct dosage for EI ferts because not all of my plants are fast growing stems. That aside, these gorgeous tetra caught my eye.

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I'm currently trying to decide between flame, glowlight, and serpae tetras and I'm wondering what these are like with bee\cherry sized adult shrimp?
 
Hi, thanks for reading and your positive comments. Yes ferts and balance seems as much art as science

I'm no expert on tetra and shrimp but what I can say is that these phantoms are very enjoyable to watch and pay no attention to the shrimp. When startled they go almost see through but then at most other times they're nearly black and appear particularly dark in the evenings. They spend most of the time shadowing each other around whilst performing entertaining kind of sparring matches. They shoal pretty well unless you point a camera at them. I really like them ..serpae were on my list as well but my local shop were out of stock at the time so phantoms won the day.
 
Hi again,

Well the algae drama is about over but the tank has become a bit of a mish-mash now with the Monte Carlo particularly overgrown, it's exhausting stuff that really needs trimming daily but even then it gets ahead of itself.

Some new additions are settling in well enough but the whole thing looks decidedly ragged to my eye..

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Way back in October it was looking far more as I'd originally planned....

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So I'm considering....options.

1. Break it down and full re-scape.... Not so keen on that...too much work and upheaval.
2. Major re-planting using the existing stone hardscape.... Tempting but again that's a lot of work..or is it really..
3. Gradually adapt what's there already... That was always my plan until earlier tonight when I got to thinking - Ugh, I'm bored with this!

Any suggestions?
 

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