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Lava rocks, 20 liters
- Thread starter parotet
- Start date
parotet
Member
faizal
Member
Jordi ...the tank is looking amazing. The plants are looking so healthy too. What do you mean by lean fert dosing? And how do you measure how much you need to dose in this regime?
parotet
Member
Thank you Faizal... I am just dosing K (about 20 ppm weekly) and micros (about 0.1 ppm Fe and other things). However, the whole substrate is Amazonia, thus nitrates and phosphates are being released. But I am not adding macros. For the moment it seems to work and plants are showing no signs of deficiencies, even with what I guess is medium-high light. My Co2 has been increased to 1.5 bps more or less, to make sure the CO2 demand is met as the biomass has doubled.
This tank is very resilient. I am just back from a 4-days trip and during that period there has been no dosing, no night aireation by raising the lily pipes... and it looked perfect
Jordi
Alexander Belchenko
Member
Jordi, there are many witnesses that active soil substrate as Amazonia, may provide nitrates to the water, but often bind phosphates effectively reducing their level down to zero. Just a thing you might want to keep your eye on it.
parotet
Member
Yep, but no one will ever know if this is happening in my tank, therefore I just watch the plants. For the moment it seems that phosphates (or other nutrients) are not a problem as I have steady and healthy growth. I won't be adding anything until I see any sign. Honestly I am quite happy with the result
Jordi
This might just be the reason people like it so much. Maybe phosphates in water dont cause algae if co2 is perfect. But many of us dont have perfect co2 and no P in the water column might be best. Just rambling around sorry.
Alexander Belchenko
Member
Thank you for your opinions.
parotet
Member
2 months! Sorry, too lazy to take a picture without all the equipment... maybe next time
The Rotala in the background is starting to show its color but needs another good trim to have a better structure.
Jordi
The Rotala in the background is starting to show its color but needs another good trim to have a better structure.
Jordi
Last edited:
parotet
Member
Some more pics with the phone...
Jordi
Jordi
parotet
Member
Hi all
3 months without updating the journal... and TBH it is not the best moment for doing so. Here's a picture after a post-vacation emergency trimming and a little sad story.
I have been 10 days out and my sister-in-law was responsible for the "tank maintenance", which was basically coming home every 4 days for topping off the tank and adding some ferts (K and micros). Instructions were very clear (at least IMO and according to most people)... but sadly not for her. I got a bit nervous when I received a message on my phone saying "is there more orange liquid anywhere?". She meant my bulk solution of micros... you know, it is not a very nice feeling when someone does not have enough with a 350 ml bulk solution in a 20ish liter tank
Then I knew that she had topped off the tank... with my ferts solutions! (K and micros). After my calculations, the tank had for 24 hours 150x the micro and K levels... Then she did two minor water changes (probably 2 liters each time). Water temperature at 30ºC did not help. As a result when I came home yesterday all my Rotala red in the background which has grown very nice and compact (for the first time in my life!!!!) melted and what is worse, all my shrimps (+30) died. There is a bit of BBA here and there, but nothing serious.
Surprisingly Monte Carlo, H. pinnatifida and some mosses suffered, but are still doing well.
Not a big disaster, as the tank will recover from this but a bit sad with my red background and especially with all my shrimp colony... next summer I will record a video instructions for maintenance
Jordi
3 months without updating the journal... and TBH it is not the best moment for doing so. Here's a picture after a post-vacation emergency trimming and a little sad story.
I have been 10 days out and my sister-in-law was responsible for the "tank maintenance", which was basically coming home every 4 days for topping off the tank and adding some ferts (K and micros). Instructions were very clear (at least IMO and according to most people)... but sadly not for her. I got a bit nervous when I received a message on my phone saying "is there more orange liquid anywhere?". She meant my bulk solution of micros... you know, it is not a very nice feeling when someone does not have enough with a 350 ml bulk solution in a 20ish liter tank
Then I knew that she had topped off the tank... with my ferts solutions! (K and micros). After my calculations, the tank had for 24 hours 150x the micro and K levels... Then she did two minor water changes (probably 2 liters each time). Water temperature at 30ºC did not help. As a result when I came home yesterday all my Rotala red in the background which has grown very nice and compact (for the first time in my life!!!!) melted and what is worse, all my shrimps (+30) died. There is a bit of BBA here and there, but nothing serious.
Surprisingly Monte Carlo, H. pinnatifida and some mosses suffered, but are still doing well.
Not a big disaster, as the tank will recover from this but a bit sad with my red background and especially with all my shrimp colony... next summer I will record a video instructions for maintenance
Jordi
Greenfinger2
Member
Hi Jordi, Ho No 
Why ho why cannot people understand simple Instructions ?? Sorry about the shrimp loss that's sad .
Scape is still looking good though and in a few week it will look fantastic again. Do you think the Rotala red will recover ??
Why ho why cannot people understand simple Instructions ?? Sorry about the shrimp loss that's sad . Scape is still looking good though and in a few week it will look fantastic again. Do you think the Rotala red will recover ??
parotet
Member
Thanks... Not sure if the Rotala will recover, as I trimmed all the stems to the ground and most of them were completely melted... Let's see if they have developed good roots and the can grow from nothingHi Jordi, Ho No
Scape is still looking good though and in a few week it will look fantastic again. Do you think the Rotala red will recover ??
Jordi
parotet
Member
Hi all
the new background with (now only) H. pinnatifida is recovering very well after the massacre, but there is no too much contrast between the greens from pinnatifida and the mosses that are now all over the tank. The layout still looks a bit flat. This is why I have decided to add in the background some stems of Rotala rotundifolia and M. micranthemoides. The initial idea is to plant evenly the stems among the pinnatifida in order to have a mixed stem background but I am not sure if it is going to be a pain for maintenance (as plants will grow at different rates).
Your thoughts please...
Jordi
the new background with (now only) H. pinnatifida is recovering very well after the massacre, but there is no too much contrast between the greens from pinnatifida and the mosses that are now all over the tank. The layout still looks a bit flat. This is why I have decided to add in the background some stems of Rotala rotundifolia and M. micranthemoides. The initial idea is to plant evenly the stems among the pinnatifida in order to have a mixed stem background but I am not sure if it is going to be a pain for maintenance (as plants will grow at different rates).
Your thoughts please...
Jordi
parotet
Member
Hi all
Lava rocks is definitely recovered from the "fert soup" in which it turned after the accident this summer. I have worked on the foreground, defining moss patches and extending pinnatifida to the front. I have also improved the background planting R. rotundifolia, R. rotundifolia indica and increasing the presence of R. macrandra. M. micranthemoides was also planted. It cannot be seen in the picture yet but I have also added it to the mid-ground. The idea is to have a little stem jungle.
The plants are doing very well and today they needed a first hard trimming:
Unfortunately the tank looks really ugly afterwards:
Hopefully in 2 weeks the background will have the color and density I want.
Forgot to mention that I have bought from China the ADA Aquasky knock-off version... nice piece of equipment and really makes a difference for growing stems. I did not expect it but it comes with dimmer.
Jordi
Lava rocks is definitely recovered from the "fert soup" in which it turned after the accident this summer. I have worked on the foreground, defining moss patches and extending pinnatifida to the front. I have also improved the background planting R. rotundifolia, R. rotundifolia indica and increasing the presence of R. macrandra. M. micranthemoides was also planted. It cannot be seen in the picture yet but I have also added it to the mid-ground. The idea is to have a little stem jungle.
The plants are doing very well and today they needed a first hard trimming:
Unfortunately the tank looks really ugly afterwards:
Hopefully in 2 weeks the background will have the color and density I want.
Forgot to mention that I have bought from China the ADA Aquasky knock-off version... nice piece of equipment and really makes a difference for growing stems. I did not expect it but it comes with dimmer.
Jordi
banthaman.jm
Member
Gutted for you, the tank was looking lovely, I'm sure you will get it back to the way you want.
Jim
Jim
parotet
Member
Hi all
Two month since the last update! Actually two months of crazy work and lots of travel, but I managed to find some time for basic tank husbandry.
This is how Lava Rocks looks now: no trace of lava rocks
Jordi
Two month since the last update! Actually two months of crazy work and lots of travel, but I managed to find some time for basic tank husbandry.
This is how Lava Rocks looks now: no trace of lava rocks
Jordi
