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Aurora Aquatica
- Thread starter Wisey
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Wisey
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Theoretically, 350 litres per hour, so better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Pretty cheap too, plus it gets rid of the surface film and saves me skimming that off myself. The only downside that I see is that it is not exactly the most attractive thing to stick in the tank, but it's better than dead plants. I'll report back as soon as I get it set up.
Hi Wisey, good looking tank. Sorry to hear about your Co2 problems.
I had similar issues to yours. I am no expert by any means but here's a couple of observations of mine:
- ditch the hang on DC. I had one and always showed yellow whilst other lower down DC showed dark green. The design doesn't allow an accurate reading as the opening is narrow. besides the top water in the tank has more gas exchange going on.
- place your other DC about 2 inches above substrate, put it in a place in a a tank you think is less likely to get Co2 flow. Leave it there for time being.
- your tank is small and not too many plants at the moment, filter is strong - so flow is probably not your issue right now.
- as Moroland said you don't have livestock so I would stick your gas on 24/7, stick it on say 2bs per sec to begin with and leave it for a day see where you are. Adjust and repeat.
- once you have that drop checker at the correct colour all day you can look to reintroduce the timer and adjust the timer not the bubbles. At the moment you're chasing the colour and yo yoing all over the place.
Like I said had the same issues. Haven't got to the stage where I put the timer back in but running 24/7 co2 (with livestock) has helped me find stable gas levels.
Hope that helps
CD
I had similar issues to yours. I am no expert by any means but here's a couple of observations of mine:
- ditch the hang on DC. I had one and always showed yellow whilst other lower down DC showed dark green. The design doesn't allow an accurate reading as the opening is narrow. besides the top water in the tank has more gas exchange going on.
- place your other DC about 2 inches above substrate, put it in a place in a a tank you think is less likely to get Co2 flow. Leave it there for time being.
- your tank is small and not too many plants at the moment, filter is strong - so flow is probably not your issue right now.
- as Moroland said you don't have livestock so I would stick your gas on 24/7, stick it on say 2bs per sec to begin with and leave it for a day see where you are. Adjust and repeat.
- once you have that drop checker at the correct colour all day you can look to reintroduce the timer and adjust the timer not the bubbles. At the moment you're chasing the colour and yo yoing all over the place.
Like I said had the same issues. Haven't got to the stage where I put the timer back in but running 24/7 co2 (with livestock) has helped me find stable gas levels.
Hope that helps
CD
Wisey
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Thanks, I think I will stick the CO2 on 24/7 when I get home. I'm expecting both DC's to be yellow when I get home tonight as I really cranked up the CO2. Would be much better to have it stable!
Wisey
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Wisey
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Ok, so I have come home and removed the upper drop checker and relocated the lower one so it is a couple of inches above the substrate at the back behind the wood, instead of one inch above the substrate. The DC I have kept is currently green and that is with a really fast stream of CO2 bubbles going through the drop checker. I have removed the timer on the CO2 so it will now run 24 hours a day.
The stems that I replanted yesterday seem to have started melting, so I suspect I am going to loose all of those by tomorrow unless they make a miraculous recovery now the CO2 is on non stop. Some of the Alternanthera that I replanted yesterday is also looking like it may be starting to melt, but only a few plantlets and hopefully that may also recover now. I do have a small number of the limnophila hippuridoides stems in my propagator, so if I can get the CO2 sorted, I can move those over to the aquarium to fill in the gaps.
I don't think the skimmer will be low enough in the water to direct the flow where I would like it behind the wood, so I may need to see if there is a way I can put something on the outlet to direct the flow.
The stems that I replanted yesterday seem to have started melting, so I suspect I am going to loose all of those by tomorrow unless they make a miraculous recovery now the CO2 is on non stop. Some of the Alternanthera that I replanted yesterday is also looking like it may be starting to melt, but only a few plantlets and hopefully that may also recover now. I do have a small number of the limnophila hippuridoides stems in my propagator, so if I can get the CO2 sorted, I can move those over to the aquarium to fill in the gaps.
I don't think the skimmer will be low enough in the water to direct the flow where I would like it behind the wood, so I may need to see if there is a way I can put something on the outlet to direct the flow.
Wisey
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I'm considering ordering another plant. With my stems melting out the back, my concern is that I am not going to have anything growing up to shadow my Anubias. The Anubias is such a nice plant right now, would hate to ruin it, but it is right under the light with no shade at all. Do you think it would be sensible to put in a fast growing background plant behind it which will give it some shade? Maybe some sort of Hygrophila as they seem to be listed as easy and have a fast growth rate? Any suggestions appreciated.
Wisey
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The group of Ranunculous that was behind the wood must have realised I had plans to replace it with a fast growing stem, so when I woke up this morning, that plant had made a bid for freedom and was floating around the surface! I split it in to two pieces and replanted a piece with each of my two other groups, leaving that space free for a fast growing stem to go in and shade my Anubias. Would still appreciate suggestions on the Hygrophila if anyone has any please?
Tonight I have installed the skimmer and gone through a few placements before settling on one for now. Initially I put it on the side glass at the back right corner and turned it up to max, but because the unit is so small, the outlet was higher than was really any use for getting water down behind the bogwood. I therefore switched it to the back glass and had it working in the same direction as my spraybar to boost flow on the right hand side, in theory hoping that it would push more water back along the substrate at the right hand side which would ultimately go behind the bogwood. This didn't work as the only place I could put it due to the spray bar meant that the outflow just hit the glass inlet pipe and flow was diverted. I therefore conceded that for it to be any use getting more flow behind the wood it was going to have to go on the left hand side of the tank. I'm not overly happy with this as that is the side you see when you enter the room, but it's doing a job, so I will go with it for now. I also added about an inch and a half of 12\16 hose on to the outlet, pushing it on more at the bottom than the top, so it angles the flow downwards towards my stems. Set to max it seems to push water about half way across the tank and then the flow seems to merge with the water from the circular motion of the spraybar and go upwards. It's better than nothing at getting some flow behind the wood, I saw a piece of plant that I had trimmed get pushed down behind the wood, slow down, but ultimately pass right behind the wood, probably being sucked by the inlet as well at the far side. When it reached the right hand side it hit the flow coming the other way and went back behind the wood. Flow should therefore be a bit better than before, the DC down there looks like being yellow this evening, although hard to accurately read with the tannins in the water.
As for skimming capabilities it is very good, it cleared the film from my tank in about 10 minutes! If you just wanted it for skimming alone you could run it on a timer for fairly short periods I guess. It does seem to create some bubbles, but I think that most of these are from CO2 bubbles that get sucked in from the surface and the pushed out in to the tank again, so it may well be helping with CO2 distribution, it should certainly be taking CO2 rich water from the surface and pushing it down in to the tank, but could also be adding some oxygen from the surface I suppose.
It seems I was hasty yesterday in thinking all my stems were done for. Although I have removed a couple today, the remaining ones although showing some melted leaves have all put out new growth today, so fingers crossed what is left is going to bounce back. The stems I have in the propagator have all got fresh growth on too, so will be transferring some more of those in to the tank at the weekend.
I don't have much confidence with the Monte Carlo, again it has put out new growth at the end of the plant, but the bottom of it is just melting. I'll see how that pans out over the next few days.
Tonight I have installed the skimmer and gone through a few placements before settling on one for now. Initially I put it on the side glass at the back right corner and turned it up to max, but because the unit is so small, the outlet was higher than was really any use for getting water down behind the bogwood. I therefore switched it to the back glass and had it working in the same direction as my spraybar to boost flow on the right hand side, in theory hoping that it would push more water back along the substrate at the right hand side which would ultimately go behind the bogwood. This didn't work as the only place I could put it due to the spray bar meant that the outflow just hit the glass inlet pipe and flow was diverted. I therefore conceded that for it to be any use getting more flow behind the wood it was going to have to go on the left hand side of the tank. I'm not overly happy with this as that is the side you see when you enter the room, but it's doing a job, so I will go with it for now. I also added about an inch and a half of 12\16 hose on to the outlet, pushing it on more at the bottom than the top, so it angles the flow downwards towards my stems. Set to max it seems to push water about half way across the tank and then the flow seems to merge with the water from the circular motion of the spraybar and go upwards. It's better than nothing at getting some flow behind the wood, I saw a piece of plant that I had trimmed get pushed down behind the wood, slow down, but ultimately pass right behind the wood, probably being sucked by the inlet as well at the far side. When it reached the right hand side it hit the flow coming the other way and went back behind the wood. Flow should therefore be a bit better than before, the DC down there looks like being yellow this evening, although hard to accurately read with the tannins in the water.
As for skimming capabilities it is very good, it cleared the film from my tank in about 10 minutes! If you just wanted it for skimming alone you could run it on a timer for fairly short periods I guess. It does seem to create some bubbles, but I think that most of these are from CO2 bubbles that get sucked in from the surface and the pushed out in to the tank again, so it may well be helping with CO2 distribution, it should certainly be taking CO2 rich water from the surface and pushing it down in to the tank, but could also be adding some oxygen from the surface I suppose.
It seems I was hasty yesterday in thinking all my stems were done for. Although I have removed a couple today, the remaining ones although showing some melted leaves have all put out new growth today, so fingers crossed what is left is going to bounce back. The stems I have in the propagator have all got fresh growth on too, so will be transferring some more of those in to the tank at the weekend.
I don't have much confidence with the Monte Carlo, again it has put out new growth at the end of the plant, but the bottom of it is just melting. I'll see how that pans out over the next few days.
Wisey
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I decided to take advantage of CO2 Arts 10% off and get myself some more plants. I ordered a couple of Hygrophila Siamensis so I can plant these in the background behind the Anubias to hopefully in time give it some shade. I still hope to get the limnophila hippuridoides to fill in the rest of the background behind the wood where the Microsorum is, with the Echinodorus Reni eventually filling in the right hand side and the shorter growing crypts at the left hand side where I have a view in to the tank from the side when entering the room. I may have to move one of the crypts that is currently in there to plant the Hygrophila. It was probably a mistake to buy the tissue culture crypts, I really only need one or maybe two plants, so could have just bought more established crypts for that corner. I have 5 plants in the aquarium at the moment which is too many really, then another 4 in the propagator which are looking a little sad, but still alive almost two weeks on.
I'm pretty sure that I am pissing in the wind with the Monte Carlo, it's just not worth it at this time, so also ordered myself an in-vitro pot of staurogyne repens (thinking now I should have ordered two, but will see how many there are). My plan is to remove the last melting bits of MC, possibly relocate the small group of Ranunculous on the left hand side, then have the Staurogyne Repens go in on that side, in time trimming to form a gradient from almost a carpet height at the front of the tank, gradually getting taller as you move back to make a nice gradient in to the crypt in the back corner.
Hopefully these will all arrive tomorrow, so I am going to hold fire on the water change I was planning for tonight, then tomorrow night, drain off probably 70%, remove the MC, move around the things that need to move, plant the new ones and fill up with fresh water.
I'm pretty sure that I am pissing in the wind with the Monte Carlo, it's just not worth it at this time, so also ordered myself an in-vitro pot of staurogyne repens (thinking now I should have ordered two, but will see how many there are). My plan is to remove the last melting bits of MC, possibly relocate the small group of Ranunculous on the left hand side, then have the Staurogyne Repens go in on that side, in time trimming to form a gradient from almost a carpet height at the front of the tank, gradually getting taller as you move back to make a nice gradient in to the crypt in the back corner.
Hopefully these will all arrive tomorrow, so I am going to hold fire on the water change I was planning for tonight, then tomorrow night, drain off probably 70%, remove the MC, move around the things that need to move, plant the new ones and fill up with fresh water.
Sorry to hear about your melt issues.
I agree that running CO2 24/7 is a good choice, especially if there's significant ambient light in the room.
If there's noticeable growth on the MC, I'd just leave it & interplant the S. repens (you can just "hover" the vac tube to remove disintegrated leaf melt at water changes)
Sometimes shipping can affect the in vitro pots (& "regular" plants as well)
I agree that running CO2 24/7 is a good choice, especially if there's significant ambient light in the room.
If there's noticeable growth on the MC, I'd just leave it & interplant the S. repens (you can just "hover" the vac tube to remove disintegrated leaf melt at water changes)
Sometimes shipping can affect the in vitro pots (& "regular" plants as well)
Wisey
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The tank does not really get direct sunlight, but the room is quite bright in the afternoon (apart from today, seems that Autumn is already here in Aberdeen), so could well have been getting quite a lot of light before the CO2 came on. Apart from the MC, most things seem to be doing well since I went to running the CO2 24/7. If the only reason not to run it all the time is cost, then I am happy to stick with running it all the time, I have 3 spare 2Kg FE's now at £5 each and when my neighbour saw me come home with them, he asked why and after I explained he said they had just replaced all their fire extinguishers at work and still had the old ones. They were going to use them for training, but said he could put some aside for me, so looks like I might get some free CO2 too!
If I am running 24/7, do I need to set up an air pump to run overnight? I have a brand new one sat in a box in case I needed it, so no problem to set it up, although the DC is still only green just above substrate level first thing in the morning, so it does not seem to be building up to dangerous levels. I'm guessing it might be worth setting it up before any fauna go in though?
If there is any salvageable MC I will leave it in a small group at the front and see how it goes, but got my plants today and will get the S. Repens in this evening along with my hygrophila siamensis. I have two pots which looks like having 3 very tall stems in each, so hopefully I can a little shade on my Anubias straight away.
I'll try to get pics once everything is sorted this evening.
Alexander Belchenko
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I prefer to run aeration over night. That has its benefits for ecosystem and filtration.
5678
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If running co2 24/7 for stable levels, does aerating over night not negate this and fluctuate levels again?
Wisey
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That's an interesting question...
I guess that though it fluctuates, it doesn't fluctuate as much as just pumping in CO2 for a few hours. Plants will produce CO2 at night so off gassing some maybe keeps it stable rather than gassing your fish at night? Hopefully someone who knows what they are taking about can chip in, I'm just guessing
I guess that though it fluctuates, it doesn't fluctuate as much as just pumping in CO2 for a few hours. Plants will produce CO2 at night so off gassing some maybe keeps it stable rather than gassing your fish at night? Hopefully someone who knows what they are taking about can chip in, I'm just guessing
Wisey
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Ok, so some pics after tonight's planting and moving/replanting job. Just phone pics for now, sorry.
First up, most of the Ranunculous has now been located where the rest was doing so well at the front.
What's left alive of an £8.99 XL cap of Monte Carlo has been left at the front just in case it hangs on in there.
The new hygrophila has gone in behind the wood and Anubias. I know that it would look better with the taller stems at the back and shorter at the front, will rearrange in time, I just wanted some instant shade for the Anubias. You can also see I put a few bits of Ranunculous behind the small foreground bogwood, hoping that peeps over the top in time.
First up, most of the Ranunculous has now been located where the rest was doing so well at the front.
What's left alive of an £8.99 XL cap of Monte Carlo has been left at the front just in case it hangs on in there.
The new hygrophila has gone in behind the wood and Anubias. I know that it would look better with the taller stems at the back and shorter at the front, will rearrange in time, I just wanted some instant shade for the Anubias. You can also see I put a few bits of Ranunculous behind the small foreground bogwood, hoping that peeps over the top in time.
Wisey
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Side shot of the new stems.
The few surviving limnophila stems that had new submersed growth were joined by some that I had in the propagator. Fingers crossed now the CO2 is stable that these survive. New leaf on the Echinodorus has tripled in size in three days which is encouraging.
The new S. Repens now goes up the left to the Crypts at the back, some of which were moved to get the new stems in. May have to thin the crypts as they fill in.
The few surviving limnophila stems that had new submersed growth were joined by some that I had in the propagator. Fingers crossed now the CO2 is stable that these survive. New leaf on the Echinodorus has tripled in size in three days which is encouraging.
The new S. Repens now goes up the left to the Crypts at the back, some of which were moved to get the new stems in. May have to thin the crypts as they fill in.
