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Buce Drift - now 11 buce varieties strong

2 weeks in and things seem to be going OK, want this to be a warts and all so will document my good and maybe questionable decisions along the way...

I've got very soft water (1.6dGH according to water report) so I decided to add 2g of calcium sulphate at the last water change, something I didn't bother with in the last tank as shrimp seemed to be doing fine and breeding well. This has coincided with my frogbit now bouncing back and the yellowing stopped

Doing a pH profile today and tomorrow to fine tune co2, currently at 3bps with co2 on 2 hours before lights and lights at 15% for 6 hours, dosing full EI

Few small holes in pinna, beckettii struggling a bit, buces doing OK with a slight bit of yellowing on a couple of leaves

No algae in sight so far

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On my 3rd pH profile today and getting to grips with the Co2 uptake

1st day - filter flow 100% @ 3bps, drop to 6.2
2nd day - filter flow 80% @ 3bps, unsteady drop to 6.4
3rd day - filter flow 80% @ 4bps

Flow has been reduced a bit as it was a bit much for the fish, still good flow around the tank as its pretty open but that is obviously not helping CO2

The thing that's getting me is my control glass measurements, sample was taken the night before the first day and left to de-gass overnight, readings on the first day were 7.1 to 7.5, readings on the 2nd day much higher between 7.6 and 8.0.

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Just to add, surface drop checkers are consistently lime green even at night, substrate drop checker is just lime green early afternoon and green at night. No surface agitation at all, just an ever so slight ripple

Currently sitting around 3.5dKH

So going by the chart I should be aiming for a drop to 6.6pH but drop checker is still green at that, going to aim for a consistent drop to 6.3pH and keep an eye on the fish
 
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It's just the pH returning to its deprotonated state because the carbonic acid formed due to the presence of carbon dioxide is in equilibrium and this gas has been liberated overnight from the aqueous solution. This is the chemistry: http://ion.chem.usu.edu/~sbialkow/Classes/3650/Carbonate/Carbonic Acid.html. Although, in you tank, bear in mind that the plants should be respiring overnight, so the pH swing I predict would not be as great. It would be worth testing this if you were concerned.
 
It's just the pH returning to its deprotonated state because the carbonic acid formed due to the presence of carbon dioxide is in equilibrium and this gas has been liberated overnight from the aqueous solution. This is the chemistry: http://ion.chem.usu.edu/~sbialkow/Classes/3650/Carbonate/Carbonic Acid.html. Although, in you tank, bear in mind that the plants should be respiring overnight, so the pH swing I predict would not be as great. It would be worth testing this if you were concerned.

Thanks Simon but I'm more meaning the difference in the control glass, 1st days measurements were around 12 hours after sample was taken and after a lot of agitation to de-gass, 2nd days measurements were from the same glass water but 36 hours later, I would have thought 12 hours was enough to de-gass but obviously not
 
Today's pH profile, much happier with this. Changed CO2 to now come on at 9:30 and will check if it reaches 6.3ph by lights on at 12

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I understand Kalum. So in the absence of carbon dioxide, the control glass is returning a stable pH of around 8. It took a rather long time - which is great information to share. In your tank you have had success at getting the pH slightly higher overall value and it looks more stable overnight. Well done my friend.
 
Added my chihiros doctor a couple of days ago and it seems to have affected the pH drop by about 0.2pH (coincidence or not). Adjusted CO2 and running another profile today then will run tomorrow with it off to see the difference

Slight yellowing of frogbit in the past couple of days

Closed down my shrimp tank so replanted some of the C.beckettii on the left
 
Another water change today along with a filter clean and 2 100g bags of purigen added, eheim biomech removed and seachem matrix and some biohome media added instead (had excess from another tank)

Cheap pH pen has given up so might get a hanna one if I can find a good deal

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Looks exceptionally clean, testament to you.
Cheerio
Ady
 
Thanks Ady much appreciated, only 3 weeks in so early days yet

Standard poor Celestial Pearl Danio pics as they startle so easily when up close but will be out in the open if still

Pictures don't do them justice and the oranges are very bright including the bellies of a couple

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Really like the ADA sand, nice selection of buces. Only thing I would add is maybe some Vallisneria nana behind the wood, although maybe this isn't the look you're going for.
 
Really like the ADA sand, nice selection of buces. Only thing I would add is maybe some Vallisneria nana behind the wood, although maybe this isn't the look you're going for.

Thanks Alex, there is Cyperus Helferi planted behind the wood back left so very similar to what you're thinking, just a lot of growing to do until it shows itself but fish are enjoying it even at its low height so far

This was planned as a slow grower so plenty of time for that down the line
 
Managed to get my hands on 10 more CPD's to bring the number up to 15 in the tank now

Settling in really well and aren't shy in the slightest and are happily following the green neons everywhere out in the open, my existing 5 older CPD's have been shy so far in this tank but hopefully the numbers will bring them out

Can't wait to see them colour up and forgot how pale they are to start with

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Also upped the lighting slightly so 2 of the 5 hours are at 20%, with the remaining 3 hours still at just 15% with a 30min ramp down either side

Will up it very slowly over the next few weeks depending on how everything reacts. As long as I'm getting good healthy growth across the board I'm happy for this to be as low light as possible
 
Hi Lee
Celestial pearl danio,
Galaxy rasbora,
Danio margaritatus
Microrasbora sp Galaxy
All names of this fish.
They are small size fish so sould be ok with shrimps.
Regards Konsa
 
As Konsa mentioned they are fine with shrimp and don't pay attention to them for majority of the time, they might hunt the occasional shrimp baby but that's to be expected from any fish
 
Very impressed with purigen, since adding a couple of bags water is crystal clear

Fitted a frosted background but it's more white than transparent, will see what it's like during the day but more than likely will come back off tomorrow

LED sunrise/sunset light fitted, need to move up so it's brighter

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