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Aquanano 40 DSM shrimp pics

Ady34 said:
Hi Jon,
this issue could be due to the changes in carbon enrichment. Your spraybar adjustment to give greater surface movement will be creating increased gas exchange, and your drop checker corroborates this with a blue green rather than light green colouration for lights on....you most likely need to inject at a higher rate now to compensate and to give you the light green colour for lights on as this is when the plants need it most.
Cheerio,
Ady.
Click to expand...

Hi Ady, I was hoping to reduce co2 to be honest. I know you shouldn't read to much into bubble count but I'm at 2 bps at the moment. I was hoping to slowly reduce that to around 1 bps. With regard to the dc - what about the time delay? if it's green 2 hours after lights on would that not be the actual reading 2 hours earlier? Or does that only apply when you first fill the dc with new solution? fyi I switch the co2 on 2 hrs before the lights come on. Also dosing liquid carbon as a belt and braces approach.

Thanks for your help chaps
 
jon32 said:
Hi Ady, I was hoping to reduce co2 to be honest. I know you shouldn't read to much into bubble count but I'm at 2 bps at the moment. I was hoping to slowly reduce that to around 1 bps. With regard to the dc - what about the time delay? if it's green 2 hours after lights on would that not be the actual reading 2 hours earlier? Or does that only apply when you first fill the dc with new solution? fyi I switch the co2 on 2 hrs before the lights come on. Also dosing liquid carbon as a belt and braces approach.

Thanks for your help chaps
Click to expand...
well the dc is just a guide, as is the timing. the colour change is slow due to the slow rate at which the c02 has to interact with the aquarium water and then degas to react with the reagent in the dc...if you remove the dc from the tank and sit it on a shelf it certainly doesnt take that 2 hours to go blue again because the gas exchange is much faster without the water involved....likewise if you placed your c02 diffuser under the drop checker, then im sure the dc would react much faster as the gas would be directly effecting the reagent without having to dissolve into the water then degas out again.
Its best to cover the bases and have the c02 concentration at least somewhere near to what you think you have, its hard enough to get right without guesstimating based on a 2 hr adjustment period. The easiest way to do this is to have the dc showing a lime green for lights on, at least you know your in the ball park then, most of the time we have less c02 than we think, or at least its not in the right places!
If you want to reduce the co2 concentration then you will also have to reduce the lighting intensity otherwise you may well suffer plant health issues and resultant algae outbreaks. By all means reduce your c02 for the introduction of livestock, maybe even leave your lights off, you could then start with a dimmed lighting intensity with low injection rate and build both up slowly whilst monitoring your livestock and plants.
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
Thanks Ady. I see what your saying.. it's best not to take a chance on it and make sure the dc is green by the time the lights are on :thumbup: I've noticed that the gush dc with it's small opening for gas exchange takes far longer to change colour than my other dc. Think I'll go back to having the gas come on an extra hour earlier, so it comes on at 9.30 am. The tank does get a fair amount of indirect ambient light from two windows so having the co2 come on earlier might help with that. I have the lights set to come on at 12.30 with a 2hr ramping up period so the tank is only at 50% brightness by 1.30 and then full brightness by 2.30, then the same deal happens 2 hrs before the lights fully go off (you probably worked that out your self anyway lol ;) ) my thinking is this should help reduce the plants need for co2 until levels ramp up later in the day.

Cheers
 
Hi,
yeah the versatility from the lighting unit will help and makes perfect sense, i wish i had that option myself. The brown algae and curling leaves are however suggesting an imbalance between lighting and co2, maybe it's just the extra ambient light, maybe it's the change on flow and gas exchange, you could either increase co2 injection (which your trying to reduce) or reduce peak lighting intensity via your controller and see if this helps.
How long have you been suffering the issues and do they relate to increased ambient lighting or the change in flow pattern? It could be the problem was already there.
Cheerio,
Ady
 
Hi mate. yeah makes sense to use the controller seeing as I have that option. I'll try a lower peak intensity, maybe 70%, see how that goes.
The brown algae (diatoms?) started to appear after the first week. It's restricted to the tops of the rocks where I attached the moss using the yoghurt/blender method. I saw some signs of it before I messed with the spray bar.
The ambient light I would say has increased slightly what with the onset of spring.

Cheers
 
Hi Jon,
If you have a sec, could you post a few pictures of current status? The last pictures (with a lot of brown algae on rocks) are from 2 weeks ago?
Has the lower lighting intensity helped? Did you manage to block out the ambient light somehow?
I am enthusiastically watching this thread (and Ady34's aquanano40), as my tank's dimensions are similar. ... Mine is still in the planning stages, as our 6 month old twins :arghh: :arghh: are taking up all my 'aquarium building/tending' time.

Question: would you do DSM again, if you were to start over?

Cheers.
 
Hi mate,
Don't have any recent pics but will put some up pretty soon. The HC is almost fully carpeted now. I've been trying to take some video with my compact digital camera but the quality was awful so I'll just stick with the pics until I decide to get a new camera lol

I think that reducing the light to 60% may have helped stopped the brown algae growing any further as I removed some a few days ago and the spot has remained clean.
I have added some Amano shrimp today so hopefully they help clean it up.

The light from the windows is indirect, the velux widow has a blind covering it all the time so it's not a major problem.

If I used ADA aqua soil again I would use the dry start method because if left a couple of months the soil is cycled and you don't have to worry about the ammonia. It's also useful for establishing the root systems of plants especially plants like HC which have a habit of not staying put and floating up to the surface if not well anchored. I probably wouldn't bother growing the hair grass immersed again though as it really didn't do much in my set up until it was flooded. I will definitely use it again for mosses.

Good luck with the tank (and the twins) :)

cheers
 
The 4 Amano's I put in yesterday cleared the algae overnight! :)
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They like the moss too. Some that wasn't so well anchored erm... isn't anchored any more lol.
8698763897_e71c1ebeca_b.jpg
 
Looking pristine :woot:
 
Added 10 cherry shrimp yesterday. Some have really nice colour.
They looked to have settled in well. I drip acclimatised them for a few hours last night, switched light off & co2. Took a couple of photo's today, looked like they were having a game of shrimp hide n' seek :D
8709773037_76f34fcbc9_b.jpg


8709771921_e6b34de6c7_b.jpg
 
Hi Jon, this tank is great! Could I ask, do you know if the Mountaray bracket will fit easily onto a tank that has a thickish plastic edging? It is about 1.5cm thick, and about 1cm deep before it hits the shelf for a cover -although that shelf is cut away where the bracket would mount I think. I can modify it if I need to but I'd rather not.
 
Hi Joel, thanks for the kind words! From memory the bracket fit quite snug over 6mm thick glass,but it is a universal bracket so I guess it should fit quite a wide range of thickness's. Having said that.. they say the light that fits it is only meant for aquariums up to 50 litres or so, so the bracket may not cater for more that 6mm thickness. Best to shoot them an email really mate :)
 
If i were ever to make a nano iwagumi this is exactly what I would hope it would look like, Perfection:thumbup:.

Are amano shrimp good cleaners then?, I am looking to get a few for my 54 litre which has no plants or co2 at the moment and only a few small pieces of moss. Since I bought a decent light (24watt T5) algae is now my enemy.

Would 5 amano shrimp combat algae slighty or is that a stupid question?
 
Cheers Dan! :) I was amazed at how fast they cleared the algae in my tank.. I had some brown algae covering the rocks and literally overnight they (4 amano's) had eaten the lot!

Of course you really need to fix the route cause of your algae problems first, and you know that since adding the light with no co2 and plants has caused an increase in algae in your tank.
Might it be worth having a few floating plants that block out some of the light? They would also soak up some excess nutrients which are feeding the algae.

But yeah get some amano's in there, they are also brilliant to watch :)
 
Yeah I am looking at getting a few plants soon and ill get some amano shrimp aswell, the combinantion should help atleast a little bit:)
 
Hi Joel, it's this one - http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/fluval-ceramic-co2-diffuser-p-6010.htm

You may not like the look of it unless you can find a corner to hide it away in. Mine is in the sump at the back of my tank so it doesn't matter. I heard good things about it from other ukaps members so I went for it. It is really effective, bubbles are tiny. It's also really easy to take apart and pop a replacement disc inside then you can clean the dirty one later and rotate them out when necessary.
 
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