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'Back in the Saddle' 90cm - 1 year on!

hey guys thank you all for the tips and advice, I did a second water change today and I have swapped the co2 diffuser for my old UP-Atomizer in a hope that I will get a better co2 distribution, I have also reduced the lighting back to the 2 x 36w only. I cleaned the filter, pipes and glassware, so with any luck the melting will go 🙂 so basically I have limited the lighting and upped the co2 in an attempt to stop the melting.
I have ordered the new parts for my Ehiem 2028 which I am confident is enough flow for the tank but until it turns up I am still using the Tetratec ex1200 and if I need to I will use my Koralia until the parts arrive.
Cheers
 
charlie said:
Great looking set up. Do you have any shots of the setup to include the light and fitting ? I would be interested to see how it all looks.
How is the melt, developing ?
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Hey Charlie, I didn't get a chance the other day mate, here is a full view of the tank 🙂
dscf3245q.jpg

The melt is still going on even though I changed from glass diffuser to the UP-Atomizer, the drop checker a much lighter green than it was with the glass diffuser and I can clearly see co2 bubble all over the tank but its early days and I wouldn't expect improvements immediately or would I?
Anyway, thanks for viewing 😉
 
When u say aerating what do u mean? Air pump?? If so I don't think it makes a slight bit of difference to plant growth at all because the plants don't benefit or suffer from anything when lights are off. I think it's more to do with pushing the co2 out from the tank to make it more comfortable for your fish. But I don't really think it's a hindrance or an advantage. It's just something people do if their worried about gas levels I guess.. (which works for fish of course) Maybe someone can explain further.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 
LondonDragon said:
I had this issue with my Iwagumi when the ferts I was using from Tobi run out (For Dan ... Spezial N - Nitrogen Fertilizer | UK Aquatic Plant Society) I would suggest mixing these ferts instead, they work great on HC.
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Hi Paulo, thanks for the advice, but I am already using the special N and have done from the start 🙂 I will just have to keep an eye on the progress this week if it continues to melt then I will increase the dose as I'm currently dosing 40ml macro, 40ml trace and 20ml Special N daily, the greens are vivid which is nice, hopefully a few more days of the loads of co2 will improve the melt on the HC.
 
Fert levels seem reasonable, only thing left is to raise the CO2 a little higher! You could try EC to supplement the carbon content.
 
Hello

Can you show us a front picture with all the gear?

And by the way, for the light system in particular as well, i'm curious to see.

Don't worry too much about melting, plants are just adapting. Isn't ADA the best substrate in the world? Let worth it cost and make grow the plants.

Nice aquascape.
 
Thanks for the shot of the full set up Vito, looks really slick. As for the melt if i was you i would dust off the spare Koralia you have and try it out until your spare filter parts arrive. This will eliminate flow from the equation, and if successful will arrest the melt of your HC which might save you having to re plant when the new filter gets set up. I would find it easier to look at a healthy, growing tank with a few extra bits of kit, than a melting minimalist scape ( i'm not describing yours as that . . . . .yet ). 😉
Im sure it will all get sorted soon
Charlie
 
Am I right in saying HC normally melts when first planted in a tank? As it's often grown emersed by the growers, there is a transition stage where it adapts to growing under water and therefore melts for the first few weeks. Mine did the same but its coming back strong.
 
Here's my take on HC...yes it does melt a little when planted. However, when planted into new aqua soil, I have also ways found it melt really really badly. I'm not sure whether its the ammonia leaching from the soil.
 
LondonDragon said:
Fert levels seem reasonable, only thing left is to raise the CO2 a little higher! You could try EC to supplement the carbon content.
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Again I am already dosing 10ml Daily 🙂 doese it matter that I dose the ferts and EC at 7:45am when the lights only come on at 6PM?
Nice said:
Hello

Can you show us a front picture with all the gear?

And by the way, for the light system in particular as well, i'm curious to see.

Don't worry too much about melting, plants are just adapting. Isn't ADA the best substrate in the world? Let worth it cost and make grow the plants.

Nice aquascape.
Click to expand...
Cheers Nice, I will attempt get some snaps done for you tomorrow if I'm not to busy with work 🙂

Dave Pierce said:
Am I right in saying HC normally melts when first planted in a tank? As it's often grown emersed by the growers, there is a transition stage where it adapts to growing under water and therefore melts for the first few weeks. Mine did the same but its coming back strong.
Click to expand...
PMA! Cheers for the confidence boost 😉

Well the spare parts arrived but I ordered some parts for the wrong model, DOH! Anyway, I have re-ordered the right ones now, the wait continues.

Cheers.
 
Interesting, I have been using eco-complete. As far as I'm aware it's ammonia free? I wouldn't say my HC melting was really bad, just a slight yellowing for about a week before going back to bright green.
 
Vito said:
Again I am already dosing 10ml Daily doese it matter that I dose the ferts and EC at 7:45am when the lights only come on at 6PM?
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Shouldn't make a difference. Just give is a week and see how things react! 😉
 
Dave Pierce said:
Interesting, I have been using eco-complete. As far as I'm aware it's ammonia free? I wouldn't say my HC melting was really bad, just a slight yellowing for about a week before going back to bright green.
Click to expand...
Hi Dave, by EC I mean easy carbo and my leaves are green but just about 5 of my planted clumps have some transparent leaves within them, to be honest most of the HC is spreading runners and today I can clearly see an improvement on the healthy clumps, for now I will just wait and see just as Paulo has suggested 😉
 
Hey guys, another week and another update, so I have introduced the clean up crew, 16 Amano shrimp and 5 otto's. I never knew amanos where this big, its a big difference from cherries 🙂 Anyway they got right to it, after 24 hours in my stones are clean as a whistle and the plants are spotless, I was a little bit concerned about how much old leaves and stuff was floating to the top but I suppose that's them getting rid of the bad stuff...? Again as I have never kept amano's I don't know if this is normal.
I have finally upgraded the filter to the eheim 2028 and I have upped the lights as I didnt feel the HC was spreading quick enough and also the HM was taking a bit of time, so I now have the additional 2 x 36W lamps come on for 3 of the 5 hour period.
Anyway I can say so far so good, here are a few pics of it tonight.

dscf3270s.jpg
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Thanks for looking.
 
Hello UKAPS members,
Another week past and another update due 😉 Good news is the melt is over, woohoo! The HC growth is good but the runners seem too straggly so I have upped the lights, all the 4 x 36W lamps on for 5 hours a day simultaneously, and next week I will extended the photo-period to 6 hours, if anyone thinks I should do it now then please speak up 🙂
I lost one amano as it decided to jump out and by the time I got home it was too late 🙁 I am however concerned that my shrimp might be hindering the HC spreading runners as they are constantly crawling everywhere and probably uprooting but I haven't witnessed it myself, when I get home there is always a few HC leave and the 2-3 individual small HC stems floating. Would I be wise to remove them?
Anyway I borrowed my brothers SLR, I am still learning how to use it, hope you like the pics.

img0359sc.jpg

img0361rw.jpg

I don't like the next picture as the hall way gives me limited space for taking a full tank shot and the silly reflections, but I thought I would share it so you can see some growth 🙂
img0379nm.jpg

This next one shows the HC, now recovered from the melt but just growing in bunches and not successfully rooting runners, hence the light increases.
img0385vz.jpg


Well thanks for looking, any advice or comments are welcomed.
 
Hi Vito,
this is really starting to take shape now, with the hc visably filling in.
Pleased you seem to be over the melt.....onwards and upwards now....well horizontally may be better 😀
Cheerio,
Ady.
 
A simple solution to injecting CO2 without reducing flow is just putting one of these pre-filter, injecting CO2 directly, and then using the filter as a diffuser. Obviously you need a non-return valve just before the T-piece to stop aquarium water going into your CO2 canister.
tpiece.tiff

Works great for me: crystal clear water, CO2 levels high, no flow reduction and no variation in CO2 rates you get as the UP diffusers get gradually blocked up. Never had a problem with the filter either. That way you can keep injection totally stable.
 
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