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Bonsai Mountain Scape
Few small updates
The good - added my cal aqua lily pipe and replaced the tubing with clear chihiros 16/22mm, took the bonsai out and after noticing quite a lot of dead fissidens underneath due to gluing I ripped it all off and replaced with new that I got from @Ryan Thang To and used string to secure it this time, much neater so fingers crossed. Good growth on the Limnophila Hippuridoides and blyxa is looking healthy, trimmed a couple of inches off the rotala as well
The bad - new lily pipe isn't providing much if at all surface agitation even sat close to the surface so co2 levels remain high which fish are struggling with even if its being more affective at reaching lime green drop checker quicker, CO2 will need to be dialled down. Diatoms still rife and HC looks all but dead....
The ugly - floaters are being a pain and are getting sucked into the lily pipe so they might have to go
The good - added my cal aqua lily pipe and replaced the tubing with clear chihiros 16/22mm, took the bonsai out and after noticing quite a lot of dead fissidens underneath due to gluing I ripped it all off and replaced with new that I got from @Ryan Thang To and used string to secure it this time, much neater so fingers crossed. Good growth on the Limnophila Hippuridoides and blyxa is looking healthy, trimmed a couple of inches off the rotala as well
The bad - new lily pipe isn't providing much if at all surface agitation even sat close to the surface so co2 levels remain high which fish are struggling with even if its being more affective at reaching lime green drop checker quicker, CO2 will need to be dialled down. Diatoms still rife and HC looks all but dead....
The ugly - floaters are being a pain and are getting sucked into the lily pipe so they might have to go
So the HC is only getting worse it seems, its been 2 weeks and only going down hill and can' s how it can bounce back from the state its in, CO2 hasnt been stable the last week due to tweaking since fitting the new lily pipe (sorted now)
Thinking about ripping the HC out tonight, question is do I try again....
Thinking about ripping the HC out tonight, question is do I try again....
I think your plants might be suffering ammonia burn. ADA AS releases a huge amount of ammonia over the first couple or three weeks, dosing fertz and LC might actually make that worse by further increasing the solute concentration of the tank water.
I suspect what happens is...increased solute concentration lowers the water potential of the tank water and increases the relative osmotic potential of the plant cell. The result is that net transport of water will then be from the plant cell to the tank water, instead of the other way around.
This in turn causes a negative pressure potential in the plant cell which then collapses in on itself and eventually dies or suffers necrosis; melts. The dead plant cells then release more organics exacerbating the situation, and diatomaceous algae results.
Regardless of the mechanism, I reckon I've suffered it myself, and have since learnt that when using AS some folk cycle the tank without plants, no additives nor light, or water changes for that length of time first https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cycling-without-plants.52187/
I suspect what happens is...increased solute concentration lowers the water potential of the tank water and increases the relative osmotic potential of the plant cell. The result is that net transport of water will then be from the plant cell to the tank water, instead of the other way around.
This in turn causes a negative pressure potential in the plant cell which then collapses in on itself and eventually dies or suffers necrosis; melts. The dead plant cells then release more organics exacerbating the situation, and diatomaceous algae results.
Regardless of the mechanism, I reckon I've suffered it myself, and have since learnt that when using AS some folk cycle the tank without plants, no additives nor light, or water changes for that length of time first https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/cycling-without-plants.52187/
Thanks Tim, this did cross my mind and was why i didn't plant the HC from the beginning. After 2 weeks the ammonia dropped (or was down to a level where it was swiftly dealt with by the seeded filter) and i've not had an ammonia reading since, week 3 was when the HC was planted, it's week 5 now but the damage may have already been done and it might have just been too early to plant while the AS was still leaching ammonia even if at lower levels.
I'm dosing full EI but have stopped dosing LC so I can better evaluate my gas implementation, currently running it at the maximum i can get away with that the fish can tolerate (light green at lights on and lime green by switch off), DC is staying mid green until CO2 comes back on as i have very little surface agitation. Flow is good and if anything too much as the lily pipe directs flow down directly to the bottom right corner
Okay, I hadn't realised you'd done the sensible thing and waited for the ammonia spike to subside before planting the HC 
I planted Rotala bonsai, and Stauro in new AS and both grew really well, then literally overnight they seemed to die from the roots up. Eventually, the stems rotted just above the substrate. So maybe the ammonia content of the soil was still pretty high even though it'd stopped leaching in to the water column.
When I reused the same soil in another scape the experience was completely different, there was little in the way of an ammonia spike no melt, and very little diatomaceous algae. Anyway, just speculation, I may actually be way off the mark, and it could have been coincidence, low quality plants, or poor CO2 implementation that let me down, or a combination of factors
I planted Rotala bonsai, and Stauro in new AS and both grew really well, then literally overnight they seemed to die from the roots up. Eventually, the stems rotted just above the substrate. So maybe the ammonia content of the soil was still pretty high even though it'd stopped leaching in to the water column.
When I reused the same soil in another scape the experience was completely different, there was little in the way of an ammonia spike no melt, and very little diatomaceous algae. Anyway, just speculation, I may actually be way off the mark, and it could have been coincidence, low quality plants, or poor CO2 implementation that let me down, or a combination of factors
Yeh everything else was planted from the start but i wanted to wait till the ammonia settled as i know it can be sensitive to it. But i think you might be on to something with the AS possibly still stabilising from the ammonia spike, CO2 levels have been pretty high but have not been consistent since planting so could be affecting it.
Stauro has settled for me now and diatoms reduced but isn't growing and appears stunted (also losing lower leaves), rotala is growing vertically but leaves appear stunted and very small
Appreciate the input, it's helping me narrow down where i can make changes or rule things out to get things on point
Diatoms still really bad on the sand between the rocks but loving the fish in this, constant hive of activity and each with their own personalities split over all levels
Needs a carpet planted and take 2 will be attempted this week, fingers and toes are crossed for this attempt now things area bit more stable in the tank
Needs a carpet planted and take 2 will be attempted this week, fingers and toes are crossed for this attempt now things area bit more stable in the tank
My carpet is half dead too...this is the last Time I use Ada Amazonia...next Time I'll use tropica, always had great result.
How long after flooding are you?
Think this is day 34 for me in this tank so I'm hoping things have settled down, diatoms have been crazy and only now are my blyxa and limnophila are growing well but rotala seems to be a bit stunted leaf wise and slow growing, removed the Staurogyne but AR mini is doing well, so definite mixed results which is hard to get my head round
Jayefc1
Member
Fingers crossed for u mate can t see why hc wouldn't grow in amazionia soil mine has gone mad in the stuff
Daveslaney
Member
It looks to me like your lilly pipe is directing the flow downwards.I would try angling your lilly pipe backwards at the top so the flow goes straight across the surface of the water. This will improve the surface agitation and as though it doesnt sound logical will actually improve the co2 along the bottom of your tank. The flow travels along the top hits the glass on the other side then travels down and flows back along the bottom. Better than having a downward facing lilly pipe.
This should improve your chances with the HC.
This should improve your chances with the HC.
You're right in that surface agitation is virually non existent with this lily pipe but the flow hits around 1/3 to half way up the right hand side glass and then splits downwards across the substrate and round towards the back past the bonsai at the minute
Feeling like I'm slowly starting to make progress with this tank, diatoms have reduced massively, in part due to the ottos I introduced but it also doesn't seem to be reappearing at all, been slowly upping the lighting by 5% every 2nd day for the past 10 days and feel like I've got the Co2 dialled in and flow sorted
2nd day of pearling with the tops showing an ever so slight pink tinge
2nd day of pearling with the tops showing an ever so slight pink tinge
Nice healthy growth; definitely making progress
Jayefc1
Member
Looking Good bro hope the carpet kicks in too
