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Charlie Chi

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So the Chi is starting to wake up. Still got algae issues, still got issue with crashing pH (my fault with Co2 and a crappy drop checker solution this time)

Solenoid is on order so waiting for that to come.

Regime has changed, now adding 1ml TNC Complete every day and way changes every 3 days at about 30%.

Plants are starting to respond, plenty of oxygen bubbles by the end of the photo period. These start about 4 hours in.

Once the solenoid turns up I can tune CO2 better. I've also removed the floating carpet and now have some surface scum, probably because I'm over dosing for the tank size.

The Monte Carlo are also quite a light green rather than a deep green, this was the reason for me upping the ferts. I hope thats right?

I'm going to stick with this regime for a couple of weeks and then compare the photos. Still learning the lesson of stocking way too early but at least the fish and shrimp are ok. Next tank I'll hold off for at least six weeks.
 
You can try reducing your light period even further. For my personal tanks I've never had a light period longer than 6.5/7 hours, and I almost always start at 5-6 but with higher intensity. I've learned that the longer your lights are on, the less intense you want them to be to prevent any serious algae issues. A nice way to do that is to simply raise your lights several inches higher. The only tank I've done 8 hours is my work office tank which has a Chihiros light raised 6 inches and a high amount of plant mass. The main issue is GSA which ive yet to really tackle (just end up scraping the walls or wiping them down).


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I like 8 hours, I will dial it down if needed but I don't think the lighting period is 100% the problem, more a symptom :(

Quick update, Solenoid has turned up and I've moved the rhinox to under the canister filter inlet. Added 2 zebra snails and a couple of ottos.

PH pen coming tomorrow so I can tune the lights on co2 level. Also cocked up when doing maintenance on friday cleaning algae off the glass. Lifted the entire thing that was growing :(

Last week I was dosing 1ml per day of tnc complete which is way too much so this week doing 1ml at water changes (twice a week) and then 0.25ml a day. Will see how that goes.

Main plan right now is to get co2 right at lights on and then dial in the ferts. Also changed the spray bar so its just below the surface and gives a nice ripple so i can up the co2 if needed.
 
The most bizarre learning of this experience so far has been dumping loads of ferts into the tank.

I had major algae problems earlier on, now that is (kinda) under control, still get GSA on the glass and the snails/otos are loving that.

So lights, 10 hours, co2 3 hours before, off two hours before lights out and 2ml of TNC Complete a day.

Plants are going mental, pearling all day from about 4 hours from lights on and growing like mad.

This felt counterintuitive to me but is working.
 
I spoke entirely too soon about being back from Hospital. The tl;dr is I went back for a while and then had some nice hand maidens help me out for bit.

The interesting thing for fellow APS'ers is this is what the tank looks like with a month without any ferts, water changes or any CO2 tinkering.... I guess the moral is: Leave It Alone Lad! :D

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MooseOnDaLoose said:
I spoke entirely too soon about being back from Hospital. The tl;dr is I went back for a while and then had some nice hand maidens help me out for bit.

The interesting thing for fellow APS'ers is this is what the tank looks like with a month without any ferts, water changes or any CO2 tinkering.... I guess the moral is: Leave It Alone Lad! :D

View attachment 109753 View attachment 109754
Click to expand...
Same thing happened to me... must be a Fluval Chi feature! :lol:
 
So this tank has brought me back into the hobby. I was thinking of keeping it running however I missed judged my CO2 so had to move all the fish out into Slow Roast.

Now I'm stripping it down and will start again in the new year. It really has turned into a lovely high growth tank.

Really enjoyed Charlie Chi

RIP
 
MooseOnDaLoose said:
The interesting thing for fellow APS'ers is this is what the tank looks like with a month without any ferts, water changes or any CO2 tinkering.... I guess the moral is: Leave It Alone Lad!
Click to expand...

You tend to find that, in a mature well dosed system the substrate will absorb nutrients (depending on the type of substrate) and plants will build up reserves. You'll be surprised how long the system will look after itself. When people go on holiday there's no panic, just use less lighting couple of weeks before going to let production slow down and leave it there while away. I left my tank for 5 weeks without any power to it in summer where it was just warm enough and getting a bit of ambient light from a window and when I got back apart from a couple of plants the tank looked great. The Amano's had totally stripped it of algae, amazing how much they will get through when they have no other source of food.
 
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