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CO2 & Light Demands

Well I'm not really sure what Tom's flow rate is. He'll have to provide the details, but if you have a 130L tank then a 1500L filter should do a decent job because that easily satisfies the 10X rule. If you say that you were not getting decent flow out of it then I'd have to suspect that there is a problem with the filter, maybe a blockage or something like that. A 1500LPH rated filter should produce an actual flow of about 700LPH so maybe you can test this by pointing the outlet pipe into a container and using a stopwatch to time the flow for say, 10 seconds. Measure how much water is in the container and multiply that value by 360, which would give you the actual LPH.

If you port that flow into a spraybar you should get a pretty good spray across the width of the tank. The jets should easily hit the front glass. If you then mount the powerhead in the location along the back wall that the spraybar doesn't reach then that would help give you even flow along the length of the tank. Another configuration you could try would be to mount the powerhead just under the spraybar. Since most of your plant mass is on the left then mounting both on that side might be a better idea. You just need to play around with that for a while to see what works best. Remember also that you don't need to have the filter chock full of media. Media slows down the flow so you can take half of it out to get you better throughput. You also need to check that you don't have any kinks in the tubing and make sure that you haven't connected some other equipment that reduces the nominal pipe diameter.

In any case, squirting the water across the short distance of the tank is easier then squirting it across the longest dimension, so just give it a try and see how you get on.

Cheers,
 
ceg4048 said:
In any case, squirting the water across the short distance of the tank is easier then squirting it across the longest dimension, so just give it a try and see how you get on.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

Exactly this.

On my 125l the filter is rated at 1250lph so 10x rule is covered. Using inline atomiser which may reduce flow a little and using a spraybar the length of the tank I had to tape up every other hole as the velocity dropped off. Bouncing it from the back to the front you can watch from the side of the tank the co2 mist hitting the substrate and then rolling towards the back, flowing through the plants. I couldn't imagine attempting to distribute the flow the way that you have. There would be very little velocity when it got to the other side.

I agree that even thought it's a little ugly I would have a spraybar any day if it improved the health of my plants.
 
CO2 & Light Demands

Ok cool. Thanks guys - i'm going to hook the spray bar up and see if it works better. My filter is working fine and the flow is as strong as it was when new. I guess its just a combination of the length of my tank & plant mass & the loss of velocity not allowing a good flow around the mass.

Maybe even due this plant mass the flow is even taking the "easier" route of going along the front of the tank where there is no plants?! This would make sense as i can ser lots of flow at the front ( even at substrate level) but the plants in the middle arent moving too much
 
skeletonw00t said:
Maybe even due this plant mass the flow is even taking the "easier" route of going along the front of the tank where there is no plants?! This would make sense as i can ser lots of flow at the front ( even at substrate level) but the plants in the middle arent moving too much
Click to expand...

I think it maybe whats bouncing off the left side and coming along the front glass higher up in the water column. That flow may push some along the bottom near the front, if you understand what I mean. Back to front will give best results though as it has a lot less distance to travel.
 
CO2 & Light Demands

Ok i installed my spraybar today... It's so ugly :(

Hopefully it will make a big difference to my plants though!

I can see lots more movement of the plants now & the currant is flowing nicely from the top down to the bottom. I'll put a pic/video on soon!

I also put the powerhead at the other end where the spraybar didnt reach - pointing at the front of the glass!
 
Bravo! Give it a couple weeks and see how it goes. You know, they do sell fancy Gucci glas spraybars. I thought I remembered CalAqua selling these but maybe it was someone else. Also, Fluval sell a smoky grey set that disappears when placed just under the water surface. I think powerheads are way uglier than spraybars. Like I mentioned, if you mount the just under the surface they do tend to disappear. I think your scape also doe not lend itself to the bars beause of the angles and open space at the back. People with jungle style scapes and with tall trees in the back don't complain too much. I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden... :shifty:

Cheers,
 
CO2 & Light Demands

Haha no worries. I may remove the powerhead once i get the plants health & tank sorted later on.

Main thing i guess now is just to get the key elements right like you say. Once i master these i'll have a play around with the aesthetics.

I'll have a look at these glass spraybars... Sounds interesting. This one i have now is jet black & is ugly. But maybe if i put a black background on the tank it would look ok...
 
Looks a lot better at substrate level now.

I went back to your opening post and noticed you have twin T8's over 130l. I have the twin T5's over 125l . Will be interesting to see how things improve over the coming weeks.

I have to agree with Clive about powerheads looking uglier than a spraybar. Spraybars ain't that bad.
 
Some pics of the set up here:

I put my DC at the bottom of the front - to see what CO2 is like there - as you can see... its yellow :)

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CO2 & Light Demands

Well it's been a few days now and I haven't really notices any difference. I think I would of seen it :/

It's almost as if my tank has no co2 going in it... Despite my DC is yellow?!
 
CO2 & Light Demands

I've also come to the conclussion that the "dirt" im getting on plant leaves is algae - like a brown dust.

I keep cleaning the leaves but it just comes back.

Really starting to get angry with this tank now as it just goes against all logic.

Low light, excellent flow, lots of nutrients, yellow DC co2, regular water changes.

Like even my java fern is struggling to grow new leaves - and i've never had any issues with this plant & used it several times in the past.

I go away for a week in March so i think I'm going to redo the tank when I come back - think I'll do rocks only & some moss or something easy.
 
CO2 & Light Demands

I reckon it's my co2 - i reckon this injecting into the filter is a rubbish way of doing it. Maybe I should try and UP inline atomizer & run that!

Also whats it mean when java fern leaves are all deformed (3 tips & long stems on the leaves etc)!?
 
CO2 & Light Demands

Isn't it the case whereby if the flow & co2 are right then i would notice the difference that same day?

Ie. new noticable growth in rhe faster growing species!?
 
No, it's not the case at all. You may have to wait several weeks. This is like saying that if I give a starving man a big meal I will see him gain weight the same day. The only things that happen quickly in a planted tank are bad things.

Cheers,
 
CO2 & Light Demands

Is there any benefit to having a yellow DC rather than Lime green?

I lowered my co2 slightly & my fish seem way happier- actually swimming around now rather than sat in 1 corner. But will this lime green mean growth/algae will be affected?
 
Hi mate,
Well, at the end of the day, the fish health is more important than high plant growth rate. If the tank was not populated with fauna, then the answer to your question would be;
"Yes, a yellow dropchecker is always better than a green reading because it means more CO2 uptake by the plants".

But because you do have fish in the tank, the answer is;
"No, CO2 is highly toxic to fish and as long as you are not overpowering the tank with high light or starving it with poor flow/distribution, you should be able to achieve adequate growth rates with a green DC, while at the same time, safeguarding your fishes health and well being".

Cheers,
 
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