Maidenhead Aquatics 425 litre tank

[TarkMalbot]

Ok. I have two sets of two so I can just switch one off for now.

Would EI dosing and liquid carbon be any good?

 

[ceg4048]

Yes, as I mentioned, adding liquid carbon counts as a high tech method and EI is a high tech dosing program. Because the level of CO2 you are adding with liquid carbon is not as much as we typically see with injection, the level of dosing does not have to be as much, but it's best to start out dosing the prescribed amounts. Large and frequent water changes are also advisable to keep the tank as clean as possible.

Cheers,

 

[TarkMalbot]

Ok I have ordered a 2kg FE, a regulator with solenoid, bubble counter and reactor from Co2 Supermarket. Then I will start EI dosing and use the full 200W of lighting.

 

[TarkMalbot]

All my equipment arrived so I installed it all today.

Firstly I put my FE and Regulator together. I was impressed with the quality of the Co2 Supermarket regulator.

I decided to put both external filters at one end an have both spray bars at one end and the suction at the other end and have the flow helped along with a Hydor Pump.

I set everything up in the one cupboard:

Hopefully I have it all right:

Added a lot of plants and filled the water back up:

4x54W T5's:

And a video showing the flow. Hopefully this will be ok. The spay bar and the Hydor are both pushing flow in the same direction but the external filters are sucking from one end and the Hydor sucking from the other.

coming shorty.

 

[ceg4048]

You really need to turn off two of those bulbs until you figure out what you are doing. I don't know why everyone assumes that just because they have CO2 then all their problems will disappear. Now you will just have a new set of problems.

Cheers,

 

[TarkMalbot]

I have only been using 2 lamps since you advised that earlier. That was just for the photo. I don't have problems as such as just starting out. I do feel I have all the tools required now to have a successful go at it. 10x flow, Co2, EI dosing, 2 WPG lighting, 50% water changes per week and plants that were advertised with a difficulty level as easy. Can you see something I am doing wrong as I post in this journal to show people what I am doing in hope someone more experienced will pick up on any mistakes and guide me.
Cheers,

 

[TarkMalbot]

Video:

 

[ceg4048]

Everything looks good so far. Good movement of the leaves. However, a month from now you could see problems if the lighting levels are beyond what your flow and CO2 are. Since you don't have a PAR meter you really don't know what the lighting level is. That's why it's better to play it safe and keep to 50% for now. Then, gradually increase the intensity to 3 bulbs, then to 4. Light causes most of our problems, so you really need to be cautious. It's less of an issue now because of the added flow and CO2 but you can still have problems if the intensity is uncontrolled. You still have to figure out the best time to turn on the gas relative to when the light come on. You still need to figure out what bubble rate to use that will not have such a high level that it kills your fish, but will not be too low for the plants. So there is still a lot to learn. Having a low intensity reduces the stress on the plants and therefore gives you much more margin for error. If you do make an error, a low lighting level will be much more forgiving and it will be much easier to correct.

There is a crucial relationship between the light intensity and the amount of flow/distribution/CO2/nutrient levels required. We need to understand this relationship, so that's why I keep harping on the subject, because I know that THe Matrix programs our brains to ignore this relationship.

Cheers,

 

[TarkMalbot]

I'm home from my holiday and everything has survived so now I am going to start really paying attention and making slow changes and monitoring.
Thanks for the help and advice.

 

[TarkMalbot]

I set up my Fluval Co2 checker and immediately noticed how poor the indication was and how difficult to colour was to see. I was unsure if it was the checker or the supplied fluid so I put my other checker from my other tank in next to it with the same Fluval fluid in and the difference is obvious. The Fluval checker just isn't very good.

 

[TarkMalbot]

It's early days and things have only just become stable in the tank. The plants at the moment do not look great but I know I need to give them time and read the signs so I can make small adjustments to get it right. Here are how some if the plants look at the moment. Some are suffering from algae and others have holes in their leaves. I am hoping this is not down to the fish nibbling or snails but there don't seem to be that many snails and every time I do find one it gets mushed into fish food!

Here are the plants, some ok, some not so good and some terrible:

Any advice always welcome.
Thanks.

 

[TarkMalbot]

Whole tank:

 

[TarkMalbot]

Here is an update just to show the plant growth:





Used a 2Kg FE in 2 months so picked up a new one today:

 

[TarkMalbot]

I have a change about and bought some more plants. Going to have a sloped look from left to right following the way the wood getting higher at the right.

Added section:


Here is how it looks now:

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
Looking pretty good so far, but you really need to find a better background. Having backgrounds with pictures of plants on them is an aquascaping faux pas and is strongly frowned upon generally.

Also, you should consider a trim of the background stems, otherwise the tank looks one dimensional with single tall stands. It would be better to prune and arrange the cut sections in groups (with sufficient distance between individual stems). These stems will tend to dominate the scape and will also block flow and distribution. The large outer leaves of the sword should be removed. These plants also tend to sprawl outward and can dominate.

You might also want to look for more small leaved plants like Rotalla to give better texture and shapes instead of a steady diet of sprawling large leaves. P.helferi would add a carpet up front in that crook between the wood, for example.

Cheers,

 

[TarkMalbot]

Thanks for all the advice. If you look at how the tank was just last week I have actually started trimming the stem plants and trimmed and moved the sword. I will continue to trim more as things grow and look at getting the background changed. lol.

I will go and look at these plants you have mentioned too.

Thanks.

 

[TarkMalbot]

Oh and there is an aponogeton bulb just sprouting just to the right of the heater on the left which seems to be doing well.

As for the background I am thinking either all blue or all black. I cant have non as there is far too much going on behind it!

 

[ceg4048]

Probably the blue would look better. Dark colors might tend to make the tank look smaller. Light colors have a happier feeling and make spaces look larger.

Cheers,

 

[Pinkmummy79]

This looks a challenge worth following, I for my own lack of knowledge jumped into the hobby at the beginning of the year with a 260 litre bow front, I've had my share of problems, I've learnt a lot quickly and still have much to apply, I understand how important flow and circulation is and finding that special balance for your own box of water. Lovely tank by the way plus side for me is on a similar scale all the helpful comments from others including ceg4048 reinforces what I already understand and helps me that bit more too
Here's our tank at the moment, spray bars coming next with diy foxfish style cO2 reactors

Sent from my LT30p using Tapatalk 2

 

[TarkMalbot]

My bulb is sprouting nicely. Just less than a weeks worth from nothing: