• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

my first planted tank here goes.

tyke_uk

Member
Joined
10 Feb 2009
Messages
40
Location
Wakefield
hi all sorry i dont post much. But i always take look and stay in touch whats happening .This is my first effort with a planted tank.After many years of keeping marines in a invert system i found it increasingly all time consuming which i didn't have.I gave up the hobby for a couple of years but i got the bug back.I didn't want to set a tropical community tank up again with guppys and platties (not there is anything wrong with this but i wanted something a little different)so after a little reading and researching i fancied a planted tank with a few shoaling fish.Here goes ill start with a few specifics then a couple of photos (just hope they show ive never posted photo's before).

tank is trigon 190 with jewel filtration.
56watts of t5 lighting which comes on at 16.30 and goes off at 22.30.
pressurised co2 that comes comes on and goes off hour before lighting.I dont take much notice of bubble counter just take note of drop checker.

I have two soon to be three koralia 1 pumps for circulation.

ferts:im using the EI method everyday also 2 caps of flourish excel everyday with 50% water changes weekly
plants apart from the odbvious dunno just get what i like.

fish: 12 harlequins , 5 rummynose , 10 cardinals ,3 ottos , 4 corys.
After the initial probs with alge new tank syndrome. Its pretty much ok apart from the BBA that appears on the anubias
which im trying to address with circulation (adding another koralia 1) trying to up the co2 but i must be on the edge as any slight alteration the fish start gasping any suggestions?.im going to up the ferts slowly to see if this makes a change. hope this gives a little insight ill try the photos hope they show.
003wlk.jpg
 
Hi Tyke. You need to use img tags around the address of your photos - - Fixed it for you :) It would be worth re-sizing the images in future though, as they're quite large :)

Tank looks nice and lush!
 
sorry but im posting another pic resized to see if ive got the hang of putting my pics on :)

002.jpg
 
Hello

Your tank looks good

But, why is your light switch on only for 6h instead of 8-10h?
One thing you could change is your background:p think about one colour like black-blue.

Regards
Dawid
 
dawidmNS said:
Hello

Your tank looks good

But, why is your light switch on only for 6h instead of 8-10h?
One thing you could change is your background:p think about one colour like black-blue.

Regards
Dawid
Plants don't need any more than 6 hours of light.
 
tyke_uk said:
...Its pretty much ok apart from the BBA that appears on the anubias which im trying to address with circulation (adding another koralia 1) trying to up the co2 but i must be on the edge as any slight alteration the fish start gasping any suggestions?.im going to up the ferts slowly to see if this makes a change...
Hi,
BBA can never be fixed by increasing (or by decreasing) nutrients because it is not related to nutrient levels, it is related to CO2 stability. I would suggest that you avoid this maneuver as it could make the situation worse. More nutrients creates more biomass, which then requires more stringent CO2, therefore you might indirectly set up a chain of events that are not to your advantage. Focus instead on improving CO2 stability.

You can try turning the CO2 on earlier than an hour before lights on. You can also increase the Excel dosage. Improving flow will help but you also need to look at distribution. If, as you say, the BBA is limited to the anubias, then you are not far off and it may be a simple issue of getting better flow down to that area.

That tank looks pretty darn good to me actually, and your lighting specs seem very reasonable, unlike some Klingons we know who insist on unauthorized deployment of neutron bomb technology over the tank.

I think the awkward dimension of the triangle tank, combined with somewhat anemic flow causes difficulties. Once you improve flow and distribution you'll be able to lower the injection rate and pull back from the edge.

Cheers,
 
thanks ever so much for your constructive comments ceg ill take your advice on board and hopefully bba will be a thing of the past cheers.
 
Your "Harelquins" look like Trigonostigma hengeli to me - its the sleek silvery body and the way the orange stripe goes all the way round the black area that differentiates. They're nice little fish and their orange swoosh always looks great against the lush green of a planted tank!

Nice tank by the way, good luck it and the bba.
 
Back
Top