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NA Style ADA 60P

Call me <"sceptical">, but I'd be amazed if any of these products have <"any use what so ever in a planted tank">. It is back to the question of the <"ammonia loading of the bioreactor"> it was produced in. If I did feel one would help I'd use <"Tim Hovanec's product">.

Not at all sceptical and you’ll get no argument here. Seen more than a few find themselves in trouble attempting to remedy ‘problems’ using a range of products advertised as solutions.

Aside from managing chlorine/chloramine in tap water, time, good observation and ‘education’ is invariably the only friends you’ll ever need in setting up planted tanks. Even tap water with chlorine used to be aerated until it was gassed off. No one even has time for that anymore. Most folks used rain water to avoid even that hurdle 🤷🏻‍♂️

I'd guess that at some point some-one will produce a reliable test for fresh water, but until then a certain amount of caution is called for.

Duckweed index 😂

You could rebrand it frogbit index for fresh appeal Darrel.
 
Hi all,
dw1305 said:
I'd guess that at some point some-one will produce a reliable test for fresh water, but until then a certain amount of caution is called for.
Duckweed index 😂

You could rebrand it frogbit index for fresh appeal Darrel.
A re branding, now that is an idea.

The "problems" (purely in commercial terms) with the Duckweed / Frogbit Index are that:
I was thinking of a fairly limp, and meaningless, new strap-line "now even greener", and then sell it with the ripped off <"Leaf Colour Chart">, when it occurred to me that I have recently become aware of a much better idea. ..........ta da.....
  • All new <"Amazon Frogbit "Audrey II"> (Limnobium laevigatum). Now even better than before.
  • Developed with green energy <"advanced photon torpedo technology">. This <"natural and organic biochemical process"> converts solar energy, nitrogen and naturally occurring antioxidants, into protein.
  • Over time "Audrey II" will lose the the benefit of "advanced photon torpedo technology" and although it will remain a great product, we recommend
  • Purchasing "Audrey II" on a six week cycle, using our advanced payment plan.
With all due modesty, I now feel like Oscar Wilde (not the unfortunate court case bit), but that <"I have nothing to declare but my genius"> and I'm ready to do battle with the <"sellers of Biohome etc">.

Who knows <"Dragon's Den"> might be an option, "I want a £100,000 for 25% of the business"

cheers Darrel
 
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Hi all,

Call me <"sceptical">, but I'd be amazed if any of these products have <"any use what so ever in a planted tank">. It is back to the question of the <"ammonia loading of the bioreactor"> it was produced in. If I did feel one would help? I'd use <"Tim Hovanec's product">.

It is a shame there are <"issues with nitrate (NO3-) testing">. I'd guess that at some point some-one will produce a reliable test for fresh water, but until then a certain amount of caution is called for.

cheers Darrel
Thank you for sharing this, Darrel! Looks very interesting. :)
 
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Got some time this weekend to remove the old substrate and replace it with fresh tropica soil. I’ve added aquario NPK tabs so that I can dose as lean as possible initially.

I’ve also made some changes to plants, I’ve replaced S. Repens with Hemianthus Micranthemoides and P. Errectus with Rotala green. (Won’t be missing those insane roots)

I’ll be adding a lot of riccardia and anubias or bright green buces on lower level rocks once the tank is bit more stable.

I’m also trying a new product this time - Seachem advance to give plants a head-start. Will update you folks in a while to see how it works out.


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I’m also trying a new product this time - Seachem advance to give plants a head-start. Will update you folks in a while to see how it works out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You can buy root hormone powder from your local garden store for a few quid/dollars.... but TL: DR doesn't work. Tom Barr has tested and written about it.
 
You can buy root hormone powder from your local garden store for a few quid/dollars.... but TL: DR doesn't work. Tom Barr has tested and written about it.
Interesting. I’ve heard both good and bad reviews of plant hormones. I recently picked up from @Courtneybst and team's IG live with Dennis Wong (2Hr Aquarist) that he uses them in his farm tank so I thought I would give it a try. Now it's a different question whether Seachem's super diluted (generally speaking) Advance will actually produce any difference but I guess we will find out. :)
 
Interesting. I’ve heard both good and bad reviews of plant hormones. I recently picked up from @Courtneybst and team's IG live with Dennis Wong (2Hr Aquarist) that he uses them in his farm tank so I thought I would give it a try. Now it's a different question whether Seachem's super diluted (generally speaking) Advance will actually produce any difference but I guess we will find out. :)
Dennis Wong did mention that the effects of plant growth hormone on heavily dosed scapes are not as noticeable. According to him, it makes a difference only if you dose very lean.
 
Tidy cabinets stress me out, the door is to hide the mess. 🤷‍♀️

Scape looks nice, I’d be inclined to add a handful of larger and smaller gravel into your gradient and give it a bit of a mix, it’ll make a big difference to how the scape “reads”.
 
Shel
Tidy cabinets stress me out, the door is to hide the mess. 🤷‍♀️

Scape looks nice, I’d be inclined to add a handful of larger and smaller gravel into your gradient and give it a bit of a mix, it’ll make a big difference to how the scape “reads”.
I couldn't agree more. Yes, I have a lot of work to do in terms of making the foreground nicer. That includes adding smaller rocks with moss and better gravel. I will get on it in the next few weeks. :)
 
You don’t need better gravel, just a handful of mixed sizes to make it read as less artificial.

At the end of the day I’ve come to the conclusion we’re all doing it the wrong way around anyway after looking at a few rivers. It seems when water sorts the substrate it tends to be from largest to smallest going towards the shore. Not smallest to largest like wot we do.

Ahhh moss tying. My most recent experiment has been to pulp up some moss into strands around 5mm in length, get a stone and brush it with gel superglue and then dip it in the moss pulp, wash off excess and then use.
It’s easier and quicker than tying and if you don’t add it too densely you don’t get the bottom layer die off that can happen with tying or glueing large clumps.
 
Do you happen to have a link for this? I'd love to read Tom Barr's view on this


he may have written in more detail elsewhere, but this is the result of a quick google search
 
I’ve been experimenting with the light settings for 60p and I’ve tentatively settled for this.

I’ll be using this ratio at 40% on first week and will gradually increase it to 90% (not sure on final number yet)

I’m using Chihiros vivid2 at the moment and it’s suspended at approximately 30 cm height

2d280ed3a75e830143df5d9bfec2da88.jpg



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I’ve been experimenting with the light settings for 60p and I’ve tentatively settled for this.

I’ll be using this ratio at 40% on first week and will gradually increase it to 90% (not sure on final number yet)

I’m using Chihiros vivid2 at the moment and it’s suspended at approximately 30 cm height

//uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220421/2d280ed3a75e830143df5d9bfec2da88.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cooking on gas! Hope your CO2's on point!
 
Hahaha! I know it's pretty nuclear but I am only using this ratio. The actual setting is R, G and B at 40, 30 and 36. Translates to about 38 W and one row of my blue LEDs have gone out so probably even less. :D

Ah that makes more sense then - ironically almost exactly the same ratio as I use on my Vivid's - red highest, green lowest, blue somewhere in between.
 
Interesting! At what height have you suspended your vivid2? I'd love to check out your journal but I am still very new at UKAPS and can't seem to find it! :p

Probably about 40cm from the surface, mine was a 400mm deep tank though. My journal is here: Sandy Nook but I closed the tank down when I moved house last week, so all plants and fish are now in holding tanks at the new house.

I had a lot of floating plants too, so I ran the Vivid higher at around 70% (R), 50% (G), 60% (B).
 
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