Nature Path 2

[loneshiva]

Nature path
Setup Date: 12-02-2018
Tank: ANS Opticlear 60 x 30 x 36
Cabinet: Wrought iron stand
Light: AquaNice Aqua LED power 600
Filtration: EHEIM Classic 2213
CO2: Pressurised CO2 with solenoid (Bought 2nd hand)
Hardscape: Not too sure
Substrate: ADA Aquasoil
Fertilization: Tropica Premium Nutrition (1ml daily), Tropica specialised Nutrition (1ml every 2 day) , seachem flourish potassium (1-3ml every 2-3 day)
Fauna: fire red shrimp, oto, amano shrimp, nerite snail
Flora: Christmas moss, Anubis nana petite, Marsilea Hirsuta, Downoi (Pogostemon helferi), Echinodorus Iguazu 2009, Anubis nana "white",hydrocotyle tripartite(background)

Planted tank Photo journal album url address : https://imgur.com/a/Oc7xf
Emersed setup Photo journal album url address : https://imgur.com/a/4jehS1T

Day 1 12/02/2018, Initial hardscape layout


Local organic grown moss, finely chopped up to be applied =D


Day 1 12/02/2018, DSM officially start


Day 18 02/03/2018, Marsilea Hirsuta after being split up from tropica 1-2 grow.

Marsilea Hirsuta, close up


Day 18 02/03/2018, Downoi after being split up.


Day 18 02/03/2018, Bought another wood, so slight change to the hardscape.


Day 18 02/03/2018 with hirsuta and downoi planted


Closeup of nana petite. Plan to let them propagate more and then putting them onto the wood and shaded part of the wood near the center of the tank.

Tank and tank parameters updated on 30th April 2018

 

[loneshiva]

A little question for DSM. Should i wait another week to flood the tank? Am afraid that the downoi has not root itself yet. 8 day since they been planted.

 

[Konsa]

Hi
The DSM require some time.Give it 4 or more weeks for the plants to grow in.Especially the moss will just wash off if U rush it with the flooding.
Regards Konsa

 

[loneshiva]

Hi
The DSM require some time.Give it 4 or more weeks for the plants to grow in.Especially the moss will just wash off if U rush it with the flooding.
Regards Konsa

Noted regarding DSM requiring time.

The moss has been in the dsm since day one. With lots of new growth. Which hopefully mean they are anchor to the stone.

More concern of the Hirsuta and downoi due to them being in there for 8 day or so.

So hard to resist flooding.

 

[loneshiva]

I have succumb to my urge to flood the tank 😵
Day 27 11/03/2018, DSM end.

Full frontal


Left side


Right side


Nana petite on wood.

 

[loneshiva]

I notice that the nana petite which is place highest on the wood has a constant small stream of bubble. Should i be worry that it might be algae that's bubbling?

The bubble are real small. And i notice that some hirsuta are also releasing a small stream of bubble. But upon closer inspection, it seem to be coming up from the soil near the plant.

Keeping my finger close. Doing 2 bps to help them adapt to being submerge into water. Will slowly dial back to 1 bps gradually over a week time.

 

[Konsa]

Hi
make sure U keep on top of your water changes as U have low plant mass and as it seems strong light too.Keeping the photoperiod about 6 hours as a start may be wise too.
Good look and keep us updated.
Regards Konsa

 

[loneshiva]

Hi
make sure U keep on top of your water changes as U have low plant mass and as it seems strong light too.Keeping the photoperiod about 6 hours as a start may be wise too.
Good look and keep us updated.
Regards Konsa

Thanks. Will lower my photoperiod to a shorter period as ATM I'm doing 11 hour. Which is the same period as during my DSM.

I notice some algae growing near the bottem edge of the rock.


Another thing is that my cycling period should be shorter than the usual cycling due to DSM with a active substrate like Ada aquasoil right.

Thanks again!

 

[Konsa]

Hi
Starting with Amazonia soil that has high Amonia load is usually done with daily watarchanges first and possibly second weeks.After U do every other day for a week and after twice weekly and finaly you go for one big one per week.
I doubt that the massive load of Amonia in the soil will be influenced much by your DSM.Make sure U give it good 4 to 6 weeks if U are using new filter before stocking .Or U can test for NH3 and NO2 if U already have the tests.
Regards Konsa

 

[loneshiva]

Have lower the photoperiod to 9 hour from 12 hour.

And co2 to start 30 minute before light goes on and stop 30 minute before lights goes off.

Nothing on piece of soil with greenish hair algae. Removed it. Stone with moss has some deep green algae on it.

Gonna need to borrow my friend API master test kit or get one for my own use to check.

 

[Konsa]

Hi
Im afraid 9 hours will be too long.
All my tanks are heavily planted and I have no more than 8h light atm but always start them with 6 hours for first 4 to 6 months till they grow in.
Belive me U will have much less troubles with less photoperiod in beginning.
Also CO2 should be at its maximum(lime green dropchecker) when lights come on
It is very rare that 30 min before lights on can achive that (but U may have very good injection and distribution )
Hope U don't take my posts wrong as Im not trying to rain on your enthusiasm its just very easy to run into troubles wth the current setup U have and Im trying to advice so U can avoid them.
Regards Konsa

 

[loneshiva]

No worry. Am grateful for your willingness to give tips and advice.

And i have started seeing problem already. Black beard algae owwww.

Lowering my light to 6 hour now and lower my light intensity. Black beard algae has taken a hold on one of the rock with moss.

And have set co2 and increase bps from one to two. And on for a hour earlier.

 

[Digitalfiend]

You may want to consider adding some fast growing stem plants along the back, even if temporarily, to help out compete the algae. You can always remove them later. That light seems awfully powerful for such slow-growing plants and moss.

Edit: Just saw the BBA on the mossy rocks as well. You may want to remove the affected rocks from the tank and get rid of every bit of BBA you can find on them before it really spreads. That crap is uber annoying to get rid of once it takes hold.

 

[loneshiva]

Would floating plant help too? If possible don't wish to put plant in as there isn't much space. Except the centre area with the wood.

I have some floating plant at a tank where I keep it without filter with natural sunlight.

It has lots of floater. But I might be introducing other stuff into the tank this way.

 

[loneshiva]

You may want to consider adding some fast growing stem plants along the back, even if temporarily, to help out compete the algae. You can always remove them later. That light seems awfully powerful for such slow-growing plants and moss.

Edit: Just saw the BBA on the mossy rocks as well. You may want to remove the affected rocks from the tank and get rid of every bit of BBA you can find on them before it really spreads. That crap is uber annoying to get rid of once it takes hold.

Did a Google search and the light has a watt of 24. And my tank has a 58 litre capacity. But with the soil and wood. I take it as 50 litre.

50 litre would come to around 14 gallon. So I'm having like 1.8 watt per gallon. But then it's LED. Is this too much? I'm switching to lower intensity so it's like 16 out of 24 LED bulb on now.

Unable to do anything as I'm at work. Wish I could just stay home and monitor the tank. Oh well :/

 

[ian_m]

I would try 4 hours light at the start possibly (say 3-4 weeks) reducing light intensity if your can. 1.8W per gallon (US) is certain high light region to unless you are careful algae is getting ready to take over your tank...oh it is !!!!

No need to do monster water changes if you don't have any fish, though water changes are good. All this ammonia in the water is helping prime your filter and substrate with nitrifying bacteria. If you can't be bothered to do numerous water changes, things like Kordon AmQuel (not the AmQuel+) will remove ammonia (I think Prime will as well).

BBA is a sign of poor CO2 levels for the amount of light you are supplying. You really need to get your CO2 levels and distribution sorted before increasing light intensity and period. Generally you need CO2 on two hours before lights on and off one hour before lights off. When lights come on your drop checker needs to be green, no matter where it is located in the tank, to indicate CO2 levels are acceptable. Don't see a drop checker in your pictures. Get a pH pen and measure pH drop as CO2 comes on, a drop of 1pH as CO2 comes on equates to optimal 30ppm. Actually if you have no fish you can just whop up CO2 to crazy levels as plants don't care.

You say your filter is Ehiem 2213 @ 440l litre/hour is not meeting the planted tank x10 rule of thumb for your 60litre tank (don't take into account wood, gravel, this is a rule of thumb), algae issues are awaiting. You need a bigger filter or a powerhead to get more water moving or maybe just OK using the lily pipe. Are all your rocks getting BBA or only some of them ? Indicates poor CO2 distribution.

You must also dose large ferts levels if using CO2 and high light, you haven't stated your ferts dosing scheme. Some people say don't bother if substrate is new, but as you don't know and can't test for the current tank water ferts levels, just dose full EI levels of ferts, then of course you will know the ferts levels (at least).

To get rid of BBA take rocks out, use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, liquid carbon brushed on to kill the BBA and brush it off. If using bleach rinse in strong dechlorinator solution afterwards. If you can't or won't remove the rocks, turn filter off, using a syringe/dropper squirt hydrogen peroxide or liquid carbon (Excel works better in my experience then gluteraldehyde) onto the BBA in the tank. Change 50% water afterwards or lower water by 50% before using or just leave if your think the liquid carbon will help your plants.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Would floating plant help too?

Add a floating plant.

They have have access to aerial CO2 and can make use of the available nutrients more efficiently.

cheers Darrel

 

[loneshiva]

I can't express how grateful I am with you all sharing these knowledge freely.

- I was checking on the net and it was saying 2-5 watt per gallon.... Silly me.
- the rock that's closer to the lily outflow are the one greatly affected.
- the Ada aquasoil is new. Not dosing any fert at the moment. Planning to get tropica premium fertiliser.
- regarding excel, I actually gotten a bottle thinking it will help a tank with floating tank at a corridor with sublight.

So I should be lowering the water level and then dosing excel on it directly. As there's no livestock in it. I will then just fill up with water.

Excel is suppose to help plant right. If used correctly I mean 🙂

Once again. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Especially Konsa!!! , digitalfiend, dw1305, ian_m.

I have limited time to apply the corrective action as I'm on a shift work schedule. So another 5 day more before I have my off day.

P.S will be getting a drop checker tomorrow. API master test kit next week. Tropica premium fertilizer tomorrow too.

 

[ian_m]

- the rock that's closer to the lily outflow are the one greatly affected.

Definite CO2 distribution issue then.

Excel does help plants, not a 100% substitute for CO2 as far "weaker". Also does melt some plants even in small doses.

Does however kill BBA and some BGA. Either spot dose from a squirter/syringe onto BBA or dip affected plants in a diluted solution. If solution is too strong or dipped for too long will kill the leaves, bit of trial and error unfortunately. Or single dose at x5 (or x10) to kill all BBA in one go. Does work, but again can kill plants and fish...so be careful.

 

[Digitalfiend]

Just be aware that some mosses really don't like being dosed directly with Excel. I would definitely take the BBA infected rocks out before it spreads as it doesn't look too bad at the moment. Good luck.