• 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

new setup, from #2 to... just plants

Quick update before a light trimming this weekend

15870013768_de983286df_b.jpg

Two months ago (more or less) I changed some things in this tank: I'm now using very low EI fert dosing (something between EI standard/recommended dose and PPS-Pro. Basically what I have done is limiting growth rate by decreasing PO4). My Co2 (which I had not changed) seems to match now much better with the light/nutrients/growth level as I am achieving dense growth and I am noticing less BBA/staghorn on lower and old leaves (young growth has always been ok). The only disadvantage for the moment has been some BGA on the foreground probably related with a slight NO3 reduction (can be seen on the picture if you spot the sand): in other words, slower but steady growth.

Jordi
 
Last edited:
Quick and dirt update with the phone. No relevant changes except for the substitution of H. tripartita Japan for Monte Carlo in the center foreground two weeks ago. Nice colors being developed in some plants.

FTS from one side
701628da382b9b098e0776a244b664f8.jpg


FTS from the other
c2b6c7a9b11ca0343f6a8c3fcb6aff8d.jpg


Left side
6b944e393ecd09bab83a6433ce9dc928.jpg


Right side
1f557602c2597ffb22b1701b981a77ef.jpg


Plants close-ups

0b0675668df713aa849bb0fc18f87f7e.jpg


b54c14dae68a635929b1c6e8f8ffecf8.jpg


Now I'm trying to have nice plant shapes, something that is easy individually but that is much more difficult to achieve for the whole layout.

Jordi
 
Bassljne said:
Plants look super healthy!
Click to expand...
Well, actually some BBA here and there but something manageable :)
The plants in the layout are not difficult at all but the aim is trying different species and know which ones will do well for future setups and for which ones I need to do it much better

Jordi
 
Lovely looking plants and tank. I personally feel it would benefit from some hardscaping. Hope your enjoying your aquarium.
 
Clear and neat tank, lovely plant growth. :) :) Can't stop looking at the pics, specially the ones captured from the top.. :)

Cheers,

Karthik
 
KarthikC said:
Clear and neat tank, lovely plant growth. Can't stop looking at the pics, specially the ones captured from the top..
Cheers,
Karthik
Click to expand...
Thanks Karthik, perseverance is the key… :)


Alexander Belchenko said:
I'd say: not enough red. Probably you might want to re-examine your ferts.
Click to expand...
Thanks Alexander for your comment, TBH I’m quite proud of my colours… it’s a kind of second step achieved. The first one was having healthy growth all over the tank, the second was enhancing colours and the third one is bushiness (on my way…). Once I will be able to do all this, I will be prepared for aquascaping.

Rotala macrandra is the one that should be much redder (although see picture in post 44, sometimes it depends on the stems or pictures), but it’s the most demanding plant I can grow and additionally in my hard water (KH10ish, GH26ish, tap water parameters change during the year) it is clearly on its limit. For the rest I have noticed that changing the ferts did nothing special (N shortage, Fe excess, etc.) and plants improved their colours by themselves once I fine-tuned the conditions of the setup (flow, CO2, light), once they were left in these conditions for some time (stability) and once they grew old (some stems are in this tank now for nearly 6 months). Of course, bombarding them with photons works, but if I do not want to have BBA I have to keep my 2x24w T5HO at least 20 cm over this 64 liters tank.

Jordi
 
Lovely Tank Parotet. You must obviously be doing many things right. I do have a recommendation though. From your ph profile I did see a couple of interesting things which might explain your slight algae issues. The main one is the co2 fluctuation towards the end of the photo period. Your pH goes from 6.5 to 6.7 in an hour while lights are still on. CO2 fluctuations during the photoperiod are known to cause algae. This is easy to solve. The other thing I saw is the pH at the starting of the photoperiod. Its 6.6 which is not bad at all, but if you want it perfect it should be at 6.5 (1 unit pH drop independent of your KH), so you could start injecting co2 maybe an hour earlier.

Really nice tank anyhow.
 
Hi all

Thanks for the comments... I will post a FTS when I will be back home. The tank looks very well now with a Monte Carlo carpet spreading wild. Algae are under control as I have increased the bubble rate to 3 bps (which I assume is also improving my pH profile). I'm also thinning twice a week the plants to keep flow properly

Jordi
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top