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PFK Olé - My first Journal

Tds is fairly low so assuming you have softish water, your required ph drop by lights on could be as much as 2 points 7-5, ref lights algae will still utilise the 1hr your using plants need about 5 minimum IMO. Turn co2 on for two hours and then lights on, personally I wouldn't add shrimp until plants are healthy don't be too concerned with algae on glass/ hardscape etc this can be cleaned and syphoned out, small tanks are an almighty pita to balance IMO more frequent waterchanges and cleaning is a must.
 
Thanks Tim, always thought PH was related to the hardness ie PH 8 hard, and so on... Learning again I guess, and going to invest in a drop test for GH / KH (thanks Lindy!) to see what's what.
Learning too that the small volume means a lot of effort, difficult to get my hands in to clean too ... Using the AquaEssentials toolkit and a microfibre to reach corners. I'm more concerned at the diatoms and the tank not being cycled at almost 4 weeks.
Thanks for the point re even an hour of light; I'm hopeful of getting the big co2 kit going and on a timer etc so can control that better. I'm thinking 8 hours light? With an hour or two off at midday, with co2 on two hours before and off an hour before the light goes off?
Again, thanks so much for all the help guys :)
 
Oh and plants appear healthy, anubias Petites both on their third leaves since adding and the micranthemum and Eleocharis mini and Parvula are growing well. The Xmas moss is starting to really bush out now and branch too (albeit with a brown tinge to the lot)
The only issue was one clump of tall Eleocharis sp. I think I planted it too deeply tbh so it melted and it has been removed
 
I'm on day 36 with my nano and only just upped from 5 to 7 and I had no trouble with algae so far

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Thanks again Ali, have dialled the lighting timer back to five hours and put the co2 back on this morning ... Will give the tank a thorough clean at the weekend and get the new co2 rig going. Fingers crossed it helps with the algae :)
 
Still looking for a plant to fill the back left corner (as the Eleocharis sp melted on this side only) and cannot find any blyxa as you suggested Ali, can't find any tropica Lilaeopsis Mauritania either (have trawled aquaessentials site this morning!!)
I'm thinking now about maybe a thin leaved crypt (is there such a plant?) or taking some cuttings of the limnophilia sessiliflora from my daughters tank as it's fast growing but will get too big I reckon? I quite like the look of Cyperus Helferi - does anyone have experience of this plant? It's a small space that's begging for a plant / stems but struggling so any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, bob
 
And an epic fail with the first cylinder of Sodastream co2 (and a lot of swearing too!) :(
Put reg on cyl and all I got was a sort of suction / thud sound as the reg and cyl engaged ... Brilliant I thought, job done ... then it went pear shaped! The regulator nut which the adaptor screws into was not tight enough and probably discharged most of the cyclinder when I took a spanner to the adaptor and tightened it, which loosened the actual reg nut (tightening one loosens the other if that makes sense!). So once it all thawed out after I disconnected it I tried again, got a bit of a whoosh and appears to be fitted now. Also managed to drop the reg between attempts so think one of the dials is burst but it's showing 2 bar on the other one :(
Second fail was the timer ... Just out to buy another extension lead as the timer I got is too large for the ext cable I have when the light and filter etc is plugged in and won't be able to test it until later ... Heading back from tesco the now and hope it works! Wish me luck!!
Will update in a bit, cheers, bob
 
Toolstation timers can fit plugs next to them. At least the stock we have at our store can.

Sucks about the other bits mate :(

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Mission accomplished and well chuffed, second cylinder fitted (bigger whoosh than last time but still nothing major as it engaged), timer fitted plus set and all tested ... So far it appears to be working fine, coming on when timer on and off when timer off! Happy days :)

Think the one gauge is burst tho and the others maybe a bit ropey too as it was at 30psi with nothing connected, but did jump to almost 40psi when cylinder attached, will monitor it.

Right, am away to lie down after all that excitement and will see if I have any gas (or house!) left when I get home from work tomorrow :)
 
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Oh and noticed one of my daughters scarlet cherries is berried, a few have been showing a saddle for a while now, but this is the first time I have seen all the eggs being carried on one of the best coloured females in the tank :)
 
Fantastic mate, I have about 8 berried in my high tech but probably won't get many survive the amount of co2 I pump in :D

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Cheers Ali, cheered me up no end and my eldest is delighted too ... Her tank is low tech and also spotted a 4 or 5mm shrimplet out and about yesterday ... I'll say it again, her tank is going far better than mine at the moment :D
 
Haha. Hope you have somthing on the filter inlet or you may have loads living in there... Is it filtered with a canister?

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It's a nice wee 2' AquaOne tank she got when she was a grand age of four (now seven!) from Santa and has a small hang-on filter hence a big weekly water change.
No guard on filter yet, but it's on the cards now as is a bit of mesh for the inlet on my nano (also, will need another bigger bit of mesh soon, but not giving away any details yet!) :) :D
 
Well the house was still standing and the new Sodastream co2 rig is working a treat :) ... I missed the photo period and co2 as I got home late and will need to reign it back a bit as the drop checker was bright yellow! Good for plants I believe but not if I want to add some fauna, will hopefully be home in time to check the bubble count and dial it back a bit tonight. After an extensive clean at the weekend, the diatoms appear to have taken a hit but time will tell later in the week I guess ... My money is on it reappearing :/
If I may ask again, when do you good folks add your ferts? I'm of the opinion first thing in the morning, so the plants have the time / photo period to take in the nutrients rather than as I was doing ie after evening water change and just as lights go out. Any thoughts greatly appreciated, cheers, bob
 
I dose in the morning but that just suits me the ferts will still be there if you dose at night

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aliclarke86 said:
I dose in the morning but that just suits me the ferts will still be there if you dose at night

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Thanks Ali, never thought of that!! Yeah, the ferts would still be there in the morning!! Can't image what I thought happened to them!! Lol :D
 
I'm going to whisper this ... I think the brown algae has stopped :)
I have seen no new diatoms appearing in the tank over the last three days i.e. none on the acrylic or rocks and just need to clean up the few remaining light patches on the anubias :) happy days apart from the remaining tall Eleocharis sp starting to brown as the other bit of it did? Still contemplating what I will replace it with, and now quite liking the look of some tropica Myriophyllum Mattogrossense 'red', looks like a neat little stem and a good contrast to the green anubias etc ... Anyone grown this plant before and got any tips? :)
Cheers, bob
 
Time flies eh?! Apologies for the lack of updates and photos will follow when I get the chance, looking forward to getting a decent nosey at the updates on here soon too :)
My tank has past the brown algae stage (couple of weeks ago) and has just a very very light dusting of green stuff on the tank sides now. Shrimp and snails have been added and are doing well ... overall I'm quite chuffed with my first effort :)
 
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