SirBuce's Dutch Sunset (55L)

[SirBuce]

Hi folks hope all is well there

Dutch Sunset
Naming a tank is not an easy task isn't it - ideally I want to name it appropriately (myself being a pragmatic minimalist🙃), but then it will take monthssss to get to the ideal/envisioned state.

So ya, the idea of this project is to combine all the experience that I have learnt from previous tanks - officially this is my 5th tank (💀 I started Aug2022 lmao) and I am going to go 'full measure' this time - CO2, backlight etc no more holding back.

By looking at hundreds (if not thousands) of inspiration online - I have decided to go with like a hybrid of Dutch x Iwagumi style with a 'minimalistic' choices of plants that would serve as the actual background/theme of the tank:

• Going from the fiery pinkish Rotala wallichii from the left to the right of orange/reddish Rotala rotundifolia 'H'ra' - more or less the colours of 'Sunset' - with a little of yellowish greenish from Rotala indica 'Bonsai' (I just love this plant and I have to have a spot for it aha) serves as the 'transition' from left to right (and vice versa). And then completes with a carpet of Monte Carlo. I will actually put in some Myriophyllum 'Guyana' later (depends how well the mid/background grows), and a couple of Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' at midground areas (this thick leaf plant should be a good contrast vs Rotalas and Guyana thin leaf plants).
• I actually tried to follow Iwagumi's rules for the stones (roughly ha) - I wanted to stick to 3 stones only but then I thought that I must include this driftwood of Buces that I grew from other tank - overall I think the 4 stones placement looks ok, especially since the main theme of the tank is about the background plants (when they grow up).

So ya not really Iwagumi for sure (some essence of it I guess ha), and not really (full) Dutch style but I think I am ok to claim this is a Dutch style (ish) tank ha - 'Dutch Sunset' it is.🙈

And ya for Dutch style scape, I understand that a backlight wouldn't be recommended (normally) - but I want to try it out aha. So I use ADA's standard blue/transparent film for the initial setup. And here is a 'double meaning' of the tank's name, I also got this orange/yellow/green transparent film (from Lightground) that actual looks like a sunset - I will try this out in a few months time 😎.

Ah all the fun I have had since I joined the hobby....

(Photo on 16May23)

Tank was setup 20May2023

L*W*H Dennerle 55L (45*36*34 in cm) Lighting Chihiros WRGB II Slim 45, Chihiros Backlight (L*H, 45*30 in cm) Filter Oase FiltoSmart Thermo 100 (at 23C) CO2 FZONE CO2 set with QANVEE in-line CO2 reactor diffuser (1-2 bubbles per second) Spoiler: CO2 tank + Filter placement Soil/Substrate Dennerle Scaper's Soil 1-4mm (about 4-5cm depth front to 6/7cm back) (with Greenscaping Dark Mountain Substrate lava rock pieces as the foundation + filter water/gunks from other mature tanks (stayed over night) + QualDrop BioProbiotic powder + 10x Tropica root capsules) Special mention that I quite like this AquaOne Vogue 170 cabinet - the design looks good (I usually go with black colour but this look fits the living room/kitchen tone) and the assembling was easy enough. The design could use some improvements (like having a hole or two to allow the cables to go through between the 2 compartments), but overall value-quality is great. Would recommend it (at this stage anything comes from Italy/Germany will cost so much more that they are not worth it anymore - so I am happy enough for this cabinet from UK). And ohya, the 'real setup' is actually this (the cabinet is meant to hold another curved 30L Dennerle tank ha - I might start to work on it in a couple of months...) Spoiler: 'The full setup'

The overall setup: The above mentioned Soil/Substrate setup was inspired by ADA's Powersoil - pretty cost effective to set it up with furnace/lave rocks that I got them previously. And I have the filter/media soak with the filter water/gunks from other mature tanks for nearly 2 weeks (while I was waiting for the rest of the setup arrived). This time around I use LECA clay pebbles and some lava rocks in the filter - proud to say actually after testing twice in this first week after setup, the cycling of the tank is equivalent to 3rd/4th week of standard cycling from scratch - at this stage I might be able to add Amano shrimps next week. The whole CO2 setup is entirely new to me - it is ok pretty straight forward (I mix 220g Bicarb and 200mg Citric Acid with 300ml water; supposed to refill every ~2 months). Light is on 9 hours 50% brightness: 10am-7pm; CO2 9am-6pm. And notably I am going to have permanent aeration for the setup (just a budget usb air pump + a nice looking Twinstar CO2/O2 diffuser that I will switch to it later (I just want to try Twinstar version of diffuser as I have the Aquario diffuser in my My Turtle Vivarium with Buce (98L)), I turn the O2 flow weaker during day time and stronger after light is off. This is mainly to help maturing the tank 'faster' at early stage while I think it is good for the habitants (bacterias, livestock, plants) - long term aspect I mainly just want to avoid the surface scum (hence back to how important aeration is for the bacteria populations).

Plants list (all plants from Tropica)

1 Rotala wallichii x3 2 Rotala rotundifolia 'H'ra' x2 3 Rotala indica 'Bonsai' x1 4 Micranthemum tweediei 'MC' x2 5 Bucephalandra 'Kedagang' (near 6 months old, from other tank) 6 Bucephalandra 'Bukit Kelam' (near 3 months old, from other tank) with Moss on Dragonstones that have been growing emersedly (near 9 months old, mainly Taiwan Moss - see details in SirBuce's Yellow Moss Tank (20L)) To be added later (to be moved from My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Jungle (30L)) 7 Myriophyllum 'Guyana' 8 Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig'

Habitants

At the moment only 3 the best looking Pink Ramshorns I moved from RC Jungle tank aha. I am going to get like 8-10 Amanos once the parameters are clear (maybe after 2nd week), I will first move some RC culls to test the water just to be safe. And then I will move the 7 Guppies, 8 CPDs and 5 Otos from My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Jungle (30L) over. I might get some a few more Otos (if I do I will keep them in the RC Jungle for awhile - I learnt my lesson...) And then lastly all the RC shrimps (I will sell/give away some culls when I do that)

Progression/Timelines:

20May23 Started:

21May23 Day-1: First time using CO2 so ya yellow pH drop checker🤣 And for those who live in regions with non-ideal room temperature during winter months - the tank cover is a must (part of the reasons why I went for these Dennerle tanks), and plus a little bit of DIY glass cutting I learnt from the hobby ha (just get a £20 glass cutter pen from Amazon and I use the oil as well). And ya I put the cover on in the evening.

22-26May23 Week-1: Backlight arrived and I am pleased for the growth of the Rotalas🥰 Light's on! 26May23 Day-6:

I can't wait for the tank to growwwwww - more updates to come soon😎🧐

 

[SirBuce]

I actually want to make a post to say special thank you to the site (it is part of my journal ha) - like seriously I have read and learnt so much since I started the hobby. There are so many interesting discussions and guides/suggestion/info that I am so glad that we have the site to keep all these resources for easy access (I have just donated a small amount there ha) - my salutes to Paulo and the site admins/group (and also a lot of helpful posts from all the frequent/infrequent members ha).

I wish I could contribute more to the topics/discussions but I have always been a forum diver (and just job/life is busy and we are going to get busier after July 😇) - I appreciate the Like button so much aha as that's the function I use often (and half the time I forget to click Like for the good posts ha). There are so many good/resourceful threads/posts that I have read many times (and realized oh it is the same thread lol), and I bookmarked a few of them aha - so ya some of the (senior) members may see a rando Like from me for some relatively old posts ha.

And ya that's part of the reasons I wrote my journals in a (rather) detailed manner - is my way to contribute back to the site, and also good for any future reference that I hope the details can be helpful for forum members/non-members/people came from googling their questions, and/or I could share them with my family and friends for this niche hobby ha.

 

[SirBuce]

Actually yes, special thanks to @Hufsa's thread (that I have bookmarked lol) Algaecide ingredients thread

So ya as I mentioned above for my setup I will add Amino shrimps quite soon - I have been dosing algaecides like Liquid Carbo and Tetra AlguMin, thanks again to the forum it saved my time to look around/check for info ha. (and lord knows how many Algae related threads/posts I have read through ahaha...)

Aquascaping is just huge and all of us are always learning something (old or new) as time goes by - UKAPS is definitely one of the best resources out there.

 

[joshua.smith]

The tank looks lovely!

Can I ask how to you are getting on with the filter, in terms of is it to powerfull for the aquarium?

Thanks
Josh

 

[SirBuce]

The tank looks lovely!

Can I ask how to you are getting on with the filter, in terms of is it to powerfull for the aquarium?

Thanks
Josh

Thank you Josh and of course:

For the filter, same as you I previously worried about the sufficient flow/dead spots of this model for this tank (Oase filters seem to be reported lackluster on their flow powers), but so far this one is alright for the tank. I can see all the stem and carpet plants are waving/moving a bit from the flow with the lily pipe setup (as per my pictures above). I use in-line CO2 so I pay more attention on the micro bubbles as well, all seem to be good so far.

I actually worry that the flow might just be able a little too strong for the Rotala Hra (I can see very clearly they are waving a bit all the time lol) as I am observing some stunted growth on them, and the Rotala wallichii definitely wave less than the Hra (but I am not worried since these Wallichii has been growing so well in less than 3 weeks).

 

[Dan Earl A]

Tank looks great, and I'm particularly interested in how you get on as I'm also using a 55 Litre Dennerle. I'm curious about the point on filter size, as by contrast I'm using a Oase 350 thermo. There's certainly plenty of flow, and growth seems to have been great. However, when adding fish (ember tetras are the plan) this might be too much. That said, I've had advised to stick with it. I'm using an Aquario Neo Flow with skimmer, and did try to use the provided diffuser for a short time but that really did decrease the flow too much in my opinion. Now thinking of trying the lilly pipe that's available to hopefully strike a happy medium. Even despite the high flow rate I will say that the shrimps seem unbothered.

 

[SirBuce]

Tank looks great, and I'm particularly interested in how you get on as I'm also using a 55 Litre Dennerle. I'm curious about the point on filter size, as by contrast I'm using a Oase 350 thermo. There's certainly plenty of flow, and growth seems to have been great. However, when adding fish (ember tetras are the plan) this might be too much. That said, I've had advised to stick with it. I'm using an Aquario Neo Flow with skimmer, and did try to use the provided diffuser for a short time but that really did decrease the flow too much in my opinion. Now thinking of trying the lilly pipe that's available to hopefully strike a happy medium. Even despite the high flow rate I will say that the shrimps seem unbothered.

Aha I am running a Biomaster 250 for my turtle tank (My Turtle Vivarium with Buce (98L)) which is basically a ~100L tank but only with around 60-70L water (it is a vivarium ha) - the flow is just perfect for the length (80cm) of tank from the default Oase outlet spray bar (set at left side of the tank), and the inlet is at the top left corner. The 7 Endlers are happy in it (sometimes they like to swim against the wave ha). I do notice the flow decreases after awhile and then remains a good flow (the flow was definitely stronger for the first ~2 months), I set the inflow/outflow 'Max' - that's where I noticed that you can't really adjust the flow if you swapped out the default Oase inlet/outlet to lily pipes - that leads me getting this Oase Filtosmart 100 for this Dennerle 55L tank project (I assume smaller size = smaller flow, according to their spec sheets ha).

So I actually wouldn't mind to get another Biomaster 250 for this 55L tank but I thought it might be a bit of 'overkill' as I mainly get the Biomaster 250 for the high bioloads from the turtles, and I am keen to try out Oase's smaller version of Biomaster - it is so far so good for this 55L tank. The only annoying part is that it is a bit tricky when I do maintenance but overall still manageable. I haven't added fish yet so I can't be 100% sure but I think the guppies and CPDs from my other tank should do fine here (I plan to move them over once the tank is cycled fully).

You could give lily pipe a go for sure! FZONE ones are at incredible value on Amazon (like £10 for one - you can return it if you didn't like it within 1 month aha).

 

[SirBuce]

Just when I thought that I am getting the hang of this hobby - I was expecting some uneventful first few weeks but oh how wrong I was🤣

Updates/Progression/Timelines:

22May-28May Recap Week-1: For first week I did WC 4 times (figuring out what's the best/easiest way to change near 25L of water), I am glad I have the electronic gravel cleaner/syphon. No fert dosed, and I dosed Liquid Carbo (1mL) and Tetra Algumin (5-10mL) after each WC. Water test result showed presence of Ammonia/Nitriate/Nitrate.

29May-4Jun Week-2: For second week, I did only WC 2 times seeing that my cycle has been kicked off nicely since first week. Test result already showed Ammonia 0 (Nitrite 0.5-1, Nitrate 40-80 ppm). I was so worried about algae - but dang there was virtually ZERO ALGAE. Well actually some green spots on the suction cup of the pH drop checker and airstone - I washed them off and they are gone for good. Still no fert dosed, and I dosed Liquid Carbo (1mL) and Tetra Algumin (5-10mL) after each WC. Stopped by LFS and they still have MonteCarlo 1-2-3Grow - why not I said, I got 2 more pots and planted them 😅 I was so worried about algae lol. Growth of Wallichii was delightful to see; but somehow Rotalas Hra and Bonsai were 'meh' to me - I thought CO2 is supposed to make them growing mad. Same for Monte Carlo🤨. I thought the Buces adapted well, and the mosses are starting to look greener by day. And oh Twinstar CO2/O2 diffuser has arrived - I have been using for O2/aeration - looks good enough to me! Light intensity adjusted to 75% (for 8hours) I saw some good amount of copepods in the tank already - very goooddd added Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' from my RC Jungle

5-11Jun Week-3: I did WC 2 times (I was thinking to just do it once) - midweek test result showed Ammonia 0 and Nitrite 0.25-0.5, Nitrate 40-80 ppm - I was really hoping to see better test results lol. Virtually ZERO ALGAE - I was feeling greatttt Wallichii has been growing steadily well but for the rest of the plants.... It wasn't obvious until after the weekend of 2nd week, I started to notice some of the top/new leaves of Rotala Hra were not doing well (gone pale, and falling off) - PANIC MODE. I cut off some of these weak top shoots (the middle/bottom stems were alright/no bad signs). My first hunch was that there could be some toxicity from the algaecide (I nearly finished this bottle of 250ml Tetra Algumin in about 3 weeks....) - WC and Prime for the next 2 days. No improvement for the next 2 days for the Rotala Hra - and I also started to see Rotala Bonsai not doing well as well (leaves near the top gone pale/thin). These dramatic signs almost look like 'melting' that I would have expected to see it on Wallichii (new to me) rather than these 2 Rotalas (Hra, Bonsai) that I thought I know them well (Hra is absolutely thriving in My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Jungle (30L) lol) The confirmation of nutrition deficiency: when I was looking closely at the MonteCarlo (the growth has been very 'meh' to me) - AHA dwarf new leaves - well 'full EI' treatment time. I started the treatment near the end of 3rd week. Removed all snails from the tank :'( Looks like I will have to wait abit longer for the the cycling... (ignore the tall Rotala Hra - I moved 3 stems of them from the RC jungle ha)

5-11Jun Entering Week-4: Started the 'full EI' treatment from the Friday of 3rd week: well, mainly to pump up water column with TSN (and with some small dosage of TPN + MasterLine I/II if I did small WC in evening). The effect is dramatic - the 'stunted' growth of plants almost halted right away damn. By Sunday I didn't see any new pale leaves anymore. Feelsss gooodd. Today (Monday) I tested the TDS at 600 (after I pumped 2ml of TSN in the morning) - I decided to do a WC in the evening (I just did and the TDS gone down to 450) I turned on the light to full 100% ('Shrimp' default setting, as it does well for my other tank - instead of have R:G:B 100:100:100) when I started the treatment - still visually no sign of algae😎 Finger crossed all things will go smooth from now on...

 

[SirBuce]

Some new lessons for me:

1) Rotala Hra to me now looks like it prefers a more 'matured' tank to grow in - this doesn't surprise me as I already knew some plants are known to have this preference (like the famous UG). So ya for my next project I am going to first cycle an empty tank with just the soil+substrate...

2) The relationship of pH/KH and CO2 (the stuff that I read since last Friday 😵 this is a long story short below)
As I am still trying to figure out a good CO2 injection routine (aims to get 1 pH drop at the peak of the day), my awesome tap water with consistent KH 0 caught my attention.
The pH drop of this new tank is not consistent enough but it is getting better - I don't mind that since it is still cycling - I am wondering if raising a bit KH would help.
Well, the drop of pH down to as low as 5.3 also had me worried on whether that would hurt the bacteria/cycling process but it was a false alarm after I did some readings ha (Nitrification in a Biofilm at Low pH Values: Role of In Situ Microenvironments and Acid Tolerance).

So ya, I thought I should give it a try to raise KH to 2-3 with some salts, also hoping to raise up the pH (to see if I could match closer to my other tanks which are near or around pH 6, without CO2):

1. part of the reasons the TDS shot up to 600 is because I was adding some Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) and API aquarium salt (supposed to be a mix of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, and sodium chloride), I put in like 1-2 teaspoons of them (both didn't even nudge the KH/pH at all, as expected)
2. added sodium bicarb that does the job (2g raised like 3 KH) in the evening

The overall goal is more or less to ensure the plants are doing well (with the 'full EI' treatment and utilizing CO2 'better'), also maybe indirectly helping the cycle progress - once the cycling is complete, I will need to figure out whether do I (slightly) remineralize my tap water going forward.

3) Seems very obvious now for a 'high tech' tank setup (such light and CO2), is very obvious now I should have been dosing fert from the start (at least start from small dosage)😅😂

 

[Hufsa]

There is no need to add 3 degrees KH. Many people would give their left leg to have 0 dKH out of the tap 😅 If you want a little bit of KH for some reason, 0.5 - 1 will be fine. Most of the fancy plants we grow nowadays like low KH, so theres no reason to make things harder than they need to be, no pun intended 😊

 

[Hanuman]

There is no need to add 3 degrees KH. Many people would give their left leg to have 0 dKH out of the tap 😅

I'd give more than that.

@SirBuce There is absolutely no reason to add any KH unless you are using a bare tank.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

1. API aquarium salt (supposed to be a mix of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, magnesium sulfate, potassium chloride, and sodium chloride), I put in like 1-2 teaspoons of them (both didn't even nudge the KH/pH at all, as expected)
2. added sodium bicarb that does the job (2g raised like 3 KH) in the evening

Personally I probably wouldn't use either the sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or the API Aquarium Salt. In both cases it is the <"sodium (Na) content"> I don't like.

Well, the drop of pH down to as low as 5.3 also had me worried on whether that would hurt the bacteria/cycling process but it was a false alarm after I did some readings ha (Nitrification in a Biofilm at Low pH Values: Role of In Situ Microenvironments and Acid Tolerance).

That is the one. There is plenty of "new" research on <"nitrification in aquarium filters"> and at low pH, just not much of it has trickled down to the Aquarium industry - <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee">.

cheers Darrel

 

[SirBuce]

There is no need to add 3 degrees KH. Many people would give their left leg to have 0 dKH out of the tap 😅 If you want a little bit of KH for some reason, 0.5 - 1 will be fine. Most of the fancy plants we grow nowadays like low KH, so theres no reason to make things harder than they need to be, no pun intended 😊

I'd give more than that.

@SirBuce There is absolutely no reason to add any KH unless you are using a bare tank.

aha duly noted. Indeed I am quite happy with my tap water but it is my first time using CO2, so all those CO2 charts out there are not applicable for pH < 6 so I thought I could adjust the KH for experiment - not really helping after all ha.

Hi all,

Personally I probably wouldn't use either the sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or the API Aquarium Salt. In both cases it is the <"sodium (Na) content"> I don't like.

That is the one. There is plenty of "new" research on <"nitrification in aquarium filters"> and at low pH, just not much of it has trickled down to the Aquarium industry - <"Correspondence with Dr Ryan Newton - School of Freshwater Sciences, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee">.

cheers Darrel

cheers thanks Darrel - that should really be a sticky lol wonderful info as always!

 

[SirBuce]

A quick update on the tank that the cycling was completed in just about a month - tested Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate 0/0/5 on Monday 19Jun23.

I know I know test kit etc - I still think it is a good tool when setting up a tank - it felt good to see the confirmation lol.

On Tuesday I put in 5 RC shrimps from My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Jungle (30L) that eventually I will move all habitants from there over this new tank. I am not in a hurry so I am letting the tank to settle better this week before I do the big move (will likely move some of the fish in the next few days). I have ordered some Amanos and Sakura Red neos (about time to inject some new genes to the pool after a year) that I will tell the seller to send them next week ha.

So I did 'full EI' treatment for about 10 days (9-18Jun; 1 WC every 5 days) - all plants have been showing good new leaves since.

For this week, I will do a total of 2 WC - and I am putting half of the 'full EI treatment' fert this week. All plants look nice except I thought the MC carpet would spread better by now lol. I am also hoping to see some pearling but not really (some pearls can be seen on some of the plants but no actual 'pearling').

I still have virtually no algae at all and I have been running R/G/B:98/98/98 for like a week now. And just yesterday I started to prolong the lighting period to 10 hours (from 7 to 8 to 9 now to 10 loi). I am starting to wonder if this Chihiros WRGBII Slim 45 is not strong enough...

Now that I have the tank more or less stables down, I hope I will get confident with this CO2/pH fluctuation.

pH drop checker and CO2 bubble count:
So after a few weeks using the pH drop checker at different positions of the tank, the CO2 flow is ok to me (turns green after 1-2 hours after CO2 injection is on, and could get nearly yellow even at the position quite close to the ground). I have been running around 2-3 bubbles per second.

pH is near 5.7-5.8 before CO2 injection, and goes as low as 5.2-5.3 near 'peak hour' (after 5/6 hours of injection), and then in the evening it goes back to around 5.5 after 2-3 hours switching off CO2 injection. All these readings are quite consistent for about 3 weeks now while I have good aeration permanently on day/night. The pH range 5.3-5.8 should be ok as my 2 other tanks are at around the similar pH range (the tap water nowadays is 6.5pH, 0 KH, 7+GH) - I tried the above mentioned experiment raising the KH but I just don't see much benefits from that.

So ya, I am almost certain that I have been injecting nearly 20-30ppm of CO2 but I couldn't get the 1 pH drop confirmation (as mentioned by many CO2 guides). Will see if I need to read more or further tweaking the setup...(any guidance here would be highly appreciated lol).

 

[Hanuman]

so all those CO2 charts out there are not applicable for pH < 6

They are completely useless for our use. If you look carefully at these charts, they assume CO2 concentration increases with KH 🤨 - Yeah not happening. For instance look at PH 7 - KH 10. Chart says you have 30ppm of CO2. Right. In other words you wouldn't need to inject any CO2 😂. That would be a glorious day.
In reality your CO2 concentration reaches atmospheric equilibrium at around 3 ppm without any CO2 injection and regardless of KH.

 

[SirBuce]

They are completely useless for our use. If you look carefully at these charts, they assume CO2 concentration increases with KH 🤨 - Yeah not happening. For instance look at PH 7 - KH 10. Chart says you have 30ppm of CO2. Right. In other words you wouldn't need to inject any CO2 😂. That would be a glorious day.
In reality your CO2 concentration reaches atmospheric equilibrium at around 3 ppm without any CO2 injection and regardless of KH.

thanks @Hanuman 😂😂yes I completely ignore those numbers above pH 7 as they don't make sense aha (and also irrelevant to me due to this tap water, lord knows what would I need to add to see pH above 7.5 in my tanks lol).

So that 1 pH drop point (30ppm) can depend on the water/setup as well right?

Do we rely more on the pH drop checker? I'm not fully confident as this pH liquid I got is a generic Chinese one from Amazon (comes with the Ada style drop checker), quite annoyed that even the seller doesn't know if the liquid is indicating yellow for > 20ppm or >30ppm lmao.

 

[SirBuce]

July was absolutely crazy busy month, and damn I can't believe that we are well into August🫠

Main updates are:

• I switched to Oase Filtosmart 200T at the beginning of Aug23 - my face when I realized 200 version is like 3x 4x the size of 100 (with only 10euro difference...), should have gone with 200 in the first place ha. The flow rate of 100 is just not sufficient for a tank with this plant mass (flow rate data from Oase on their filters is rather exaggerated IMO - at least for planted tanks, from my experience so far anyway). I am going to use the 100 for the upcoming 30L RC Jungle ver2 so all is good.
• Background plants are looking better and starting to show their orange/red-ish colours 🥰🥰 ahh I am so happy this is finally happening after like nearly 3 months - can't wait to see them after a couple more weeks. In hindsight, I should really have pumped up the ferts at the beginning of the setup (could have avoided the nutrients deficiency phase....), I maybe could use a more powerful light as well for such plant mass - lessons learnt and I must say I feel really good from the learning and exploration in this aquascaping journey so far ha...
• I can't help but wonder how some other hobbyists could achieve the same/better results in a couple of weeks (obviously experience matters), and that leads to my rant -
• so ya I am rather pissed off that the carpet didn't work out well 🤣 I see some new growth but the MC simply are not spreading/growing as I hope for. Half the reasons I went for such high tech set up is hoping to get a nice carpet😅😰

Late Jun23: after moving all the inhabitants from the RC Jungle ha

Jul23:

Aug23:

Chasing the carpet:

My first suspicion of course whether if the CO2 sufficiently reached the carpet layer - the pH check dropper is consistent on piss yellow colour at such low position so I am rather confident on that...
Or it is the inline CO2 problem - from reading info everywhere, most seems to say that inline CO2/reactor works great so I am not sure if my MC is just being picky here. I plan to switch to using diffusor if I don't see much improvement in a bout 2 weeks time...

Secondly, probably my bad of using generous amount of MC (3 in vitro cups iirc), I should have spread them out more thinly rather than putting in a small bunches of them. Thirdly, I also suspect on this Dennerle's aquasoil - the size of it probably is not great for MC to root appropriately but I can't see how this could be the main issue here...

Additionally, I removed the aeriation since I changed to this bigger filter - the behaviour of the inhabitants indicate that they are fine and I always make sure the lily pipe is slightly splashing the surface water at all time. Here is to hope maybe the aeration has been messing with the dissolved CO2 level? (I read that the aeration shouldn't impact the level of dissolved CO2 but still ye...)

So ya I gave the MC a good trim and pressing them (+ soil) down as much as I could, I felt that maybe indeed it was the soil wasn't 'tight' enough for the MC to root on. Finger crossed and we will see...

 

[SirBuce]

It is really depressing whenever I saw one of those "3weeks in look at my gorgeous carpet" aha🫠

Monthly update - Sep23:

• MC shows good growth I thought but still not ideal to me (some of them colours look off to me), so I did another small trim and found out actually a couple of patches are more or less died off (more obvious after I cut some of the tops off).
• Added Chihiros Shades with mirror that I have been suspecting maybe the light is not strong enough...(more on this in a new post actually)
• Experimented with the Lightground film (Orange/Green), the effect is interesting but aye it is no go for me aha. I also tried putting ADA film upside down (white on top vs the usual blue on top), let me know if you think whichever looks better ha.
• I think I am quite hands on with CO2 injection at this stage as after few months of learning - the pH dropper is always yellow regardless where I positions it, and I see pearling from the plants 3-4 hours after light is on (8 hours lights in total), especially seeing the nice pearling from the Rotalas (mainly Hra and Wallichii). The degassed water (after I took out a cup sits at room temp overnight) more often near pH 6 (tap water usually is around 6.5); during the day it would get to ph 5 or 4.9 ish when CO2 is on.
• Added Mosquito Rasboras this week! OMG I am in love with them! I never have the luck to get any Chili Rasboras (that's what I wanted since beginning of year) in Dublin and ya since I saw them when I was visiting a LFS that I dont go often so I must have them. This very interesting looking fish doesn't do justice from photos/online pics. I am going to get more (mainly for the next project ha - ver2 of My First Aquascape - Red Cherry Jungle (30L)).

Early-mid Sep23:

1 week after the trim, I noticed the growth of some of the MC patches are 'dodgy' - I pulled out small patch of them near the centre basically they are dead/yellow.
Stopped by LFS and saw that they have this MC in pot....ok, I will give it one last try (maybe I just had some super bad luck with these invitro MC cups?), this time I will use the trick like having small bits of the rockwool attached to these MC and plant them. (The Anubias Petite is for the next project aha)

 

[SirBuce]

I know I know I should be patient in this hobby etc - but I have been seriously suspecting maybe the light (Chihiros WRGB2 45 Slim) is not strong enough for this Dutch setup?

I measured the PAR with the app Photone (good enough brief estimation with a phone), outside of water, the light gives near 120 PAR directly on substrate level (I measured it vertically under the light)- so gives or takes I still get 30-60+ PAR around the front/back/corner areas under water. This should be enough for 45cm long tank setup for most plants right? And that's what I thought Chihiros is quite smart to release Slim version lights as they are exactly what most people need.

But looking at the Rotala Wallichii (left side of the tank) and the Rotala Hra (right side) - ah, if I see my own pics online I would have doubts on what they are lol.

Do I really need the Chihiros WRGB2 45 normal/non-Slim version?

Looking around forums I have seen some successful similar Dutch tank setups but with Slim version of 60 (for their 60cm long tanks), the specification of Slim 60 is quite stronger of course...

So admittedly I had some bad start (the first 1-2 months) with the deficiency, and also I was doing 4hr-siesta-4hr light schedule for the past 2 months (it fits my schedule better and I was doing that for other non CO2 tanks as well) -
presumably all that contributed the colours from the Rotalas? I switched to 8hr straight light on (with 8hr CO2) this week so we will see if that helps with the colours....

I mean sure, I can be patience to let the plants take their time and give them a couple of trims in the next couple months - but ya I just can't stop thinking if I would be better off 'upgrading' the light lol (can always sell the Slim 45 at a good price I am sure).

As usual, any advice/comment are welcome 😇

 

[chickennublet]

I know I know I should be patient in this hobby etc - but I have been seriously suspecting maybe the light (Chihiros WRGB2 45 Slim) is not strong enough for this Dutch setup?

I measured the PAR with the app Photone (good enough brief estimation with a phone), outside of water, the light gives near 120 PAR directly on substrate level (I measured it vertically under the light)- so gives or takes I still get 30-60+ PAR around the front/back/corner areas under water. This should be enough for 45cm long tank setup for most plants right? And that's what I thought Chihiros is quite smart to release Slim version lights as they are exactly what most people need.

But looking at the Rotala Wallichii (left side of the tank) and the Rotala Hra (right side) - ah, if I see my own pics online I would have doubts on what they are lol.

Do I really need the Chihiros WRGB2 45 normal/non-Slim version?

Looking around forums I have seen some successful similar Dutch tank setups but with Slim version of 60 (for their 60cm long tanks), the specification of Slim 60 is quite stronger of course...

So admittedly I had some bad start (the first 1-2 months) with the deficiency, and also I was doing 4hr-siesta-4hr light schedule for the past 2 months (it fits my schedule better and I was doing that for other non CO2 tanks as well) -
presumably all that contributed the colours from the Rotalas? I switched to 8hr straight light on (with 8hr CO2, 1hr before the light is on/off) this week so we will see if that helps with the colours....

I mean sure, I can be patience to let the plants take their time and give them a couple of trims in the next couple months - but ya I just can't stop thinking if I would be better off 'upgrading' the light lol (can always sell the Slim 45 at a good price I am sure).

As usual, any advice/comment are welcome 😇

I just read through most of the journal.

I don't think the light is the issue. The Slim should be plenty bright enough to light up a tank of your size. I'm using the Slim myself at less than half your settings. Granted, i'm not growing any carpeting plants, but everything in my tank is growing well (except for the Cryptocoryne I added a few weeks ago which are taking a bit of time to adjust).

A few thoughts

1. Should have dosed liquid fertiliser immediately (which you already know). That said, you don't need a lot.
2. The extra aeration from the air stone was probably unnecessary
3. Siesta was also unnecessary.

Even so, I doubt any of these 3 things would have hurt your aquarium at all.

I read in one of earlier posts that your pH hovers around 5.7 to 5.8 before CO2 injection and then drops to 5.2 to 5.3 after 5 to 6 hours of CO2 injection. Is that still the case? Your latest post says that pH gets to 5 to 4.9 in the day. Does it still take 5 to 6 hours of CO2 to get there?

Also want to ask what is your current fertiliser regime.