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The journey - 7 Months in

ian_m said:
If you start with light too high and on too long, without sufficient CO2 and ferts you will kill/starve the plants. The dying plants will leach organics into the water feeding algae.

This is why so many "beginners" end up with algae farms. They add masses of light on for 12 hours or more thinking that will really make the plants grow wonderfully, where as in reality they are vaporising their plants and converting them into prime algae food.

Starting with T8 (no reflectors) for say 4 hours can be a really good start for first couple on months until you master CO2 and plants settle down.
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Would the plants I choose not die though?
 
Greenfinger2 said:
Hi Bacms, No your plants won't die ;) As this is your first planted tank This info on start ups Could help ??

http://tropica.com/en/guide/get-the-right-start/tropica-app/
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Thank you for the link I have download the app and won't start planting until the 16th when I return from holiday. I still have some holidays left anyway so I am thinking in actually taking a couple more days and stay at home for the first two days plus the weekend so I can keep an eye on CO2 levels across the day.

I am however now even more confused though. If people say plants need higher light to succeed I would assume they would die if not enough light is provided. From your words I understand they would simply slow their growth is this right?
 
Plants need light. They will grow with any light level (not quite true needs to be above a certain minimum) just with more light some "thrive" better, which is what the Tropica app is referring to with "high light" plants. Many people have grown HC, a so called "high light" plant with plain old T8 tubes, no problems. It's just that with low light it grows very slowly.
 
Got you thank you very much so I will start with the T8s and the recommended 6 hours/day. If I start having problems managing CO2 then will drop the photo period even more. Thank you for clearing some of the myths and meanings of low/high light
 
When I go on holiday I drop my T5's with reflectors down to 3 hours from 8 hours (and CO2) over a couple of weeks before going away to slow the whole tank down. Most plants grow slow to almost stopped whilst I am away, generating less waste and meaning frequent water changes don't need to happen. All recover fine once I get back and turn lighting on to full 8 hours.
 
ian_m said:
When I go on holiday I drop my T5's with reflectors down to 3 hours from 8 hours (and CO2) over a couple of weeks before going away to slow the whole tank down. Most plants grow slow to almost stopped whilst I am away, generating less waste and meaning frequent water changes don't need to happen. All recover fine once I get back and turn lighting on to full 8 hours.
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That is good to know since as a foreigner I tend to do 3/4 holidays a year of at least a week and was wondering how plants would cope with it. Will still wait anyway for now so I can get the new filter running along the existing one for a bit so I can remove the internal one when I am back and be done with it.

The good news is all the previous occupiers of the tank have found a new home. So a new acrylic bar that will serve as the spray bar as been ordered and the wood and rocks have gone in for soaking. They have already been boiled.
 
Here are some pictures of the planned landscape inside the tank
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Also played with some variations but still think I prefer the original one just need to sort a few details with the wood position and the fact that the left side is now looking quite empty
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Bacms said:
That is good to know since as a foreigner I tend to do 3/4 holidays a year of at least a week and was wondering how plants would cope with it
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You obviously need to dose ferts (and fish food) whilst away for more than a couple of days, as well. If reducing light time, reduce CO2 time and reduce ferts amount.

I went away for 3 weeks in 2012 (Florida, Disney) so water changes were pushed up to 5 weeks. So reducing light, CO2 and ferts I came back to alive fish & plants and no algae. Plants were not as green as I would have liked, but soon recovered when light, CO2 and ferts (and water changes) were back to normal amounts.
 
A quick update today just to let you know where I stand. I have built a DIY spray bar to cover the entire back of the tank and it seems water hits the front with strength. I still feel however the left side on the picture may need to be improved as with the side exit there is an are of about 10cm with no flow.
I have started to soak a bit more of wood and received the new tubes here is a couple of pictures with just the Zoomed florasun and then florasun+Grobeam
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Filter seems to be although be on the downward nitrate peak even though it has only be plugged a week ago and I only forced the ammonia levels to go up last Friday
 
I am on holidays in Portugal and decided to visit the current exhibition by Amano at the Lisbon aquarium, it is quite impressive so I would recommended anyone that can to go and have a look. One of the things I really liked about was the extensive use of moss and anubias to integrate the hardscape into a continuum with the plants . For this reason I am thinking in adding some anubias and some more moss to my plant order. What do you guys think it would work better specially given the hard water (KH14) I have in Cambridge. I already ordered some phoenix moss on a mesh pad which I intend to add to position 3 in the picture as it grows slowly and I don't want it to overtake the rocks but rather to get confined to the original planted area. Now the questions is which other moss should I add to attach to the wood? Was thinking in Riccia but given the amount of continuous works it requires I am thinking it may not suitable to my set-up. I don't like the look of java moss so what would be the ideal options? Also what anubias would you suggest that stay compact? I have numbered the position I am thinking in adding moss will probably use even more areas but these are the minimum ones.
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Hi Bacms,
I too stayed away from Riccia as i didn't like the idea of lots of added work but it does look great in tanks. I finally thought i would give it a go, really glad i did as it has really added to the look of the tank. Over the last 2 months of having it in the tank i have only had to re-attach it to the removable wood 3 times, so not really pushing me any more than before i used it. I attach it using netting in strips wrapped the wood and riccia and then brown cotton thread for final attachment. I have recently mixed the riccia with the off cuts of Monte carlo when trimming the carpet, this has added texture as well as making it look more natural. will add a photo when i get home from work.
Jim
 
banthaman.jm said:
Hi Bacms,
I too stayed away from Riccia as i didn't like the idea of lots of added work but it does look great in tanks. I finally thought i would give it a go, really glad i did as it has really added to the look of the tank. Over the last 2 months of having it in the tank i have only had to re-attach it to the removable wood 3 times, so not really pushing me any more than before i used it. I attach it using netting in strips wrapped the wood and riccia and then brown cotton thread for final attachment. I have recently mixed the riccia with the off cuts of Monte carlo when trimming the carpet, this has added texture as well as making it look more natural. will add a photo when i get home from work.
Jim
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Hi Jim thank you for your post. My main concern is if it detach itself while I am on holidays. For example during the Christmas period I will probably be away for 2/3 weeks. I don't want to return home and find all the plants are dead because Riccia as covered the entire surface and cut light to the bottom

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Plants are arriving between 1 and 2pm today so I was just making sure everything was ready but while assembling the CO2 kit from CO2art just found out it is leaking through the back of the pressure gage....f**k what should I do? No lights on until CO2 is sorted? Reduce lighting? I am thinking there is no one around Cambridge that can dispense a CO2 regulator for a couple of days until I receive the replacement?
 
Been on the phone with CO2art and it turns out to be the stem that connect the nut to the regulator that had come loose. Seems to be sorted now just checking there is no leaks. Managed to doge a bullet there...panic over for now
 
Spent the entire day yesterday preparing and planting the tank so ended up leaving it overnight to stabilize and lights have CO2 have just come on this morning. Apart from having to replant most of the stems, a couple of anubias and a large proportion of the HC as it keeps detaching itself from the the bottom. Injecting 3 bubbles/second at the moment and CO2 checker is green but not really lime green although I have placed on the left side of the tank which definitely has less flow. I may have to find a way to attach the pump from the internal filter I am no longer using to try and improve flow on that region.

Drop checker before lights on (CO2 on for 2h):
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Full shot of the tank, it is hard to take good pctures due to the bowfront and light reflections everywhere

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Thank you Iain I have followed your suggestion and increase the CO2 coming up by half an hour as the dropchecker is already lime-green/yellow for most of the photoperiod with the exception of the first hour or so. A few plants seem to developing holes on the leaves (specially hygrophila pinnatifida and ludwigia arcuata) and there seems to be some black/brown algae on the anubias too early to tell. Hopefully things won't start going downhill too quickly.
 
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