The journey - 7 Months in

[Ady34]

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.

The first hour or so is the most critical so getting your c02 optimised for lights on is very important. Keep tweaking it up until you get it at lime green for lights on and hopefully this will help with the issues you are beginning to suffer with the plants If you continue to have issues then you need to up c02 further, reduce lighting intensity and look at distribution.
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Bacms]

The first hour or so is the most critical so getting your c02 optimised for lights on is very important. Keep tweaking it up until you get it at lime green for lights on and hopefully this will help with the issues you are beginning to suffer with the plants If you continue to have issues then you need to up c02 further, reduce lighting intensity and look at distribution.
Cheerio,
Ady.

My main problem is that I am a bit wary of trusting that drop checker as for example CO2 has been since 14:30 it is now 19:00 and the drop checker is still pretty light green

The pogostemon erectus on the left side of the tank is also melting away shedding a large number of leaves and tops coming off. I have added the Juwel pump from the old filter to the left side to improve flow on this area although I am not sure it helps as it is pretty strong and seems to direct a lot of the water hinting the front glass upwards rather than downwards

 

[Ady34]

Hi, the issues you are suffering are classic c02 related problems. You need to add more co2 and or reduce lighting intensity. While there is no fauna in the tank you have the perfect opportunity to add as much c02 as you like without fear of gassing any critters. You can't have too much co2 for plants so go crazy with it. You will see your drop checker turn yellow and this will give your plants the best chance to adapt to life underwater. As Iain said, you can dial it back down later, but being too light on c02 in the early stages can lead to plant failure and a mess of algae.
If your drop checker isn't turning lime green or yellow it is likely because you are not adding enough c02, just add more and see if it changes. The plants are telling you there isn't sufficient c02 so trust them, if your drop checker is fouled then you can always clean it out and add fresh 4dkh water and reagent to be sure but I feel it is more a lack of c02.
Regards the extra flow, it is important to try not to create conflicting flow patterns so add the pump to the rear of the aquarium with flow direction the same as your spraybar.
Cheerio
Ady

 

[Bacms]

7 Days update. Most plants seem to be settling and I no longer to spend the mornings replanting the occasional odd plant that has decide to come lose during the evening. The only problem seems to be the ammania/rotala bonsai is turning into a green mash. The shorter stems of pogostemon erectus seem to have also lost most of their leaves but the longer ones seem to be doing fine, fingers crossed.

Here are the pictures:

 

[Marius_20]

Thank is looking good. Give him 1-2 weeks more and the plants will start to grow faster. This is how it was in my tank. And now i need to cut them weekly.

 

[Bacms]

Thank is looking good. Give him 1-2 weeks more and the plants will start to grow faster. This is how it was in my tank. And now i need to cut them weekly.

Hopefully that will be the case. I want to change to a in-line diffuser as the bazooka one seems to cause the gas to accumulate on the filter which then burps every five minutes or so, so I imagine the CO2 level is probably quite unstable.

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[Bacms]

Weekly update. Some bad news this week the Rotala 'bonzai' is officially death. Most of the stems even the ones putting new leaves are rotting away and causing some fungus to grow on it. Moreover all the plants are starting to be covered in a brown type substance which looks like a fungus so I assuming it is diatoms , please correct me if I am wrong. The plants on the right also seem to be doing a lot better than does on the left side which is probably related to the CO2 being injected on he right. I have also tarted my CO2 earlier and just installed a new in-line diffuser which will hopefully give me much better distribution. I don't think is a problem with CO2 level since my drop checker is already yellow and I am getting a pH drop from 7.3 to about 6.6 an hour after the photo period starts, not the full 1 unit but since I am in a hard water area I am guessing it is expected. Anyway enough ramblings here are the photos:

 

[Ady34]

Hi there,
If your plants are disintegrating and you are getting algae then your c02 is insufficient even if your dc is yellow. There are several remedies, increase c02 injection, reduce lighting intensity or add additional circulation to improve distribution. You could do all three which will offer the best chance and you can adjust lighting intensity back up in the future once healthy growth is seen and you're confident c02 can be balanced. Whilst you are getting melt you could also do an extra water change a week to rid the organic waste produced. If the upper parts of the plants are doing better it could simply be a sign that c02 is not reaching the lower parts of the tank so it may just be a case of addressing distribution
Cheerio,
Ady

 

[5678]

You've got similar issues to what I had in my last tank. No idea exactly what the problem was but I can only offer up some thoughts.

- What substrate are you using?
- Co2 as everyone says, I tried an inline diffuser and a gush glass in tank diffuser. Had issues with both. Using an ADA one this time and have no issues. I'm also at a lower bubble count on a bigger tank!
- Most pogostemon seem very particular with requirements. Cut your losses and get it right with easier plants first.
- change your co2 to be on 24/7. This will help with stability and avoid the swings. If your room has ambient light it will help too. (Did for me!)

 

[Edvet]

Make sure the CO2 is there (pH drop max) at the start of the lights. It's then when the plants need it most.(Or have it on 24/7 for now) And indeed distribution/flow needs to be better.

 

[Lindy]

Hi there,
If your plants are disintegrating and you are getting algae then your c02 is insufficient even if your dc is yellow. There are several remedies, increase c02 injection, reduce lighting intensity or add additional circulation to improve distribution. You could do all three which will offer the best chance and you can adjust lighting intensity back up in the future once healthy growth is seen and you're confident c02 can be balanced. Whilst you are getting melt you could also do an extra water change a week to rid the organic waste produced. If the upper parts of the plants are doing better it could simply be a sign that c02 is not reaching the lower parts of the tank so it may just be a case of addressing distribution
Cheerio,
Ady

You would do well to listen to Ady's advice.

 

[Bacms]

Thank you very much for all the replies guys I really appreciate it. I do agree with you Ady the thing is the majority of plants are doing well, with the exception of the ammania/rotala bonsai which I am starting to think I may well just pull it all out before they add even more mess to the tank. They do seem to be doing fine and then the roots start to rot and that propagates to the stem. I talked to Iain Sutherland, as he is local and was kind enough to make me a visit, and he told this is the only plant that George Farmer can't grow and even his were doing fine for ages and then one day decided to melt. So will have to find a substitute for it. I welcome suggestions by the way.

The only other bits having problem are the HC in a small are of the tank (although to be fair the rest is not spreading just growing upwards) just in front of the big rock on the left so most likely a CO2 distribution problem. Iain also mentioned he had a Vision as his first tank and never managed to get it to work due to flow problem with the Bow front and he recommended me to put the power head in the middle to help with that as for his experience the CO2 tends to flow to the sides causing a problem in the middle are, exactly where the bonsai is melting. So I am hoping that with the in-line diffuser I will be able to see the CO2 bubbles moving around and try to figure out the best distribution. I have also being doing liquid CO2 at almost double the recommended dose so lack of CO2 shouldn't really be a problem which also points to distribution problems.

As for the 5678 questions:
- What substrate are you using? -> Tropica soil and sand at the front, both with Tropica substrate underneath
- Co2 as everyone says, I tried an inline diffuser and a gush glass in tank diffuser. Had issues with both. Using an ADA one this time and have no issues. I'm also at a lower bubble count on a bigger tank! -> The ADA one would suffer from the same problem as the bazooka
- Most pogostemon seem very particular with requirements. Cut your losses and get it right with easier plants first. -> Pogostemon are doing fine is the stupid 'bonsai' that is causing problems
- change your co2 to be on 24/7. This will help with stability and avoid the swings. If your room has ambient light it will help too. (Did for me!) -> This is something I am worried as I have the ceiling lamp not too far away (2m) from the tank with a daylight bulb but I am trying to not use that lamp while I am at home anyway.

Edvet I already went through an entire bottle of sodastream CO2 in 2 weeks so having it 24/7 may be too expensive. I did increase it coming in 3 hours before as it was only 2h until about 5 days ago and will add an extra hour. But the problem with the pH drop is that it starts at 7.3 drops to about 7 in a hour and then to 6.9 and 6.8 every hour after that. I will try and extra hour on the clock and see how it reacts as having a KH12 and a GH20 makes dissolving CO2 a pain in the a**

 

[Bacms]

Weekly update everything still seems to do well with the exception of the Ammani/Rotala ''bonzai" which has mostly melt. Thinking in replacing it on the right side with a Cory Wendetii and just replant the stems from the Roatala rotundifolia once I need to trim it. Inline diffuser has now been running for a week and the tanks sounds like a can of soda while the CO2 is on and brown algae has gone down but not completely disappeared. I have upped it to the roof and have stable pH and yellow drop check on the areas I previously had problems. The plan for this week is to start reducing it so I can introduce livestock. What is the best way to go about it?

Overall picture

Side tank view my favourite viewpoint as it allows to not be influenced by the optical illusion of the bow glass. You can see the amount of bubbles on the surface and Hygrophila pinnatifidia pearling if you look really close.

Leaves pearling

Anubias still affected by the brown algae but a lot better. Need to cut a few leaves

Middle section of the carpet starting to spread

Still struggling on the left side but seems to be recovering.

Ludwigia showing some of its red

Stems on the left side still doing well. Pogostemon putting new growth

Right stems going slow after the prune last week. All a bit messy will probably need to pull them out and replant at some point

Still some brown algae but improving

Pogostemon heferi putting new leaves but growth still mainly vertical

Ammania/rotala 'bonzai" still melting

 

[Bacms]

Sorry I have been neglecting the journal for a while. The main reason for it was that the tank was in a bit of a state for a few weeks. I have added amanos and shrimp and before introducing decide to buy a TDS pen since I wanted to start diluting the tap water with RO. Well long story I found out that the sand that had came with the tank when I bought it second hand was coral sand. So decided to remove it all as careful as I could, specially given that I have tropica substrate underneath. That mean lifting and replanting the HC carpet which was finally starting to fill in. I did try and contain the mess as much as I could but adding new soil with water in resulted in bits of soil going everywhere and plants getting covered in black dust. Everything seems to have recovered and the tank is much cleaner after I added shrimp and ottos. Lost half of the ottos I have added and it seems I will probably lose an extra one in the near future even though I am keeping a courgette in the tank all the time. also tried spinach but the shrimps loved it so much that it was gone next day but ottos didn't even got closer to it.

Anyway here is how it currently looks before I trimmed the Palustris:

All good on the left side. Had a bit of melt on the pogostemon erectus but it has been all stable for two weeks now. Not sure I am a fan of the rotala bossii since it has much smaller and narrow leaves that what I expected.

Pogostemon helferi were the plants most affect by the chance in the substrate. I need to clean them at water change since the bottom leaves are covered in a thread brown mess, looks more like a fungus than an algae and rubs off easily.

Ludwigia palustris is my favourite plant in the tank. Looks fantastic I had to trim it after the photo and replanted the cut stem to increase the density just hope it looks as good very soon. On the other hand I can't make the Heteranthera zosterifolia look good. It grew like crazy when first introduced but now is growing slowly with the exception of one or two stems but the leaves look battered. If things don't improve may need to replace with something less delicate since the damage is being cause by the filter intake

 

[Iain Sutherland]

Looking great Bruno, it's really come along. Another month or so with some select trimming it with look fantastic. Don't forget to tweak the co2 as the plant mass grows


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[Bacms]

Just realized its going be 2 months tomorrow since I planted the tank. So can't think of a better reason to update this thread. Tank is going really well I have started increasing the lights levels and so far no problems. Have the TMC grobeams running at 20% for most of the photo period and added the first reflector back to the front light this weekend. If everything still looks right next week is going to be time to add the second one.

Plants are growing really well and the algae seem to have completely disappeared for now so I am hoping it doesn't come back. Only bit I am still struggling is the area near the filter intake as the plants keep getting sucked to it so the are still looks bad. Does anyone has any suggestion to remedy this?

 

[Bacms]

It will be three months next Saturday since I have started this thank.

I finally introduced the last batch of livestock into it which mean I can now fully functional.

It has been a great journey so far, from setting up my first planted tank and my first serious tropical tank. I have learnt a great deal in the process and apart from some brown algae during the first one and a half month algae hasn't really caused me any problems so far. I did have the TMC controller failing last week and still searching for a replacement which has definitely slowed down growth and made some of the reds loose intensity.

Plants have been growing well and it has been a learning experience trying to keep them under-control by uprooting and replant the runners. The last one that seems to have gone crazy if the H. pinnatifida which I am still not sure how to solve. Also got rid of the Heteranthera Zostefolia as I couldn't keep it looking good so close to the filter intake and replanted the tops from the Rotala bonsai there since they will always be below the filter so shouldn't be a problem. Only problem so far seems to be the carpet seems to have stop spreading and it is pretty much all gone from the side due to being uprooted so may have to try Monte carlo instead in there.

Anyway enough talking here are the pictures.

Full tank with special effects....

and without

H. pinnatifida going crazy with runners everywhere

Rigthside of the tank with a submerged flower from the anubias. I thought they didn't flower submerged?

New stock C. alleni "Wapoga" about 6 months so starting to get their colours

young M. rubrivittata

Baby red cherry. The pictures looses a bit of the scale but thy are tiny smaller than two spheres from the tropica soil so around 5/6mm

 

[Bacms]

Was on holiday for three weeks so was a bit worried about the health of the tank. Had a friend doing one water change in that period and apart from him not filling the tank all the way to the top which caused the spray to be above water and so CO2 on the water column has been a lot lower than normal. Not much damaged done it seems but there are some pinholes on the H. pinnatifida. Apart from having to massively trimm the mosses and runners on E. tenellus and H pinnatifida everything else looks fine. Just letting plants grow at the moment

 

[Greenfinger2]

Hi Bacms, You were lucky Gad they did not do to much damage

Scape is looking great even so

 

[Bacms]

Thank you Greenfinger definitely very lucky.

Here is a quick video I made since plants were pearling like I never seen them yesterday