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The Tropical Man of Storr

pat1cp

pat1cp

Member
Joined
6 Oct 2021
Messages
242
Location
Ballater, Aberdeenshire
My first journal, so go easy.

80cm APS Optiwhite tank.
Eheim Ecco 300 and Oase 250 Filtration.
Tropica Aqua Soil
About 20 Kg of hardscape.

The last picture was taken last night, do I start trimming yet?
 

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Off to a good start! I usually do first trim when plants just hit the surface so you can replant a longer length of stronger/colored growth, but no idea if thats the best moment :)
 
Forgot to mention, I'm also after some stocking advice. There's about 12 shrimp in there, I'll probably stick 6 oto's in this weekend, but the rest is a blank canvas so to speak.
 
Wolf6 said:
Looks like some shrimp could help here!
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There are about a dozen in there, they survived the 3 and a bit day power cut. I'll maybe add some more. In my "LIMITED" experience, RCS do little to combat a full on diatom outbreak. But I guess every little helps.
 
pat1cp said:
There are about a dozen in there, they survived the 3 and a bit day power cut. I'll maybe add some more. In my "LIMITED" experience, RCS do little to combat a full on diatom outbreak. But I guess every little helps.
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I meant amano :) rcs don't do much in my experience too
 
pat1cp said:
Blimey, it looks worse in that photo than I thought it was, maybe I'm not out the other side :confused:
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It's hard to tell from a photo, but you may have a few plant health issues going on in amongst the diatoms. What level are you running your light at (and what model is it), and what is your fert regime? Your drop checker is a bit darker than I'd want it too, so you may need to tweak your CO2 upwards a bit.
 
Wookii said:
It's hard to tell from a photo, but you may have a few plant health issues going on in amongst the diatoms. What level are you running your light at (and what model is it), and what is your fert regime? Your drop checker is a bit darker than I'd want it too, so you may need to tweak your CO2 upwards a bit.
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Thanks for the input @Wookii . The light is a Chihirios WRGB II, on for 7 hours a day at 60% with a 30 minute ramp up/down. The CO2 comes on an hour before lights on and off 1 hour prior to lights off. The picture was taken soon after lights on, the drop checker does get lighter later in the photoperiod.

Edit........Forgot about ferts, I'm dosing 10ml TNC Complete 3 times a week.

I was thinking of doing a bit of a hack back, and removing some of the diatoms that way.
 
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pat1cp said:
Thanks for the input @Wookii . The light is a Chihirios WRGB II, on for 7 hours a day at 60% with a 30 minute ramp up/down. The CO2 comes on an hour before lights on and off 1 hour prior to lights off. The picture was taken soon after lights on, the drop checker does get lighter later in the photoperiod.

I was thinking of doing a bit of a hack back, and removing some of the diatoms that way.
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You could dial the lights back a bit to take the pressure off, the WGBII put out a lot of light, and you can see some GSA forming on the rocks already. On the drop checker you want that at a light green by the time the lights come on, and staying the same colour for the entire photo period, so keep adjusting the CO2 start time by half an hour until you achieve that. 2-4 hours is typical for most people depending on the tank and injection method - not many people get there in an hour.

Yea, I would have a good trim as it will encourage new growth, and remove as much of the diatoms as you can, and replant as many good tops as you can to increase the plant mass.

You didn't mention what ferts you are using?
 
pat1cp said:
Sorry, I edited my response. 10ml TNC Complete 3 times a week.
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You may want to increase that. Assuming you are aiming for EI targets, you'll need to dose that amount daily (probably slightly more - say 12ml daily), 7 days a week. If you want to only dose 3 times a week, then 30ml per dose. That still only gets you to EI targets for micros and K, it's still half the EI dose for N, P and Mg.

Longer term on a 140 litre tank, you might want to consider dry salts - it'll be much cheaper and give you the correct amounts of each nutrient:

Ei Starter 1 Kit with Bottles - Starter Kits - Dry Chemicals - Fertilisers

If you're wanting to start Ei dosing or PMDD and not sure where to start, this is the right package for you. You get all you need, all you need to do, is pop them in the bottle and mix, whatever mixture you are creating, you will get plenty of dry salts
www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk

(When they have it in stock)
 
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Many thanks for the advice @Wookii .

I'll up the dosing to daily, up the CO2 and dial back the lighting and have a bit of a trim. I'll have a manual assault on the GSA too.
 
The chihiros wrgb 2 puts out a lot of light. On my tank (120x50x55) I have it set to 45% for 6 hours including the ramp up ramp down. I intend to increase that to 55% max for 7 hours but I already have some gsa and bba appearing so am very wary. My plants grow alright at this intensity, but don't have very demanding plants. I think 50% is already enough for even demanding plants.
 
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