• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up
  • You can now follow UKAPS on Instagram.

TLH's Tank

Loving how the tank is coming along TLH, can't waitg to see so some more photos once its grown in a little. Should look great :D
With regards to dosing, it's probably best to go read Ceg's wonderful thread on EI dosing in the tutorials section EI DOSING USING DRY SALTS
It's a great read, but may take you a few reads before you get your head round it. The post has a section where it tells you the mixture for a 20 gallon tank. You just need to change the mixture accordingly to your tank size. Further in the thread there's a link to a handy utilty called Nutricalc which when you enter your tank details into it, it will work out the dosing for you :)
 
Blackouts done and the tank is clean, well cleaner anyway. I removed as much crap as I could see and get to. Unfortunately I lost one of the Oto's as I can only see two anywhere now. They both look healthy though and they are the two bigger ones out of the three I had.

I'm getting some hozelock stuff for a waterchanger. I got some hose here that I plan to use, it's Draper garden hose, brand new. Is it ok for the fish if it says "not for potable water" on it or is that just them covering their butts against human consumption from it? Do you use garden hose in your changers?

On dry ferts I'm trying to work out the calculator thingy. In the boxes for 'Source' I take it you put the values of your tap water. Is that right? Also is it mg/l thats parts per million or ug/l? My water report says 1030 ug/l for phosphorus so how much phospate is that?

Edit; can't speel for toffee
 
Does this look about right for dosing?

This is my water report... http://commercial.geodesys.com/waterqua ... h_RW07.pdf

nutricalc1_7dceb7e302517cad7f7f32482bb79985.JPG
 
Can someone check the above pic and dosing specs for me please? I just need a confirmation I've filled in the source correctly and everything looks ok.

Thanks.
 
Hmm, I think it's a really bad idea to fill in the "Source ppm" boxes. Have you gotten those numbers from a water report, or a test kit reading? I'd leave them blank and let the program give you real dosing numbers. After observing growth for many weeks, only then would I think about adjusting down if necessary.

Cheers,
 
Numbers are from the water report I posted the link to. I thought that was what the source box was for? Atleast that is what the program itself seems to say. Maybe as were doing a 50% water change every week those numbers should be cut in half perhaps?

Surely the tap water contains some of what we need to dose though. I accept that the report is for 2007/2008 and the actual readings may be different now but it's the closest I'm going to get and probably won't be that far off.
 
When it comes to macro-nutrients I don't trust any water report. It's up to you, but the algae section of this forum is littered with stories of the results when tanks were dosed with the assumption that tap was high in nutrients. As discussed many times before, having higher levels than you need is never a problem but having less than you need is always a problem. Water changes are not related to controlling nutrient levels, they are related to cleanliness.

Cheers,
 
Good point about having more is never a problem. I'll see how I go and adjust as necessary. I was just asking to get an idea of how much I'd need to order of each.

Thanks.
 
Ok, quick question. What's your photo period length. I cut mine down to 7.5hrs after the BGA outbreak. Now that everything is growing well again what's the best period to go for? Is 10 hours too much?
 
Hi,

I've only really bothered about the level of phosphates in my tap water as they are very high in Edinburgh. I got the results for the last year from the local water board and was interested to see the ppm ranging from 5 to 9 throughout the year.

What i'm getting at is that the levels of the base water of nutrients are not going to be constant throughout the year in all water boards so it is probably best not to rely to it in your initial dosing calculations too much.

Best Regards,

John
 
zerosimon said:
more is better
Click to expand...
More is definitely NOT better. More lighting creates a higher demand for nutrients and CO2. If these demands are not met, algae is a natural consequence. I'd be more concerned about the light intensity than the photoperiod, although, as Aaron points out, plants only use 8-10 hours of light anyway and they start to shut down after that period. The proposed 9 hour photoperiod is fine.

Cheers,
 
Great, thanks for that confirmation chaps. I was on just 7.5hrs and I've just upped it to 8.25hrs. It's a 2x54w T5ho fixture
 
I should hopefully be getting some cherry shrimp this weekend for free. Just have to collect them is all, she's going to do the trapping and collection. Anything I need to know or do I just treat them like my Amano's and let them get on with it?
 
Full grown cherries can be treated like amanos. Any small shrimplets risk getting sucked into the filter. Many people report that they can survive once in the filter, but that is not something I'd like to test for myself.

So I covered my inlet strainer in foam to prevent this. It does slow the filters flow a touch. If you go this route, just remember to clean it regularly or your flow can be crippled.
 
They can survive inside the filter, only last week I opened mine up for cleaning and there must've been at least 30 odd of the little critters living in there.
 
I do have a sponge I can use but I think they will all be about 20mm anyway. That won't stop any new babies getting sucked up though. I'm going to put some in my old 2 foot tank and have the best coloured ones in the big tank.

One of my amanos lived inside the fluval 104 for a few days so I know they should be ok. It must have got down the top of the surface skimmer I had. When I popped open the fluval and pulled the sponges out it was off across the carpet like the clappers, I had to act pretty fast just to catch it. They can jump pretty well.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top