# Dan's ADA 45p - A Blank Canvas



## xmas_one (Feb 5, 2010)

I really like the first one.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Latest scape idea:



The next question is what plants/ fish to stock it with...

Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

and then you turn the piece of wood upside down and find a million other scape you could do..








Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Might be onto a winner now? (getting obsessed with this)


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

This is where things are up to now.

Scape:



Gonna be auto-dosing EI through these:



New stand



Currently installing all the cabinet hardware and will make sure everything runs as planned before I think about the planting.

Dan


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## katas (Jan 12, 2015)

Where did you grab the stand from? What are the measurements?


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,

I'm in the UK and got it from IKEA, it's a Brusali cabinet.

I've made one of the shelves into the back panel and cut it out for all the cables/ pipes etc. Also got the LED light tips fitted to the top piece.



Dan


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## flowmsp (Feb 6, 2010)

Where are those round stones you had in some of the scapes from??

And looks like a great start!


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,

I decided to change the round stones for more detailed ones, It definitely improves the sense of scale in the scape.

Dan


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## flowmsp (Feb 6, 2010)

Where did you find the round stones at ? 


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## talontsiawd (Oct 19, 2008)

flowmsp said:


> Where did you find the round stones at ?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


They are commonly called river rocks and landscape yards, fairly easy to find, especially for cheap. Not 100% sure that is what the OP has but you can get basically the same thing if you look for those.


I really like this setup, can't wait to see how you plant it.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,

The round rocks are just standard river rocks (I am in the UK), but I suspect as Matt said you can find them in most places, they're just smooth pebbles really. The current stone is ADA Ryuoh stone.

After pretty much 3 days work the hardware is near enough all installed. Currently running everything with an empty tank to check for leaks. I suspect I may need some new non- return valves for the auto doser as they is a bit of back-flow going on. Also need to figure out what to do with the intake/ outlet pipes and they are pulling the lily pipes out of line. I may have to cut a hole in the top of the cabinet (scared). Also awaiting the arrival of the STC 1000 temperature controller so I can wire it up to the hydor.

I have tried to keep the tank cabinet equipment as tidy as possible, wires will be neater once it is drained and ready to be planted.








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Thanks for the kind words Matt. Planting is next on the plans really. I may be moving house soon so am delaying planting until then (but couldn't resist getting the cabinet drilled/ kitted out whilst I have some time). My vision is for the planting to be pretty low throughout the left/ front of the tank, probably with a hair grass carpet and a few small plants dotted around the rocks. Then I will have more height around the wood where the focal point is.

Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Slow progress at the minute but get the STC 1000 into it's project box.








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Dan


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## ADAtank (Jul 26, 2011)

thats a high tech setup for a tiny tank


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Yeh I know, but I thought if I am going to go high tech then I might as well do it properly! Hope it all works!

Dan


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## arunawick (Apr 2, 2015)

Hey,

CO2 system is made of an fire extinguisher cylinder?

Can you share bit more info about the size if the socket of the cylinder, how did you open the air flow of tank (Cant c straps on the release mechanism)?


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## hbosman (Oct 5, 2006)

*Auto Doser*

Cool setup. I was wondering what brand and model auto doser you are using? Do you recommend it?


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,

CO2 is just a standard FE and a regulator from CO2 art. It isn't actually running in the photo but the safety pin can also be used to hold the valve open when running.

The auto dose is a Jecod DP3. It needs check valves as it can back-flow as it only have 2-roller pump heads.

Dan


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## Jeff5614 (Dec 29, 2005)

Nice looking set up. I like the tidiness inside the cabinet. Mine start that way but it never lasts, lol.


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## Mikeygmzmg (Mar 19, 2015)

Jeff5614 said:


> Nice looking set up. I like the tidiness inside the cabinet. Mine start that way but it never lasts, lol.


hahah same with mine. Starts beautiful - lasts 3 weeks.


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## Jonas (Nov 30, 2011)

Looking good, nice and tidy. I absolutely hate the sturdy eheim hoses always doing what they want.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Sorry for the lack of updates. Have moved house now and everything is up and running:



















Plants are:

Micranthemum 'Monte-Carlo' Tissue Culture 
Bacopa 'Compact'
Anubias Nana 'Mini'
Rotala Rotundifolia
Hydrocotyle tripartita Japan

Currently running lights on 6 hours at about 75% full power until the plants get settled. CO2 on for 8 hours a day and it seems to keep the drop checker nice and green which is good.

I am planning 50% water changes every couple of days for the first couple of weeks then reducing to 50% a week thereafter.

Any thoughts?

Dan


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## Mumford (Nov 12, 2012)

Also starting a 45p so I'm gonna follow this. Looks good so far!

I believe you're supposed to do 50% every day for a week, then 50% every other day for a week, then weekly. Could be wrong tho


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## Ugly Genius (Sep 27, 2003)

Great attention to detail on this setup. Keep it up!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Wow great setup but just gonna ask if that pebble at the back is permanent, cus it's kinda distracting in my opinion.


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## Mumford (Nov 12, 2012)

Opare said:


> Wow great setup but just gonna ask if that pebble at the back is permanent, cus it's kinda distracting in my opinion.


$10 says it's to keep the log from floating up


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Thanks guys.

$10 to Mumford, I forgot the wood would dry out after 4 months out of a tank so have just got the pebble on there to weigh it down.

Thinking I might add some more anubias nana mini over the "arch" as I call it at some point.

Dan


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

dfinn said:


> I forgot the wood would dry out after 4 months out of a tank so have just got the pebble on there to weigh it down.


Yeah thought that was it ahahaha. Was worried you got some crazy rush of blood to the head and put the pebble there for aesthetic reasons. 

Any plans for fauna stocking?


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Thinking about 10 ember tetras, then a small group of Otos and then I might dabble with shrimp (they're totally new to me though). Any other suggestions?


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

To me, that sounds preeeeetty good. Shrimp are pretty easy in my opinion cus they don't have any crazy requirements, I would go for some RCS if you're new to them. Even then you could go for more special shrimp like CRS, because the main thing is water quality which you'll be staying on top of anyway cus it's a planted tank.

I just wouldn't recommend splashin tonnes of cash on some super high grade shrimp, cus some shrimplets will get picked off by the tetras and that's lost $$$.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,

I have the lighting on 6 hours and have reduced the intensity further today as have started to get some monte carlo melt. I guess getting some is inevitable as it transitions from being a tissue culture plant to immersed:

Melting Monte carlo...



















blue drop checker is because of the water change I did this evening.

Any help appreciated.

Dan


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## cosmic_shaman (Oct 2, 2015)

That cabinet is craaaaazy. I swear every month I redo mine to make it more tidy and easier to grab what I want quickly, and in two days it goes to @#$*. :laugh2:
I like what you've done! I don't know anything about shrimp, but every post I see on this site about them makes me want to set up a tank just for them, lol. 
Look forward to more updates!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Yeah there is gonna be a decent amount of melt back on the Monte Carlo, I got the same. I would just keep trucking along makin sure the CO2 is at good levels etc., and just be careful there isn't too much decaying plant matter cus algae will jump on that and I can tell you from experience it isn't fun.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Update:

Plants growing in nicely, still struggling a bit with the Monte carlo though, although I think it is still growing...

Getting this annoying speckled film on the surface, half wondering if it is the EI ferts crystallising.



















Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Sooooo I was thinking of adding some fish this weekend, so thought I'd test the water....










Looks like I will be waiting a bit longer.

Nitrite and nitrate are through the roof, but ammonia is looking reasonable. Am I right in thinking that the cycle has started and the ammonia has been cleared from the aqua soil but now I just need to nitrite to reduce?

Just done another water change to help things out.

Dan


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## Tihsho (Oct 10, 2007)

@dfinn, who makes those glass pipes you're dosing EI through? I need those in my life...


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

@Tihsho

Got them from tankscape.co.uk because I agree they just look cool, much better that those dosing pipe holder things you can get.


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## Tihsho (Oct 10, 2007)

They look a lot more compact and they would work well in my sump! I hope I can find them stateside!


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## cube860 (Oct 3, 2015)

I love your setup, looking forward to your future updates.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, I have done a couple of water changes so nitrite is much better now.

Next problem is algae, got brown patchy stuff and then brown fronds (highly technical I know).

Monte carlo still melting in patches. I have removed these bits as they weren't rooted well and trimmed all the remaining green stems and replanted.


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## E.Manning (Oct 28, 2015)

Great work on everything so far. I have enjoyed reading your developments. It is nice to see someone else who is using the Brusali cabinet from Ikea. I have the one in white. Your pictures are very helpful. I am trying to decide how to organize the inside and cutout the back. 
Thanks! Good luck!


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Lights dimmed to about 50% and on for 6 hours per day. 

50% water change today and had to replant the back left background plant as the deeper stems went black, assuming they aren't getting enough light.

Diatoms still occurring, keep removing as much as I can...

I also removed more of the melting monte carlo and replanted the newer green offshoots. Not sure if I am winning or losing here!



















Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Inhabitants are now present.

10x Neons
7x Otos

Still waiting for the Monte Carlo to pick up... lights on 6 hours at 50%, CO2 on for 8 hours, EI ferts auto dosed.










Dan


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## Julie7778 (Apr 21, 2015)

Love the look of the tank! Hope your Monte Carlo gets better!

I was considering doing Monte Carlo in a nano tank, with possibly a finnex stingray 12" and Amazonia soil with diy co2 and dosing. Do you think it would be possible a? Or from your experiences it just isn't working?


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## Couesfanatic (Sep 28, 2009)

This is gunna get good now with the ottos in the tank. Your diatoms will soon decrease and the plants will start to grow well. Thats how it has worked for me in the past. Looking forward to where this goes.

You have quite a bit of hydrocotyle in there but its probably wise until your plants start gaining in mass.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Thanks, after that photo was taken I did remove quite a bit of the hydrocotyle as it was going a bit mad! Hopefully the Otos will do their thing and clear up a bit of the algae, hopefully they like the diatoms!


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Diatoms are one of their main food sources they really like it, so you're in luck!


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Some pics of the diatoms, still struggling to keep these under control, manually removing what I can. Ottos don't seem to be that bothered for them!

What should I be doing, should I be increasing water changes or will this worsen things?



















Dan


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## Positron (Jul 22, 2013)

From my experience, a Bristlenose pleco totally destroys brown / diatom algae. Otto's seem to do a good job maintaining leaves of plants.

From what I'm seeing here you have a combination of white fungus and perhaps diatoms. Again, BN pleco's eat both.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,

Well the diatoms seemed to have just disappeared over the past week. I have the lights running on full and that seemed to clear them! Also the Monte carlo is picking up and even Santa's in on the scape now  










Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Major trim today, Monte carlo definitely picking up. I'm going to keep the hydrocotyle more limited as it get's a bit out of control. Aiming for a full backdrop of rotala!


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## vision (Sep 29, 2015)

looking good!


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## Ziggy953 (Feb 1, 2013)

I have a quick question about your Jebao DP3 - Is it relatively easy to program and use and are you satisfied with the performance? I am looking at buying a DP4 and would love to hear from someone using a similar dosing pump.

The tank is coming along nicely. I have a 40b that has been up for about 6 weeks now. I have been plagued with similar algae issues. Slowly things are improving. Keep at it!


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Thanks. The Jecod is good, you have to set to dose alternate days, one pump at 23:59 and the other at 00:01 so you effectively dose alternate days macro/ micro. You need to use CO2 tube and decent check valves to ensure the fluid stays in the pipe to get an accurate dose.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Further to my above post I Realised I had set the auto doser wrong (well the instruction manual was wrong) so the ferts were only getting dosed every 2 days, oops.


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## Joachimbates (Dec 10, 2015)

Great tank! With the diatoms.
You need to pump your lights to get the plant growth to burst. From there the diatoms go. I run my lights for 10 hours a day and co2 on 2.5 bps and I still haven't had algae in 12 weeks not even film on the glass. 

Keep up the good work! Your kit is impeccable and your scape is lovely [emoji16]


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Thanks for the kind comments! Yeh I blasted the lights and the diatoms went, now have more green algae frowning so have turned the lights down a bit again, it must be about getting the balance right!


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Decided to remove quite a lot of the hydrocotyle as it was over shadowing the monte carlo. Now trying to encourage a full carpet in front of the wood. Major trim of the rotala too.

CO2 is looking a little on the low side too...time for a refill soon me thinks


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi everyone,

Current issue is all this horrid green stringy algae that is getting into my carpet and other plants. I have dimmed the lights a bit to see if that helps, would reducing ferts also help. CO2 is running on borderline yellow on the drop checker so not a lack of CO2, but circulation might be an issue?

BTW this was the state after I was away for a week, I promise it is not this shabby looking normally!










Any thoughts?


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Re-scape done randomly yesterday, the algae seems to be much more under control after I dimmed the lighting a tad and shortened the photo period by an hour.










Just need to let it all settle in. I have taken out the rotala as it was annoying me somehow, going for smaller bunches of bacopa and letting the anubias spread over the wood, and will encourage the carpet to fill in the gaps.


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## Opare (Sep 9, 2015)

Liking this scape more!


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## thatphotoguy (Feb 17, 2016)

Dude this is legit. Keep it up!


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## isonychia (Nov 19, 2013)

That fuzzy algae is what has plagued my monte carlo as well and fissidens fontanus.

Mine is more brown than green. My closest guess was rhizoclonium.

It is very similar to this post/photos:
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/23-algae/86697-how-clean-up-rhizoclonium-pictures-included.html

If you try and grab it it disintegrates in your fingers into a liquid thats green/brown.

I siphoned out as much as possible, trimmed my monte carlo real low and then reduced my PAR. So far it seems to have subsided, but now my monte carlo grows taller and doesn't creep and spread as much.

I guess after a while I will try and increase my par when I have all the algae under control and see if it will continue to creep instead of growing tall.

iso

Bump:


dfinn said:


> Some pics of the diatoms, still struggling to keep these under control, manually removing what I can. Ottos don't seem to be that bothered for them!
> 
> What should I be doing, should I be increasing water changes or will this worsen things?
> 
> ...


This is the pic that looks like rhizoclonium. I realize the diatoms may be on the glass, but I can see the fuzzy brown algae is there as well.

If you grab it, does it disintegrate into a liquid thats brown/green, in your fingers?

iso


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi iso, I thought the brown fuzzy stuff was diatoms but tbh my algae knowledge is pretty poor. To be honest that just went after a while as did the green stuff. I think the trick is patience and getting the balance right, reducing the photo period and dimming the light is what did the trick for me!


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Growing in










Bump:









Must be near FE change time, but still bubbling!


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Still pretty poor Monte Carlo growth and getting algae issues, as soon as I try to turn the light up above 50% it just takes hold over a couple of days. My DC is green, but feel the diffuser may not be as efficient as could be as I did repair a crack in it initially, might just replace this. Also I think flow was a major issue with the glass lily pipe which stemmed the return considerably. Have changed it today to the eheim one which although less aesthetically pleasing has massively increased flow.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

All seems to be going a bit wrong, general plants not flourishing and lots of algae, turned lights off for 4 days which seemed to clear most of it, not just got lights on for 4 hours a day. CO2 for 6 hours, 5ml EI Maco/ Micro alternate days. Feel like just ripping all the monte carlo out and replacing it with sand. Might add some more plant mass to try and help things, any thoughts


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

You know when you go to the aquarium shop for a couple of plants, but it leads to you buying way more than that and doing a full re-scape? Well......










Sorry about the poor pic, will get a better one when the room is dark.

I ripped out the carpet and the remaining hydrocotyle and added lilaeopsis novel-zealandia and alternanthera cardinalis. Also 2 new pieces of wood and pebbles rather than the ADA stone. A completely different look. Certainly more wild that before and will be interesting to see how it turns out. I think I am going to just order a new diffuser too so that I can eliminate the repaired crack in it as a potential issue.

Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

So I have just fitted the replacement CO2 inline diffuser. Turned it on and after a while now have tonnes of micro bubbles coming out of my return pipe (which I am assuming is CO2). If this is the case then the crack in my old diffuser may have not been very well repaired by me as I definitely didn't have these bubbles before. It will be interesting to see how plant growth/ algae are affected over the next few weeks.










Also taken a short video of the bubbles

http://vid1150.photobucket.com/albums/o604/chameleon24/IMG_2282_zpsru4pdrg8.mp4

Dan


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## payluder (Feb 3, 2016)

comment on your a reply a few post back about you dosing 5ml macro and 5ml micro every other day? I have a 60p with tons of plants and if I dose more than 2.5ml micro 3 times a week I start getting algae. Have you tried getting back on the micro? maybe stop dosing micro all together and see how the algae goes for a week.


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Thanks payluder, will see how I go with the new diffuser and then consider a further cut back on ferts.

Dan


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Tank all going a bit wrong, horrid film of surface keeps forming/ smells, sheets of green stuff on aqua soil/ glass/ clinging to plants which I think is cyanobacteria.

Today water change about 60%, added fluvial internal to increase flow (any more and will be a jacuzzi). My last ditch attempt is to also dose liquid carbon and add another hour of CO2 before lights on. CO2 now on 1pm - 8pm, lights 3pm - 9pm at about 50% brightness, dosing EI ferts automatically.

Close to getting rid of it all at this point, especially if the smell continues.

Today after clean/ water change:


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## dfinn (Mar 2, 2012)

Hi,


I have made the descision to close this tank down, fish have gone and equipment is drying out.


Mainly due to it all going a bit wrong and me losing the will to live with it, I appear to be rather talented at growing algae but not a lot else. 


I already have my next tank waiting in the wings for my next venture, no plants are involved this time 


Thanks for all your help throughout this project, unless anything changes the kit will be up for sale in the near future.


Dan


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