# 8 gallon journal



## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Looking pretty good! That was the perfect place for that plant.

I might suggest raising the smaller stones in the foreground up out of the substrate a bit more, once your plants grow in you'll barely see those stones anymore unless you're extremely diligent with your trimming.

And I can speak from experience that bacopa plants grow very well above water. Got mine to flower even, haha. Just keep in the humidity and you're good to go.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

The height of those rocks did cross my mind. I'm hoping I'll stay on top of the trimming. I might see what I can do when I go planting the rest. 

Does it matter how much space there is between the Bacopa stems? They're probably 1cm apart in some places. I'm not sure if that's too close together.

I checked your tanks... I never knew Bacopa flowers like that! It's beautiful.


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Dan110024 said:


> The height of those rocks did cross my mind. I'm hoping I'll stay on top of the trimming. I might see what I can do when I go planting the rest.
> 
> Does it matter how much space there is between the Bacopa stems? They're probably 1cm apart in some places. I'm not sure if that's too close together.
> 
> I checked your tanks... I never knew Bacopa flowers like that! It's beautiful.


I think the spacing is fine. My understanding of this particular species of bacopa is that it forms tighter groupings like a bush rather than longer stems like the rest of the family. So planting it close together and keeping the runners trimmed should help with that.

I was pretty excited to see the little purple flowers! I was gone for a week and left the thing unattended other than a timer for the light, came back and there were flowers, haha. They have since withered away, maybe the recent heat wave here...but it was cool to see. I think they'll only flower when grown emmersed like that, I'm not sure they flower when submersed.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

The Hemianthus Callitrichoides and Hemianthus Glomeratus arrived.

I'm hoping that the HC and HG planted on the higher level of the substrate (which is pretty much all of it) doesn't dry out. At the same time, I've got a small pool of water in the bottom right of the tank which I'm trying to get rid of, while not drying out the rest of the tank too much.

Just waiting on some Eleocharis Acicularis to place around the back of the large rock.

Due to the rock on the right casting a shadow across part of the HG, I've setup a spare light I had. Hopefully, once it's grown to length and submersed, it will get enough light when it rises up above the rock.


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Dan110024 said:


> The Hemianthus Callitrichoides and Hemianthus Glomeratus arrived.
> 
> I'm hoping that the HC and HG planted on the higher level of the substrate (which is pretty much all of it) doesn't dry out. At the same time, I've got a small pool of water in the bottom right of the tank which I'm trying to get rid of, while not drying out the rest of the tank too much.
> 
> ...


Looking good! If you're diligent with your misting, the HC on the high levels will grow without you needing to keep a puddle in the bottom right corner. The HC will likely mold cause it's too wet and hasn't transitioned to emmersed growth yet.

I have a new emmersed with HC on a hill that was doing great! Then we had a heat wave here in SoCal the past few days and it's dried out quite a bit. I'm hoping I can bring it back from the brink... But all I've been doing is keeping it misted in the mornings and sometimes at night if it looks dry. I also keep it covered in cling wrap except for a corner. I'll keep it that way for another week or so, then start opening it up a little more. HC grows really well emmersed, as long as you keep it at the right humidity level.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

ChemGuyEthan said:


> Looking good! If you're diligent with your misting, the HC on the high levels will grow without you needing to keep a puddle in the bottom right corner. The HC will likely mold cause it's too wet and hasn't transitioned to emmersed growth yet.
> 
> I have a new emmersed with HC on a hill that was doing great! Then we had a heat wave here in SoCal the past few days and it's dried out quite a bit. I'm hoping I can bring it back from the brink... But all I've been doing is keeping it misted in the mornings and sometimes at night if it looks dry. I also keep it covered in cling wrap except for a corner. I'll keep it that way for another week or so, then start opening it up a little more. HC grows really well emmersed, as long as you keep it at the right humidity level.


The puddle isn't something I'm trying to maintain. The problem is getting rid of it while still spraying the rest of the tank. I've tried sticking some small tube into it and sucking it out, but it's kind of hard without getting it in your mouth and it's too restrictive to siphon. I'm worried some sort of algae is going to start growing there. Might give it another crack this weekend with an absorbent towel or something.


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Ah yes, I figured you weren't intending to keep the puddle and didn't mean to imply so, despite what it sounds like from my response, haha. 

DSM with hills like that is definitely a little more tricky (from my admittedly limited experience), just gotta keep an eye on things and I think it'll be fine.


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## Emplanted (May 3, 2014)

I did a dry start with hc...And hills I figured a trick! 
I propped the lower side up with books lol so it stayed level. Light at an angle. Totally worked!


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Ha! That's a little creative. That could very well work with the puddle I have although I'm sure gravity might have something to say about my big rock precariously sitting there.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I received the final plant during the week. The Eleocharis Acicularis. Now all the plants are in, we sit back, watch and wait.

I've moved the light from being mounted on the glass to a board that I mounted to the desk behind the tank. When I have time, I'm going to buy a larger board and spray it white so it acts as a backdrop for the tank. 

I had been wanting to do this for a little while for aesthetics (not a fan of the light attached to the aquarium), but the clamp was creating a shadow over the Eleocharis Acicularis when I planted it. It ended up being a quick function over form kind of thing with some scrap MDF from down in the shed, so the ugly unpainted board is only temporary.


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## Powerclown (Aug 17, 2014)

Looks like your drystart is working,nice tank btw


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Thanks! I am having a bit of a problem with brown spots on the Bacopa. Not sure if it's because it went from submerged to a dry start, or if the light is too intense (running at 90% of a 60w array for 14 hours) or some other reason. Hopefully someone can shed some light in the thread that I started.


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

I wouldn't worry too much about the bacopa, it's likely transitioning from the submerged form to the emmersed form. Many plants tend to lose the old leaves and grow new ones, in the process they look like they died, haha. So even if they drop all their leaves, give 'em some time before you tear them out as they just might pop back up in short time. Staurogyne repens is notorious for doing this. They look so nice when you plant them and within a few days all the leaves wither away and die off and you fear the worst, then all of a sudden new leaves are sprouting from the once dead looking stems, haha!

Unfortunately though, I don't really remember whether or not my bacopa did this when I grew it emmersed... But still, I wouldn't worry too much.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

That sounds logical. We'll see how they go.

I got a little creative yesterday.... I've mentioned how I'm having trouble with the puddle accumulating in the bottom right corner where the substrate is at its lowest... Well, I came up with a way to easily extract it while keeping disturbance to the plants to a minimum.

I got sick of sucking it through a tube and ending up with half of it in my mouth. This way, I can suck it up and have it drop into the bucket with no discomfort of swallowing aquasoil water.


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## pewpewkittah (Jan 14, 2014)

Dan110024 said:


> That sounds logical. We'll see how they go.
> 
> I got a little creative yesterday.... I've mentioned how I'm having trouble with the puddle accumulating in the bottom right corner where the substrate is at its lowest... Well, I came up with a way to easily extract it while keeping disturbance to the plants to a minimum.
> 
> ...


Try some paper towels .


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Ah yes. It's usually the simplest things that work best 

Although I like this because it's no mess. Suck excess water out each morning and then empty the bucket at the end of the week.


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## mistuhmarc (Oct 1, 2013)

Dan110024 said:


> Ah yes. It's usually the simplest things that work best. Haha


It's always fun to get creative though. The whole purpose of the hobby!


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

We're getting some solid growth from the hemianthus glomeratus to the right of the tank. It's really thickening up. Can't wait to see it when I put water in it! 

The HC is growing a little slower than I would like, but this is my first time growing it, so maybe it's normal. I'm noticing that the parts of it which look most healthy have come from the couple of tiny, single strand roots that I planted. I thought they wouldn't do much at all. It goes to show that patience goes a long way in this game!

The Eleocharis Acicularis is sending runners and there are a few new shoots coming up in their region.

The Bacopa Japan is looking very healthy too. It's really improved compared to a week or two ago when particular leaves were starting to brown.

I love that it's all coming along quite nicely, considering it's my first attempt at growing a proper planted tank.

I think yesterday I had some tiny flying insects hatch/appear/whatever they do. I haven't seen them before and I had aired it out yesterday morning. Last night when I looked, I managed to count 3-5 of them. They don't exactly look like mosquitos, but im no baby mosquito expert. I'm sucking up excess water each day after spraying, so it's not like it's too stagnant.

Anyway, here's some updated photos. I've put some tin foil on the left to try to reflect light back under the large rock to ensure any eleocharis shoots in shadows receive as much light as possible. It seems to work.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I've managed to get a photo of the type of insect which seem to be breading inside the tank. They are about 2-3mm from head to tail. I don't think it's any species of mosquito which is lucky...I wouldn't fancy a mosquito farm in my bedroom.










edit: After a couple of seconds of searching on Google, I've come to the conclusion that it's a fungas gnat.

"_Fungus gnats, also known as soil gnats, cause very little damage to houseplants. However, certain types of fungus gnats can damage plants when the larvae feed on roots. Usually, the pests are simply annoying little nuisances that buzz around potted plants._"

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/fungus-gnats.htm


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I filled the tank last night. I was worried about some unavoidable algae growing in the puddle and the possibility of fungas. I already had the fungas gnats breeding, so I didn't want to take any chances of more bad things happening. I also wasn't happy with how the Bacopa Japan was growing along the substrate rather than up, without the buoyancy of the water supporting it. I gave the Bacopa a good prune and adjustment once I'd filled it.

I'm surprised to see the plants pearling so well, so early. I didn't realise it would be happening pretty much straight away.

A small amount of the aquasoil started to float when it was filling, so as it's settled it's come back down ontop of the HC, making it look a little more sparse than what it is (not that it's great anyway). 

These photos are about 12 hours after filling (it was a late night).

Next on the list to save for is some nice glass lilly pipes. The Eheim pipes are horrid!


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## Xenaph (Dec 9, 2013)

Your tank look great! How you like the light ? What your period ?


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I've got a fairly short photo period to begin with of just 5 hours, which I will increase as time goes on. I'm sort of just guessing the intensity though. I'm running a 65w LED Maxspect Razor Nano (8000k version). I've got the warm and cool channel set to 80% and 65% respectively. 

If anyone has any input on that sort of intensity setting, I'm open to suggestions. It's a very powerful light but I don't really know how much I can push the intensity. I guess I really need to get my hands on a PAR meter.


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## Xenaph (Dec 9, 2013)

I run the 160W version with this, it work very well. I got this photo period from a store in Australia forum. I open my co2 3.5 hours before the light and close the co2 1h before the light. The guy said to get the powerful of these light, the light need to be between 70-80cm from the substrate.

Tp1 x:00 a:1% b:0%
tp2 x:30 a:50% b:40%
tp3 x+1:00 a:80% b:75%
tp4 x +7:00 a:100% b:85%
tp5 x +7:30 a:60% b:60%
tp6 x+8:00 a:0% b:0%


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Interesting... I don't know that I can compare your setup to mine though. My light sits around 40-60cm from the substrate and it's a single cluster rather than the triple which you have. I think I really need to borrow a PAR meter to figure it out properly. I guess I'll just see how it goes without one.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

1 week since flooding. Everything is taking off now! Much faster than when it was emersed during the dry start. 









Over the weekend at the one week mark, I have cut back to one 60-70% water change per day (in the morning). Ammonia levels (tested in the evening) are slowly dropping each day. I didn't start recording all the details straight away, but here's what I've got so far. I don't know what's up with todays Nitrate spike. I had soaked the test tubes in water/vinegar because a couple had some residue buildup from when I forgot to empty them, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. I did rinse them thoroughly. 









I don't know if the ADA Brighty K and Green Brighty do much more than dosing regular ferts would do, but I'll use them til I've run out at least.

I made my own mix of ferts today, following the EI method. I bought some powdered potassium nitrate, monopotassium phosphate and some powdered trace elements from the hardware store. Mixed them up into liquid form. I've put the macros and the trace elements into spray bottles and worked out that I need 11 squirts of the trigger to get the required 20ml dose out of it. Works out easy enough.

The trace element product I bought (a garden product made by Manutec) contains what seems to be a pretty complete list. We'll see how it goes.

Sulphur Sulphate
Calcium Carbonate
Magnesium Sulphate
Manhanese Sulphate
Iron Chelate
Copper Sulphate
Zinc Sulphate
Boron Borate
Molybdenum Molybdate


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

Beautiful scape. Clean and green. 

That big rock remains me of Close Encounters. ha


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

Love all the over engineering. And the scape is turning out wonderful. Any updates?


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Ha! Yes. Definitely Close Encounters like. 

I've got some bad news. Over a period of 3 or 4 days, the tank melted. About a week after that last picture was taken. I don't know if it's something that went wrong or if it's natural melting. It's my first proper planted tank, so I don't quite know what melting of the natural kind is meant to look like. In this case, everything melted at the same time. Except for the Eleocharis behind the rock. 

I made a thread in the general section but it didn't get too much response. 
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=738433

Here's a photo as it stands right now..
Ignore the drop checker having a clear colour. Weird. I haven't changed the solution in a couple of weeks. Still cranking the CO2 at 3 or 4 bubbles a second.










I'm thinking of starting again. As much as I love the large rock where it is, and how much I like the layout of the plants, I'll never be happy with the Eleocharis behind the big rock. It's never going to get the light it needs. Not with a single point light anyway. I still want to use the same plants, but I might need to ditch the big rock and move things around. I've got plenty of leftover rock from when I bought it all.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Oh and as for the over engineering... I'm in the middle of making another system for it. The flow is quite dismal considering it's powered by an Eheim 2215. There is way too much hose that it's trying to pump through and the pressure loss is way too big. I should have known this being a refrigeration tech, dealing with pressure losses every day. lol.

I'm putting together a system using 40mm pressure pipe. Space is limited under the desk, so I played in solidworks for a while, coming up with something that would fit. I've pretty much made it all, just waiting on some threaded bushes for the poly fittings to screw into. Will be mounting it onto some MDF board, so I can easily work on it and leak test it before I go putting it in place.


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

That's crazy over engineering. I know a guy who did similar ... on a 80cm cube. 

Shame about your plants, did you over does Excel/Dino Spit? I reckon the low flow behind the rock saved the hair grass.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Haven't been dosing excel. Only premixed powders/EI the day or two before it happened. Prior to that, it was ADA's Brighty K and Green Brighty Step 1. 

The low flow makes sense. I was wondering why the patch of HC beneath the filter pipes didn't suffer too badly.


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## Kyle_H (Jul 26, 2013)

cool tank!


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I ripped everything out of the tank on the weekend, leaving only the substrate. I saved some of the HC and the Eleocharis which seemed to survive the apocalypse. I thought all of the Hemianthus Glomeratus (HG) had died, but I think I found one shoot which was hanging in there. It could be HC, but it's where the HG was planted and they both look similar when shoots are young.

It's been 24 hours and the water is still cloudy. I must have flushed through close to 150 litres of water after playing around. I found that adding a constant supply of water to the tank while draining water from the hose going into the filter is quite an effective way of changing water.

I'm wondering what my canister filter (Eheim 2215) looks like. I haven't cleaned it out since I filled the tank which was 5 weeks ago. I was meaning to do it after 4 weeks, but put it off while I was deciding what I would do with the tank after it crashed. It must have so much gunk in it from the rotted plants. I didn't want to disturb the biological filter at such a crucial point with all the rotting matter in the tank. Whatever biological filter is growing down in there, it isn't battering an eyelid with all the ammonia which must be getting created. My Seneye tells me my ammonia levels have constantly sat on .001ppm this whole time, with an exception of when the tank first crashed and spiked to .003ppm. That's with only 50% water changes once a week. I will be cleaning the filter out tomorrow night hopefully. I'll take photos.

When replanting, didn't have much to work with, aside from the Eleocharis which seemed to survive (even though it was barely growing). I had a little more plant but I chose only the best of the healthiest shoots to give them a good chance. I don't like the hardscape as much as my previous one, but the big rock just wasn't going to work with a single point light.



















I may buy some Bacopa Japan to place between the two rocks on the left, in a similar setup to what I initially had.


















The two shoots that may or may not be Hemianthus Glomeratus. On further inspection, I think it might be HG. The leaves do look different to the HC.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

So....I'm pretty sure I've found out what killed my plants... Just realise that my information probably isn't entirely correct as I had a hard time following the guy I was speaking to, but it might be something to look into for some people.

I was in my local fish shop today, talking to a bloke who seemed to be pretty up with planted tanks and fertilisers. When I say 'seemed to be'....I mean he was a wealth of knowledge and knew the science very well. I was discussing the crash of the tank and listed some possible causes. Nothing raised any eyebrows for him, but he agreed it could have been the number of things I listed.

That was until we started talking about what fertilisers I am using and where I got them from. I mentioned that I purchased them from a hydroponics store (which was around the corner from the fish store and which he deals with). Straight away, he realised what the cause of the crash was. The potassium nitrate powders that are used in hydroponics are petroleum based. Or they have something to do with petroleum. He was talking through it quite quickly and I could only take so much in. Either way, the particular powders used in hydroponics are bad for plants in an aquarium setting.

This makes complete sense seeing it crashed within a week of starting the EI dosing with these powders. I've also got an oily film on the top of the water.

From what I understand from what he said, when it's used on hydroponics it's flushed through while an aquarium is recirculating it over and over again. Essentially poisoning the aquarium plants. My current, little shoots seem to be growing (albeit quite slow). Some aren't doing too well and others are ok. I guess the good ones adjusted to it and are pulling through.

I can't remember if he said there is another type of potassium nitrate without the petroleum base (or whatever). I just thought I might let people (the few that might read this) know to think twice before buying their powders from a hydroponics store. He said that the store owner knows that their powders don't go well with aquariums, but unfortunately I wasn't served by that particular gent, so the sales person sold me what I asked for. No blame on him.


I'd love to hear more on this. I've tried searching on google but not getting many/any useful results, probably because I'm not sure on what I'm really searching for.


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

Huh who knew! Thanks for sharing, definitely going to invest a few more bucs then getting "off brand" ferts lol


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## Dantrasy (Sep 9, 2013)

well I hadn't heard that before. i'll look out for info on it. 

aquagreen post all the fertz you need. located in the NT. 

have you got more hc? i think you need another pot or 2.


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

The petroleum based thing doesn't make sense as potassium nitrate is either mined as crude salt petre and purified or more likely produced by the reaction of nitric acid (produced from molecular nitrogen in the air, not petroleum) with basic potassium salts like potassium hydroxide. Now that last bit is where I think your problem lies.

Here's a test: potassium nitrate is a neutral salt, meaning it won't alter the pH of a water solution when dissolved. If your particular batch of potassium nitrate is contaminated with potassium hydroxide, a basic salt, a rise in pH will be observed. So take some water, preferably distilled or RO since there will be no buffers, and get the resting pH (probably between 6.5 and 7). Now start adding some of your potassium nitrate and stir to dissolve. Solubility of potassium nitrate in water is about 300 grams per liter at room temp, so if you get say 100 mL of water and add 30 grams of potassium nitrate, it should all dissolve. If you measure any change in pH at all, then your friend is partly right and this was likely your problem.

If there's no change in pH then I don't think other common contaminants (potassium carbonate, calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, ammonium nitrate, clay, sand... a few more) would have such a dramatic effect on your plants. Unless your potassium nitrate was from a particularly questionable source, I wouldn't think there could be too many contaminants that are that harmful.

I'd love to hear back if you test this out! Best of luck in getting this tank grown back in!


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## Matsnork (Jun 3, 2013)

Too much friction in the piping but you figured that out the hard way  Also, you need steel or glass ware for a more crisp look.

Otherwise a very nice setup and scape. Happy with the maxspect nano?


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Dantrasy said:


> well I hadn't heard that before. i'll look out for info on it.
> 
> aquagreen post all the fertz you need. located in the NT.
> 
> have you got more hc? i think you need another pot or 2.


Ah nice. I'll keep Aquagreen in mind. I picked up some dupla plant 24 while I was at the shop. It's a daily fertiliser. The guy I was talking to used to use it before he started mixing his own ferts and he swore by it. I figured I'd like to get a known product with proven results. Just to get things up and running properly. Maybe once this bottle is empty, I'll check out some ferts from aquagreen.

Haven't got anymore hc. That was all I could really salvage. It is growing though. Slowly but surely. I'm determined to get this small amount into a carpet. There are tiny new shoots popping up in random places. I think it'll have a bit of an achievement/satisfaction value to it lol.

A quick camera phone photo... Having a bit of an algae bloom at the moment, so excuse the state of the tank, but you can see the HC is slowly growing out. . I also picked up 10 cherry shrimp while at the shop to clean up the algae. They've done an awesome job within 24 hours....the middle rock was covered in this algae yesterday which looks like a brown bull dust. I'm just a bit lazy at the moment and haven't cleaned the glass. And also bought some plant (HG I think?) to soak up some excess nutrients while I have a lack of plant mass.



















Bump:


ChemGuyEthan said:


> I'd love to hear back if you test this out! Best of luck in getting this tank grown back in!



Interesting. I'll do the test when I have some spare time this week and let you know the results. I may have heard wrong, but he definitely mentioned petroleum. I don't want to alarm people with incorrect information, but I was hoping someone like you would pipe up and have a say  I'll let you know how it goes.

Bump:


Matsnork said:


> Too much friction in the piping but you figured that out the hard way  Also, you need steel or glass ware for a more crisp look.
> 
> Otherwise a very nice setup and scape. Happy with the maxspect nano?


Yep. As I said, I deal with pipe work within my line of work and don't know why this didn't cross my mind when designing it haha. I've almost finished making my new piping system using 40mm pvc, so it'll be interesting to see the difference. Definitely keen on getting some glass lily pipes. I'm just spending money elsewhere at the moment. $150 is hard to justify for aesthetics right now.

The Maxspect nano is great. More than enough power for my tank. Loving the 6 time points that it has. The only issue I have with it is that it's a single point cluster which didn't suit my first scape with the large rock casting a shadow on some of the plants. That's not really a problem with the light itself, just something that I overlooked when scaping the first time.


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## ropate (Jan 19, 2013)

a nice comeback!! good luck!

As for ferts... aquagreen all the way!


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

ChemGuyEthan said:


> The petroleum based thing doesn't make sense as potassium nitrate is either mined as crude salt petre and purified or more likely produced by the reaction of nitric acid (produced from molecular nitrogen in the air, not petroleum) with basic potassium salts like potassium hydroxide. Now that last bit is where I think your problem lies.
> 
> Here's a test: potassium nitrate is a neutral salt, meaning it won't alter the pH of a water solution when dissolved. If your particular batch of potassium nitrate is contaminated with potassium hydroxide, a basic salt, a rise in pH will be observed. So take some water, preferably distilled or RO since there will be no buffers, and get the resting pH (probably between 6.5 and 7). Now start adding some of your potassium nitrate and stir to dissolve. Solubility of potassium nitrate in water is about 300 grams per liter at room temp, so if you get say 100 mL of water and add 30 grams of potassium nitrate, it should all dissolve. If you measure any change in pH at all, then your friend is partly right and this was likely your problem.
> 
> ...



I tested the potassium nitrate (KNO3) today. 

I didn't have any untouched distilled water. I used a batch of 4dkh solution that I have for my drop checker. It's made from distilled water and bicarb soda. That should be fine, right? I tested the Ph and I think it was sitting around 8.0/8.2.

I poured 100ml of water into a glass an added the appropriate amount of high range Ph checker. It turned more of a red colour than the brown that was in the test tube. I weighed out 30 grams of my KNO3 and added it to the water. 

There was a clear rise in Ph when the KNO3 was added. The water went from its red colour to dark purple immediately.

From what I understand of your post, this means my KNO3 is contaminated or produced in a way which is most likely the cause of the plants dying, right?


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## ChemGuyEthan (Apr 13, 2014)

Dan110024 said:


> I tested the potassium nitrate (KNO3) today.
> 
> I didn't have any untouched distilled water. I used a batch of 4dkh solution that I have for my drop checker. It's made from distilled water and bicarb soda. That should be fine, right? I tested the Ph and I think it was sitting around 8.0/8.2.
> 
> ...


Yikes! That's likely the cause of your woes then. If it was able to alter your 4dkH solution so easily, I'm sure it would cause some massive pH swings in your tank!

And the color would probably be easier to match up in the tube, but any color change is bad news. Too bad this happened...

Did you get some better KNO3? You could technically purify this crappy stuff pretty easily if you're having a hard time finding more... but that might be more than you want to do, haha.

I appreciate you doing the test and getting back to us with the results!

Best of luck with this tank, it started out so well so I'm confident you'll get it back into shape soon!


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I haven't picked up anymore dry ferts. I've been using the Dupla Plant 24 that I picked up from the shop last weekend. Directions are 1 drop/50L every 24 hours. My tank is closer to 35-40 litres with little plant mass, so I'm dosing 1 drop every second day. I've still got nearly a full bottle of ADA Step 1, which is essentially trace elements from what I understand, so I'm dosing that every other day.

Day 1 - Plant 24
Day 2 - ADA Step 1 / Trace(?)

I guess I will have to buy some dry ferts when this tiny bottle of Plant 24 runs out. I'll buy from this Aquagreen store that other Australians have recommended instead of a hydroponics shop.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I ordered some plants today, too. I found I'm not as patient as I thought I might be....I really can't be bothered waiting to grow a whole tank of plants from a few shoots. Lol. 

Lindernia Rotundifolia Variegated
Limnophila sp Mini Vietnam
Bacopa sp Japan

As well as keeping the Eleocharis Acicularis up in the corner and I've properly planted the extra Hemianthus Glomeratus that I picked up last weekend (was using it as plant mass for the tank). 

I'm thinking something like this.... I'm still not sure on the exact positioning of the Limnophila. I might not put it on the right hand side and let the HC grow there. I just got it for a bit of diversity.
(Another crappy phone picture with backdrop not set properly)


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## Matsnork (Jun 3, 2013)

Dan110024 said:


> Definitely keen on getting some glass lily pipes. I'm just spending money elsewhere at the moment. $150 is hard to justify for aesthetics right now.


$150? More like $15

Just look for Do!aqua or something similar, no need to splurge on silly overpriced ADA glass ware. *ebay*


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I can't believe I never found the cheap ones. Just had a look then. Will definitely grab some.


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## lamiskool (Jul 1, 2011)

yep there are hundreds on evilbay and they work/are basically the exact same thing


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Got the new plumbing system in place today. The aim was to increase the dismal flow that my last effort put out. It consisted of way too much 12/16mm Eheim hose and too many bends. There was so much pressure drop throughout the system that the flow was more like a trickle. I think flow was down to around 30 gallon / 120 litres an hour.

I can confirm that the new installation makes the tank a fun ride for the shrimp. Haha. The baby shrimp were in what seemed like a gigantic whirlpool. More than enough flow. I haven't measured it yet. I'm able to adjust the flow with the ball valve which is essentially a bypass valve, recirculating the water through the filter.

I was hoping on neater cabling than what I've ended up with but it's not visible unless you're down under the desk, so it's staying.

The great thing about mounting it on particle board is being able to do most of the fiddly work out in the open rather than crouched underneath the desk. I was also able to test it for leaks, which was lucky because I had a leak from a PVC join. Nothing a bit of silicone can't fix.











I used resin to fix and seal a 4mm poly barb into a corner before my CO2 reactor. If doing it again, I think I would use a brass fitting. The poly seems like it could be broken if knocked hard enough.



















I also used the same technique to add a couple of K-type temperature probes into some elbows (wanted before and after heater). Only one of the probes stuck and sealed though. I tried putting more resin in it (didn't work) and also tried setting a pool of PVC glue in it (also didn't work). I guess the one that did work could be a little dodgy, so I set some PVC glue on the outside of the elbow and down into the hole for good measure. I probably wouldn't recommend it doing it. I have a small temperature unit that takes K-type probes that I will mount on the board, just need a battery.


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

Plants arrived today. Unfortunately they took longer than expected in the post and were probably sitting in a hot warehouse over the weekend with a couple of hot days here. It took one week which would normally take just a few days (Victoria to South Australia). That's what I get for being tight and only paying for the $2 standard shipping from the ebay seller I guess.

I got...
Limnophila sp Mini Vietnam
Lindernia Rotundifolia Variegated
Bacopa sp. Japan

The Limnophila only just survived the week long trip. I managed to use about half of it which is all I needed anyway. Hopefully it bounces back and turns the lime green like I've seen in other tanks.

It looks like I'll need to wait for the Lindernia Rotundifolia to grow before I can take some trimmings and fill out the back corner a little more. I'm wanting a bush that completely covers the area behind the rock.

The Bacopa Japan....I'm no expert, but I'm not sure that it's the Japan species. I had it in the first setup and I don't remember the leaves being so big. I'm also looking at some other photos online and they look slightly smaller too. Maybe the leaves squashed out as they lost moisture in delivery. They are quite thin and delicate at the moment. I'll see how it goes...not too happy with the look of it at the moment.

Seeing the Eleocharis Acicularis hasn't gone as well as I hoped, I'm wondering if I swap it out for some sort of Ludwigia for a fuller look. I'm envisioning the Eleocharis to be this big thick bush of swaying grass....but I'm not sure it's going to turn out that way. I'll give it a couple of months and see what happens.


I'm getting lazy with photos these days...phone cameras are just too convenient over my SLR. When I have a tank worth photographing properly, I'll do some decent photos.










On a side note... I was feeding the shrimp some boiled zucchini and carrot last night (I've never boiled water for such a small meal...3 slices of each) and I managed to count 34 baby and adolescent shrimp. I started with 10 adults a couple of weeks ago, a few being pregnant. THIRTY FOUR! And there's another shrimp holding eggs. If water parameters are all good, what is the success rate for all of them reaching maturity? I guess I won't have too much of an algae problem from now on...


To buy list:
Lilly pipes (on that note...how do you stop baby shrimp being ingested by the filter with lilly pipes?)
Frosted contact for background


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I ordered a Nimble Nano magnetic cleaner a while ago... It finally arrived today. Love it! I knew it was going to be small, but it really is small! Just what I want. Now I can clean the glass behind the plants without ripping them out in the process. Definitely recommend this little thing.










I also emailed the guy who sold the plants, asking about the Bacopa Japan being quite large. He said that there is currently other plants shading some of the light to the Bacopa, so it's growing larger leaves to compensate. Makes sense. I've trimmed it back quite a bit to encourage new growth and hopefully get the leaf size down.


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## ropate (Jan 19, 2013)

Where'd you order it from?


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

From the guys website who's product it is. Good customer service too. Mine never arrived initially. I emailed him asking about it after 6 weeks and he sent another one straight away. It was still a few weeks, but it got here in the end. The tracking shows the first one got lost or something.

http://www.nimblenano.com/Welcome.html

$12.98US, which is damn cheap compared to some of the other units out there.


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## ropate (Jan 19, 2013)

Thanks


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## Dan110024 (Jul 14, 2014)

I was at my LFS yesterday for an unrelated purpose and I came across some Blyxa Japonica. I thought it would perfectly replace the Eleocharis which isn't growing (lack of flow and light I think). Turns out it does indeed suit the corner very well. Looking forward to seeing what it will be like in a month or two time. The guy at the LFS who helps me out was saying that he finds a lot of people fail with the Blyxa, so this is has made me determined to make it work. I've moved the filter intake behind the Blyxa to increase flow through the area (I'm thinking it was a bit of a dead spot before) and it helps hide the ugly foam I've got hanging off it.

I really need to get some glass lilly tubes. Just trying to figure out how to make them shrimp friendly while maintaining aesthetic appeal.

Really happy with the purchase. It's made the whole tank look so much more lush. Just need to be patient and wait for everything else to grow in. The bush of HG is going crazy, though. It constantly pearls and grows quite rapidly. I'm hoping the Limnophila gets going and hides the base of the Blyxa.


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