any news in the planted tank world?

hi all

i have been taking a siesta from plantkeeping for about 6 months
my tank is up and running and healthy but i took a break
and went low tech and it looks like crap

any amazing developments in lighting, ferts, co2/distbution etc etc

i plan to go back on the co2, use my higher lighting and ei dosing again
i have an algae battle on my hands as a lot of bba has set in

my lovely seiriyu stones are 100% black fuzz!

cheers

4

Hey 4! Long time no see bro. Funny you ask now but Im actually going outta my way to do a low tec planted tank now. Theres a lot of chat around the camp fire about Easycarbo. Its a liquid Co2 thats supposed to be the dogs. I broke down my own high tech planted tank a while back too and back then had never heard of this stuff so gonna give it a whirl in this setup. You may already have used this stuff? Lots of talk about the possibilities of LED lighing units so that might be something that may interest you. Good to see you back on the boards .

Jay

hiya jay

thanks for the warm (re)welcome!

i have easycarbo all right, its been around a while now
my tank is gonna need some! any further wisdom on the shrimp issue?
i have god knows how many red cherries in there and the last i looked into it
the jury was out on the shrimp health/easycarbo issue, normal dosage was
recommended but afaik its when you double or triple the dosage is when
it kicks algaes ass!

rgds

4

I was informed recently by a good source to be careful when dosing if shrimp are in the system. I have no first hand experience with the suff yet but I intend to post updates, worts and all. My guess is some will be more suceptible than others to the stuff but certainly well worth looking into if you intend using it. May be worthwhile doing a test in a Q tank or similar and see how it goes.

Jay

Hi Jay, as Easy carbo is a form of carbon dioxide it will, if overdosed, cause the concetration of CO2 to rise making breathing for Shrimp more difficult, now, here's the rub, heavy surface agitation leads to CO2 being driven off so increase your water movement by keeping the return of any Pump or Filter just below the surface increasing the Water's contact with the Air, you'll get more O2 in without losing your Shrimp or CO2. If you can hear the Water movement it's likely to be breaking the surface and releasing CO2.

Kev.

Nice one Kev. Yeah the setup has an eheim diffuser in it and the return nozzle is about an inch below the surface so reckon I have that covered. Itching to get some green in there now .

Jay

fourmations wrote:

hiya jay

thanks for the warm (re)welcome!

i have easycarbo all right, its been around a while now
my tank is gonna need some! any further wisdom on the shrimp issue?
i have god knows how many red cherries in there and the last i looked into it
the jury was out on the shrimp health/easycarbo issue, normal dosage was
recommended but afaik its when you double or triple the dosage is when
it kicks algaes ass!

rgds

4

I remember when I got the Cherries, from you the very man that put me on to Easy Carbo almost a year ago:) Cheers matey


Mark

Thought I read somewhere that aggitation will not take easy carbo from the water as effectively as normal CO2 injection, could be wrong, just remembering something somewhere in my brain.


Mark

hi mark

hows tricks

afaik, you are right, easy carbo is a soluble carbon
it does not de-gas like actual co2

Kevs instructions relate to actual co2 gas
if the co2 concentration gets too high
you can agitate the surface to gas it off

Regards

4

Cheers 4 that 4:)

Kev.

fourmations wrote:

my lovely seiriyu stones are 100% black fuzz!

Since you have to clean up the tank a bit and get rid of the BBA.
Why dont you take out the stones to give them a clean and maybe redo the tank a bit.
I'm not talking a complete trip down, just change it a bit since you will be doing a bit of work on it anyway.

You know you want to

hi platty

yeah will do, it needs a change still want to use HG and cuba
but will rearrange the scape

i still have a shedload of akadama soaking
in an open tub in the back garden (for about 9 months!)
i wonder if this will be safe?

how do i clean the stones? can i remove them and black them out?
they are really bad, the stones were covered way before it hit any plants

i fancy new fish while im at it, i still have about 18 rasbora hengali
and while they are great, i need a change, i may rehome them to a good home
and get another main fish, i have the 7 cpd's you gave me and they will stay
along with rcs and otos

cheers

4

p.s. any cuba or hg for sale?

I have no plants at the moment, apart from some moss.

I found the hair grass and HC Cube both great to use. They can fill in quickly.

To clean the stones i would let them dry out for couple of days then scrub them with an old nail brush or similar.

Don't rush on choosing the fish. There are some nice new rasboras, ricefish and shiners that should be available soon. IMO Very nice for the planted tank.

I never used the akadama but i would say give it a good rinse.

I dont really follow trends in planted tanks. If the EI worked for you before with the lighting you were using then i would stick with that. Don't fix what is not broken.

thanks platty

the one thing i noticed is that my hengelis
only swim in the open water and in a 3 foot tank
with plants that space becomes fairly small,
my cpds use the whole tank and while they
do spend a good bit of time in and around the plants
they are happy enough now to venture out in the open
and interact with the hengelis a bit

the hengelis seem to miss out on the features of the tank
in that respect, the cpds have lots of exploring space
but the hengelis sit midwater in the middle of the tank

maybe i might choose new fish that use the full space
(for their own good that is)

Regarding EI... i had my problems with it but did have
"golden moments" where it worked well, tbh, i had to put my faith in
some method and go with it, i dont have the time, knowledge or money
to try out all the methods, there are so many variables in the planted
tank I could never work out what the issues were, you know yerself,
I have a big big filter, a koralia, reliable co2, fertz, easycarbo
but still had algae issues, they could have been any one of so many things!

the appeal of EI is the simplicity of it and how strongly
it was touted by "expert" as the greatest thing since sliced bread in hitec tanks, its cheap to make up ferts and the dosing is easy, i am always open to
suggestions on how to keep a planted tank, the amount of faith that people
have in EI is why i went with it and of course the whole "dump your test kits"
theory appeals, EI seems to be the "dont worry, just do it" method according to what i have read

cheers

4

The last lot of EI i made up was the one zig suggested in the link below.
No algae and steady growth.
www.irishfishkeepers.com/cms/component/o...ew/catid,6/id,69143/

cheers for that platty

is zig still active on the forum?
i wouldnt mind asking him a couple of questions
relating to his regime but i see he hasnt been on in a month,

Im wondering if it differs from the EI i know
(for example my dosing mixed the P & N together in the same bottle
and had two days rest from any dosing)

cheers

No he hasn't been on much.

As you know there seem to be different methods for mixing and using EI. That's why i asked about it in the other tread.

In the long run it was probably the same as your mix or at least the end goal was the same.

For the short while i used it it worked for me.

Maybe the 2 days of rest left the window open for algae.

thanks darren

seems similar to the one i used

so as i understand it....

N & P on day 1, 3, 5
Traces on day 2, 4, 6
w/c on day 7

sound right?

one thing that happened to me though
is that i got mould forming im my mix
i asked about it on ukaps and afaik
hydrocloric acid would prevent this

Hi Nial,

E-mailed you.


Kev.

fourmations wrote:

N & P on day 1, 3, 5
Traces on day 2, 4, 6
w/c on day 7 sound right?

Yes that's it.

Never had any problems with mould in my fert mixes.
Would adding the acid not have some effect on the mix, apart from killing off the mould.