20g planted tank build

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they'll send you free bags if you have any problems with it. Just take a picture of the receipt. I've heard of this done before even though it never happened to me.
in such a case you can clean the eco complete thoroughly and still use it because it'll just absorb the nutrients you add anyways. and get free new bags on top of it.


That was a couple of years ago. Not sure if I still have the receipts. The local Petco was selling the 20# EcoComplete for $9.00 each. I bought 6 bags; 2 were bad. I'm out $18. Besides, I would not have wanted to salvage this stuff. Heavy, patchy white growth every where. Cloudy water and a constant oil slick at the surface. The smell was horrible. The 8.0+ ammonia even after washing the EC. After battling with this for a week with daily 95% WCs, I bagged it and double bagged it and threw it out.


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Fresh H2O, exactly the same as yours and I got mine through Amazon.

Here is the email from CaribSea, no offer to re-imburse me:


Tony Wagner
Director of Marketing
CaribSea, Inc.
843-819-5966
tony@caribsea.com
caribsea.com
reptilite.com



Begin forwarded message:

Hi Elizabeth!
Thanks for your questions. We pack the Eco Complete in an acidified solution to blow open any pores that may partially obstructed by calcite overgrowths. This process results in a better product but a higher initial KH because of the now dissolved minerals in the fluid. Eco complete is also inoculated with a variety of symbiotic micro-organisms (bacteria and mycorrs) and they can have an unpleasant odor when confined for a period of time. There are also the organic acids which condition the water and encourage root growth . I cannot give a hard number for the initial parameters since it varies with the mineralogy (it is a natural material). All the initially high parameters decline with normal water changes and biological uptake and that includes phosphorous. The filmy white is either some sediment or the Mycorrhizals sorting themselves out. A few hours of circulation usually brings the gases into equilibrium and the biologicals where they belong. If the elevated parameters of the fluid bothers you simply drain the fluid from the bag but do not rinse the substrate. Thanks again!
Rick

From: Tony Wagner [mailto:tony@caribsea.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 1:38 PM
To: Rick Greenfield
Subject: Fwd: CaribSea EcoComplete

Rick,

I can’t find any of these specific details in the old emails. But this may be a very good FAQ question. The Eco-Faq is uploading now!!!! :)
Tony Wagner
Director of Marketing
CaribSea, Inc.
843-819-5966
tony@caribsea.com
caribsea.com
reptilite.com



Begin forwarded message:


From: Elizabeth Olsen <xxxxxxx@me.com>
Subject: CaribSea EcoComplete
Date: April 30, 2014 at 1:35:35 PM EDT
To: "contact@caribsea.com" <contact@caribsea.com>

I purchased 3 bags of EcoComplete from Amazon. Upon opening the bags, there was a strong mold smell and rust colored stains at the bottom of the bag. I used them in my tank. The water was very cloudy for 12 hrs. Also, within 12 hrs there was a white filmy gel on my plants.

I threw out heavily affected plants & I started the nitrogen cycle. The white filmy gel went away within 24 hrs. I tested the KH of the Eco I have in a bucket and it is testing at 14.

What are the correct parameters for a good bag of Eco?
pH, KH, GH, and phosphorus?

Thank you for responding to my questions. I have been posting all these issues at the Aquariumadvice.com forum. My name there is MonkeyMonk86.

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( I replaced my real email with "X"s)



(Friend of Bill W., One day at a time)
 
That was a couple of years ago. Not sure if I still have the receipts. The local Petco was selling the 20# EcoComplete for $9.00 each. I bought 6 bags; 2 were bad. I'm out $18. Besides, I would not have wanted to salvage this stuff. Heavy, patchy white growth every where. Cloudy water and a constant oil slick at the surface. The smell was horrible. The 8.0+ ammonia even after washing the EC. After battling with this for a week with daily 95% WCs, I bagged it and double bagged it and threw it out.


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Aliens!!!!

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UPDATE

Wow it's been awhile since I've done anything major for the tank as I've been very busy. At least it's had more time to cycle and mature. Today was a big day though as I started stocking it up. I'll let all the pictures explain...

Two males and two females

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425176162.603788.jpg

Not sure of the exact name of all these plants so help identify.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425176245.614399.jpg

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425176267.771385.jpg

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425176291.236480.jpg

FTS

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425176319.895611.jpg

I've already got some leaf zone fert in there and I've got the Eco complete to feed the roots. I also got a 5000k bulb to replace the 2700k one. I'm also hoping to make guppy babies and get a nice guppy community going! Let me know what you guys think so far!

Thanks,
Sam






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UPDATE

Today I installed an automatic top off system which I bet most of you are familiar with. It's the old set I used for my old saltwater tank. It's very nice to not have to worry about topping off the tank so often.

Here's how it works...

First these sensors indicate a change in the water level with a water flotation device (there's 2 sensors because the second one is a backup in case the first one fails)

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425852176.600963.jpg

Once the sensors indicate a change in the water level, they turn on this aqualifter pump

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425852313.942179.jpg

The pump sucks water out of this water storage bin

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425852355.172164.jpg

Lastly, as you can see above, the pump takes water in and pumps it back out into the tank

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425852443.046118.jpg

Just thought I'd share this with you guys! If your really serious about you tank and aren't around enough then I'd highly suggest installing one of these top off systems!

FTS (I took the anacharis out of the gravel as it doesn't have a root system)

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1425852600.393933.jpg





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WOW! It has been ages since I last posted and I'm happy to be back!

So... over the past YEAR or so, yes I said year, I have pretty much let nature take its course in this tank, despite doing water changes and feeding the fish. The reason that I'm finally posting again is because I have some new goodies to show off!

Finally got some red cherry shrimp (3 to be exact) HOPING that the guppies won't eat them for dinner

Here's a really bad picture of one of them


Need somebody to ID this plant for me. The LFS guy said it was fast growing


And of course....... an FTS


As you can see, I'm clearly having some algae problems, so I'm probably going to start using RO water for this tank. I still have an RO/DI unit from my old saltwater tank, so that will come in handy for that. If I decide to do that, will I want to start using ferts and tabs again? I haven't used any of that for quite some time now since I have been using tap water.

I also want to add some more plants in there as I eventually want this tank to be a jungle. I need to get some driftwood or something to spice up the aquascaping.

Let me know what ya'll think!
 
Welcome back!
The plant appears to be dwarf sag. Nice plant.
Keep up with the water changes, even for plants. Accumulated organic waste can lead to algae issues. Seachem Flourish Comprehensive and API Leaf Zone make a nice combo for water column ferts.


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Welcome back!
The plant appears to be dwarf sag. Nice plant.
Keep up with the water changes, even for plants. Accumulated organic waste can lead to algae issues. Seachem Flourish Comprehensive and API Leaf Zone make a nice combo for water column ferts.


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Would you say that the dwarf sag grows pretty fast? I'm hoping that it will make a nice "lawn" across the bottom to provide a nice environment for the shrimp, plus I think it would look really nice. Let me know what you think!
 
Would you say that the dwarf sag grows pretty fast? I'm hoping that it will make a nice "lawn" across the bottom to provide a nice environment for the shrimp, plus I think it would look really nice. Let me know what you think!


As with most plants, depends on the lighting. Are you still running the two CFLs? They should grow moderate to rapid under those. Under the 1-2 Finnex lighting I am running it sent out multiple runners which led to more runners. It did not fit the scape I was going for so I removed it and sold it to another AA member. I managed to miss one sprig which is quietly growing in the back of my tank.


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Hi Nortzy

I wouldn't say dwarf sag makes a nice "lawn" since it grows to about 15cm which would make it more of a midground plant. But it can definietly be used to carpet a tank. Your shrimp and shrimplets will love any type of dense covergae. If you're after a lawn effect I'd try HC Cuba or Gloso.
 
Finally was able to take some pics today. The RCS are getting big and everything is doing well. Plan on adding some new plants next weekend or so as I am finally beefing up my dosing of ferts.

Here's some new goodies
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056246.228476.jpg

Some nice top down shots
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056281.950381.jpg

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056292.832695.jpg

Some decent shots of one of the RCS
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056382.055109.jpg

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056399.207640.jpg

Added a nice piece of mopani driftwood. Pictures won't load for whatever reason so I'll try in a different post







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Let me know which aquascape you guys like better. I like the vertical look of the second better

Before
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056732.309438.jpg

After
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056807.434722.jpg

After part 2
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1462056830.619578.jpg



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Been doing water changes more frequently. Increased my dosing and have simply been putting more attention into the tank. Definitely need to add some more plants as its looking bare. Hoping to make it out to the LFS this weekend so let me know what you guys think will look good. I want something that can grow on the driftwood as well.

Here's some shots

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1463092750.661934.jpg

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1463092765.535861.jpg


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Not sure why but the pics always turn out a bit blurry when I post them and it makes everything look worse. Will try to fix it


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Tank is coming along. Keep in mind this ha a very low tech tank, so nothing happens fast! On a good note, algae has died down drastically Added a lot of plants lately...

Here's two new plants. The one on the left is a crypt lutea and to the right is some red plant I'm giving a try... Got it real cheap from my LFS
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1464985692.930588.jpg

Nice sword. Looks distorted because it's a sprout from a huge sword from my LFS
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1464985739.125645.jpg

An Anubia I attached to the driftwood with a rubber band
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1464985785.847321.jpg

And.... An FTS
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1464985755.575023.jpg



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Rearranged the tank quite a bit. The crypt next to the driftwood is getting big. Hopefully the other plants will start to fill in nicely. I've been more diligent about dosing seachem flourish and excel. Still want to get a school of neon tetras but don't know if that would be overkill in a 20 gallon. Let me know what you guys think.

Here's an FTS
ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1467136988.615014.jpg




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