About 10 weeks growth comparison of my 26 gallon

[betowess]

I thought it might be interesting to see and compare what 2.5 months can achieve in a tank. The top photo was cropped in a bit so in the later photo (on the bottom) the plants are a little bigger than they appear. The only difference is I yanked out a bunch of lysymachia and an anubias barteri var. nana and planted some Miyaka in the middle forground. PMDD works pretty well when coupled with pressurized CO2. See what you think. Bob

Sorry about the extra attachments. I made some mistakes. Can someone take the last two photos off please. Thanks, Bob

 

[RogerMcAllen]

I think you need to attach the pics, make sure they are the right size and format. I think there is something about the specifics of attaching a picture in the picture forum.

 

[medge00]

hey hey lookin good. whats your wpg?

 

[betowess]

Thanks Medge. Hard to really say on WPG. One AH Supply 55watt usually (though I very rarely supplement it with a coralife 65 watt)... But is it 55 watts or more like 88 watts since AH supply's reflector is something like 60% brighter than the big names like Coralife? I'll pick a compromise and say 70 watts over a 26 gallon with 3 inches of substrate. Lets say its 70watts / 22gallons = 3.18 watts per gallon. My best guess.

 

[medge00]

LOL way to compromise. I hope you'll bless us with more pictures over time.

 

[Guest]

Thats a nice looking tank beto, great job!

I see your running pres. CO2 on your 26g. I'm curious if you ran DIY CO2 before the pressurized?

Reason I'm asking is because I'm running a couple of 2L on a 37g planted tank. I can manage a pretty consistant 20ppm, but with the rotating out a fresh bottle every two weeks it's becoming a PITA.

Factor in 3 WC's a week, water testing, dossing ferts (dry ferts baby ), weekly gravel vac, weekly plant trimming, weekly algae scrapping and the maint. time really starts to add up.

Do'nt get me wrong, I enjoy every bet of it, it's actually very relaxing and enjoyable. But, I would'nt mind reducing some of the maint. time. Pres. CO2 is really starting to look good. The expense of starting up is steep, but in the long run, its looking more and more like the way to go. Plus you get a PH monitor to boot.

I'm in to deep now What a great hobby!

 

[betowess]

Thanks Mojo! Agreed, and I would like a pH moniter, but you can add that on later. I'm staying around 6.6 to 6.8 pH pretty steady with the CO2 and oyster shells. Cost about $180 plus another $25 for the DIY reactor. I keep it around 30ppm CO2 most of the time. I don't have the pH controler yet. I recommend a digital pH tester. I have the Hanna pHep 4 which is great. Yeah, its an expensive game.

 

[ClamKnuckle]

Your tank looks fabulous...I'm very envious! keep up the good work!

 

[betowess]

Thanks Clam, but Rex's FAQ really deserves the credit. Of course I keep fairly simple plants, decent AH Supply lights, and pressurized CO2... so its pretty easy to pull off. Also, a bunch of earlier mistakes were corrected, thanks to the great advisors on this forum.

 

[TankGirl]

Great growth you have there, and fabulous work as usual, Bob!

I still have not switched over to pressurized on my 55, and talk about DIY PITA! We just moved so we are broke, but our old house just sold (one day on the market, woo hoo!) for more than we were asking so I will hopefully have a few shekels to spare in the next couple of months. Did you get your CO2 supplies from aquatic-store.com, or did you hit the welding supply store?

 

[betowess]

Thanks Tank girl. Way to go on the house. Well, Aquatic-store has the best price now, but I paid a little bit more from Aquabotanic. I didn't know of
aquatic-store.com at the time. The tank was from a welding supply and the reactor was PVC diy from Lowes and Home Depot.

 

[Guest]

Looking GREAT, Bob!

In less than a year, you've become darn near an expert! 100 Kudos for long-term progress, and general stick-to-itivness