Bud's 11.4g Rimless Iwagumi-Style Journal

[bud29]

Where do you live? I think sports authority refills paintball. I actually get my refills at an Airsoft store.

Was the HC purchased as emersed grown? I wouldn't flood the tank until you can get the CO2 at adequate level.

It was gown emersed, flooding it this early was by no means my planned scenario. The issue was that the fungus was killing the HC at a much faster rate than a lack of CO2 would in a submerged environment - so I had to choose between the lesser of two evils. I've had fungus like that wipe out whole emersed setups in the course of just a couple days, so I tried to salvage what I could even if it was far from an ideal situation.

I live in NW Kansas, so there's not much around here - no sports authority, dick's, airgas, bass pro shops, etc. - while I was planning the tank (several months ago), I called around to make sure there was a place in town that did paintball refills. Back then, the welding supply did, so I figured I was good. But since they don't any more, and nobody else in town does, I had to switch to a full sized tank.

 

[GreenLily]

Tagging along! It looks good so far. That sucks when places stop doing certain services. A larger tank will let you a lot longer though! I really love how you are using the 3 rocks as different focal points. It's bound to be epic!

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well luckily you have a full size regulator. You'll probably be happy with how long a larger cylinder will last. If your situation ever happened to me, I'd be screwed. All I have are paintball regulators.

Good luck with the HC. I never had the fungus issue.. we did DSM once and we didn't see fungus developing until after a few weeks. But once we starting seeing it, we sprayed diluted excel and I think we also used h2o2. But soon after we just flooded the tank but cranked the CO2 up. It transitioned well for us. I think an emersed grown HC will melt without CO2 to lessen the impact of acclimating.

Maybe you can rig up DIY CO2 meanwhile and continue dosing glut.

 

[bud29]

Tagging along! It looks good so far. That sucks when places stop doing certain services. A larger tank will let you a lot longer though! I really love how you are using the 3 rocks as different focal points. It's bound to be epic!

Thanks! I'm hoping the HC can bounce back once the CO2 gets going. The 5 pound cylinder will definitely last me a long time on a small tank like this - I won't have to do refills very often at all.

 

[NanoJack]

Doh!!! The perils of growing HC! I DSM for 3 weeks and had no fungus issues. You may not have had enough air flow. I kept all corners of my tank open to allow air flow and didn't over do it with spraying water. Good Luck with the immersed transition! You are in for a ride.


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[bud29]

Doh!!! The perils of growing HC! I DSM for 3 weeks and had no fungus issues. You may not have had enough air flow. I kept all corners of my tank open to allow air flow and didn't over do it with spraying water. Good Luck with the immersed transition! You are in for a ride.


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I'm thinking it was an airflow issue as well. Now that the tank has been flooded for a few days, with the fungus surely dead, I have the option of draining it and re-starting DSM. I may end up doing that, as it is much easier and wouldn't subject the plants to a lack of CO2. The problem will be trying to drain water - it'l be tough to get 98% of it out without destroying the substrate formation or uprooting the plants.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Yeah it's probably the airflow thing. We always opened up two corners of the plastic wrap to let it breath daily.

I'd just drain as much as possible and go back to DSM if you can't rig up a quick DIY CO2 system. There's so much atmospheric CO2, your HC will appreciate it.

 

[bud29]

Well I drained it to do DSM round 2 - that HC absolutely got destroyed. I'd say about 75% of it is mush. Dumb fungus

 

[Brookster123]

Well I drained it to do DSM round 2 - that HC absolutely got destroyed. I'd say about 75% of it is mush. Dumb fungus

Ouch... that's bad news bud, what are you going to do?

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[bud29]

Ouch... that's bad news bud, what are you going to do?

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I'm planning on growing what I have for a few days and making sure I have a good system with ventilation and whatnot. Then I'll buy more to compensate for the lost - just don't want to buy more and have the same thing happen again.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

When are you getting your CO2 system squared away? I think you can just plant a pot of HC and just flood the tank right away. I didn't even bother with DSM my first go around with HC. It grew just fine and carpeted in nicely in my nano 6g. But if DSM floats your boat, go for it... I tried it once and it was a learning experience. I haven't done DSM since though.

 

[bud29]

I think the earliest I would be able to have things running would be Tuesday, since the tank is scheduled to come Monday evening. I'll probably do DSM to get the carpet, since the HC at peabody's is already emersed.

 

[bud29]

Update

I seem to have found the right amount of ventilation. The remaining pieces are spreading well and even some of the melted pieces are starting to bounce back a bit. So, I got more HC from peabody's and put it in the tank yesterday. It seems to be doing well.

Also got this little toy from maxwell. I wasn't planning on getting a HOB diffuser, but it was a good deal - so, why not The height works very well with the tank - it comes pretty close to the substrate.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Nice looking diffuser! Getting tubing on those non-tapered stems is a PITA. Be careful not to break the glass!

 

[Sk3lly]

Nice looking diffuser! Getting tubing on those non-tapered stems is a PITA. Be careful not to break the glass!

I found that you need silicone co2 tubing and not plastic co2 tubing. Also dip the silicone tubing into boiling water for a few seconds so it softens. Slides right over then. Its how i did mine


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[Scottyhorse]

How is the tank going?

 

[Dallascowboys16]

yeah any update pictures?

 

[bud29]

Not much in the way of news. The new HC I got is starting to branch out, and all the portions look really healthy. I went on vacation for a week and was afraid that something would happen, but everything is OK. Just a matter of waiting at this point.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Nice to see this back on track. Man that slope and the stone placement is great! Iwagumi style nailed!

 

[bud29]

Nice to see this back on track. Man that slope and the stone placement is great! Iwagumi style nailed!

Thanks! I think it'll look really nice when the HC fills in.