High Tech Planted Questions

[skywhitney]

My sump system sounds very much like one of those house waterfall decor, i hardly ever notice it but enjoy it when i do

 

[CorallineAlgae]

I love sumps with African cichlid or any aggressive fish only FW tanks but on planted tanks they have to many drawbacks compared to canisters.

 

[skywhitney]

Time to revive my old thread! I have more questions!

Since I fired up the 93g cube I haven't been able to get the PH lower than 7.0 (and it's a struggle to keep it there). I was able to get the PH into the mid 6's without much issue in the 70 and I figured it wouldn't be a ton harder with this tank but I'm finding that to not be the case. What am I missing that's not letting me lower the PH anymore?

Edit: I have minimal to very slight surface agitation and I'm running at about 5 bps currently. Tank temp is steady at 76.

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[Sk3lly]

Whats the kH?


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[skywhitney]

Anyone know what type of algae this is? Regular hair algae?

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[Sk3lly]

Looks like staghorn to me


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[Delapool]

Time to revive my old thread! I have more questions!

Since I fired up the 93g cube I haven't been able to get the PH lower than 7.0 (and it's a struggle to keep it there). I was able to get the PH into the mid 6's without much issue in the 70 and I figured it wouldn't be a ton harder with this tank but I'm finding that to not be the case. What am I missing that's not letting me lower the PH anymore?

Edit: I have minimal to very slight surface agitation and I'm running at about 5 bps currently. Tank temp is steady at 76.

Sent from my Galaxy S5 via the Aquarium Advice app.

Also interested in kh reading.

I also find this an issue. Just before xmass I got narked with it and added a kh booster.

Normal kh was ~3.5 and two tablets takes it to a solid 4. Added 6 tablets all up and within 15mins, the ph on the controller read a drop from 7.3 to 6.9 or so. Unfortunately didn't take another kh reading but from previous experience 6 tablets would shift kh to say 5.

 

[skywhitney]

I still haven't checked my KH actually. The tank is now sitting steady at 6.9 - 7 so I think it was just taking a while. I added a second koralia and that seemed to help drop it. There might not have been enough flow in the tank so I'm thinking I could have been getting a false reading.

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[skywhitney]

Looks like staghorn to me


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Well that's what I hoping not to hear. It is indeed reacting to H2O2 just like staghorn.

I hate this algae

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[skywhitney]

I'm bad about keeping this thread current...oops.

We'll after losing a number of plants to the staghorn/BBA issues I was fighting I've gotten the algae confined down to one little twig. I'm now dealing with green hair and GSA in a couple of areas but I think part of that is due to my CO2 running dry on me. I'm thinking of switching out my lights soon for LED so that will be a new arena for me in FW.

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[skywhitney]

Has anyone ever used water from one of the Kold-Steril treatment units on their planted tanks? If so, what did you notice in the way of what nutrients were left or removed? Did you have to adjust your dosing to compensate for anything?

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[Delapool]

Got a link to the treatment unit out of interest? But just following here.

 

[skywhitney]

Sure thing. It's not ro\di but it works great in all our reef tanks so I wanted to see how it would work in the planted tank setting.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Kold_Ste...r_Systems-Poly_Bio_Marine-PB1211-FIRO-vi.html

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[Delapool]

Thanks for the link.

I was wondering if (in general when using these) elements would need to be added back? Or if ferts dosing micros anyways it wouldn't matter.

 

[skywhitney]

Thanks for the link.

I was wondering if (in general when using these) elements would need to be added back? Or if ferts dosing micros anyways it wouldn't matter.

We are wondering the same thing delapool, you just stated it better than I did.

I know these aren't the most popular treatment units out there but I'm sure there have had to have been others who have used them for this application. Hoping someone chimes in who can help shed some light on this.

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[Delapool]

I guess it wouldn't hurt if you did overdose micros? The only one I try to be really careful on is nitrates.

 

[skywhitney]

I know I'm reviving this thread from being long dead, but I wanted to put an update out there for anyone interested.

I have been using the Kold Ster-il filter for my reef and freshwater/tree frog paludrium exclusively now for about 2 1/2 years and have had zero issues. I also use it for the drinking water in my other reptile enclosures. A huge bonus in my opinion is that unlike RO/DI systems this unit creates zero waste water. It's not a zero TDS system but that had never mattered to me.

 

[Delapool]

Sounds interesting - any links?

 

[skywhitney]

Sounds interesting - any links?

Here ya go.

https://www.marinedepot.com/Kold_St...r_Systems-Poly_Bio_Marine-PB1211-FIRO-vi.html

 

[skywhitney]

Replying to state that the treated water from the Kold Ster-il unit grew plants wonderfully with very little algae in my paludarium over the last year and a half. [emoji1689]

I just flooded the tank again so I'll be using the treated water in the new planted tank too.