Long time no speak: My 40BR Planted

[Electrobes]

It's been a while since I've been here. I used to have a 10 gallon planted with the works, but then moved on to Saltwater and reef keeping.. in the days before this site got into that sector of this hobby.

Fast forward since that time: I spent about 3 years reef keeping, then moved.. gave away most of my corals to other reef friends, sold my equipment, and kept only things that could later be used for Freshwater. About 2 or 3 months ago I set up my tank and eventually got a CO2 set up (You'll see that here). I had a lot of trouble with the tank and it's cloudiness (Tank placement (sun), poor cycling, and my stupidity), but now after learning about using ferts and some patience... it's gone crystal with my plants starting to thrive.

I'm a firm believer in KISS (Keep It Stupid Simple).

Here're the specs:

- Cherry Canopy and Stand
- 40BR Aquarium by All-Glass
- Light: 2 X 96 watt URI AquaSun VHO's with Reflector
- Filtration: AquaClear 110 (500) with Sponge and Bag O Ceramic Rings
- Heater: 150 (or higher) watt Ebo-Jager
- Grounder
- CO2: 5lb Can with Milwaukee Regulator + simple glass diffuser
(I am waiting on my drop checker to come in)
- Ferts: Potassium Nitrate, Mono Potassium Phosphate, Florish Excel
- Auto Top-off: SP-3000 on Float Switch + 5G Bucket

Maintenance:

- I feed about once every three days or later.
- Ferts: S, T, Th X (1/4 tsp KN03)
M, W, F X (1/16 tsp KH2P03)
T, F X (5 mL Flourish Excel)
- Water Change: 50% every Saturday

Fish:

- 1 X Sm. Silver Dollar
- 3 X "Sunset" Platys
- 1 X Dwarf Guriami
- 1 X Oto
- Plan on adding some schooling fish... maybe neons?

Plants: I am horrible at identifying...

- 4 X Swords
- 3 X Bananas
- a $^&* load of Vals (Explosion of growth...)

I may eventually re-scape the tank but now am just happy with what I've got. The tank is crystal, the fish and plants look happy so I've got no complaints. If I were to re-scape, I would change quite a bit.

 

[Electrobes]

I forgot to mention that I have a 12-inch vent fan (As you can see in the pics). Great little doo-hickey for cooling a tank and gas exchange.

I do have a few questions for you guys:

- I am fairly new to CO2, it is on during the day only, but every morning even after an hour or so of being on the bubbles don't seem to frequent as I had left them last (1 bubble per second). I always have to re-set every morning... am I doing something wrong?

- If I were to re-scape the tank I would be interested in some foreground plants to start... what would be some you would suggest that would be somewhat low maintenance?

Thank you for reading

 

[Purrbox]

I noticed that you aren't dosing Potassium or Traces. I was wondering why you've skipped those as they're the ferts that you're most likely to need to dose in low light aquariums let alone a high light setup like yours. Also since you're using CO2, why are you dosing the Flourish Excel? It would get rather expensive in that large of an aquarium and is only available for 24 hours in the aquarium, so twice a week dosing isn't very effective.

Some regulators have a "break in period" of a few days to a few weeks. There also seems to be a sweet spot with where to set the pressure. Some models seem to work best with the low pressure gauge set to 10, while other do better with higher settings. Hopefully someone that has a Milwaukee regulator will be able to help you with the best setting for your regulator.

Unfortunately most foreground plants aren't going to be low maintenance. One of the few that comes to mind would be clovers like Marsilea minuta or Marsilea quadrifolia.

 

[Electrobes]

Hi Purrbox - When you mentioned what Traces I was dosing I assumed my Flourish was it, and I did write down the wrong thing. I just have Floruish... NOT Excel, my mistake. Is Flourish not traces either? If it isn't.. what do you suggest?

Another mistake I posted was that I dosed twice a week with Flourish, it's actually three times a week.

About the Potassium.... I'm not dosing Potassium? My two ferts that I listed above... Mono Potassium Phosphate and Potassium Nitrate... I figured that was sufficient, as suggested by the dosing scheme I am currently adopting?

I am following a dosing chart (Granted it was a bit vague due to all tanks being unique) by a link I found I think was from/suggested by Rex Grigg or someone on another website.

 

[Purrbox]

Since you're dosing Flourish (Comprehensive) then you have your traces covered. Your dosing schedule makes a lot more sense with this correction.

Even though KH2PO4 has potassium in the name it really isn't considered a source of potassium. You are correct that KNO3 does provide some potassium, but I generally find that unless I dose potassium separately in the form of K2SO4, my plants start to display potassium deficiency symptoms. The reason behind this is that unless you're dosing a lot of KNO3, the potassium dosed is generally less than recommended. If you aren't seeing any signs of potassium deficiency then you may be fine without a separate fert just for potassium.

 

[Electrobes]

Heh I guess we'll see as this dosing scheme is fairly new to me for now I am glad you made mention of this as now I will be looking out for signs of Potassium deficiency as my tank progresses.

Once I get the general dosing scheme down, I'll eventually venture into better aquascaping for the tank. I still haven't decided on what exactly I am looking for but once I get better re-aquainted with aquarium plants I'll remember what my dream tank was when I first got into this hobby. All I can say for now is that I am happy considering my tank is fairly K.I.S.S. but very happy.