Nothing's 55g Heavily Planted Journal

[Nothing]

Nope not yet, you know how things can go, delays, delays, delays. Today I should be getting the cylinder though, fingers crossed! Though I'm probably gonna get a 20lb cylinder from Air Liquide (welding supplier) because it's gonna cost like an extra 7 dollars more than a 10lb from another place.

 

[Nothing]

Alright I finally have the CO2 set up. Unfortunately it was lights out by the time it was ready so tomorrow will be my first day with the CO2, and with higher light. I think I'll turn the light up to about 60-70% and play around with my bubble count to see what my plants need. Should I start at about 4bps? I'll post some pics of my set up tomorrow morning. And surprisingly, my light has only been at ~15% power but my Madagascar Lace has been doing pretty well for the last week, it's even started to grow a few new leaves in the last couple days. Can't wait to see what the CO2 will do with the tank.

 

[Fresh2o]

20# should last you a while. I have the same regulator but added a 20 oz paintball tank with adaptor (can switch to 5# or larger tank as needed). As previously mentioned, it may take some time to get the bps stabilized. I found that I have had to adjust the fine tuning when I switch out diffusers (difference in resistance, I suppose). I would start on the conservative side of 1-2 bps and gradually increase it as you watch the drop checker.

 

[FishCr8zy]

Alright I finally have the CO2 set up. Unfortunately it was lights out by the time it was ready so tomorrow will be my first day with the CO2, and with higher light. I think I'll turn the light up to about 60-70% and play around with my bubble count to see what my plants need. Should I start at about 4bps? I'll post some pics of my set up tomorrow morning. And surprisingly, my light has only been at ~15% power but my Madagascar Lace has been doing pretty well for the last week, it's even started to grow a few new leaves in the last couple days. Can't wait to see what the CO2 will do with the tank.

Nice!!! Can't wait to see how your tank looks. Yeah like fresh said, a 20lb will last a long time. I would not start out with 4bps so that you don't over dose the co2 right away and have to use an aerator and what not. I started around 2-3 bps and watched the co2 drop checker. It usually takes 1-4 hours for an accurate showing of the co2 to appear. Also make sure the co2 is widely distributed and dissolves into the water.

 

[Nothing]

It should be fairly well distributed, I'm using a Max Mix CO2 reactor
With my output coming out around the middle of the tank. Oh yeah it'll last a while, I didn't realize it was so big haha but luckily it's fairly out of view
I've still gotta mount the power bar to the stand today. I'm also going to the LFS to potentially pick up some more plants. I'll post some pics later to show how it's turning out. Okay yeah I'll start with 2bps, originally I was gonna do that to be safe but I read somewhere that 4bps is a good start for a 55g which seemed kinda high. And I don't have my drop checker yet unfortunately, it's still
En route to my house, so staying in the lower bps is probably my best bet. I could start my baby tear carpet today, but it would probably be best to find the balance first because their harder to grow eh? Or do you think I'd be fine with just watching them and tweaking accordingly?

 

[Nothing]

Decided against the Baby Tears for now, but I got some Hydrocotyle Verticillata, Hydrocotyle Augustifolia, Limnophila Aquatica, and Ludwigia Glandulosa. The Glandulosa is kinda hiding behind the driftwood right now until it grows a bit taller, but here's how it looks so far!

 

[Nothing]

Received more plants in the mail today! One more order and I should have everything I need. The online supplier didnt have any baby tears, so I got some Glossostigma which I want to carpet on one side of the tank. I'm also gonna be removing the rest of the Val in the tank once I get more plants to fill it's spot. I added Ammania Gracilis, Rotala Wallichi, a couple small green crypts, and Monoselenium Tenerum on a mesh thing to the driftwood to eventually cover it. Without further ado, here's what I have so far