Anna's 26g Planted Re-scape Project Journal

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What do you mean "all EC"? I've never seen that abbreviation.

As for the water changer...That is going to be my next investment for sure! I just always have other things I'd like to buy and the bucket thing isn't normally too bad when I only change like 8 gallons a week in that tank.
 
EC = Eco Complete

Yeah I still use the bucket on my smaller tanks. It's good exercise I suppose! haha... But I just got the water changer for the 26g and love it! Amazon has it for a good price. It's well worth it when you feel it's time to invest.
 
Ooh! I guess if I had thought of it a bit more it would have made sense! Lol

I'll have to check amazon when I get paid then. I see them at the petstores around here for like $50, which isn't too bad, but if amazon has them cheaper I'll go that route.

And when I start scraping my new 50 I'm definitely using something other than this walstad method crap! Lol I honestly just wanted to get that clown puke out and to see if her method actually reduces water change necessity. I like a clean tank so I'd still do spot cleaning, but it would be awesome not to have to do large changes!! Probably would have been smarter to try it on one of my smaller tanks first.
If I have time tomorrow I'll probably switch over my 2.5's as well just because I spent all this time getting it all ready and stil have leftovers
 
So I finally got my new lighting in today. Went with the Finnex Ray 2. What a stylish light! I expected it to be bigger than it was, but it's actually very thin and sleek, but still very powerful. My tank looks about 3x brighter now. I couldn't be happier with it.

I also went ahead and bought everything I need to do pressurized Co2 in this tank earlier.
Went with:
UP Aqua Regulator with double guages and solenoid
Empire 20oz CO2 paintball tank
16ft. aquatek co2 proof tubing
hydra aquatic co2 paintball adapter
UP Aqua small rounded cylinder glass diffuser
UP Aqua Co2 indicator
Aquatek bubble counter with integrated check valve

Am I missing anything from the order?

I started dosing API CO2 booster this morning when I added the light. Hopefully that'll fight off the algea till I get the CO2.

Oh, while I am thinking about it;
now that I have higher lighting, should I cut my hours back? How far back, I was doing 10-12hrs/day with a single tube aqueon t-8 light. Is 8 hours good, or should I do 6?
 
I have a question, are you doing dirt with no cap? I'd like to try that if you can get the water clear :)
 
I'd definitely cut the hours back on the photoperiod. I'd probably go 7 hours until you get your co2 squared away.

Sounds like you have everything. However, to get the drop checker to be accurate, you need to mix the indicator solution with 4dkh. I have that same up aqua drop checker and the instructions are outdated because it says to use tank water with the ph reference solution.

Anyway, you can either buy it premade from Ebay or DIY it...
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ce-kh-solution-for-co2-measurement-88293.html
 
I did garden state organic garden soil with black diamond 30/60 grit blasting sand as the cap.
I can't imagine doing dirt with no cap. The tank would be sooo muddy! I don't even know if it's possible (haven't looked into it)
Even with the sand cap I still had very messy looking water for a couple days because the cap wasn't able to hold the dirt down in some spots and a lot f the large rganic pieces came through it.
It's all cleared up and squared away now, though I wish I hadn't made the substrate so high! I ended up with about 4" total. 2.5" dirt, 1.5" sand.


Thanks for the heads up Brian! I'll probably DIY the solution if it isn't too complicated! I'll have to do some more research lol
 

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]So I finally got the CO2 system in yesterday.​

​
[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]It was unbelievably complicated and frustrating to set up, on an already bad day as we had to put my first horse ever down yesterday after having him for 15 years, he was 33.​

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Anyways, 1st I got the wrong adaptor for the paintball tank. Me being impatient I ordered and overnighted another adaptor. This one is made my aquatek and is the blue one you see on aquabid. I also got a dH and KH test kit with it so I could make a referance solution, but I'm so confused as to how to make it that I'm going to need help when someone has time.[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Anyways after ordering the right adaptor and getting it in this morning I tried to hook everything up and realized that the co2 tank didn't come filled. I should have known that beforehand since I had to ship it and it's an "explosive" material, but it slipped my mind. So I had to go to the paintball course to fill it only to find out they don't do CO2 anymore. I had to google search for an hour trying to figure out where I could get the darn thing filled and finally found out dick's sporting goods does it. Costs me $3.29 more than it would at the paintball course to fill ($4.29 total) but oh well...I'll have to look into where I can get a bigger tank and where I'd be able to fill it in my area soon since I doubt dicks will do anything other than a paintball tank, and if they do, I bet it'll be outrageously pricey.[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Anyways, got home and started to try and hook it all up and ended up having a ton of leaks from the connectors and had to run out again to get some Teflon tape. When I got home I taped all of the threads up pretty thick and STILL had a leak somewhere, so I decided to tape the outside as well (i know, kind of pointless). It didn't fix the leak so finally I found one of those rubber things in the kitchen that you use to help open jars that are stuck on pretty well and used that to try and tighten it some more...FINALLY, NO LEAKS!![/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Then I had issues with the bubbles. When I got it to around 1bps it'd run for a minute or two but would eventually shut off...I have it to 3bps which seems kind of high...but that's as low as I can get it right now. [/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]the co2 meter thingy is staying in the "normal-sufficient" range, but that's not with the DIY kH solution yet so i'm not sure how accurate that reading is...[/FONT]


[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Now for a question.[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Where should I put the diffuser? -- Right now I have it near the bottom of the tank by the filter. I figured that the output of the filter would help spread it around the tank better, but I'm not sure if that's in fact the best spot because it's also be the inflow tubing (the right word is stuck on the tip of my tongue) so I'm thinking that some is probably being wasted by getting sucked into the filter rather than spread around the tank?[/FONT]


[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Here are some pictures of my new set-up. Please let me know if you see anything that I should do differently.[/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]Thanks for following along![/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI](the tape on the outside will come off when I am sure this is working correctly)[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI][/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]the regulator - on[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI][/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]bubble counter[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI][/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]diffuser[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI][/FONT]

[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI]diffuser placement[/FONT]
[FONT=.Helvetica NeueUI][/FONT]

Drop checker -- positioned on the opposite side of the tank, should I place it elsewhere?

​
[/FONT]
 
Whew...now that was a long story! Sorry to hear about your horse. My condolences.

Anyway, glad to hear you got things semi-control. I think where you have to diffuser is fine. I place mine by the filter as well. If some co2 gets sucked in to the filter, that's actually a good thing; it gives the co2 more contact with the water, enabling it to dissolve into the water and dispersed into the current. Also the impeller of the filter helps chop up any larger bubbles, which also aides in the dissolution.

Have you read the sticky on how to make 4dkh by tom barr? Wish i can help but i just buy it pre-made on Ebay. Good luck!
 
Thanks, it's been really rough, but was the best thing for him. He had a very aggressive form of sarcoma that showed up in his nostril within a days time and had stopped eating.

And yes, it was a VERY long story/day. I wish people would write about the complications involve with co2 more often so I could have had a better understanding of what I was getting myself into, but atleast I have it taken care of now.

As for the dKH solution, I read that sticky, an some other websites about the DIY aspect of it, and am having a hard time understanding all of it, so I'm just going to buy it as well.
Is the 4dKH solution universal for all thanks? I think my kH is like 11-12 according to the API liquid test and so I'm not sure if I'd need something different? I'm sorry if that's a stupid question..I'm so wore out from these past few days that I can't think 1000% clearly like normal
 
Sorry i hope someone chimes in with more knowledge of kh/gh, but if i were to take a stab at it, that high reading would make your drop checker inaccurate. The 4dKH is needed. Ebay! Lol
 
What I meant was, will the 4dkh solution work with such a high kH? I'm clueless on how that whole deal works..
 
I got the 4dkh solution in earlier this week and now I have a question :: is the little color bar that came with the dropchecker still accurate? Or do I need another one?

added some new types of stems: bacopa australis, ludwigia ovalis, myrio mattogrossense, telanthera, baby tears (regular), and rotala magenta. Oh, and 2 bunches of ludwigia repens.

that's pretty much it -- a lot of new growth, but some issues with melt at the same time..

finally got through my "mini"-cycle, but now I have ich in the tank. Temps up to 86 so hopefully that'll kill it off soon.

here's an updated picture after planting have been doing a lot of trimming, so other than it looking more filled in, it probably doesn't look like theres much of a growth change.
 
2 new questions::

1. What should my drop checker color be? It's normaly a light green with a yellowish tint?

2. Is there something I can get to help my red plants show up better? I've been hearing a lot about the ray2 not being good for red plants, and since I'd really like to have red plants, I'd like to add a CFL or something that will help them out...
 
Oohitsae said:
2 new questions::

1. What should my drop checker color be? It's normaly a light green with a yellowish tint?

2. Is there something I can get to help my red plants show up better? I've been hearing a lot about the ray2 not being good for red plants, and since I'd really like to have red plants, I'd like to add a CFL or something that will help them out...
Click to expand...

High nitrate low phosphate dosing helps red plants. It may be the other way around. I'd let someone else chime in.
 
Yeah it's the other way around. Low nitrates and high phosphates to get the reds to express themselves more. Also a little boost in the micros. I think the Ray 2 is great a growing plants because of the high PAR. However, I have discovered that since it's pretty heavy in the blue wave length on the spectrum, it falls short on reds. Not sure what to recommend in terms of lighting because I'm experimenting with the Current Satellite LED+ fixture and I'm starting to see improvement in color already. You can risk it because it's so new or add a Finnex Monster Ray RGB to supplement the Ray 2. Or maybe you can add a single bulb T5HO like the Hagen Glo fixture? I'd use a midday Giesemann bulb if you go the T5 route.
 
Thanks guys.
I don't really want to invest too much more money into lighting right now, I just dropped 400 on upgrades last month and my wallet is hating me right now for it lol
I will look into both those suggestions though.
What spectrum will I need for them if I need to look into another light other than suggested?


Oh and for the ferts.
Is there any reputable site where I can read up on PPS pro? I'm definitely going to start using that, but I don't really know anything about it.
 
Look for a spectral graph showing what the lighting offers. For example, here's the Ray 2's spectral graph (top) versus a T5 Geisemann midday (bottom)... you see the spikes in reds are missing in the Ray 2. There's some reds there hidden in the spectrum, but the reds are diminished quickly as light travels through water. Blue light can penetrate deeper depths, Reds (unfortunately) not as well.

img_2473678_0_8c7c90ed5aab78f34f33b74cbc81d45b.jpg


Here's the new Fluval Aquatic Plant LED fixture's spectral graph to compare:
img_2473678_1_222642f8c14d362984e0fc2098e0dccf.jpg


As for PPS-Pro... I get my dry ferts from GLA. They have some pretty straightforward instructions there..
Our PPS-Pro Fertilizer Pack … Just Mix & Dose | Planted Aquarium Blog – Green Leaf Aquariums

Aquarium Plant Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums
 
Thanks again for all of your help!!




In a couple of days I'm going to have to pull some cories and Endlers out of this tank to start fasting for shipping and would like to do some rescaping while I'm at it.
Do you have any suggestions?

Other than what is already in the tank, I have a couple other pieces of DW and a ton of zebra and lava rock for more hardscape elements, I'd like to use them at some point but I'm not sure what exactly to do with them..
 
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