Bert's 30G Planted adventure.

[Bert2oo1]

So I've posted a thousand different posts over the last few months so I thought I'd just start up 1 thread to cover all bases. I've been a fish keeper for about 3 years now and have just got into planted tanks recently (plan on starting a second in the future).
This is how my tank started

And after first lot of plants


The spec's for my setup are:

Makemyled lighting fixture with auto controller (can get upto 100par at substrate) currently running at 80% power.

Fluval 205 filter with custom made spray bar.(hopefully upgrading soon)

Did have DIY co2 using citric acid but have just upgraded to a 2.6kg bottle with a azoo regulator and an inline upAqua atomiser.

Fert dosing: currently following PPS Pro method to suit high light. Dosing 6x the recommended dose.(thinking about going to EI dosing instead.)

After 2 months the tank now looks like this:

Got rid of the white gravel as the algae took over and turned it green.

Still learning every day so I'll keep updating this post as I run into more dramas and how I go about fixing them etc

A pic of my 90g Oscar tank to finish off

Cheers guys!




30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Delapool]

Looking nice , another tank thread! Out of interest where did you source the leds from?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Looking nice , another tank thread! Out of interest where did you source the leds from?

I got them off eBay. There made by a guy in Western Australia. Can't fault them so far. He will also make them to any size/wattage/colour you need.
Just search makemyled in eBay


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[The_Desacrator]

Looks really good! Kinda wanna do something like that in the future.

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[Bert2oo1]

Looks really good! Kinda wanna do something like that in the future.

Sent from my SM-G386T1 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

Thanks

Considering ditching the moss. Got it off eBay and was told it was algae free but it's been breeding BBA flat out. Has anyone else had this problem with moss? I've read so much info on BBA. People saying its flow, people saying its co2 others saying its a build up of organic's. I've been zapping it with excel but it killed 2 patches and more is growing. It's even started to spread so I'm a little concerned.

I guess I still need to find that balance. Maybe dim the lights crank the co2 and back off on the ferts abit.
Still so much to learn!


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Fresh2o]

I like the moss. I understand that it can collect BBA as well. I have some DW branches that closer to the light source and BBA tends to grow there. No where else in my tank, just there.
If you remove the moss, place it in a corner or somewhere else down at the substrate level. Curious to see if it collect BBA with less light.


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[Bert2oo1]

I like the moss. I understand that it can collect BBA as well. I have some DW branches that closer to the light source and BBA tends to grow there. No where else in my tank, just there.
If you remove the moss, place it in a corner or somewhere else down at the substrate level. Curious to see if it collect BBA with less light.


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Very interesting. Well my moss is mid tank so the par would be well over 100 cause I've got 90-100 at substrate. I'm considering bleaching it but I'm not sure how that goes with the wood and I'm pretty sus on using bleach on anything in my tanks

I've got 2 small tufts of it at substrate level but that grows very very slow. Where as the moss grows fast than I can kill it


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Delapool]

I've had BBA in high light grow in low / high CO2 areas & low / high flow areas. Interestingly at substrate it grew on dark, volcanic pebbles but not on lighter coloured quartz gravel. Oh, and also grew on plants - the plants just grew faster than the BBA.

At lower light levels I get the occasional tuff on mainly driftwood that h2o2 takes care of.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I've had BBA in high light grow in low / high CO2 areas & low / high flow areas. Interestingly at substrate it grew on dark, volcanic pebbles but not on lighter coloured quartz gravel. Oh, and also grew on plants - the plants just grew faster than the BBA.

At lower light levels I get the occasional tuff on mainly driftwood that h2o2 takes care of.

It's very interesting isn't it everyone recons it's this and that but it seems to sprout no matter what. Driftwood definitely gives it a good foot hold tho as I've read most people get it on wood. Once I crank the co2 I'll see what it does after a few more zaps and if it's not gone I'll have to look at some more angles

Moss is due for a trim so I'll try and cut most of it out if I can


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Delapool]

It's very interesting isn't it everyone recons it's this and that but it seems to sprout no matter what. Driftwood definitely gives it a good foot hold tho as I've read most people get it on wood. Once I crank the co2 I'll see what it does after a few more zaps and if it's not gone I'll have to look at some more angles

Moss is due for a trim so I'll try and cut most of it out if I can


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

Lots of theories I guess if it was easy, farmers would be millionaires.

Glut I find will discourage so I continue to dose even with co2 injection.

I still believe light (or the imbalance from high light) is the largest driver for my tank. But I did come across an interesting thread that pointed out PAR will vary immensely from top to bottom of tank and plants must adapt to that. On new stem plant growth closest to light I never saw BBA. Always on lower leaves.

 

[Bert2oo1]

So I've been looking more into ferts and was wondering if anyone does EI dosing? I just used a calculator to see what id need to make a 500ml bottle of macro and it said I need:
180g potassium nitrate kno3
49g of monopotassium phosphate

That's dosing 5ml of solution per day for 7 days then 50% water change.

Now that seems pretty excessive to me considering I'm dosing to high light PPS pro (6ml per day) and the mix is only 32.6 grams to 500ml of water.

Have I used the calculator wrong or does this sound right?

Also dosing EI I notice u don't put in magnesium or potassium sulphate?

Had another big algae bloom over night this time of green hair algae. Just trying to break it all down to see where I've gone wrong.

Any help is appreciated as always thanks


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Bert2oo1]

In other news though my regulator came in the post today!

Just waiting on the inline atomiser and I can set it all up!

Reg also came with hose bubble counter and a stainless steel check valve


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Caliban07]

Hi Bert

Great news on the reg. Let the fun begin!

Regarding EI. You get plenty of potassium from the potassium nitrate and the potassium phosphate and most tap waters usually contain fairly decent amounts of calcium and magnesium but if you are unsure. Just get mag sulphate. I don't use the mag sulphate.

As for dosing. Forget the bottles. Just buy some measuring spoons and a set of digital scales (both cheap) and just drop the ferts in dry. It's so much easier.

Use this calculator http://yanc.rotalabutterfly.com

and select DIY and dry dosing. It will tell you how many grams you need to add to your tank. You do this three times a week or you can divide by 7 and dose less daily. Dose macros and micros on alternate days.

For more info read this article

http://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=dosing-with-dry-salts

Release your apprehensions on nutrient dosing and free yourself up more time to concentrate on the more difficult aspects of running a successful planted tank, light, carbon and flow.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.




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[Bert2oo1]

Awesome post thanks caliban your always helpful! Flows heaps better now with the spray bar. I tested nitrates last night using the api test. I know it's not very accurate but I'm going to test again this morning to see if there is any change. Was at around 30 ppm (too high for my liking) I think I've been dosing more than my plants are taking up and my water quality is bad by the time I water change. Hopefully my inline comes today or tomorrow and I can set up the pressurised.

Going to do a big water change after scrubbing down all the algae and cut all the BBA off the moss and other plants it has moved to and remove it.
Hopefully start a fresh. Start EI dosing and maybe even back my light off abit more. Maybe down to 70%? (Currently at 80) I'm almost certain now that I'm dosing too much micro and that could be the cause of all my issues.

Busy few days of cleaning and zapping ahead! I'll post up in a few days how things are going


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Bert2oo1]

So using the calc I need to dose mon/wed/fri/Sunday 1g of kno3 and 211mg of kh2p04

And tues/thurs/sat 757mg of trace

That's 4g of kno3 and 844mg of kh2po4 per week and 2.274g of trace per week.




30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Delapool]

I dry dose as well except for one mixture which is just easier to measure in a solution and I mix with the glut to dilute it as it is going into the tank. (Still on PMDDs + extras here ).

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/PMDD.htm

I dose micros and phosphate separately on alternate nights just in case the iron and phosphate compounds might combine.

Also picked up a phosphate test kit so every few weeks, I'll test nitrates and phosphates - adjust dosing from there. I do have a potassium test kit but was pretty expensive and my understanding is potassium is not a real issue if overdosed. I shovel it in and keep an eye on the lower leaves of fast growing stem plants to see if enough.

Also I picked up an iron test kit but it never shows anything (even with iron dosing) or shows hardly anything so don't bother with it now.

Ph, nitrates and phosphates are the main ones I watch now. I'll also test kh and gh maybe once a month but usually pretty consistent (although can vary in Perth with seasons).

 

[Fresh2o]

Just offering a counter viewpoint to the EI method...with PPS-Pro I find it much easier to break out the scale once or twice a year, mix the ferts and be done with it. Using a plastic pipette, I dose 2 mL each day from two bottles...same stuff, everyday. So in case I miss a day, no need to remember which fert to dose on which day.
YMMV. May not yield the same results as EI, but I have not observed any deficiencies in the plants in my tank.


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[Bert2oo1]

Just offering a counter viewpoint to the EI method...with PPS-Pro I find it much easier to break out the scale once or twice a year, mix the ferts and be done with it. Using a plastic pipette, I dose 2 mL each day from two bottles...same stuff, everyday. So in case I miss a day, no need to remember which fert to dose on which day.
YMMV. May not yield the same results as EI, but I have not observed any deficiencies in the plants in my tank.


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I currently dose 6ml of macro and 0.5ml of micro each day with PPS pro. I haven't seen any deficiencies in the plants but my algae growth is bad.

Although I've read that algae isnt cause by ferts I'm just trying to see if EI makes any difference at all.


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Bert2oo1]

@delapool. Thanks for the info. I'm pretty keen to test out EI


30g planted, 90g Oscar tank

 

[Bert2oo1]

So I couldn't wait for my inline to get here because I was too excited to setup the pressurised co2.


I have just got it working through a diffuser under the intake of my canister at the moment.

I've got it timed to come on an hour before my lights come on and shut off as they turn off.

Did a massive trim today of the moss and cut all the BBA out of it and whatever other plant it had started growing on. I've cranked the co2 straight to 2bps after I did a water change and half dosed my usual daily ferts.

The tanks looking like a soda bottle.

Moss pearl after water change



30g planted, 90g Oscar tank