Kim's High Planted Tank Journal

[Rivercats]

It will take time for the Gh and Kh to drop. Remember that your only replacing a small amount of actual RO water in the tank. It took me several weeks to get the 220g down slowly and safely using RO. Give it a couple months and then if your numbers are still too high for your liking then up the amount of RO your using.

As for the drop checkers I put one at each end of the tank about 4" from the surface and it stays there during WC's. I have no clue if or when the solution in it will need replacing but I can't imagine it would be very often if at all.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Ok. I will stick to what I am using for RO water and give it time. The plants all seem to be doing good, even the Rotala, which I know is picky and prefers softer water.

Thanks for the info on the drop checker. Got my regulator this am, now I am just waiting on my tanks and canister filter, and I will officially be in business!

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Update, 2 weeks......
Tank doing well, still running the hob and DIY Co2. My regulator is here, paintball cylinders and canister filter scheduled to arrive Tuesday.
Did a big re-scape and pwc yesterday. Now that I am seeing how everything is growing, I have a better visual of how I want it arranged. I thinned out the cabomba and rotala, and now there is room for the rest of the plants I plan to get. Drop checker in, nice bright grass green color
Upped my school of minnows and added 2 otos and a nerite snail.
What does everyone think of the rescape?

 

[parrottbay]

I havent read what you did with the blyxa? FYI Blyxa will always melt in a new tank and regrow. Just got to give it time and if you mess with the water conditions from my experiance like co2 runs out for awhile or ferts then it will melt again... HOPEFULLY you didnt throw it away because it such a beautiful plant!

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Nope....its still in the tank. Its hard to tell from the pic, but I have it between the pots on the left side of the tank.....on either side of the tipped pots. Started with 6, lost 2 for sure. The others seem to be bouncing back ok, I trimmed the melted stems all the way down, and they are starting to perk up. I did move 1 to another tank just to see what it would do, and it is doing pretty well too

 

[parrottbay]

GOOD! I am very happy to hear that, I started from the beginning and was worried that you had already chucked them and I didnt get to this thread soon enough BTW very pretty tank!

 

[Rivercats]

I like it much better, it's more cohesive and once the other plants are in and filled out it will look awesome.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Thanks! I am really happy with how it is coming along. Getting my pressurized co2 tomorrow, hopefully will have it set up by Wednesday!
Oh.......somthing I was wondering. Do I need to dose anything extra besides the PPS Pro, like iron or anything? I have red plants in there and just want to make sure they get what they need to color nicely.

 

[Rivercats]

Nothing extra at this point. Try to keep nitrates down to 10ppm and bring phosphates up to 2ppm. Then see how the color is with these levels and the CO2. If they still need a boost then double dose your micros 1x a week.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

A couple of things........
I had my first death by jumper this week. I have not yet had a lid on this tank as I have not needed one, and have actually really liked the open top. unfortunately, I could only find 9 minnows in the tank yesterday, and found the 10 on the floor all dried up. I know minnows can be jumpers, but I have had these guys for a while without a problem. Seems like since I put them in this tank, they are very skiddish. Every time I walk in the room or past the tank, they panic and apparently....jump
Sooooo....to get to my point, I am probably going to have to put the lid on or risk them all jumping. Will the lid affect my light intensity or dispersement?
My other issue is with the light. I think my cabomba and rotala wallichii are reaching too much. the new growth I am getting is fast, but they look really leggy to me. Is this normal for new plants, or is my light noy strong enough? I want them to grow more compact and fuller.........
Here are some pics. sorry they are upside down.....this phone is special lol

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Anyways, I am running an Aquatic Life dual T5HO light, both 32w bulbs, 1 6700k and the other is the rose colored stock light it came with. I like the color it gives, but I wonder if I should replace it with another 6700k, or even a 10000k...........
The light sits about 4 inches above the top of the tank with the stock legs, and there is no lid on the tank currently.
Light is on for 6 hours a day, from 2pm to 8pm, diy co2 still running, drop checker is green, pps pro ferts daily, no algae seen yet in the 3 weeks tank has been up.

 

[Rivercats]

My Rotala has always been smaller and thinner stem/leaf diameter than what you got. Here's a picture of on group of Wallichii back in the beginning of Dec. and notice all the stems look tiny/thin. They flare out more right at the top growth. Most likely your lighting and conditions are much different than where they came from.

As for lighting I don't like using a pink rosette bulb in a 2 bulb fixture. They produce very dim light to our eyes in the red spectrum but plants like that. I went to using all Geisemann Midday 6000K bulbs in my T5HO's and like it much better. It doesn't affect the color of the non green plants either. The reason I don't like 10K is it gives off a higher blue light which washes out reds unless used with a pink rosette bulb. My suggestion would be spending the money and getting a slightly more expensive Geisemann 6K bulb as Geisemann bulbs are known for giving a better light spectrum for plant growth.

I don't use a lid on any tank as it will cut down on and affect light in the tank. You could get some of that milk crate plastic that is open from Lowes or a hardware store and use that until the fish settle down.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Thanks Janis. I really would prefer to not have a lid on the tank, so I will look into the crating and hopefully these little minnows will chill out. If not, they may end up back in the other tank, lol.

Where can I get the Geisemann bulbs from? Does Amazon carry them, or do I need to try to find them somewhere else? The only thing I have locally is Petco and Petsmart, my lfs stores around here dont deal with or sell plants at all.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

I don't mind that they look a little leggy, I think I am just worrying I don't have enough light.....but then again I don't want to change anything and end up with a major algae bloom

 

[Rivercats]

I don't mind that they look a little leggy, I think I am just worrying I don't have enough light.....but then again I don't want to change anything and end up with a major algae bloom

Geisemann bulbs can be found on many online stores. I've always managed to get mine on sale at Drs. Foster and Smith so check there too along with ebay.

What looks odd right now is that yours has full bottoms and thin tops.

Anytime you mess with lights, etc., you can run into algae especially if a tank is balanced. My 220 was way over a year at being balanced without algae and once I added the new light and CO2 I developed a bit of a thread algae issue. Now I'm having to change my photoperiod up among other things to get it rebalanced which sucks big time!

 

[jetajockey]

For the jumpers, you could try a more gradual on/off lighting schedule (if you aren't already). Is it on a timer? Also minimize movement near the tank and hopefully eventually they won't jump. Sometimes it's just due to them being skittish.

For light bulbs I recommend GE starcoat 6500k's, they are less than $10 each and work great.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Thanks guys. I had to break down and put the glass lid on the tank today. Lost another minnow, saw this one jump out, tried to scoop him up and put him back, but he went belly up immediately and died shortly after.
Tested all params (2 fish in a matter of days got me worried), and everything was right on point.....the only thing I can think of is I moved them from a tank with a lid and canopy and they just felt more secure. Once I put the lid on today, they already seem a little less skiddish. Ugh
Anyways, I stuck all that extra Wallichii and Cabomba in my 14g holding tank which has a stock hood with 2 cheap cfl bulbs from Walmart, and I am shocked at how good they look. the Cabomba is turning orange/pink towards the top, and the Wallichii is much more red than in the tank it came from. Growing like crazy. I dose only liquid co2 and weekly fourish. Sadly, I think I am liking the colors I am seeing better than this tank I am working so hard on. Lol.
I have my canister filter up and running. I bought some p helferi at Petsmart. I am intersted to see what it does, as it looks nothing like what I see on the internet (what I want), but its from a package from Petsmart, so its a gamble. I am still running my DIY co2. I have my pressurized setup all ready to go, but I have been wanting to wait until a day when I am home to watch/measure it when I set it up. These poor minnows are having it rough already, last thing I want to do is kill them with too much co2 while Im at work.
Will post pics in the next day or 2. Not much has changed, plants still growing well, not as colorful as I want, but I try to remind myself this is a brand new tank and it will take time to balance out. No algae, still considering more light, but I dont want to rock the boat yet.........

 

[Kimlafeiet]

Oh.....on another note. I think the ballast on my 55g rainbow tank is about to die. The light keeps flickering, I changed the bulb a while back, but that didnt help. Unfortunately, it is a really old outdated strip light that uses T12 bulbs.
Considering an upgrade to the Aqueon T5NO dual light. I have one that came with my new tank kit, and I like the color it gives. The only plants in the tank are anubias, hornwort and 2 swords in pots. Everything grows slow, but is all in good health. Cant plant anything else, the dojos like to rearrange for me.
Will that light be ok for my swords? I cant imagine it would produce less light than my old school T12. Lol

 

[Rivercats]

The reason your getting more color in the smaller tank is the light is more intense at a much shorter distance to the plants. If you eventually want color like that in the larger tank your going to have to bite the bullet and get more light. Since the tank has CO2 I wouldn't be too concerned about rocking the boat.

IMO that fixture won't give you any less light than the T12's but honestly I haven't used a T12 since well forever so I don't remember much about the light they put out.

 

[Kimlafeiet]

I have been looking at my light, and apparently it is linkable, so I can actually buy a 2nd light, and connect the housing together for a 4 bulb system. It will still run off 2 plugs, so I can set the lights on different timers. Think I am gonna "bite the bullet" and order a 2nd light.
and totally not happy about the glass lid being on the tank. I may have to just remove the minnows all together so I can take the top off, lol.