Ryan's Updated 54G Corner Tank

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Yup that would be fine. Also, boiling the water or using hot water helps dissolve the ferts in there, so I heard. But I'm not sure if you should boil or hear up the distilled water...and I may melt the dosing bottle lol so I guess I wouldn't try...never mind!

 

[MyanRan]

I'm planning on mixing the ferts tomorrow! Since I'm supposed to add a little glute to each bottle to prevent mold and fungus( that's what I heard) I'm waiting until my newly mixed glute has sat for 24 hours.

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

Yes, I would add 20mL of glut to each 1000mL dosing bottle; that is what I did with mine only I used Excel.

 

[MyanRan]

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.ca/viewitem?index=0&sbk=1&nav=SEARCH&itemId=140917821516
Here's a link for a light I was looking at, I'm gonna be honest, it sounds pretty good, picture makes it looks decent too. It's got 4 6500K bulbs, but if you go to the description it says Actinic 6500K bulbs. I thought Actinic was bad? The Aluminum reflector is also 95% reflective.

 

[MyanRan]

I actually have another question. How do I know if I'm overfeeding my fish? A few times a day I give them a little pinch of food. They devour it in about 30 seconds or less. Am I starving them? Or is this too much?

 

[MyanRan]

When I start dosing my Glute, and Ferts next week, does it matter how long before lights on I dose them? Say I dose them at 8:00 am and the lights go on at 12:00pm,
Is that too much of a gap? The only other time I could do it is at 12:30pm. After lights on.

 

[DanTheGuppyMan]

I would do it before the lights go on, so by the time they do turn on the stuff will already be dissolved in the water for the plants to use.

 

[MyanRan]

I guess it should all technically be in the water for those 4 hours prior. And then it could just start being used when the lights come on!

 

[MyanRan]

How do I manage to be gone for 5 days and have Ich when I come back...

 

[MyanRan]

If I increase my temperature to 86F for 10 days, what could potentially happen to my plants?

 

[MyanRan]

I don't have a very powerful heater to begin with. But I have another 200w heater in the house. Can I run both of them? I just think the one I have now struggles by itself. Do I just set both to the same temperature and they will act normally?

 

[MyanRan]

Just purchased some new plants today! They are kind of a ripoff, buying them at Petland, but whatever, they had ones I liked. As expected they had no idea what kinds they were, any help? I assumed the purple/pink one was Alternanthera. I think the tank looks awesome right now! Can't wait for them to really fill out!

 

[MyanRan]

I'm thinking the bright green one by my intake is Egeria densa

 

[Rodeo one]

Nice tank! It does look good & will be fun to watch it fill in. Looking forward to pics in the future!

 

[MyanRan]

With all of these new plants covering my tank, I'm finding water changes to be more puzzling. I know you guys have told me to just swish around with my hand to stir stuff up, but I don't really think it works that well. For comparison, I used to half dig into the gravel with my vac and it cleared everything out, but now there are only certain areas I can do that in.

 

[MyanRan]

Update: May 11, 2013

Lots of new growth in the first week since getting the new plants in! I still am not 100% what each of the plants are! But the one I'm assuming is Alternanthera Reineckii, has been putting down roots near every leaf! The plant on the far left, which I think is a type of Rotala, has lost that bronze colour, but is still growing quite a lot with nice looking leaves! Can anyone ID the tall green plant all around my filter intake? I new it would be a fast growing plant, and it hasn't disappointed.

 

[MyanRan]

Here's an up close of the plant I'm wondering about.

 

[MyanRan]

My tank has been pretty well established for a while, but I still get what I'm assuming to be Green Spot Algae, or maybe Green Dust Algae, on my glass. Not sure how to combat this. Any suggestions?

 

[Billbug68]

What's you nitrate and phosphate levels look like? Is it hard to scrape off? How long do you run your lights?

 

[Rivercats]

The plant looks to be anacharis. What I'm seeing on the glass isn't green spot algae. That looks like little hard round dots and is very hard to remove. Probably green dust especially if you use an algae magnet to remove it and it comes back really quick. GDA usually just has to run its course and is most commonly found on new tanks. What are your nitrate and phosphate levels and how long are you leaving your lights on daily?