Starting from scratch 72G Dirted

[ArsenalOfColor]

Hey and thanks for posting and the comments on the tank!

-The dirt substrate that I put in and capped is more of an experiment than anything, not a ton of people had information on it so I figured I would give it a go, I got the organic potting mix and will see how it goes down there. I have had no evidence of an algae outbreak. I have only been dosing trace and excel currently. I may venture down the EI dosing later once I have some more experience with this. The next big step is CO2.

I think its the good intensity of the lights along with the excel and trace you are adding. That potting mix is going to rot, in kind of a good way, keep an eye out over the next few months for ammonia spikes as it continues to degrade and breakdown into more readily available nutrients. How did you lay it and cap it? What was the depth of the soil and depth and type of the cap? Issues you may see (from what I've read) heavier wood bits may float if any cap gets moved, anaerobic bacteria in your soil (it will smell like rotten eggs) and ofc the mentioned ammo spikes leading to algae blooms.

-My AquaticLife light does not do cycling and I cant use a timer because when it gets unplugged and back in again it goes to off setting, terrible I know. So for now I am running it for 11 hours, I only did it for 6 while cycling to avoid algae blooms in case of ammonia leaching from the substrate. Very little algae through all of this, maybe a bit of brown towards the end but I also didnt do many water changes while it cycled, I didnt need to...

Ouuuuuuch that's gonna get real old real fast, I'd look into getting an automated light asap, but its all depenedent on the schedule you keep and how good you are with the lights, but realistically all plants prefer a strict regimented lighting cycle, it's just what they are used to naturally.

-The tank is totally cycled now and I did go back and just buy what I wanted and left, she again told me that Nitrates magically vanish and not to lose the water cuz of the water change but I just smiled, paid and walked out haha. That will be the last time I go in there.

I mean that can happen it just doesn't in anything that's not a perfectly balanced biotope

-Shrimp is on hold for now, I do really want them so I will be setting up the QT tank that I currently have with a solid substrate, plants, a clip on LED, the HOB and will watch them grow. I am unsure if/when I will add them. I may also pop that into my sons room when he gets a bit older as a starter... Oh the possibilities haha.

I'll send you my email so you can keep in touch if you want some of mine shipped to you. I've got cherries breeding right now and getting more color variants up in the next 4-6 months.

-The one last otto is still in there, we see him once the lights go off he likes the surfaces we have for him in there it seems, I didnt realize that they were so sketchy like that, I never read that about them when I was researching.. Lesson learned..

They prefer a school of 5 or more, theres a guy on aquabid that i can direct you to that has beautiful specimens and very healthy with a 100% DOA replacement policy, 1 of my 10 were dead on arrival and another died in QT the next day, he gave me credit with him for when i want amano shrimp or driftwood or he was willing to split the shipment cost with me to replace them. Good customer service thats what you want from a supplier/breeder.

-I have read a bit of Diana's book but not the whole thing yet, I will get through it, I know she is lower tech which is the way I thought I was going but that light and CO2 system just called my name haha.

Do you have a journal started for your tanks at all? Thanks for popping in!

Awesome to see that you've got her book! I actually haven't bought it yet :X Mind if I hurl links at you relentlessly?

El Natural - Aquatic Plant Central
What is "el Natural?" A Step by Step? - El Natural - Aquatic Plant Central
Suitable soils for the Walstad method - El Natural - Aquatic Plant Central
How-To: Mineralized Soil Substrate, by Aaron Talbot - Library - Aquatic Plant Central

 

[ThePlantedMedic]

I think its the good intensity of the lights along with the excel and trace you are adding. That potting mix is going to rot, in kind of a good way, keep an eye out over the next few months for ammonia spikes as it continues to degrade and breakdown into more readily available nutrients. How did you lay it and cap it? What was the depth of the soil and depth and type of the cap? Issues you may see (from what I've read) heavier wood bits may float if any cap gets moved, anaerobic bacteria in your soil (it will smell like rotten eggs) and ofc the mentioned ammo spikes leading to algae blooms.

I wet the potting soil to compact it, kept it 1" away from the edges all the way around, made it 1" deep and capped it with 2-3" of the black blasting sand.

The light is automated it just comes on for one set time period, I cant have it turn on turn off turn on turn off kind of thing. It runs from 10am to 9pm currently. No sunlight anywhere near the tank either.

I can't really order livestock online. Im in Canada, nothing ships here, when it does it costs an arm and a leg and our exchange rate right now is an absolute disaster. I am better off driving an hour to get what I need from the closest Big Al's.

 

[ArsenalOfColor]

I wet the potting soil to compact it, kept it 1" away from the edges all the way around, made it 1" deep and capped it with 2-3" of the black blasting sand.

Definitely keep an eye out for problems, I'm rooting that this will turn out great for you, but most tanks planted like this will have anaerobic soil conditions, before you get more live stock poke a long thin object (stick, knife) just some kind of poking device and poke to the bottom of the tank, if large bubbles pop up to the surface smell them and see if they smell like rotting eggs. If it does I'd let the tank mature a few months before you put any more stuff in there. The gas is hydrogen sulfide and is toxic to the fish and plants.

The light is automated it just comes on for one set time period, I cant have it turn on turn off turn on turn off kind of thing. It runs from 10am to 9pm currently. No sunlight anywhere near the tank either.

Ahh I see now! Seems to be working great!

I can't really order livestock online. Im in Canada, nothing ships here, when it does it costs an arm and a leg and our exchange rate right now is an absolute disaster. I am better off driving an hour to get what I need from the closest Big Al's.

Or deal with other hobbyists through online forums like this. Look for local clubs or even ones that might be a few hours away email them what you might be looking for and see if the club can't put together a package of what you want from their various members, you'll get better stuff probably at a better price and meet some really cool people!

 

[ThePlantedMedic]

Definitely keep an eye out for problems, I'm rooting that this will turn out great for you, but most tanks planted like this will have anaerobic soil conditions, before you get more live stock poke a long thin object (stick, knife) just some kind of poking device and poke to the bottom of the tank, if large bubbles pop up to the surface smell them and see if they smell like rotting eggs. If it does I'd let the tank mature a few months before you put any more stuff in there. The gas is hydrogen sulfide and is toxic to the fish and plants.

The black diamond blasting sand that I am using has seemed to be good for this. It is only around 1-1.5" in depth (more in some areas, less in other) and due to its composition, it allows the hydrogen sulfide gas to release as it builds as necessary. I often see small bubbles randomly pop up here and there a couple of times a day. This leads to a non-lethal level of it in the water column and should not hurt livestock/plants. The problem arises when we use something thicker and heavier or a much thicker layer that does not allow the gas out. Someone will then move a large piece in the aquarium, releasing a large amount of it into the water and suddenly killing off everything. This type of sand works the same in theory as if you were capping the dirt with a gravel substrate. Even with heavier sand you are still able to release it by stirring the substrate once a week. Thankfully I have not had to do that to this point as it would be a ton more work. I read a lot about this and have read multiple people's success stories with it working and being beneficial for them in the end. I am not sure if these bubbles will stop eventually or not, maybe after a couple of months or something? I am not sure.

All of that being said...... If I was a little more patient and read up a little more before throwing it all in there and tossing the water in, I would have prepared the soil better as to avoid all of the risk in general. I dont have the link currently however there is a site and multiple youtube videos that show how to prepare the dirt over the course of a couple of days to avoid the change of any hydrogen sulfide. Hindsight is 20/20 for me here and next time won't be messing with this type of thing again and will go a safer route. Fingers crossed in the meantime. Also, I have reaped the rewards so far as I have not had any ammonia spikes, no tannins, no dirt mess, no wood floating and most importantly no Nitrate spikes. I also test the water an insane amount!!

 

[ThePlantedMedic]

So it has been a bit since I updated...

We added two angelfish to the pile, we have not found a clever name for the duo just yet. I am waiting until next week when a shipment of turquoise rainbow fish come in at which point we will add 6 of them which will complete the stocking. We may also add a couple more tetras. The fish seem to come alive when the light isn't on the tank, at night, in the morning they are much more out in the open. The only issue I had after each and every one of my ottos die was that one of the SAE's committed suicide. It was laying on the carpet when I came down to get ready for work one day. RIP little buddy. Otherwise everyone is healthy and happy.

I change my feeding from twice a day (store recommended) to once a day with no negative effect. I give a pinch of food and a couple shrimp pellets broken in half at night and an algae wafer every 3 or so days. They seem happy. The fish dont react at feeding time like I suspected. They wait for the food to float down the water column and then munch it.

I also have yet to purchase my CO2 regulator. I was in touch with Alan Le who has what appears to be an amazing product, however due to the American/Canadian exchange right now it is no where near my regulator budget. I am considering going down the CO2Art path for a starter regulator.

I did a large water change last week, about 40% or so. I had a crazy burst of diatomes that covered everything. It was easy to remove from the rocks and there is still some there however it is not spreading like it was. I also pulled apart the filter and did that maintenance as well for the first time. Gross. I added a bunch of pillow filling to the filter also. The reason I mention this is ever since I did that the tank is going CRAZY. everything is growing like mad. The dwarf hairgrass which showed zero movement prior is spreading like a week, the other grass near the rocks is going crazy also. The aromatica has shot up and is propagating from near the substrate. The val's are shooting everywhere and the java moss is out of control. The hornwort is not spreading like some said it would but that's ok. I like how it catches on the root and flows in the small current. There is a smidge of green algae on the large rocks, aside from that there has not been a single sign of it elsewhere.

I am dosing Excel every other day as per the bottle and trace 2-3 times a week. lights are on for 10 hours and we do a one hour break in the middle if we are home and around the tank to remember (the timer built into the AquaticLife light is terrible for customization).

I will add multiple pictures here because I still don't know how to properly landscape the pictures. There is a shot of the angelfish there and a couple of the tetras, you can also see the panda's jumping around, they are by far my favourite fish in there!

Hope all is well out there!!

J

 

[ArsenalOfColor]

If you are using a phone,
pull the image up in your gallery, look for an options or settings button, should have a 90 degree rotate option, will auto save after you rotate and exit
If on a computer,
Pretty much the same thing, in Windows, open the image in Image previewer or whatever your default is if you click on the image in the folder, Should have a 90 degree rotate button, autosaves after you rotate and exit

Tank is looking great, its been a couple weeks show us those fish man!

 

[ThePlantedMedic]

If you are using a phone,
pull the image up in your gallery, look for an options or settings button, should have a 90 degree rotate option, will auto save after you rotate and exit
If on a computer,
Pretty much the same thing, in Windows, open the image in Image previewer or whatever your default is if you click on the image in the folder, Should have a 90 degree rotate button, autosaves after you rotate and exit

Tank is looking great, its been a couple weeks show us those fish man!

I am using a Mac and i cant figure out how to make them right. I will be posting some in the next half hour and will make sure they are upright haha. There will be alot I have a huge update coming!

 

[ThePlantedMedic]

Stepping it up a notch! CO2 is here!

So it has been a bit longer between posts because nothing much was going on with the tank and there was not much to say...

Everything is going well currently. I had a small freak out and thought the bubbles from the substrate was going to kill everything, turns out that is a myth so far. The Diatoms are no longer reproducing either. A small amount of green algae is forming where the diatoms were the heaviest and my SAE's are loving it. It looks decent and hasn't taken over so I am happy with it. I will be manually killing the lights for two hours mid day for the next bit to see how that works. There has been no new additions as of yet. Currently we have the two angels, 6 panda's, 9 red phantoms and 2 SAE's as one committed suicide a while back. I also just recently lost an assassin snail, not sure whats up with that, empty shell one day...

Now onto the good stuff. I ordered a dual stage regulator from CO2art with all the fixings. It was a package deal that came with the solenoid and needle valve, drop checker, inline diffuser (16/21mm was the largest) and CO2 resistant tubing. They e-mailed me the day after I bought it and told me the reg was sold out and their new order was stuck at customs. Before I could get pissed, they advised me they would send me an upgraded reg that they have not yet sold on their site but it is coming soon... This is from England where the company is base. IT SHIPPED AND DELIVERED IN FOUR DAYS... FOUR ---- DAYS! I am baffled by this and thoroughly impressed! I can order something from the states which is literally next door and sometimes takes three weeks.

I am not a regulator pro by any means but this thing is sweet. It looks great and has been performing well. It takes a lot of tweaking to get it right but I was expecting that. The next problem I ran into was the diffuser was way to small. The largest they sell is 16/22mm and it doesn't come anywhere near fitting the tubing on my SunSun. I was upset until I called my LFS and asked if they had anything I could put in my tank until I received a new one. They do not deal with CO2 at all and had nothing for me so the guy suggested I google DIY inline reactors. I went out 5 minutes later, bought the pieces and made one that night. I will do another post with pictures of that after this here.

Now I will be selling my inline diffuser it is an Intense Inline Diffuser and they advertise at a 100% diffusion rate. I don't know about all that but it does seem like a good quality piece.

The drop checker has turned a blueish green, more green than blue. I am nervous as I don't want to kill any of my fish off. They seem to be tolerating the level I am at very well. It has been three full days of CO2 injection and my plants are going absolutely crazy. The grass is growing everywhere, the new spreading plant my wife bought is shooting off runners in every direction. Most impressive is the crypts. They haven't grown upwards at all but I have noticed at least two new leaves a day since starting the CO2. The jungle val's are also exploding.

I am going to my hydroponics store tomorrow to grab my EI fertilizers and will start with that this week. I am super excited for this as even without them the plants are going nuts.

Sorry for the long post again, just had lots to say tonight. I finally have a night off and wanted to update it all. I will do another post momentarily with pictures of the DIY reactor thing I made..

(The pic of the tank is pre CO2)

Hope all is good.

J

 

[ThePlantedMedic]

DIY Reactor with Pics

I watched a couple of youtube videos to see what other people were up to with these CO2 reactors. It seems like people were placing them on large tanks, much bigger than my 75G. The idea of them is to inject your gas into the bottom of a section of tubing in your output line to allow it to break up and dissolve and be forced into the tank to prevent bubbles from being visible inside. I almost have this done... I am getting some bubbles. I think it is because I do not have anything inside the reactor to break up the gas, it simply floats to the top, gathers there and is forced out a short distance to the spray bar. This has decreased my outflow pressure slightly, but nothing overly significant. It is obviously getting into my tank as the drop checker on the other side has changed colours and my plants have grown an insane amount in only three days...

For this I used.....
8" of PVC pool hose
2x 2"ID PVC joiners
2x PVC increasers (to go from joiner to 2" pool hose)
2x 2"OD reducers with threading for barbed hose fitting.
2x Barbed --> threaded connectors for the filter hose
1x Brass compression fitting tap
4x Screw clamps in place of the toxic PVC glue.
2x Steel PVC securing straps to hold this to tank base.

All in all this took me about 3 hours to build including the running around for parts. It was easy to assemble and so far no leaks!
Total cost was approximately $30 canadian.

I am going to attempt to add a couple of dollar store sponges at the bottom and a few bio balls to give the gas something to bounce off of and diffuse a little better prior to entering the tank. Let me know if you have any experience with these or any ideas as to what to add in there...

Tomorrow I will be heading out to get myself the Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) and Monopotassium Phosphate (KH2PO4). I plan on using my seachem flourish for my trace. I have a lot left and I don't think this place I am going sells dry trace elements. I am wondering if I should dose iron and also continue using my excel as I have about a quarter of a bottle left.... The substrate is the organic potting mix so I don't think I need to go too crazy here. I am going to start with a very small amount of ferts and work my way up bi-weekly to see what dosing regimen works best.

Any comments or pointers please, please, please leave them! This is a huge leap here from the low tech setup I had days ago haha. As you can tell I am impatient and like to learn about this stuff by diving in head first. So far it is working OK being cautious but aggressive!

Thanks

J

 

[ThePlantedMedic]

I have had the CO2 running for two weeks now as well as running EI ferts and I am noticing quite the change. My dwarf hairgrass and other carpet is taking off well. The crypts are also producing a large amount of new growth. I have cropped down the aromatica, bacopa and ludwigia to see if I can get it to bush out a bit. The backround of val's both jungle and corkscrew are doing very well also. The jungle fern is not doing much of anything and doesn't seem to care about the CO2 or the ferts at all.

I also made the addition of the 6 rainbows and 3 more red phantom tetras two weeks ago as well. The fish are all happy and healthy and do not seem to mind the change in the water parameters. As expected the pH dropped significantly to 6.7 and with the KH being 7.5/8ish that puts me around the 45ppm CO2 range. I have read mixed reviews about what CO2 should be kept at but I am going on my fish and plant health alone.

I have some coarse hair algae starting as well as some random spot algae on the roots in the tank. In order to combat this I have dropped my lights from 11 hours a day to 8 and have kept the CO2 and ferts the same as the general consensus is that those values do nothing for the growth of algae. I am trying to get my plants as healthy as possible to outcompete the algae currently however do not want to give it too much light. The CO2 and light balance will be what I play with first here to stop the spread of the green stuff.

The reactor I built is doing well, someone on the planted tank forum suggested to turn it 180 degrees in order to increase absorption before being sent into the tank as I am currently getting little micro bubbles showing up. I will do that once I can match and find the hosing size the SunSun came with. I also ordered a 850gph circ pump because I do not have anywhere near the flow I should have. I think this is also contributing a bit to the algae and is definitely the reason I am getting a build up of diatoms on healthy leaves. We all know the gph rating on our filters are drastically unrealistic and now that I have added that reactor I am sure it is even less. I am getting a decent output from the spray bar but it is just not enough. I am hoping the circulation also delivers everything to any dead areas in the tank and will help things grow a little better.

Here are some pics, no close ups of the turquoise rainbows today but they are in there if you look closely. I love the colour change in their head when they get all frisky, super neat to see! Mine seem to favour yellow although I hear they can go different colours as they get older. What a beautiful fish and crazy aggressive at feeding time, can't wait to watch these guys grow up.

J