Planted 10 gal RCS journal
- Thread starter andresdeo
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Brian_Nano12g
Aquarium Advice Addict
Pretty cool.. what size tank is that? What substrate? Lighting?
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andresdeo
Aquarium Advice FINatic
It's a 10 gal. Nothing fancy really, substrate is crushed ceramic beads and regular beach sand. Lights a CFL bulb, planning on upgrading that soon though when I can get some sort of CO2 system with a small difusor.
Love the beach sand bar!
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andresdeo
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Ok, some update on the tank. The DIY hood is completed it has 3 sockets for regular CFL bulbs, right now I'm running two 27 watt CFL 6500k bulbs, have a spare 47 watt 6500k and a 27 watt 2700k, just in case.
Plants are growing, although amazon swords are not doing very well. The "cabomba" sorry dont know the scientific name of most my plants has some brown dusty algae on the very top of the new growth. There is also very minor fine hairy algae on amazon swords leaves and on glass. Cutting down photo period to 9 hours. Tank is cycled and only inhabitants are 14 red cherry shrimp.
Today I dosed ferts for the first time 5ml of Sera Florena complete fertilizer, it said 5 ml for every 5 gal, so tomorrow I'll add the other 5 ml to complete for 10 gal. It's a German brand and it is the only one accesible to me right now.
I've only had low light planted tanks before and want to transition to adding ferts and maybe CO2 in a near future so all advice is well recieved. Thank you very much.
Plants are growing, although amazon swords are not doing very well. The "cabomba" sorry dont know the scientific name of most my plants has some brown dusty algae on the very top of the new growth. There is also very minor fine hairy algae on amazon swords leaves and on glass. Cutting down photo period to 9 hours. Tank is cycled and only inhabitants are 14 red cherry shrimp.
Today I dosed ferts for the first time 5ml of Sera Florena complete fertilizer, it said 5 ml for every 5 gal, so tomorrow I'll add the other 5 ml to complete for 10 gal. It's a German brand and it is the only one accesible to me right now.
I've only had low light planted tanks before and want to transition to adding ferts and maybe CO2 in a near future so all advice is well recieved. Thank you very much.
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Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
Looking good over there! I like your idea on the hood! Do you have root tabs under the sword? The brown stuff could be diatoms, I guess they're common in a new tank, the I should go away. The hair may become an issue, have you considered a liquid carbon? Also cutting down the lights to 6 hours could help, is tank in direct sunlight?
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andresdeo
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Waiting for root tabs to arrive to my LFS. I have not seen many liquid carbon products around here, but I'll look into it. Tank is not in direct sunlight, I started with a 10 hour on photo period and cut back to 9 hours on 2 days ago. You think 6 hours will be enough?
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
swords are heavy root feeders so the root tabs will make a world if difference, mebbid makes his own which seem to work great. The liquid carbon would be a good move, metricide 14 is a good choice, you can find it online cheaper than name brand glut's. 6 hours will be enough for plants while helping to knock out algae growth.
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andresdeo
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Ok, I'll try to get both root tabs and some form of liquid carbon source ASAP. Does liquid carbon dosing require a minimum lighting, I'm still not sure my CFLs are getting the job done, although I am seeing growth, is that the best indicator?
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
remember you can make them too, I've heard most all pre made tabs are crap, except for seachem, I use those for now but when they run out I'm going to make the mebbid tabs. If your running 3 6500k cfl's I'm sure that is more than ample lighting. Growth is good yes, I'm no expert, I'm a total plant noob, if your getting red plants growing than you're doing it right!
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andresdeo
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I cut down to two, 27 watts 6500 k bulbs because of the algae. The new leaves on the red plant are coming out green with a hint of red. Where could I read up on making DIY root tabs?
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
You could pm mebbid and ask for his recipe! Tell him I sent you haha.
jwh0818
Aquarium Advice Addict
Ahh yes home made root tabs! They work really good. I don't remember how to make them
Old Scales
Aquarium Advice Addict
You can stay with all three lights but I suggest you go to a 7 hr light period. Plants do better with a short intense light period than a long low light period. Also I agree you need at least the liquid carbon (Metricide 14) dosed daily as it only lasts 24 hrs. From the picture of the fert, it looks like its traces only. Be sure you are adding nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus(macro ferts) also. OS.
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andresdeo
Aquarium Advice FINatic
That is the only fert I'm adding right now, thats why I want a push in the right direction. To add macro ferts is it better to go dry (seems complicated or could I go with a liquid one as well)?
Should I go ahead and start adding all these at the same time? Started this week with the trace elements fert, should I start straight away with, root tabs, macro elements and liquid carbon?
Is there any chance adding all those new elements will have some effect on my RCS?
Reducing the photo period to 7 hours right now!
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jwh0818
Aquarium Advice Addict
It's cheaper to go for dry ferts
Brian_Nano12g
Aquarium Advice Addict
Dry ferts are best! Comprehensive and saves you a lot of cash. I suggest getting the pps-Pro pack from greenleaf aquariums (GLA). There's a couple of links on their page for directions. But it's super easy to mix and dose. You'll need to order a digital gram scale (less than 10$ on Amazon). I also like to use graduated pipettes.. cheap pack of 100 on Amazon. Add excel to the micro mix to reduce chance of mold (5ml to every 250ml solution).
Seachem flourish tabs are great but somewhat pricey. You can DIY them, if you like DIY'ing. Otherwise, commercially available tabs are fine.
Here's a DIY video. The guy on the video also sells his tabs, called RU tabs, via Peabody's paradise.
There's already a lot of good advice here so far.
Seachem flourish tabs are great but somewhat pricey. You can DIY them, if you like DIY'ing. Otherwise, commercially available tabs are fine.
Here's a DIY video. The guy on the video also sells his tabs, called RU tabs, via Peabody's paradise.
There's already a lot of good advice here so far.
Brian_Nano12g
Aquarium Advice Addict
Oh yeah...all perfectly safe for RCS.
Old Scales
Aquarium Advice Addict
Thanks Brian. I have no experience with shrimp and Glut. OS.
Fresh2o
Aquarium Advice Addict
You'd want to go easy on the glut with shrimp. I think it was JKeating8 or misterpenguin4 that lost most or all of their shrimp because of an excel overdose. Not say don't use it, just don't be over zealous with it.
You really cannot go wrong with the liquid Seachem products. They work. After a while it might get costly. However, this is a 10 gallon tank so this might offset the cost a bit. I am just starting out with PPS Pro in a 20g. I like that you can adjust the portions of the ferts as needed (e.g. Omitting the nitrate dosing). I am still in the adjustment phase. For the most part I have been growing green plants; started with some red plants a couple of months ago. They look more bronze than red. Prior to PPS Pro, I was using a combination of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive, Excel, API Leaf Zone, Aqua Fertz root pellets, and DIY CO2 with good results.
I have a pair of clamp on 13w CFLs in a grow out tank but I do not have any red plants in there (yet). I have some regular Althernaria reineckii (AR) that needs some trimming. I might throw the cuttings in the grow out tank and see how they do under those lamps (change in color, leaf size, growth rate). There is also some direct sunlight that hits the tank for several hours so that will throw off the "experiment".
Hope the algae gets under control. I have battled Blackbeard, stag horn, string algae this past year.
Sounds like you have some knowledgable followers here so keep the questions coming.
You really cannot go wrong with the liquid Seachem products. They work. After a while it might get costly. However, this is a 10 gallon tank so this might offset the cost a bit. I am just starting out with PPS Pro in a 20g. I like that you can adjust the portions of the ferts as needed (e.g. Omitting the nitrate dosing). I am still in the adjustment phase. For the most part I have been growing green plants; started with some red plants a couple of months ago. They look more bronze than red. Prior to PPS Pro, I was using a combination of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive, Excel, API Leaf Zone, Aqua Fertz root pellets, and DIY CO2 with good results.
I have a pair of clamp on 13w CFLs in a grow out tank but I do not have any red plants in there (yet). I have some regular Althernaria reineckii (AR) that needs some trimming. I might throw the cuttings in the grow out tank and see how they do under those lamps (change in color, leaf size, growth rate). There is also some direct sunlight that hits the tank for several hours so that will throw off the "experiment".
Hope the algae gets under control. I have battled Blackbeard, stag horn, string algae this past year.
Sounds like you have some knowledgable followers here so keep the questions coming.
