Fishenthusiast's 30 Gallon Planted Tank

[fishenthusiast]

Okay guys, here are the little tweaks that I'm going to do to try to fix this algae issue.

1. Clean out the filter first (tomorrow).
2. Move the spray bar to the middle of the tank.
3. Move the powerhead in a way that it moves the water in a direction that is close to the way to the spray bar makes water move. I don't want to buy a new filter.
4. Nuke the BBA with Excel while the filter is off.
5. Reduce the photoperiod to 6 hours.
6. POSSIBLY switch to an inline diffuser for the CO2 for better CO2 dissolution. Maybe?
7. Start adding Flourish Excel daily
8. Check my local water to see its numbers in terms of nutrients. Then, adjust ferts if needed.

 

[fishenthusiast]

After an extensive tank cleaning and plant trimming, the tank does look better. I changed the CO2 schedule to turn on an hour before the light comes on and to turn off an hour before the light turns off. Hopefully with some of these changes and the filter cleaning, I can start to manage the algae better. Here are some pics:


FTS:

 

[fishenthusiast]

Update: The plants seem to be growing well with the exception of the algae, which hopefully will go away with the little tweaks I made. The Lobelia cardinalis is growing rapidly, the Rotata is growing very fast, I saw the first Dwarf Hairgrass runner, the Blyxa is starting to get its red pattern again, and the Ludwigia is growing mad as well. The Hygro is looking sort of tacky in my opinion, so its future in this tank is TBA (it looks sort of invasive). I made a final decision regarding the lighting too. I'm going to rethink purchasing the Finnex Planted+ 24/7 if the ballast gives out for any reason or during the next bulb purchasing session. Regarding fish, I had a newly purchased Honey Gourami die. It seems like every time I buy 2 centerpiece fish, 1 of the 2 dies.

Enjoy your tanks, everyone!

 

[Fresh2o]

Sounds like a plan! Too bad about the fish death.


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[Sk3lly]

Yep hygros are known to be fast growers


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[fishenthusiast]

Yep hygros are known to be fast growers


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Can you think of a plant that would contrast Rotala rotundifolia well, yet be a fast grower and not look so invasive?

 

[Fresh2o]

Can you think of a plant that would contrast Rotala rotundifolia well, yet be a fast grower and not look so invasive?

Bacopa caroliniana grows fast, has a round lime green color to contrast reds and fine leaves, and is not demanding.


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[Sk3lly]

I always liked the look of pogostemon erectus next to rotala rotund. Especially if you can get the colours out if the rotala. Maybe limno hipperdoides (check spelling). Just most stem plants really wont look invasive. Just the hygros grow so **** fast


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[Brookster123]

Hygro is a potassium hog too.. can starve out the competition, I've seen this happen between hygro polysperma and other stem plants. I have the ludwiga sp. Red in front of my rot. the pinkish hue of the royal plays nicely off the sp. It's usually a bit grown in than this but you get the idea.

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[fishenthusiast]

Bacopa caroliniana grows fast, has a round lime green color to contrast reds and fine leaves, and is not demanding.


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I always liked the look of pogostemon erectus next to rotala rotund. Especially if you can get the colours out if the rotala. Maybe limno hipperdoides (check spelling). Just most stem plants really wont look invasive. Just the hygros grow so **** fast


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Hygro is a potassium hog too.. can starve out the competition, I've seen this happen between hygro polysperma and other stem plants. I have the ludwiga sp. Red in front of my rot. the pinkish hue of the royal plays nicely off the sp. It's usually a bit grown in than this but you get the idea.

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Wow! Very nice suggestions. I had Pogo erectus at one point, but it slowly died back because of a two week algae bloom fiasco. It was growing well beforehand. The Ludwigia sp. red looks nice too, and it doesn't look too similar to the repens variety either. The Bacopa looks nice, and I almost got the Limno on my last plant order. I'll have to think this one over.

 

[fishenthusiast]

I'm pretty sure I'll be pulling out the hygro in a couple weeks. It seems to be an algae magnet...don't know why though? My top two plants to replace it would be Limno aromatica "hippuroides" or Pogo erectus. I think the Limno would add more color to that area, but I was growing the Pogo well before the green water algae bloom in April. I've also thought of Ludwigia cuba too.

No other fish deaths to reports of. I love that I got two more Panda Garra. They are so active and playful with one another. I don't know why more people don't have these awesome loaches...I think they're better than Plecos too. My next target is to get some Amano Shrimp and another small schooling fish, but that won't happen for a month or a couple months. I'll probably end up giving my remaining Bentos Tetras to a friend before that would happen so I would avoid overstocking. I've had these good little tetras for a LOOONG time.

 

[fishenthusiast]

Fishenthusiast's 30 Gallon High-Tech Tank

Update: Sorry, there will be no pictures for this update. I'd like to have stuff grow out a little bit. This tank is starting to hit somewhat of a stride with the little changes that were made, that together are helping the tank. The Blyxa is rapidly getting its red pattern back, the Dwarf Hairgrass is starting to spread, and the BBA and hair algae are dying off (mostly due to my Flourish Excel spot dosing). When I cleaned the glass, there was minimal GSA too. I think a lot of this has to do with flow. Last Wednesday, I positioned the spray bar differently, and the powerhead allows the foreground plants and the Rotala to gently sway.

 

[fishenthusiast]

Update: I couldn't resist showing you guys some photos. The plant health has been great. I did happen to lose a Panda Garra, so thats 2 of the 4 fish that I bought a week ago that are now dead. Ugh... all of my other fish are doing fine though. Here are the plant pics though:

 

[fishenthusiast]

How about a throwback for throwback Thursday? Sure, why not? Haha! This is a picture of some Ludwigia repens that was in my tank last summer (no pressurized CO2, only 116 GPH of flow):

Not the same Ludwigia repens as shown above, but this is how L. repens looks in my tank now (pressurized CO2 and 356 GPH of flow):

It goes to show you that flow is very important, as is pressurized CO2 in the high-tech tank.

 

[Fresh2o]

I like TBT. Helps one appreciate all the hard work and tweaking we do.


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[tiger terror]

How about a throwback for throwback Thursday? Sure, why not? Haha! This is a picture of some Ludwigia repens that was in my tank last summer (no pressurized CO2, only 116 GPH of flow):

Not the same Ludwigia repens as shown above, but this is how L. repens looks in my tank now (pressurized CO2 and 356 GPH of flow):

It goes to show you that flow is very important, as is pressurized CO2 in the high-tech tank.

Nice looking stems Fish...

sit in silence...

 

[fishenthusiast]

Fishenthusiast's 30 Gallon High-Tech Tank

I like TBT. Helps one appreciate all the hard work and tweaking we do.


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Thanks! Maybe I'll start doing these more often. I'll just have to dig photos out of the old archives haha.

Nice looking stems Fish...

sit in silence...

Thanks, tiger! I appreciate it.

 

[fishenthusiast]

Pics:

 

[fishenthusiast]

Update: I'm planning on switching from PPS-Pro to Estimative Index. With all the fast growing plants I have, it sounds very plausible to up the ferts. I also read up on some readings from Tom Barr, and that pretty much sealed the deal for me. Do any of you guys use E.I.?

 

[Brookster123]

I overdose the heck out of pps pro.. may as well be ei.. never have and deficiencies.

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