Iwagami style planted 3g Picotope Journal

[Jnam]

I may have some leaks or some tuning that needs to be done because the one I have is quite a bit larger. It isnt the ada setup though so it doesnt have a regulator. it goes tank --> ASA --> needle valve --> diffuser. All the adjustments are dont by the needle valve. I also need to get the buble counter in there. The co2 is a work in progress for sure. I want to get it hooked to a solenoid I have a feeling part of the problem is it runs 24/7.

Fort do you turn yours off at night?

I will probably use gallons as well. What measurements do you use when mixing? I have readily available RODI water that is at 0ppm so I will just use that unless you think that is an issue? Is there any benefit to using RODI water for water changes and top offs? or just dechlorinated tap?

Come to think of it i dont even know what my tap water looks like... looks like I will be testing that tonight as well.

 

[fort384]

I think the RODI will work just fine, forgot you are a reef kind of guy.

I do have a selenoid on the CO2 system and it shuts off at night...

Here is what I use for a 100mL daily dose using PPS Pro for a 5.5gal tank:
MACRO (each added to 1 gal of distilled water):
1.12g K2SO4
1.23g KNO3
0.12g K2PO4

MICRO (added to 1 gal of distilled water):
1.51g CSM+B


of course, I actually mix it slightly differently... I mix up a concentrated bottle that I can add 50mL of to a fresh gallon jug of distilled water to get the concentration above... so the ferts and the scale only have to come out about once every year or so. The concentrate bottle lasts a long time... the resulting regular concentration solutions go straight into the autodosers once a week, which dose on Average, 100mL a day (a little more when dosers a full, a little less when emptied a bit, due to head height). It is definitely the lowest maintenance system I have used, and so far seems to be working very well.

 

[Jnam]

Your autodosers are awesome I plan on doing something just like that but with an arduino for control that way I can compensate for a few things based on dosage schedules.
It may be the super secret propietary Fort formula but what concentrations are you mixe for the concentrated bottle?
Oh and you want to see a friend give you the wierdest look ever.
I had my digital scale out and I was measuring out baked baking soda for some reference solution. (this was a few years ago) My friend who was a police officer came buy and i let him in think nothing of my little science experiment, the look on his face was priceless. Here is the mental picture

Glass table with small baggies and piles of slightly crumbly baking soda all over the place. a digital scale and test tubes for measuring dKh. I could see the struggle in his eyes if he should just leave and "forget" what he saw or say something. I let him down easy and showed him what i was doing. it was quite fun. when i got those bags of the dry ferts it again made me laugh looked like we were shipping coke and heroin through the mail, kind of.

Anyways, low maintenance is going to be key here. Since this tank will eventually be at work it needs to be able to do everything on its own for those long weekends we get.

 

[fort384]

Classic...

For the concentrate I add the following to 1 gal of distilled water:

K2SO4 -- 85g
KNO3 -- 93g
KH2PO4 -- 9g

And the trace concentrate:
CSM+B -- 115g

To make the correct solution (100mL dose per day of each macro and micro) I add 50mL of the concentrate solutions to 1 gal of distilled water.

This gives me about 0.25-0.5ppm PO4, 10-20ppm NO3, and should be around 20ppm K (I don't have a K test kit). The NO3 and PO4 stay pretty consistent with a 50% weekly pwc.

Keep in mind it can very based on light and co2 injection. The tank is 5.5 gal so you would adjust accordingly for your size tank.

 

[Jnam]

perfection I realy didnt want to reinvent the wheel so thank you!

 

[Jnam]

PITCHERZ!!

Tons of growth I should have a carpet in no time. I am still dealing with the GHA but its on the wane. I have a random endler in this tank and 2 ramshorns.

the DHG is growing out and over like I was hoping and the chain sword seems to be rooting just fine. the HC carpet is staying nice and low and growing out wonderfuly.

LEDS FTW!

 

[jenatron]

It looks so good. Really beautiful.

 

[iDream]

Definitely nice growth. If I didn't know already theres no way I'd guess this was a pico

 

[Jnam]

3 Gallson of sexiness =)

 

[Jnam]

I think possibly the best thing about the setup is as it fills in I will be able to dim the LEDs to limit growth and help with maintenance. It will have the added effect of limiting algae growth as well. I was reading in somewhere that all those beautiful Amano tanks you see out there really dont even qualify as "High Light". Most use Halides placed quite high above the tank and PAR reading are on spot for a medium light tank. I also read that they do that AFTER the initial growth period indeed to limit growth and allow pruning to be more manageable.

 

[iDream]

Yeah I've noticed on the ADA sites that they have halide fixtures and I thought that was odd that it's seemingly older technology for such a new age thing, but I also noticed that they did have them pretty high. Who knows, those guys are crazy.

Though this tank is amazing and it makes me want to have a cool planted tank, but that's a whole new book of info I don't know lol

 

[Coleallensmom]

It looks so good. Really beautiful.

I agree...looks really great!

 

[Jnam]

HAH!

thank you everyone.

So stocking looks like it will be about 6 CPDs and some skrimps and the random endler.

 

[fort384]

I like it.

 

[Jnam]

I like it.

good because i stole it all from you =)

 

[Jnam]

Algea is still an issue but the plant growth is amazing. I have alread had to trim up the DHG kinda like mowing the lawn. but the hair algae is driving me nutz even with the co2 cranked and the indicator showing yellow. I need to do some pwcs or rather change out most of the water... maybe half the tank a day until i can kill off the algea. I turned the light down as well and next i will be lowering the photo period to about 6-8 hours a day. Grow out is basically done though. Not looking forward to moving the tank to work though

 

[meegosh]

Sorry if you already answered this... What are you dosing? Hair algae can be a sign of excess micros. Just a thought with it being a small tank.

 

[Jnam]

I havent really been dosing... i did a pinch of micros but it was more than likely too much... I will be doing a large almost 100% water change this weekend and then we will see where it goes from there. I have noticed though the HA is worse where I did dose before. Fertz seem pretty heavy and may have just sank to the bottom in that case I dont know how i will get them out... I may just have to let the HA run its course.

Any thoughts on a huge water change?

 

[Jnam]

stupid ASA broke and now CO2 is not working... dosing excell to make up for it getting algae under control seems to be an very uphill battle.

 

[meegosh]

Yeah, I'm dreading the day my CO2 runs out. Thinking about buying another tank just to be safe. Seems like the Welding Supply stores around here come and go.

In regards to your previous post, I think a large PWC would only helps things - if you haven't done one already.