agol77
Member
- Joined
- 14 Oct 2013
- Messages
- 68
Hi all
I've recently rejigged my tank, going from a soil based substrate (John Innes under sand), to Tropica Plant Growth Substrate under moler clay. System details:
Tank: 72" (L) x 30" (W) x 24" (D)
Filter: Sump (50" x 24" x 18") with Kaldnes K1 and Japanese matting, powered by Eheim Compact + 5000
Lighting: iQuatics 80w T5 x 3, with tropical bulbs, for 10hrs a day, 8" from water surface
Circulation: Tunze nanostream 6045
Substrate: 12.5 litres of Tropica Plant Growth Substrate, under 80 litres of Kaizen Bonsai moler clay
CO2: No CO2, but I have been dosing liquid carbon daily at recommended dosage
Ferts: I have been dosing 25% of EI using Aquarium Plant Foods micro and macro. I was planning to phase this out once the new plants have settled in and spread roots a bit
Decor: Various bits of wood, including a big 25kg tree stump that I liberated from my local woods. I also have some manzanita branches that I'm soaking outside at the moment, that I'll be adding to make things more interesting in the centre
Plants: I planted heavily with a few species of Echinodorus, lots of Cryptocoryne species, Microsorum and Bolbitis. I also have a house plant growing emersed.
The tank has been up and running for a couple of weeks, and I'm having a couple of issues, and was hoping for some help from the huge pool of experience here.
1) I am having real cloudy water issues, and I can't decide if it's a bacterial bloom, or residual dust from the moler clay. I washed it pretty thoroughly, but it was very dusty to begin with, so it could be that. I've had bacterial blooms in new tanks before, but they've always cleared up after a few days, but this is still going strong after two weeks (maybe it's the added ferts, fuelling it?)
I did a 90% water change a few days ago, which cleared the water for about a day, but then the cloud came back worse, which is what makes me think bacterial bloom.
2) I can't decide if three T5s is too much light for a non CO2 tank. I started with just two, but because the tank is 24" deep and 30" wide, I was worried the spread wasn't enough. After reading LOTS of threads on here about light, I'm thinking two should be plenty, but keep second guessing myself.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully it makes sense. Thanks for reading, and for your help in advance.
Andrew
Tank after four days, with two T5 tubes
Tank after two weeks, with three T5 tubes, showing increased clouding and the start of some Crypt melt.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I've recently rejigged my tank, going from a soil based substrate (John Innes under sand), to Tropica Plant Growth Substrate under moler clay. System details:
Tank: 72" (L) x 30" (W) x 24" (D)
Filter: Sump (50" x 24" x 18") with Kaldnes K1 and Japanese matting, powered by Eheim Compact + 5000
Lighting: iQuatics 80w T5 x 3, with tropical bulbs, for 10hrs a day, 8" from water surface
Circulation: Tunze nanostream 6045
Substrate: 12.5 litres of Tropica Plant Growth Substrate, under 80 litres of Kaizen Bonsai moler clay
CO2: No CO2, but I have been dosing liquid carbon daily at recommended dosage
Ferts: I have been dosing 25% of EI using Aquarium Plant Foods micro and macro. I was planning to phase this out once the new plants have settled in and spread roots a bit
Decor: Various bits of wood, including a big 25kg tree stump that I liberated from my local woods. I also have some manzanita branches that I'm soaking outside at the moment, that I'll be adding to make things more interesting in the centre
Plants: I planted heavily with a few species of Echinodorus, lots of Cryptocoryne species, Microsorum and Bolbitis. I also have a house plant growing emersed.
The tank has been up and running for a couple of weeks, and I'm having a couple of issues, and was hoping for some help from the huge pool of experience here.
1) I am having real cloudy water issues, and I can't decide if it's a bacterial bloom, or residual dust from the moler clay. I washed it pretty thoroughly, but it was very dusty to begin with, so it could be that. I've had bacterial blooms in new tanks before, but they've always cleared up after a few days, but this is still going strong after two weeks (maybe it's the added ferts, fuelling it?)
I did a 90% water change a few days ago, which cleared the water for about a day, but then the cloud came back worse, which is what makes me think bacterial bloom.
2) I can't decide if three T5s is too much light for a non CO2 tank. I started with just two, but because the tank is 24" deep and 30" wide, I was worried the spread wasn't enough. After reading LOTS of threads on here about light, I'm thinking two should be plenty, but keep second guessing myself.
Sorry for the long post, but hopefully it makes sense. Thanks for reading, and for your help in advance.
Andrew
Tank after four days, with two T5 tubes
Tank after two weeks, with three T5 tubes, showing increased clouding and the start of some Crypt melt.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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