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I really need to start a journal as I need other advice, but for now, I think need some help with EI salts! This has taken a bit of time to post as I work in ITU and I've been a bit busy and miserable! This tank is my relaxation and I really need to get it back on track for my own sanity!
So I started my first big tank about 18months ago. It is a very deep 400l tank.
Dimensions are 36inch long x 24deep x 30high from aquariums for life setup as a peninsular with custom stand and cabinet.
Flow is provided by 2x 2000l per hour aquael ultra max and a 1400-4000lph programmable flow pump to deal with the depth and dead spots.
Lighting is provided by a custom made led unit (post in itself), though was initially a T5 tube when first started.
When I first set it up, I was dosing premade fertilizer (neutro plus) and glut with no CO2. The substrate is Tropica aqua soil powder topped with sand with dennerle root tabs.
Over the first 8-10 months, the tank grew in very well and I was really chuffed with what I was achieving low tech. Photos below are at this mark.
Everything was going great until the heatwave in the summer where the tank was getting up to 32 deg. The sun hits one side of the tank so in spite of having a towel over it I had some algae growth. I had the lights off just to try and keep the tank cool as my livestock really don’t like it that hot and I sadly lost a few of my Odessa barbs. I also added a venturi in part because I wanted to boost the dissolved O2 and I figured as it’s a deep tank it would at least equalise atmospheric CO2 to deep down.
Plant growth went to pot and I had a lot of die back. What I didn’t think about at the time was that this happened to be a couple of months after switching to homemade fertilizers. The ones from aquarium plant food made to the recipe on the card they send dosed at ⅕-1/10th dose for low tech.
I didn’t put two and two together at the time and the tank has slowly suffered a lot of plant loss. I had tried making up a new bottle of fertilizer as thing deteriorated but it made little difference.
This is the tank now:
Side by side now and then:
I added floaters as I thought it was Co2 limitation and they'd prove this. I now realise I was wrong.
I recently got two new 2 foot tanks to move livestock into for a rescape and got some dennerle all in one fertilizer free with the tanks. I’ve been using this for the last two weeks I've used the bottle! The general plant health has improved and the floaters have gone green and grown nice healthy roots, though the leaves are still small. Thanks, Darrel for your duckweed index!
This suggests to me that the fertilizers are probably, at least in part, to blame.
The micros have definitely precipitated in the bottle but I think there are macro deficiencies as well.
Dosing with pre-made liquid isn’t economical due to the size of the tank.
My tap water is moderately hard (water report attached!) and I wonder if the salts are just precipitating in the bottle and not really doing much (water report attached). I think initially this deficiency was masked as nutrients were leaching from the substrate keeping the plants going.
Before I buy a load of new plants I want to try and get the ones I have going so I know I’m giving the new ones a good start.
Do I need to just make the fertilizers up with distilled water, need a buffer or need different salts? Or is this something else entirely!
So I started my first big tank about 18months ago. It is a very deep 400l tank.
Dimensions are 36inch long x 24deep x 30high from aquariums for life setup as a peninsular with custom stand and cabinet.
Flow is provided by 2x 2000l per hour aquael ultra max and a 1400-4000lph programmable flow pump to deal with the depth and dead spots.
Lighting is provided by a custom made led unit (post in itself), though was initially a T5 tube when first started.
When I first set it up, I was dosing premade fertilizer (neutro plus) and glut with no CO2. The substrate is Tropica aqua soil powder topped with sand with dennerle root tabs.
Over the first 8-10 months, the tank grew in very well and I was really chuffed with what I was achieving low tech. Photos below are at this mark.
Everything was going great until the heatwave in the summer where the tank was getting up to 32 deg. The sun hits one side of the tank so in spite of having a towel over it I had some algae growth. I had the lights off just to try and keep the tank cool as my livestock really don’t like it that hot and I sadly lost a few of my Odessa barbs. I also added a venturi in part because I wanted to boost the dissolved O2 and I figured as it’s a deep tank it would at least equalise atmospheric CO2 to deep down.
Plant growth went to pot and I had a lot of die back. What I didn’t think about at the time was that this happened to be a couple of months after switching to homemade fertilizers. The ones from aquarium plant food made to the recipe on the card they send dosed at ⅕-1/10th dose for low tech.
I didn’t put two and two together at the time and the tank has slowly suffered a lot of plant loss. I had tried making up a new bottle of fertilizer as thing deteriorated but it made little difference.
This is the tank now:
Side by side now and then:
I added floaters as I thought it was Co2 limitation and they'd prove this. I now realise I was wrong.
I recently got two new 2 foot tanks to move livestock into for a rescape and got some dennerle all in one fertilizer free with the tanks. I’ve been using this for the last two weeks I've used the bottle! The general plant health has improved and the floaters have gone green and grown nice healthy roots, though the leaves are still small. Thanks, Darrel for your duckweed index!
This suggests to me that the fertilizers are probably, at least in part, to blame.
The micros have definitely precipitated in the bottle but I think there are macro deficiencies as well.
Dosing with pre-made liquid isn’t economical due to the size of the tank.
My tap water is moderately hard (water report attached!) and I wonder if the salts are just precipitating in the bottle and not really doing much (water report attached). I think initially this deficiency was masked as nutrients were leaching from the substrate keeping the plants going.
Before I buy a load of new plants I want to try and get the ones I have going so I know I’m giving the new ones a good start.
Do I need to just make the fertilizers up with distilled water, need a buffer or need different salts? Or is this something else entirely!
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