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Small update... Bright green hair algae has begun to show an appearance, I put this down to quite intense light and the floating plants not able to shade the tank fully at this point. Also the first time using tropical aqua soil... does this leach ammonia like Amazonia? Advice welcome! The...

Some images of general plant health at the moment, waiting for the floating plants to shield the light a little. Anubias bonsai and nana are shaded by the hardscape with buce in the brighter areas. Mini coin attached in the lower parts on the tank, really nice looking plant.. anyone know how...

Ph monitor will be removed once I feel co2 is dialed in correctly..

Evening all, A thread for me to document this tanks progression. Aquascaping took a back step for me in 2023 with the birth of our first child.. its taken me 18 months to find the mental energy to return to a hobby I loved so much in the past. As soon as the Christmas tree was down I moved one...

Great project! Would love to replicate a mangrove brackish tank like this!

Name badges optional?!

A couple of weeks on... tds ranges from 140 to 170 come water change (once a week). Plant growth remains very slow but yesterday I upped the light strength abit to try and improve this. Took a picture of rotala, this is now just below the surface but I'm unsure if the veining is normal or you...

Morning all, So following the thought process that my rocks were probably playing with the water chemistry too much I ripped out all the seiyru rock and replaced with frodo stone. With this being inert I am hopeful my water softness will decrease and with it the ph and tds. To further try...

I think I would sacrifice one tank, shut it down and live with 14.. Or redesign (if possible) and use a central sump. Chris

Amazonia 2

Thanks both of you.... Today I decided to rip all the rock out and replace with frodo stone.. obviously this made a huge mess so it will take Mr a couple of days to tidy up and get things how I want them. One observation was that all plants had terribly sad looking roots.. please see...

Re-calibrated the ph monitor yesterday. This morning half hour before lights on...

I must add that the images were taken this evening but I only started the new ferts last weekend. I think I can see the start of new improved growth

TDS seems to rise around 15 a day, I aim for 140 at water change

Hi Happi, Interesting you make this point, ph probe was new 2 months ago and calibrated with premixed ph7 and 4 solution. Tank details are below, substrate is ada amazonia 2, seiryu rocks are the only I have that should raise ph.. about 30kg worth. ADA 90H - 90cm x45cm x 60cm around 230L Light...

@Happi thankyou! Would you recommend I stick with current dosage or increase? I'm not knowledgeable to spot the early signs or decreasing plant health so would rather be ahead of the game... espixally as I plan to increase light Thankyou both for such good replies, iron looks to be the...

The limnophila hippuridoides dropped all lower leaves on the stem but new growth looks healthier.

Thanks Darrel, Really helpful post! It's Calcium Chloride ( food grade) so according to your calculations the ppm looks about right. Growth rate is generally quite slow and rotala rotundifolia still struggles to grow. Good 1.2 ph drop come lights on (7.4 > 6.2). Perhaps I will give the plants...

Morning all, I'm using Pure RO water, adding masterline 1 and 2 and calcium chloride to the water at waterchange. Tank is 240L, I'm adding 6ml of masterline 2 a day (macros) and 5ml a day masterline 1 (micros). I add 5g of calcium to 100L of water at every water change. Can't find the PPM...

Tank looks beautiful, do you maintain a targeted tds? Thanks Chris

Tank looks great! Having kept Asian and German discus previously and purchased fully grown adults over 8" in height 35L per adult fish is not enough. However... I would suggest you don't change anywhere near 100% water every other day so in reality your fish will probably only grow to 4-5"...

I agree, the light is the driver. However my theory was why turn down the light when I should be optimising conditions for the light at full brightness? The tank looks dim at half brightness and I thought It would be more beneficial to learn how to overcome the issue then reduce the light and...

The light is on roughly 75%, drop checkers green come lights on and green/yellow at lights out Hair algae keep coming back..

Hmmmm, so the hair algae is not caused by a dropping pH?

At the moment it gets down into the 6.3.. I have added a wave maker and at 14:00 when I lights come on today I will play with surface agitation and see if I can reduce the drop

Morning all, Thought I would follow up but also ask advice once again.. So plant health is really good now, missing compounds were added to my fertiliser or front loaded and plants looks really healthy... I'm pleased. Co2 must still be off, ph drops from 7.6.. to 6.5.. by lights on but then...

I second the view - some ebay sellers are taking potted or invitro plants and dividing selling at cost.

Nope that's a perfect response! Thanks!

Question all.... If ph drop in the first hour of co2 on is 0.5 can I calculate that the ph will drop at the same rate for the next hour? I.e. 2 hours = 1.0ph drop?! Will that rate slow as the ph drops or remain constant? Thanks Chris

Beautiful attention to detail and cracking looking stand. I bet it weighs abit! Are you having an overflow on the sump? I remember drilling out through the exterior wall of our house whilst the wife was out to accommodate this! Keep the updates coming, really nice project! Chris

Minus the hair algae, are these buce still unhappy?

Another question all 😂😂 To test the theory that flow could still be inadequate could I add the wave maker back in or can too much flow be detrimental (currently not live stock). Thanks

Here's some images

A 4 day blackout has sorted bga for me in the past, it never returns after this either.

Thanks for adding to this great thread! I just read through your journal and even if some of it went over my head I will like the ideas and results! My tanks looking better, plant growth is improving and the only remaining algae is some hair on moss and bolbitis/buce. I have a theory that...

Thanks for this! Currently running with no fish so believe they're are no detrimental effect on the plants. Similar experience in my tank with the pH remaining quite low throughout the night compared with totally de-gassed aquarium water. Chris

First off.. Incredible work 👏 Could someone do a screen recording and run through this? I got a little lost along the way and thought it might be incredibly helpful to follow along on YouTube? Many thanks Chris

Morning all, I believe co2 is now on track. 100% degassed aquarium water is ph 7.68. Now at lights on we are at 6.66 and this drops tp 6.65 by the end of the lighting period. Plant growth is yet to improve but I guess these things take time, will post so updated images in a week to see if...

Thanks Wookii, did a 50% water change last night and once the filters were restarted I mixed 6g of calcium in a measuring jug of water.. swirled it around until dissolved and added to the tank. You mentioned adding more for shrimp... how much would be right? Would I also need to increase...

Calcium arrived today, I added a tea spoon to the tank- is it possible to add to my ei mix? Thanks Chris

It definitely dosnt need 12 hours of light. My tank in this video had 9 hours and the s.reopens grew in partial shade. It is a light loving plant though

So as suggested I have made a couple of changes.. Large waterchange and then dosed calcium. Raised the lily pipe to create more surface movement, moved the stainless inlet and outlet to the opposite corner to the lily pipes to increase flow. Now I will aim to get a 1.0ph drop for lights on...

So as luck would have it my co2 ran out two days ago and I have had to wait until today before re-stocking. This had given me a chance to get a reading for the de-gassed water...

CaCl2 purchased, thankyou for the pointers!

I will start to add a scoop of shrimp king kh+ gh once a week with water change... could this be the issue with the plant growth?

Thankyou for the continued support, I aim to give the tank a good clean down today and move the filter inlet and outlet as suggested. I was always looking to avoid flow at the back of the tank as I was concerned it would affect the growth pattern of the stems? Current ferts are below, I'm...

Links to videos -

Tank specs.. ADA 90H 90 x 45 x 60 Twinstar 900S turned down 50% Ro water Two filters, oase biomaster 600 using stainless steel outlet and surface skimmer inlet. Jbl crystalprofi 1501 with glass lily pipes. Eheim surface skimmer Co2 on at 09:00, lights on at 14:00 Co2 off at 20:00...

Yes you are correct! Thankyou! Now... I'm struggling to get anywhere near a 1.0ph drop! Water just before co2 on is 6.78ph. Water just before co2 off is 6.46 (drop checkers are yellow at this point). Co2 currently on 5 hours before lights! I went back to the in tank diffuser and I can...

It's a thought... let me try it somewhere else...

Hi all, started to do a ph profile.. Can anyone explain what's going on in my video? Tank pH measures one thing - take the water out of the tank and the reading is miles different?! https://www.veed.io/view/d6f72ee7-b784-41f1-b514-91c3ba070690?sharingWidget=true Thanks Chris

Thanks for all the input everyone! It's always nice to see a thread develope! I started to document my ph levels today, will take a few days but when u have results I will post them up Thanks Chris

Morning all, Does anyone have a good example of a pH profile from their tank? I'm going to measure mine and assume we look for a good 1ph drop before lights on followed by a stable pH throughout the lighting period? Is there any detrimental effects on plants if the drop is greater then 1 or...

How about using another shade loving plant, anubias or buce glued at the base? Moss could also work Chris

Sorry to dig this one up... where do people buy Glutaraldehyde from these days and is it still the best option? Thanks

Hi, No Internet is un affected but phone lines were down. We had no heads up either only knew when the phones couldn't ring in or out.

I work for Waitrose head office in Bracknell and our BT phones have done the same. Must be an area issue Hope this helps Chris

Makes perfect sense! I see people using coke and mouthwash ect, I think its time to experiment Chris

Afternoon all, Does anyone make a lawn feed from their dry salts? I would love to make my own and assume all the salts for aquariums would also benefit the lawn? Thanks Chris

I have had panda Cory's breed in a planted tank. Once they start they breed near enough every water change Many thanks Chris

Incredibly healthy and beautiful tank! Congrats on an amazing job

Sooooo..... I got speaking to a good friend and accomplished aquascaper you prompted me to check my RO water. I was sure they were fairly good but when I tested the tds I was shocked as I got a reading of 177!! I havnt tested my water hardness for years so following his advice I jumped on...

Yep everything remains as above, lights look pretty dim on 50%, co2 pumping in at the same rate as when the lights were turned up Thanks Chris

New growth looks horrible, see the twisted stem and downward facing leaves? This image was taken 5 hours into lights on? Thanks Chris

So today before we head off for a couple of days I have done another 100L water change, this time adding just under a spoonful of reminaliser. Hopefully this will give me 3-4ghd. Next I received some H'ra cuttings from Roland so planted these in the back right so I have one side of nice healthy...

Morning all! Thanks for the comments, so there's a few things for me here and I will write them down as part of documenting tge recovery. Cause - Darrel pointed out straight away that the floating plants indicate the problem is most probably a nutrient diffency. They have ample co2, ample...

So day 1 of the turn-around. First thing was a large water change, I took the usual amount out (around 40%) but this time I did not reminalise the water I simply added the RO. I plan to water change twice more this week (away Tuesday and Wednesday) and on both occasions will add only 1/2...

So also looks like I may be adding too much salt.. possibly blocking the uptake of other minerals. every water change I aim to change 40% water so approx 100L. I have been adding three measuring spoons...

Thanks Hoggie, no feets for 4 weeks.. with the reduced lighting is that a reasonable time for substrate uptake to support healthy growth? My lime of thought was after 5-7 days of no ferts most plants would begin to suffer? Thanks Chris

Firstly, thankyou to everyone who has offered help with this! Darrel, thankyou for the advice around cutting light. I have ordered a dimmer for the twinstar and will do as you said and reduce the light. Question - Is this a case of too much too soon? Would a larger healthy plant mass support...

Drop checker colour at lights on -

Morning all, I require some help on a tank I have now had set up for 5 months but with persistent hair algae and also poor plant health.. in particular Rotala rotundifolia stems. First off here is some info on this setup.. ADA 90H - 90cm x45cm x 60cm around 230L Light is a Twinstar 900s full...

I would get one straight away Chris

Beautiful!

Thanks for the advice, yes I tried this after previously having thar issue on a bubble counter. I'm using this on a 90H tank so it could just be me forgetting the additional water volume as apposed to my 45H or other smaller aquariums. I will update after a week to see what's happening

I have had bga in both of my newest set ups... I did a manual removal and then a 4 day blackout, it's not reappeared in either tank since then 👍🏻

Yep, that's the plan. Perception is everything.. maybe loads to me is not enough. I do prefer the reactor, it's just trial and error to get it working spot on

I added both (bubble counter and drop checker. I aim for a decent shade of green come lights on but am experiencing hair algae.. as I'm led to believe its normally a co2 issue I continue on this route for now

Interestingly mine seems to be less efficient.. I'm turning co2 on 6 hours before lights with a high bubble count (can't count per second). Anyone else experience this?

So I adapted mine by adding a stainless steel tube... It's running silent now and no visible bubbles or mist from the filter outlet.

Afternoon all, I ordered myself a reactor and first impressions are quite good. Build quality looks reasonable to me. I am also getting the build up of gas at the top of the reactor and every now and then get a rush of bubbles up and outlet and into the tank. I am going to order a peice of...

Mines blooming back into life! The largest job this spring is lawn recovery. We had moles invade this winter and they made a complete mess! This image was taken a few weeks back, yeah have added a few grasses and another acer or two now.

Thanks both! I'm yet to see it grow in any tanks I have seen, what a shame

Morning all, As the title suggests; has anyone actually managed to grow this variety submerged? I have kept it alive before but it didn't increase in mass?? If anyone has, pics would be amazing! Thanks Chris

Hi, if its useful to you I have the cabinet shown above that was made for my 90H. It's sitting in my garage and I would be willing to see it go... based in Reading

Uh oh.... Here we go again!! Begun the new hardscape, decided to recycle most hardscape materials as ny personal collection is better then anything you can buy locally... Mocked the wood up, built my "retaining" walls for the aquarium and glued around 15 bits of rock together to get where I...

Amazing work, incredible skill and thankyou for the great documentation of what you do! Chris

Oh no! Assuming they will clear off and not make a home under my garden? Thanks Chris

Morning all, started getting these mounds pop up in the lawn?! according to Google they are nor moles as no center hole or uniformity?! Any ideas? Thanks Chris

Incredible, can we get individual close ups? Looks stunning

Morning all! So a really long time without posting updates on this post! I'm afraid these are not the most exciting.. yet... So I decided to clean up the look of my fish room, I had the water storage which was an eye sore and a lack of space for extra tanks/ projects. I decided a gloss white...

Stunning garden and great achievement staying true to your original plans Chris

A very grey day here but the borders really fill out through the summer 👍

Mine are a mixed bag, some out and some still opening up