Search results for query: *

Uprooting plants underwater without disturbing the environment is a bit of an art but as long as you’re slow, sand is great for that because it settles in very quickly and does not kick up dirt. Occasionally h2s is released but it does not stay in the water as long if well oxygenated - fish...

Last week I decided to remove my crinum because it got too big. In doing so I noticed this particular root structure is something I never got using aquasoil - even with EI. Root feeders are typically slow growers but with established roots they grow faster than anything else in the tank. I...

Growth looking tamer now.. On the whole I am glad that I don’t need ferts although some leaves on my buces are starting to look a bit pale so I should probably dump in some iron.

Glass cleaning with my favourite sponge Then a 30% water change. Some people ask me why I don’t drain the tank before cleaning as it’s easier with less water getting in the way. I do this because I find water helps to get stuff off glass easier and I can also suck out a lot of debris and...

My cleaning regime involves removing all the weeds.. by hand if possible so there are no more roots However there was just too much so I graduated to scissors. It’s time my HC got a trim anyway. If it gets too thick there will be too much organically growing underneath and it will eventually...

So I decided to leave this tank for a whole month without any cleaning or fertilisation but full co2 and lights. As you can see my glass has algae and my plants are starting to crowd each other out. My micransothorum is literally taking everything over. Algae is also starting to appear more...

Daytime photos...

So I went on holiday for around 4 weeks in may during which time I did not do any water changes and my co2 regualtor failed. As a result I lost the helferi and wallichi (which wasn't doing so well anyway). I came back in July and replenished my co2 but decided not to do any water changes. It is...

In my experience the amount of dissolved co2 in water is totally unrelated to flow. That's because whether there's flow or not, the amount of co2 in water can only really be altered through pressure, and IMO the only thing which really does that is a high pressure grigg or cerges. Flow...

Looks to me like the rocks are trapping food and detritus at the base of the wood which is making it difficult for the fish to get to and the flow to sweep up. Its also where the bba is occurring. I will replace the rocks - which look a little bit big.. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Another aspect which I think is often overlooked is that different colonies of bacteria often inhibit each other so going for diversity can be an effective long term controlas all medication does is reset the environment and bacteria will come back. I've tried introducing bacteria from taking...

These are all questions and the reason why I think approaching algae by tuning ferts co2 and lighting can create more issues than it solves. If you have a tank with plants which are already growing fine (which you do, and a beautifully composed tank it is) I would not mess with it in the short...

Since the last post: - I am still intrigued by the idea of few water changes. This is the end of the second week without changes and the only thing I have dosed is a pinch of iron for my buces. Kh is now up to 5 and nitrate is measuring around 15ppm. I dosed K and Mg in week one but not in week...

A few weeks ago I planted rotala wallichi, monte carlo and utricularia and turned up the lights. I don't have a dimmer so am manually dialling them in. My rough guesstimation is I am getting between 70 and 120 par at the surface. Plants seem to be doing fine except the utricularia which keep...

me too but only with EI/fresh aquasoil/co2

i'm not going for 0 - just want to knock off 2 or 3 dkh to get to 1 or 2. am very close already (at 3 to 5). if i see good results then yea I may end up digging them out

just curious - as a mod do you prefer lots of traffic talking about the same ole or less of both? journals are very tricky things to do especially if one fails then some ppl think you just lack skill

ah i see... right up my street. Sounds like RO is the way to go then. just the usual suspects - tonina, pantanal, syns, wallichi. some of these I can already grow but its always a bit hit and miss in my current tank yes they can. seryu stones should come with a warning

Yes I know I don't need low kh but I'm just trying to see whether it makes some of the more difficult plants I want to grow a bit easier. If it doesn't then I will abandon the idea Yes I know hcl is difficult, but.. tom barr once said ' you will not get arrested by the fish police for trying'...

Why didn't you plant straightaway? Nh4 + softening is good no?

Yes - i used some of it it to prop up substrate when I put my tank together before anticipating that I would care about kh so now I have to live with it [emoji19]

Yes I know - but one of the methods, hcl seems the most convenient for me but raises tds as has been pointed out so I just want to understand whether high tds would affect harder to grow plants like pantanal, syns etc Yes HK kh is quite low because there's no limestone in this part of the world...

For those who play around with tds, what are the pros and cons in terms of plant health? I am exploring reducing kh in my tank to grow more difficult plants but don't have the option of remineralising RO so just using leaves/peat moss or HCl. Will high tds make it harder for plants and...

So assuming water is 0 kh, is nh4 then the only other reason for using aquasoil? Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Hmmm.... No peat moss or indian almond leaves?

Sorry if this has been covered - how do you guys get low kh water? I think this will be the next variable I try to play with.

Some more woo-woo Aquascaping for me is a hobby and not a job or scientific experiment. This means I like to be free to chase and talk about unicorns. So in this post I would like to share with you some biased, unsubstantiated and unverified beliefs in the set up of this tank. I do this to...

In the early days I used multiple drop checkers to measure co2 dispersion and you can see the differences in readings. plants didn't seem to care but it did provide food for quite a few debates

I use pothos and floating nymphonides hydrophilla as a check on water health. Some of the leaves have been singed by the grow light but you can see a bit of chlorosis which I think is due to insufficient Fe i put plants in to hide ugly pothos roots Here's another shot of the pothos and led in...

The green on the glass I think is actually cyanobacteria because it comes and goes quickly. But you may be right that there is aerobic activity going on especially where there are roots. But I still believe there are pockets of anaerobic activity especially at the dirt level which is 1 inch high...

Livestock: German blue rams, convict rams, pea puffer, discus, albino corys, denison barbs, siamese algae eaters, glass catfish Food: beefheart, spinach, egg yolk, garlic, krill all minced, frozen and fed twice a day. Saturday and Sundays are fasting days with no feeding

What I Hope To Get Out Of This Journal I guess the mods here like journals because it helps people learn through our the poster's experience so I hope that you will be encouraged to try something similar if you like this tank. The assumptions which this tank is set up mainly to test are 1...

About This Tank Tank: Dimensions are 160cmX45cmX60cm and now about 1.5 years old as I write this. Substrate: Manure, potting soil, osmocote, solid clay, diatomaceous earth, iron oxide, mgso4, k2so4 topped off with sand. The whole substrate is 4 inches at the front and 10 inches at the back...

Hi Everyone!!! About Me Although I have been a member for a long time I don't think I have ever posted a journal. I live in Hong Kong and started scaping around 10 years ago when I first came across IAPLC articles on the web. Since then I have had several tanks following different approaches...

Just trying to pay a compliment Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

see this is why i don't want to put up a journal of my tank

I would just measure out the food in a bag and give it to the person doing the water change if you feel you need to feed. Fish can survive a long time without food - even 2 weeks, so if your tank is healthy I wouldn't worry

wouldn't be a real forum if this doesn't happen

i bet its because your lighting is too high. 9 hrs is a lot and lighting can be deceiving to the naked eye. I would switch off the light and try again

its a process of discovery isn't it? we have a thesis and speculate / experiment about it until it gets discarded because there's nothing new or it leads to a genuinely something new i get the feeling that many are still grappling with the concept and there is still scepticism over whether its...

it's a great video but I don't know... I kind of feel it's just an introduction and barely scratching the surface success for me is never having to replenish the substrate or utilise root tabs, fewer water changes, growing high light plants, not having to dose (like Filipe I also only does...

For me, lean dosing, is not just a set of instructions about parameter (e.g light, macros) like EI, but a change in philosophy where you are trying to get everything just right (no more no less) to achieve what you want (e.g grow plants or less water changes or less hassle with ferts). This...

right. and RO doesn't actually give you distilled water (some only 85 or 90% pure).. which is what is really needed to fully control micros

this is getting into voodoo territory but we know that water is not just carrying nutrients and waste around. for example we know about redox and that it can react with the substrate and plants also. Even walstad talks about in her book. so perhaps leaving water in the tank for longer does...

Do you think that maybe the low feeding helps to keep organics low? Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

maybe its a bit orthogonal to lean dosing to be asking about water changes - but if lower ferts + substrate can concentrate biological activity to where we want it most (ie the plants) there will be less dissolved organics ending up in the water and less need for water changes This is...

Anybody tried fewer water changes on lean dosing? because using less ferts is great but reducing water changes is a potential game changer. This is type of questioning nearly got me banned from tpt

because that plant has to spend all its energy delivering nutrients up and down that old stem. if you trim and replant the healthy bit it will grow much faster

I for one would dearly love a chart which shows the optimum parameter for each plant - both macros and micros, KH and GH Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Oh this looks exactly like my first tslot. Looks great and you won't go back Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Yes I have over 600 litres 6 verticals for 4-500 kg is plenty. The only thing I would avoid are those tiny feet because they become the pressure point in the design instead of the vertical and are way weaker. If possible I would just place the horizontals on the floor and not use feet. This...

Haha Hong Kong residential apartments can easily take 900kg - which is just 10-13 people. No sweat at all for modern engineered flats. The trick is to spread out the load. My cabinet frame has 12 verticals and 3 horizontal levels - one for the tank and two for shelves. You can think of it as as...

I don't think there's a book on philosophy to aquascaping. Takahashi Amano's books and ada articles are probably as close as you'll get to that type of stuff. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Yea I know dennis - have followed him for ages. But if I go over to tpt and start asking about lean dosing plants - especially syns somewhatshocked will burst a blood vessel Am going to try your regime..

One thing I noticed is Ca seems quite high. Do your syns like them? I find they don't even like sharing a tank with seryu as they are so sensitive to it. But I'm not a syn expert Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

seeing pockets of gas also provides a good visual indication. Do you find plants grow better in your tank after 10 years? That's harder to measure but somehow seems to be the case (my personal observation)

Yes being from HK we also know full well the long term damage that 'moderating' public discussions in order to fit a narrative can cause. Free TPT. And thanks to UKAPS for providing us with a safe harbor.

In my latest tank I experimented with deep substrate at least 4 inches deliberately to create anaerobic conditions and lightly planted with much of the surface uncovered. Near the glass where I do have plants the roots are deep and white but I cannot believe that this action alone would be...

@GreggZ Am also a keen follower and have been for years. Quick question - how do you get the plant at the back on the left hand side to stay short? Mine grow several feet long Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

My tank is 900kg and built on 2020. The profile doesn't matter because you can always add more supports. However I would put something like a tile underneath each stand as loads can be quite concentrated with 2020. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Has anyone found that anaerobic conditions affect plants and hence the amount of dosing needed too? We were also recently having some interesting conversations over at TPT about that until that got shut down by the moderator for 'misleading newbies' I have been thinking of late that the...

Algae which settles on plants and hardscapes is more likely to be due to excess organics. This might sound confusing but you can think of it another way: perfect co2 and growing plants do not automatically remove algae. Increase water changes and cleaning on top of co2 tweaking and you'll...

The most important thing for a tank to succeed overall, not just the plants or livestock specifically but as a living work of art is the amount of time spent on maintenance - doing water changes, cleaning algae etc. For example I notice you have quite a thick substrates, quite high light and a...

Its not really all that complicated and growing to love these details is part of the journey imo Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Yes I know I'm belabouring things a bit and probably going over stuff that most people understand instinctively or have discussed already. But I would like to do is propose a process that's just a bit more methodical as it can be helpful when our instincts don't produce the desired results...

Okay so this is thread is demonstrating what happens when we try to solve co2 distribution through flow without understanding diffusion. Some people may know that takashi amano was fascinated by marine photography and consulted with oceanographers when refining co2 products for his ada brand...

just my personal preference but having such a big pump front and centre destroys the illusion of nature.. and looks like it has created a nice big hole in your substrate

Yes I agree it's so important to be clear about one's objectives and to actually do the things necessary to carry them out. For example, some decide they want filterless because they hate all the cleaning but then don't design or implement their aquarium system well enough and end up having to...

Put as much as you like and measure ammonia nitrites and nitrates regularly in the early months. Then you'll develop a feel for how much your substrate produces Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Pretty much anything will work. The wider the variety the better: old aquasoil, compost, potting soil, clay, backyard dirt and you can supplement with anything too like osmocote, diatomaceous earth, iron oxide, mgso4.. Here's my latest setup Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Here is a 126 gallon extremely low flow low maintenance no fert high light co2 injected tank with 8 drop checkers. You can see from the picture that the surface is absolutely still but plants are pearling and growing well. On the top right you can see the front drop checker greener than the one...

The main idea behind an active substrate is to have aerobic activity on top and anaerobic activity lower down. Achieving this needs proper planning because it takes months for the processes to establish, anaerobic activity can generate hydrogen sulfide which can be dangerous for fish and it can...

Placing a co2 diffuser right where you want plants to grow well is sometimes easier than trying to dial flow Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

These factors are all related and solved together - not linearly. So you wouldn't determine the injection rate first then fix flow/distribution because one determines the other. Surface movement, depth at which co2 is introduced, method etc. all affect the rate and will give a more precise...

The only chemicals we need to worry about in the immediate term in a filterless aquarium is ammonia and nitrites. In nature these are converted in the substrate, which is why plenums and deep sand beds are used especially in ponds which are the ultimate filterless environment. An active...

A properly balanced tank should be able to generate its own nutrients, and this process can only happen in the substrate. However it takes a certain topology for this to happen (i.e deep substrate because of the amount of bacteria involved) and organic matter is needed because breaking that down...

Well, you can see many posts in this forum where tanks appear to lack co2 despite having a yellow dc, and there is no plant in the world which needs a yellow dc to survive. Also increasing flow sometimes just results in more co2 escaping. Another practical problem is flow severely limits the...

That depends on how high is the rate of co2 you're pushing into the tank. At a certain rate it would rather escape into the air than diffuse through the water column. It's only above that rate when it will start to accumulate. But the more co2 there is in the water the more eager it will be to...

I was putting my argument across - maybe a bit too abruptly and directly, but they were factual observations - including about my own perceptions and I do not think I was making any personal attacks. @aquascape1987 @EA James - I do not think you understood my posts at all but sorry for...

If the post had said "I don't think turning off flow would help because too much co2 would accumulate" then I would have gladly clarified that we're discussing how to calibrate flow so my proposal was to turn it off for a FEW hours to understand the co2 dispersion pattern within the tank before...

My tanks will not thrive? Wow what a thing to say. Now I remember why I stopped posting here... Sent from my SM-T820 using Tapatalk

I'm going to suggest something highly controversial. If you are using a diffuser and want to know the effects of flow on co2 distribution, turn off the pump or have it at the lowest level you can for a few hours then put multiple drop checkers all over the tank and see what happens to them...

I also run a sump and also spend a lot of time wondering how I can increase co2. The main problem is that co2 always tries to find an equilibrium with how much there is in the air, which is why it escapes so easily and sometimes doesn't even dissolve. Scientists measure the rate at which...

The idea that oxygen is affected by other things in water comes from what is called the diffusion coefficient which is a formula to measure how quickly it diffuses (and hence escapes). This diffusion rate is, in turn, affected by viscosity, which for our purposes measures the ability of the...

I think most people who set up new tanks will be tempted to restart because they tend not to end up like how it was envisaged. But the process of fixing a tank is where you learn the most imo and nothing is unsalvageable. You can still turn the tank into what you want with a bit of patience...

I recently set up a deep sand bed in my 125 gallon which grows worms and all kinds of critters which my fish love. I have discus, corys, tetras, glass catfish, saes, kuhli loaches. To supplement I blend beefheart, krill, peas and garlic with vitamin water. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Fish only digest 10-20% of what is eaten and poop out the rest, which in nature gets eaten again and again so if a fish knows they will get food everyday they will prefer to eat that and the poop will be left to decompose. And since fish poop is small, it invariably makes its way below the...

Good luck. Tank looks great by the way

Lack of ferts can cause algae but only indirectly - e.g where plants are not growing but if you are not seeing plant melts or poor growth I wouldn't worry about it. In my opinion adding K or MgSO4 can sometimes inhibit certain types of algae but not the type of algae you have. Yes you can try...

There are actually multiple ways to get rid of algae and the way I tend to think of it is in terms of: what goes into the tank minus what gets taken out = what causes algae. What you put in is ferts, food and fish waste. And what you take out is what is siphoned out during water change (water...

It's fine to do that, except you just need to make sure the substrate doesn't become too thick as the bottom layer will get anaerobic. Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

That said here's another one. I started watching her a few years ago and it was all about animals but now it's about I don't know what Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

To be fair he does say that he's not an aquascaper Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

I too spray h202 every week when i do my 70% water change, all over the glass, in my empty sump, overflow etc. Its my detergent for getting rid of diatoms and algae and i sometimes spray if on my toothbrush and use it to brush all my pipes also. I have to say I have never experienced any...

Why bother with the diffuser and bottle when you can stick the co2 cable directly into the pump inlet. 100% of co2 will go in that way.

You could try using a surface skimmer instead of your outflow. Sent from my Redmi 5 Plus using Tapatalk

Your plant health actually looks okay - at least nothing is dying or melting, and long internodes can be caused by low light and too little pruning so I think you have basic growth. Now it's just improving their conditions and cleaning up all the algae in your water. As for the clado and algae...

If everything is okay (ie no algae) then I wouldn't vacuum. But I have found that in my older high tech (2 yrs) with plants who like clean water (like buces), vacuuming is essential. I have heard that substrate shouldn't be messed with but I haven't personally found it to affect my livestock...

If you can pump in 4-5bps without filling the reactor with air and causing the pump to fail at the end of the day then you can assume it's going into the water. But if you want to fine tune your reactor set up for optimal efficiency then you are facing the main problem with using reactors and...

Other than co2 which I think is less of a problem nowadays with so much awareness about it, I think it's down to too high organics or too low inorganics. For tank cleaning, really make sure you keep the substrate clean by disturbing it a lot during water change with your finger or turkey baster...