• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

60cm - See what sticks

Ed, your frogbit has shiny leaves while mine has "hairy" leaves. So my floater has Pistia texture but with frogbit shaped leaves. Confused!
 
Haven't updated in a bit. Here's what the tank looks like now.
22935081443_956d973ca6_o.jpg

It's going pretty good. None of the plants except for Blyxa japonica have melted so far. My first trims were to trim and top in order to remove the emersed leaves. Rotala wallichii seems to be growing the fastest, it's been trimmed three times now, and cuttings replanted at the back.

I added some Blue Diamond shrimp some weeks ago too. I added 3 but one sadly died. The other two are doing well.
23562171285_23819b3d10_o.jpg

22933923144_c44621f07c_o.jpg

Here's a shot of the pistia. Does anyone know what sorta deficiency this is? They grow really well, about tripling in mass every week. But some of the leaves are going transparent like so. In the tank itself, I've noticed the crown of one Ludwigia inclinata var verticiliata and one Pogostemon helferi going transparent as well, but hasn't affected the rest.
22934047514_0e28f8fa4e_o.jpg

Last week I started a new dosing scheme that doesn't include any KNO3. My API KNO3 test kits show ~80ppm of NO3 before a water change, so it seems like there's enough NO3 being produced by nitrifying bacteria (and enough ammonia to feed them). In case you're wondering, the transparent leaves issue has been happening for a while now, not when I stopped dosing NO3.
 
The monte carlo seems to have formed a few bald spots 2 weeks after the last brutal trim. Maybe I left it grow too tall and the bottom shoots which were exposed after trimming cannot survive on their own. Or could it be the effect of not dosing any KNO3? The other plants seem OK, though growth seems to have slowed a bit.
23159938194_6eef635fe0_h.jpg
 
OK I think the experiment has failed. More and more MC is lifting off the carpet and I'm starting to see yellowish leaves on plants like Staurogyne repens. So its back to 10ppm nitrates this week.
 
Looks like things are nicely in balance now. Super healthy plants including red stems, healthy fish/shrimp. Barely any algae. Light/CO2/nutrient combo must be about right.

I think you're right to keep nitrate lowish. Blue diamonds can be a little sensitive to higher nitrates... Maybe just aim a concentration of no more than 15ppm nitrate. 10ppm is even better but may need more regular dosing to keep up with plant demand.
 
Straight Shooter said:
Looks like things are nicely in balance now. Super healthy plants including red stems, healthy fish/shrimp. Barely any algae. Light/CO2/nutrient combo must be about right.

I think you're right to keep nitrate lowish. Blue diamonds can be a little sensitive to higher nitrates... Maybe just aim a concentration of no more than 15ppm nitrate. 10ppm is even better but may need more regular dosing to keep up with plant demand.
Click to expand...
There is some GDA/GSA on the glass which I scrub every week, and some BBA on the filter outlets, but overall is very manageable. I brought nitrates back up to 20ppm, reasons below...

AndreiD said:
Hi , did you find out what was the problem that caused transparent leaves ?
Click to expand...
It happened when I removed KNO3 from my dosing, since my API NO3 test kit showed very high concentrations of NO3. Was just testing it out. Perhaps EI's NO3 requirement is on top of whatever's generated within the tank by the nitrification process. Once I started dosing KNO3 again, the transparent leaves went away. I also realised that I was severely under-dosing iron by 4x. Didn't really know how to calculate % by weight into ppm. Now my iron dosing is on track, thanks to the rotalabutterfly nutrient calculator, which handily has the exact Cifo Mikrom trace mix I was using.
 
I must say that of all the tanks I've made, this is the one I can really sit in front of and stare. The colours, the pearling, the lushness... its all I wanted when I started this hobby. Only took me 8 years!

My next experiment... switching to a lily pipe to see if there are any differences compared to a spray bar. I'd also like to remove the skimmer one day.
 
AndreiD said:
Hi , you ca remove the skimmer you have now and use an Eheim skim 350 , best skimmer ever , the skimmer you have now is not the best option because it can suck in more water at the top instead of bottom which is a problem .
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. The eheim skimmer is however, more expensive and is another piece of powered equipment in a tank. I prefer to use the passive skimmer 🙂
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top