Re: ADA 60-P planted tank 'Prairie' (week 10, new photos)
Cheers Chris! Ok well here is a little rundown of my regime.
I'm still splashing out on ADA ferts, seeing as that's how I started and it's working for me so far. I will change to EI at some point though.
Up until last week I was dosing 3ml ADA stage 1 every morning, along with 2ml of easycarbo (which is a recent addition to help boost everything - which it certainly has).
Now I dose 2ml stage one and 1ml stage 2. I'm a few weeks early moving over to stage 2 but I decided to introduce it now. Partly as, although it isn't hugely different from stage 1, I like to make changes slowly where I can but also as my tank seems more matured than I was expecting by now.
I have my flow sorted, the carpet is fully established and all my plants seem to be doing really well. I may be condemning it saying that but so far so good. Once the stage 1 runs out next week I'll be using just stage 2.
I run pressurised CO2, at 2bps. Means nothing really but my drop checker is slightly lime coloured, not dark green. I turn the CO2 on 2 hours before lights on, switching it off an hour before lights off.
Lighting is 2 T5s, both plant pro bulbs (I didn't like the tropical pro colour rendition) and lights on at midday, off again at 8:00pm.
Water changes happen twice a week and I change 20-30%. I'm also using a mix of 70% tap water and 30% RO water, as my tap water is really hard.
I've had a few spots of algae turn up here and there but nothing too bad. I have 8 amanos and 6 ottos to deal with that, although I bought a scraper to use before taking any decent photos, just in case. I've barely used it though.
My filter is a rena xp2. Bottom basket has two mechanical filters, just simple broad foam. On top of that is a mix of two bio media. One bioballs from API and a handful of Fluval ceramic. Top basket has denser filter floss (which I change every month as it degrades fast) a handful of purigen and some API crystal.
I did have activated carbon in there but I removed it when I treated for whitespot and didn't put it back. I clean the filter out once a fortnight (mostly to remove the snails!) but could easily leave it a month or two without too much build up or clogging.
It's probably worth mentioning food too, seeing as that has a big impact on the water. I feed twice a day. Just a small amount of Hikari micropellets. I feed twice, as the black widows will eat everything I put in but only come out to feed when it's dark. That means the others can get some when the lights are on.
I also use a couple of genchem shrimp foods but I only had a quarter of the amount suggested. The shrimp get plenty to eat from plant biofilm. I just like to give them the extra to help with molting and things.
I think that covers it, apart from the endless tinkering and trimming.