Aquascaper 900 - Comeback Lockdown Tank :)

[rebel]

Great journal and scape man!!

I have the same Borneo Wild pipes. What are your thoughts on the turbulance that the outlet causes on the water surface? I find that it's a bit much for my 160L tank but perhaps I am using a too large filter.

 

[LondonDragon]

Great journal and scape man!!

Many thanks 🙂

I have the same Borneo Wild pipes. What are your thoughts on the turbulance that the outlet causes on the water surface? I find that it's a bit much for my 160L tank but perhaps I am using a too large filter.

I have outflow pointing downwards rather than straight, so the bottom sucker the metal pin is almost completely out and that works well.

 

[rebel]

I have outflow pointing downwards rather than straight, so the bottom sucker the metal pin is almost completely out and that works well.

Gotcha.

I will try this but struggle as the pvs pipes are kinda stiff and difficult to work with.

 

[LondonDragon]

For those that are interested this is my current dosing regime, has been this for around a year now!



I reduced the Nitrate and increased the Potassium, also increased the Phosphate! My algae went away and my ferns and bolbilts love it, also all the holes in the leaves of the Buces went away, and the tank has been algae free for quite some time. It's turning into a little bit of a jungle now! and I really need to trim it!!

I did increase the dosing from 50ml to 60ml per day as the plant mass increased. The ppm values on the image above are correct, might have forgotten to update them slightly on previous images! But I have now worked out the formulas to automatically calculate the ppm when I change any values 😉

 

[Karmicnull]

Hey Paulo thanks for this - I was just reading up on the lean dosing thread about K, looking at the holes in my leaves and concluding that I maybe didn't have enough (as well as too much N) - This is more evidence in that direction. Also I'm really good at making Java ferns unhappy. Based on your experience maybe I can sort that out at the same time.

 

[rebel]

I'm really good at making Java ferns unhappy. Based on your experience maybe I can sort that out at the same time.

Yes, Java really needs good K and PO4. The latter will avoid GSA on the leaves also. You can grow HUGE java by tripling KPO4 and pumping CO2.

 

[Regent]

For those that are interested this is my current dosing regime, has been this for around a year now!

View attachment 183779

I reduced the Nitrate and increased the Potassium, also increased the Phosphate! My algae went away and my ferns and bolbilts love it, also all the holes in the leaves of the Buces went away, and the tank has been algae free for quite some time. It's turning into a little bit of a jungle now! and I really need to trim it!!

I did increase the dosing from 50ml to 60ml per day as the plant mass increased. The ppm values on the image above are correct, might have forgotten to update them slightly on previous images! But I have now worked out the formulas to automatically calculate the ppm when I change any values 😉

Thanks Paulo,
I'm still using a recipe based on your earlier fertilizer mix, with the e=xception of more nitrates it's not far from this! I was just wondering what your source water report is like?
Scott

 

[LondonDragon]

Thanks Paulo,
I'm still using a recipe based on your earlier fertilizer mix, with the e=xception of more nitrates it's not far from this! I was just wondering what your source water report is like?
Scott

Hi Scott, to be honest I do not care for my water report, I just dose and monitor plants and adjust. Sometimes if things doing well I reduce something for 3-5g and see how that affects the balance, if nothing I leave it lower and after 3-4 weeks tweak another!

 

[Regent]

Thanks for the quick reply! That's a nice way to do it. I'm just noticing interveinal chlorosis on some of my new growth and trying to work out the cause..
I'm still loving this tank, I've just been back through the whole thread.

 

[LondonDragon]

Not the best photos (direct from phone), but this was the jungle 2-3 weeks ago before I gave it a good trim, I have used the cuttings on my low tech nanos.



Most of the moss is now gone, don't even know where that stringy moss at the top came from! I have trimmed all the buces and crypts by the front glass, removed a lot of the older leaves from ferns.
Also, I did notice that I had been running low on CO2 for the past 3-4 weeks, since I cleaned the pipes and the CO2 reactor and left the valve almost shut on the reactor side! Since then things are pearling like crazy again! What happens when you get busy and ignore the tank for a while!

 

[Garuf]

What kind of chainsaw do you use for maintenance?

 

[LondonDragon]

What kind of chainsaw do you use for maintenance?

What happens when you don't touch the plants for 4 months! only thing I have to do manually is water changes, the rest is all automated, so I forget about it sometimes!

 

[Garuf]

And no co2 tinkering to adjust for the biomass changing?

 

[LondonDragon]

And no co2 tinkering to adjust for the biomass changing?

I did increase it every couple of months or so.

 

[Regent]

Looking great! Personally, I really like the overgrown look..

 

[LondonDragon]

Looking great! Personally, I really like the overgrown look..

Yeah for me the same, I let nature take its course, I have never been much of tidy aquascapes! the fish also love going into and coming out of the plants chasing each other 🙂

 

[LondonDragon]

Someone asked me on my previous photo what I cut out to the right hand side of the screen!
When I used to have stems in the tank I did a lot of research into ways to get stems to be reder and the starvation of certain nutrients to achieve this, I never got to test this properly hence I cut it out, from people that achieved this in the past the average values are given in the column that I cut out to the right:



as you can see I have Nitrate and Potassium very close to these values, I increased Phosphate due to some issues I was seeing with the buces and that resolved the issue so I kept it this high and have not reduced it again. I might not need that much Mg but for now since there are no issues I decided not to touch it.

 

[mort]

Is that a new barb addition or have I been dopey and not noticed them before?

I've been thinking of going for a barb tank and had settled on what I would probably go for but now you've got me thinking again.

 

[LondonDragon]

Is that a new barb addition or have I been dopey and not noticed them before?

You are right, I added 6 highfin barbs back in December 🙂 they are awesome! Need to get some close up shots of the fish!

I've been thinking of going for a barb tank and had settled on what I would probably go for but now you've got me thinking again.

Was not sure about barbs but always wanted to try them, from the 4 species I have, only the chequered are jumpers, so I would stay away from those, the Odessa, Cherry and Highfin are all fine.

 

[LondonDragon]

Couple of Buce photos 🙂