Aquascaper 900 - Comeback Lockdown Tank :)

[Ady34]

Excellent, so pleased to see this up and running and you sharing the experience.
Tank looks really well balanced, great kit and some lovely plant choices.
Looks like you haven’t lost your touch Paulo, some impressive stem growth already 😎
Hopefully this journal will last as long as your
previous ones
Cheerio,

 

[Deano3]

Looking good and healthy starting to fill in nicely, mine in due beginning of july so watching your jurnal very closely. Are you just dosing standard EI ? I ordered the APF starter kit so hopefully goes well. Been waiting for your update looks really promising so far mate will lool very natural when filled in and i also love bucephalandra .

Dean

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[LondonDragon]

Excellent, so pleased to see this up and running and you sharing the experience.
Tank looks really well balanced, great kit and some lovely plant choices.
Looks like you haven’t lost your touch Paulo, some impressive stem growth already 😎
Hopefully this journal will last as long as your
previous ones
Cheerio,

Many thanks, happy to be back also, and so far enjoying it.
I did have a look at various scapes from various people to determine the plant choice and so far happy with it, I am just going to get some more Buces as I love these now 🙂
Hopefully a long term journal as I am not into regular scaping, and I am no scaper lol

Looking good and healthy starting to fill in nicely, mine in due beginning of july so watching your jurnal very closely. Are you just dosing standard EI ? I ordered the APF starter kit so hopefully goes well. Been waiting for your update looks really promising so far mate will lool very natural when filled in and i also love bucephalandra .

Many thanks, happy days ahead 😉
I am using a twist on the standard EI that I used in past with success, I dose lower amounts of KNO3 and add more K2SO4, so to dose the recommended ppm of K per week and not dose too much of NO3, I am actually going to redo my ferts again and eliminate totally KNO3 from the solution and only add K2SO4, in the hope that eliminating Nitrates I will get the Rotala and Ludwigia to turn red 😉
If that works out I will share my results and formula if people are interested. Cheers

 

[Chris PP]

This thread is brilliant to say the least ! As I am just starting back into the hobby I like you have been waiting until I have all the bits ready. Got the tank, filter and co2 all ready. Got to pick up a Twinstar later today. Next is my struggle with plant choice. Soo much to choose from. Looking forward to watching this thread

 

[LondonDragon]

This thread is brilliant to say the least ! As I am just starting back into the hobby I like you have been waiting until I have all the bits ready. Got the tank, filter and co2 all ready. Got to pick up a Twinstar later today. Next is my struggle with plant choice. Soo much to choose from. Looking forward to watching this thread

Many thanks, start with less demanding plants, most of the plants on my list are less demanding, hence I picked them, so I have a better chance to succeed in my first go, and then later maybe replace/add some more demanding ones 😉 good luck

 

[zozo]

That's a darn nice setup... 😎 And nice to finally see you come out of hiding from behind the scenes...

 

[LondonDragon]

That's a darn nice setup... 😎 And nice to finally see you come out of hiding from behind the scenes...

Thanks Marcel, long time coming I guess, and just made a new batch of ferts also to see if I can get the rotala red!! I will use the previous on the houseplants! Just gotta make sure I don't over dose them! lol

 

[LondonDragon]

Just a quick update on my EI dry salts mix.

So this was my first week dosing mix:



Everything has grown in great as you have seen, I did perform 50% water changes every 2 days! No sign of algae or any deficiencies or something that I never heard before until recent years "toxicity", which I think is a load of BS!!


My stems growing at a great rate, but they are green, speaking to a couple of more experienced aquascapers this week I was advised to lower or add no Nitrate! So this is my week two solution which I started dosing today:



I am still going to perform 50% water changes every couple of days this week and next week will do every 3 days! Let's see how the tank behaves with the new dosing mix!!

I am using a dosing pump that took me a while to calibrate but doses exactly 50ml every time.

Cheers

 

[hypnogogia]

@LondonDragon , what’s that dosing calculator excel that you use? Looks nice and simple.

 

[LondonDragon]

@LondonDragon , what’s that dosing calculator excel that you use? Looks nice and simple.

It's my own spreadsheet, to work out the actual ppm being dosed I use https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php it is not done automatically by the spreadsheet. I am just making it simple for me and trying not to overcomplicate it, also I do not really care about what is being dosed by my tap water, just making sure the plants have what it needs. If you have the right balance between CO2, Light and flow then you shouldn't have an issue with algae! Time will tell 😉

 

[Deano3]

It's my own spreadsheet, to work out the actual ppm being dosed I use https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php it is not done automatically by the spreadsheet. I am just making it simple for me and trying not to over complicate it, also I do not really care about what is being dosed by my tap water, just making sure the plants have what it needs. If you have the right balance between CO2, Light and flow then you shouldn't have an issue with algae! time will tell 😉

So you changed water evey 2 days for the first week so water change one day miss a day then water change the next, think i will do the same when set up mine.

I am very unexperienced with dry salts and dont even know what is in salt etc so i think i will be following the starter kit advice from aquarium plant food and maybe adding potassium sulphate as someome suggested but i will add more questions only my tank etc arrives,seems very confusing at first but hopefully start to learn and learn if seeimg defficencys what salts need added etc.

Great jurnal so far mate and very helpful.
Dean

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[LondonDragon]

So you changed water evey 2 days for the first week so water change one day miss a day then water change the next, think i will do the same when set up mine.

Depends on the soil you are using, if ADA I would recommend doing it every day for the first couple weeks.

I am very unexperienced with dry salts and dont even know what is in salt etc

Here to provide some guidance if needed 😉

Cheers
Paulo

 

[Deano3]

Depends on the soil you are using, if ADA I would recommend doing it every day for the first couple weeks.
Here to provide some guidance if needed 😉

Thanks mate i will certainly be asking if you dont mind and i will be using tropica soil thinking 2 bags of 9l.

Thanks dean

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[LondonDragon]

These were the stems after 4 days:



These are the stems today, around day 10:



Top view today:



Lets see if over the next week I start to see some colour 🙂

 

[Deano3]

Thats some impressive growth mate

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[Jayefc1]

Wow those stems look amazing hope the new ferts do what you want them too

 

[Ady34]

That view from above 😎 Stems are looking great......Green is the new red

 

[LondonDragon]

Wow those stems look amazing hope the new ferts do what you want them too

Many thanks, there is a mixture of green and red, so not all will go red hopefully some haha 🙂

That view from above 😎 Stems are looking great......Green is the new red

Many thanks, new ferts and as they get taller higher PAR so fingers crossed 😉 just have to figure out at what level do I trim them!

 

[Ady34]

just have to figure out at what level do I trim them!

Go low, best chance of extra bush in the future......although they look pretty full already!

 

[LondonDragon]

Quick update, two weeks since planted, things still growing in well but stems are still very green, might be because the light is not that strong so time will tell, have been doing frequent water changes which might be keeping nitrates high.



Added a second drop checker but looks like added too much bromo as its very dark, need to re-do it again, also CO2 diffuser is due a clean!

Also trimmed all the leaves of the trident ferns since they were emerged growth to encourages not leaves to grow and avoid the old leaves just decaying and become algae collectors, also did that to most of the bolbitis leaves too.

Hairgrass growing well but the Lilaeopsis seems to be taking its time.

Also got hold on of a Twinstar to see if that does help against algae 😉 so far the plants are very clean, but its only week two!



Also was having a major issue as I would like the lights on when I am in the living room in the evening, but the LED's are so powerful that I needed sunglasses while I was in the sofa which is right in front of the tank.

Got a 1mm sheet of aluminium and tried to create a shade, not to easy to bend and would benefit from a press, or maybe a 0.5mm sheet instead, but didn't come out too bad in the end and reasonable for now.



At least now I can seat in the sofa and enjoy the tank and watch TV without any issues.

Some plant shots, love the Buce's might get some more this week!



Thanks for looking 🙂