Balancing light, co2 and ferts on a new tank

[Paul195]

Hi folks

I'm after some advice, or perhaps a guide on how to get the light, co2 and fert balancing act correct over the first couple of months of the tanks life, to ensure my plants get off the the best start and algae doesn't get a look in.

Tank specs

Light: Arcadia OT2 4x 39w T5 with reflectors
Filtration: 2x Tetra EX1200
CO2: 5kg FE with C02art reg and 2 way splitter, feeding 2x inline diffuser in each return line.
Ferts: EI salts in solution
Substrate: Nature Soil

Some questions I have:

Period of no light after planting?
Initial light intensity and period (low initial intensity? 1 bulb, 5 or 6 hours?)
Initial dosing amounts and starting when?
Amount of Co2 to start with (no fish)
PH drop
Water change amount and frequency

Thanks for any advice

Paul

 

[George Farmer]

Hi Paul. What size is the aquarium?

Period of no light after planting?
Light from Day 0. 7 hours a day, as long as CO2 is up to spec.

Initial light intensity and period (low initial intensity? 1 bulb, 5 or 6 hours?)
Depending on tank size and your planting, but 1-2 tubes. 7 hours.

Initial dosing amounts and starting when?
Full EI if your CO2 is up to spec.

Amount of Co2 to start with (no fish)
You could run a yellow drop checker i.e. 40+ppm CO2. I prefer to run CO2 at what the long-term level will be, otherwise the plants can have issues adjusting to lower CO2 levels once livestock added.

pH drop
Depends on buffering nature of soil substrate and your CO2. It's something I never worry about and I haven't tested pH in years.

Water change amount and frequency
The more the better. Ideally 50% daily for first week. Then gradually reducing over the weeks to 1x 50% per week after one month.

 

[Paul195]

Hi George

Tank size is 36" x 19" x 20" = 224 L

Thanks for your answers.

I was reading THIS guide which talked about the issues above as well as others. Lots of conflicting advice as usual, but wondered if there is a common approach or way of thinking on the forum, hence the post.
I'm not looking to achieve explosive growth necessarily, but just wanted to make sure that all my new plants get the best start as my previous attempt went pretty badly. This is round 2. I'm going to start a journal shortly to keep a track of my progress, my new plants come next week.

 

[Eduard18]

Hi Paul
You could try Tropica application which is a day by day guide; I personally used it and it worked

Envoyé de mon SM-G935F en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[George Farmer]

Hi George

Tank size is 36" x 19" x 20" = 224 L

Thanks for your answers.

I was reading THIS guide which talked about the issues above as well as others. Lots of conflicting advice as usual, but wondered if there is a common approach or way of thinking on the forum, hence the post.
I'm not looking to achieve explosive growth necessarily, but just wanted to make sure that all my new plants get the best start as my previous attempt went pretty badly. This is round 2. I'm going to start a journal shortly to keep a track of my progress, my new plants come next week.

You're welcome.

Yes, there's always conflicting information because there are many ways to achieve positive results.

My advice is to find one method used by one reputable person and stick with that, rather than using/mixing individual elements from various sources. That can lead to confusion and spurious/ineffective results.

Cheers,
George

 

[ian_m]

CO2: 5kg FE with C02art reg and 2 way splitter, feeding 2x inline diffuser in each return line.

This won't work, the CO2 will take the path of least resistance and you will get no CO2 via one of the diffusers. You need like the diagram below so you can balance the CO2 rates.

 

[Paul195]

Hi Ian

Not sure if I explained it correctly, it's setup similar to the picture below, only mine only has the two bubble counters with built in check valves, then they feed a diffuser in each filter return line, with the heater on the second filter as in your diagram.

 

[ian_m]

Not sure if I explained it correctly, it's setup similar to the picture below, only mine only has the two bubble counters with built in check valves, then they feed a diffuser in each filter return line, with the heater on the second filter as in your diagram.

Perfect then. A much neater solution than my diagram.

Though you will not be able to get a fish in your bubble counters like in my diagram ! 😛