Beginning Again - 250L

[Avro Vulcan]

I have restarted my 250L tank, this time I have invested in a 'proper' CO2 system from CO2 Supermarket. I am using disposable cannisters as the fire extinguisher route scared me a bit. Before, I was using a Colombo DIY system, I know it wasn't really adequate for my size of tank (I had to refill it every week), but it was fine as an introduction to CO2 at a relatively lower cost before splashing out on a 'proper' system.

I wanted a black substrate this time, to emphasize the colour of the plants and fish (when I reintroduce them, it won't be for several weeks as I want to get it cycled first.), I also purchased a black film to attach to the back of the tank to make the plants really pop. I used red stone, rock and pebbles as a contrast to the black and green.

I spent some time researching the substrate and settled on Caribsea Eco Complete and JBL Manado Dark, mixing the two together and using as the base layer. My reasoning on this is because the Eco Complete is made from volcanic grains and is advertised as having a good Cation exchange capacity (CEC) for storing nutrients for plants; and the live bacteria will help in cycling the tank. The Manado is made from expanded clay and also is advertised with CEC and also has some bacteria to help with algae, so I though mixing the 2 together would give a good basis.
I have used Fluval Bio-Stratum as the top layer, it has fine rounded grains and so should be safe for cory's. I have also added a layer of fine black sand at the front of the tank just for the Cory's to have somewhere for digging.

The plants I have chosen are:
Rotala Rotundifolia
Rotala Rotundifolia Ceylon
Rotala sp Araguaia
Ludwigia Palustris
Lindernia Rotundifolia
Lobelia cardinalis
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii'
Anubias Barteri var. Nana
Microsorum pteropus Narrow
Microsorum pteropus Windelov
Helanthium Quadricostatus
Echinodorus Ozelot
Echinodorus Ozelot Green
Taxiphyllum Spiky Moss

Unfortunately, all but one of the Crypts have suffered from Crypt Melt, loosing pratically all their leaves, though I can see some new leaves growing on them, but they do look rater pitiful at the moment. 😢
I know some of the Rotala probably won't colour up as I don't think my lighting is strong enough for it, but I presume they will have differing 'greenness' and leaf shape between the varieties and that is what I was thinking of when I purchased them

I purposely chose mainly 'Easy' plants to suit my set up:
AquaManta 300 External Filter
Newa Wave 3200 wavemaker
CO2 system: 1.25 bubbles a second
Fluval Plant Spectrum 46W settings:


CO2 is set to come on at 9:30 and goes off at 19:00

I'm not sure what ferts to dose with this tank, I have Aqua Essentials Neutro + and liquid CO2 to add daily, will these be okay? I have seen EI dosing mentioned several times and tried to read up about it on here, but I'm finding it hard to understand.

If anyone has any tips or can see something that would benefit from a change, please let me know - I want to learn and be successful in obtaining a healthy and flourishing scape



The Eco Complete and Manado Dark mixed together


With Fluval Bio-Stratum top layer, ready for black sand to go at the front.

 

[bazz]

I'm not sure what ferts to dose with this tank, I have Aqua Essentials Neutro + and liquid CO2 to add daily, will these be okay? I have seen EI dosing mentioned several times and tried to read up about it on here, but I'm finding it hard to understand.

Hi,
Neutro+ is I believe a comprehensive fertiliser with NPK so should be good (although I am not sure of the composition). I would look to dose as per the manufacturers instructions with a view to increasing it as plant mass evolves. The liquid CO2 (a misnomer) would be better put to one side and used for spot dosing in the case of a BBA attack. EI really is easy, it may look a little daunting reading up on it, but once put into practice it all falls into place. The first post of EI DOSING USING DRY SALTS is a good read, and if you are savvy with Excel the IFC Aquarium Fertilizer Calculator is priceless.
It appears to me that you have created a good basis, just keep an eye on light intensity (I am curious as why red is 100%), and I also presume you are doing plenty of 50%+ water changes?

Unfortunately, all but one of the Crypts have suffered from Crypt Melt, loosing pratically all their leaves, though I can see some new leaves growing on them, but they do look rater pitiful at the moment. 😢
I know some of the Rotala probably won't colour up as I don't think my lighting is strong enough for it, but I presume they will have differing 'greenness' and leaf shape between the varieties and that is what I was thinking of when I purchased them

You will in fact lose a vast majority of all the leaves of the plants which have previously been grown emersed, look for new growth on the rosette plants and slowly remove the existing leaves as they senesce. Crypts have a habit of doing this by themselves rather rapidly but again, if you can see new growth you will have crossed the bridge. For emersed grown stem plants, just let them grow to the surface then trim and replant the tops, and discard the bottoms (although they may still be capable of producing shoots). After the initial trim, all plants and shoots thereafter are good for immersed growth.
Any questions, fire away!

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Hi Bazz, thank you for your reply, That's good to know that the Neutro + should be good to use and will put the liquid CO2 aside for BBA algae.

I'll have another look at the EI dosing and see if I can get my head around it.

I haven't done a water change yet, I only filled it yesterday, how often should it be done? as I'm going to struggle a bit with that, it about killed my back yesterday and I'm paying for it now!

Do you think my light intensity is ok, too low or too high? The red is at 100% because I read in a discussion somewhere that plants respond well to red light, but blue light encouraged algae, so that is why it's at 0%, as at the time I struggled with algae and it did seem to help, but this was from a few years ago and thinking about it, the algae reduced, but so did some of my plants. I think that maybe the current settings are wrong for the plants, what would you recommend the colour levels to be?

Thanks for your help, it's all appreciated.

 

[Fishfur]

Do you think my light intensity is ok, too low or too high? The red is at 100% because I read in a discussion somewhere that plants respond well to red light, but blue light encouraged algae, so that is why it's at 0%, as at the time I struggled with algae and it did seem to help, but this was from a few years ago and thinking about it, the algae reduced, but so did some of my plants. I think that maybe the current settings are wrong for the plants, what would you recommend the colour levels to be?

Thanks for your help, it's all appreciated.

Depriving the plants of blue light is a bit like going on a keto diet. The keto dieter misses out on a lot of vitamins, minerals & fibre that simply aren’t present in animal based foods.

The plants will suffer too & in fact, plants use a little from almost all the colours of light, which really shouldn’t be surprising.

The following is an abstract from a study done on the effects of red, blue & white light on algae growth.

From - Red, White, or Blue: Which color is right for you? Algae Growth under Different Colors of Light | Vasquez | Journal of Introductory Biology Investigations

Quote” We studied the affect red, white, and blue light has on the growth rate of algae. We hypothesized that the sample under blue light would grow faster than the sample in the red light because blue light occurs at a higher frequency on the visible light spectrum. We placed one falcon tube under each of the colors of light, and the control group was placed under the white light and measured the growth each week using a dissolved oxygen probe. By comparing the data using Excel we were able to determine which group had a bigger growth rate. Our results show that algae grows the best under white light and more in blue light than red light. Therefore, our hypothesis is partially supported because the growth rate was higher under the blue light in comparison to the red group; however, the algae under the control condition experienced the most growth. The results of this experiment are useful to biofuel producers because they could use white light to increase the growth rate of algae, which in turn produces more biofuel. “Unquote

So depriving your plants of ALL their blue light - the wavelengths from 400-500 nm (nanometres) takes a lot away from them, isn’t beneficial & most importantly from your perspective, won’t prevent algae from growing.

In fact, completely depriving plants of all blue light makes it impossible for them to create chlorophyll, without which photosynthesis isn’t going to work. Light fixtures usually have white light so there’s some blue in that, but if there were not, plants would be in big trouble.

Red light, the wavelengths from 620-700nm, regulate growth, development & encourage such things as flowers & fruit (not usually a concern for planted tanks) plus enhancing photosynthesis.

Grow plants under red light alone & they will become etiolated with leaves becoming narrower & longer. Unless that’s the look you want, red light only is no good for plants.

Using red & blue light together, maybe 20% blue & 80% red should produce reasonable results.,

Interestingly (to me at least), is the fact that plants also use some of the wavelengths in the orange-yellow wavelengths from 575-620nm and in the green from 500-575nm.

Recent research has shown that green light also drives plant growth. We used to think all green light was reflected - hence the predominance of green as the colour of plants, but it isn’t.

Green light has been found to enhance photosynthesis in the chloroplasts near the bottom surface of leaves - it revs up the chloroplasts deep within the mesophyll.

This can help drive photosynthesis throughout a plant because it will be absorbed by leaves lower down from the canopy - or water surface in the case of submersed plants, which won’t be getting much red or blue light. Our fixtures ought to be incorporating some green wavelengths too.

Infrared, Far red & UV A light also impart some benefits to plants.

UV A revs up their defense mechanisms, inducing them to produce a version of a sunscreen for protection and assorted proteins for defence.

Some plants create more than a dozen different proteins for defence and this helps them resist disease among other effects.

Seedlings which are exposed very early to UV A exposure adapt more quickly to intense light - as in when being transplanted to outdoor conditions for one example.

 

[bazz]

I haven't done a water change yet, I only filled it yesterday, how often should it be done? as I'm going to struggle a bit with that, it about killed my back yesterday and I'm paying for it now!

The general consensus for a high tech tank is to change 50% or more using the following regimen, week one - every day, week two - every other day, week three - every third day, week four - twice ang once a week thereafter. However, as far as I am aware none of your chosen substrates leach Ammonia (maybe the Stratum a little, I don't know, I've never used it) which takes the heat off somewhat. Under the circumstances, I would just change as much as is feasibly possible and as often as possible. You really ought to consider semi automating your water changes with a 250l tank, if you are using tap water, then I've heard the Python Water Change System, though expensive for what it is, maybe worth it's weight in gold. I pump prepped water from a container in the kitchen. If water changes are made easy then they are more likely to be accomplished.

Do you think my light intensity is ok, too low or too high? The red is at 100% because I read in a discussion somewhere that plants respond well to red light, but blue light encouraged algae, so that is why it's at 0%, as at the time I struggled with algae and it did seem to help, but this was from a few years ago and thinking about it, the algae reduced, but so did some of my plants. I think that maybe the current settings are wrong for the plants, what would you recommend the colour levels to be?

Intensity is difficult to tell from photographs, but it does appear to be quite bright in the centre and fairly dark towards the sides, does your light cover the full length of the aquarium? You may just have to play it by ear (eye) and lower it if you encounter any problems (algae) but not so low that it becomes detrimental to the plants. @Fishfur has above comprehensively covered the spectrum.

 

[hypnogogia]

the Python Water Change System, though expensive for what it is, maybe worth it's weight in gold.

Yes, it is pricey in the first instance, but in the long run saves money of physio for a bad back.

I pump prepped water from a container in the kitchen. If water changes are made easy then they are more likely to be accomplished.

I use the Python and an Oase pump to pump water out of tank and then fresh water into tank after heating it in a large tub over night. Haven’t lifted a bucket of water in several years.

 

[Avro Vulcan]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies, I will have a look at the Python system, it sounds ideal.

I will have a play with my lights, Fishfur has provided some good information for me.

 

[Fishfur]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies, I will have a look at the Python system, it sounds ideal.

I will have a play with my lights, Fishfur has provided some good information for me.

Glad I could help!