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"Dutch something or the other" 120 Gal

Fez said:
Thank you for the Information Tom!

Wow, 2x 60% water changes every week does seem like a lot! I suppose I'm simply kind of lazy when it comes to water changes....
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For me this is no logicall. Is the one wc and 1\2 dose be easies way ?
 
maciekoril said:
For me this is no logicall. Is the one wc and 1\2 dose be easies way ?
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I think it's mainly due to removing the organics produced by the plants, I think Tom had said earlier in the thread that he makes around $500 a month in this tank so there must be a lot of growth and organics released by the plants. And if you reduce the nutrients, the levels maybe too low for the plant mass. That is just my guess though, so we shall await for Tom's answer to your question.
 
When you pull up a lot of ADA AS and replant, that makes quite the mess.
Also, staying on top of things has many benefits.

Those are why we do __any water changes__ (mostly).
ADA suggest weekly large water changes, but we do not see anyone complaining about their dosing.

I find that curious. ADA gets a free pass on that topic and rarely even a straight answer.

I also do not do this many water changes on tank which receive less gardening, like the 70 Gallon Buce tank, maybe once a month there. Dosing is the same otherwise.
Dosing is NOT why you do a water change, but if you want to use frequent water changes + dosing to keep a certain range, it's much easier and simpler than dosing and testing.
But this assumes that some ppm of a specific or a set of nutrients is bad(for fish, plants, etc) when at excess values.

The other issues when you uproot and move things around, trim etc, is the lowering of O2. Water changes remove the dirt/dust and adds plenty of O2 back.
If you do not pull up a lot of stuff etc, then a water change is not really required. Still, lots of water changes cure most issues folks often have that have trouble, algae, poor plant health etc.

It is simply put: the best advice to give broadly to aquarist. Simple, effective and keeps the tank very clean.
Dosing is a minor part in all this.
 
Mark Green said:
Im a little puzzled, constantly being told that for a planted tank you need 10x (tank volume an hour) as a general rule.

However you only pushing 4x your tank volume an hour and have great growth.

Too stunning for words!
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How the water flows is important, the filtration also.
Shallow tank, wide lower pressure flow across the top.

The 180 has much more, but is deeper and less surface to volume ratio. Filtration rate is roughly the same, but I add a Vortech power head in that tank, adds well over 10X hr/movement.
 
parotet said:
The 10x filtering rule of thumb is just that, a rule of thumb... There are plenty of people here running large tanks which are far from applying this rule and still having superb tanks. I guess that if you are able to provide a good flow and the rest of issues are fine tuned you can do it.

Regarding the 2x WC, EI method does not indicates how many WC you need. It is a matter of what your plants ask for and the time you want/can devote to your tank. Personally I do 2x 50% weekly WC whenever I can (which is more or less always except when I have to travel). My tank looks much better like this. I also think that Tom's tank is somehow being pushed to the limit in terms of growing/ferts so the plants are probably releasing organic compounds at a fast rate... In that case, if I am not wrong, WC are a need to keep algae under control.

Jordi
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Yes, good post.

EI has no set rule, it is arbitrary. It just offers a simple method to set a range of ppm's fairly tight or loose depending on what the user desires, or assumes as risk or wants as target range.
Where someone wants to set those ranges is up to them, but you can start at 1x week, 50%, that's easy as far as the math goes and is generally a good range for folks that want get started and modify from there.
Uprooting, moving plants around , making a mess, those are much more the reasons I do water changes than ppm management.

Those are more chores, dosing is easy, no chore at all. Some make a chore, I'm not sure why.
Making the water change easy as possible is also a good idea.
 
Good news! I removed the wood from this tank, it is no more. This means Version 4.0 is up next.

This is the hardscape as of now, but I'll adjust them a bit here or there(no sediment to support them, adjust up or down here), but they will mostly be at the horizontal relative to the sediment slope. So downward to the eye.


Angled_zpset9cu5ss.jpg

side_zpsgbaxjple.jpg
 
You need a lot of wood to work with to get the idea done nicely in a new scape. I started with a pile maybe 3x1x2 meters and parred it down to this.
Then these will be modified a little here or there as well.
 
Hi Tom, Thank you for your reply.
Plants looks amazing, Reddnes is fantastic. I've read that you prefer large WC. I am beginner with EI but I follow EI rules(classic with 50% WC per week)in my tank and my plants is less colorful than your. I have a few question:
1. What do you think I should reduce the macro dose to achieve plants redness like you or increase the micro. I wonder what is your macro level (NO3, PO4, K) in typical day before WC?
2. Did You found that R. Valichi going bed when the macro level in water is too high (for example NO3 >30 ppm, or PO4 >3ppm)?
3. How long is yur actual light period per day ?
 
any updates? [ Just read all 36 pages.... ]
 
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