• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

help am i doing any thing wrong

mi casa

Member
Joined
15 Apr 2012
Messages
123
Location
HUll
HI all hope your all well :D. Here are some photos of my new scape can you tell me if i am doing any thing wrong.
It is a 180l tank with JBL base 4 TMC Aqua grow LEDS 5 50w spot lights what are on for 8hr a day 2pm till 10pm LED'S on for 2 hours then a blast for 4hr with all the lights then back to the LED'S for an other 2hr. C02 comes on 2hr before lights on and off 2hr before tights off i feed 15ml TPN+ per day. the HC cuba started to grow for the first 2 weeks or so but then stopped and now looks a bit yellow i never gave fertz for the first 2 week and have built it up to the 15ml over the last 3 weeks. i have 2000lph filter with uv and a hydor 900lph power head at the bottom to help with flow. the c02 drop cheak is filled with 4dkh water and is nice and green then goes a bit yellow by lights on. look forward to your comments thank you chris....... http://www.flickr.com/photos/77614826@N07/
 
Crikey you could cook a turkey under those lights!
You issues are almost certainly based around lack of C02 to match the light intensity, easy way out is to reduce the lights, you could change all the 50w downlights for 5-7 w LED GU10 fitment bulbs & reduce the lighting to 6 hours a day but even then you will have loads of light!
Next up look at the flow - generally the best way is to fit a single spray bar near the surface pointing directly at the over side of the tank, this will give a good circular flow & get the gas down to the bottom.
Your bottom mounted powerhead is more likely to blow away the gas.
Then you need to up the C02 - do you have fish?
 
HI thank you for your speedy reply. yes there are all 5 neons 3 SEA'S and about 40 cherry shrimp. i have played about with the power head and it pulls the c02 in and i can see it dragging it across the bottom of the tank. with it all been built in i have to have the in let and out let and the ends of the tank. in the photos the lighting look bright but its not the less block most of the light from the spot lights i will cut the spots out and get some led's for them were do you think i should put the power head?
 
Hi Mi Casa
What substrate are you using? What filter are you using?
From the pictures it looks like your filter output and your power head are on opposite ends of the tank. If this is so then you are cancelling out the flow from each other. The flow from you filter should be adequate if it is 2000 l/hr. You could position the power head on the same side as your filter output so that you have better flow in one direction.
Mike
 
HI mike i am using the ALL pond solutions Ef2000 with uv my out put and power head are on the same side its the surface skimmer you can see i have now moved the powerhead up near the spray bar and dropped the lights to 6hrs. i am using JBL aqua base and toped off with JBL mandano. my uv is on all the time should i be leaving it on?
 
You could try placing the diffuser under the powerhead or even better would be to buy an inline diffuser like the UP Aqua - best to revise them first though as they do have certain requirements to work effectively however once set up, the UP devices are extremely effective!
You mention a surface skimmer this will also use up the C02, how does this work, where does the skimmed water go?
Dont threat to much though as it is just a matter of getting thing working at there best.....
 
HI the skimmer is apart of the in let it sits just under the water line and takes the film off the top most of the suction is from the bottom part of the filter in let it all goes in to the filter. i have moved the power head and put the diffuser under it. the LEDS are only the equivalent to a 24w T5 with reflectors the tank is 4ft long 20inch deep and 1ft wide are the LEDS bright enough on there own?
 
Yes the LEDs are easily sufficient, I would sit on the changes you have made & see what happens over the next few days.
The truth is you are trying to juggle C02 & fish health, you need to get in as much gas as possible but not kill the fish.
Light is somthing you want to use as little of to obtain algae free growth but, for 99% of the time the restricting factor is the C02!
if you dont see any improvements in a couple of days then you may need to turn up the C02 supply, do this gradually a little every day, should you see the fish becoming stressed then you have reached the limit!!
I dont like to see my fish stressed because I am primarily a fish keeper but I find you have to find the limit then just back of a little...
 
Thank you for your advice i will sit on the changes and see what happens and let you know thank you agane :)
 
HI and good morning to all well one week on and thinks are looking up i turned the light down and over the week i have pushed the co2 up and sorted out my flow the plants are looking a lot better now thank toy all i am going to start a journal today thank you all for your help :)
 
Back
Top