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Hi,
I am new to this forum, but I have been following many discussions on different topics on this and other forums. Despite having some understanding of what it takes to maintain a healthy tank I hope (learning from experts such as Clive and others), I am still uncertain about some issues and decided to post. Hope this is not going to be a long reading, but please bear with me. My questions are on lighting, filtration/flow, maintenance in general, thus apologies in advance if this is posted in under wrong thread.
What I learned/understood so far:
1. There are no such things as low, medium or high light plants. However, each plants have their minimum light requirement (forgot the right terminology) to start photosynthesis. (NB: maybe, this is something to keep in mind instead of a strict rule to follow?)
2. All plants (submerged) can grow under any lighting conditions. The higher the light intensity (and the duration for that matter) the speedier plant growth (not necessarily to be equated to healthy plants), thus higher the demand for CO2 and nutrients that needs to be met, but margin of error decreases. Thus, making WPG, light luminosity, spectrum, colour etc. etc., completely irrelevant.
3. Any algae is opportunistic, ready to predation subject to plants' health, which in turn depends on lighting/CO2/nutrients/flow balance/adequacy, where maintaining sufficient level of CO2 is the most challenging among all. Thus, algae occurrence mostly depends on plant health, and is not attributable to phosphates, nitrates, nutrients, high lights etc (although these might be the case on some setups).
Problem: Persistent re-occurrence of diatoms on everything and GDA on glass (although not too dramatic but unpleasant to look at)
My setup and equipment:
1. Portuguese Aquatlantis 110 litres (medium but tall) tank, with dimensions 75x35x45 cm (LxWxH), running for 7 months.
2. Eheim Biopower 240 filter (https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/internal-filters/biopower-240), with stated output of 750 LPH. I am aware of the 10x rule for flow/circulation, which with this filter puts me in 5x range (assuming the actual real life output of this filter is around 500 LPH). I placed the filter right in the middle of back glass, with output nozzle directed straight to the front glass, however slightly angled downwards (may around 3-4 degrees) to maximize the flow reach to the substrate level. I used the supplied aeration of the filter, but put on minimum in order not to slow down the stream, and to slightly ripple the surface (otherwise there would be no water surface movement at all). This seems to work as I can see a constant but very gentle swaying of plants.
3. One T5HO 590mm 28W bulb. The original setup came with 2 bulbs, but I removed one. This according to PAR chart, puts me into medium light region (lights are around 50cm (around 20 inches) from substrate) with something between 50-70 mmol.
4. Usual sand substrate, nothing fancy. No airstones, no CO2 injection etc.
My flora and fauna:
1. 2 large anubias, 2 large amazon swords (leaves almost reaching water surface, thus around 40-50 cm long leaves), and 2 medium size java ferns.
2. 3 guppies, 1 black molly, 3 small/medium or juvenile angelfish, 8 grown-up neon tetras, 1 medium ramirezi. Probably, I am already overstocked for my tank size. But no plans to add more.
My maintenance routine:
1. Water parameters seem to be normal: PH around 7.5, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, around 20ppm nitrates. I use API master liquid test kit. I know some experts here advocate not to use any test kits. I don't remember when I checked water parameters last time, but these numbers seem to remain consistent whenever I checked. I mostly rely on visual inspection/assessment, and the fact that I have some algae is just telling that something is off.
2. Water change of 50% every week at least (usually during the weekend), and often twice a week with around 30% WC during the middle of the week. Water in Switzerland is very clean, thus I don't really expect any phosphates, nitrates or other nutrients in the tap water. I don't even dechlorinate the water during water changes (and we drink water straight from the tap).
3. Since I have, presumably, medium lighting by estimated PAR, I tried to keep photoperiod to minimum (given that I can't reduce the intensity). Usually, lights are turned on between 6-8 am (2 hours) in the morning for feeding and some maintenance, and during 6-9 pm (3 hours) just to enjoy the view. Not sure if this split photoperiod is enough, but this fits well with the period when I am home. The tank is not under direct sunlight, but I have a large windows, thus the ambient light seems to be sufficient. Again, not sure if minimal ambient light is enough for plant growth and health. It seems to be OK on the latter, when I was away from home for three days, the only thing plants received the ambient light (don't have autotimer for lights to turn on/off), and some amazon sword leaves that were yellowish turned green due to this.
4. I don't use CO2 injection or EI dosing. I only use root tabs (no phosphate or nitrates) for amazon swords every two-three weeks or so, liquid Easy-Life EasyCarbo 5ml (instructions 4ml max for 100 litres) every morning at 6am (just before I turn lights ON for 2 hours), and Easy-Life ProFito plant food (no phosphates and nitrates) every week 10ml per 100 litres as per instructions. I hope, there are some phosphates and nitrates from fish waste and fish food (mostly frozen food, with some mixed flakes alternating) in the tank already.
Apologies again for a long post, but hope this will give enough information on my setup and maintenance. Now what, I want is minimize algae (as a plant form, some algae is inevitable), but also minimize my investment resulting from any possible solutions. Things are very expensive here in Switzerland, and are not readily available.
I also want to keep my setup relatively low tech, without injecting CO2 and adhering to EI dosing, but maintaining Easy-Life dosing. The lighting puts me into medium light zone, where I am not sure whether Easy-Life liquid carbo and plant food is sufficient. I thought of changing the light bulb with a less intensive one, but I can't really find any T5NO here, unless I change the entire hood, which is not an option for me due to costs. Aquatlantis hood is also inconvenient as it only permits T5 and do not allow for any DIY solution. I can't deem the light either by wrapping the light with some cloth, paper or other materials as it gets hot. If I stay with the current single T5, would my lighting period (2h in the morning and 3h in the evening) work without negatively affecting plants' health, and without additional CO2/nutrients dosing? Any advice on how I could do things differently, adjust lighting differently (e.g. without buying floating plants)?
Now on the filtration, I am aware that single internal Eheim biopower 24 is nowhere near the 10x rule of thumb. But in terms of filtration it does seem to do its job. I was considering external Eheim eXperience 350 (https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/external-filters/new-experience350), which seems to fit the bill, but darn expensive here. Probably, I would be better off buying the second Eheim biopower 240 (twice cheaper or more), which will give me similar performance of two internal filters combined against one external. But scratching my head now on how two internal filters would look/fit in my tank. For reassurance, is it correct to assume that two identical internal filters placed evenly along back glass with have a greater combined outflow (of not double the flow), or it will be more or less the same?
I might be asking for impossible things in trying to keep maintenance and investment to minimum but maximizing plant health (to reduce algae), but any advice on lighting and filtration/flow, as well as a general maintenance tips is much appreciated.
Cheers,
Baatar
I am new to this forum, but I have been following many discussions on different topics on this and other forums. Despite having some understanding of what it takes to maintain a healthy tank I hope (learning from experts such as Clive and others), I am still uncertain about some issues and decided to post. Hope this is not going to be a long reading, but please bear with me. My questions are on lighting, filtration/flow, maintenance in general, thus apologies in advance if this is posted in under wrong thread.
What I learned/understood so far:
1. There are no such things as low, medium or high light plants. However, each plants have their minimum light requirement (forgot the right terminology) to start photosynthesis. (NB: maybe, this is something to keep in mind instead of a strict rule to follow?)
2. All plants (submerged) can grow under any lighting conditions. The higher the light intensity (and the duration for that matter) the speedier plant growth (not necessarily to be equated to healthy plants), thus higher the demand for CO2 and nutrients that needs to be met, but margin of error decreases. Thus, making WPG, light luminosity, spectrum, colour etc. etc., completely irrelevant.
3. Any algae is opportunistic, ready to predation subject to plants' health, which in turn depends on lighting/CO2/nutrients/flow balance/adequacy, where maintaining sufficient level of CO2 is the most challenging among all. Thus, algae occurrence mostly depends on plant health, and is not attributable to phosphates, nitrates, nutrients, high lights etc (although these might be the case on some setups).
Problem: Persistent re-occurrence of diatoms on everything and GDA on glass (although not too dramatic but unpleasant to look at)
My setup and equipment:
1. Portuguese Aquatlantis 110 litres (medium but tall) tank, with dimensions 75x35x45 cm (LxWxH), running for 7 months.
2. Eheim Biopower 240 filter (https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/internal-filters/biopower-240), with stated output of 750 LPH. I am aware of the 10x rule for flow/circulation, which with this filter puts me in 5x range (assuming the actual real life output of this filter is around 500 LPH). I placed the filter right in the middle of back glass, with output nozzle directed straight to the front glass, however slightly angled downwards (may around 3-4 degrees) to maximize the flow reach to the substrate level. I used the supplied aeration of the filter, but put on minimum in order not to slow down the stream, and to slightly ripple the surface (otherwise there would be no water surface movement at all). This seems to work as I can see a constant but very gentle swaying of plants.
3. One T5HO 590mm 28W bulb. The original setup came with 2 bulbs, but I removed one. This according to PAR chart, puts me into medium light region (lights are around 50cm (around 20 inches) from substrate) with something between 50-70 mmol.
4. Usual sand substrate, nothing fancy. No airstones, no CO2 injection etc.
My flora and fauna:
1. 2 large anubias, 2 large amazon swords (leaves almost reaching water surface, thus around 40-50 cm long leaves), and 2 medium size java ferns.
2. 3 guppies, 1 black molly, 3 small/medium or juvenile angelfish, 8 grown-up neon tetras, 1 medium ramirezi. Probably, I am already overstocked for my tank size. But no plans to add more.
My maintenance routine:
1. Water parameters seem to be normal: PH around 7.5, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, around 20ppm nitrates. I use API master liquid test kit. I know some experts here advocate not to use any test kits. I don't remember when I checked water parameters last time, but these numbers seem to remain consistent whenever I checked. I mostly rely on visual inspection/assessment, and the fact that I have some algae is just telling that something is off.
2. Water change of 50% every week at least (usually during the weekend), and often twice a week with around 30% WC during the middle of the week. Water in Switzerland is very clean, thus I don't really expect any phosphates, nitrates or other nutrients in the tap water. I don't even dechlorinate the water during water changes (and we drink water straight from the tap).
3. Since I have, presumably, medium lighting by estimated PAR, I tried to keep photoperiod to minimum (given that I can't reduce the intensity). Usually, lights are turned on between 6-8 am (2 hours) in the morning for feeding and some maintenance, and during 6-9 pm (3 hours) just to enjoy the view. Not sure if this split photoperiod is enough, but this fits well with the period when I am home. The tank is not under direct sunlight, but I have a large windows, thus the ambient light seems to be sufficient. Again, not sure if minimal ambient light is enough for plant growth and health. It seems to be OK on the latter, when I was away from home for three days, the only thing plants received the ambient light (don't have autotimer for lights to turn on/off), and some amazon sword leaves that were yellowish turned green due to this.
4. I don't use CO2 injection or EI dosing. I only use root tabs (no phosphate or nitrates) for amazon swords every two-three weeks or so, liquid Easy-Life EasyCarbo 5ml (instructions 4ml max for 100 litres) every morning at 6am (just before I turn lights ON for 2 hours), and Easy-Life ProFito plant food (no phosphates and nitrates) every week 10ml per 100 litres as per instructions. I hope, there are some phosphates and nitrates from fish waste and fish food (mostly frozen food, with some mixed flakes alternating) in the tank already.
Apologies again for a long post, but hope this will give enough information on my setup and maintenance. Now what, I want is minimize algae (as a plant form, some algae is inevitable), but also minimize my investment resulting from any possible solutions. Things are very expensive here in Switzerland, and are not readily available.
I also want to keep my setup relatively low tech, without injecting CO2 and adhering to EI dosing, but maintaining Easy-Life dosing. The lighting puts me into medium light zone, where I am not sure whether Easy-Life liquid carbo and plant food is sufficient. I thought of changing the light bulb with a less intensive one, but I can't really find any T5NO here, unless I change the entire hood, which is not an option for me due to costs. Aquatlantis hood is also inconvenient as it only permits T5 and do not allow for any DIY solution. I can't deem the light either by wrapping the light with some cloth, paper or other materials as it gets hot. If I stay with the current single T5, would my lighting period (2h in the morning and 3h in the evening) work without negatively affecting plants' health, and without additional CO2/nutrients dosing? Any advice on how I could do things differently, adjust lighting differently (e.g. without buying floating plants)?
Now on the filtration, I am aware that single internal Eheim biopower 24 is nowhere near the 10x rule of thumb. But in terms of filtration it does seem to do its job. I was considering external Eheim eXperience 350 (https://www.eheim.com/en_GB/products/technology/external-filters/new-experience350), which seems to fit the bill, but darn expensive here. Probably, I would be better off buying the second Eheim biopower 240 (twice cheaper or more), which will give me similar performance of two internal filters combined against one external. But scratching my head now on how two internal filters would look/fit in my tank. For reassurance, is it correct to assume that two identical internal filters placed evenly along back glass with have a greater combined outflow (of not double the flow), or it will be more or less the same?
I might be asking for impossible things in trying to keep maintenance and investment to minimum but maximizing plant health (to reduce algae), but any advice on lighting and filtration/flow, as well as a general maintenance tips is much appreciated.
Cheers,
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