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My 89 Litre project.

chickennublet said:
Just briefly skimmed through this thread. There are a few things I think that need addressing.

Nothing you can do in this hobby will lead to immediate improvements. You need patience. Your tank is honestly still pretty new. From here, please pick a course of action and stick through it for like 3 or 4 weeks at least and see if things improve. If they do not, only then do you change something.

The WRGB2 Slim can get pretty bright. I agree with @FrozenShivers, I also would not consider your settings to be low. I'm using the same light as you (on a much smaller tank) and I don't believe my settings are as bright as yours but I am growing plants that are substantially more demanding. Based on the most recent photo of your tank there are hardly any plants in there that require such high levels of lighting. The plants in your tank appear to be Eleocharis sp, Hydrocotyle tripartita, bits of moss, Anubias, Bucephalandra, Java fern and like, one or two Rotala rotundifolia. Considering that your tank is still very new, you will face issues throwing that much light on a sparsely planted tank where the plant mass is almost exclusively slow growers.

Your drop checker is blue. Further, it’s blue even though you’ve appeared to have placed it directly above your CO2 diffuser. If your drop checker is still blue when CO2 bubbles are literally rising into the drop checker itself then there is either something wrong with the fluid in your drop checker, or you are barely dosing any CO2. In any case, drop checkers are not an incredibly accurate way to measure CO2 concentration. Read this, especially point 3 How to measure CO2 levels in an aquarium

You need to carry out your maintenance properly. Clean the glass regularly and don’t just change water, but siphon any bits of algae and detritus you can get along with the water. Wave your hands about in the water and siphon any bits that fly up. I also saw one of your earlier posts where you shared your concerns about cherry shrimp being sensitive to water changes. I would suggest that you do at least 50% water change once a week anyway. I regularly do at least 70% water changes and the shrimp don’t seem to care.

It is true that plants need adequate nutrition to thrive but I will have to respectfully disagree with @hypnogogia that OP absolutely needs to add nitrates and phosphates to his tank through fertilisers. I believe 2hr Aquarist advises using APT1 for tanks with little plant mass and relatively high fish loads. That said, you will not experience any downside in using APT3 instead of 1 and will probably find it beneficial instead.

All the advice that has been given already is sound. I would suggest:

1. Cleaning the glass and manually removing as much algae as you possibly can, followed by a big water change whilst removing as much detritus and waste as possible.
2. Reducing brightness by maybe a third
3. Starting CO2 two hours before your lights turn on and one hour before your lights turn off, if you aren't already doing so.
4. Measuring your CO2 in the way described in the article, which is to aim for a drop of 1 pH before CO2 starts and shortly after your lights turn on
5. Dose APT3 as directed on the bottle
6. Feeding your fish very small amounts and only once a day
7. Stop buying things that the guy at the fish shop says you need because chances are, you don't need those things (especially chemicals!)
8. Regular weekly maintenance
Click to expand...

Thats the bubble count per second I have set from my CO2 kit and when CO2 reaches to the diffuser, the bubble count slightly decreases. Is CO2 leaking or is it gettin dissolved befor reaching the diffuser?
 
You are close on 50% there....I'd suggest reducing it further to 30-35% and building from there as you plants grow and plant mass increases.
 
A good looking natural artistic aquascape with combination of fast growth stem plants on the background followed by grass and epiphytes (Anubias and bucephelandra) on the hard scape
 
If you look at my original post the video I posted, I wanted a scape like that, with the only difference that instead of bonsai I wanted spider woods. Later on I realized that having just grass, epiphyte and moss isn't enough. So I decided to have some fast growing background plants followed by grass and the river on the foreground with few plants in the river. I used Crypt Lucien and Hydrocote Japan on the river, but I didn't realize that Hydrocote will grow so fast and cover most of the river.
 
maverick786us said:
Thats the bubble count per second I have set from my CO2 kit and when CO2 reaches to the diffuser, the bubble count slightly decreases. Is CO2 leaking or is it gettin dissolved befor reaching the diffuser?
Click to expand...
It looks like it's working fine.

Have you set it up to start 2 hours before lights turn on? Do you get a pH drop of 1 point before CO2 injection starts and shortly after lights turn on?

Since you're using a canister filter you might want to consider an inline diffuser instead of what you're using now.

Also I just noticed in your first post that the tank is 24 x 18 x 18 inches? I don't think that's 89 litres...
 
Yes, earlier it was 1 hours before the light. Now I have set it to 2 hours and it will turn off 1 hour before the light turns off.!

Sorry I made a mistake it’s 24 x 16 x 16 inches, external dimensions, The glass is extra thick I didn’t remember the exact measurement of how thick it is, but it’s as thick as my iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Can you provide me some more information on that inline CO2 diffuser
 
I saw a couple of videos from MJ Aquascape where he used CO2 reactor in his filters. I didn't know it's called inline diffuser.
I did search here but didn't get a comprehensive guide.
 
maverick786us said:
I saw a couple of videos from MJ Aquascape where he used CO2 reactor in his filters. I didn't know it's called inline diffuser.
I did search here but didn't get a comprehensive guide.
Click to expand...
They're not the same thing

www.2hraquarist.com

CO2 diffusion methods

An in-depth discussion on how to distribute CO2 optimally in a planted aquarium. What is the difference between a CO2 diffuser, an inline atomizer and a CO2 reactor? What is the best position in the tank for them? How do I optimize flow pattern in a tank to distribute CO2 well? This article...
www.2hraquarist.com www.2hraquarist.com
 
chickennublet said:
They're not the same thing

www.2hraquarist.com

CO2 diffusion methods

An in-depth discussion on how to distribute CO2 optimally in a planted aquarium. What is the difference between a CO2 diffuser, an inline atomizer and a CO2 reactor? What is the best position in the tank for them? How do I optimize flow pattern in a tank to distribute CO2 well? This article...
www.2hraquarist.com www.2hraquarist.com
Click to expand...
inline atomizer a special type of inline diffuser. I will do more research and will see if it's feasible for me. Thank you
 
That’s right. The inline sits between the filter and your return into your aquarium. CO2 is atomised and travels in the water flow and is pumped into the aquarium, helping with CO2 distribution. The outflow does need to be under water, but then again it should be anyway, irrespective of of using CO2 or not.
 
maverick786us said:
OK I just saw this video and this one . In nutshell I make a cut on the output hose of my canister filter and connect CO2 output? With this I have to make sure that the filter out take always remains submerged?
Click to expand...

Yes, install it on the "outflow" section of your filter, the hose that pumps water back into your tank. Yes it must remain submerged, unless you're on a mission to increase atmospheric CO2 levels :cyclops:
 
Sounds good, I did some research I think I will soon replace it with an inline diffuser. Can you recommend me one from good reputed brand?
 
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