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My new ADA 90p

javek

New Member
Joined
20 Feb 2016
Messages
12
Location
The Netherlands
Hi everybody,

It has been a couple of years since I posted here. I hope you are all doing well! :)

I just started a new tank last Tuesday, which is quite a difference compared to my old 60l cube. The stand is DIY and was really a lot of fun to build 😀

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Greetings from the Netherlands,
Jarno
 

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Nice! I would also add a bunch of fast growing stem plants and floating plants to counteract the ammonia build up from the soil and to help stabilizing the tank while the other plants are growing. You can remove them afterwards if you prefer.

And good job with the cabinet! But how tall is it? I think I would need ladder to maintain your tank :)
 
Well, at the left back I have fast growing Hygrophila Siamensis 53B, so that will hopefully do the job 😀 Also, the Tropica soil will hopefully give less ammonia compared to the Amazonia soil I used in the past. Although the soil has a gradient from 4cm to 14cm, I only used about 15 liters, so that would also help I guess. (I used a foundation of vulcanic rock gravel in filter bags. That was also very useful for keeping the wood from floating! 😀)

At the right back, I have Limnophila Hippuroides, and I am really looking forward how that will grow.

The cabinet height is 93cm, so that is really perfect for my length (190cm) 😀 Sitting at my kitchen bar, my tank is perfectly at eye height 😀
 
Thanks, it is really fun to make one! 😀

This is how my tanks looks at the moment, hence after 2.5 weeks. So far, so good. Still strugging with CO2 a little. The Twinstar diffusor (large) does not seem to be able to reach the target 30 mg/l…

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Thanks, it is really fun to make one! 😀

This is how my tanks looks at the moment, hence after 2.5 weeks. So far, so good. Still strugging with CO2 a little. The Twinstar diffusor (large) does not seem to be able to reach the target 30 mg/l…

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Looking good! Try moving the CO2 diffuser to the front right corner so it get a stronger hit from the filter outlet, it should get you better dissolution of the CO2.
 
Thanks! I tried to move the diffusor to the front right, but didn’t like the view. Today I moved it to the front left near my inlet and that seems to improve things. Since the bubbles are pulled downwards by the flow I seem to get a much better dissolution. Let’s see how that works out 😀
 
A short update. Algues are starting to grow and I do not seem to get the CO2 at the right level. I reduced the light (Twinstar 900s) to 45% which should give enough pars according to aquariumpardata.com. Light is on for 7 hours. I replaced the diffusor with an atomizer (CO2art) running at 3.5 bps now. This seems quite high to me, but the dropchecker at back-right is still very dark green-blueish (Aqua Rebell CO2 check 30 mg/l). Plants do not look really healthy to me and a bit sliming, and I expect due to low CO2? I am daily dosing 4 pumps of Tropica specialized nutrition and 4ml easylife easy carbo. I change 50% water twice a week (50% RO). I also reduced the outlet flow, because the flow from my Oase biomaster 600 is perhaps too strong.

Does it makes any sense what I am doing? Any suggestions? ☹️

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I think my dosing is too high, anybody please?! George Farmer advices for medium energy 1 pump per 40L per day (book page 36), hence 35 pumps per week for 200L. Tropica advices 10 pumps per week, so that differs a factor 3.5!
 
Hi, sorry to hear things aren't going well. Its always hard to advise from afar, but some tips. I'd lower light duration to 6 hours and Intensity to 40%. Manual removal of all the bga that seems to be forming on the sand by siphoning it off. Start spot dosing the easycarbo on hardscape where you spot bba or bga while your filter is off or during maintenance. Remove badly affected leaves and use a toothbrush on hardscape. As for the ferts, I usually start at around 1.5x / double recommended dose with tropica, increasing it as plant mass increases or deficiencies show.
Co2 is most likely the biggest culprit, together with flow.
Lets start with co2. What time do you start injecting co2 and what time does your light come on? What time do you stop and does your light turn off?
Second, flow. I recommend setting your filter back to full flow again, its likely the issues increased when you reduced it. Can you make a picture from above and show us how you positioned inflow/return and diffusor and dropchecker and such with paint or something? Either way your filter isnt too heavy for the tank, with 1250l/ph on 180l tank thats less then the 10x turnover many recommend. I feel it should be about adequate though, if you dont have a lot of hardscape and plants blocking flow. You can always add a powerhead if flow becomes an issue.
Can you answer some of these questions?
 
It may be difficult or undesirable to achieve high co2 levels to go with high light intensity. However, it is easy to lower light intensity to go with low co2 levels.
I'd lower light duration to 6 hours and Intensity to 40%.
I'd do the same. Or even lower intensity but same/longer photoperiod. Increase intensity later on if you wish when algae is under control and plants are established.

Doesn't look like a fertilizer problem to me, more like too much light for the amount of available co2 and relatively immature system.
 
Hi, thank you very much for your help! To answer your questions. Light is on from 12:30 till 19:30 (7 hours) now at 40% intensity like you suggest. CO2 is on from 08:00 till 20:30. I am using the CO2art atomizer directly at the pump outlet, 3 bps now. The JBL pressure regulator I have is without needle valve, so its hard to maintain constant bubble rate. I definitely need to change that soon. Dropchecker is at back-right, hence most far away from the inlet. Filter is running at max again. Inlet is next to outlet, front-left. I just did some easy carbo spot dosing on the rocks and removed all algae from the sand by siphoning it. I also bought 20 hungry Amano shrimps and I reduced the Tropica fertilizer to 2 pumps per day now. Still changing about 85 liters of water twice a week (50% RO).
 
Looks like you're on the right path. Keep up the maintenance and most of all be patient.

There's no need to keep co2 on longer than your photoperiod, most people turn it off 1 hour before lights off.

You can get a separate inline needle valve such as this one from amazon or this one from co2supermarket (no experience with either), no need to get a new regulator.
 
Hi Djoko and Darrel, thanks for your help! Things seem to improve here. I started adding easy life ferro daily and my plants seem to like that. I see a lot of new leaves, so thats good. I am still struggling a little with some BGA though. I just put my moss balls in quarantine to give them a blackout, so hopefully that helps 🤪
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Cheers, Jarno
 
Hi all,
Hi Djoko and Darrel, thanks for your help!
I'm pleased that has helped, plant health looks really good.
I am still struggling a little with some BGA though.
I'm not sure with that, I don't tend to get it, but I don't know why. My only suggestion would be to give the filter a clean. I know that @jaypeecee has been interested in cyanobacteria, so I'll add him in.

cheers Darrel
 
I had an absolute nightmare with BGA, nothing I did could get rid of it. Ended up going the cemical route, Chemiclean for Red Cyanobacteria. I think it's a marine chemical mostly, but within 48hrs every last spec of it had gone with no detriments to anything in the tank. It's not even erythromycin so I don't feel too bad using it.

I did get it in the USA though, I'm not entirely sure if it's available over here, perhaps on eBay.
 
Very nice and quiet scape ! Things are going on a normal path 😉.
Just be patient and try not to upset the fragile balance you are going to achieve by time, by changing the parameters when you suspect something strange. Try to modify things drop by drop, take your time, observe, and... enjoy! 😉
 
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