NA Island Journal

[danmullan]

It had to happen eventually:


Hair algae - 1 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr


Hair algae - 2 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

I have raised the lights so they are about 2ft away from the water surface. I have also reduced the intensity to 75% output. So they go 0%-75%-0% over 6 hours.

When I add shrimps and ottos at the weekend, I may get a couple of small SAEs too.

Not sure if this is a result of too much nitrate, I'll get some excel at the weekend so I can use a pipette to spot treat the affected areas. Although I'm a bit concerned that with excel as well, I may tip the co2 concentration over the limit safe for livestock. Should I lower my co2 injection rate to accommodate for the addition of some liquid carbon, or just not get livestock for another week or so?

Cheers

 

[Ady34]

I'll get some excel at the weekend so I can use a pipette to spot treat the affected areas. Although I'm a bit concerned that with excel as well, I may tip the co2 concentration over the limit safe for livestock. Should I lower my co2 injection rate to accommodate for the addition of some liquid carbon, or just not get livestock for another week or so?

Cheers

Hi mate, you wont tip the c02 over the limit regards livestock as liquid and injected are different carbon sources. The gas is most dangerous as its easier to overdose, but you can safely add liquid carbon at the recommended dosages alongside, even double recommended (some go three times recommended, although i wouldnt personally). They effectively are both carbon sources but can be treated independantly of one another regards dosing. Liquid is used as a boost and has algaecide effects as a bonus
As for livestock, id get a cuc in there asap.
Good luck.
Cheerio,
Ady.

 

[Stu Worrall]

Cracking design and its coming along fab! Nice to see wood being used like stones for a change.

 

[Eboeagles]

Agree with Stu. I really enjoyed reading through your journal too. Looking forward to see how this one progresses

 

[sanj]

Nice tank set up indeed. I wish I had seen this earlier.

 

[danmullan]

Hi mate, you wont tip the c02 over the limit regards livestock as liquid and injected are different carbon sources. The gas is most dangerous as its easier to overdose, but you can safely add liquid carbon at the recommended dosages alongside, even double recommended (some go three times recommended, although i wouldnt personally). They effectively are both carbon sources but can be treated independantly of one another regards dosing. Liquid is used as a boost and has algaecide effects as a bonus
As for livestock, id get a cuc in there asap.
Good luck.
Cheerio,
Ady.

Ah, well that's convenient. I've never used excel before. As for livestock I'll be getting some tomorrow hopefully. Otherwise I'll do it next weekend.

Cracking design and its coming along fab! Nice to see wood being used like stones for a change.

Agree with Stu. I really enjoyed reading through your journal too. Looking forward to see how this one progresses

Nice tank set up indeed. I wish I had seen this earlier.

Thanks for your comments guys, I'm glad people are enjoying my journal.

Cheers,

Dan

 

[andyh]

looking great... Final layout looks the best!

Just to second Ian's comment you will get movement in the substrate, it will flatten. You need to get something in their to stop it moving. Some people use plastic strips in the gravel or rocks etc.

 

[danmullan]

looking great... Final layout looks the best!

Just to second Ian's comment you will get movement in the substrate, it will flatten. You need to get something in their to stop it moving. Some people use plastic strips in the gravel or rocks etc.

Thanks Andy.

I've used corrugated plastic from TGM, it's visible in some of the pics of the A. Bonsai. Thanks for the heads up anyway. I can't think of anything worse than waking up to find the island is gone 😱

 

[danmullan]

Hi guys, thought I'd take some time to upload some growth shots from the first few weeks (all the pictures are showing the same plant/area of plants). Tank was filled on 03/12/12, so almost 4 weeks old.

HC:

H. Callitrichoides - Day 5 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

HC - Day 7 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

HC spread - Day 19 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr


Plants Layout - Day 5 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

High angle - Day 10 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

HC view - Day 19 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

Amannia sp. Bonsai:

Amannia sp. 'Bonsai' - Day 5 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

Amannia sp. Bonsai - Day 7 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

P.Erectus: (note a few extra small plants were added in week 2)

Pogostemon Erectus - Day 10 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

Pogostemon Erectus - Day 20 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

And the full set-up:

Clear Front by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

FTS - Day 20 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

Thanks for looking.

 

[tim]

groowing in really nicely mate good job

 

[danmullan]

Hi all,

The tank is now 1 month old 🙂

The weekend before the new year I added some shrimp to the tank. 3 x Amano and 6 x sakura CRS. They've already seen off the hair algae, I didn't even have to get my easycarbo out.


RCS 1 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

RCS 2 by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr


FTS - 1 month by Dan.Mullan, on Flickr

The plants are still growing well, however I'm starting to see signs of diatoms. Cleaned the glass today and did a 30% water change, I'll do the same tomorrow as well. Hopefully I won't have too many issues.

I've reduced the photoperiod to 5 hours (from 6) and I've reduce the co2 by an hour too as I was finding my drop checkers to be on the yellow side during the the middle of the photoperiod. I have increased the flow in the tank as well (as much as the filter will allow) Otherwise, I've not really had that much experience in fighting diatoms off. In a previous tank I found that HC can suffer due to leaves being covered in small amounts of algae, and therefore not growing to full size. The plant then tries to grow new leaves but these suffer the same fate, resulting in poor growth and colour, and eventually a dead plant. So I really don't want that to happen again.

Some tips would be useful in case the problem starts to get worse.

Cheers

 

[tim]

looking nice dan ottos love diatoms if you plan to add them i find if you lightly rub your fingers over the plants as you syphon on water change that will also help

 

[Iain Sutherland]

looking great dan, for the diatoms just increase water changes, general maintenance and if possible amano shrimp numbers it will pass without too much issue (reducing light intensity will always help more than shortening the period). I wouldnt worry too much about the DC going more yellow towards the end of the photo period as long as the fauna are happy, DC's are just a guide.
Its a great looking layout, cant help but feel the microsorum is a bit out of place... personally i think it would balance more if you removed it and added some moss to the wood with some more stems behind.. maybe something with a pinkish hue, but thats just me.
Lovely looking tank though with nice healthy growth, you should be very pleased.

 

[Dorian]

Really nice.

 

[martinmjr62]

Filling out nicely mate


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[danmullan]

Really nice.

Filling out nicely mate

Thanks guys

 

[danmullan]

Unfortunately, I've been away from the tank for a week. Someone else has been dosing ferts for me but I haven't been able to sort the diatom issue. Most plants seem okay, the rotala needs a good trim, as does the fern.

The plants that have been affected most are the HC carpet and the A.Bonsai. The bonsai has some diatoms on the lower leaves, and the new leaves are looking a bit on the pale side. But the HC is now quite brown. It's far from lost, but I'll need to sort it this week.

Here's the plan. I'll be adding more shrimps today, probably a mix of amano's and sakura cherries to increase the numbers I already have. 30% water change today (done) and same tomorrow along with trimming the rotala and java fern*. I have 3 days off this week, mon, tues and weds. So more water changes on these days. I may up the co2 as well.

* One question I have is should I trim the HC? The new leaves are getting smaller and they seem to stop at a certain size (due to the algae preventing further growth) so should I be trimming it? I've syphoned as much as I can during w/c's but it seems to make little or no difference.

Thanks

Dan

 

[George Farmer]

Lovely set-up and 'scape, Dan! 🙂

Any particular reason you're using green plastic inlets and outlets rather than glassware. For me it kinda spoils the otherwise lovely equipment you have. Please forgive me if you like the green plastic though! lol

 

[danmullan]

Lovely set-up and 'scape, Dan! 🙂

Any particular reason you're using green plastic inlets and outlets rather than glassware. For me it kinda spoils the otherwise lovely equipment you have. Please forgive me if you like the green plastic though! lol

Thanks George,

The main reason I used the Eheim pipework and still have it, is mainly down to flow. I just wanted to make sure that the flow was as good and even as possible, I figured a spray bar at the back is the best method.

My plan is to use these pipes to make things simpler while I'm learning about how I can grow plants well in this set-up. When the tank is more mature, I'll focus on the aesthetic side of things. I have tested, with several drop checkers, how well the co2 is distributed around the tank. It seems that the spray bar is doing a pretty good job as co2 seemed fairly even in most areas of the tank.

But this hasn't stopped me looking. I'll be getting a set of 'Cal Aqua' pipes when I get rid of the green stuff.

 

[danmullan]

looking great dan, for the diatoms just increase water changes, general maintenance and if possible amano shrimp numbers it will pass without too much issue (reducing light intensity will always help more than shortening the period). I wouldnt worry too much about the DC going more yellow towards the end of the photo period as long as the fauna are happy, DC's are just a guide.
Its a great looking layout, cant help but feel the microsorum is a bit out of place... personally i think it would balance more if you removed it and added some moss to the wood with some more stems behind.. maybe something with a pinkish hue, but thats just me.
Lovely looking tank though with nice healthy growth, you should be very pleased.

Thanks Iain, I've got a few days off this week so I'm doing some daily maintenance including 30-40% water changes. I have also decreased the lights intensity a bit and added more shrimps.

I do agree that the Microsorum does look a bit out of place, I've now trimmed the large leaves off and it looks much better. It would be difficult to change it as I can't really remove the bogwood to tie moss around it. Hopefully when the P.Erectus has grown taller in front of it, it will look more natural.