Nano Garden Experiment

[erwin123]

In my experience, the recommended amount does not work. I know scapers who are up to 6x the recommended dose.

I am dosing Tropica at 7pumps a week (1 pump a day) for a 90P (180l) tank (and extra pump after water change). Plants are fine. But I have aquasoil not gravel so plants can also get nutrients from soil - which is the idea behind lean(er) dosing.

If dosing more causes plants to grow faster, then I'm ok with dosing less and plants growing slower, makes maintenance easier. 🙂

 

[nijat11]

I am dosing Tropica at 7pumps a week (1 pump a day) for a 90P (180l) tank (and extra pump after water change). Plants are fine. But I have aquasoil not gravel so plants can also get nutrients from soil - which is the idea behind lean(er) dosing.

If dosing more causes plants to grow faster, then I'm ok with dosing less and plants growing slower, makes maintenance easier. 🙂

BTW i was doing some maintenance today and I should say that ammanica is slowly growing and for last 2 weeks i did some miscalculation and overdosed fertilizers

 

[nijat11]

Some photos

 

[nijat11]

Update for this week

 

[nijat11]

Okay, at this point I need CO2 experts.
Difuser located at the right side (you can see on photo). For better water movement I added simple eheim pump 600 l/h at the back wall.
From my point of view my drop checker should be kind of yelowish, but it is green, and plants growth also not fast. Please see the attached photos.

 

[Little]

Sorry not an expert, just a CO2 greenhorn here.

I learned that hard water requires a lot more co2 to achieve the same ph drop and 4dk drop checker colour.

I found an hourly ph profile and taking pictures of the drop checker every hour (against a white background) then increasing or reducing and repeat really helpful.

 

[bazz]

I found an hourly ph profile and taking pictures of the drop checker every hour (against a white background) then increasing or reducing and repeat really helpful.

With hard water the use of a pH pen makes this task far easier.

 

[nijat11]

One more questions, I`m thinking about replace this hob/watefall filter with Oase Filtosmart and use inline diffuser.
What do you think guys?

 

[erwin123]

Was this taken on a different day? the Pedicatellas in your other photos seem ok.

 

[nijat11]

View attachment 215686

Was this taken on a different day? the Pedicatellas in your other photos seem ok.

I dont think that it is ok, look at leaves, this is the only plant that I`m strugling now

 

[nijat11]

So replaced filter with Oase FiltroSmart 100, it was my first experience with a canister filter and I can only say one thing "Long live sump!"

 

[erwin123]

I dont think that it is ok, look at leaves, this is the only plant that I`m strugling now

If the A. Pedicatella is struggling, do you think its due to EI dosing or something else?
Also I noticed the new growth on the C.Furcata doesn't seem to be very red - anything to do with too much Nitrates and does Furcata need less Nitrates to turn red?

 

[nijat11]

If the A. Pedicatella is struggling, do you think its due to EI dosing or something else?
Also I noticed the new growth on the C.Furcata doesn't seem to be very red - anything to do with too much Nitrates and does Furcata need less Nitrates to turn red?

I think , I found the issue. So you remember i posted drop checker photo and said that it turns kind of green, howeber i inject a lot of co2. Yesterday i installed oase filter with spraubar and today afternoon drop checker was not even yellow but kind of brown. So there was definitely flow and co2 distirbution issue. And probably I will see positive changes witin couple of weeks.

 

[erwin123]

I think , I found the issue. So you remember i posted drop checker photo and said that it turns kind of green, howeber i inject a lot of co2. Yesterday i installed oase filter with spraubar and today afternoon drop checker was not even yellow but kind of brown. So there was definitely flow and co2 distirbution issue. And probably I will see positive changes witin couple of weeks.

Interesting - the fact that the tank is so small and there are CO2 bubbles everywhere makes one assume that CO2 distribution is always perfect.
This is a good learning point - having a tank filled with CO2 bubbles doesn't mean your distribution is good.

 

[nijat11]

So some interesting observation on golden nesaea. In my experiment tank it was kind of stunned growth and bottom leaves had algae. So I decided trim them and give another chance. Some new shots appeared on treamed ares, so fingers crossed. BTW for last 6-8 weeks I was doing tropica lean dosing and upgraded my filter as well.
Also I moved some cutting to my main tank where I do full EI dose and see it grows good (but very slow) coloration also good. So can someone explain me what is going on? 😀

 

[erwin123]

So some interesting observation on golden nesaea. In my experiment tank it was kind of stunned growth and bottom leaves had algae. So I decided trim them and give another chance. Some new shots appeared on treamed ares, so fingers crossed. BTW for last 6-8 weeks I was doing tropica lean dosing and upgraded my filter as well.
Also I moved some cutting to my main tank where I do full EI dose and see it grows good (but very slow) coloration also good. So can someone explain me what is going on? 😀

Like you mentioned, the A. Pedicatella grew ok for several weeks in the nano tank but eventually started stunting under EI. So the cuttings you moved to the main tank with EI should be growing ok for a few weeks and then it will stunt.

Dosing Tropica recommended amount (aka on the slightly lean side) is the easy way to grow A. Pedicatella....

The other plant I'm interested in is the L.Sphaerocarpa. Has yours turned red yet? If its still green it could be L. Polycarpa.

 

[nijat11]

Like you mentioned, the A. Pedicatella grew ok for several weeks in the nano tank but eventually started stunting under EI. So the cuttings you moved to the main tank with EI should be growing ok for a few weeks and then it will stunt.

Dosing Tropica recommended amount (aka on the slightly lean side) is the easy way to grow A. Pedicatella....

The other plant I'm interested in is the L.Sphaerocarpa. Has yours turned red yet? If its still green it could be L. Polycarpa.

it just died and removed it

 

[erwin123]

it just died and removed it

I have found L.Sphaerocarpa to be a pretty difficult plant as well. For fertilisation, I think its ok with either EI or lean though if you changed from one to the other, it might protest.
Other possible causes could be overcrowding by other plants. I like it because it has a (sort of) wine red colour that is so unique.....

 

[nijat11]

Some more updated photos. I`m still strugling with A.Pedicatella and Ludwigia white. Tropica fertilizer for some reason did not worked for me and I have purchased APT 3, so lets see how it will go.

 

[erwin123]

Some more updated photos. I`m still strugling with A.Pedicatella and Ludwigia white. Tropica fertilizer for some reason did not worked for me and I have purchased APT 3, so lets see how it will go.

Tropica worked for me and others (ie. I got the tip to use Tropica from someone who was successful with it). I switched from APT to Tropica and my A. Pedicatella improved pretty quickly.

Sometimes it is not the brand but how much you dose? For a 60 litre tank, you should be dosing 0.8ml-1ml TSN a day. If you dosed more than 1ml/day that may have made things worse for A. Pedicatella.