New to the planted world.

[Scott Dav]

Hey guys/girls i'm Dav i have had my fish tank for around 5 years now but only kept fish with the odd plant and thats about as far as i have ever gone. then i was looking for something plant related online and stumbled upon this site, had a look around and fell in love with the thought of aquascaping.

so i find myself here and wanting to give it a go so i thought i would start this Journal so that i could watch my tank improve and grow and so any of you could follow me along my journey. also pointing me in the right direction. so the story starts i was doing a big water change on my tank and decided that i would move some plants around and start mytank off. (i thought i had a lot of plants but i was wrong) so this is where i ended up.

i have plants on the left but nothing to go on the right, i have the giant val on the back just off centre but not sure i like it much, i would like some input and help as with what to put to the right of the tank to fill her out a little. i was thinking maybe some more wood i like the idea of a nice big rooty piece with plants also. like i said im here to learn so please if you have any input it would be greatly appreciated.

the tank has two 40w T8's and is also running pressurised co2 (only been on for a week) i'm still slowly increasing the co2 up at a slow rate as not to do any harm to the fish, i know I've not given myself it easy by starting c02 with the fish in but they where there fist and I've not got anything else big enough to house them, so i'll carry on upping the co2 slowly. i also does the tank with AE Neutro+ daily.

thanks for taking the time to look and comment, i know i have gone on for a while.

cheers Dav.

 

[foxfish]

Hi Dav, it's always a good idea to put up your tanks specs, size, filter C02 method etc as this make it much easier for us to comment or help.
I notice you have a short spray bar quite low down & a pump pointing across the spray bar flow, this is not a very efficient way to get good flow.
A single full length spray bar set just under the water powered by a 10 x tank volume flow rating filter is what you should aim for.

 

[Scott Dav]

Hi Dav, it's always a good idea to put up your tanks specs, size, filter C02 method etc as this make it much easier for us to comment or help.
I notice you have a short spray bar quite low down & a pump pointing across the spray bar flow, this is not a very efficient way to get good flow.
A single full length spray bar set just under the water powered by a 10 x tank volume flow rating filter is what you should aim for.

thanks for kick starting me in the right direction.

The tank 48" long 15"wide and 17"high
the filter is Aqua one canister filter 1050 so im not making the 10x tank volume :-/ so I guess that will be one issue ill have to address.
as for the spray bar could I move it to the same side as the power head so that all flow is going in the same direction? I have the power head above the co2 diffuser so that it blows the co2 all round the tank. The co2 comson 1.5 hours before the lights and goes off 1 hour before the lights go off, and the lights are on for a 7 hour period.

Thanks Dav.

 

[foxfish]

If you have an adjustable reg for your C02 I would recommend an inline atomiser but, you may well find, as you suggested, by moving the spray bar you set up will work OK.
There can be quite a bit of compromise & trial & error before you hit the sweet spot.

 

[Scott Dav]

If you have an adjustable reg for your C02 I would recommend an inline atomiser but, you may well find, as you suggested, by moving the spray bar you set up will work OK.
There can be quite a bit of compromise & trial & error before you hit the sweet spot.

thanks for the advice fox, I do have a adjustable reg for my co2, in the morning I'm going to move the bar round and the same side as the power head, thanks again for your input. Think I will order a inline atomiser.

thanks Dav.

 

[Scott Dav]

UPDATE:

after advice from fox I've moved the spray bar and the power head to the right hand side of the tank and moved the co2 diffuser to the same side, so hopefully that will sort my flow out and give me some nice flow, I'm looking into a bigger filter.ive also been out and picked up some java fern and some crypts and also taken some Sumatra wood I've had soaking and attached the java ferns to it, so hopefully then java ferns will eventually engulf the wood. And that will hopefully fill out the right hand side of the tank, Pictures will follow I'm currently without Internet at home.

 

[Scott Dav]

UPDATE:

Hi ive been busy reading up on things and trying to take as much information on board as i possible can in such a short space of time but it is always nice to upload some shots of the tank for you folks to look at and pick all my faults apart haha, and give me a helping hand so it has been just short of 4 weeks since i started my planted journey and in that time my tank has changed a bit.

From this

To this

So that is how far i have gotten so far ive gotten rid of the play sand and gone for some seachem flourite and some of there black sand i really wanted ada aqua soil but could not take the ammonia that it realises i have no where else to put the fish until it became stable enough to put the fish back so settled for the seachem stuff. I'm wanting to have a much thinker substrate I'm currently at 2.5inch sloping to 2 inch i was thinking maybe 4-5inch sloping to 3 would that be ok? and is there any substrate anyone could recommend that will not give me ammonia spikes? i have also started doseing EI ferts and i also have some Neutro C02 my question regarding that is should continue to dose the Neutro C02? I'm running pressuresed C02 as you can see from the pictures. i was just wanting to know will the Neutro C02 aid the pressurised or hinder it?

​

my C02 distribution has been bothering me but i don't know weather I'm looking to much into it. I have got two drop checkers both at the other end of the tank to the co2 diffuser one at the lower level of the tank and one closer to the top of the tank, Both show a nice green colour so should i just take that as the C02 is getting all round the tank? maybe a stupid question because common sense says that it is but you never know, Like i said its only been a month into the planted side of things so I'm still questioning my own judgement and that can sometimes be a good thing but also can be a bad thing so its nice to get some reassurance. Also to aid flow in the tank i went out and got myself a fluval FX5 so ive got that along with my aqua one 1050 external and if need be have a hydor korillia as well, So i think i should have more then ample flow its just getting it set up right that is also not as straight forward as i thought as you can see from how my tank was 1 month ago, I had a powerhead and the filter flow crossing over one and other. thus having a negative affect on one and other, so i moved the fx5 and the 1050 both to the right hand side of the tank both flowing the same direction so hopefully I've got that right. I've been slowly turning up the C02 bit by bit trying to find the balance between plants and fish I'm just shy of 3BPS just now my tank is 218 Ltr is there a number to aim for or is it a case of more plant mass more C02 usage?

im sorry to have gone on and i hope someone can make it this far down to aid in my planted journey,

many thanks
Dav.

 

[ceg4048]

Both show a nice green colour so should i just take that as the C02 is getting all round the tank?

No, it doesn't mean a thing, and it doesn't matter how many DC you have in the tank. The only indication that ever has meaning is the current state of health of your plants. Everything else is secondary.

On the far left in photo #2 in post #7 it appears (I cannot see it clearly) that there are some stems plants that have lost their lower leaves. If so, then this is an indication of poor CO2.

Cheers,

 

[Scott Dav]

No, it doesn't mean a thing, and it doesn't matter how many DC you have in the tank. The only indication that ever has meaning is the current state of health of your plants. Everything else is secondary.

On the far left in photo #2 in post #7 it appears (I cannot see it clearly) that there are some stems plants that have lost their lower leaves. If so, then this is an indication of poor CO2.

Cheers,

I thought as much about the DC.

the stem plant on the right is out of my other tank and is my little experiment i put it over the left hand side of the tank to see if it condition would improve thus reassuring me that i have good flow/C02 distribution but good spot the plant was removed from a tank that had not pressurised C02 and was only dosed with ferts and liquid C02, what are your thoughts on this as far as leaving the plant on the left hand side of the tank to see if it improves? if it does improve then in your opinion would you say that i have sufficient flow/ C02? sorry to ask what seem like such stupid question but i do value the opinion from someone who knows a lot more about this subject then me.


i'm going to make a spray bar for the fx5 where would be the best place for the c02 diffuser? to get the best distribution? the spray bar will be the full length of the tank.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
OK, I see. Well, the boundary of a flow field is not really the best location generally because stagnation is more likely to occur at the boundaries. For recovery, the best place should be more towards the center, but of course, it's very difficult to map the flow field in a container, and, the edges are just as important as the center. So if you are looking for an indication that flow at the edge is adequate, then that is a good location for verification, assuming the injection rate is adequate.

If the stems are from another tank then this indicates that you will need to add more liquid carbon to the other tank, if feasible.

It's difficult to predict, but a good place to start with the diffuser would be at the center on the back wall, at the very bottom near the substrate. For that size tank I would suggest that you either invest in an in-line reactor, or, that you port the gas directly into the filter intake.

Cheers,

 

[Scott Dav]

Thank you for your reply i think i will go down the DIY in-line reactor for the FX5.

cheers for taking the time to reply.

dav.

EDIT: till i make a in-line reactor for the FX5 would it be any good to place the diffuser under the intake in the tank so the C02 goes straight up and into the filter then gets put back in the tank or will i loose the C02? thanks. or would it be to much of a risk to the filter with air lock and any other nasty stuff.

 

[foxfish]

Lot of folk do it mate & it seems to work for most folk - although I am not a fan of the method.
I dont like the idea of not being able to see what is happening inside the filter, how much gas is building up, how long it stays in the filter when the gas supply is turned off etc.
However you could say the same when using many of the DIY reactors around too!
I prefer some form of clear vessel to dissolve the C02 in but, like I say lots of guys just feed the gas into their filter with no issues & good success!!