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The Accidental Aquascape

Kezzab said:
Hi, its a lighting/co2 issue IMO. Little point spot dosing, the affected leaves are damaged beyond repair.

Id be looking carefully at your co2 level and circulation. Id say its notable that the tank is 6 months planted but growth of quite a few plants looks weak. If all was on point id have expected it to be looking rampant (unless you are doing a lot of trimming).
K
Click to expand...

I trim quite a bit, to get a more compact growth, but it should have grown more than it has.
Have been playing around with the circulation, just pointing the out flows at different angles. I'm going to do a feed in a minute which will help me see what's happening.
I'm thinking of swapping the inflow and out flow either side. As the plants aren't as high on the right.
I feel like my next moves are critical to the success of this tank.
Thanks K!
 
Your inflows/outflows look to be in what is usually seen as the "right" place as far as i can see. You should be getting circular flow and theres nothing thats really obstructing that. Maybe its just increasing the co2 injection rate thats needed?

In my experience you dont get compact growth unless the co2 is right, however much you trim. But then every tanks different!
 
Kezzab said:
Maybe its just increasing the co2 injection rate thats needed?
Click to expand...

Ok, will bump up the Co2, but I'm at around 4bps. Is that a lot already?
Looking at my drop checker, it's not as towards the yellow end of the spectrum as it used to. I guess the plants are
maybe using it more?

As the pipes are in the right place, I think I will try swapping each side over. So the left side has the outflow at the front etc...
It's just so the outflow isn't directly hitting the plants.

Another thing to try is a different plant that has fast growth.
 
Hi, bps isnt really a comparable measure (bubble counters vary, different tanks require different rates etc) although its good for you to use as a reference point for future scapes. Go by your drop checker and plant health. Many suggest moving your drop checker around the tank to check for co2 dead spots, then adjusting flow and rate accordingly.

Im not sure fast growers will make much difference this far in. In fact the plants ypu have should grow pretty quick if conditions are right. You could try plants with lower co2 demands, but for me your situation should be rectifyable without the neef to change your plants - you have all the right kit, somethings just a wee bit off.
 
Hi all,
The Accidental Aquascaper said:
What is getting worse is the Hair Algae or Staghorn Algae.
Click to expand...
What media do you have in your filter? We don't know what causes any algae, but I've found that an increase in organics often precipitates an out-break of Staghorn.

I can see that the organic matter isn't in the tank, but if you have a lot of media in your filter it can impede flow and this might be the trigger.

cheers Darrel
 
I've just swapped over the in/out flows, which should give a better flow of Co2 to the plants at the back.

Biomaster 250 thermo with Co2
Co2 outlet - back right pointing left
Filter with Co2 inflow - front right

Biomaster 350
Other outlet - front left pointing right
Other inflow - back left

I switched on the Co2 and filters to check it was all working. Turns out that I've got the Co2 going through the filter first now. This isn't ideal as I'll get a build up of gas right? Is this the only disadvantage or is Co2 wasted somehow? I kind of feel it's got more like a reactor this way, as I have no bubbles coming out. Drop checker is turning a lovely lime green and possibly faster than normal.

After around 15 minutes of running it all, I noticed a ridiculous amount of bubbles coming out from most of the plants. The amount you see on George Farmer videos, which one can only envy at...well not anymore!
Is this my plants giving me the thumbs up?

Either way, it looks like a good start. I just need to stop a very slow leak on the valve connectors.
 
I'm halfway through sorting out the plumbing and it occurred to me that my tank is not as deep (front to back) as most aquascape tanks.
I currently have both outlets in the same corner (back right pointing left) and the flow seems pretty good.
The plan is to put one of the outlets in the front left pointing right, but I'm wondering if both flows are interfering with each other.
Plan view diagram of tanks that should help explain.

What do you reckon, am I better off keeping them in the same corner?

Screen Shot 2019-10-31 at 18.23.43.png
 
Ha! Tomorrow! Patience Grasshopper.

I'd give it 10 days to 2 weeks. If its right you will be seeing plenty of healthy new growth appearing.

If there's no change, try something else. But dont be faffing about changing stuff every few days, you'll give nothing a chance to have an impact and you wont know what is was you changed that made a difference. Slow is good.
 
No i don't think so, the co2 accumulates in your filter creating a big bubble, this will be diffusing into the water as water passes through your filter. The filter will then burp and that big bubble will come out, much of the resultant "bubble rush" into the tank will rise to the surface and pop. Not something i think i'd worry about.
 
Ok, I've finally sorted the slow leaks by getting some better quality tubing. Not even a hint of leakage!
I left one of the outlets hanging without the suckers and noticed the downward flow of the pipe seemed to push the water across the front section and down in to the carpet really well.
This is obviously an accident waiting to happen, so I guess I'll have a look at a downward flow pipe. I imagine they're very rare.

DownwardLilyPipe.jpg
 
The Accidental Aquascaper said:
Ok, I've finally sorted the slow leaks by getting some better quality tubing. Not even a hint of leakage!
I left one of the outlets hanging without the suckers and noticed the downward flow of the pipe seemed to push the water across the front section and down in to the carpet really well.
This is obviously an accident waiting to happen, so I guess I'll have a look at a downward flow pipe. I imagine they're very rare.

View attachment 128716
Click to expand...

Not rare at all, look for VIV Violet pipes, I have one (16/22) and it does exactly what you need.
 
My Co2 cylinder is running out, but thankfully a refill is coming tomorrow.
The cylinder says there is 0 pressure, but there is still gas coming out.
However, my drop checker isn't going the lime green/yellow, even though it's right next to the outlet.

Are the last bits that come out from the cylinder just normal air?

BlueDropChecker.jpg
 
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