457 replies to this topic

[Delapool]

Hi all,

Figured I might start a journal to chart progress on this tank. Plan to take some photos to see if plants are really growing over time.

Tank is a 4ft x 2ft x 2.5ft high planted, tropical community tank. At the moment has angelfish and schooling fish like rosy barbs, along with yoyo loaches and catfish on the bottom.

[Delapool]

A repeat photo below but fairly recent and shows most of the tank.

 

 

 

 

Equipment list below:

 

1 x quad t5ho light (with 2 x underwater lights). 

 

2 x canister filters (with internal filter / powerhead).

 

2 x heaters and 1 x UV unit.

 

1 x CO2 injection with ph controller.

 

1 x Seneye Reef monitor (mainly for light levels).

 

 

Below is a very shy bumblebee catfish picked up last year at auction. Coming out here to check out the bn catfish (don't think he was impressed).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Delapool, 19 April 2016 - 08:32 AM.

[Delapool]

Dull stuff on tank readings as I'm really bad at recording. Nitrates has sunk to 5ppm (I think it was 20ppm last test a few weeks ago) and phosphates are 3ppm (up from 1ppm as lifted dosing to correct). Lifting nitrates dosing. The underwater lights are doing well. A small bit of green algae which needs cleaning off this weekend. But no algae explosion so going well there. Latest plant list: Ambulia. Hygrophila polysperma. Vallisneria. Alternanthera reineckii (red alt). Melon Swords and Java Ferns.

Edited by Delapool, 20 April 2016 - 07:35 AM.

[Delapool]

Went to pull out some hygro with crinkled leaves (calcium?? potassium? iron over dose??) and ended up with an ice cream container outside. Nice to be able to see the gravel on the left side of tank though.

Plan to sort out and replant on weekend. Might try some other plants though.

Dropping the light onto the tank rim instead of being on a light stand looks like it has made a difference in plant growth.

[Delapool]

Things I have learnt so far this weekend. When disconnecting hoses on canister filters it is best to concentrate on which side is pressurised rather than dashing off to do it between the TV ads...

Edited by Delapool, 22 April 2016 - 11:02 PM.

[Delapool]

Tank is still very blah after 3 or 5 hours work. Added Seachem Clarity yesterday but I think that means I just see larger particles floating around. The left side has been largely re-planted. The right side got a few extra plants.   Can't reach the centre so that mostly escaped replanting. The val is growing up through the centre of the plane which is strange but should be nice in a few months.   I've noticed the angelfish have spread out more but also can see each other better (not always a good thing perhaps).   Last PAR reading two months ago was 41 and tonight is 37. So this could be bulb decay or just the water still needing to clear. Picked up some more bulbs on the weekend anyways (could of spent way longer in the shop).    

Edited by Delapool, 25 April 2016 - 09:37 PM.

[Delapool]

Congo tetras are schooling this morning but still exploring and settling in. A few snaps before work.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jules]

Looking really good, they look great under that lighting too....

Good choice

[Delapool]

Thanks! Beats checking the plants for a change. This was under both blues and pink bulbs as in bit of a rush.

They prefer the front, right corner so far. I think they like the back, right corner but that has been taken by a small, black angelfish half their size (a polite thing that has so far nipped one and I swear she head butted another).

[Delapool]

I think the tetras have more colour to them but not sure if the photos agree? They are way more active - stealing food from the angelfish and getting around the tank quite a bit.

 

Second water change completed for the week. Next weekend I'll clean the internal filter and tank should be back to normal.

 

GH around 8, KH around 5 (same as January).  








A meeting of minds -

[Delapool]

The new bulbs went into the quad-t5ho and wow, are they making a difference. The old bulbs were 8 months old. Swapped to the same set of bulbs (2 x grolux & 2 x 12000K).

The Seneye light meter needs an algae clean but both readings of the old and new bulbs were taken tonight with everything else the same. New lights have a much higher PAR output. Also my impression is that yes, there is a spectrum shift but it looks to me like the largest loss in PAR output is in the reds and blues, while the greens don't seem to show as much shift.

Old lights (For reference, the grey/white line is the lights; thick coloured line is I assume plant preference and I also assume the thin, coloured dashed line is what the human eye can see)


New Lights

Edited by Delapool, 06 May 2016 - 10:14 PM.

[Delapool]

Thought I updated my plant list but have lost where I carefully filed it away. I think it was pogo in there I was trying. Sadly it looks like it won't make it. Started with good growth, then that got eaten and the older growth is almost all gone as well. I wouldn't be so suspicious of the fish if I didn't notice a tetra have a go at one a few days ago and an angelfish was caught doing the same this morning

Really need electric fence.

On the other hand guess it frees up space to try something else.

The val is starting to send out too many runners so starting to prune it back under gravel. So far val 1, scissors 0.

[Delapool]

Somewhat busy day. The perspex cover had a bow in it so I thought I'd straighten it out. Result was I snapped it, (old I guess), and had to cut another to size from the hardware store. Also replaced the larger CO2 bottle so stocked up there again. Will leave the smaller one on for a bit.

Pretty rainy day to go to stores.

All the relatives thought the tank looked good so I didn't mention the mid-week clean

Got rid of some val, re-planted some other plants that escaped and generally tidied up tank. Ran out of time to make it to the fish store for filter sponge so maybe next week.

Cleaned out the small tank as well which had some weird sort of algae on it. Sadly the snail wouldn't touch it or couldn't get to it as it was on the filter pump. Cleaned rest of filter pump and working much better now. (The filter pump is part of the hob filter but sits submerged as part of the inlet pipe.)

[Delapool]

Busy week, parcel of ferts arrived. 5 kilograms doesn't seem that much when you order...



The basil airbag (left side in photo below) I have no idea on why it was in there.



Cleaned tank of plant debris again. Sigh. Wish I could do better with plants.




New light out of the box to boost the quad t5ho. Now I have to look at increasing CO2 again but really hoping algae stays away and plant growth is a little faster (except the val, that's just getting to be a weed..).

[Westie]

Those Nemo LED lights are pretty powerful. You wouldn't need to run both lighting units on that tank. Just end up with algae if you do.

[Delapool]

Thanks for the tip. It does look a lot brighter in there. Will see if I can get a par reading today. Should be interesting to see what it shows (see how high the blues are ).

Can't say my memories of BBA and having to prune plants every week has gotten any better.

Do you still have this light? I think I'll have to ring the shop later as having trouble sorting out how the dimmer function works and if it resets after power goes out.

I'm running these on a timer so don't really mind if settings are lost on power cut off but can't quite figure it out. To the point where I've actually gone and read the instructions...

Otherwise very sleek design and the company has been very generous with the length of the power cord.

[Westie]

I still have this light. Blue is useless for growing plants, so tap the channel button to show the blue light, and press the minus until it removes the blue LED. Then if you tap the channel button again so it shows the white light, press the plus or minus to adjust the level of white light. I have the blue completely off, and white at about 50% power. Any more and I got GSA outbreak. If you have it plugged in to a plug timer, it should stay at that light level even when it switches off then back on. If you need more help with it, send me a PM and I'll have a chat to you over the phone

[Delapool]

Thanks, I'll try that today. I was thinking the same of switching the blue channel off. Much appreciated on the reply.

[Delapool]

Ok, so for those aquarium nerds out there, here are the PAR readings. Tank and Seneye is a little dirty so this might be lowering readings a little. As well, the light has to get through a perspex cover. Also that this is just out of interest on the light, there is nothing really scientific in the measuring here lol.

As usual the white/grey line is the light reading, the thick coloured line is plant preference and the dashed coloured line is human eye.

Just for reference I've put a hydroponics box light that I was running in the centre of the tank (with more lights either side) some time ago. The PAR reading was just for the hydroponics light. It's interesting I find that this light seems to closely match what plants want but looked visually very high in red lights and simply dreadful.



Nemo light working well with great shop support.

Nemo light - led bulbs


Nemo light - blue channel


Nemo light - white channel (makes sense this is lower PAR as less bulbs).


At the moment running the white channel 100% and the quad t5ho. The readings are about a foot down the tank (halfway). The nemo light is nice and compact, doesn't seem to get very hot either and lights up the back of the tank well (as both lights sitting on glass/perspex top).

[Delapool]

Whoo-hooo! Some decent pearling tonight across two-thirds of the tank (bearing in mind I count any stream of bubbles). Best I have seen around the co2 diffuser. Really makes me think I should chase up a line splitter and get the second diffuser going (sitting in a drawer somewhere). Sadly the plant debris is increasing again looks like.

Edited by Delapool, 31 May 2016 - 09:19 AM.