"Passionately Curious"

[exo]

I bet it would. can't wait to get started myself. All I can do now is envy at your progress

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[jackychun]

I bet it would. can't wait to get started myself. All I can do now is envy at your progress

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I can feel you bro. I was at that stage before. However, preparation is very important part and we would have more time for planning carefully. So, it is really worth waiting. Be patient.


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[jackychun]

I have noticed a layer of scum inside the CO2 drop checker. Will it affect the reading?




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[Urban Aquaria]

Looks like some mold or fungus growth there... just remove the drop checker and clean it, then install back in.

[jackychun]

Looks like some mold or fungus growth there... just remove the drop checker and clean it, then install back in.

Thanks UA. I will do that.


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[AQMS]

Nicely done.. so when is the second tank going to get set up....???

[jackychun]

Nicely done.. so when is the second tank going to get set up....???

Haha! How do you know that my hands already feel itchy?!

BTW, just a few photos update on the progress at Day 13.







Plants have been growing well so far. I have increased the CO2 bubble rate to 2bps since no fauna in the tank yet.

Ammonia level is still quite high at 4ppm. Don't know when it is going to drop.


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[Urban Aquaria]

Nice job! Can see the plants really growing out and the carpet filling in fast.

[Realcaster]

Good job, the growth looks good

[jackychun]

Thanks UA and Realcaster!

The fastest growing in the tank now is the background right Heteranthera zosterifolia. It receives good flow circulation and keep swinging all the time. May be that flows make it grow faster? I don't know when does it need to be trimmed? So that it can becomes more bushy. Do you have any idea?




Rotala 'bonsai' has been growing well, too. I really love the lush outlook of it and new leaves pop out everyday!



Riccia fluitants has been adapted well and cover the rock almost fully. Hope that would be a good resting place for the shrimps in the future.



Staurogyne repens has been steadily growing so far. It looks like tiny "bai cai" at that corner.



Pogostemon 'erectus' is slowly catching up. I think it might takes sometimes since at that right corner, flow circulation is not that great. After the roots developed, hopefully it will grow faster.

Eleocharis sp 'Mini' has been crawling slowly too. I can only see the changes when I look back at Day 1 photo.



Overall, touchwood, there is no algae issue yet. Lighting and CO2 has been increased slowly to 7 hours a day and that is programmed until end of Week 3. After that will be 8 hours a day where plants well established.

Thanks all of the masters here for guiding me at all times. Really appreciate that!




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[Realcaster]

I have not grown Heteranthera zosterifolia before, but assuming it is a stem plant, you can trim it leaving about 1 inch from the substrate leaving about 1 pair of leaves. Take the trimming plug away the leaves at the bottom of the triming, leaving about 1 inch of stems without leaves and replant them.

[jackychun]

I have not grown Heteranthera zosterifolia before, but assuming it is a stem plant, you can trim it leaving about 1 inch from the substrate leaving about 1 pair of leaves. Take the trimming plug away the leaves at the bottom of the triming, leaving about 1 inch of stems without leaves and replant them.

Thanks for the tip, Realcaster! I will do that when the plants are more stable and strong. For now, I really enjoy seeing it grows. Hope I can find some space for replanting the trimmed stems. Or another tank?


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[Ivan Choo]

Sharing some youtube videos about plant trimmings that were extremely helpful to me:



Tutorial starts at 2:30

Also, @XiaoZhuang has some excellent videos about trimming technique:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSngM7OVpPc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6krMac942KU

Be sure to watch his other videos too. Wealth of knowledge!

[Ingen]

Don't trim too massively in one go, unless you ready to make adjustment to the fertilizers and such. I just did a massive trim and it upset the balance of my 1 year old tank and now hair algae growing everywhere...

[jackychun]

Sharing some youtube videos about plant trimmings that were extremely helpful to me:



Tutorial starts at 2:30

Also, @XiaoZhuang has some excellent videos about trimming technique:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSngM7OVpPc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6krMac942KU

Be sure to watch his other videos too. Wealth of knowledge!

Thanks Ivan for introducing very informative videos. Great to watch!!


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[jackychun]

Don't trim too massively in one go, unless you ready to make adjustment to the fertilizers and such. I just did a massive trim and it upset the balance of my 1 year old tank and now hair algae growing everywhere...

Thanks Ingen for your advice. I will be careful on that! Hope your tank is OK now.


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[jackychun]

Just yesterday I was thinking I had never seen the "pearling" from my plants. Today go back from work I saw this. Don't know if those are "oxygen pearl" left on the leaves.



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[exo]

Just yesterday I was thinking I had never seen the "pearling" from my plants. Today go back from work I saw this. Don't know if those are "oxygen pearl" left on the leaves.



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Sure does looks like O2 to me.

[jackychun]

Hi all,

I have carried out water test today at Day 15. Results are:

pH: 6.0
Ammonia: 4ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5ppm

It can be seen that Ammonia has no change while Nitrite has been eliminated. NO3 is still at the same concentration.

I just wonder why Ammonia is not reduced at all since beginning until now. It is quite strange since NO2 has been reducing until even 0ppm today and Ammonia is still high. What could be the reason? Is AOB not established yet or slow growing whereas NOB has faster growth?

I read somewhere that in lower pH condition (acidic), the test kit could not differentiate between Ammonia and Ammonium (which is less toxic)? So I don't know whether it is true.

I have tested Ammonia in tap water and it shows 0.25ppm so I believe there is nothing wrong with the test kit indication.



Appreciate if the masters can help to enlighten me on this matter. Thank you.


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[Urban Aquaria]

Nitrite showing zero levels during the cycling period is still okay, it just means that the bacteria that process nitrate are working fast enough to clear the workload quickly. The different bacteria strains grow and work at different speeds, especially during this cycling period when parameters are constantly fluctuating.

I've also notice quite often that if additional bottled bacteria products are dosed into a tank, this type of effect tends to have a higher chance of occurring due to introduced bacteria strains competing and changing how the cycling stages progress, compared to just letting naturally occurring bacteria strains establish on their own.

Anyways, if you look at the ammonia > nitrite > nitrate process like a factory production line, in this case the bacteria working on the ammonia have way more workload than those working with the nitrite. Currently the bottleneck is at the ammonia department, until they start converting more nitrite to pass work down the line, the nitrite department only has very little work to do at the moment.

Ammonia from aquasoil is also not just a one-time release affair, as long as the soil still has nutrients content, it will keep steadily releasing ammonia into the tank, so you will still see it show up in the test measurements. Its only when the ammonia converting bacteria colonies start to grow large enough to process ammonia faster than its released, then you will see the ammonia levels gradually decrease as the cycle progresses. It just takes time.

If i remember correctly, the API Ammonia tests measures total ammonia, it doesn't differentiate between toxic ammonia or less toxic ammonium. Either way its still best to make sure that the cycle is strong enough to process all the total ammonia before introducing livestock (since any changes in pH can suddenly swing the ammonia between toxic and less toxic states, better not take the risk of having residual ammonia still lingering in the tank).