need advice on dosing

[granzord]

Hi everyone,

I need some advice from experts here.

My low tech, low light tank.
PH - 7
GH - 4
KH - 2
ammonia - 0
others no test kit.

180litre / 48 gallon tank
running on atman 8000k 20 w light x 2.
1.25 w/g or 0.33 w/l

running on a dolpine c600 canister filter.
2 fans bringing temp to 26-28 deg on a good day.
JBL fertilizer gravel under.
runing on sera super peat.

weekly water change (10%)
add the following :
MOsura SHizen 1 cap 5ml?
mosura BT-9 1 standard dose (teaspoon inside bottle)
mosura old seamud ( standard dose)
sera black water dose 10ml
easylife ferro dose 10ml
seachem excel 1 cap 5ml - everyday dose on light.

rooted plants
water wistera.
hairgrass.

moss
us fissiden mess and DW ( 1/2 tank full of them)
spiky/flame moss (moss wall on side and cave wall)
christmas moss ( moss wall behind)
star moss on small rock.


fish
2 ottos
30+ sakura shrimps

cycled for 1 month before adding livestocks.
death so far.
otto - 1
sakura - 1

i thinking of buying wondergro mirco+ marco+ or seachem flourish to dose weekly.
for the growth of my rooted plants but is it nesseary since most of them is moss and they only thrive on cold water and carbon.i see my wisteria is doing well , close leaf on night and open leaf on light and they are rooted well( i try to shift them once, the roots are abit hard to pull out), hair grass on the other hand is not doing well, some death(white) so far...some seem ok still green but there is no runners seem. other plants i planted since start have passed away....death is big leaf yellow and got hole or root died become brown....put out see root goner....

please advise if i am wrong here and also my dosing is it correct to your eyes.
i see a comment from tom berr from other forum that low tech low light should not dose too much fertilizer so to trick the plants to stablize to that low tech condition and also not to invite alagae.i also qutie lazy to change WC weekly haha.

and mosura shizen is it a conditioner to remove chlorine?

i been doing Distilled water and partly tap water for WC.

my tap water : PH -7.5, KH -2, GH - 2 , ammonia - 0.5 ?

[granzord]

forget to add .

light on for 8 to 10 hours. i have no timer.

dose excel everyday on light.
no co2. dose 1 co2 tablet everyday.

like no use thinking of taking away the tablets when finished.

[granzord]

sorry latest update from my takings on distiled water , tap water/boiling water

distilled water PH -5.0

tap water PH - 7.5...

very big different....

[Alvin Koh]

Hi granzord,

I'm not familiar with shrimp setups, but may I know the purpose of the blackwater in your case?
I ask this because you are running 40w of lights over a presumably 3x1.5 feet tank and that would reduce the available light significantly to plants.
Also, maybe a photo/description of the plant bio mass may help give the others an idea of the dosing regime to recommend.

[jiajuen900]

Everything seems fine in my opinion ^.^

1) Advice: Some plants will take time to adjust to your tanks conditions. This may result in the loss of some leaves, yellowing etc. Sometimes, certain species of plants do not thrive well in particular conditions e.g. some plants prefer hard water, low ph etc. This may also be the cause of withering of plants. Especially since this is a low tech setup, where the growth rate of plants is slower, the signs that plants show that they are adjusting to the conditions in your tank will appear much slower. Especially with HG, my experience is that they take really long to kick start.

2) Comment: For a low tech setup, it is possible that you will need to do any water changes, only top ups. And using distiled water for a setup with only sakuras is in my opinion not a must. In low tech setups without co2 injection, we will have limited co2 in the tank as the prime source of carbon dioxide will be from the gas exchange between the waterbody and the air. With limited co2, we require less light, this will allow the smaller amount of co2 in the water to be sufficient for the rate of intake of the plants. And with less light, plants also require less nutrients to meet the rate of growth which is limited to the amount of light provided to the plants.
In low tech setups, we can allow the nutrient sources to build up naturally as the plants require less nutrients and manual addition of fertilizers will be less required. If we change water, we remove the build up of nutrients and disturb the co2 content in the water.

3) Advice: If im not wrong, mosses are unable to use excel as a source of carbon. Also having timer is highly reccomended as the plants will have a fixed photo period. As seen from the above explanation, lighting is important, thus timers are reccomended.

[granzord]

hi alvin,

you are right, i also afraid my light cannot reach the bottom tank but hairgrass doing fine so i presume they able to get some light.
my blackwater was just to condition the livestock in my tank.after using finish that bottle. it will be discontinued....
photo will be ready soon.

[granzord]

hi jiajuen,

thank for advice, before last tank my moss survive until now without co2 , low tech , low light , no ferts...so i not more worried on my moss since they only thrive in cold water.

i tear down old tank because leg is rusty and ready to give way....got a new one and bring over the moss but add addition plants inside which are rooted...die a few along the way only wisteria and hairgrass still fighting strong...so thinking of buying wondergro marco+ or flourish to help them.. but maybe i am wrong since my low light , i afraid i might help algae win the war instead haha but until now no algae, ,might be my excel working hard. i only dose iron in easy life ferro weekly for them.


summary bro : so your advise for me is remain as is it and you suggest me top up with tap water instead and no water change?
actually i thinking doing WC 2weeks or even a month haha.i quite a lazy fello and i thinking of adding fish to the tank, i like cardinal tetra and green tetra plus some runny nose. is it ok? currently inside is otto but they only lurk when light off.light on nev able to get them.. haha they work night shift...

on timer , where can i get one and how to setup please advice this newbie here especially both light are built in tank hood.

thanks all expert bro for advice on hobby.

[jiajuen900]

Okay ^^ but as it is still a new tank and the plants have been replanted, they will take time to adjust to the new conditions, it atill applies.

yes. ^^ in a low tech less water change is possible ^^
I think you could wait a while more and see maybe a week? if not you can try dosing flourish for traces, to give the plants abit of boost.

Timers can be bought at most hardware shops and some aquarium stores like y618 or aquastar sell them.

[granzord]

ok bro jiajuen, thks for advice.i think i go no fert for a while see how since i hav put jbl fert below my soil.

[granzord]

IMG_0508.jpgIMG_0510.jpgIMG_0510.jpgIMG_0509.jpgIMG_0507.jpg

[granzord]

pictures speak a thousand words. this is my setup. please advise all my expert bros here.
considering whether to get a bottle of wondergro marco which contain N,P,K or just flourish or none at all before i post here.
seriously considerly no to waste money as most of my setup is low tech low light cum moss.finally bro jiajuen point out to me my decision.
light i always try to maintain at 8hours....but due to work committments sometimes 10hours....is it ok?

[alvinchan80]

Hi, I think I saw 2 pots of gujing.. Maybe you should try take out if the plastic pot and the wool wrapping it and plant it in the substrate.. Also think they might need a daily supply of co2.. So flourish excel daily would be good I guess..

I am dosing daily flourish excel even when I am diffusing co2 into my tank..

Lightings would best to kept between 6-8hrs using a timer.. I have a spare timer for sale.. If you need one can let me know..

[granzord]

what brand, what type timer u holding...how much u willing to let go.

[granzord]

lol my friend just pass me his spare cheap morries timer. i test it and is working perfectly. thanks all bro for advice and happy new year to all of u.

[jamesneo]

Hello Granzord,

Your set up belong to the not so high maintenance tank (No red leaf plants etc etc) thus do not have to worry too much on any weekly dosing.
May be a small dose on a monthly basis will do.

[granzord]

cheers bro james.your us fiss is very nicely tied.