6foot monster

[dff]

Due to a serious case of itchy backside, I decided to scape my 6x2x2... Did some research on plants, cleared out the old inhabitants, and gathered all my stockpile of hardscapes. Too many late nights and reading later, what was supposed to be a moss tank with java fern exploded into a full scale monster. From wanting a simple, fert-less tank, has evolved into a Frankenstein of madness.

Here are the specifics

Tank size: 6x2x2
Filteration: none at the moment, but am going to modify my inflow to the sump.
(intended to go with a simple powerhead coz I couldnt stand the sound of water rushing into the overflow compartment, and tank is in my room, but came up with a alternate solution)
Light: 65w of LED, producing ~3500lux
Temp: 22-25deg celsius
Fert: Aquatic compost for ponds

Plant list:
1. h difformis
2. H pinnatifida
3. windelov
4. A. Nana Gold
5. Bolbitis
6. Christmas moss
7. H. Zosterifolia
8. H. Tripartita
9. Rotala sp. Vietnam

So my concern now is, should I change my lighting to T5, as I'm not sure if my plants are getting enough light. Currently, in the 3rd day after filling up, I see no visible changes to the plants, except some moss browning, and the h. Pinnatifida and the rotala opening up during photoperiod, and closing after. No melting or otherwise.

I do have an empty CO2 system lying around, so I could go high tech, and I do have the option of adding as many tubes of t5 as I like.

Also, I'm sure I have 2x250w mh lying around from reefing in the past.

Question time:

1. Im actually a beginner in planted, so what signs I should look out for to know if my plants are doing ok.

2. If I do change to t5, how many watts should I try to hit for low-tech, and how many for high-tech?

3. Current photoperiod is 7 hours, too long? Too short? (No visible algae problems atm)

The filteration issue should be settled by wednesday, and if I do change to t5 or mh, I can probably settle that by tomorrow night. Should I go high-tech, I could probably pop by bioplast on thursday to get the cylinders refilled.

So many options, so many questions...
Probably shouldnt have bit off soooo much more than I could chew.

I dont want this tank to fail, so please chime in... Or am I simply overthinking everthing??

Thanks in advance guys!!

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[tetrakid]

Very nice size of tank. Like.

Based on the plants you have, I would agree that you should get the C02 equipment set up.

[jamesneo]

My two cents for your 6x2x2 ft tank.

Light: 65w of LED, producing ~3500lux [ Definetly not enough - estimate 200watts]

Temp: 22-25deg celsius [Using two chillers?]

1. Im actually a beginner in planted, so what signs I should look out for to know if my plants are doing ok. [Use low maintenance plants i.e narrow leaves, bolbitis, nana, windelov etc Sign of healthy plants - lush, green and without algae on their leaves ]

2. If I do change to t5, how many watts should I try to hit for low-tech, and how many for high-tech? [Estimate will be 150watts for low tech, 300 - 400watts for high tech]

3. Current photoperiod is 7 hours, too long? Too short? (No visible algae problems atm) - Should be ok.

Did you forget C02 tank?

Happy planting.

[Urban Aquaria]

65W of LED seems rather low for that massive 6ft tank size... just for comparison, my 2ft tanks are using 20W LED lights and that is already considered relatively "low" light, and my tanks are almost half the height and 10x smaller volume compared to your 6ft tank.

Just based on your tank height and volume, i'd assume you probably need something like 200-300W of LED lights (probably more, and should be those LED lights which use higher powered individual 3W or 5W LEDs). Definitely need alot more light just to span across and cover the entire length and width of the 6ft tank.

An example is perhaps like 2 x Sets of Odyssea EVO Led 72" 156W (Plant): http://www.eastoceansg.com/odyssea-e...ant-p-824.html

Maybe can consider LED lightsets that are spec'ed along those lines.

1. Im actually a beginner in planted, so what signs I should look out for to know if my plants are doing ok.

The best way to know if your plants are doing well is simply to observe the new growth, if they are healthy with good color, then they are doing well... but if you notice discoloration, stunted leaves or holes forming in the leaves, then it could be one or more nutrient deficiencies that may be affecting the plant growth. You'll have to refer to the plant nutrient deficiency charts to troubleshoot the causes and act accordingly.

Do note that aquatic compost may not contain a sufficiently complete range of nutrients to grow the plants (i noticed certain brands of aquatic compost tend to be intentionally made with lower nitrogen and phosphate content, sometimes none, as its assumed the large fishes in a pond will supply it), so if you notice growth deficiencies in your plants, you'll need to quickly dose more fertilizers to compensate for it.

The alternative is to just use ADA Amazonia aquasoil, it is a tried and tested soil substrate designed specifically for growing aquarium plants so you will have a solid benchmark when using it (alot less unknowns). It'll cost quite alot more since you need to cover 6ft tank worth of it, but if you want more predictable plant growth results and have the budget, go for ADA aquasoil.

2. If I do change to t5, how many watts should I try to hit for low-tech, and how many for high-tech?

If you prefer to go for T5 lights, then can try using the traditional Watt-Per-Gallon (WPG) rule as a starting reference point... but that seems to be an out-dated rule even for T5 nowadays. I guess you can check around online and see what others use successfully for their equivalent sized tanks.

3. Current photoperiod is 7 hours, too long? Too short? (No visible algae problems atm)

7 hours is okay, considering that the plants are still transitioning and establishing their roots, and their density/mass is still sparse at the moment (and without filtration or Co2 either), a shorter photoperiod is better to avoid algae taking over too quickly during this initial start up stage.

[dff]

Ok, so I rigged up the sump and started running it, so far, only a few stalks of rotala floated up after 2 days. Flow was quite strong so I rigged a ghetto lily pipe like outflow. Also, i've rigged up 102w of t5 to complement the existing LEDs. Will try to upload picts, but I noticed a little tufts of bba growing on the underside of a driftwood. Should be due to me not running a pump before. CO2 canister is getting filled and I reckon I'll be running at 2bps. I have another 102w of t5 on standby though.

What do u guys think

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[Allan Asis]

With regards to light in general, It should be fine to have low light, even on high tech tank. In fact that would be my suggestion.
Light is your pedal to plant growth. The stronger the light, the faster plants grow. I know that's what we all want but really, it's better to have slow and controlled growth.
The lower the growth, the lower the plants demand for nutrients and CO2. With light as your limiting factor, the plant gives you room for fluctuations in your nutrient and CO2 supplementation.

I prefer you focus on light spread(coverage), rather than intensity(strength). Say you are using T5. hang your light fixture and adjust its height. Obviously, the higher it is, the lower its intensity into the tank. Now you add bulbs, spread out from each other. 4 bulbs is more than enough for now. The impact of lower intensity is just to slow down plant growth while good light spread allows all plants to receive light. This allow all plants to grow. Even bottom parts of stem plants that are getting covered by new leaf nodes are not likely to die from light starvation.

As for CO2, I suggest you use one, preferably gas type. There are 2 ways to inject CO2 gas in your tank - Mist and Reactor.
Mist is through the use of glass diffusers, bazooka atomizers being the best IMHO.
Reactor allows 100% dissolution, minimal loss, and stays longer in the tank.
I use reactor, because it works for me and I have the most experience with this method. But in no way it's better than mist. I just don't have experience with mist type so I cannot really compare.

However, I'm not sure which is more effective with a huge tank such as yours. Mine is nowhere near the size of what you got.
There's a lot of people out there swearing that one is better than the other. And one is better for the huge tank and the other is for smaller ones. You won't really get a definitive answer, sadly.

What I can advise is probably once you choose which method, split your source and inject on opposite sides of the tank for best coverage.
It may or may not be necessary. You be the judge when you have it setup and operational in your tank.

Now with CO2 injection comes the need for good water flow, for efficient gas exchange.
This is easy, many methods. You can use your lily pipe outflow to be very close to the water surface to allow agitation, thereby allowing O2 to get in and some CO2 to leak out. This is fine.
You can also use aerator, using timer, turning it on when light and CO2 is off. This is what I use.
It's good for plants. They need O2 for respiration. A lot of people, Me included, ignore this causing problems with plants long term.

At the end of the day these are all just suggestions/advise. It's up to you how your run your tank. Experience is the best teacher anyways.

By the way you got nice list of plants to start with.

h. difformis is a great nitrate sucker.
pinatifada is a nice K deficiency indicator. This is likely the first to show yellowing and holes in older leaves when your tank runs out of K.
tripartita is a a nice Ca deficiency indicator. they tend to curl quickly when there's not enough Ca.

[dff]

https://youtu.be/ods6AZ40mjU

Managed to upload a vid of the tank finally... I see growth on my plants, which is good I think. Lifestock were added in this past weekend. Will be adding im the CO2 tmr after I get the check valve. Am starting to get diatoms as well.

Also, please comment on the scape and if there are any things to improve on.

Much appreciated.

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[AQMS]

Awesome!!

[Urban Aquaria]

Looks great!

Before seeing your aquascape, i was assuming its those types of layouts with lots of plants filling the entire tank, hence the possible need for more light.... but after observing your actual aquascape, the lower light intensity now seems to be suitable for it, since its mainly the back part of the tank that has plants while the front is kept clear with just sandy areas.

[Allan Asis]

[dff]

Thanks for the kind words... The planted section is actually more than 1.5ft from the rear to the front. What is seen now is sans the background plants as they arent tall enough yet. Am planning to install my co2 tonight, and might up the lights as well

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[dff]

Am starting to get BGA on the floor! Amount of lifestock has increased, which lead to an influx of diatom, which I believe will diminish in time. However, is there anything I can do to minimise the cause of bga?

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[Ingen]

There's different school of thoughts, my suggestion and proven (at least for my tank) API EM Erythromycin. Because of the size of your tank, I reckon it would be pretty costly, else perhaps try h202 spot treatment, some had good result with Algexit after a month or so but it never worked for me. I still dose it in my planted for maintenance sake.

[Urban Aquaria]

Most likely the BGA got introduced in with the plants or LFS water... its best to do some active treatment, use products like API EM Erythromycin (like what Ingen used successfully) or other products like Blue Exit to try and eliminate the BGA so that it doesn't appear again. Otherwise it will always be lurking in your tank, and anytime can pop out again when conditions are right for it.

[dff]

Wow, seems like its gonna be a big headache... Will do a wc later and try to get some treatment meds! Thanks

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[dff]

So I managed to not have BGA anymore after adjusting the flow in my tank, BGA has not returned after the first water change, so decided not to medicate unless necessary(not a fan of meds).
However, my brown algae problem has worsened, with no signs of letting up.
Should i,
1) increase lighting & CO2 but reduce photoperiod
2) reduce photoperiod
3) increase co2
4) increase lighting

Currently running co2 till drop checker turns only slightly green.

Suggestions please!

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[Urban Aquaria]

Brown algae/diatoms is a common occurance in new aquariums and will grow even in low light conditons so reducing light only slows its growth, but less lights will also slow down your plant growth too.

Fortunately brown algae is easy to manage, if your tank is cycled, just add in a group of otocinclus and an army of cherry shrimps (or yamato shrimps since your tank is large), they will help eat up all the brown algae.

[dff]

Alright! I guess it would probably also be caused by my heavy heavy feeding, throwing the nitrate cycle off balance... Shall continue to monitor and add bb the next wc

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[Johnenrui]

Hi very nice aquascape! And very nice size for a tank too! Just a few questions...
The height is 2ft! I wonder how you do maintenance or planting man haha...

Filtration.. You are using sump? How do you improve circulation in the tank? And remove the waste from the gravel? Asking this because that's the problem in facing with my 6 1.6 2.5 tank..


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[dff]

I previously had a tank that was 2.5ft high, doing anything near the base of the tank was next to impossible, so I learnt my lesson from that.
While planning the scape, I took into consideration the maintenance and planting.

1. A step ladder is an essential, as it allows you to be at different height for different applications. This will maximise reach and minimize strain. With this, I was able to tie my plants in the tank, for better placement and a more natural feel.
2. Buy the longest pinsette and scissors you can find. This definitely helps for the hard to reach places.
3. Plan your scape well. I did some rather extensive reading on plant types prior to planting. This allowed me to choose plants that suit well to my scape and at the same time will still look balance even when grown out. This allowed me to be more lax in pruning, as a wild nature scape can afford some untidiness.
4. Be practical. My plans for the tank evolved throughout planning to accomodate ease of maintenance and minimal time commitment. Manicured lawns and perfectly sculpted crests, if included, will give you the bulk of your problems. Without these elements, these possible problems are eliminated.

To improve circulation, you could add wave makers, powerheads at hidden corners predetermined during the planning stage. Alternatively, if you have a strong return pump in the sump, consider splitting the out flow into multiple outlets, each with their own valve. This allows for better control of the circulation.
Gravel maintenance is simply a siphon hose with a pvc pipe at the end for more control and reach.

Hope this helps!


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