CO2 injection & EI in planted arowana tank

[mordrake]

guess it's a tricky situation with the lights... will just observe and see how it goes... hopefully 6-7 hrs of light won't roast the fella.

those wire mesh covers, may i know where u got them from? safe to use on my tank... full euro bracing without centre bracings.. thanks

[FLIM1]

Hi Melvin,
I am using FL 144W, 10 hrs per day. My red is not tanned at all.

Hi Vinz,
For high nitrate tank i.e Arowana planted tank, is high-light a better option ? I mean more lights (watts per gallon) more nitrate uptakes.
Btw, how much light do you use for your aro tank and where can I buy the steel mess cover....Thanks.

[vinz]

Kelantan Lane, Block 30. Somewhere in the middle is a shop that sells all kinds of mesh. You can even get the tiny mesh for riccia there. Opens up to 6pm weekdays, up to 12pm Saturdays and never on Sunday.

My recommendation is to borrow their big wire clipper (the one they use to cut for you) and cut the mesh to size you require on the spot. The normal pliers or wire clippers at home cannot do the job. Decide how many panels you want... probably 3 to 4 that can overlap at the edges.

The cutter won't be able to cut all the way to the edge and the cut ends are very sharp... not good for you (handling) nor the fish (if it ever manages to jump between the panels). What I do is bend them flat against the edges then split some air tubing down the middle, wrap them over the edges and secure in place with cable tie.

[vinz]

...

Hi Vinz,
For high nitrate tank i.e Arowana planted tank, is high-light a better option ? I mean more lights (watts per gallon) more nitrate uptakes.
Btw, how much light do you use for your aro tank and where can I buy the steel mess cover....Thanks.

Not just more light. High light drives plant growth, which means they will need more nutrients... i.e. NO3, PO4, etc. So other then the NO3, you will need to provide to the plants ample amounts of PO4, CO2, traces, etc. I find equilibrium helps too, for Ca, Mg, Fe and K.

I used to light my 640 litre (6'x2'x2') tank with 12x36W (432W, 2.5WPG). Later I went down to 9x36W (324W, 1.9WPG) and found it's sufficient. This is the experience of many hoobyists and experts too. 3WPG rule does not scale proportionally to large tanks and very small tanks.

[mordrake]

Vince, how much/often equilibrium were u dosing when u had the aro?

[vinz]

Equilibrium: once a week or after water change, enough to raise 1dGH.

The recommended dosing instructions on the bottle raises 1meq or 3dGH, IIRC.

[FLIM1]

Sorry Melvin...need to side-track a bit of your post to ask Vinz some questions. But I think it is also something useful info for your planted aro maintenance.

Hi Vinz,
A couple of questions....What do you feed for your aro and how often ? I am feeding market prawn every other day.Maybe this is why I am still battling with BBA.
How often do you perform water change and how much water do you normally replace ?

cheers...lim

[vinz]

Used to be 50% water change until that started to give me problems (cloudy water, suspected filter bacteria got partially wiped out due to increased or new chemicals in tap water). After that, 25% weekly only.

I fed with market prawns too, but I make sure I remove any uneaten large pieces within minutes. The SAEs and tiger barbs take care of the "crumbs".

BBA is a sign of insufficient CO2 or inadequete distribution of CO2. For a large tank, it is usually the latter.

I had BBA issues too, but they were solved by changing the way water (+CO2) is circulated in my tank, not by changing the feeding routine.

[mordrake]

i have been feeding alittle mp and mealworm twice daily for a week.
no signs of new BBA growth yet.
water change us 25% weekly with about 20+ml lushgro aqua at WC.

new irritant - "sticky" water surface due to mealworm feeding.
the surface skimmer not power enough leh. have 2 airdisc and filter output creating surface agitation too.

looking to add equilibrium as some of the plant leaves turning yellow

[mordrake]

since i'm going to do weekly waterchanges, thinking of starting co2 injection again.
will also on the centre pendant too.

so will have 3 x 150W (10000k) 7 hrs be ok for the plants i have at the moment? co2 level hv to be 30ppm or ard 20ppm would suffice?

oh ya will dose KNO3 (10ppm x2/wk), PO4 (1ppm x2/wk), aqua (20ml x2/wk), micros, equil weekly

[PeterGwee]

30ppm no matter how much light...

Regards
Peter Gwee

[StanChung]

equator in SEA may get ozone hole from aquascapers...

[PeterGwee]

equator in SEA may get ozone hole from aquascapers...

We are actually helping....not hurting. The CO2 we use is actually recaptured from all manufacturing process (they produce the greenhouse gas.). The major issue from global warming is deforestation imo and testing of high tech nuclear weapons.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[mordrake]

30ppm no matter how much light...

Regards
Peter Gwee

ok, will gradually bring co2 levels up to 30ppm.... don't want the aro to get a shock

[PeterGwee]

ok, will gradually bring co2 levels up to 30ppm.... don't want the aro to get a shock

As long as you have enough surface movement, 30ppm won't cause issues. Target a pH drop of 1.0 should be close enough. Just make sure your KH is not zero.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[mordrake]

As long as you have enough surface movement, 30ppm won't cause issues. Target a pH drop of 1.0 should be close enough. Just make sure your KH is not zero.

Regards
Peter Gwee

i have 2 airstones running in the tank for 02.
guess i'll just have to "waste" some co2.
pH was 6.8 (KH 4) at the end of the light period last night from the initial of 7.2 before injection. only 6hrs of co2 yesterday.
this morning, pH rose to 7.0.

have adjusted to inject co2 for 7hrs to see the impact whether i need to increase the bps.

co2 - 1.30pm to 8.30pm
lights - 2pm to 10pm -> 2 x 150w, 4pm to 8pm -> centre pendant on (i.e. 3x150W)

[PeterGwee]

i have 2 airstones running in the tank for 02.
guess i'll just have to "waste" some co2.
pH was 6.8 (KH 4) at the end of the light period last night from the initial of 7.2 before injection. only 6hrs of co2 yesterday.
this morning, pH rose to 7.0.

have adjusted to inject co2 for 7hrs to see the impact whether i need to increase the bps.

co2 - 1.30pm to 8.30pm
lights - 2pm to 10pm -> 2 x 150w, 4pm to 8pm -> centre pendant on (i.e. 3x150W)

You do not need night time aeration in a planted tank if you run things well. The O2 is above 100% and aeration will only bring it down. All you need is some surface current to move for example flake food around fast enough and that should surface. Focus on the base of the system and that is the plants and the fish will do well.

The pH should hit 6.5-6.6 one hour after the CO2 system comes on along with the light for a set bubble rate with your KH of 4. Note the bubble rate and make sure it does not move. Tune it till its stable and the CO2 going into the tank should be relatively stable as long as the surface movement is also stable. 19ppm is way too low....

Regards
Peter Gwee

[mordrake]

You do not need night time aeration in a planted tank if you run things well. The O2 is above 100% and aeration will only bring it down. All you need is some surface current to move for example flake food around fast enough and that should surface. Focus on the base of the system and that is the plants and the fish will do well.

Regards
Peter Gwee

the aeration is on 24/7
will off it this weekend when i'm home to observe the aro...

[T.E.S.]

experience has taught me you can have plants or arrowana's. Both rarely work.

By the time the aro is near fully grown it will have desroyed the plants and eaten that lovely school of cardinals. One flick his tail when irritated the and your plant tank is pretty no more.

Aros will be realtively kind to fish they grew up with -- to a point, once it looks as something as food, they are done.

I used to drop live cockroaches into my tank, the aro would go hippie, until it caught them. New additions to the tank didn't last the night. Eventually he had eaten everything but a big old pleco and a sizeable clown loach.

He died when the neighbors 7 year old decided he could eat a whole tin of Tetra aro food.

Anyways good luck, given the size of you tank he will grow to more than 2 feet within a couple of years.

[vinz]

T.E.S.,

On the other hand, experience has taught me that it's possible to have a planted arowana tanks. There are quite a number of planted arowana tanks in Singapore. At last count last year, from various local forums, there are more then 20 successful planted arowana tanks. That does not include those who do not post their tank pictures in the forums.

From the stories I've heard, there are several factors that determine success or failure. My speculation is that large arowanas who have been in their tanks for a long time will not take kindly to having it re-decorated. However, juvenile arowana's adapt quite well to a planted tank. An adult arowana moved to a new planted tank, might still adapt.

Of course, some concessions to fit the arowana's size and nature. I've found that they require a hidden but unplanted area to park when they are not swimming. Tall plants should be kept to a minimum to maximise it's swimming area.