ADA 30-C Journal - 1st Hi-Tech attempt

[StanChung]

Hi Hendra, Welcome to the planted tank world! lol. Glosso will grow fast once it takes root. It literally accelerates after the one month mark when conditions are good.

I think what you have is spot algae. just take a used plastic card and scrape it off the tank. Hydrocotyles are good nutrient absorbers for the moment but they'll takeover the tank quickly.

You should start with some trace elements like Step 2 as your plants are already growing.

[oni_XL]

Hey Stan, Thanks for the welcome XD

The algae seems to be in remission. Also, a few tiny snails (no idea where they came from) are helping keeping some glosso leaves clean. 2nd and 3rd batch of glosso doing well so far, but still a few died off. I measured the amonia today (just bought the test kit today lol) and it's around 0.6 (tap water is 0.0 amonia) I can now say the ADA soil's amonia probably attributed to lots of the glosso failures.

Here are some pics of the current set up. Everything is in place, except the MH 6,500k bulb which is in back order still. The current bulb is a very white 13,000k. I'm afraid when the 6,500k bulb arrives I might think it's too yellow.

Keeping the lighting to 6 hours and dosing Excel Carbon definitely helps. It's looking better, and I am definitely very glad, much more so than a week ago. I was in panic mode lol.

You learn fast in this hobby, thanks to forums like this!

[StanChung]

Nice pics, love the stand! IMHO, Glosso loves ammonia too.

[Aeon]

Green algae on rocks? Just leave it. It looks pretty. My old tanks's green algae on rocks bubbles even!

[dts_spawn]

Nice pics, love the stand! IMHO, Glosso loves ammonia too.

Ya man! nice stand! where did you get it from?

[oni_XL]

Hey Aeon, nice green carpet on your rock!
Hmm, I guess if they leave my glosso alone I'd be glad to have them on board the cube.

dts, the stand is custom, just a simple 30" tall wood stad painted white. Legs are 2" square. Kinda wanted the simplest stand. Lucky we have a floor standing mirror next to the tank, we hide the equipments there.

[dts_spawn]

simple is nice.. looking for a stand myself.

[NeurogenX]

Nice and simple.

[oblivion]

hows your setup coming along?
any updates to show us

[oni_XL]

Plant-wise, not much to update. My glosso growth is still stunted and now I know why. Today, the 6,500k MH bulb arrives and when I turn on the fixture using this bulb, the glosso PEARLS within 15 minutes! and my glosso never pearls before with the 13,000k bulb.

One month of wasted time and dead glosso, if only I got this bulb on time. (back-ordered for one month)



My new favorite spot in the house Private viewing area. This is what I do now, beats TV.

[Aeon]

13,000K? That is way too cool for Glosso. My old Glosso tank had 8,700K PL tubes and it pearled like mad. The entire carpet was covered in pearls and some rising every now and then.

Haha nice viewing area!

[oni_XL]

Hey Aeon,
After weeks of reading, it never really sink in. I thought I have the 10,000k but the fixture came with 13,000k bulb that caused my glosso their stunted growth and deaths. Even I was sick of my desperation.

Now I know, there is a degree of freedom in planted tanks, but beyond a certain very specific parameters, your plant will just NOT grow.

Maybe it's too early to say, but with seeing oxygen bubbles raising all over my tanks almost brought tears to my eyes, I'm pretty sure the color temp is the culprit.

[oblivion]

try 8000k bulbs if you prefer a whiter tone
it looks great

[oni_XL]

try 8000k bulbs if you prefer a whiter tone
it looks great

Cant seemed to find a 70w HQI with that color. I know ADA use that, but the 70w HQI really have limited selection bulb wise.