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Cheers,
Hi all,
I'm new to this forum, so please do point out rules that I've broken, if there're any.
I've been having a planted 2ftx1ftx1ft (front, side, height) for almost 5 years now. I started low tech, with neither CO2 injection, nor fertilisation. Lights was only a normal low wattage florescent tube.
After a while, plants die somehow, and the lfs guy introduced me to CO2. That's when I got my Nutrafin. Apart from a piece of the zig-zagged plastic thingy falling out upon opening the package, it worked fine, and I was fascinated with the bubbles making their way up and getting smaller on their way. This was the layout back then. I didn't know the names of the plants. Simply bought them during shopping trips in Serangoon North.
After a while, I got tired, and changed the look.
(These rams are nice! but i'm having problems keeping them alive, even now.)
Another modification.
Another one after a trip to qianhu.
Got lazy after a while, and decided to go with much lesser plants.
After another while, got itchy and started to buy more plants.
And finally, my tank today.
I've taken out the HC patches and transferred them to another tank dedicated to growing them emersed (Barr's method). Hopefully they grow enough to be transferred back into the main tank in a few weeks.
Now my tanks specs are:
Tank Dimensions (LxWxH, specify units): 2ftx1ftx1ft
Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 2x36w (but i'm only using 1 now)
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : PL
Age of light bulbs : quite old. Roughly 1 year plus
No. of hours your lights are on : 11hours
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : cannot be controlled because using nutrafin.
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : Nutrafin
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : the zig-zag kind of difussor
Liquid fertilisers Used (Product name. E.g. Seachem Flourish) : Tetra Florapride
Fertilization regime (Frequency and amount per dose) : According to label.
Other fertilisers (Product name. E.g. Root Monster) : nil
Other additives (Product name. E.g. Seachem Prime) : Seachem Prime
Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) : Canister, Eheim 2224
When was the filter last washed : last week
Filter media used : Eheim Substrate Pro and calcium rings and eheim sponge and wool
When was the media last changed : last year for Substrate pro, Calcium rings and sponge; last week for wool.
Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) : 3 months
Water change frequency : once a week starting 2 weeks ago
Amount changed : 50%
Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : None
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) : none
Tank Temperature : unknown
Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
-------------------------------------
All unknown
Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants)
------------------------------------------
Fauna:
~ 35 cardinal tetras
7 rummy nose tetras
2 balloon holland rams
8 otocinclus
8 Yamato shrimps
1 golden algae eater
~7 snails (not sure what species they are)
many tiny snails that came with plants
Flora: (I'm new to names of plants. Please help!)
5 nanas
2 patches of HC (in another tank growing emersed for later transfer into main tank)
Some grass in forground.
1 big piece of Java Fern on wood (should I plant them in the subsstrate instead?)
That's all I know about their names.Kindly help identify the plants.
After reading much of AQ and Barr's forum, I've gained a little confidence and is planning on going high tech. Fellow aquarists, please give some advice!
I've placed an order of a 3l CO2 cylinder with a solenoid regulator. The LFS is charging me SGD150 for those. he doesn't know the material, but the cylinder's not aluminium and the regulator's probably stainless steel. I've also requested for a needle valve, though I don't really know what it is. So my questions are:
1) Does S$150 sound reasonable and reliable? Or should I buy a higher quality one at a higher price? Since we're dealing with high pressure equipment here, I don't mind paying more for safety.
2)What's a needle vale? Where does it fit? What exactly is its benefits over its counterparts?
3) I'm intending to get an external CO2 reactor. Is my filter output sufficient for the reactor? What's the average price for a decent reactor and also bubble counter?
4) I'm also intending to change the filter output to introduce current in the tank. What's a lily pipe, and why do so many aquarists use a funnel like contraption for the output?
5) Is a surface skimmer necessary? It looks rather ugly in the tank.
6) Lastly, for fertilisation, I'm intending to adopt EI dosing. Where do you guys get your dry ferts from? Also, I read that KNO3 is restricted in Singapore. So, what do you guys use as a substitute?
Well, that's all. Thank you so much for reading through this long post. Hope I can get some answers soon!
Last edited by PlAnTaNoOb; 12th Feb 2008 at 16:05.
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Cheers,
I have dwarf cichlids in my tanks! Do you?
Hi all,
can anyone help with any of my questions?
It depends on your budget.But $150 seems reasonable. If you are concerned about safety, go for the steel tanks rather than aluminum tanks. According to the workshops that does refilling for fire extinguishers, they always recommend steel because of the risk of the head valve blowing off when the pressure injected during refill is too great.Originally Posted by PlAnTaNoOb
Using Benny's photo, the small valve above the black "box", which is the solenoid, is the needle valve. Its main purpose is for you to make minute adjustment of the amount of CO2 is introduced.
I don't use an external reactor, so can't help you with that.
A Lily Pipe was introduced first by ADA Japan, before replicas start making their rounds in the market.
The original design philosophy is to have beautiful glass equipment which would not spoil the beauty of the aquascape created in the tank. And from the technical point, it is to make use of the hydrodynamic flow of the water coming out of the outlet to draw in CO2 bubbles on the surface of the water back into the water column. In the process, the protein layer is also minimized because they are also drawn downwards by the vortex spiral which Lily pipes will naturally create.
If you want to clear up every particle of protein on the water surface, it will be needed. As for aesthetics, my answer to question 4 provides an alternative.
Personally, I have given up on EI as it becomes a chore to dose dry ferts every morning. I am on the system where the nitrates are created by the biological filteration and in the substrate. And I am still getting as good growth as I used to when I was on EI.
Last edited by valice; 13th Feb 2008 at 10:25.
I will try to answer some of your questions here.
1. The price should be around there for your setup. So far I do not encounter any major safety issue with my CO2 cylinder, thus I think this may not be a major concern here.
2. The needle valve allow you to do the fine tuning of the CO2 output, it usually come with the setup.
3. I will say external reactor is not necessary for a 2ft tank but it is your choice here.
4. I can't comment on this as I have no experience on that.
5. Surface skimmer is very good in removing the surface scum, a very common thing that appears on almost all planted tank.
6. I believe others can help you on this.
Thanks Valice and Jacian for your help!
Would cast iron or steel be better for the cylinder?
And, is that a bubble counter attached to the regulator? Cool. Where do I get one?
Cool. I think i'll convert to a lily pipe. It looks rather nice as compared to the surface skimmer.
I'll get an external reactor anyway, since I'll be changing to a 4/5 footer sometime next year.
I think i'll post the fertiliser question somewhere else. Thanks again!
Also, any comments/advice on the aquascape? It's rather empty. I'm aiming for a lush and bushy feel.
Hi,
thanks for sharing your progress! I think your layouts are quite good, it made the 2 feet look bigger than it is. Hope to see your HC coming back into your tank.
Cheers!
What is lacking is the foreground and background plants. You may also want to consider adding a backdrop for your tank.
Thanks Salphur. I find the scape too empty though.
Hi Jacian, thanks for your suggestion. I'm intending to get more of those e tenallus. Also, I'm waiting for my HC to grow, before replanting them in the tank. As for background plants, what would you suggest I add? Is the java fern not enough?
Cheers,
Sean
The java fern looks good but if you want a denser look, you may want to consider to add some tall sterm plants behind it. Also, personally I find that it may looks better if the java fern is placed more to the right instead of center of the tank now.
Thanks again jacian bro!
I've moved the java fern forward, and to the right. Also, planted some background plants behind it. Don't know the names of the plants though. Anyhow, I'll put up some pics after some growth, if there's any! Its my first try at a CO2 hghlight tank.
Cheers,
Sean
Err, actually my typo.I meant move to the left so as to create a natural triangular slope down from the left. Anyway, maybe your new creation will look much better.
AH! I see... No wonder my scape looks flat. Anyway, thanks for the triangle slope suggestion. I think i'll replant all the plants to the right. The inflow and outflow on the left blocking some view.
Cheers,
Sean
Some update on my tank. From low tech to hight tech.
Background plants on the right are hidden behind for now. I just planted them this morning
Background Plants
View from right.
Left Side. THere's a single downoi amidst the HC.
Right side.
Can someone tell me what's wrong with my cardinal tetras? They have white spots all over them!
Lily pipe and external Ista CO2 reactor.
My trusty 2224 and her new companion, CO2 cylinder with JBJ solenoid regulator.
Got a question.
Is the proposed fertiliser dose below ok?
2x1x1ft tank. 2x36w lights. CO2 injection via cylinder.
EI Dosing
Ferts to add per 55l (volume in consideration of 6l canister)
3 times a week -- Sunday (after WC), Tuesday, Thursday
Seachem Flourish Nitrogen – 10ml -- 12ppm NO3
KH2PO4 – 0.02 teaspoon -- 1.42ppm PO4
K2SO4 – 0.3 teaspoon -- 19.34ppm K+
LushGro Micro -- no idea. Should I follow the label instructions?
Last edited by PlAnTaNoOb; 21st Feb 2008 at 00:22.
Cheers,
Sean
Err... your Neon Tetras seem to be suffering from "white spots"... are they still eating?
May I know what's the major benefit of having the external sister CO2 reactor?
Oh and where did you buy that cool looking lily pipe? Is it made of glass?
Hi Jervis,
I got the lily pipe from petmart. Its not ADA by the way. Too expensive. No Money to buy the original stuff.
Ista is the brand. Erm.. Benefits for using it includes it being very much cheaper than other more established brands that produces reactors that are meant to be fitted with bioballs.Also, there's one less artificial thing inside the tank. Moreover, the tiniy CO2 bubbles gets distributed by the filter output inevitably. You don't have to aim your diffuser at the outflow stream. Lastly, it breaks up the CO2 bubbles, and this allows for easy dissolving of CO2. This results in less CO2 injection needed.
Last edited by PlAnTaNoOb; 21st Feb 2008 at 00:23.
Cheers,
Sean
Can someone help me with this question please?
Is the proposed fertiliser dose below ok?
2x1x1ft tank. 2x36w lights. CO2 injection at 2bps; 24ppm. KH 3 degrees, PH6.6.
EI Dosing
Ferts to add per 55l (volume in consideration of 6l canister)
3 times a week -- Sunday (after WC), Tuesday, Thursday
Seachem Flourish Nitrogen – 10ml -- 12ppm NO3 (Label only instructed 2.5ml per 100l !!)
KH2PO4 – 0.02 teaspoon -- 1.42ppm PO4
K2SO4 – 0.3 teaspoon -- 19.34ppm K+
LushGro Micro -- no idea. Should I follow the label instructions?
Cheers,
Sean
Artificial Intelligence
I'll leave the dosing to my more chemistry inclined brethrens, for the scape I'll ditch the wisteria behind the DW on the left before it becomes wild fire and replace with bolbitis which is more manageable, 1 or 2 wendtii brown in the foreground would be nice too, java fern turns black for me under strong light so you might want to go easy there.
Something about the water & the fishes that calms me down.
Thanks for your input again Michael! The Wisteria is actually a mini version that doesn't grow tall like its wildfire counterpart.
Cheers,
Sean
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