Journal A 54 litres love affair.

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

Inspired by other users here, I've decided to journal my existing tank, given the amount of time I've spent fiddling with it, much to the annoyance of my wife.

I was a beginner, dabbling in something I barely understood, but I had a need to give it a try. So, after a year of growing plants in glass vases, plastic totes, and a 25 litre, I decided to upgrade to an Aquael 54L in April 2024.

The first iteration was like this.


Filtration was an Oase biostyle 75. Soil was ADA Africana. It was planned as a Ryoboku aquascape. The stones were supported by plastic egg crates to avoid scratching the tank and the soil was added in. Light was a Week Aqua M series. CO2 was provided by a citric acid and baking soda generator I got off AliExpress.

My methods were unsophisticated. I had no inkling on fertilisation, water chemistry, etc etc. All I wanted was to scape like the big boys on YouTube.

 

[techman81]

Love the potted tree over the aquarium.

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

I next decided that I had to get a new toy to improve my scape so of I went to buy myself a canister filter.

Turns out that buying second hand off dodgy London fish groups wasn't a good idea. I secured myself a Fluval 307 for a bargain £50 but the pump wasn't working, the aquastop valve broke, the hoses were shite... Yeah, I bought a lemon so may the seller be cursed with an eternity of algae.


Anyways, I managed to set it up. At least I had the foresight to get metal lily pipes but didn't realise that I would need suction cups to hold it in place.


Anywhooo... It didn't turn out too bad.

I kept it going for 3-4 months before adding livestock to it.


Chilli rasboras, pygmy corydoras and amano shrimps... Here we go!

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

Love the potted tree over the aquarium.

Thanks. It was a rare Acer and we thought its red leaves matched the red soil and lights.

Didn't keep it there for long as we moved it out to the balcony in a much larger pot.

 

[Count Krunk]

Good job getting your fluval working again.

Have you seen the yugang reactor on this site yet?

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

Good job getting your fluval working again.

Have you seen the yugang reactor on this site yet?

Yes, I have. Tempted to try but since I've already invested in an in-line diffuser, I'm not looking to do anything more for now.

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

Anyways, to continue...

One of the issues I noticed was the lack of surface water agitation, leading to film on the surface. I tried raising the lily pipe, but it led to half my chilli rasboras being ejected out of the tank.

Solution? This outlet surface skimmer I got off AliExpress. All hail our Chinese aquarium overlords! It was nearly impossible to find a metal lily pipe with this option in the UK.

I was also away very often for work so I invested in an ATO (again thank you AliExpress) to top-off water whilst I was away for weeks. Much cheaper ordering off AliExpress than buying it from Fzone direct. RO water in a 25L Ikea box, a camera to keep an eye on the tank, and it managed to automate the process rather than ask my neighbours to add water from a flask.

I then invested in an inline CO2 diffuser because I hadn't discovered what a yugang reactor was. Nevertheless, it was more efficient than my previous in-tank diffuser, which meant that I did not have to refill my CO2 generator as often.

All was going well... Or so I thought.

 

[techman81]

All was going well... Or so I thought

Dang! A cliff hanger!

 

[Count Krunk]

it's always going well until you go out of town haha.

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

As per @Count Krunk everything went well until I got out of town.

Actually, the signs were there. The ADA Africana was starting to get exhausted. Plant growth slowed. BBA started to appear in the wood. In order to combat the issue, I started to dose APT EI; but with no education on the principles behind water column dosing, I just dosed approximately 5ml a week. I also had trouble at work due to office politics so my tank went from this


To this


I previously had a cyanobacteria outbreak when we were away for a month. I thought I had kept it safely controlled in my substrate but it returned with a vengeance.

Thanks to @Naturescapes_Rocco I started to understand more about the causes of cyanobacteria. Going down the research rabbit hole, I found old posts from Tom Barr stating that cyanobacteria in the substrate was a common issue with ADA aquasoil.

It stands to reason that with lack of maintenance and depleted aquasoils, the cyanobacteria thrived at the expense of my plants.

It took me a few weeks, but I did a massive clear out of all infected plants. Huge portions of the monte carlo was removed. All the rotala vietnam h'ra were uprooted and the tips replanted. The lilaeopsis brasiliensis that have been planted at the back were doing badly so I trimmed them all as well

I also added some new plants from Dennerle to introduce some variety to my tank.
Pogestemon erectus
Litorella uniflora
Gratiola viscidula
Hygrophila odora

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

A month since I added the plants, my scape has still not recovered fully from the cyano outbreak / bust cycle in my tank. You can see the patches in the substrate where the monte carlo has failed to grow. The pogestemon erectus and hygrophila odora are growing well though.



At this time, I had discussions with @Naturescapes_Rocco regarding additional nitrate dosing and EI dosing regime. So I increased my dosing of APT EI to 2ml a day and dry dosed KNO3 to add another 10PPM of nitrates.

Prior to this, I was measuring 2ppm of phosphates in my water. After adding 10ppm of nitrates, I found that my phosphates had reduced to 1ppm a few days after dry dosing KNO3. Proof that with sufficient nitrates, the plants are able to consume the phosphates in the water column. (Correct me please if I'm getting to the wrong conclusion - I always failed chemistry in school).

Of course, my wife had to insist on adding her Golden pothos cuttings so more nutrients were being consumed.

I went from having green dust algae within 3 days of a water change to having green spot algae so my phosphate levels have bottomed out.

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

Despite the increased dosing of APT EI, I am noticing stunting and deficiencies in my AR mini, staurogyne repens and lobelia cardinalis mini.

It seems like the plants in the background are growing very well but the plants in the foreground are having trouble.

I'm not sure what I have to adjust to improve growth and am tempted to just order new plants to replace the struggling foreground plants.

I have also finished using APT EI and will switch to TNC Complete after I've used up my leftover Tropica Specialized Nutrition. Hope the sudden switch in three different ferts won't result in more problems.

 

[Sb1415]

Great Journal!
Curious on your parameters like the kh, gh, co2 and nitrates

 

[techman81]

Despite the increased dosing of APT EI, I am noticing stunting and deficiencies in my AR mini, staurogyne repens and lobelia cardinalis mini.

Is the AR Mini a new planting or what was left from the original planting prior to the issues? 2Hr Aquarist lists some common problems for AR mini growth and the drastic up-n-down water parameters could have caused lasting damage.
2HR Aquarist AR

 

[Calamardo Tentaculos]

Is the AR Mini a new planting or what was left from the original planting prior to the issues? 2Hr Aquarist lists some common problems for AR mini growth and the drastic up-n-down water parameters could have caused lasting damage.
2HR Aquarist AR

No. These are plants that I have had for more than a year now. I have always trimmed and replanted them with no problems. This issue started over the summer. It could be a parameter issue; thinking about it, I switched from remineralising by cutting RO with tap water and switching to APT Sky. I could be dosing it wrongly.

Great Journal!
Curious on your parameters like the kh, gh, co2 and nitrates

KH: 0, GH 4-5, CO2: 1 bbs; NO3: 0 (dosed additional 10ppm+APT EI).

 

[Sb1415]

KH: 0, GH 4-5, CO2: 1 bbs; NO3: 0 (dosed additional 10ppm+APT EI).

The KH and GH parameters sounds good. Might want to confirm co2 ppm by something like a Hanna co2 kit.