Journal Art's tank(s)

Well, I'm tankless at the moment due to circumstances so will post a few of my last ones. Nothing near the masterpieces of others but I try.

Had a Dutch-inspired a few years ago when I was trying different techniques. This one had a sump and I ran carbon to minimize water changes.


Then I moved to an apartment so I changed it up with a more fitting UNS 90 with more traditional equipment. I first wanted to go traditional aquascape with stone.


Then I said, forget it. I like the stems too much! Ended up with a Dutch-inspired, wabi sabi combination.


Thinking about what's next for me.

 

[Yugang]

dialing in the fertilizer

How would you do that? I have always followed the easy route, just lard on and borrowed some of the hobby's best scapers recipes (I am now copying @GreggZ ), but how would you address this more subtly?

 

[FrankZ]

Doesn’t look that bad @Art sorry you’re having to deal with BBA like this. To me, it looks like it’s on the down swing and the plants are looking healthy.

 

[Art]

Doesn’t look that bad @Art sorry you’re having to deal with BBA like this. To me, it looks like it’s on the down swing and the plants are looking healthy.

Thanks, @FrankZ. I agree. The plants could be healthier but I'm in the process given these are 100% new and some had to grow from TC and others transfer to life underwater.

 

[Art]

How would you do that? I have always followed the easy route, just lard on and borrowed some of the hobby's best scapers recipes (I am now copying @GreggZ ), but how would you address this more subtly?

This is a very good question @Yugang. Normally, at this point, I would ramp up light and fertilizer and "lard" it on as you mentioned. However, I am leaving on an extended business trip in a week so I need a different tactic as I normally use the plants to tell me when to add more or add less. I won't be able to see the plants for almost a month.

My plan is to reconnect my auto doser and take a guess at a fertilizer level that is more than what I'm doing now but less than full throttle. The guess is that this will improve plant health while I'm away but not go overboard potentially resulting in unwanted algae.

As I'm starting from scratch I'm going to try to use the IFC Calculator to try to learn it. Going to have to lean on @Hanuman and @Zeus. heavily here to see if I can get it to work. I'll be asking them questions in the help thread for the calculator.

 

[Art]

Ode to the humble filter floss...

Mechanical filtration is very important in a planted aquarium. I'm lucky that my AIO has two baskets to skim 100% of the water. I have a square of filter floss in each.

This is just one week's worth of cleaning...

 

[Hufsa]

As I'm starting from scratch I'm going to try to use the IFC Calculator to try to learn it. Going to have to lean on @Hanuman and @Zeus. heavily here to see if I can get it to work. I'll be asking them questions in the help thread for the calculator.

In case its helpful, I wrote a quick guide (sort of an overview) for IFC a while back in a separate thread, you should be able to find it over there on UKAPS ..somewhere

 

[Hufsa]

Aha, I found it
I didn't know IFC is on ScapeCrunch now too, thats great I think a lot of people who currently use rotalabutterfly and doing the rest manually can benefit from using IFC

 

[Art]

As you can see from the above capture, the IFC Calculator has made the math VERY easy for me. REALLY well done, @Hanuman and @Zeus.

Now I've saved my file and can easily come back to it to make adjustments as needed. This is a real improvement over the one and done calculators online.

 

[Zeus.]

the IFC Calculator has made the math VERY easy for me. REALLY well done,

Thanks, just takes a little time to mastered, but worth the effort.

 

[Hanuman]

from the above capture

The captured image is very low quality and we can't read the numbers or text. Did you come up with a secret formula you don't want to share?

the IFC Calculator has made the math VERY easy for me. REALLY well done, @Hanuman and @Zeus.

Glad you finally made the jump. As said by Zeus it requires more will power to understand than other calculators out there but once you see what it does there is no going back.

This is a real improvement over the one and done calculators online.

I wish the IFC calculator would display better when opened through Excel Online. The calculator still seems to work fine but some of the formatting/visuals are screwed up. Not a big deal, just no ideal.

 

[Yugang]

Going to have to lean on @Hanuman and @Zeus. heavily here to see if I can get it to work. I'll be asking them questions in the help thread for the calculator.

It must have been a lot of work for @Zeus. and @Hanuman to compile all data and build the calculator. But also as a result both have now become the go to for fertilisation questions and support, and continue to help hobbyists. This I believe is a great contribution, with lots of time and energy spend. Thanks to both.

 

[Hanuman]

It must have been a lot of work for @Zeus. and @Hanuman to compile all data and build the calculator.

Yes it was a lot of work. Like really a lot!! And still counting if you consider the updates and fixes we bring to the Calculator when needed. All in all it took a good 7 months before we released the first version in December 2020 and we have released 16 updates since then. This said, Excel is a pain to work with because you depend on an application that bugs and crashes rather reguglarly to my taste.

But also as a result both have now become the go to for fertilisation questions and support, and continue to help hobbyists.

Just to clarify one thing, I am no fertilizer expert.
I can usually support in terms of general fert knowledge and I can obviously support users when it comes to actually using the IFC Calculator, but I am by no means a chemist or an expert when it comes to fertilizers. This is an area of expertise that requires far more knowledge than I have. I speak for myself ofc.

This I believe is a great contribution, with lots of time and energy spend. Thanks to both.

Thank you we try our best.

 

[Zeus.]

It must have been a lot of work for @Zeus. and @Hanuman to compile all data and build the calculator.

Yes it was, but it was fun and a challenge and working with Hani we was able to pull it off. All the info data was already out there we just pulled it together. What we call the 'headshot' was one of the first breakthroughs' (being able to select a ppm and pick from various salts to hit the target ppm) and to do it for all the salts, then we knew we was on to something.
Then as we collect the regimes and data on commercial ferts and worked out we could clone them.
DIY Micros just makes making Micros easier as all the maths and serial dilutions are all on one page so less room for error than pencil and paper or another spreadsheet for a user.
Remin agents went well also, once we worked out that from the gH and kH we could get the Ca:Mg ratio and respective ppms, cloning just followed.
The Multi tank just made sense, just like the cost comparison, water reports and lots of other little features

But also as a result both have now become the go to for fertilisation questions and support

Like Hani said no expert on ferts, just have a good grounding in them, just have a good idea how to get the ppms once the regime has been decided.

 

[Art]

The captured image is very low quality and we can't read the numbers or text. Did you come up with a secret formula you don't want to share?

Sorry about that. I shrink down captures so that they are not too heavy on the site.

No secret recipe:

• NO3 - 20 ppm
• K - 30 ppm
• PO4 - 3 ppm
• Fe - .6 ppm
• Ca - 22 ppm
• Mg - 11 ppm

I use @Burr740's micro mix.

 

[Art]

Hope everyone’s Sunday (or early Monday for our friends on the other side of the world) is going well.

Quick update from the road. I’ve started a 27 day business/vacation trip. Unfortunately, timing isn’t the best in terms of the aquarium turnaround. It may have been good to spend a few more weeks managing it closely but that wasn’t in the cards.

This is why I have full automation on it. My brother-in-law will be giving every week or so to check on it and top off the water container. That’s about it.

This will be a good test to see how everything works. I did a large water change before leaving, trimmed the plants and double checked all connections. Added a large front load of macros and now it’s up to the auto doser to keep things topped up and steady.

I will post up the pictures I get from my BIL.

 

[Marwen]

Safe travels art.

Ironically, some of the best plant health I've achieved was when I had to be away for weeks. Something about not tinkering with the tank and doing "fine adjustments" and little experiments all the time I guess. I always come back to a wall of GDA on the glass that hides behind it an untouched paradise of overgrown but clean healthy plants. I almost feel offended how they thrive when I'm not around. haha

 

[Art]

I got back yesterday after a 27 day business/pleasure trip. Other than my trusty (?) Tunze ATO pump mysteriously failing only days into the trip, everything seems fine.

The automation worked. The fish were fed, CO2 was provided, fertilizer was dosed. The only thing is that no water changes were made during the month long absence. As a result, the plants are WAY overgrown and green hair algae has capitalized on the situation and has become a member of the family. BBA is present but limited probably due to the SAEs I added before leaving.

A picture will be posted when the lights come on.

 

[Art]

As you can see, not too bad after 27 days away.

The plan was to do some heavy trimming and a series of water changes. However, Tropical Storm Milton has changed my plans. Now I'm in preparation mode...

Can't wait for this hurricane season to end...

Be safe out there, everyone!

 

[Art]

You know it's real when you set up the holding aquarium for your fish and some plants...

I don't know about you guys but every re-scape for me brings exhilaration, excitement and anxiety. Maybe it's that I tend to try to think of everything before starting and knowing, from experience, that I will no doubt run into something I've forgotten or just doesn't work out. It also ends up taking WAY longer than I anticipated and so I tend to rush at the end.

This time, I intentionally am setting up a holding tank for my fish. So, if it ends up taking longer than expected, I know they are fine. Usually I have them in a bucket and am anxious to put them back into something better.

I'm also usually very dependent on delivery of the plants. I was counting on them to arrive today, Friday, but now one box gets here tomorrow Saturday and another now gets here Monday.

That's fine now that I have the holding tank set up. Unfortunately, though, I leave for a week on Tuesday so timing isn't the best.

I know, I know. You shouldn't do a full rescope before leaving for a week. If I didn't do it now, I won't be able to do it for a couple of months and I just didn't want to wait that long.

Oh well. Thanks for reading along. I am trying to find peace through the process and enjoy myself. I really am!

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

You know your insane when this all just makes sense, you know?