Journal Attempting a True Dutch

[Kwyet]

The hydrocotyle came in, and surprisingly it was in pretty good shape. It must be a very resilient plant. I let it float in a holding tank for a couple of days and planted it today during maintenance. Most of my plants are growing well and look healthy. The Crypt Wendtii Sindoor is mostly fading away, except for one stubborn clump. I’m hoping the ones that are fading will come back if I leave them alone. The one good clump is putting out small green leaves. When I can increase the light, I assume it’ll have better color. Right now I just want it to grow!

The Val has some BBA showing up along its edges. I clipped those off at the base. It’s putting out runners though, and the new little plants look fine. I’ve got a lot of different kinds of algae showing up though—GDA and
GSA on the glass, BBA (?) on the rock, and Clado(?) on the intake sponge. I removed the sponge. If I start having problems with livestock getting stuck on the intake, I’ll have to replace it, but I’ll try it without for now.
I didn’t do anything about what’s on the glass or the rock. I’m reading through the algae forum, but maybe it’ll just all resolve once the tank is more mature? Or maybe I need to let the CO2 do the full 1.5 degree drop instead of 1.2? I notice the glass that is exposed during the water change is perfectly clear, so if the GSA and GDA don’t clear up on their own, maybe an extremely large water change would pretty much wipe them out.

Here’s the pics, and thanks for reading!

 

[Kwyet]

I decided to attack the algae today, couldn’t take it anymore, lol! I did a whopping 75% water change and cleaned the glass, lightly cleaned the surface of the sand, used a plastic card to go between the glass and the sand, and cleaned the filter for the first time since setting it up. Honestly, nothing seemed very dirty! When I reassembled the filter, I changed it to 100% flow. Now that the plants have grown in some, I think it’ll be better and the fish don’t seem bothered by it.

I also cut off the affected Leopard Val leaves (older damaged ones), trimmed the Limnophila wilsonii a bit since it was overtaking the lotus, uprooted the Rotala macrandra kochi and replanted the upper healthy parts. Then I trimmed the Penthorum sedoides, Bacopa colorata, and Nymphoides Taiwan, leaving the lower parts and replanting the tops to get as much more plant mass growing as I could.

Since I did such a large water change, and don’t know how often that might be necessary, I changed the macro schedule to half the week’s total (21 ml) right after the water change, and the rest throughout the next 6 days (3 ml daily). I read on this forum where this was recommended to someone, and it seemed like a good idea for me too.
I’ve also been testing phosphates and it’s been at only .25-.5 ppm, so I dry dosed 1/16 t of KH2PO4. I’ll test again tomorrow and see how much it changed and how much more I might need to adjust it. The tank did pretty well in the past when it was at 2 ppm, so I’ll aim for that. The TDS keeps going down too, from 222 on 9/28 to 124 today before the water change, so I’ll need to be figuring out what else is disappearing. Nitrates have been holding steady at 10-20 ppm.

Oh, also, I upped the CO2 a couple of days ago so the reactor would fill faster and hit the 1.5 pH drop (from outdoor degassed for 48 hours) as it was designed to do. That puts it in overflow mode as well. I’m not sure how turning up the filter flow is going to affect that. I might have to fiddle with it a little more.

I noticed after I was done that the Echinodorus Aflame could have used some attention. I’ll clip off the old ratty leaves during the next maintenance session. The new growth is looking nice! Finally, the new green leaves on the Crypt Wendtii Sindoor are darkening more to a maroon-ish shade. Maybe eventually they’ll turn orange too!

So I didn’t leave it completely alone for 6 weeks, lol, but I didn’t move any plant groups around and only uprooted one group of plants, so hopefully that’s not too bad. Everything I did made sense to me, and if it was a mistake I’ll guess I’ll find out soon!

I didn’t touch the algae on the rock. I’m hoping it’ll go away on its own, as I’ve seen it do before once everything was clean and stable, but if not then I’ll take it out and spray it with Excel or hydrogen peroxide. I just don’t have anything like that on hand right now because it’s not something I use regularly.





(before maintenance)

Thanks for reading!

 

[SkaleyAquatics]

Since I did such a large water change, and don’t know how often that might be necessary, I changed the macro schedule to half the week’s total (21 ml) right after the water change, and the rest throughout the next 6 days (3 ml daily). I read on this forum where this was recommended to someone, and it seemed like a good idea for me too.

Front Loading Macros - has become more popular it seems thanks to Greggz, I also do it, half the weeks total at water change then 2x throughout the week and have been happy with the results.

So I didn’t leave it completely alone for 6 weeks, lol, but I didn’t move any plant groups around and only uprooted one group of plants, so hopefully that’s not too bad. Everything I did made sense to me, and if it was a mistake I’ll guess I’ll find out soon!

When I said 6 weeks really meant don't adjust your fertilizers up or down, so uprooting and trimming GDA on leaves is no problem. Its just the nature of the beast until the tank matures. Also I have the same substrate as you and do not get lax on vacuuming it. I did and definitely contributed to my algae issue in that tank.

 

[Kwyet]

Front Loading Macros - has become more popular it seems thanks to Greggz, I also do it, half the weeks total at water change then 2x throughout the week and have been happy with the results.


When I said 6 weeks really meant don't adjust your fertilizers up or down, so uprooting and trimming GDA on leaves is no problem. Its just the nature of the beast until the tank matures. Also I have the same substrate as you and do not get lax on vacuuming it. I did and definitely contributed to my algae issue in that tank.

Oh! Thanks for the info!

 

[gjcarew]

Some moss on that rock would keep the algae at bay. Here's an example- it can look pretty cool

 

[Kwyet]

That’s beautiful! I had this one covered with Monte Carlo before, and it did choke out the algae. What kind of moss is that?

 

[gjcarew]

Calicostella prabaktiana I think

 

[Kwyet]

Calicostella prabaktiana I think

I read a bit about various mosses, and it seems a lot of people have trouble keeping them algae-free in a high light tank. When this tank has matured and the algae is negligible, I’ll be slowly increasing the light. Can you tell me which mosses are good choices for high light and CO2 and will also attach well to rock?

 

[gjcarew]

I think that's more true in a tank with only mosses. When you have a lot of fast growing stems as well I don't think it's an issue.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Pilo moss is what I have in my tank, I have a ton of it under high light. I’d argue it prefers it, it grows so well and compact. I think with every moss there is a break in period where it gets used to the conditions and then once it gets hold, it takes off.

 

[Kwyet]

Thanks to you both!

 

[Kwyet]

Current pic:


I turned off the back light because I was getting algae between the glass and substrate in the back. I think I like it better this way though. I can see the colors of the plants better. The algae is mostly gone. I actually soaked the rock in a bleach solution for a few days, and then in water with Prime. I confess, the whole time it was out of the tank I kept thinking of plants that I could put in that space instead. I still think I’m going to let moss grow on it though and see how I like that.

I took the Crypt Wendtii Sindoor out. It was just sitting there, never getting any bigger, so I put it in the farm tank. Maybe a year from now it’ll have grown, but I expect it’ll be gone.

I like how this tank is going so far, but I keep struggling over how to improve the layout. I moved the Echinodorus Aflame to in front of the rock, because it was just lost in the Leopard Val. It’s still hard to see, but once moss covers the rock (or I put some other green plant there), it should show up. The Leopard Val and the Rotala colors blend together too much, and the Hydrocotyle Tripartita and the Mini Lobelia Cardinalis are pretty indistinguishable. In addition, I don’t think there are enough mid-ground plants. I’m going to keep thinking on it. Suggestions welcome of course!

Also, my stickers came!

 

[gjcarew]

Looking healthy! Two things to think about:
1. Try getting some space between your plants. Like a lot more than you'd think. They will grow together eventually, spacing them out initially prevents the tanks from looking "crowded".
2. Think height variation. One or two mid ground groups would look fantastic

 

[Kwyet]

Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind!

Also, here’s a pic of the black water (ish) tank as of today:

 

[Kwyet]

Well, two weeks ago I learned a lesson. I moved around most of the tank, replaced and replanted. I stirred up the sand too, for the filter to pick up the debris. I also increased lighting by 10% and increased macros by another 1 ml/day. To top it all off, I forgot that I had added more root tabs, so I’m sure I stirred all of that into the water column as well. All of that was too much!

I ended up with pea soup so thick I couldn’t even see the plants in the back. The lily completely melted away. I also had some blue-green algae on the substrate. I didn’t take a picture because I was embarrassed about it, but now I think I might as well have. It’s just a learning experience.

I returned lights and ferts to previous levels, put in a temporary UV filter, dosed Blue-Green slime remover, and did 3 large water changes. Today, it’s almost completely clear. The Cyanobacteria is gone. I noticed a few specks of BBA on the left glass after I finished maintenance today, but I’ll scrape them off next week.

Is the layout better? I think so, but I’m still thinking of making some changes. I’m thinking of making the street go behind the Hydrocotyle instead of behind the rotala, because right now it looks like it goes too straight back in the middle. I’m also thinking of putting Echinodorus Aflame where the Green Gecko is, putting the Erio Vietnam where the Echinodorus Aflame is, and putting the Green Gecko where the Erio Vietnam is. I’ll just roll it around in my head for this week. Anyone chime in with opinions that wants to.

Lastly, I put a black background on. It sure is hard putting on a background when you can’t move the tank. I told my husband we should just make that a sliding wall behind it, lol! Also, I think I’m failing Plant Shaping 101, but I’ll keep working on it.

Here’s today’s pic after maintenance.



Thanks for reading!

 

[Unexpected]

Wow, you can't tell the tank went nuclear. It's so fun little oops can cause so much havock.

 

[2hotinphx]

Wow, you can't tell the tank went nuclear. It's so fun little oops can cause so much havock.

Uggggg...is it really fun? Newbie here just wants a couple of small tanks with some live plants. Reading about mishaps like this makes me want to go with plastic plants for simplicity. Been researching for awhile and this website is on a whole nother level of complex.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

Uggggg...is it really fun? Newbie here just wants a couple of small tanks with some live plants. Reading about mishaps like this makes me want to go with plastic plants for simplicity. Been researching for awhile and this website is on a whole nother level of complex.

Not complex, just requires a little homework to be successful! The community currently just has a lot of seasoned members because that’s who founded the site. I am by no means an expert, but I’ve learned from doing what you’re already doing, trial and error, and reaching out to those with experience. You will not enjoy or improve in this hobby if you never fail, we’ve all been there, and some of us still there

Whatever your stage, everyone here is ready to help if you ask for it

 

[gjcarew]

Uggggg...is it really fun? Newbie here just wants a couple of small tanks with some live plants. Reading about mishaps like this makes me want to go with plastic plants for simplicity. Been researching for awhile and this website is on a whole nother level of complex.

If you're new here, don't try to learn everything. There are a bunch of different ways to keep a planted tank, no two are the same. So just pick a well-documented method and stick with it. I recommend the 2-hr aquarist because his method is easy to digest, the articles are well written, and it's effective.

 

[Unexpected]

.is it really fun?

I was being facetious, I do oops all the time.