BenB
Active Member
Setup Date
12-24-24 (Day 0)
Goal
• Just to try and get back into it.
• No scape.
• Enjoying some farming.
• Maybe to test some different substrates
Tank
• ADA 60p
Light
• Twinstar 600S version 2.0 (I believe) running 10hrs daily
• Older model. I’ve had this light for several years and it has been on every day. So, I feel the output is greatly reduced. Carnivorous plants require super high output though, and it was bright enough to grow them, so it’s hard to tell.
Substrate
• UNS Extra Fine Black 13L.
• Looks brown but double checked the bag and definitely “Extra Fine Black”
• Is light in weight, but so far plants all being held down appropriately. It has been difficult to vacuum because of the light weight.
• Very little dust on set-up.
Plants
• TC plants from LFS
• Pogostemon deccanensis, Rotala indica ‘Bonsai’, Pogostemon helferi, Hygrophilia lancea ‘Araguia’, Eriocaulon cinereum, Staurogyne repens, Rotala H’Ra
• Bought on the fly. Didn’t have a lot of time to think about layout etc. Just bought some stuff that looked cool.
• Blyxa japonica, Crypt parva: added on 1-15-25
Fertilizer
• My tap water: KH 0.5, GH : 0.5, Ca 10ppm, pH 8.5, PO4 0.25, NO3 0, NH3 0.5.
• I haven’t established a regular fertilizing routine, but at water change I dose about 3/4 tsp CaCl2, 1 tsp MgSO4, and about 3/4 tsp K2SO4. I have a Macro Mix where 10ml gives me 4.5 ppm NO3/1.2 ppm PO4/6.5 ppm K. Being the genius I am, I didn’t realize my doser doesn’t have a 10ml mark, so I put in 15ml because well… WTH. I have been adding that 3-4x/week along with trace and some extra iron. Sometimes I add a bit extra PO4, Mg, and K based on nothing more than a personal disillusion of brilliance. It seems to be working.
• Next time I mix ferts, which is coming soon, I plan on making separate mixtures with NO3 and PO4 in one and Mg and K in another.
Filter
• Oase HOB BioStyle Theromfilter
• Is a bit loud
• The filter cartridges floated at first but that improved as the floss and charcoal became more saturated with water.
• Temp on the thermofilter is pre-set and can’t be changed. Set for 79F (26C). Seems a bit high.
CO2
• Using the 1.0 pH drop method. Currently it drops 0.8, and I just let it be.
• Solenoid on a timer coming on an hour before the lights
• Bar type atomizer diffuser placed into the Oase filter
• I got the idea for the filter with CO2 in it from a George Farmer video HERE. He put in his own heater. I would do that if I were to do this again. Also I bought white which was a huge mistake. I'd buy black next time.
Livestock
• None
Notes
• I’m trying to make this brief.
• I didn’t want to be someone who said, I’m back! And then never post again like so many people, including me, who try to make a comeback. So, this tank has been going now for a month. Now if I disappear, at least I have posted a final tank pic.
• I’ve set this tank up twice previously. I didn’t know what happened at the time, but I now know that both times I had pH crashes early on, and everything in my tank died. (Only plants. There was no livestock) I vacuumed them out and got them back going, but for some reason it was difficult from there on out. So, I burned out, took a few years off, and used the light to grow carnivorous plants.
• I got excited to get back going in the winter of 2023. So, I decided I’d go to the AGA in the spring, buy some stuff, talk to friends, get ideas, and the set up a tank. Two weeks after the AGA I was in the hospital for 5 days with norovirus and E coli. I lost 25lbs in 2 weeks and missed 3 weeks of work. I’m still recovering almost a year later.
• Dec 24, 2024 I finally got it going with plants in place and filter running. I went to mix some trace, and found that all my old supplies from 2020 had caked into rocks. The macros were fine, but the micros were bricks. I proceeded to panic buy a few things, and the tank almost crashed on me before I could get them in. I saved it just in time. See the pic with the white plants with some green trying to live.
• A month later, everything has gone well. I’ve been trying to grow aquarium plants since around 86, and I bought my first injected CO2 in 1996. This setup as been the easiest and most successful of any I’ve had. I’ve had no algae. I really don’t know the answer to why, but right now I’m leaning on, for the first time, having a better understanding of the importance of Mg in southern super soft water and an old light that is strong enough to grow plants, but not strong enough to encourage algae.
• My plants grow very slow which is another reason I suspect my lack of algae is light related. I thought they grew slow because they were transitioning from tc to submerged culture, but they are fully converted at this point and they still grow slowly.
• I’ve never grown P helferi this well. From here out I want to move the plants around and try some new things. I want a Xyris from Winston. He lives the next town over from me. I didn’t realize the Ludwigia was more of a low growing foregroung plant. I was just cherry picking stuff at my LFS that looked fun. I love the P deccanensis. I just wanted C parva. I don’t know why. I love it.
• Water tested today on 1-25-25: KH 0.5, GH 8, NO3 10-20, PO4 0.5, NH3 0, pH 6.2. 2ppm Po4 added.
Tank with just the Control Soil. The 13L of media gave me about a 2.5" deep bed.
Day 0 just after planting.
The Oase filter with CO2 going in. I'll put a notch into the side sometime. George Farmer inspired.
An example of where the lack of ferts almost killed my plants. You can see the dead areas with recoving green plant
One Week old. I was learning to use the fancy $$ camera here. Circled you can see more plants with dead parts and new growth in the middle.
The tank as it looked today on Jan 25, 2025. One month old.
12-24-24 (Day 0)
Goal
• Just to try and get back into it.
• No scape.
• Enjoying some farming.
• Maybe to test some different substrates
Tank
• ADA 60p
Light
• Twinstar 600S version 2.0 (I believe) running 10hrs daily
• Older model. I’ve had this light for several years and it has been on every day. So, I feel the output is greatly reduced. Carnivorous plants require super high output though, and it was bright enough to grow them, so it’s hard to tell.
Substrate
• UNS Extra Fine Black 13L.
• Looks brown but double checked the bag and definitely “Extra Fine Black”
• Is light in weight, but so far plants all being held down appropriately. It has been difficult to vacuum because of the light weight.
• Very little dust on set-up.
Plants
• TC plants from LFS
• Pogostemon deccanensis, Rotala indica ‘Bonsai’, Pogostemon helferi, Hygrophilia lancea ‘Araguia’, Eriocaulon cinereum, Staurogyne repens, Rotala H’Ra
• Bought on the fly. Didn’t have a lot of time to think about layout etc. Just bought some stuff that looked cool.
• Blyxa japonica, Crypt parva: added on 1-15-25
Fertilizer
• My tap water: KH 0.5, GH : 0.5, Ca 10ppm, pH 8.5, PO4 0.25, NO3 0, NH3 0.5.
• I haven’t established a regular fertilizing routine, but at water change I dose about 3/4 tsp CaCl2, 1 tsp MgSO4, and about 3/4 tsp K2SO4. I have a Macro Mix where 10ml gives me 4.5 ppm NO3/1.2 ppm PO4/6.5 ppm K. Being the genius I am, I didn’t realize my doser doesn’t have a 10ml mark, so I put in 15ml because well… WTH. I have been adding that 3-4x/week along with trace and some extra iron. Sometimes I add a bit extra PO4, Mg, and K based on nothing more than a personal disillusion of brilliance. It seems to be working.
• Next time I mix ferts, which is coming soon, I plan on making separate mixtures with NO3 and PO4 in one and Mg and K in another.
Filter
• Oase HOB BioStyle Theromfilter
• Is a bit loud
• The filter cartridges floated at first but that improved as the floss and charcoal became more saturated with water.
• Temp on the thermofilter is pre-set and can’t be changed. Set for 79F (26C). Seems a bit high.
CO2
• Using the 1.0 pH drop method. Currently it drops 0.8, and I just let it be.
• Solenoid on a timer coming on an hour before the lights
• Bar type atomizer diffuser placed into the Oase filter
• I got the idea for the filter with CO2 in it from a George Farmer video HERE. He put in his own heater. I would do that if I were to do this again. Also I bought white which was a huge mistake. I'd buy black next time.
Livestock
• None
Notes
• I’m trying to make this brief.
• I didn’t want to be someone who said, I’m back! And then never post again like so many people, including me, who try to make a comeback. So, this tank has been going now for a month. Now if I disappear, at least I have posted a final tank pic.
• I’ve set this tank up twice previously. I didn’t know what happened at the time, but I now know that both times I had pH crashes early on, and everything in my tank died. (Only plants. There was no livestock) I vacuumed them out and got them back going, but for some reason it was difficult from there on out. So, I burned out, took a few years off, and used the light to grow carnivorous plants.
• I got excited to get back going in the winter of 2023. So, I decided I’d go to the AGA in the spring, buy some stuff, talk to friends, get ideas, and the set up a tank. Two weeks after the AGA I was in the hospital for 5 days with norovirus and E coli. I lost 25lbs in 2 weeks and missed 3 weeks of work. I’m still recovering almost a year later.
• Dec 24, 2024 I finally got it going with plants in place and filter running. I went to mix some trace, and found that all my old supplies from 2020 had caked into rocks. The macros were fine, but the micros were bricks. I proceeded to panic buy a few things, and the tank almost crashed on me before I could get them in. I saved it just in time. See the pic with the white plants with some green trying to live.
• A month later, everything has gone well. I’ve been trying to grow aquarium plants since around 86, and I bought my first injected CO2 in 1996. This setup as been the easiest and most successful of any I’ve had. I’ve had no algae. I really don’t know the answer to why, but right now I’m leaning on, for the first time, having a better understanding of the importance of Mg in southern super soft water and an old light that is strong enough to grow plants, but not strong enough to encourage algae.
• My plants grow very slow which is another reason I suspect my lack of algae is light related. I thought they grew slow because they were transitioning from tc to submerged culture, but they are fully converted at this point and they still grow slowly.
• I’ve never grown P helferi this well. From here out I want to move the plants around and try some new things. I want a Xyris from Winston. He lives the next town over from me. I didn’t realize the Ludwigia was more of a low growing foregroung plant. I was just cherry picking stuff at my LFS that looked fun. I love the P deccanensis. I just wanted C parva. I don’t know why. I love it.
• Water tested today on 1-25-25: KH 0.5, GH 8, NO3 10-20, PO4 0.5, NH3 0, pH 6.2. 2ppm Po4 added.
Tank with just the Control Soil. The 13L of media gave me about a 2.5" deep bed.
Day 0 just after planting.
The Oase filter with CO2 going in. I'll put a notch into the side sometime. George Farmer inspired.
An example of where the lack of ferts almost killed my plants. You can see the dead areas with recoving green plant
One Week old. I was learning to use the fancy $$ camera here. Circled you can see more plants with dead parts and new growth in the middle.
The tank as it looked today on Jan 25, 2025. One month old.
Last edited:
$**t that's bright! It came on as soon as I plugged it in. It was crazy
