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At my very first AGA convention in, I believe, 2001 I was on the elevator with these guys. I had a cooler. One asked me if there were aquarium plants in it. I was a bit shy to talk about the plants because I felt like such a geek. The guys were Jeff and Mike Senske.
Since you’re talking about pearling… when I was trying to get good pictures a couple of days ago I had those streamers of bubbles coming up. Is there a good way to stop that from happening for just one morning? I like bubbles on the leaves, but don’t like lines of them rising up. This was with the CO2 off already because I had to remove the equipment from the tank for the picture.
Since you’re talking about pearling… when I was trying to get good pictures a couple of days ago I had those streamers of bubbles coming up. Is there a good way to stop that from happening for just one morning? I like bubbles on the leaves, but don’t like lines of them rising up. This was with the CO2 off already because I had to remove the equipment from the tank for the picture.
I take my pics before the lights come on. Then there are no bubbles. It defeats the purpose though if you want them. In that case, you have to have super bright light so you can increase your shutter speed enough to freeze the bubbles so it doesn't look like a line.
I take my pics before the lights come on. Then there are no bubbles. It defeats the purpose though if you want them. In that case, you have to have super bright light so you can increase your shutter speed enough to freeze the bubbles so it doesn't look like a line.
Thanks! I’ll try getting up a few hours earlier. I was surprised how long it took to get the equipment off and clean up every little thing that I never noticed until I was trying to get a picture.
Me thinks it is quite a bit lower than pure RO water. ChatGPT tells me your soution has a pH of approximately 3.3.
I'm tired of measuring the dry salts each week and using containers for each dose, so I plan to move to liquid solutions. Your post is the motivation I needed to go ahead and move forward with this. I think I'll aim for a pH of 4.0 using the same 20% HCl acid solution that I use to lower the KH of my tap water.
I finally got some of @Burr740's Micro Mix! One packet for 500mL water.
I diluted it in 1,000mL water since my auto-doser is more accurate in the 3-10mL range vs the 1-3mL range for daily dosing.
At regular strength (one packet per 500mL water), one dose of 0.2mL/gal adds:
0.12ppm Fe DTPA
0.03ppm Fe Gluconate
0.025ppm Mn
0.023ppm B
0.025ppm Zn
0.0021ppm Cu
0.0011ppm Mo
0.00018ppm Ni
Burr recommends doing this 3x per week
For my own records: Daily dosing 1/2 strength mix = 0.2mL/gal/day, or 6.8mL/day in this 34 gallon tank:
0.2ml/gal = 0.06ppm Fe DTPA, 0.015ppm Fe Gluc per dose, 0.075ppm Fe total per day
Dose 7x per week = total 0.42ppm Fe DTPA, 0.105ppm Fe Gluc per week in 7 doses, total ~0.53ppm Fe per week
I think I'll start a little under at 5mL/day, or 0.385ppm Fe per week (as of Oct 24th), and observe and increase as needed, if needed!
Something I'd like to think about trying is slightly reducing the daily dose, and having a slightly large "recovery" dose after WC. For example, if I'm adding 5mL/day, 35mL/week, Maybe I can try dosing 10mL after WC, then 3.57mL/day for a weekly total of 35mL per week...
Tank is looking absolutely beautiful. A few good photo updates soon!
Did you add additional acid to the mix since you were diluting it to 1000ml? Otherwise the ph wouldn’t be low enough to keep the moldy goops from growing, right?
Did you add additional acid to the mix since you were diluting it to 1000ml? Otherwise the ph wouldn’t be low enough to keep the moldy goops from growing, right?
Thats a very good observation but by design its got enough to handle 1000 ml. I do that because people cutting it in half strength by doing that is fairly common
Currently I use a 30mL syringe with a stainless steel needle, but I've got a few of those 30mL squeeze bottles I'm interested in trying, too!
I'll have to think of a solution (maybe the one @*Ci* posted) for my larger tank, which will require many more mL per dose (due to K2SO4's poor solubility).
I'll have to think of a solution (maybe the one @*Ci* posted) for my larger tank, which will require many more mL per dose (due to K2SO4's poor solubility).
Doh! I said in my journal I was dosing 2ml BurrFertz 2x weekly, but I'd rather do 1ml 3x weekly. My problem is that my pump does 2ml. This is genius. I can dilute mine to 1000ml like you and 2ml 3x weekly would be the same as 1ml 3x weekly at the previous concentration. Why didn't I think of this?
Day 125: switching to frosted background with a pre-frosted acrylic piece
This acrylic comes frosted from HD already! Just needed to design and 3D print some super fast brackets to hold it to the back of the tank in transparent PETG filament.
Cut the plastic by scoring with the plastic cutter (in the same aisle as the acrylic panel itself) and snapping along the scored line.
I love having a 3D printer for quick custom parts like this.
Here's how it will rest on the back panel (I'm holding this up for photo purposes)
A lot better looking in my opinion!
127 days:
This nighttime shot shows the stem plants with their leaves closed.
Day 137:
Limnophila aromatica mini is looking DENSE!! What a great choice for background plant.
New growth on the S repens is so much better using @Burr740 Micro Mix. Daily Dosing at previously mentioned 0.385ppm Fe per week, but dosing daily via autodoser. ~75% water change each week.
Looking much healthier! Also, these S repens are taking over the tank. The light is so strong that the stems grow sideways, then grow vertical stems from each internode on the stem, then those stems grow sideways, etc.
It's slowly "creeping", not carpeting, but creeping across the tank.
Day 139:
Tank has never been this healthy and pearling before. There is truly zero algae besides some GSA on the glass at the end of the week.
Can't thank Burr enough for his micro mix!
I'm gonna say it... I love Penthorum sedoides and I don't care who knows it.
Healthy healthy plants.
The older leaves show the previous chlorosis, but do you see just how healthy the S repens new leaves are?!
If it looks like algae that's just bad iphone pictures. These leaves are perfectly algae-free.
Myrio is healthy and finally paler under brighter light. Rotala Bonsai
L aromatica mini
AR Mini finally micro-issue-free. Penthorum sedoides
Gave the rotala BR a trim, shaped to keep the round bush I want.
LOOK AT THESE HEALTHY S REPENS!
Also, did you notice I planted some Dwarf Hairgrass? Here's a photo of the two little algae-covered plugs I planted a few weeks ago into the inert BDBS sand, shot from the top-down next to the old Staurogyne purple. This is the old photo:
What started as a joke, or an experiment, is now rapidly spreading into a DHG carpet from just two little plugs:
Look at those runners! It's spreading daily.
Wait, I can grow a healthy DHG carpet in completely inert sand with only DIY water column ferts? This gives me an idea for my big tank...
Final photo taken today. I'm "storing" two mats of HC cuba "dwarf baby tears". Going to grow them out of their emersed state in this hyper-healthy and algae-free tank, then transfer to my big tank once the new aquatic growth comes in!
It's still gorgeous of course, but I really liked the contrast the black background provided. For me, I think the more color variation in the tank, the better the black background suits it and for a more "green" or sparsely planted tank, the frosted is better. It's a tough choice to make though. I've switched 2 of my tanks back and forth each way. One of these days I'll fork over the money for an LED background.
Looks awesome. You're growing so much stuff. I'm jealous. Hopefully I'll have more in the future. Would love to see you try various other additional "hard to grow" stuff and maybe dispel some myths. I think Burr has grown many things in BDBS over the years, but we could all use some inspiration.
I also bought something for a frosted background, but it hasn't been cut yet. It's not as nice as acrylic. I like yours and hope mine looks just as good.
I've found that I prefer to have simple/common, but super healthy, plants -- rather than tons of exotic ones that I don't know how to grow. I'm not that brave! But I've been interested in trying some new plants out thanks to the success of this tank (besides Ammania species, since they are known to dislike nutrients in the water column).
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It's still gorgeous of course, but I really liked the contrast the black background provided. For me, I think the more color variation in the tank, the better the black background suits it and for a more "green" or sparsely planted tank, the frosted is better. It's a tough choice to make though. I've switched 2 of my tanks back and forth each way. One of these days I'll fork over the money for an LED background.
