Figured I would start a tank journal here. This will mainly follow my 40 Breeder, but may occasionally have info relating to my smaller low tech tanks.
Here is the tank as it stands now:

Equipment:
So about a month ago, I decided to bring my dosing down a bit. My weekly totals a bit over a month ago were 30:9:35. I was getting a tiny bit of green dust, so I figured at least my NO3 was a bit high. I liked the ratios I had things at and don't think my tank needed as much PO4 or K either, so I decided to just lower things across the board at the same ratios and see how things reacted. I make up about a month's worth of macros at a time, so a month ago I made a batch at 25:7.5:30. I just made a new batch over the weekend at the new numbers, so I've given my tank about a month to adjust to the new levels each time and observe.
The way I see it, I have 1 main weak spot in my tank's layout that I'm still trying to strengthen--the back left corner. Also, I'm not super satisfied with the green plant (hygro difformis variegated) to the left of the Rotala SG nor the brownish/pinkish plant (hygro sp. brown) to the left of the Ludwigia Meta. The hygro difformis variegated just seems to grow sideshoots laterally mostly, which makes maintenance easy but also keeps it from looking how I'd like.
The hygro sp. brown has wide spacing between internodes, grows like a weed, and throws out tons of aerial roots. I've put up with it for a while though because it's a really unique color and I haven't really seen anyone else scape with it yet, but I've finally decided to swap it out with something else. I have some ludwigia ovalis on the way to try in hygro sp. brown's spot and some rotala bangladesh and vietnam to try in the back left spot.
Any suggestions for a green plant to swap with the hygro difformis variegated are welcome!
Here is the tank as it stands now:

Equipment:
- Chihiros WRGB II Pro Light - right now settings are R:78, G:52, B:78
- Fluval Stratum 2+ years old
- Oase 350 Biomaster Thermo
- NilocG 24" Rex Griggs Reactor
- Co2 Art Pro-SE Regulator
- Aquatop ATP Surface Skimmer
- Hydor Koralia Nano
- KH - 0.5-1.5 (RO water reconstituted)
- GH - ~6 (30ppm Ca, 10ppm Mg)
- Temp - 76F
- ~1.4 PH drop
- PAR ranges from ~200 in the middle to 120 in the corners at the substrate.
- Current dosing:
- Weekly totals: 22.5:7.5:27 + 0.9Fe from Burr Micros. Water column target: 30:10:36
- Methodology: I do two 50-60% water changes weekly. So for the sake of keeping things simple, I figure the weekly volume of water changed is around 75%.
So about a month ago, I decided to bring my dosing down a bit. My weekly totals a bit over a month ago were 30:9:35. I was getting a tiny bit of green dust, so I figured at least my NO3 was a bit high. I liked the ratios I had things at and don't think my tank needed as much PO4 or K either, so I decided to just lower things across the board at the same ratios and see how things reacted. I make up about a month's worth of macros at a time, so a month ago I made a batch at 25:7.5:30. I just made a new batch over the weekend at the new numbers, so I've given my tank about a month to adjust to the new levels each time and observe.
The way I see it, I have 1 main weak spot in my tank's layout that I'm still trying to strengthen--the back left corner. Also, I'm not super satisfied with the green plant (hygro difformis variegated) to the left of the Rotala SG nor the brownish/pinkish plant (hygro sp. brown) to the left of the Ludwigia Meta. The hygro difformis variegated just seems to grow sideshoots laterally mostly, which makes maintenance easy but also keeps it from looking how I'd like.
The hygro sp. brown has wide spacing between internodes, grows like a weed, and throws out tons of aerial roots. I've put up with it for a while though because it's a really unique color and I haven't really seen anyone else scape with it yet, but I've finally decided to swap it out with something else. I have some ludwigia ovalis on the way to try in hygro sp. brown's spot and some rotala bangladesh and vietnam to try in the back left spot.
Any suggestions for a green plant to swap with the hygro difformis variegated are welcome!
Last edited: