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- #121
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Journal Greggz 120G Rainbow Fish Tank - Part Deux!
- Thread starter GreggZ
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When I was using aquasoil I had to constantly gravel vac to avoid algae blooms because I'm always uprooting plants. I don't notice the same thing with sand/fine gravel. Maybe I'm just creating a time bomb in my substrate but I went from doing a gravel vac every week to once every few months.
I still think aquasoil is more forgiving for growing difficult plants, but overall tank maintenance is easier with inert substrate (especially if you only grow easy plants like me).
I still think aquasoil is more forgiving for growing difficult plants, but overall tank maintenance is easier with inert substrate (especially if you only grow easy plants like me).
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- #123
Agree with above. You can grow a few plants better with aquasoil, but maintenance is easier with inert sand.
As to vacuuming, I do some every water change. But it's very light just over the surface getting the loose detritus. And then every once in a while when I pull a whole group that hasn't been touched in a while I give that little section a deeper vac when the plants are out.
And yes aquasoil seems to throw a lot more gunk into the water column when uprooting. That's why many Dutch tanks use something like BDBS .
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- #125
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- #126
With a planted tank sometimes it feels like if it’s not one thing it’s another. Was feeling I was really getting somewhere with where I wanted to go with the tank but then had a couple of set backs.
Had a business trip the end of November. Was away for 5 days. Got home late at night and the lights were on full blast. Somehow my Kasa stopped switching them. Not sure how long they were on, but based on the condition of the tank might have been the whole time I was gone.
Then last week had an issue with the filter that drives my Cerges reactor. Had to order parts so no CO2 for 5 days.
Once I got the CO2 going did a pretty thorough gravel vac, cleaned the filters, and did a large water change.
If you walk up to the tank at first glance it looks like it held up OK and bound back pretty well, but there is a lot of algae on old growth. Not panicking, just going to try to grow my way out of it. Once there is enough new growth on some species, will top and toss the old bottoms.
Will update as things progress hopefully back on cruise control soon!!
Had a business trip the end of November. Was away for 5 days. Got home late at night and the lights were on full blast. Somehow my Kasa stopped switching them. Not sure how long they were on, but based on the condition of the tank might have been the whole time I was gone.
Then last week had an issue with the filter that drives my Cerges reactor. Had to order parts so no CO2 for 5 days.
Once I got the CO2 going did a pretty thorough gravel vac, cleaned the filters, and did a large water change.
If you walk up to the tank at first glance it looks like it held up OK and bound back pretty well, but there is a lot of algae on old growth. Not panicking, just going to try to grow my way out of it. Once there is enough new growth on some species, will top and toss the old bottoms.
Will update as things progress hopefully back on cruise control soon!!
@GreggZ sorry you went through that. It's the aquarist's traveling course. Anything that can happen WILL happen when you're away. It's gotten me MANY times.
The lesson from your tank and your husbandry is that excellent plant and aquarium health will allow you to overcome any setbacks.
And, by the way, your rainbows are looking HUGE! What are you feeding those guys?!
The lesson from your tank and your husbandry is that excellent plant and aquarium health will allow you to overcome any setbacks.
And, by the way, your rainbows are looking HUGE! What are you feeding those guys?!
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- #128
I feed my Bows FAR less than anyone would imagine. Only once a day and not that much at all. The thing about Bows is that they always seem hungry, but you can't give in. These ones are large because they are old. Bows can be very long lived, and over a decade is not unusual for them.
Many people make the mistake of over feeding. In the end it's not healthy for the fish, and it's especially not good for the plants. Decaying uneaten food is a great recipe for increased dissolved organics in the system. It also makes a difference what you feed. I use a mix of dry foods. Many use frozen brine or bloodworms but I have found unless they are rinsed thoroughly they can really muck up the water column.
So feeding is yet another example of something that can affect water quality. Fish need far, far less than people think to be healthy and live a good long time.
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- #130
Yeah the interesting thing is you can look at some plants and see exactly when it happened. Those Pantanal in the back have a weak spot in the stem that they are barely holding on to. All in the same spot relative to new growth. The stem is a time line of what was going on.
Same for Chinensis. You see right where the new growth and old growth meet up. The old leaves are really weak and almost translucent. They were just being starved. New growth looks great.
So with some of these I am going to let them really go for a bit so I have bigger healthy sections to replant.
And then you have some that don't seem to even care. Furcata, Rotala SG, Syngos, and Roraima didn't blink.
BTW you can see the Cuba peaking up behind the Barclaya and the Mac Kochi at the far right corner. Once they get going and fill in will likely need to remove a few things.................but we know how that usually works out. It's hard to let go!
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Yes sir! We've all been there.
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- #132
I thought some of you might enjoy this.
My daughters find this whole planted tank journey of mine fascinating. They have been following it for years, and get a kick out of it when I am mentioned somewhere or write an article.
So this year they got me these two framed photos for the bookcases in my den where the tank lives. I thought that was really thoughtful and pretty cool.
And here's where the tank is currently. If I can borrow a saying from @Burr740 it's a jumbled mess of indecision. Things have calmed down pretty much from the two set backs. Not perfect but getting better. So this is kind of the sausage being made picture. I have a vision but will take a bit to get it there.......of course with this hobby that never ends!!
My daughters find this whole planted tank journey of mine fascinating. They have been following it for years, and get a kick out of it when I am mentioned somewhere or write an article.
So this year they got me these two framed photos for the bookcases in my den where the tank lives. I thought that was really thoughtful and pretty cool.
And here's where the tank is currently. If I can borrow a saying from @Burr740 it's a jumbled mess of indecision. Things have calmed down pretty much from the two set backs. Not perfect but getting better. So this is kind of the sausage being made picture. I have a vision but will take a bit to get it there.......of course with this hobby that never ends!!
That is so thoughtful, @GreggZ! I’m so honored they framed the ScapeCrunch one.
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- #134
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- #136
I have just figured out 2 weeks ago. After every WC with RO at 130 ppm, the tank lowest point was at ~230ppm and 300 at end of the week. Now that I'm uprooting and vacuuming the substrate the peak is at 250ppm where the lowest point is at 180ppm
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- #138
One thing about a planted tank is there is always something new around the corner.
I had a sudden outbreak of some crazy string/hair algae that popped up out of nowhere. I mean the tank was covered in it. Still not sure why. The ONLY change is that I ran out of Fe for macros and didn't realize it. By the time I got some and made a batch it was about 5 or 6 days later. I conferred with Burr and we both thought that it's unlikely that is what caused it, but who knows? All I know is that in that span the tank went from very clean to a complete mess.
I sent these pics to Burr on a Sunday.
I had a lot going on over the Holidays and didn't get a chance to do anything until Wed. Did a massive maintenance session removing as much badly infected plant mass as I could. Basically replanted the entire tank, full vacuum, filter cleaning, etc. Threw a heaping two gallon bucket of plants in the trash.
These pics were taken on Friday, two days after the search and destroy mission. All in all a miracle if you saw the tank 5 days before. The worst hit was the Barclaya. Had to remove a bunch of badly infected leaves and now worried it may go dormant again. Now today on Sunday plants seem happy again and little to no algae anywhere.
I honestly don't know exactly what happened, but hopefully it's behind me. Now back to growing the groups back and hopefully get back to normal.
I had a sudden outbreak of some crazy string/hair algae that popped up out of nowhere. I mean the tank was covered in it. Still not sure why. The ONLY change is that I ran out of Fe for macros and didn't realize it. By the time I got some and made a batch it was about 5 or 6 days later. I conferred with Burr and we both thought that it's unlikely that is what caused it, but who knows? All I know is that in that span the tank went from very clean to a complete mess.
I sent these pics to Burr on a Sunday.
I had a lot going on over the Holidays and didn't get a chance to do anything until Wed. Did a massive maintenance session removing as much badly infected plant mass as I could. Basically replanted the entire tank, full vacuum, filter cleaning, etc. Threw a heaping two gallon bucket of plants in the trash.
These pics were taken on Friday, two days after the search and destroy mission. All in all a miracle if you saw the tank 5 days before. The worst hit was the Barclaya. Had to remove a bunch of badly infected leaves and now worried it may go dormant again. Now today on Sunday plants seem happy again and little to no algae anywhere.
I honestly don't know exactly what happened, but hopefully it's behind me. Now back to growing the groups back and hopefully get back to normal.
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Is it possible that, with your very high po4 dosage, without Fe, it was completely free in water column causing this problems?
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- #140
Anything is possible. I surely can't pinpoint any cause/effect on the lack of micros. But it was the only change (that I am aware of). It came on quick, that is for sure. Can't say I have seen anything like it ever before.
Interesting thing was most plants kept growing and didn't stunt. And one plant was completely free of any of it, Cabomba Furcata.
And who knows maybe it comes back.....but so far so good everything looks pretty happy again.
