Journal Joel Armstrong - My journey

[HardeeParty]

This is an incredible tank. The stuff I aspire towards. Glad to see the PAR numbers so strong. I’ve always wondered what my M450 Pro puts out.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

One week today since planting (after the substrate clean)

My plant placement is definitely not very good still.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Some small, light patches of what looks like green dust algae appearing on soil in between some plant groups - where the light is hitting the soil, obviously.
No green dust algae appearing on the glass at all. No other algae anywhere else either.

Overall, plants are growing a LOT better since the soil was deeply cleaned.

I'm wondering what the cause is though. Prior to the soil being cleaned, (which was quite dirty), I noticed these small green patches appearing, particularly between the soil and the glass.

I spent hours cleaning the soil, but perhaps I was just unable to eradicate everything during the clean.

Hopefully, as the tank settles in a bit more, these small green patches will go away. I'm not real sure though.

I would greatly appreciate some advice on what to do, if anything .

I'd attach some photos, but the affected areas I'm referring to are quite faint in colour and do not show on the photos.

Thank you

 

[Joel Armstrong]

I was wondering if you'd mind looking at my build thread, and offer any advice you may have. I understand my plant placement is terrible, I guess I'm more interested in whether or not you think I'm dosing correctly.

I'm reasonably new to the hobby, and would greatly appreciate your input.

I front load macros at 24ppm NO3, 8ppm PO4, 32ppm K

Using Burr Aqua micros at half recommended dose (daily), along with rexolin apn micros, ( also added daily at weekly accumulative of iron @ .20 ppm)

My water report says 16ppm calcium and 1.5ppm magnesium.. I've been adding a little extra magnesium to bring the magnesium up to 5.33ppm.


I do 75% water changes, twice a week generally. I dose based on the amount of water I'm changing.

I follow Greggz tank, and to be honest, I just followed what he was doing at the time in regard to macros.. being newer to the hobby, and especially to dosing individual salts, I needed somewhere to start off.

With the micros... I was initially using Rexolin APN before I bought micros from Burr Aqua. When Burr Aqua micros arrived, I switched from Rexolin APN. After going through the first 3 out 5 packets of Burr Aqua micros, I began to use a half dose of Joe's micros, and half a dose of Rexolin APN... a bit of an experiment I guess.

 

[Freshflora]

I was wondering if you'd mind looking at my build thread, and offer any advice you may have. I understand my plant placement is terrible, I guess I'm more interested in whether or not you think I'm dosing correctly.

I'm reasonably new to the hobby, and would greatly appreciate your input.

I front load macros at 24ppm NO3, 8ppm PO4, 32ppm K

Using Burr Aqua micros at half recommended dose (daily), along with rexolin apn micros, ( also added daily at weekly accumulative of iron @ .20 ppm)

My water report says 16ppm calcium and 1.5ppm magnesium.. I've been adding a little extra magnesium to bring the magnesium up to 5.33ppm.


I do 75% water changes, twice a week generally. I dose based on the amount of water I'm changing.

I follow Greggz tank, and to be honest, I just followed what he was doing at the time in regard to macros.. being newer to the hobby, and especially to dosing individual salts, I needed somewhere to start off.

With the micros... I was initially using Rexolin APN before I bought micros from Burr Aqua. When Burr Aqua micros arrived, I switched from Rexolin APN. After going through the first 3 out 5 packets of Burr Aqua micros, I began to use a half dose of Joe's micros, and half a dose of Rexolin APN... a bit of an experiment I guess.

Did you mean to post this here?

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Did you mean to post this here?

I was messaging Joe Harvey, he suggested I bring the conversation over to my build thread so others could read..

I've probably done it wrong

 

[Burr740]

Your plants look good. That green dust is often a sign of overdosing something.

Thats a lot of macros, What size water changes are you doing? That level of dosing would be best with big wc, like 80%

Also is there a reason youre dosing two kinds of micros? Not saying its necessarily bad just wondering

Hi Joe,

I appreciate you taking the time to help me, it's greatly appreciated.

I do 75% water changes, twice a week generally. I dose based on the amount of water I'm changing.

I follow Greggz tank, and to be honest, I just followed what he was doing at the time in regard to macros.. being newer to the hobby, and especially to dosing individual salts, I needed somewhere to start off.

With the micros... I was initially using Rexolin APN before I bought micros from you. When you're micros arrived, I switched from Rexolin APN and began to use your micros. After going through the first 3 out 5 packets of your micros, I began to use a half dose of your micros, and a half dose of Rexolin APN... a bit of an experiment I guess.

 

[Burr740]

Brought the rest of it

OK so youre dosing macros based on changed water volume and doing 75%. Thats not as high as it sounded when you told me.

Still, if the only issue youre having is some GDA, that almost always points to overdosing macros. I dont think any tank actually needs 2x week 75% water changes unless there's a big problem going on. Then its useful. But there comes a point where its more of a disruption than help.

If it was me Id go to just one wc per week and drop macros a little bit, say 20/6/30. Its probably the NO3 causing the gda. I'd say it was just a lingering result of the deep substrate clean but you were having it before you did that

Idk whats in the APN micros but doing 50/50 with mine probably dosnt hurt anything. Your plants look good so I wouldnt worry about it.

I think your water is just a little too much of a nutrient soup atm and thats where the gda is coming from

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Brought the rest of it

OK so youre dosing macros based on changed water volume and doing 75%. Thats not as high as it sounded when you told me.

Still, if the only issue youre having is some GDA, that almost always points to overdosing macros. I dont think any tank actually needs 2x week 75% water changes unless there's a big problem going on. Then its useful. But there comes a point where its more of a disruption than help.

If it was me Id go to just one wc per week and drop macros a little bit, say 20/6/30. Its probably the NO3 causing the gda. I'd say it was just a lingering result of the deep substrate clean but you were having it before you did that

Idk whats in the APN micros but doing 50/50 with mine probably dosnt hurt anything. Your plants look good so I wouldnt worry about it.

I think your water is just a little too much of a nutrient soup atm and thats where the gda is coming from

Thanks Joe,

I appreciate your feedback and advice.

I'll go with your suggestions and observe.

Cheers

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Photo update

 

[BigWave]

Maybe invest in a good clean up crew. Amano's, snails and otto's mostly. I hate SAE's with a passion, they eat any and everything.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Maybe invest in a good clean up crew. Amano's, snails and otto's mostly. I hate SAE's with a passion, they eat any and everything.

Hey Steve,

I'm not convinced a "clean up crew" is needed. I've never seen a shrimp or snail vacuum the soil or clean a filter .

I had a bunch of shrimp, I got sick of trying to avoid them while vacuuming the soil. I'd always suck up a few shrimp or have a snail block the siphon hose, so I gave them away.

There's only one member in my clean up crew, it's me

 

[GreggZ]

There's only member in my clean up crew, it's me

Me too! I've never seen a need for a clean up crew.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Currently experiencing diatoms. They seem to be hanging around for a while

I'm guessing this is a result of deep cleaning the soil?

I've been doing large, frequent water changes, doesn't seem to be doing much though.. maybe I need to be a little more patient

I'm going away for a week, not sure what I'll come home to... perhaps it's a good thing I don't see the tank for a while, and hopefully the diatoms pass.

A little advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

What kind are you having? The normal or filamentous kind?

 

[Joel Armstrong]

What kind are you having? The normal or filamentous kind?

It's quite fluffy and stringy, its easy to remove. It's not throughout my whole tank, just a few plants are affected.

Some small patches appearing on soil also.

When I do a water change, it's easy to syphon away.

 

[BigWave]

This is common with new setups, and or not mature filter. It will go away eventually and if you have a clean up crew they will help.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

This is common with new setups, and or not mature filter. It will go away eventually and if you have a clean up crew they will help.

Thanks Steve,

I thought the same as what you've said. I guess I just wanted clarification, which you've given. Thanks man!

Appreciated,
Joel

 

[Mr.Shenanagins]

I’ve had it grow for months on end in past but that was because the tank never really took off I believed, the growth wasn’t where it needed to be, so there was nothing to compete with it. As long as your seeing good growth progression it should resolve as mentioned. If it continues to stick around you’ll know something is off.

 

[Joel Armstrong]

Hope you've all had a good Christmas!

I returned from my one week vacation, and my tank was a bit of a mess to be honest... what I assume was diatoms, covered the top of the soil throughout the whole tank.

I pulled out all of the plants, trimmed off the poor growth, wrapped the healthier portions in moist paper towel, and wrapped in plastic cling wrap. I then vacuumed the top portion of the soil, removing all the gunk, cleaned the glass along with about a 300% water change.

I then bought myself a another Aquael Ultramax 1500 canister, I now have 3 of these filters on the tank. I removed the lily pipes, and set up each canister using the spray bars that came with the filters. The 3 spray bars are set up at the rear of the tank, about in inch or so from the surface, aiming up at about a 45° angle. This is something I thought about doing when I initially set up of the tank.
I have a lot more surface agitation now, and flow rolls from the rear toward the front of the tank.
The 3 sprays bars fit perfectly, covering the entire rear length of the tank.
I let the tank run for 24 hours and adjusted CO2. The following day, I dosed the tank and replanted the plants.

I'm 3 days in since the change, and I'm uncertain whether or not to do another water change at this point?

Is more water changes at this point beneficial, or perhaps detrimental? I'm not sure, and would greatly appreciate advice from experienced folk.

Thank you for reading, and I wish you all a happy new year!