Journal Joel Armstrong - My journey

Colours have picked up a bit since increasing the ferts.. some plants still look like rubbish though.. the sub change, and waiting for it to mature seems to affect plant health quite a bit, unless I'm missing something... patience, patience and more patience 🙏
 
Yugang said:
That is then pretty attractive shit :) From what I see, it looks really good.
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GreggZ said:
Agreed sometimes we are own worst critic. Many would love to reach that level.
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Thanks I appreciate it, although some easy plants are still not growing too well. There has been some improvement over the last couple weeks though.

I'd like to fully understand what's happening in the sub as it matures. As I understand, the bacteria that develops help to promote root growth, but are there any other changes happening in the tank as the bacteria develops, affecting plant growth?
 
Joel Armstrong said:
Thanks I appreciate it, although some easy plants are still not growing too well. There has been some improvement over the last couple weeks though.

I'd like to fully understand what's happening in the sub as it matures. As I understand, the bacteria that develops help to promote root growth, but are there any other changes happening in the tank as the bacteria develops, affecting plant growth?
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I know in terrestrial ecosystems there is a complex microbiological web in soils with bacteria, fungi, and and plant roots. I would guess it's the same in our tanks.

All I know is my tank couldn't grow a thing for like 8 months after setting it up, and now it is pretty much on autopilot. I changed a lot of things, but I'm not whether anything contributed to the tanks' success other than allowing the tank to mature.
 
gjcarew said:
I know in terrestrial ecosystems there is a complex microbiological web in soils with bacteria, fungi, and and plant roots. I would guess it's the same in our tanks.

All I know is my tank couldn't grow a thing for like 8 months after setting it up, and now it is pretty much on autopilot. I changed a lot of things, but I'm not whether anything contributed to the tanks' success other than allowing the tank to mature.
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Thank you, I greatly appreciate your response. It's the answer I was hoping for. Your comment makes sense.

Cheers
 
Joel Armstrong said:
So, I've been using 'clay breaker' as CaS04. Apparently calcium sulphate for the gardening industry.. been using it for almost 9 months!
Could explain a few issues I've had.
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Could be! Based a quick google looks there is sand and calcium carbonate in clay breaker and it’s a slow release type thing. Well at least the one product I looked as was. Might explain your dissolving issues you mentioned.
 
FrankZ said:
Could be! Based a quick google looks there is sand and calcium carbonate in clay breaker and it’s a slow release type thing. Well at least the one product I looked as was. Might explain your dissolving issues you mentioned.
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Yeah, not too happy about it, a lesson learned I guess.

I had no idea that what I had ordered as CaS04 was in fact this clay breaker rubbish!

Probably explains a persistent diatom plague when I was using ADA soil.
 
Joel Armstrong said:
Probably explains a persistent diatom plague when I was using ADA soil.
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Absofreakinlutely, that stuff probably has silicates for real and no telling what else

And damn what a perplexing problem that was, lol. I know I was perplexed! Cant imagine actually dealing with it that long
 
Its been a bit over month using calcium sulphate instead of the damn "clay breaker".. quite embarrassing that was to be honest.
Still a few filamentous diatoms hanging about, which I'm really sick of actually, but it's not as bad as it was.
My ludwigia super red continuously loses its bottom leaves and struggle to grow. I never had an issue with this plant using ADA soil.
I'm not sure if I should have attempted the inert substrate, being somewhat newer to the hobby, or perhaps I'm just impatient.
It's been about 6 months since I swapped to inert substrate. I've seen 'some' improvement in plant growth, but still having issues, like the diatoms and several species just not doing too well.
Do I just need to wait for the substrate to mature further? 20240715_191439.jpg
 
With the inert substrate you may have to give them a bit more juice. Are they getting enough light as well? I’ll be honest, my 2 month old tank plants look a bit less happy than my mature 120. I chalk it up to tank maturity. Double check the CO2 and maybe consider more juice and light. What are your numbers? I just recently said screw and do 30/10/40 and just try focusing on CO2 and light.
 
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