tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51316500975951700582024-02-19T01:49:12.560-08:00Fish, Plants, and HamstersAll about aquascaping, water gardening, and a little bit of hamsters because why not? allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-45717699314385629092015-11-01T22:25:00.000-08:002015-11-01T22:25:35.778-08:00Plants of the Month: September 2015Every month I will be rating the quality of the plants in all my tanks and who is the most valuable plant (MVP) for the month. The criteria are the following:<br />
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1. Are the stems leggy?<br />
2. Are the leaves broad and compact?<br />
3. Is it an algae magnet?<br />
4. are the old/bottom leaves holding up or melting?<br />
5. is the color vibrant? red plants red? purple plants purple? green plants green?<br />
6. any presence of leaf holes or melting anywhere?<br />
7. too much root growth along the stems?<br />
8. is it very invasive in growth pattern?<br />
9. are leaves curling? bottom, new, or all?<br />
10. when trimmed, how many new stalks grow out? or is there no new growth?<br />
11. does it perl during photosynthesis?<br />
12. does it grow thick and lush?<br />
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Ratings will be based on plants performance for the month. For this month, here are the list starting with the best plant.<br />
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<b>1. Alternanthera Reinickii Mini</b><br />
I finally figured out how to make plants such as this to turn red. A combination of iron, traces, and correct light wavelength certain does the job. I never seen this so red before, let alone in my tank! With its color standing out, it earn the right to be the top plant of the month!<br />
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<b>2. Ammannia Sp. Bonsai (Rotala Indica)</b><br />
This to me should have been the winning plant of the month if its tips had turned brown or red. Unfortunately it's a little too green at the moment. Regardless, it has grown compact, thick, vibrant, and organized. This is a plant that must be in any aquascape out there.<br />
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<b>3. Limnophila Hippuroides</b><br />
It does not grow fast compared to other stem plants. But it does not grow slow either. It is a huge plant but not too big for my tank. It will however need to occupy the whole left mound of the tank but that's fine. It's beauty gives it permission to do so. I also like that the older, bottom leaves are not rotting due to lack of light exposure. I've seen this plant look really bad in LFS's where older leaves just melt. The top leaves are growing more compact and purple even. I expect this plant to be the best in the tank someday.<br />
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<b>4. Hydrocotyle Tripartita Japan</b><br />
Many times did I fail in growing this plant. It grows, but look very unhealthy. Leaves curl, too much root growth along the stems, and gets covered by GDA and look like a mess. It's a totally different story this time. It just explodes in growth and very invasive. There are barely any curling leaves and no roots growing along the stems. I think this plant loves a lot of calcium and probably phosphate. The high amount of fertilizer dosing likely help get this plant grow really well this time.<br />
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<b>5. Micranthemum Monte Carlo</b><br />
It has grown to at least an inch thick in just a month. That's a good growth. In my previous tanks, it took me a much longer than that to be able to carpet the whole lawn. This time, it happened probably in just two weeks so this is a progression in terms on growing this plant. I will try to see how thick I can grow this until it starts to kill off bottom leaves.<br />
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<b>6. Eleocharis Sp. Mini</b><br />
It was not in my list of plants to use when I was still shopping for plants. I only noticed and realized that I can probably try this when I saw one. I thought at that time I will buy glosso. Fortunately I changed my mind then and bought this instead. good decision. I now know that this is an easy carpet plant to care for. it also grows thick, lush, and naturally messy. I plan to move this in the new living room tank as its primary carpet plant<br />
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<b>7. Pogostemon Helferi Downoi</b><br />
This plant is the slowest grower in the tank. It grows upwards though so it might not be getting enough CO2. Or maybe the tank is too deep for it? I will try to plant some of these in the new, shallow tank and observe the difference. In any case, I am happy that I'm able to grow these plants without issue. I was concerned from the beginning when I got this plant as it has this reputation of being a difficult plant to grow.<br />
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<b>8. Hygrophila Araguaia</b><br />
I don't have issues with its growth rate or quality. it also crawls nicely and there were no melting leaves at all. Leaves turn dark brown (in a good way) when exposed to red spectrum lights (giesemann super flora). What I don't like is its size and messy growing habit. it is just everywhere and clumping together and sticking as close as it can to the soil. to me, it's an eye sore. Perhaps there's a nice layout that this plant fits in but it's certainly not this tank. So the plan is to move this out and try planting in the other (new) tank soon.<br />
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<b>9. Ludwigia Sp. Guinea</b><br />
This is a beautiful plant. I didn't know this plant before until I found it in when I was shopping for tissue cultured plants. It's a good decision to pick this up. It is not a demanding plant and can grow really good red and green mix in the leaves. It grow very leggy using EVO LED light which was mixed with the T5HO's. Now that I am using T5HO's exclusively, it grows more compact and wider leaves.<br />
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<b>10. Rotala Macrandra</b><br />
It has the reputation as one of the hardest plant to grow but that's not the issue I have with it. In fact I find its growth rate a little too fast. The problem was the quality of growth. It grew "stemmy" and distance between leaf nodes is very high. Leaves are thin and long, a direct contrast to the thick, wide, and short leaves I see on the internet. Color is pale yellow and just a hint of red. I'm suspecting it was due to exposure from Green Element EVO LED light. I was using it along with the T5 light during the first two weeks. It seems that It has very strong PAR and forces the plant to grow too fast while not being able to provide enough CO2. since I removed the LED and increase the distance of T5 from plants to reduce intensity and increase spread, the plant grow more compact and wider and shorter leaves. The color is still yellow though so that's another issue I have to address in the future.<br />
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<b>11. Ludwigia Inclinata Curly</b><br />
There were no issues with growing this plant, but it does not look very attractive to me. I guess this plant is suited for much larger tanks. It has thin, long, and twisted leaves and I'm not sure how to grow them to be more compact. As easy it is to grow them, I will have to remove them to give space to other plants more suited in the tank.<br />
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<b>12. Proserpinaca Palustris</b><br />
I have very high expectation with this plant. It was to me the most beautiful plant among the 12 species in the tank. It grew fast, but the quality is way below what I expected. It suffered with the same "stemmy" issue as rotala macrandra. It is also very green. I only start to see new growth turning orange when I switched the light to Giesemann (super flora and tropic). After trimming, new growth is still slightly green but more compact now. I guess that EVO LED is not really meant to turn plants red... or maybe I'm not using it right.<br />
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allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-69322005087974886242015-09-15T01:31:00.000-07:002015-09-15T01:31:16.969-07:00PPM - Parts Per Million in Planted Tanks - An Idiot's GuidePPM stands for parts per million, or parts per million parts.<br />
It means 1 ppm is one part of a unit per 1 million part of the same unit.<br />
If you substitute "part" with "gram" then you can say one gram of unit per 1 million gram of the same unit - <b>1g/Mg</b><br />
Now you can also translate it into one milligram of unit per 1 thousand gram of the same unit - <b>1mg/kg</b><br />
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It's the same right?<br />
Are you still with me? I hope so.<br />
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In aquarium world we are dealing with volume of water. Fresh water specifically in planted tanks.<br />
We also know that 1L of fresh water is equal to 1Kg of fresh water. Google <a href="https://www.google.com.sg/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=water+density" target="_blank">"Water Density" </a> if you are confused.<br />
Now we can also replace our formula for PPM with fresh water volume<br />
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<b>1mg/Kg = 1mg/L</b> correct?<br />
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Therefore we can conclude that <b>1mg/L = PPM</b> in fresh water planted tanks. Got it?<br />
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Now why does it matter in measuring fertilizers in planted tanks? Because using this unit allows us to specify dosage concentration regardless of the size of our tank.<br />
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Say Monte Carlo plant need 10mg/L of potassium everyday to thrive. Now if a person has 100L tank, you don't have to tell him how much exactly in grams of potassium he needs to dose. He can calculate it himself. for 100L of tank, need to dose 10mG * 100 which is 1g. if the tank size is 50L, then it's 500mg. At the end of the day, the PPM remains the same - 10mg/L. cute?<br />
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I hope this helps.<br />
<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-85790100190265790472015-08-23T18:14:00.001-07:002015-08-23T18:14:13.293-07:00Day 16 "Lullaby": Good Growth, Ammonia Levels Still High<b>Good growth on all plants</b><br />
Light intensity is cranked up on the second week in order to determine which plants require high light and which ones doesn't.<br />
L. guinea, R. macrandra, and P. palustris grew very fast. Their colors are still far from what i expect them to be but that's fine for now. I will deal with quality once everything in the tank is established, hopefully soon. L. guinea and P. palustris are quite leggy, L. Guinea the most. Perhaps these two are best placed in area where there's less light.<br />
Limnophila H. and L. Curly growth is slower than the other three but they look healthy and lush. I guess they belong to high light category and will take note of that when plants are reorganized.<br />
All carpet plants are growing fast. Monte carlo has mostly covered the area it was planted. hairgrass is being hairgrass. I cannot believe I ignored hairgrass for a long time! It seems to be the easiest carpet plant out there to grow.<br />
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<b>Light source to be set to low/medium and will use T5HO</b><br />
I want slow growth. This helps me control the tank much easier. I will also use T5HO because it has the best spread and lower PAR than most LED's. I can also easily choose bulbs with specific wavelength with ease. That's impossible with LED's unless i invest in an expensive one with programmable spectrum, but that's not going to happen.<br />
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<b>Ludwigia Guinea on "Leggy" stems</b><br />
EVO LED is placed on stem plant side while T5x4 is on the carpet side. I noticed L. guinea is growing with long stem length between leaf nodes, "Leggy". This is a sign that it's getting too much light and is stressed. <br />
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So there's two ways I can go from here.<br />
1. Increase CO2 injection.<br />
2. Decrease light intensity on stem plants.<br />
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<b>Increase CO2 injection</b><br />
I'm not sure if injecting more CO2 will make it grow more compact. I don't see trapped bubbles on its leaves during photosynthesis but pearling is not really a good reference to check if a plant is getting enough CO2 or not, I think.<br />
It's placed side by side with Rotala Macrandra and the R. Macranda seems to be doing fine, more compact, and produces a lot of bubbles from pearling so it's hard to say that L. Guinea is not getting enough. Maybe L. Guinea just need a lot more CO2? Do various plant species have different CO2 uptake? It probably depends on their typical growth rate?<br />
My CO2 injection is pretty high already, about 5 bubbles per second. However, how much is actually dissolved and staying long enough in the water for plants to take is unknown. I just "eyeball" the plants right now to see if they are getting enough. Drop checker is green but it's placed below the output lily pipe where CO2 is coming out (I'm using reactor). that I assume is the spot with the least CO2 concentration. Should I even increase CO2 injection for the checker to hit close to yellow and observe L. Guinea's response? It's easy to do now since there's no fish yet but then again, long term, how?<br />
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<b>Decrease light intensity on stem plants</b><br />
I would expect L. Guinea to calm down on growth and be more compact. What about R. Macranda? It seems so happy with the high light. And the Limnophila as well, growing slow and compact with the high light. Will they suffer? I would assume no, but I will definitely observe their reaction. I think the CO2 they are getting is more than enough as they seem to be quite happy right now.<br />
I find lowering light intensity is the better option right now. I don't want the stem plants to be growing too quickly anyway as they will be hard to maintain. Also, fluctuations in other areas will be much harder to handle.<br />
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<b>Plan to transfer hairgrass and Araguaia </b><br />
Tank needs more space for the stem plants to grow so decided to move these two plants out. I reset the "Metaphor" tank for rescape and will move it there.<br />
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<b>To install the second canister filter (Eheim 2213) next week</b><br />
This is the plan from the beginning, to run two canister filters. I will install Seachem Purigen in this filter. It was supposed to be last weekend but had problems with coarse mesh so postponed.<br />
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<b>CO2 injection and Fertilization</b><br />
nutrient dosing has been high from the beginning but this does not show any problems at all. If any, the plants grow very fast with the least amount of melting from transition. CO2 has been fluctuating and is my fault. I have been fiddling around with the controller in finding the most efficient amount to inject. drop checker is always close to dark green so I thought I'm not injecting enough. However, plants are growing and pearling is a lot. I guess if i stick to low/medium light this will not be an issue.<br />
<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-43212084524761263272015-08-23T17:55:00.001-07:002015-08-23T17:55:06.734-07:00Day 188 "Metaphor": Final Day, Shutting downI decided to shut this tank down and do a major "rescape" on it. It's progressing well and was hoping that i'll be able to bring it to its previous lush and green state. However, I end up using the tank to keep my three discus fish temporarily. They were supposed to move to the new "Lullaby" tank but I later changed plans and decided to use that as a "farm" tank for stem plants.<br />
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It was very hard to clean up the tank from algae and bring back the plants in their best shape while keeping up with discus' feeding. The amount of organic matter from fish feces and food left over is just too much to control. The effort is just too much. It seems so much easier to just get rid of the plants and plant new batches. But if I were to do that, I might as well do a "rescape" right? So that's where this idea comes.<br />
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The only regret I have is that I was hoping this will run for a year, as that was the original goal. But it does not mean it's a failure. I learned a lot with this tank, particularly the layout consideration, flow, consistency on everything from nutrients, to CO2, to light. All these knowledge I gathered and i'm now bringing forward with the "lullaby" tank.<br />
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I had a very good start with "lullaby" and at less than two weeks there's an amazing growth and everything seems to be working according to plan. I guess the effort in sterilizing everything and choosing to use the best affordable stuff helps. That said, I will implement the same actions in the "rescape" plan.<br />
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I also have to give up these lovely discus fish. As much as I love them and enjoyed raising them, this is not yet the right time for me to have discus fish. I find it hard to mix discus with a planted tank that you plan on growing challenging plants. The amount of dirt they generate due to their extreme demand from eating is just hard to contain in a planted tank. This makes it very hard for me to control water parameters making the tank less ideal for plant growth.<br />
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The idea of investing on a big tank solely for the discus fish was in my mind but apparently, my wife is not really fond of that. So that plan has to be scratched for now. In any case, it was a short but good experience raising these three beautiful discus and what I learn will surely be handy when the time for keeping discus come.<br />
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So there you go, watch out for the new tank soon!<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-66832961367746510702015-08-15T07:15:00.006-07:002015-08-15T07:16:22.079-07:00Day 1 "Lullaby": It's up and Running!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
The bedroom tank is now operational!</div>
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<b>Here's the list of plants</b></div>
Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo'<br />
Hygrophila 'Araguaia'<br />
Pogostemon Helferi 'Downoi'<br />
Proserpinaca Palustris<br />
Alternanthera Reinickii 'Mini'<br />
Ludwigia Inclinata 'Curly'<br />
Ammannia Sp. Bonsai<br />
Limnophila Hippuroides<br />
Rotala Macrandra<br />
Hydrocotyle Tripartita 'Japan'<br />
Eleocharis Sp. 'Mini'<br />
Ludwigia Sp. Guinea<br />
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CO2 injection is via in-line reactor connected to EHEIM 2215 outlet pipe. It is upgraded to an EHEIM 2217 impeller so it's a little stronger than typical 2215.<br />
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<b>Light Source To Be Replaced</b><br />
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Light is a combination of Green Element EVO LED 3Wx16 7500K-10000K and Odyssea 4x24W T5HO with 6500K and 7500K bulbs. These light sources are temporary only.<br />
I will change it later to a 6 bulb T5HO that is combination of 15000K, 10000K, and 6500K bulbs. I'm looking into Geisemann T5HO's. They have great bulbs for planted tanks with awesome spectrum. I might also use ATI for the purple (15000K) one. Geisemann though has something similar as well and their spectrum look the same. Of course I will lift it up higher than usual as 6 bulbs is obviously too powerful. I just want the spread so 6 bulbs is a good thing.<br />
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<b>Adding a second filter and address the issue on gas exchange</b><br />
I also plan to install another canister filter. I have an EHEIM 2213 which should be fine but it's used in the discus tank right now. I'm thinking of installing an in-line diffuser and inject O2 via aerator which will run during the night. Then my spare lily pipe will be used to add surface agitation. As of the moment, gas exchange is bad. There's literally no surface agitation and this must be addressed soon.<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-22844873010842081622015-08-07T11:58:00.001-07:002015-08-07T12:49:44.310-07:00"Lullaby" Tank Preview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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This is our new bedroom tank! </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wEvl6gLuhoA/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wEvl6gLuhoA?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
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Here's the detail of the new tank called "Lullaby":</div>
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<b>Tank:</b></div>
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ANS OPTICLEAR CUBE 60W</div>
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60x45x45 cm, 8mm Thick</div>
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Crystal Glass, Low-Iron</div>
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<b>Layout:</b></div>
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Iwagumi</div>
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Koke Stones</div>
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<b>Water Conditioning:</b></div>
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EHEIM 2215 Canister Filter</div>
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Ocean Free Surf Clear Surface Skimmer</div>
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<b>CO2:</b></div>
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Leilih 3L CO2 Aluminum Cylinder</div>
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Up-Aqua Dual Gauge Solenoid Regulator</div>
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ISTA Mix Max CO2 Reactor</div>
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<b>Light:</b></div>
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Odyssea Green Element EVO LED 3Wx16 7500K/10000K</div>
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Odyssea QUAD 4x24W T5HO 6500K/7500K</div>
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<b>More Pictures:</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5qHgF44-amgTwNB3WWQTBNBfSa4Pplh3PoMdHv4GFYdtjf13zgcff16duuXuaPQJvxG_x2kt3sMSRkNAHylypTkKPgNBlguQLzeLhmbIG4KjLUAzfbUzYfHkbe2yeaR9-n_s0AGCwZr1/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5qHgF44-amgTwNB3WWQTBNBfSa4Pplh3PoMdHv4GFYdtjf13zgcff16duuXuaPQJvxG_x2kt3sMSRkNAHylypTkKPgNBlguQLzeLhmbIG4KjLUAzfbUzYfHkbe2yeaR9-n_s0AGCwZr1/s320/011.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfV58Czid6ZVTM795KbngMZksj4FrZPnKyA8_N_-0IgtolAavJT-cukTTZVlFOaSlvsKcxKKGRGG01i4f5DW0Xubm2ZnM9mB0bXbNLngXtC363gK1V3BwsvJ83JRAaVfGySvVfECXGepz/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAfV58Czid6ZVTM795KbngMZksj4FrZPnKyA8_N_-0IgtolAavJT-cukTTZVlFOaSlvsKcxKKGRGG01i4f5DW0Xubm2ZnM9mB0bXbNLngXtC363gK1V3BwsvJ83JRAaVfGySvVfECXGepz/s320/021.JPG" width="240" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh62U5Es090ZJN_I7LkGp34guI8LXZ1ZUKD9lapsHJLtjVpKdTPtvr3hHJVwCcO5e5hAd2jDYm4qxPdaxkWpfU05MYGWU8mswDXSzolwTSsGwl8YiRFYPcdkrGURY5NMH1yUrXhpJ23rBtU/s1600/022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh62U5Es090ZJN_I7LkGp34guI8LXZ1ZUKD9lapsHJLtjVpKdTPtvr3hHJVwCcO5e5hAd2jDYm4qxPdaxkWpfU05MYGWU8mswDXSzolwTSsGwl8YiRFYPcdkrGURY5NMH1yUrXhpJ23rBtU/s320/022.JPG" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-AfVRx-L30CY1SA7xlP-KdRTEKjU7hnG6ZDtdRZrNuHBTbN5QxQkSuH7wwZths07-Q9OkqQruYINYWnn930zIxXTEN49hDBccXEViro4XN-7CnheKokuJroi2oft7IBfJIqOmnNwabNd/s1600/020.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6-AfVRx-L30CY1SA7xlP-KdRTEKjU7hnG6ZDtdRZrNuHBTbN5QxQkSuH7wwZths07-Q9OkqQruYINYWnn930zIxXTEN49hDBccXEViro4XN-7CnheKokuJroi2oft7IBfJIqOmnNwabNd/s320/020.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-88380789486025722182015-08-03T05:14:00.001-07:002015-08-03T05:16:52.381-07:00Day 168 "Metaphor": Blyxa Japonica Removed, Ludwigia Red Added, Monte Carlo Recovering Nicely<b><br /></b>
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<b>Phosphates </b><br />
I continue to dose high amounts of KH2PO4 but test kit shows I'm still shows 0.5 mg/L at best. There's been consistent improvement with plants so that's good. Maybe I should consider reducing it next week, probably around 10-15 mg/L.<br />
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<b>Trace and Iron Dosing</b><br />
I measured Fe before dosing anything in one afternoon and I got 0 mg/L. Then I dosed 4 drops of Rexolin APN liquid which is approximately 0.2mg/L of its powder form. With that dosage, I should get at least 0.1 mg/L if my bottle concentration is 100g/120mL. I measured and indeed found 0.1 mg/L! It might be true after all that the concentration of this bottle is as accurate as it says.<br />
However, when I dosed 0.4 mg/L, I'm able to measure only 0.1 mg/L in the tank. Is the soil absorbing excess Fe to limit it to 0.1 mg/L just like phosphates being limited to 0.5 mg/L?<br />
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<b>Monte Carlo</b><br />
Monte Carlo carpet has gone through major trimming last week. I left the back lawn untouched. It is growing well without a problem. After a week it grew nicely. It's still a few more weeks to go before the lawn gets thick and lush but it's on its way there. No more new growth in bad shape.<br />
There's very few older leaves that melted but it's not so bad, still will keep a look at them. Some very old leaves are not as healthy. Their color is dark green. Are they just really healthy? Were they covered by top leaves and are deprived of light? Are they covered by GSA? Not sure... Any ways, here are some pictures.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfql9MwIu2O38dinwXGXaSX_mj-8dsCOqVYNjnmg9fFFP6NpYT2SuO7lm2k9LEroU89E9so9pd5IrcdWzD8_1YDY-jUlAAt-ka1YBHFZQSRlhbSL9T4V9MS1M2GBAwij3hGVAc20abNEH/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixfql9MwIu2O38dinwXGXaSX_mj-8dsCOqVYNjnmg9fFFP6NpYT2SuO7lm2k9LEroU89E9so9pd5IrcdWzD8_1YDY-jUlAAt-ka1YBHFZQSRlhbSL9T4V9MS1M2GBAwij3hGVAc20abNEH/s400/012.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Middle front starting to grow nicely</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaDMPvh0qJKw6mc0xlvGku0-RTq15fKqgJaWFN10ulJGUQKToYjT2t9JTi1to4S0FLZI1ohYHq0HElLgS5JaSi5Igd4CCuJtxiVIPjqDWuJZfybOphNQn_QJZj5MDKTSq8ANyskNaN8I4/s1600/044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyaDMPvh0qJKw6mc0xlvGku0-RTq15fKqgJaWFN10ulJGUQKToYjT2t9JTi1to4S0FLZI1ohYHq0HElLgS5JaSi5Igd4CCuJtxiVIPjqDWuJZfybOphNQn_QJZj5MDKTSq8ANyskNaN8I4/s400/044.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Right front corner growing nicely as well</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back lawn spreading</td></tr>
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<b>Ammannia Bonsai</b><br />
Not sure what happened in this plant. There were 4 original stalks planted. About a week or more It has established itself and growth is slow but good. Then I trimmed and replant. Now, all trimmings are gone, and the original 4 are dying... it's in the corner of the tank with poor circulation and CO2 so there's that.<br />
What's interesting is I planted one stalk from the original pack in the Discus (Low-tech) tank. It's growing fine but very slow. I rather not touch it though.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheo1Lh8UxtmbGA7Yw4RDnbeMLZucoQIBa3kSwTnA6sqSnx4pwiq15oBu83Hoii8OH8LNGkIEkzpH9PKp0T8LQoYgL-XkR1GKS6ceIiX5Yki8s0x51mkwJ6m4KB0BZ00_JuV1pbilyKVNBM/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheo1Lh8UxtmbGA7Yw4RDnbeMLZucoQIBa3kSwTnA6sqSnx4pwiq15oBu83Hoii8OH8LNGkIEkzpH9PKp0T8LQoYgL-XkR1GKS6ceIiX5Yki8s0x51mkwJ6m4KB0BZ00_JuV1pbilyKVNBM/s400/021.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ammannia Bonsai melted for some reason so I put some MC trimmings in their spot instead</td></tr>
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<b>Blyxa Japonica Removed</b><br />
As planned, I removed this plant in order to give room for Staurogyne Repens and AR mini. Those two are the plants that I'm not able to grow consistently nice. This time, I'm placing them in the best spot to grow.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQjCUVNXxyzyA2U2zuNjJxnY5o0OgJVTqBLIr6Ns9DaNTbTXvy2GVGPy87Tc-AZs5Xs4YKT17w2VW7NZEguOkCWIz2bVe6AhWqUv8NEc18YI0KB0DlsorIm_tNJQgek40OW7K3hVZ6Lrr/s1600/039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiQjCUVNXxyzyA2U2zuNjJxnY5o0OgJVTqBLIr6Ns9DaNTbTXvy2GVGPy87Tc-AZs5Xs4YKT17w2VW7NZEguOkCWIz2bVe6AhWqUv8NEc18YI0KB0DlsorIm_tNJQgek40OW7K3hVZ6Lrr/s400/039.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>Ludwigia Red Added</b><br />
These are trimmings from my an old plant in the Discus (Low-tech) tank. It's in bad shape and I'm hoping it recovers here and grow well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyMD67ZBH6_LX2y6QhpPY3uQQ6HGBWTlScQBzpUmKzsYm-VS0_RYPqm1TRqwQYnVNXk88CpTS7EYX_hLqUMCwU7WeC8Pa6mn9zDzAjlDFNbNsJERk017oE9jRODlIQOk_T-GOyoZdE19C/s1600/038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgyMD67ZBH6_LX2y6QhpPY3uQQ6HGBWTlScQBzpUmKzsYm-VS0_RYPqm1TRqwQYnVNXk88CpTS7EYX_hLqUMCwU7WeC8Pa6mn9zDzAjlDFNbNsJERk017oE9jRODlIQOk_T-GOyoZdE19C/s400/038.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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And finally, the tank's latest shot...<br />
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allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-23767162528551867452015-07-27T18:01:00.001-07:002015-07-27T18:02:28.000-07:00Day 161 "Metaphor": Good Days Ahead<b>Increasing Trace, Now Using Rexolin APN</b><br />
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Half way through last week I continue to see poor health on new leaves in Monte Carlo, despite the increase in Fe dosage and dosing frequency. So I decided to start increasing trace dosage as well.</div>
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Using Rexolin APN, I start dosing at around 0.2 to 0.4 grams per day until the end of the week. It seems a lot but I just want to saturate to make sure we are not limiting this nutrient. I didn't notice any negative effect though.<br />
In fact, I start to see improvement in Monte Carlo. New growth are now in good shape. The new leaves are much more green now and the leaves are bigger than usual. This is a good thing.<br />
I will continue to dose more trace next week. I will also keep Iron at the same dosage as last week to ensure we are not limiting this nutrient as well.<br />
Even Blyxa Japonica is a lot more green now. It's new leaves look thicker than before and they pearled a lot like I never seen before so obviously we're doing something right here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYae-A-zdeKfUnNWwm7Qt3XzUwLuhH9vmRccn6ATY9-Z9RCrjQrUEj9HlZQyXEu8FVwoFuiOQz03bKSaVGTmVpGOGGDEPTIYssvKSOkuJbU96Ri3huN4WQkkLWi-81EoS3DLrUPKqpnW0b/s1600/008+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYae-A-zdeKfUnNWwm7Qt3XzUwLuhH9vmRccn6ATY9-Z9RCrjQrUEj9HlZQyXEu8FVwoFuiOQz03bKSaVGTmVpGOGGDEPTIYssvKSOkuJbU96Ri3huN4WQkkLWi-81EoS3DLrUPKqpnW0b/s400/008+-+Copy.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monte Carlo Growh at Middle Back Area of the Tank</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOAk6eYYRsTBLAlyiPwdJjeKVcvR22Sp4uz7l2KPbQeGwcPLkmqA-wsA-KsWhNH0RPcRcD6eEAghzK2PxK4PU1bJ3b2E0pyfP8KuCFzODntN8NxAjMwAi8qpO0wMppM0GWQ8rasY4YKWn/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOAk6eYYRsTBLAlyiPwdJjeKVcvR22Sp4uz7l2KPbQeGwcPLkmqA-wsA-KsWhNH0RPcRcD6eEAghzK2PxK4PU1bJ3b2E0pyfP8KuCFzODntN8NxAjMwAi8qpO0wMppM0GWQ8rasY4YKWn/s400/012.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Shot of Monte Carlo at the Back Area</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRYCHgdfZm2ny9Lv_wMuURNfWv7kzEeU6HkkAIQnl4FP8_iSoGwH-HB42MQ6bbeYYEjJYOIyHeKimva3e8S5L9f0dbtosWL6cCVrZBr8yx_ygRiBPv2EmxBg2URqFqZz8W3yzIHex3bWYk/s1600/013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRYCHgdfZm2ny9Lv_wMuURNfWv7kzEeU6HkkAIQnl4FP8_iSoGwH-HB42MQ6bbeYYEjJYOIyHeKimva3e8S5L9f0dbtosWL6cCVrZBr8yx_ygRiBPv2EmxBg2URqFqZz8W3yzIHex3bWYk/s400/013.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monte Carlo Front Lawn is Trimmed to Allow New and Healthy Growth</td></tr>
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<b>Increased Phosphates Dosing Continued...</b><br />
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The aquasoil kept buffering it down to 0.5 ppm so that's good. It means I can just keep "overdosing". I don't see any negative effect on plants nor algae bloom trigger.<br />
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<b>Dosing Summary From Last Week</b><br />
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Below are the dosing total (in mg/L) from last week. That's a ton of phosphates and Iron right? It's fine. there were no algae's at all. not a single BBA. Not a stain of green on the glass walls.<br />
Nitrate is naturally high on the tank so don't need to dose any. I will continue to monitor it however because if nitrate bottoms out it will affect plant growth significantly<br />
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<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 104px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 1792; mso-width-source: userset; width: 37pt;" width="49"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 2011; mso-width-source: userset; width: 41pt;" width="55"></col>
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<td class="xl81" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.NO3</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">6.140</td>
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<td class="xl81" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.PO4</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">22.373</td>
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<td class="xl81" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.K</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">46.979</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Fe</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">3.635</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Ca</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">4.982</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Mg</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">1.500</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Cu</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.026</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Mn</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.275</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.B</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.109</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Zn</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.133</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.dGH</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">1.032</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Co</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.004</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Mo</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.025</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Na</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.020</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.Cl</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">0.177</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49">.S</td>
<td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55">9.951</td>
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<td class="xl80" height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 37pt;" width="49"><br /></td><td class="xl81" style="width: 41pt;" width="55"><br /></td></tr>
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<b>Replanting Staurogyne Repens</b></div>
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Since increasing phosphate and iron dosing I see improvement in these plants. New leaves look healthy and green. It used to be that "burns" appear all of a sudden on middle leaves but I don't see any melting ones like that anymore.</div>
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However, older leaves that were already suffering from GSA long before increasing phosphates and iron continue to be covered by GSA. This make the plants look unsightly and gives a false impression that they are still suffering from nutrient deficiency. They are also likely to remain this way and die off eventually. </div>
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So the best option is to pull out the plants, remove all infected leaves and replant them. But the long term plan is to remove Blyxa Japonica in the tank and move Staurogyne Repens to their spot.<br />
I intended to do all these this weekend during maintenance but decided to hold off this plan for now.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0XVsrpHtDNpBHUYJxXoOATS_WXpLQbpq_u7Y3X68CuzMyRxBOHJC_Tmfh9BotWw3IHi6em5h0pY-2yWUgkf2rKfSw0VJV2Q2Uv-sEdbUM4r1NwOacNu1ErAxT83z7VY-q1B9WLXno1XR/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii0XVsrpHtDNpBHUYJxXoOATS_WXpLQbpq_u7Y3X68CuzMyRxBOHJC_Tmfh9BotWw3IHi6em5h0pY-2yWUgkf2rKfSw0VJV2Q2Uv-sEdbUM4r1NwOacNu1ErAxT83z7VY-q1B9WLXno1XR/s400/017.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Staurogyne Repens Getting Better But Older Leaves are Still in Poor State</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQfLYIEAfzru1f9wAPZ5SjAeY_2mbKeN1V8N4eEs3LWMZQjsu_8fJz1LmzCf79Gqs4B2pAvPXKYCWsypdSOncy9k8yrlGv93g1NsoPO598lMlxVtzKuBvjdc2ZOMOEjWFZHJ9_onZawec/s1600/016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiQfLYIEAfzru1f9wAPZ5SjAeY_2mbKeN1V8N4eEs3LWMZQjsu_8fJz1LmzCf79Gqs4B2pAvPXKYCWsypdSOncy9k8yrlGv93g1NsoPO598lMlxVtzKuBvjdc2ZOMOEjWFZHJ9_onZawec/s320/016.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>New Filter Outlet Pipe</b></div>
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This is not just for aesthetics. I find this design is the best outlet lily pipe for canister filters with in-line CO2 Reactor. It has minimum resistance to flow and the opening mouth does not twirl the water coming out so much. It also points downward so CO2 gets dispersed far and low reaching the carpet plants conveniently. </div>
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allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-20712680705253588422015-07-21T01:10:00.001-07:002015-07-21T17:59:11.876-07:00Day 154 "Metaphor": Pearl Weed Replanted and New Plant Added<b>Pearlweed Replanted (Not By Choice)</b><br />
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Accident. I pulled a few stalks off the soil at the back during maintenance. No way to push their root down the soil because that spot is surrounded by rocks that are almost sticking to the glass wall so I leave them be. Since the plants are still attached to neighboring plants it didn't float. However, they melt in time and eventually lifted up. When I tried to pull them out for replanting, the rest of the plants got pulled as well. They are all connected through main stem and roots at the bottom.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizk6qHyN6b8XEKYJdEZcnFQYpOhQe6AOdaZUAFLpR1Ffhyphenhyphen_ypMVBxmEe14JQRBB_jBjVl4tldcp03Op7OM9TqoEvYRfhagJPyX1g7Pz_tHpBRrM79vXWxfCV6FGI9-B4MADxZwAbR0fbH6/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizk6qHyN6b8XEKYJdEZcnFQYpOhQe6AOdaZUAFLpR1Ffhyphenhyphen_ypMVBxmEe14JQRBB_jBjVl4tldcp03Op7OM9TqoEvYRfhagJPyX1g7Pz_tHpBRrM79vXWxfCV6FGI9-B4MADxZwAbR0fbH6/s400/003.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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So here's the side of the tank with newly planted pearl weed.<br />
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<b>Ammania Bonsai, New Plant</b><br />
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Added this a couple of weeks ago. The picture is not the best out there but then again It isn't really in best shape yet so let's just wait until they grow before we take a more professional shot on them.<br />
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<b>Installed Seachem Purigen in Canister Filter</b><br />
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After replacing the impeller, I also put in Seachem Purigen (in a bag) inside the canister. I heard so much good things about this product but have yet to use one so this is a chance. So far it does not affecte the nitrate levels in the tank. After water change, nitrate was at 0 ppm but it went up to its normal level of 20-40 ppm the next day. I don't really see any difference in water clarity but then again prior to using this, the clarity has been absolutely pristine often times specially after water change. I hope it improves on controlling the amount of organic matter in the tank though, stuff that you won't normally see.<br />
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<b>Pumping Iron This Week</b><br />
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Plants' response on increased phosphate dosing is positive. Growth rate has increased in monte carlo and all the plants just look a lot green than before. What I noticed now is that several new leaves of monte carlo are transparent and melting so it could be suffering from iron deficiency this time. It might also be trace issue but let's figure this out one nutrient at a time. This week, I will be dosing Seachem Flourish iron at more than twice the amount I was dosing and will do it everyday as well. Target is around 5 ppm total for the week.<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-27529454390609348502015-07-19T05:17:00.002-07:002015-07-19T05:17:07.845-07:00Day 152 "Metaphor": Addressing Nutrient Deficiencies<br />
<b>Dealing with Phosphate Deficiency</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Staurogyne Repens with unhealthy leaves at middle node</td></tr>
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Over the last couple of weeks I increased my phosphate dosing to 20+ppm. I significant jump compared to my previous dosing amount of 4-5 ppm. This is in response to the long ignored issues such as GSA and instantly melting leaves in staurogyne repens, melting and slow growth on monte carlo, and iron deficiency like symptoms on AR mini.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visible GSA covering most of the old leaves</td></tr>
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I am dosing KH2PO4 on daily basis to ensure there's enough on water column all the time. I have to dose 4+ppm everyday just to keep up with the 0.25-0.5ppm amount on water column. At first it's strange that the plants seem to absorb too much but then I realized ADA aquasoil is likely to be absorbing most of them. That's fine because I read somewhere before that phosphates are best absorbed by plants through roots (I need to confirm this later).<br />
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Perhaps in time when there's enough phosphates in the soil, it's not going to absorb too much any more so I can dial it down a bit. I just need to keep taking measurements on a weekly basis to monitor the tank's uptake.<br />
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I will keep up with this because I start to see huge improvement on monte carlo. It's a lot greener now and the stems look firm. Growth's been fantastic too!<br />
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As for Staurogyne repens, I see improvement but GSA is still on older leaves. Some leaves in the middle of the stalks are still suffering from holes and instant melting but it's not a lot, at least compared to when I was dosing much less phosphates. This might be due to other deficiency which I am also addressing at the moment.<br />
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<b>Iron Deficiency in Alternanthera Reineckii Mini</b><br />
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I am using Seachem Flourish Iron as Iron fertilizer and dosing it 3 times a week at minimum suggested level via EI method. Bad idea. Flourish Iron is based on gluconate as chelating agent and iron gets consumed or precipitate in just a matter of minutes after it's dosed in the water column. It is suggested that when using Flourish Iron, it's best to dose it daily to ensure its available for plants most of the time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Alternanthera Reineckii Mini New Leaves Melting</span></span></td></tr>
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I've been dosing a total of 1.5 ppm Iron per week using Seachem Flourish Iron liquid fertilizer. I stagger it every other day. This week I triple the dose and dose it everyday instead. Flourish Iron uses gluconate as chelating agent and it does make iron get consumed quickly by plants or precipitate in a matter of minutes. Not dosing it frequently may leave plants without Iron supply for a period of time.<br />
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In any case, I managed to get EDTA and DTPA Iron powders and will use these in future. Those chelators will keep iron longer in the tank and I will probably be able to measure its uptake.<br />
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As for the plants, staurogyne repens improved after increasing phosphate dosing but certain problems remain. as I mentioned before, older leaves still suffer from GSA and some leaves in the middle stems still suffer from holes. It will probably get better in time and it may not be iron deficiency at all but it probably won't hurt to increase iron dosing.<br />
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AR mini shows the most obvious iron deficiency symptoms. Just a few days ago, It's middle and older leaves improved and it appears more red. But new leaves are melting like crazy. This is after increased phosphate dosing for a few weeks.<br />
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Although monte carlo has improved significantly, I still notice a few new stems and leaves melting and this maybe due to iron deficiency as well. However, this may also be due to magnesium deficiency.<br />
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<b>General Hardness: Magnesium and Calcium are "Secondary Macros"</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monte Carlo with a few new leaves melting </td></tr>
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Although water hardness is at 5 dGH, there may not be enough magnesium. I have no way to measure this so I'm going with a guess if either magnesium or calcium is lacking in the water. In any case, I haven't been dosing Seachem Equilibrium in the tank for several months. This would have probably addressed this issue so last week I dropped at least 8g of Equilibrium and my GH jumped to 8. Is there improvement with the plants? Yes, but I can't tell its because of magnesium and calcium from Equilibrium that caused it. Note that I am also dosing increased amount of phosphates and iron at this stage.<br />
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<b>Potassium</b><br />
Do I need to worry about this? Since I started increasing phosphate dosage I also increased K. I'm dosing at 40 to 50+ppm per week now. Unfortunately I have no test kit to measure the tank's uptake but I think it's something I should worry about. Experts claim it's fine to have a lot of K floating around the tank and with a weekly water change, you always keep it under control.<br />
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In any case, we still see some leaves at the middle of the stems in staurogyne repens melting and having holes so it's best to have enough potassium floating around the tank all the time.<br />
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<b>Nitrates</b><br />
Now this is the one I have abundance in the tank. I always have 40+ ppm floating around that last week I dosed only a total of 2 ppm. This week I won't even bother to dose any but I need to keep measuring to ensure there's enough in the tank for plants to take.<br />
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<b>Algae? What algae?</b><br />
With all the fuzz about over abundance of fertilizers in tank will cause algae bloom, I think it's all hogwash. After increasing dosage levels on all nutrients, there's been no sign of algae of any kind in the my tank. In fact, water's quality has never been this better. I might be saying things too soon so we'll in a few more weeks...<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-29998068828922814432015-07-10T10:33:00.002-07:002015-07-23T00:19:36.314-07:00Yet Another IKEA DIY Aquarium Cabinet/Stand. Now with Light Hanging Stand!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I'm setting up a new aquarium in our bedroom. This time it's a 60x45x45cm tank so slightly wider and taller than my last one. </div>
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Fortunately, there's a perfect IKEA cabinet that fits this tank size, as shown below</div>
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<a href="http://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/20165170/" target="_blank">Ikea STUVA White Frame 60x50x64cm</a></div>
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This time around I installed a light hanging stand to make it ADA inspired. An electrical conduit (EMT) is my first choice of material but here in Singapore, I failed to find a source. Then I found this in Ikea</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9NatSgApjlAxjFjhnZJ99xxrClJVOmp3QE7CM4NZSgYR4fPru0msSGpdJeJJQI6v4XIPzCAB-NxtDjSW3bNHWnzZ-Br8kPKl9xieKALKmFk5TBsMGb9iXljap4XUaK8xL-nXIBantEkQY/s1600/mulig-clothes-rack-white__0111585_PE262444_S4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9NatSgApjlAxjFjhnZJ99xxrClJVOmp3QE7CM4NZSgYR4fPru0msSGpdJeJJQI6v4XIPzCAB-NxtDjSW3bNHWnzZ-Br8kPKl9xieKALKmFk5TBsMGb9iXljap4XUaK8xL-nXIBantEkQY/s320/mulig-clothes-rack-white__0111585_PE262444_S4.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/80179433/" target="_blank">MULIG White Clothes Rack</a></div>
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So I dismantle this rack and cut the top tube in the middle to make it look like this</div>
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Here's what the final product look like:<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-6461685248260691422015-07-09T08:32:00.002-07:002015-07-10T10:34:43.346-07:00Day 142 "Metaphor": It's Been A Long Time!Well it's been a while since my last update. But hey it's better late than never! Anyway, from now on I will be posting updates more frequently. So here are the latest images of the tank. A lot has changed...<br />
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<b>AR Mini replaced by pearlweed</b><br />
Pearlweed grows fast but i don't mind. I find them one of the best plants for "scaping" due to their ability to grow thick, compact, and lush in a very short time. It's also nice that the lower part of the plant does not melt in time - either due to high light or pearlweed just don't need much light source. Other stems plants like rotala rotundifulia and Luwigia sp. red has their bottom part melting in time, at least from my experience.<br />
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<b>Blyxa Japonica is getting a lot of attention</b><br />
Every time I posted images of this tank in a social network or planted tank community, the first question i'm ask is "What is that plant to the right?". If I'm one of those that saw the pictures, I will probably ask the same question. I didn't intend for this plant to look this way, but it did. Blyxa Japonica is a plant I don't see often used by professionals. But I think it has a lot of potential for creativity.<br />
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<b>Do I need to dose more potassium?</b><br />
I have been dosing less than 20ppm of potassium in this tank since the beginning. Plants such as hydrocotyle tripartita and staurogyne repens were struggling to grow from the start. I had to remove almost all of the hydrocotyle tripartita because it looked really bad. Then last week I started to dose more than twice as much potassium as I do, and immediately I noticed staurogyne repens looking really green and lush. I'm starting to suspect that I've been depriving these plants of potassium all along. I will continue to dose potassium at more than 40 ppm a week and see if these plants will rebound.<br />
Pearlweed and blyxa were fine though. I guess they are more into nitrates than potassium and this tank never had nitrate deficiency so that probably explains that.<br />
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<b>One dwarf puffer for all the snails in the world.</b><br />
At one point the tank is infested by limpet and ramshorn snails. they populate very fast. adding one fresh water dwarf puffer fish solved this problem. I never seen the fish hunt or eat one but since it has been introduced, the population has dwindled drastically. At this point, I cannot see any of them any more. It used to be that they crawl all over the glass and scatter their eggs everywhere. Unfortunately one day I saw the puffer fish on the floor. I didn't know it can jump as well. It was probably spooked. I'm pretty sure there's still a small population of these snails hiding in the soil and will soon wreak havok again sometime, but i'll be sure to get another dwarf puffer when that happens.<br />
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<b>BBA vs. Excel: Excel Wins!</b><br />
BBA got a little bit out of control at one point but thanks to Seachem Flourish Excel, they are gone now. Every week, before I do water change, I spot dose any BBA i see in the tank. Then I leave it for 15 minutes before I start draining the water. It worked, their reproduction rate decreased greatly. Now I only see 1 or 2 small clumps sticking in the rocks every time I do water change. In time, I don't expect to see any.<br />
I also installed a small pump to improve water flow in the tank. That might have helped reduce presence of BBA as well because I notice they either grow in a dead spot or in an extremely high current area in the tank like outlet pipe opening.<br />
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<b>Monte Carlo is still in progress</b><br />
It has finally exploded in growth over the last few weeks. It filled the front lawn and required me to trim so as not to let the bottom area to melt. The back lawn and the sides still need some growth though before it can fully fill the whole tank. I hope it happens soon. It's been a long time!<br />
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So in summary, things are getting better. It still has a long way to go before it reaches the goal I have in mind for it but it's in the right direction. I'm considering to add a new plant to make the right side more natural and put a little balance on that side. I'm thinking of ammania sp. bonsai. From here on, I will try to be post updates more frequently.<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-41466902074142301622015-03-30T18:05:00.002-07:002015-03-30T18:06:05.306-07:00Day 54, "Metaphor": Siamese Algae Eaters Take Down Green AlgaeIt's been a while since my last update. A lot has changed since. After the diatom stage, green algae started to infest the tank so I introduced Siamese Algae Eaters to combat them.<br />
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Here's a summary of changes that occurred since the last update.</div>
<ul>
<li>Siamese algae eaters introduced</li>
<li>Minor rearrangement on equipment</li>
<li>New light fixture</li>
<li>Added more Amano Shrimps</li>
<li>Introduced Siamese Algae Eaters </li>
<li>Brazilian Pennywort is replaced by Pearl Weed</li>
<li>Althernanthera reinikki mini needed major trim</li>
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<b>Siamese Algae Eaters Loves Green Algae</b><br />
Once the diatoms die down, green algae started taking over the tank. I ignored it for a while as they slowly cover the rock surfaces. Then they started getting very thick and hairy along the rocks and glass walls become unsightly as they started covering them too, so I added 3 new SAE's and they clean them all up in a day.<br />
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<b>Inlet/Outlet pipes relocated to improve water flow</b><br />
I rearranged the equipment in the tank to optimize space. If you compare the picture below from my previous posts, you will notice the differences.<br />
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So the following were the changes:<br />
<ul>
<li>Filter inlet/outlet pipes were move to the back. I was able to do this now because I replaced the inlet strainer with a smaller one. This allow me to push the pipes back without hitting the rocks and soil mound.</li>
<li>Surface skimmer is moved to the other side. The small current it produce help the flow around the tank.</li>
<li>CO2 drop checker is moved into the spot where inlet/outlet pipes were previously located</li>
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<b>Odyssea QUAD 60-80cm 4x24W T5HO with LED "moon light" </b><br />
I replaced the light set with a new fixture. It features 4x24W 6500K T5HO bulbs with blue LED's for "moon light" option. Every pair of bulb has its own ballast and power plug so I can control each pair's lighting schedule, The LED moon light option is also powered by a separate DC adapter so can also have its own lighting schedule.<br />
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This is the lighting (and CO2) schedule now:<br />
1st Pair: 1PM to 10PM<br />
2nd Pair: 3PM to 11PM<br />
LED: 10PM to 7AM<br />
CO2: 11AM to 9PM<br />
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The light starts and ends at lower intensity but peaks in the middle of the day until evening. Moonlight then starts at night until the next morning.<br />
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I also replaced 2 of the bulbs with 7500K 24W to provide a wider range of spectrum. The performance is great. Light intensity is very obvious and I can see the althernanthera reinikki mini with stronger red coloration.<br />
The plants reacted positively with the new light as well. Over the last couple of days since I installed it, they "pearl" like I never seen before. It's like there's a stream of air stone injecting gas all over the tank. Below is the video of pearling in action.<br />
From here on, I will be dosing fertilizers at maximum rate in order to keep up with light and CO2 supply.<br />
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<b>More Amano Shrimps.</b><br />
To strengthen the numbers of my clean up crew, I added 9 new Yamato shrimps, also known as Amano shrimp. They are great scavengers and very good competition against otocinclus with regards to eating algae. They are also hardy. The downside is that they may occasionally jump out of the tank if they are not happy or threatened and that happened to me before!<br />
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<b>Hemianthus micranthemoides (Pearl Weed) replaced Brazilian Pennywort</b><br />
As much as i love brazilian pennywort, it has to go. The leaves are just too big to fit into the aquascape. Too bad they are perfect place for shrimps to hang out. It is replaced by pearl weed, which has very small leaves and compliments well with monte carlo.<br />
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<b>4 weeks in and Althernanthera reinikki mini</b> <b>met my expectation.</b><br />
It is very beautiful. None of them that I planted actually died, The leaves are big, smooth, and wide. The stems are stiff and roots are not messed up. It is a strong contrast in my experience with AR roseafolia. Unfortunately, with the build up of green algae, it covered some of this plants leaves. So I decided it's the perfect time to trim them. After a few weeks, I expect the growth to be more compact and smaller leaves.<br />
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<b>Casualties...</b><br />
Borneo sucker didn't last long. It died a couple of days after It was introduced in the tank. It is known to be very sensitive and prefer a river stream type of water, meaning high current. My tank has very gentle water movement so it's not the best environment for it. I guess I won't ever get this fish again. Too bad they are really gorgeous.<br />
A total of 4 ember tetras died as well since a few days after they were introduced. I'll take it as that they just didn't acclimate well in the tank. Water parameters are fine and the rest are swimming and eating fine. In any case, I will continue to monitor water condition to ensure they are in a habitat ideal for them.<br />
Two of the amano shrimps also died just a few days after they were introduced. These shrimps are typically caught in the wild and due to the amount of stress they go through upon reaching our tanks, it's not surprising that some of them die. In general, they are hardy shrimps and can live for a very long time once they acclimate in the tank.<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-61816418366828879472015-03-05T08:49:00.000-08:002015-03-05T08:49:55.306-08:00Day 28, "Metaphor": Otocinclus In, Diatoms Out<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgaysIL0ynSOVdILXF7BTLmK6BPLQvk-UJXZXiadc0UFyB1WmmXcQeOQ9NnRDlLegI40EKr_ZE53jDGpEBGkw-trBraI0K6WDiJS_t57EwV99MQq1hxO51pryXopk0LHIIMmFooxRU5U4/s1600/011.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgaysIL0ynSOVdILXF7BTLmK6BPLQvk-UJXZXiadc0UFyB1WmmXcQeOQ9NnRDlLegI40EKr_ZE53jDGpEBGkw-trBraI0K6WDiJS_t57EwV99MQq1hxO51pryXopk0LHIIMmFooxRU5U4/s1600/011.JPG" height="220" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYGQU7v-2eI6jDeF0V9_-ehyphenhyphenqVCMiWiWp3ubfoLz-UPf_bpgi542Qb8WjsbuciIRrGP-NR-aqsSg3CXf-J-wWoH7wA8bWOn_mEWsy_0cpQVbnD9qwchg7wRMymz1rkBxby6KAYzZbIgbP/s1600/016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYGQU7v-2eI6jDeF0V9_-ehyphenhyphenqVCMiWiWp3ubfoLz-UPf_bpgi542Qb8WjsbuciIRrGP-NR-aqsSg3CXf-J-wWoH7wA8bWOn_mEWsy_0cpQVbnD9qwchg7wRMymz1rkBxby6KAYzZbIgbP/s1600/016.JPG" height="178" width="320" /></a><b>Water Parameters (4-March-2015)</b><br />
Ammonia: 0 ppm<br />
Nitrite: 0 ppm<br />
Nitrate: 0 ppm<br />
pH: 6 pH<br />
KH: 1 dKH<br />
GH: 5 dGH<br />
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<b>Otocinclus</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_qaG9RvXXLKcRw0ZXqCIynoIFmHaeVzRXulRy0B0QPEfcy9R3RNO1Mltuuc_4ErGHw70p1kkCrmPtJLltz6v6Tl4KEKzIZv-Af6H5_QOrcz0e4n2LdVGHs0AVF66wyVZ1tNmrTElZttv/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH_qaG9RvXXLKcRw0ZXqCIynoIFmHaeVzRXulRy0B0QPEfcy9R3RNO1Mltuuc_4ErGHw70p1kkCrmPtJLltz6v6Tl4KEKzIZv-Af6H5_QOrcz0e4n2LdVGHs0AVF66wyVZ1tNmrTElZttv/s1600/012.JPG" height="221" width="400" /></a>Latest water parameters show it's now safe to add livestock so last week, I added 12 otocinclus fish to<br />
combat diatom infestation. They never disappoint. The tank has been suffering from diatom infestation for days and they can be seen building up on rocks, plant leaves, and glass walls. Once the "otto's" are in, about 90% of diatoms were gone the next day. And as of the moment I can barely see them, except on some plant leaves which I believe will also be gone in a few days.<br />
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<b>Fire Red Shrimps</b></div>
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I offered to give away some of the plants from my old tank and one of the fellow hobbyists who took it passed me some of these shrimps so it was a good deed.</div>
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They are now in the tank and doing well except for one that died the next day. I guess it was just not able to acclimate itself. The rest of them are fine though.</div>
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<b>Diatoms</b><br />
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I know there's still a lot of silica and imbalance in the tank for diatoms to continue to flourish but with otocinclus fish in place, they will be under control from now on. Regular water change will still be on schedule but I will do it once a week from now on unless I see a huge build up of algae or spike in ammonia.<br />
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<b>Hemianthus Callitrichoides "Cuba"</b></div>
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Compared to monte carlo, this plant's growth is extremely slow. I'm not surprised. I did not intend to keep this plant as my tank is not setup for it. I'm not using a chiller to keep temperature at 25C or below and i will not spend hundreds of dollars for an equipment just to accommodate this plant. Maybe in future, when i decide to use this as my main carpet plant on a new tank setup.<br />
I can either keep this for now or just replace it with monte carlo. I'm leaning with replacing it as the monte carlo on other parts of the tank has grown considerably well already. Also, my old tank still keeps a thick carpet of monte carlo so it's probably a good idea to pull out some of it and move to this tank. I'll decide in a few weeks.<br />
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<b>Ember Tetra, Gold Tetra</b><br />
I want small schooling fishes. They create an illusion that the tank is big. I also prefer tetras, as they are amazingly beautiful. I choose Ember Tetra and Gold Tetra and there are now a total of 50 of them in the tank.<br />
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<b>Yamato Shrimps, Borneo Sucker</b><br />
I also added 4 yamato shrimps to complete my army of maintenance crew. While I was purchasing the shrimps I come across this fancy looking fish called Borneo Sucker. It's a type of pleco but with a unique looking mouth. I bought one and put in the tank as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh84R58jYzPs6q1L0NVTT_xtOvED8yWcRDmExIPpioX6xYPL1YoZlHrQLGyLdCuAoz0sY7RSvRiVv-JTXm6-RXgUnFRN6TJPMgue4VqCqciVmnSx8nbx6z8hCtqQJBYMaPr_cphpQdQuMU_/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh84R58jYzPs6q1L0NVTT_xtOvED8yWcRDmExIPpioX6xYPL1YoZlHrQLGyLdCuAoz0sY7RSvRiVv-JTXm6-RXgUnFRN6TJPMgue4VqCqciVmnSx8nbx6z8hCtqQJBYMaPr_cphpQdQuMU_/s1600/008.JPG" height="221" width="400" /></a><b>Hydrocotyle Tripartita, Blyxa Japonica, and Brazilian Pennywort</b><br />
It looks like a mess now due to diatoms but it's growing a few leaves everyday. I have to trim some of them during water change to keep them spread out.<br />
The brazilian pennywort has established itself. However, as planned, I will soon replace it with pearlweed because the plant looks out of place in the aquascape.<br />
Blyxa, just like tripartita looks like a mess too due to diatoms. But I'm not worried about these plants. They will be fine in time.<br />
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<b>Staurogyne Repens, New Plant</b><br />
I took a few trimmings from the old tank and plant them here. I will added a few more stalks in the next water change. These are one of my favorite plants. Unfortunately, I was not able to grow this properly in my old tank. I hope I can be more successful this time.<br />
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<b>Bugs</b><br />
I think they are cope-pods. They jump around very quickly on the glass walls particularly the area where there's build-up of green algae. I'm leaving them for now as they are harmless. They are feeds for fishes though.<br />
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<b>CO2 Drop Checker Liquid Indicator turning clear</b><br />
Well, I since replaced the liquid indicator and since then, the color has not turned clear. It seems that the problem will remain a mystery. It just got fixed on its own. Anyway, it's a minor thing so we'll see if this problem happens again. In the mean time, case closed.<br />
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I'm getting a new light set and hopefully I will have it installed before the next update. That's it for now. I'm happy with the progress so far and it's all coming along now. Just a few more weeks and the tank is expected to stabilize.<br />
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allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-51343489491712371622015-02-25T17:10:00.000-08:002015-02-25T17:10:02.104-08:00Day 19, "Metaphor": As usual, diatoms.Here's a quick update on the tank :)<br />
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As expected, diatoms started building up and covering most of the glass, rocks, leaves and soil surface so I make sure to keep up with water changes every 3 days. Latest tests show a much lower ammonia levels and nitrate is building up.<br />
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Ammonia: 0.5 ppm<br />
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm<br />
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cfT8FaQ7PWYVws13nlgzs2igtEe8F415mepy0pZpV8Xna_qB3NjRNdItUKY9Vt0tUP1B-QaCV6JSZT-vwCnOBmyyLfrfc9u1j5VPyBY5jpApVgBimesq8Lh2pg8-5_mgTrFPifJQ6leb/s1600/IMG_0846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6cfT8FaQ7PWYVws13nlgzs2igtEe8F415mepy0pZpV8Xna_qB3NjRNdItUKY9Vt0tUP1B-QaCV6JSZT-vwCnOBmyyLfrfc9u1j5VPyBY5jpApVgBimesq8Lh2pg8-5_mgTrFPifJQ6leb/s1600/IMG_0846.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a>There had been noticeable growth on all plants and most of them have established already, specially alternanthera reineckii mini which has very visible roots in the soil. New leaf nodes are present as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQuVgFV3W0UarLblkqNkk3aQAJNXSWf48SsYnWlWITo_X2_vxQmt5lr3gIiW6w8Diq1VeSzWAui0vkaReoy5wtIHbD3oFH8E6_xx2t8SMulFCVq3okhB5akShem2C1r2BWjiyPq6yGpJN/s1600/IMG_0847.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQuVgFV3W0UarLblkqNkk3aQAJNXSWf48SsYnWlWITo_X2_vxQmt5lr3gIiW6w8Diq1VeSzWAui0vkaReoy5wtIHbD3oFH8E6_xx2t8SMulFCVq3okhB5akShem2C1r2BWjiyPq6yGpJN/s1600/IMG_0847.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
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Blyxa japonica has a lot of new leaves but the older ones are melting so I trimmed it. Monte carlo and HC had a few trims as well. Plants are pearling actively specially after the latest trim and water changes.<br />
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Although the brazilian pennywort grows nicely, It does not seem to fit in the scape. It looks out of place so I plan on replacing them with pearl weed.<br />
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<b><b>New Equipment - Ocean Free Surface Skimmer</b></b><br />
As advised by a fellow hobbyist, I installed a surface skimmer. It's an Ocean Free brand that looks like Eheim 350 Surface Skimmer, but a lot cheaper and in my opinion looks nicer. It's performance is great so far and has kept the water surface clean all the time. Its water pump also add water flow allowing me to remove the wave maker.<br />
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<b>CO2 Drop Checker Issue Is still a mystery</b><br />
I mentioned about my issue with the drop checker last week that the liquid indicator turns clear in a few days. I pulled it out of the tank and have it exposed in the air hoping that its color will turn blue. It did not, so I can conclude that the loss of color is not due to too much CO2. so i'm down with two possible cause and what should I do to confirm this:<br />
1. liquid indicator is expired or defective - I will try another brand or stock<br />
2. Drop checker has a leak, mixing aquarium water onto the liquid indicator - I installed the checker back into the tank with fresh indicator and solution. I also installed another checker that is known good (from my other tank) and place it beside the other one in the same tank. I will observe both their indicator's color in the next few days.<br />
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<b>Bugs</b><br />
I noticed some small and very fast crawling bugs lurking around the glass. I cannot identify them as they are too tiny. Unfortunately I don't have a good camera powerful enough to take a good picture of them. Anyways, I'll ignore them for now and I expect them to be handled by the fishes (specially SAE's) once they are introduced in the tank. That will be next week, hopefully when ammonia is gone.<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-75464360676092845602015-02-16T04:56:00.000-08:002015-02-16T04:56:34.248-08:00Day 9, "Metaphor": It's up and running!It's finally up and running for more than a week now. Plants have been placed just a few days ago. It's looking good and my family is so happy with it. Folks who have seen the pictures gave positive feedback as well.<br />
Although it took me a while to setup, the experience was such a great feeling. Now it's time to enjoy it and let it grow.<br />
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As for the plants, I'm still planning to add more. I really want to put staurogyne repens but my stock is not very healthy right now. As for where I want to place it, probably in the corner where the brazilian pennywort is located at the moment.<br />
I also want to add more hydrocotyle tripartita. I love this plant despite that fact that it gave me headache in my previous tank. I hope that it does well in here though.<br />
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I summarized the details of this tank if anyone who is interested to know.<br />
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<b>Materials:</b><br />
ADA Amazonia Aquasoil, 9L<br />
Dragon Stones, 13kg<br />
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<b>Equipment:</b><br />
Eheim Classic 2215<br />
ISTA CO2 Reactor<br />
3L Iron CO2 Cylinder<br />
Dual Gauge Solenoid Type Regulator<br />
Crystal Glass, Low-Iron, 6mm, 60x30x36cm Tank<br />
HOPAR 4x24W T5HO Light Fixture with 6500K, 7500K, and 12000K Bulbs (only 3 bulbs used)<br />
ANS Glass CO2 Drop Checker Set<br />
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<b>Plants:</b><br />
Hemianthus "Monte Carlo"<br />
Hemianthus Callitrichoides "Cuba"<br />
Hydrocotyle Tripartita "Japanese Pennywort"<br />
Hydrocotyle Leucocephala "Brazilian Pennywort"<br />
Blyxa Japonica<br />
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<b>Water Parameters (14-Feb-2015):</b><br />
PH: 6.0 pH<br />
Nitrate: 0.0 ppm<br />
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm<br />
Ammonia: 2.0 ppm<br />
Phosphate: 0.0 ppm<br />
General Hardness: 3 dGH<br />
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The setting up was not as smooth as everyone thought it would. Below are the current issues I need to resolve.<br />
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<b>CO2 drop checker liquid indicator turning transaperent</b><br />
I noticed during the last water change that the liquid indicator of CO2 drop checker turned transparent. I thought it just got contaminated due to the activities I've been doing in the tank since it's setup so I decided to just replace it. It was fine the next day but since then it turned transparent again and have no idea why this is happening right now.<br />
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Although this drop checker is new to me, I already had it installed for several weeks when I started cycling and testing the tank and it was fine all along. Could this be caused by a leak? I remember a week ago when I saw it sitting on the rock because it fell off from the glass due unsecured placement. But if this is the case, the crack should be very visible but I don't notice anything with it visually. In any case,<br />
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I will observe this. If I have to buy a second one which I will be using on another tank I'm planning to setup, then I will do so.<br />
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<b>Ammonia is very high right now (2ppm)</b><br />
I expect this. ADA soil will leak ammonia in the water column in it's early phase. What I need to do is to keep up with water changes regularly until the biological filter develop and stabilize the nitrate content in the water column. I'm surprised though, that it's at 2 ppm right now as I never seen a tank with that high ammonia levels. But this is the first time that I used an ADA soil so I guess it's good to know.<br />
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<b>Wavemaker is blowing water too strong</b><br />
This is the weakest wavemaker that I could find, yet it's still strong enough to mess up the soil mound in the opposite corner of the tank. I should have resolved this way before I placed the plants in the tank but now it's too late. At the moment it's turned off until I figure out a way to solve this. The left corner has a pretty stagnant water flow right now.<br />
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<b>Need to install a surface skimmer</b><br />
This is the one equipment I have yet to use in my previous tank. I believe this will help a lot as I noticed the constant build-up of debris in the water surface and can really prevent light to reach the plants. I'm leaning towards getting the Eheim surface skimmer. My concern is it's size. Will it fit into the right corner of the tank and replace the wavemaker? How strong is it's motor? Is it strong enough to cause water agitation on the left corner of the tank but not enough to mess up the soil mound?<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-36330813576998014712015-02-09T07:39:00.003-08:002015-02-09T07:40:21.255-08:00Tank Pearling Action!<div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.0300006866455px;">This is one of my old and currently running tank. I kinda neglected it over the last few weeks. CO2 injection was week for several days and nitrates were down to 5ppm as well. This resulted in plants melting. Staurogyne repens and rotala indica where the hardest hit.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.0300006866455px;">After fixing it over the weekend, CO2 is at peak again and nitrate is back at 50-80ppm. Now you can see the smile on the plants again.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 17.0300006866455px;">Water is actually crystal clear but in the video you may see a lot of floating particles. They are actually oxygen bubbles coming out of the plants. An obvious sign that they are happy :)</span></span></div>
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-37215294272184947622015-02-06T06:59:00.002-08:002015-02-06T07:03:53.830-08:00Preview, "Metaphor": Layout Complete<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Today I added the ADA amazonia powder to top the soil off. The small sized soil creates an illusion that makes the tank look bigger than it actually is. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCXNutxE4HjMgRP0QUyvYyTHfPGLAu5G9KXNcv8wjiqubkvdyBSNCtDGRXLFP2WGRVApgV203PIrP4zUcvrlOE5i6PtWtFka2IbHT-chz_SvhlzEsvyx-87BEeUrI9fPuUeMQ1-piU8DB/s1600/023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvCXNutxE4HjMgRP0QUyvYyTHfPGLAu5G9KXNcv8wjiqubkvdyBSNCtDGRXLFP2WGRVApgV203PIrP4zUcvrlOE5i6PtWtFka2IbHT-chz_SvhlzEsvyx-87BEeUrI9fPuUeMQ1-piU8DB/s1600/023.JPG" height="221" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">By the way, the soil I used is all ADA amazonia normal type. I just use a strainer to separate the fine particles. I yield about 35% of the pack with the powder particles. This is a lot cheaper than actually buying the ADA amazonia powder type pack.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #404040; line-height: 18.2000007629395px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Next stop, fill it up with water and start running the filter!</span></span></div>
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-37109399810285773272015-02-03T07:51:00.001-08:002015-02-03T07:53:17.353-08:00Preview, "Metaphor": New tank in our living roomIt's been more than two months since I come up with the idea of a new tank for our living room area, and the setup is almost complete!<br />
Here's a sneak peak of the tank, full with rocks and soil<br />
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All I need to do now is add the powder type soil and the tank is ready to be planted and fill in with water. I just need to view this for a couple of days before I added the powder type soil because once they are in the tank, there's no way of changing the layout any more.</div>
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Here are the specifics of this tank by the way:</div>
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<b>Tank: </b>Crystal Glass, Low Iron, 60x30x36 cm</div>
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<b>Cabinet/Stand: </b>Ikea Stuva (reinforced)</div>
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<b>Filter:</b> Eheim 2215</div>
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<b>CO2 System:</b> 3L Cylinder, Dual Gauge Solenoid Regulator</div>
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<b>CO2 Distribution: </b>ISTA CO2 Reactor</div>
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<b>Light: </b>Hopar 4x24W T5HO</div>
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As for the plants, I have yet to decide which ones but I have a list already. I don't plan on putting plants that I have no experience of handling though. </div>
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As for the fish, the two red diamond discus in my other tank will be moved here along with the SAE's and otocinclus.</div>
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Fortunately, there are nice looking cabinets from Ikea that are very affordable and fits a 60x30x36cm tank perfectly such as <a href="http://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/S89887072/">Stuva</a>. However, We all know that Ikea is not the most durable furniture brands out there and certainly not reliable to hold an aquarium tank that can weight more than 100 kilograms!</div>
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However, we can always reinforce a cabinet to make strong enough to hold such weight such as what I did with the <a href="http://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/S89887072/">Stuva</a>. As shown below, using 1x2 inch solid wood planks (I used 30 feet of "Kapok" beams) which costs 6 SGD for every 10 feet here in Singapore.</div>
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The cabinet and its legs cost about 35 SGD while the solid wood planks, metal braces, and screws are around 55 SGD. I can now sit or even stand on it without feeling any wiggle at all. I happen to have an Ikea glass door from our old cabinets and it fits this cabinet perfectly.</div>
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A new <a href="http://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/30277884/">door (Besta)</a> of this size costs around 20 SGD.</div>
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Here is a closer look at the interior:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Used a metal bracket from an old Ikea cabinet to secure into the wall</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cute Ikea legs and color caps can be replaced</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fit the vertical beams to make room for the door hinge</td></tr>
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So there you have it! This cabinet is now worthy of an ADA 60-P tank!</div>
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allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-36799172883636758412014-12-14T22:42:00.000-08:002014-12-25T01:48:54.956-08:00Day 42: Low-Tech TankGreen spot algae is now under control. There's still a lot at the floor but they did not return back in the glass walls after I scrubbed them last week. a 40% water change has been done earlier today as well.<br />
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Other than that, not much has happened, except for the addition of a new plant.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR8EwIbdl1aC-dfWvFg8YYWr2BTZcw960PDBBhRqOiVk8PL56Di3W2QtW3RR9630g2PhY-qd14CbvCsGNWRA-GlaO0StEBdElB51IZ1IDoIWOIHJ55TuoEWsRxgfgiCSd70yO1NaF7upcB/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a>Another hobbyist is rescaping his tank and decided to not use his existing blyxa plant so he offered to sell it. I got a ton for two dollars so it was a very good deal. However, it was filled with BBA's and possibly snail eggs so I had it dipped in Flourish Excel for several hours before planting it in both low and high-tech tank.<br />
I doesn't look very healthy though but not sure if It's because I stressed it out from dipping in Excel. If it thrives in the high-tech tank then it is not due to Excel.<br />
Anyways, after a day in the low-tech tank, it looks like it's starting to melt. I hope it's just try to adjust to the water parameters.<br />
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<b><i>Staurogyne Repens and Alternanthera Reineckii Roseafolia</i></b><br />
They are finally out of the tank. The large soil pot it was previously planted is removed. The soil is now used on the hanging pot holding blyxa japonica.<br />
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<b><i>Ammannia praetermissa and Ludwigia Glandulosa</i></b><br />
These plants are not growing in this tank but they are not suffering at all. They are very demanding plants and is generally challenging to maintain their red coloration but I'm happy enough that they are not melting in this tank.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZD8uB0FlxeHZlcuHZmUIMjf6IZdRF9RGdhyrPqWUfd9gRLtpjALk2vswE6bNkIM3epcUeUsVbYPbB2pn6WMsrSuH6E203TiRWI4MajgO9amWMcE1DukHYXEQiWbAOStSXt5WzHrONXGe/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZD8uB0FlxeHZlcuHZmUIMjf6IZdRF9RGdhyrPqWUfd9gRLtpjALk2vswE6bNkIM3epcUeUsVbYPbB2pn6WMsrSuH6E203TiRWI4MajgO9amWMcE1DukHYXEQiWbAOStSXt5WzHrONXGe/s1600/003.JPG" height="225" width="400" /></a><b><i>Bacopa Caroliniana, Hygrophila Polysperma, Hygrophila Difformis, and Rotala Indica</i></b><br />
These easy growing stem plants are thriving well and may need trimming this week. Bacopa is about to hit the surface and its stem shoots have grown out of the pot. Water wisteria keep<br />
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<b><i>Hydrocotyle Leucocephala</i></b><br />
This plant is struggling in this tank. It's growing very slow and the new leaves are small. The older leaves are covered by green spot algae. It does thrive very well in a high-tech tank and is probably the healthiest plant in my high-tech tank right now.<br />
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<b><i>Christmas Moss and Java Moss</i></b><br />
As usual, doing their own thing and growing very slow.<br />
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<b><i>Hydrocotyle Tripartita</i></b><br />
It's growing slowly but steady. A few leaves were covered by green spot algae but nothing serious. This plant finally took off in the high-tech tank and is very lush and thick already.<br />
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<b><i><br /></i></b>allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-13116603160221988422014-12-07T04:57:00.002-08:002014-12-07T04:57:56.744-08:00Day 35: Low-tech TankIt's been a challenging week for this tank. Green spot algae has invaded it and spread not just on the glass walls but also on leaves of brazilian pennywort, hydrocotyle tripartita, and bacopa caroliniana. Only a few leaves were affected so I hope it does not get any worse.<br />
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Nitrate levels reached a high of more than 80 ppm last week but dosing some phosphorus probably helped by allowing plants to take up most of it. Today it measured at 10 ppm only.<br />
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<b>Staurogyne repens</b> melted away. Only a few stump of it were left. There are small leaves left over but I don't expect it to survive. It is supposed to be fine in a non-CO2 tank but perhaps, the high temperature caused it to melt.<br />
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<b>Hydrocotyle tripartita </b>continue to do well except for those that were planted beside staurogyne repens, which melted away. Could it be that they are too far from the light? those that are hanging at the middle of the tank continues to do well except for a few older leaves that are starting to get covered by green spot algae. The rest of the leaves are slightly covered by diatoms but in time I expect it to get better.<br />
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<b>Water wisteria</b> continues to do well too. It has grown thick and lush but it keeps growing horizontally. I always thought it will grow vertically on a low-light tank but I was wrong.<br />
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<b>Hygrophila Polysperma </b>has acclimated. I remember this stalk as the last remaining one in the high-tech tank several weeks ago when I was battling with nutrient deficiency at that time. This plant has no leaves at the bottom because it melted away. I threw this stalk in this tank and let it just float around until I found a pot to plant it in. It was a good decision as you can see how pretty it is now. It took sometime before it adjust to this tank but now it looks so healthy. I can try to cut and replant the new stems this week as I would like this to propagate.<br />
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<b>Rotala indica</b> also took a while to establish it self in this tank but it finally start growing fast. I may need to trim it as well this week to encourage growth.<br />
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<b>Christmas moss</b> looks almost exactly the same as it was when it was first planted. It's not dying but it's growth rate is just extremely slow. I'm not surprised as this tank is running at 28 to 32C.<br />
<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-17884559742660928412014-11-23T23:13:00.000-08:002014-11-23T23:13:34.379-08:00Day 24: Low-Tech Tank<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The tank looks very nice today after water change. I also performed maintenance on the canister filter's tubing.<br />
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Prior to water change, pH is at 6.0 and nitrate is more than 40.0 ppm. Ammonia is 0.0 ppm so parameters are fine. The water change will put nitrate under control. A couple more weeks and there should enough bacteria to take control of the nitrate. <br />
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<b><i>Hygrophila Difformis (Water Wisteria)</i></b><br />
It's growing slower than in a high light, CO2 injected tank. It looks vibrant and compact though. I thought that in a low light environment, this will grow more upwards but it doesn't look like it. The biggest stem is propagating horizontally and new roots are growing.<br />
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the other 2 stems remained small. I'm not sure if the big one is keeping the these two from growing.<br />
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<b><i>Hydroctyle Tripartita (Pennywort))</i></b><br />
More leaves and stems. I started replanting some of them on the soil pot where monte carlo was planted before.<br />
The plant looks so healthy showing it really thrives in a low-tech tank.<br />
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<b><i>Ammannia Praetermissa</i></b><br />
New addition to the tank. This is said to be one of the most difficult stem plants to care for so I don't expect much from it in a low-tech tank. More stems were planted in the high-tech tank though.<br />
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<b><i>Rummy Nose Tetra and Yamato Shrimp</i></b><br />
I got 2 of these tetras and 2 yamato shrimps from another hobbyist that is giving up this livestock. Unfortunately the shrimps jumped out of the tank on their first night. I found one of them and got it back in the tank but the other one was never to be found.<br />
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<b><i>Bacopa Caroliniana and Brazilian Pennywort</i></b><br />
Both continue to grow. The bacopa stems in the soil pot started growing new stems.<br />
Brazilian pennywort has new leaves as well.<br />
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<b><i>Java Moss</i></b><br />
I noticed that they are being eaten by the large siamese algae eaters so I move the 3 fishes on the high-tech tank. These plants are growing slowly and nicely though.<br />
The ones in the driftwood has gone through trimming.<br />
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<b><i>Christmas Moss</i></b><br />
There are new leaves but the growth is way more slower than java moss. I'm not surprised as this type of moss is a slow grower and without high lighting, CO2, and at 30-32C, this is expected to even grow slower. The next few months will be colder here in Singapore (25-32C) so that's a good thing.<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-81450683395275089202014-11-17T00:13:00.000-08:002014-11-17T00:29:04.032-08:00Day 17: Low-Tech TankEverything is going well in this tank and water is at 6.4 pH after 50% water change.<br />
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<b><i>Bacopa Caroliniana</i></b></div>
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They continue to grow well but the tips are starting to turn pale red. Growth is also compact but all the stems are growing side ways probably due to high water current.</div>
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<b><i>Hydrocotyle leucocephala (Brazilian Pennywort)</i></b></div>
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This is one of the new plants added this week. I intend to collect different types of pennywort or hydrocotyle as they are my favorite plant species. Initially, their leaves melted but has recovered since and growing new leaves. They smell like tobacco by the way.</div>
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<b><i>Hemianthus micranthemoides (Pearlweed)</i></b></div>
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Another plant that has been added this week but it suffered major meltdown and at this point most of its leaves are gone. I thought SAE's were eating it but I later realized that they were only cleaning it up of algae but the leaves just took off because they have melted already. I start to notice new leaves growing though so I will leave it to its own business and hope that it grows back eventually.</div>
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<b><i>Hydrocotyle Tripartita (Pennywort)</i></b></div>
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This plant just took off! It has more than double the leaves now since I planted it in this tank. I might start planting some of its leaves in a bigger pot soon.</div>
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<b><i>Ludwigia Glandulosa</i></b></div>
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This was originally planted in the high-tech tank and it grew fast and beautiful. However, I noticed that this plant seems to be very greedy in nutrients and its roots are extremely dense. I'm now going to try if this will grow just as beautiful in a low-tech tank.</div>
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<b><i>Staurogyne Repens and Monte Carlo</i></b></div>
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these plants do not seem to be thriving in this tank. I lost a few leaves on staurogyne repens and monte carlo had few dead ones already. I might start sending monte carlo back to the high-tech tank.</div>
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<b><i>Hygrophila polysperma and Rotala Indica</i></b></div>
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These are cuttings from high-tech tank. I expect these plants to thrive here since they are considered to be "easy" plants. Let's see how they do here.</div>
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5131650097595170058.post-8616719973525854242014-11-09T09:17:00.000-08:002014-11-17T00:14:58.553-08:00Day 9: Low-Tech Tank<br />
It's been more than a week since we setup this tank and there had been a lot of new plants. I'll update each plant below.<br />
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<i><b>Bacopa Caroliniana</b></i><br />
Roots on both soil and "floating" pot are getting thick now.<br />
New leaves on both pots and stems between leaf nodes are short which probably due to slow growth, which is a good thing.<br />
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<i><b>Java Moss</b></i><br />
I got a big tub of loose java moss a week ago from a neighbour who is also into planted tank hobby and I tied it up from a lava rock and a drift wood as shown in the images above.<br />
There's still a lot remaining and I placed it in a plastic strainer and let it float on top of the tank.<br />
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<i><b>Christmas Moss</b></i><br />
There's no significant growth that can be observe in this plant yet but that's expected.<br />
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<i><b>Water Wisteria</b></i><br />
Three cuttings from the main tank were planted in a soil pot. It immediately established itself and new leaves start popping out in just a few days.<br />
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<b><i>Staurogyne repens and monte carlo</i></b><br />
These are also cuttings from main tank and I would like to see how they will thrive in a low-tech tank. They are planted on GEX soil as well just like wisteria and bacopa caroliniana.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJrWfSD7f-W0YpkjzLxmX9gsCyFMpkDWuzbUEbqa011qS114vct73qteL5ga8UEroGOv-_QBnMW90qGIobImxsVDog4ZJX2NOb87Cmj_H4AfboOCR9Pc8_eo6s4bFrlTIzr60_vtXLArA/s1600/046.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOJrWfSD7f-W0YpkjzLxmX9gsCyFMpkDWuzbUEbqa011qS114vct73qteL5ga8UEroGOv-_QBnMW90qGIobImxsVDog4ZJX2NOb87Cmj_H4AfboOCR9Pc8_eo6s4bFrlTIzr60_vtXLArA/s1600/046.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<b><i>Hydrocotyle Tripartita (Pennywort)</i></b><br />
This is my favorite plant.<br />
It's been in the main tank for several weeks but has struggled to established itself there due to nutrient imbalance and poor water quality. I've been putting a lot of effort to improve the main tank by dosing fertilizers and frequent water changes. However, I decided to transfer some cuttings in the low-tech tank to see if this plant will thrive.<br />
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<br />allanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12129201496821618382noreply@blogger.com0