I can't seem to grow anything (except algae!)

[Lee_k]

I'm running a aquasky 2.0 33w on my tank - handy app to control it and makes the timer and ramp up / down of power easy!

[Stephen]

Great, I'll probably go for this one then: https://www.amazon.co.uk/NICREW-Classic ... 081C31P5W/
whitte+blue is what my existing light is, and aside form being a bit dim I'm pretty happy with the colour.
That one is rated at 40w which is not much more than my existing one but I figure if it is too dim I can pair it with the existing one

As a disclaimer just remember getting a better light isn’t THE fix, it’s just part of it, as uncle Ben once said “with great power(ful light) comes great responsibility (to also provide ferts and enough co2)”

Indeed, better lighting is one of a number of steps I'm planning to take

Plants require white (daylight), red and minimal blue light for photosynthesis, white & blue light must be controllable, too much blue then you are inviting algae, although some experts will dismiss this as a myth.
Green light is not important to plants but important to us humans to see the fish & plants at their best.
Plain white LED is lacking in the red spectrum for plant photosynthesis.
Most white lights (bulbs/LEDs) lack red/blue by default. This causes tanks to look washed out but with the addition of red/blue/green makes the aquarium look good (to us).
Getting the light spectrum correct can be expensive but there are budget light systems that will do the job and grow plants.
As long as the lighting is not too intense then this will help keep algae at bay.

All the best

[Stephen]

Many thanks @Stephen !
In regards to the filters, If I where to remove one what's the best way to go about that? My concern with removing one would be that it might the tank through a partial cycle and having done this before with my ill faited CO2 experiments it's not something I want to have happen again!
I'll order a couple of spray bar kits, that way if I end up keeping both filters on the tank I have spray bars for both, if not I have a spare

In regards to positioning of the spray bar, would you recommend having the spray pointed downward or up at the surface? I have seen both approaches before but have never been sure which is better

I never considered having too much plant substrate could be a problem, it's unfortunately a bit late to change that now so I'll have to work with what I have, I will try and shift the sand so I have deeper sand on the left side though (That or I will order a little bit more sand and add some additional sand to that side)

As for plants, AG has always been my go to supplier so I'll stick with them, thanks for the recommendations on plants, that gives me a good starting point on what to look at to start filling the gaps

I'll Swap the fertiliser for something nitrate and phosphate free, in regards to liquid carbon have you had any issues with leaf damage? I have read it can be a problem with liquid carbon on some plant family's and certainly noticed more holes in plant leaves when I tried using it before (But that may be because I was looking for them more)

And yep the filters are still the Eheim Pro 4+ 600's, the media in them is the ceramic's and foams out the two Fluval filters they replaced

Do you still have the media that came with the Eheims?
Can you please describe what media is in each of the four media trays of each external filter?
What media and how full is each tray.
tray 1 (bottom tray), tray 2, tray 3 and tray 4 (top tray) as in the pic below.
(click to enlarge)


Thanks

In regards to positioning of the spray bar, would you recommend having the spray pointed downward or up at the surface? I have seen both approaches before but have never been sure which is better

I currently have my spray bars positioned facing upwards so that the returning water breaks the water surface and therefore creating aeration.
It does not matter if the spray bar is pointing downwards or at a slight angle pointing upwards as you are only returning clean filtered water but in my case I am also creating aeration which is important.
On my new 120L aquarium I have the return pointing downwards (to create water and plant movement), I also have an air pump to create the aeration. Aeration is important for the fish.

All the best

[fr499y]

As said, the APS lights are brilliant. Take a look at my 'back to basics' tank log for proof of how well they do. They are 7500k white ( which contains more blue spectrum than say 5600k white )
so do tend to bring out the colour of fish and plants really well. I seriously can't fault them for the cost.

My shrimp tank uses a DIY 'full spectrum' style light with red/blue and white but doesn't actually perform any better with the red/blue than without.

[max1zzz]

Do you still have the media that came with the Eheims?
Can you please describe what media is in each of the four media trays of each external filter?
What media and how full is each tray.
tray 1 (bottom tray), tray 2, tray 3 and tray 4 (top tray) as in the pic below.
(click to enlarge)

Yes and no, some of it is in the filters, some of it is in other filters and some of it (The plastic media form the bottom two baskets) was chucked
Just had a look in filter 1 as I wasn't sure of it's setup, the are both as follows:
Filter 1:
(1) Foam (medium - from the old 305 or 406)
(2) Foam (same as basket 1)
(3) Mix of ceramic rings and eheim BioMech
(4) Mix of ceramic rings and eheim BioMech

Filter 2:
(1) Foam (Medium - from the old 305 or 406)
(2) eheim BioMech (Mixed with a small number of ceramic rings)
(3) Foam (same as basket 1)
(4) eheim SubstratPro (Mixed with a small number of ceramic rings)

Both filters are full, there is no way any new media will fit in either without removing some existing media.

I did some digging in the loft and managed to find one of the two eheim spraybar kit's I should have which has been fitted to the outlet of filter 1, the outlet of filter 2 has been turned to be at 45 degrees t the left side of the tank to try and stop it being funnelled down the front left corner of the tank and washing away the sand on that side of the tank

As said, the APS lights are brilliant. Take a look at my 'back to basics' tank log for proof of how well they do. They are 7500k white ( which contains more blue spectrum than say 5600k white )
so do tend to bring out the colour of fish and plants really well. I seriously can't fault them for the cost.

My shrimp tank uses a DIY 'full spectrum' style light with red/blue and white but doesn't actually perform any better with the red/blue than without.

I ended up ordering the Nicrew light as they did one that I know will fit the tank with no modifications, it doesn't state the colour temp on the amazon page though so it is a bit of a gamble but having looked at the pictures of it the light dose not appear to be potted so it should be trivial to modify it to add some red LED's into the mix if needed

[fr499y]

@max1zzz they are usually SMD chips that can't be removed and replaced unless you are experienced or have a reflow oven! I'm sure it'll be fine I certainly wouldn't rush to try and stick colours in.

[max1zzz]

@max1zzz they are usually SMD chips that can't be removed and replaced unless you are experienced or have a reflow oven! I'm sure it'll be fine I certainly wouldn't rush to try and stick colours in.

I can do down to 0201 with no problem, 01005 I can also do but usually with a lot of swearing and lost components! The chips in it look like 2835's to me which are no match for my Hakko Hot air rework station, Hakko soldering iron and pair of incredibly sharp tweezers

That said I'm not going to be rushing to change the LED's unless I see a real need too, no point in creating work when it isn't needed

[Stephen]

Yes and no, some of it is in the filters, some of it is in other filters and some of it (The plastic media form the bottom two baskets) was chucked
Just had a look in filter 1 as I wasn't sure of it's setup, the are both as follows:
Filter 1:
(1) Foam (medium - from the old 305 or 406)
(2) Foam (same as basket 1)
(3) Mix of ceramic rings and eheim BioMech
(4) Mix of ceramic rings and eheim BioMech

Filter 2:
(1) Foam (Medium - from the old 305 or 406)
(2) eheim BioMech (Mixed with a small number of ceramic rings)
(3) Foam (same as basket 1)
(4) eheim SubstratPro (Mixed with a small number of ceramic rings)

Both filters are full, there is no way any new media will fit in either without removing some existing media.

I did some digging in the loft and managed to find one of the two eheim spraybar kit's I should have which has been fitted to the outlet of filter 1, the outlet of filter 2 has been turned to be at 45 degrees t the left side of the tank to try and stop it being funnelled down the front left corner of the tank and washing away the sand on that side of the tank

Excellent, thank you.
This is what I would do (another drawing coming up)

Take the Fluval ceramic rings from both filters and fill the bottom tray on your preferred filter. Leave a 1cm gap at the top of the tray so that the next tray fits (applies to all the trays).
In the next tray, take the Eheim biomech and fill the tray. (again taken from both filters)
In the next tray, take the Eheim substratpro and fill the tray.
In the top tray, take more Eheim substratpro and roughly half fill the tray and top the tray with a filter floss pad and put the top grill on. (the filter floss should come to the top of the tray, add more substratpro if needed)

Any spare media allow to dry and then bag it up. (Any spare Substratpro, biomech, ceramic rings can be placed in the oven to dry out, be careful as they get very hot in the oven).

You will now have plenty of media in your preferred filter for beneficial bacteria colonisation and plenty to cope with the bioload.
You may not, however, have sufficient beneficial bacteria in the filter to cope with the bioload as the beneficial bacteria were colonised across two filters.
The way to replenish any loss in the beneficial bacteria colony is to add more beneficial bacteria.
This is easily done by purchasing a 250ml bottle of Seachem Stability (bacteria in a bottle) and follow the instructions. (Amazon Link)
For a 230L aquarium the dosage is:- Day 1 = approx 30ml, day2 to day8 = approx 15ml per day.
The Seachem Stability will not only replenish the beneficial bacteria but will also neutralise any ammonia or nitrite and therefore prevent a spike.

Here's my new image
(click to enlarge)


All the best

[Ricrhys]

So what’s on the shopping list plant wise? you’ll need some more in there with the new light I reckon.

Hope the new one does you well, I think my nicrew is potted, but not 100% sure, will check in the morning.

[max1zzz]

@Stephen thanks again!
I'll reconfigure filter 1 as you suggest, I'm still a little nervous of removing the second filter though, I was thinking of maybe slowly removing the media from filter 2 over a couple of weeks which would hopefully allow the bacteria colonies in filter 1 to expand without any risk of a ammonia spike
I'm also wondering if the floss is necessary? I have personally never used floss (And used the extra space for more bio media) but you are far more experienced than me so if you think it is needed I will consider it!

@Ricrhys
I'm not sure yet, I want some Vallis of some kind as I had good luck with them in the past (And they where very fast growing) but other than that I'm not sure. I do have some plants out of the old Chilli Rasbora tank which will be going spare once they have moved out of their temp tank back into their usual tank, I *think* they are Cryptocoryne Petchii (but i'm not 100% sure there) which I might plant up in the tank but as they are slow growing plant's maybe that's not the best idea

In other news I got the Nicrew light today, even at about 50% brightness it's brighter than the old arcaida one, also having looked at it's construction it doesn't look potted to me so so modifications could be made if needed, But I'll see how it preforms first before I start reaching for the soldering iron