Marty's tank log

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Munchy2007
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Forgot to say, your tank looks great :)
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Marty.h
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[quote="Munchy2007" pid='41630' dateline='1572511359']
Forgot to say, your tank looks great :)
[/quote]

Thanks

Random I know did you use to be a member on Rovertech forum as there was someone with the exact same username on there when the forum was still going

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Last edited by Marty.h on Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Munchy2007
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Marty.h wrote: If I test my plain tap water i get a nitrate reading so that would show the test kit is working surely ?

This is my current CO2 bubble injection I have found I have to up it over time

https://youtu.be/bEOea1PD7hk

I have also gone from dosing 80ml of Ei to 100ml daily I have absolutely no algae and glass I only clean once a week on waterchange not that it needs cleaning just do it as part of the routine

So I dont really know then



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I can't explain your result, except to say that any time I've encountered a zero tank reading for nitrates it's always turned out to be a test kit problem. (Hobby nitrate test kits are notoriously unreliable).

In case you haven't seen it already, here's the full explanation of how the EI method was arrived at. The subsequent discussion posts also make for interesting reading.  https://barrreport.com/threads/the-estimative-index-of-dosing-or-no-need-for-test-kits.52/

Your plants don't have the appearance of being deprived of nitrates (and I still seriously doubt they are).

But a word of advice, especially where algae is concerned in a new tank setup, if there is an imbalance between CO2, light or poor water circulation, it can take a while for the algae to become established, so it can look okay for quite a while, then things can start to quickly go downhill without any changes to the setup having been made, (Speaking from experience here) and once established, algae can be very difficult to eradicate. (A case where prevention is far better than the cure).

I usually start to consider it safe if I haven't had any major problems after about 6 months of setting up a new planted tank.
Last edited by Munchy2007 on Sat Nov 02, 2019 7:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Marty.h
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Munchy2007 wrote:
Marty.h wrote: If I test my plain tap water i get a nitrate reading so that would show the test kit is working surely ?

This is my current CO2 bubble injection I have found I have to up it over time

https://youtu.be/bEOea1PD7hk

I have also gone from dosing 80ml of Ei to 100ml daily I have absolutely no algae and glass I only clean once a week on waterchange not that it needs cleaning just do it as part of the routine

So I dont really know then



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I can't explain your result, except to say that any time I've encountered a zero tank reading for nitrates it's always turned out to be a test kit problem. (Hobby nitrate test kits are notoriously unreliable).

In case you haven't seen it already, here's the full explanation of how the EI method was arrived at. https://barrreport.com/threads/the-estimative-index-of-dosing-or-no-need-for-test-kits.52/Your plants don't have the appearance of being deprived of nitrates (and I still seriously doubt they are).

But a word of advice, especially where algae is concerned in a new tank setup, if there is an imbalance between CO2,light or poor water circulation, it will take a while for the algae to become established, so it can look okay for quite a while, then things can start to quickly go downhill without any changes to the setup having been made, (Speaking from experience here) and once established algae can be very difficult to eradicate. (A case where prevention is far better than the cure).

I usually start to consider it safe if I haven't had any major problems after about 6 months of setting up a new planted tank.
I make sure there is a 200L ish 50% waterchange done every sunday

I see a PH drop of over 1 point when CO2 on and drop checker just tips yellow at end all fish remain fine even next morning before CO2 comes back on the drop checker green.

The CO2 comes out of attomizer and everything is drawn into the FX5 intake so I expect I'm getting very good CO2 saturation doing it that way and not much wasted gas.

C02 comes on 2 hours before lights and goes off 1 hour before lights go off lights are currently set to be on for 6 hours I was thinking of upping then to 8 hours and altering C02 on and off accordingly what's your view on that ?

Water circulation I have over 12000 LPH of flow in the tank so would say that's more then enough and I dont appear to have any dead spots looking how food is blown around this may of course change as plants fill out but nothing that a bit of trimming or moving angle of powerhead should not help.

I did have staghorn alage appear only localised but a good dose of excell and upped ferts , C02 and flow seems to of irradicated that and touch wood that's gone now



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Last edited by Marty.h on Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Munchy2007
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Marty.h wrote:
Munchy2007 wrote: Forgot to say, your tank looks great :)
Thanks

Random I know did you use to be a member on Rovertech forum as there was someone with the exact same username on there when the forum was still going

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No, I've never been a member of that forum. I've only ever posted aquarium related stuff on TFFUK, UKAPS, a pond forum that I can't remember the name of and here.
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Munchy2007
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Marty.h wrote:
I make sure there is a 200L ish 50% waterchange done every sunday

I see a PH drop of over 1 point when CO2 on and drop checker just tips yellow at end all fish remain fine even next morning before CO2 comes back on the drop checker green.

The CO2 comes out of attomizer and everything is drawn into the FX5 intake so I expect I'm getting very good CO2 saturation doing it that way and not much wasted gas.

C02 comes on 2 hours before lights and goes off 1 hour before lights go off lights are currently set to be on for 6 hours I was thinking of upping then to 8 hours and altering C02 on and off accordingly what's your view on that ?

Water circulation I have over 12000 LPH of flow in the tank so would say that's more then enough and I dont appear to have any dead spots looking how food is blown around  this may of course change as plants fill out but nothing that a bit of trimming or moving angle of powerhead should not help.

I did have staghorn alage appear only localised  but a good dose of excell and upped ferts , C02 and flow seems to of irradicated that and touch wood that's gone now



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That all sounds pretty much perfect (I prefer 75%-80% water changes, but that's just my own personal preference).

Regarding the time the lights are on, in my experience 6 hours is just about the minimum that works for me, and I find 8 hours seems to produce the best results.

But I've found that by far the biggest factor for driving plant (and algae) growth is the intensity of lighting. So whenever I start to see problems, assuming all other factors are okay, I first reduce the intensity by doing one or more of the following: Less tubes, lower wattage tubes, remove reflectors, add shade.
Last edited by Munchy2007 on Thu Oct 31, 2019 9:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Marty.h
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Munchy2007 wrote:
Marty.h wrote:
I make sure there is a 200L ish 50% waterchange done every sunday

I see a PH drop of over 1 point when CO2 on and drop checker just tips yellow at end all fish remain fine even next morning before CO2 comes back on the drop checker green.

The CO2 comes out of attomizer and everything is drawn into the FX5 intake so I expect I'm getting very good CO2 saturation doing it that way and not much wasted gas.

C02 comes on 2 hours before lights and goes off 1 hour before lights go off lights are currently set to be on for 6 hours I was thinking of upping then to 8 hours and altering C02 on and off accordingly what's your view on that ?

Water circulation I have over 12000 LPH of flow in the tank so would say that's more then enough and I dont appear to have any dead spots looking how food is blown around  this may of course change as plants fill out but nothing that a bit of trimming or moving angle of powerhead should not help.

I did have staghorn alage appear only localised  but a good dose of excell and upped ferts , C02 and flow seems to of irradicated that and touch wood that's gone now



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That all sounds pretty much perfect (I prefer 75%-80% water changes, but that's just my own personal preference).

Regarding the time the lights are on, in my experience 6 hours is just about the minimum that works for me, and I find 8 hours seems to produce the best results.

But I've found that by far the biggest factor for driving plant (and algae) growth is the intensity of lighting. So whenever I start to see problems, assuming all other factors are okay, I first reduce the intensity by doing one or more of the following: Less tubes, lower wattage tubes, remove reflectors, add shade.
I may up it to 8 hours and see how things pan out and just keep a close eye on things currently 4x54w HO 865 bulbs with reflectors over it the local LFS's here didn't stock 54w bulbs as in 4ft so I payed a visit to our local weed growing / hydroponics centre and spoke to them explaind what I wanted and that's what they supplied 6500k they said growth should rocket with them and it has they said I didn't need the other tubes they had different number as that's to do with flowering ect

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Yup! in the 'growing world' you use a mix of blue and red lights. Blue are supposed to promote flowers and red for plant growth. 6500k is usually recommended as it contains plenty of the red that plants need. Plus its nicer on the eyes.
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Marty.h
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[quote="fr499y" pid='41654' dateline='1572519732']
Yup! in the 'growing world' you use a mix of blue and red lights. Blue are supposed to promote flowers and red for plant growth. 6500k is usually recommended as it contains plenty of the red that plants need. Plus its nicer on the eyes.
[/quote]Yeah I cant complain at the growth looking on dedicated aquarium suppliers they want crazy money for tubes like nearly £20 each [emoji50] because they have like Fluval stamped on them are they really that much different??

I'm happy paying £6 a tube the shop is only 10 minutes away and always have plenty in stock im not sure how often to change them but was thinking every 6 months so instead of paying nearly £80 for a set of bulbs it costs me £24 a time which I'm more then happy to pay and they clearly work.

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No difference at all.

You might find that using 2x 6400k, 1x 2500k, 1x 10000k will give you a wide spectrum with a nice 'daylight' look :)

I've used 14000k, purple, pink, blue plus, 6400k and 2500k tubes over the years and a good mix works well. Also with electronic ballasts, theres no need to replace the tubes every 6 - 12 months! with the older magnetic ballasts, it was best to change every 6-12 months because the tubes would seriously degrade ( the 'chemicals' used to fire the tubes would burn out quicker, blackening the ends of the tubes and reducing the light output )
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