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Koi

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  1. Koi
    Ahh ok that makes much more sense I think this could be one of the issues here. Your plants are at a very early stage in their growth so you don't really need root tabs just yet. Assuming that your 30ppm nitrates is mostly coming from easy green, there should enough nutrients available through the water column. Crypts (not sure if its lutea or parva) are pretty slow growers and at that size I don't think you need root tabs just yet. This is just a suggestion, but I would approach this by doing a 50% water change to reset water parameters. During that water change gravel vac around the areas you put the root tabs and get what you can out of the substrate. Proceed with the standard dose of easy green (raise to 20ppm nitrates or 3 pumps a week) until algae dies back and you begin to see new growth from the vals. I would hold off on the root tabs until you get the algae under control but heres some areas where I would put root tabs in later down the road. For a tank like this I would only put one at each arrow and replace 2-3 months. But really I think you can get away with one right in the middle
  2. Koi
    You probably are aware but I forgot to say I’m using eco complete in that tank Hopefully you have better luck the 2nd time around
  3. Koi
    I also use a stingray 2 but on a 10 gallon so I don't think the light being too strong is necessarily the issue. Looking from the pictures I'm seeing multiple things going on but at first glance, these are two things that stick out to me: Is it just one root tab or did you put several? Are you using any other fertilizers as well? The crypt is a slow grower so it still could be adapting to the changes from your light which might explain the algae. But the color of the algae is confusing me a little (it might just be the picture). The condition of the valisneria is a little odd to me too... how long has that been in your tank? Although I don't think the strength of the light is necessarily the issue, instead of covering it with tape, you can just float your water sprite.
  4. Koi
    @Mmiller2001 You should be fine with eco complete but I don't doubt aqua soil makes it much easier.
  5. Koi
    I think you'll be fine growing AR Mini without co2. I'm not really sure what constitutes high/med/low light but AR Mini grew well without co2 in my 10 gallon using a finnex stingray 2. It was able to get pretty red but If I neglected my tank and let it get shaded, the top leaves would turn more yellowish/green. I can't seem to find a decent picture of the AR Mini by itself but I found some hidden in the background of other pictures I had. Hopefully you get an idea of what colors you can expect from it. I'm pretty sure its the same plant in both pictures but the first picture had more plants blocking the light.
  6. Koi
    I agree, it's totally normal. Generally when plants start to get "leggy" it means it is not receiving enough light and it will start to grow/reach towards the light. If the light is strong enough and the plant doesn't need to grow upwards, then it usually will grow compact or horizontally. Judging by the color of your crypt it doesn't look your light is too low. It seems like the leaves are growing upward because they are competing with each other for light or at least thats what I experience my crypts to do over time. Heres a picture of the same tank where in the start my crypt didn't have as many leaves Heres after a few months of neglect
  7. Koi
    Massive overhaul on the tank this week. As per usual I'm mostly clearing out space to add more plants to add to the mess in my tank! I moved a lot of my plants to around to hopefully have better transitioning in my tank. Before I have a lot of similarly shaped leaves next to each other and I felt that no plant was able to stand out since it looked like big clumps of plants everywhere (it looks kinda like that still). I ended up removing a lot of my Bacopa since it was taking a lot of real estate in my tank. It took up a roughly 12in x 12in x 30in area and din't fit into the scale of my tank compared to other plants. I also wanted to show how vigorous a grower Pogostemon Stellatus is. Since mine was in the back it looks like it never grew but when I pulled it out, I realized why. I trimmed up a lot of leaves just so you can see how many side shoots came off the one stem I had. Most of the bottom of this plant already covered by other plants so I didn't know how many stems were actually on it until I took it out, But what surprised me was how many stems grew out off of one node. Now this might not mean anything to anyone but for the most part I've only see two stems come off on particular node of a stem and this was the first time I've seen 4 new growths coming from the same point! Here are all the plant trimmings I took out. Kinda of a shame I didn't propagate all my cuttings but I don't have space for extra plants anywhere so it became compost for my trees. I'm hoping in a few weeks when things grow out it, my tank takes the shape that I am aiming for. It doesn't really show in the picture, but I tried to have a variation of leaf structures in the layout. So basically from left to right I organized my bunches from sharp leaf to round leaf to sharp leaf etc. I'll probably try to update in a few weeks and borrow a better camera so I can take some better shots of the tank and maybe take a video to showcase some areas in my tank where I think the plants are looking good.
  8. Koi
    Anything acidic (like co2) will lower kh over timer. Even plants sometime will utilize the carbonates.
  9. Koi
    Are you using industrial grade co2 or beverage grade co2? I've noticed when using industrial grade co2 there seems to be more oils/ contaminants that come out at the start. Just scoop out the top layer of your water and maintain good surface agitation and it should go away.
  10. Koi
    You’ll need to allow your plants some more time to recover at least another week or two. Sometimes it takes me a whole season to get a plant back to healthy shape. Just keep up with your dosing and maintenance and the plant should rebound.
  11. Koi
    I think this might answer your question. I had the same concerns with my water report saying 10 mg/l but my test kits reading out as 40. Heres the thread that details a little bit about some other options like using a nitrate resin. But on the bright side, if you have a planted tank thats one less nutrient to deal with!
  12. Koi
    I already have one co2 system and I'm scared of what I might do if I buy another cylinder or run a gang valve! I'll go real quick from having a hobby to having a problem! haha But thank you for allowing me to bounce some ideas off you, I will update you if I make any headway on the lobelia!
  13. Koi
    You are probably right with the co2 fluctuation but I'll will have to come to terms with my bacopa since I don't run co2 in that tank. The only thing in that tank is an air stone.
  14. Koi
    Maybe the photo is playing tricks on my eyes but these are the shades that I'm talking about. But no worries, it's something I've been working on the side to see how far I can push it on that plant. Just had to see if you knew of some secret that I wasn't aware of haha. I know for my lobelia, I get dark purple strikes around the veins but I just did a massive overhaul on my tank so they aren't showing anymore. When I get it to do it again I'll show you what I'm talking about if you don't mind me posting a pic on here. The only thing I know is that its some form of stress I'm inducing on the plant.I have a few other plants that show this kind of on and off symptom. For example, I get a vibrant red on my bacopa early in the morning and by the end of the day it turns back to green. I think my next attempt will be limiting phosphate so hopefully in time I'll find out how I did it before!
  15. Koi
    You can definitely take the plants out of the pots if you want and there are all sorts of videos that can show you how to put certain plants in your substrate. But a lot of it would depend on what type of plants you get or if you plan to get some kind of planting tweezers. The tweezers make it easier but are definitely not needed. Since you mentioned you are fairly new maybe try just leaving them in the pots. It can get rather frustrating when planting and I destroyed a lot of my first plants trying to bury them in the substrate by hand. Aquarium Co-Op sells Easy Planters that you can put the pots inside. This way you can just drop your plants in the tank and put it where you like without the hassle and stress of possibly killing your plants. Once you are able to get your plants to grow and multiply, you'll have extra plants you can afford to lose if you break them while planting.
  16. Koi
    That makes a lot more sense, I definitely overthought it! haha
  17. Koi
    The music makes me feel like I should be working in a rice paddy! Also, did you bake the repashy on the banana leaves as a means for storage? I figured dipping the banana leaves after baking them would have been good enough. Or maybe freezing them after dipping but I guess there’s something else you’re putting into to consideration that I’m not thinking of.
  18. Koi
    Nice tank! Pics from both you and @Daniel having been really tempting me to shell out the dough for Kessil lights! I noticed your lobelia has hints of purple in it as well. Have you been able to get that shade of purple any deeper? I know a lot of people say you can’t do it but I still think it’s possible. Maybe not full purple but I’ve definitely had deep purple veins before. My lobelia usually gets darks stripes of purple from time to time but it’s very short lived and I’m still messing around with my nutrients to see if I can achieve it through nitrate limitation. What temps do you keep your tank at? I’ve also been considering colder water as a possibility to get more purple out.
  19. Koi
    So I like to break my plants up in portions to plant. I like to do about 3, you can definitely do more, but just because of the leaf form of my plant If I do more for mine its gets overcrowded real fast and the buttercup isn't as prominent. But with the moneywort you can probably get away with bunching more together. You can definitely cut each runner if that makes it easier to make a nice little clump to plant in. I'm extremely lazy so I just leave them connected. Especially in this case since the plant is already growing horizontally, it was rather easy to to bunch it up neatly so that the runners won't peak above the substrate.
  20. Koi
    The stems that are connecting to each leaf is a runner and you can snip the runners if you’d like. I usually like planting with 3-4 leaves still connected with each other just to make it easier to hold on to the substrate when planting. I just bunch the plants together so that the roots are all pretty level with each other and plant. Having tweezers is really helpful for this type of plant. Here is one of my runner type plants and I basically bury the whole thing under the substrate with the leaves barely peaking out. I have some maintenance on my tank to do today so I can post some pictures later if what I’m saying doesn’t make sense.
  21. Koi
    I think @TheDukeAnumber1 has by far and away the most planted tank yet!
  22. Koi
    @Kirsten I think its a 65 gallon. I'm not too sure since I found it basically brand new in a house I moved into. I saw the 1 minute video of your tank and I'm jealous how calm your livebearers are and they actually utilize the full tank! Mine are usually at the top level waiting for food and if they aren't, they bum rush the surface every time I walk by!
  23. Koi
    My 1 month old guppy fry are able to live adult brine. They won’t eat it whole but they tear them apart. You can also freeze them in an ice cube tray before they go bad as well. Unfortunately for me, my family will murder me for putting stinky ice cubes in the freezer so I usually feed in the same day or store in a bucket of ice outside.
  24. Koi
  25. Koi
    @Solidus1833 Sure, just keep an eye on the nitrates most root tabs don’t specify how much nutrients are in each tab.
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