SkaleyAquatics

You will get there. I even manage to grow low tech plants in my 8.2 ph 22dgh and 14 dkh water.

I look forward to following your journals @Mmiller2001 and @gjcarew and hope to compete against you both in a few years 😉

This has 100% has helped me also. 4 months ago, it was just a dream seeing all this amazing tanks with amazing plant growth and here I stand today actually having to trim plants. But by no means am I close to where I want to be. Without the journals I have followed and learned from I would not be where I am today.

As said above your plants should be fine. Are you using co2? Either way I would start at 60% brightness for 8 hours, you can choose to do a siesta or not it's up to you.

I raised my light level a few inches on Wednesday evening when I git home to look at the tank the crypts were already standing up.

How long have you been waiting for this? I will take that into consideration if the one I ordered doesn't pan out. I finally got around to hanging the light and it now sits 4-5 inches off the surface and have already noticed a positive result from the rotala. Now to take care of this algae problem... probably won't have any updates until after I finish treatment.

@gjcarew Glad to see this 75g finally, was looking for it after you had mentioned you turn down the 22g after getting this one on the other platform. Will be giving you a follow on this one.

I have been debating what to do all day. While I want to switch to a canister filter because it would make for a cleaner look and also provide me with more planting space, I also cannot decide if the cost is worth it. I have used them in the past but never on such a small tank. After doing some more investigating I believe I might have spirogyra algae, based on how it grows on the monte Carlo. Until this tank I really never had issues with algae, I had diatoms and GDA but those didn't bug me as they were not planted aquariums.

It has just crossed my mind that a possible cause of my algae problem is the buildup from my filter. The aquarium has been setup for almost 4 months now and the mattenfilter has never been removed. I am currently pondering the idea of a Canister filter on this tank. If you look closely at the area above the plants you will see what looks like scratches but that however is actually thread algae growing. It also grows on the Monte carlo and on the sponge itself. I have been manually removing this weekly before water changes.

I just got added on Saturday, if it stays that way I will not complain. I bought if from a place that was growing underwater but question how long it had been in that tank.

Thank you! The h'ra has been growing on me, if I can get it to grow straight instead of bending then I will be keeping it. I actually live in N. Indiana, and got it shipped in December from California came in emersed form but in great shape.

Thank you! This is just me trying to learn a new skill that I can translate into a bigger tank 😅

That was tank water I believe the reserve water was 6.2 but don't qoute me on that

@Mmiller2001 I guess I was not completely caught up, but did notice that we have the same light. Not saying that it is a coincidence but is interesting. I have very little thread algae compared to you, I manually attempt to remove as much as possible every water change however.

I have read it thus far and look forward to the update.

I wish I knew by par. I have thought about doing a siesta, also thought about a black out, but that makes me a bit more nervous.

To update everyone on this, I did check the water Sunday morning as I was gone Saturday and the pH was at 7.3

Are you doing the water changes weekly? I'm just trying to solve my thread/hair algae.

@Mmiller2001 was reading through the update at the beginning of the year, and wondered what you have done to reduce organic buildup?

So as others have said a pressurized co2 tank is the way to go. I have tried both and have noticed better growth from the pressurized co2 tank.

Thanks, still very much work in progress though.

No I did not just bare roots. I will update the plant species also since I forgot that one.

That would be Crypt Undulatus 'Red' it has definitely become one of my favorites. I have it in a low tech tank and it's a different shade but still looks good.

Current Tank Parameter's: CO2: On 1.5 hours before light Lights: 6 Hour photoperiod no ramp up/ no ramp down, intensity at 60% pH: 7.3 with a 1.2 drop to 6.1pH - 2 hours into Co2 being turned on gH: 7 kH: 4, working to bring this down to 3 Ro water dosed to: Ca 30ppm Mg 10ppm K 42ppm Next steps: Have been dealing with a thread/hair algae problem that I am still trying to Resolve 1st step was lights down to 60%, next step was lights down to 6 hours, now I have increased CO2. Also, I am in the works of setting up a raspberry pi to read the pH constantly, this data will be recorded and sent to a database to view from anywhere. I decided to go this route as I am only really home all day on Sunday and I want to see the changes in pH throughout various times of the day. Need to actually hang the Chiros Light above the tank. It is currently sitting on the glass lid. Just have to find to do this correctly. Current dislikes: The Rotala H'ra, I really hate how it is not reaching the surface with straight stems. I have debated changing it out for something else. I also not in love with all the hues of red but for now I am going to keep the plant list for at least a month. The lobelia Cardinalis was just added this weekend and want to see how it changes before swapping plants in this aquarium.

Hello all, As fishkeeping is one of favorite hobbies and sometimes I cannot quit learning more about this hobby, I've decided to start a journal for my current and future journey to look back on, while also hoping I can provide lessons to others along the way. I have been keeping fish for roughly 15 years now but could not keep plants alive for the life of me. Up until last year when I made a decent effort to have a low tech planted aquarium, that I restarted that tank to take on this project. This tank has been setup for 3 months now but has undergone many changes and will continue to do so. Tank: Standard 10 gallon (20in x 10in x 12in) Light: Chihiros WRGB II 30 Filter: Mattenfilter with aquatop 100 air pump CO2: 2x 16oz paintball tank ( 1 in use, 1 for backup) C02Art Pro-SE Dual stage regulator with solenoid Co2 adapter for paintball tank IO Diffuser Heater: Eheim Thermocontrol-E 50 watt Substrate: Seachem Flourite Black Water: 100% RO water re-minerialized w/ CaSO4, MgS04 and K2CO3 Fertilizers: APT Complete dosed 4x/week at 2ml per dose Water Changes: 4 gallons/week Plants: Rotala H'ra Rotala "Blood Red" Bacopa Salzmannii 'Purple' Ludwigia sp. 'Super Red' Althernanthera Rosanervig 'Mini' Micranthemum Tweediei 'Monte Carlo' Lobelia Cardinalis Crypt Undulatus 'Red' Hydrophila Siamensis 53B Bacopa Myrophylloides Hydrocotyle Sibthorpioides Pogostemon Helferi Downoi Inhabitants: Pair of Fundulopanchex Gardneri 'Makurdi' 2x Amano Shrimp