Mmiller2001

I really like the location. Rustic!

Not really. All I would control is the CO2 and they make stand alone CO2 controllers for much cheaper.

Alright, got ammonia down to .5ppm and I need to dose another 10ppm PO4. I'm beginning to wonder if I will be able to use the Aponogeton Ulvaceus, can this thing be controlled in a 40 breeder? Also, I was able to get my pH down to 5.1. I still don't know my degassed pH. But I feel I'm close. Maybe!

Could be a fungus. Can you pull it out and clean it?

You will need 2 of them on a 75. And for that amount of money, you are better off getting something like a Chihiros WRGB2 120. The Chihiros is far better than a Fluval. I have a over under comparison of the Fluval and Chihiros. Notice the yellow cast on the Fluval. https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/10089-millers-journal/page/4/

This tank is pretty much on autopilot. Just needs some back glass cleaning and intake cleaning.

I'll look into them.

I do have a HOB I can toss on there. I actually removed it when I changed the substrate. There's real good movement in the tank with just the Eheim and I'm hesitant to add more flow in the tank. CPD's are definitely on the table. I was looking at Glowlight Rasbora this morning. The caught my eye! I really want to do Dwarf Neon Rainbows, but I don't think they would work! I have my eye on a certain shrimp. But they seem to be out of stock all the time. If they come in stock, I'm getting them. Caridina Longirostris

Just finished reading. I truly hope he comes back! I was very interested in his use of root tabs and lack of (later on) in his display tank! It definitely reinforced my belief, they can create trouble when you don't want them too. With that said, let's discuss the trouble I knew was going to come. My first mistake is trying new plants. I should have just used what was in the 75! These plants are looking rough and I'm disappointed with them. This will be my last order with this seller. I would rather pay a premium and have plants come in that look amazing and take off within days. Also, I have to learn how they grow and I see this as a set back. But moving forward with the plan is the plan "for now." Enter the bacterial bloom/ green water bloom. I knew it was going to happen with ammonia around 2ppm, The good news is this mornings test has ammonia around 1ppm. I will do a 70~ water change after the CO2 is off. I'm also having a hard time getting my degassed pH. I've taken another sample and will test it after 24 hours. A 5.8pH degassed test from the previous sample seems oddly off. That sample was taken about 15 hours from the substrate swap. So,.... I'm installing the Eheim spray bar today as well, and I'm still hoping the Eheim Classic 2215 is enough on this tank. It's just shy of 5xturn over. Probably more like 4xturnover with head pressure. I honestly don't want to put a bigger one on the tank. I'm growing tired of spending cash! But I will if need be. Should I? @gjcarew Oh, and PO4 was almost 0, so I dosed 10ppm this morning, and will dose 19ppm after the water change tonight. They were not lying when they said new aquasoil slurps up PO4. These are the low enthusiasm days of this journey. Keep on swimming?

I will be doing this! Water changes are everything! Thank you for his link.

Plants arrived. Unfortunately, they are looking more than rough.

Yes, I have only grown a few species and many of those are faster growers. Per your advice, I'm trying to see how the slower growers function. I was going to try to use Hygrophila Serphyllum as the street. My plan is to do no moss wall, and use the darker greens in the corner. But I'm so new that I'm shooting in the dark here. That second tank is off the chart. I'd imagine that will take me a lifetime to achieve.

Oh, that's an excellent recommendation! Thank you. I guess I think I'm a sloppy scaper, and I will have to get very strict per the rules. This is going to be very difficult 😃.

Try and find out what the amount of Mg and Ca is in your source water. Your GH and KH are in a good spot, but it would be nice to know where the ratio is on GH. When injecting CO2, the cold hard reality is water changes need to increase. I would be doing 50 to 70% water changes every 7 days. This really helps with algae. Test your source water. See if it has any ammonia or nitrates so you can account for that during water changes. I would dose the incoming water to to 20ppm NO3 as proxy. You need to double check CO2, you want a 1 to 1.5pH drop from degassed CO2 to peak CO2. Set a sample, from your tank, out for 24 to 48 hours. PH it. That's the degassed pH. Then pH the tank after CO2 has been on for 2 hours or so. That's peak. CO2 should be on 2 hours or so before lights on. And off 1 hour before lights off. I would run the light for 8 hours total with a 30 minute ramp up and down. Eventually, dry fertilizers are going to be your best route. I like EI dosing, I would do some research and start trying it. Once everything starts growing better, I would top, replant and toss any portion of plants with algae.

I've given up on hard scapes in my CO2 tanks. And most Dutch style tanks forgo hard scapes.

So far, the hardest part has been plant selection. I was told to look for slow growing plants and I've also been looking for very dark green plants. This is not easy! Here's the plant list so far: Nympaea Stellata Limnophila Aromatica mini Staurogyne Spatulata Vallisnera Spiralis Leopard Syngonanthus Belem Rotala Wallichii Cyperus Helferi Purple Repens Hygrophila Siamensis 53B Some how, some way, I have to reduce this list down to 9 species! ***I've done it! Also, I have no idea which fish to add to the tank. Taking suggestions! Just have to be soft water fish!

Yes, I'm going for it. Hopefully for 2022, but who knows if it will be ready by then. I'm a terrible aquascaper too, so I have a long road ahead of me! 🤣

It's on! I was 2 bags short on aqua soil. I ordered more and they will be here Friday. Light is up and running and I was pleasantly surprised that it fits a 40 breeder. I don't have to hang it! I had an immediate ammonia spike 12 hours after the soil was put in. Glad I removed all the livestock. Although, at a 5.7pH, it was probably no problem. It's holding at 2ppm ammonia and I will water change when I wake up. I removed the HOB and I'm just going to use the 2215, hopefully it's enough. Reconfigured the CO2 reactor and will start dialing it in tomorrow. I dosed 5ppm NO3, 10ppm PO4 and 10ppm K. I will check PO4 shortly and expect to have to dose tons more. Needs a bit more of a cleaning but overall, the substrate swap went smoothly. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of the tank before the teardown. What a mess under the tank! 😭

Florida Flag Fish?

I wouldn't be here if others didn't take the time to help as best they could. No payment necessary 😆 It's confusing at first, but it's quite simple after a few tries of it.

You can go both ways. Test tank, add fertilizer to reach a total, or dose the new water to the total you want the tank to be. If you decide to use dry fertilizers, you could forgo dosing N, P or K. Let's say your tank always accumulates 20ppm NO3 a week (Heavy fish load). Then you could simply dose just P and K. But the beauty of "front loading" nutrients is that you always dose to what you want the tank to be. So if you want 20ppm NO3, dose that to the amount of incoming water, and weeks later, your tank will be 20ppm( small adjustments for consumption or production). This all assumes reasonable stocking levels. If you are over stocked, you would forgo NO3 dosing as the fish make enough. For GH, let's say your source water is 2dGH. I would make the incoming water 5dGH by adding an additional 3dGH via the CaSO4 and MgSO4. As weeks pass, the tank will match the incoming total amount. My testing is as this (I'm OCD in the beginning) then I will relax testing as things stabilize. I dose to a target of 20ppm NO3, but before I water change, I will test and see what my weeks end number is. I will then test after my water change. This will tell me if the tank is consuming or producing. My tank was producing and additional 2ppm per week. So I dropped dosing to 18ppm NO3. By weeks end, I should have 20ppm NO3. This goes for all Macros.

There is a disease that can destroy the rhizomes, but I would get my numbers corrected before making that call. First thing to do is get that GH up to about 5dGH. If you want to try dry fertilizers, I would start with 2 that will increase your GH. Those are MgSO4 https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/magnesium-sulfate-mgso4-1lb-bag.html and CaSO4 https://greenleafaquariums.com/products/calcium-sulfate-caso4-1lb-bag.html Using these will teach you how to use the calculator and also show you just how easy dry fertilizers are.

That's the one I use.

Thank you, Your GH is kinda low and could be where you are seeing your deficiency. Once you test K we will know more. I would recommend increasing GH to 5dGH @ a 2:1 Ca:Mg. I would like to see KH at 3dKH or lower, but that depends on your stocking. I would start a 3rd dose of easy green and drop easy iron to 1 dose a week. 3 doses of Easy Green is .102ppm Fe and 1 dose of Easy Iron is .25ppm Fe, That totals .35ppm Fe. If you dose Iron twice, that's a total of .6ppm Fe. That's what I dose my tank at with hungry stems and CO2. I also have a lot of plant mass. I also feel you have room to dose Easy Green 4 times a week, but if you do that, only dose Easy Iron 1 time a week. A strategy I was taught recently, that works very well if you are willing to do 50% water changes a week, is to dose your incoming water with Macros. So, if you changed 4 gallons, you dose those 4 gallons only. Over time, the tank will maintain the numbers dosed to the incoming water. I dose all my tanks to 18ppm NO3 8ppm P 30ppm K .62ppm Fe(proxy) All of my Macros are front loaded into the incoming water. Then I dose Fe over the week. The only difference from my non CO2 tanks is a reduction in Micros. I dose about .35ppm Fe(proxy) one per week.

I was wondering if you had a secret tank! Still though, that Disc tank is looking so good! That's what I call a conversational piece.