Mmiller2001 Posted May 25, 2021 Author Share Posted May 25, 2021 14 minutes ago, James Black said: Love seeing all of your tanks and scapes. There all so pretty😍. Keep sharing!! Thank you. I will! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 (edited) I haven't updated in a while because the tanks went through a transition. I changed the substrate on the 75 and converted the 40 to lower tech. The 75 did not like the changes and I had problems pop up all over the place. So rather than freak out, I instead hunted down harder to find plants and just started planting and increased fertilization to combat some algae issues. I also purchased a male/female pair of Apistogramma trifasciata for the 40 gallon and added 10 Lemon Tetra as dither fish. So, all previous 40 gallon fish are in the 75 and the 40 is as mentioned. Light on the 40 has been dropped to about 25% intensity and dosing much lower on the 40. Probably about 12ppm NO3 per week. 5ppm PO4 and 15ppm K. Micros are around .56ppm Fe as marker. 75 Gallon 30ppm NO3 9-10ppm PO4 25ppm K .67ppm Fe So far, I'm not too happy with Eco Complete, but it's real new and I won't judge it quite yet. I will give it at least 8 months. For now, "it's let plants grow". I told myself I would never try AR again, and here I am trying it again. I should have listened to myself. It just wants an aquasoil and I'm not ready to try that yet. To me, it looks minimal. What do you think? Ordered more plants and I will add those when they arrive. I imagine the 75 is maxed after these arrive and it will just come down to arrangement. Here are the tanks today. Edited July 3, 2021 by Mmiller2001 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 They look really nice! I always enjoy seeing your planted tanks they're beautiful! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xXInkedPhoenixX Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 What is that plant that looks like small lily pads in the back left , top tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrick_G Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 They look great. It like the mix of low foreground plants in the bottom tank. What’s the Orange or yellowish tall stem plant in the top tank right side? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 On 7/2/2021 at 11:37 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said: What is that plant that looks like small lily pads in the back left , top tank? Brazilian Pennywort. And thank you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 (edited) On 7/3/2021 at 12:03 AM, Patrick_G said: They look great. It like the mix of low foreground plants in the bottom tank. What’s the Orange or yellowish tall stem plant in the top tank right side? There are 2 similar looking plants in that group. The left side is Ludwigia Pantanal and the right is Rotala H'ra. The Pantanal is not doing so great. It's definitely a difficult plant. I'm going to stick with it a bit longer as the substrate matures. I'm hoping the increased dosing brings it along. And thank you! The foreground is turning out to be quite challenging and I'm not sure where it will end up. It seems foreground plants are more slow growing, which presents its own set of problems. Edited July 3, 2021 by Mmiller2001 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 I forgot to mention what happened to the 75 after the substrate change. A few weeks after the change, I started adding more plants and I was dosing my leaner numbers. I wanted to slow growth down as to not have to cut so much each week. I noticed the Pennywort was going necrotic, on the lower leaves, and many of the plants just stopped growing. So I bumped up NO3, yet the necrosis continued. I guessed that it was a macro nutrient deficiency because it seemed like a transport nutrient issue. I had assumed I was dosing enough K via my source water and the small amount in the KNO3 and K2PO4. Well, it wasn't. So I started dosing additional K and the necrosis stopped and all the plants started growing again. Holes in leaves may be a later indicator of potassium deficiencies, but early stage potassium deficiency did not express holes. If your plants stop growing, lower leaves look necrotic and Staghorn algae presents on those lower leaves, check your potassium levels! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 (edited) I also made some changes to my water and water changes. I've dropped KH to 1dKH. And now do 60% to 70% water changes every 7 days on all my tanks. Edited July 3, 2021 by Mmiller2001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 3, 2021 Author Share Posted July 3, 2021 The lady is a bit more reclusive, but here is the man. 7 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 (edited) New camera. I'll probably post way too many photos now! Edited July 4, 2021 by Mmiller2001 3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 4, 2021 Author Share Posted July 4, 2021 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 It's amazing how quickly things change when you start to dial in. It's not quite there, but we are closer. Friday today 5 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 Here you can see how one of my stunted plants responded to the K increase. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anewbie Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 On 7/3/2021 at 9:38 AM, Mmiller2001 said: The lady is a bit more reclusive, but here is the man. Which species is this? It looks like an apisto but i'm lousy at id'ing them... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 5, 2021 Author Share Posted July 5, 2021 On 7/5/2021 at 2:23 PM, anewbie said: Which species is this? It looks like an apisto but i'm lousy at id'ing them... Apistogramma trifasciata 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim513 Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Thanks for sharing your journal. I just saw it for the first time today, and am really enjoying looking at your progress and changes. Glad to have read "post cancer" in one of your captions. Hope you stay that way! Awesome job at all the details. I love the variety in your tanks and textures. Good work, 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 6, 2021 Author Share Posted July 6, 2021 On 7/5/2021 at 7:07 PM, Tim513 said: Thanks for sharing your journal. I just saw it for the first time today, and am really enjoying looking at your progress and changes. Glad to have read "post cancer" in one of your captions. Hope you stay that way! Awesome job at all the details. I love the variety in your tanks and textures. Good work, Thank you for the kind words! 2 years and counting cancer free! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 (edited) Water change day was yesterday. Big clean and cut. Moved some plants around and removed others to make room for what is coming in the mail soon. I also made an adjustment to the 75, I dropped NO3 dose to 22ppm per week, from 31ppm. Before After Edited July 7, 2021 by Mmiller2001 5 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 7, 2021 Author Share Posted July 7, 2021 No changes in the 40. Side note, the male Apisto is very aggressive towards the female. Hopefully they come back in stock so I can grab 2 more females. That should spread aggression? 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ErinV Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 I just read your whole journal. I love it! Some of the stuff is way over my Nerm level but it is all useful information. I LOVE your scapes and the vibrant plant colours. One day, maybe I can get there. Congratulations on 2 years cancer free. Looking forward to following your journal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 On 7/8/2021 at 6:34 AM, ErinV said: I just read your whole journal. I love it! Some of the stuff is way over my Nerm level but it is all useful information. I LOVE your scapes and the vibrant plant colours. One day, maybe I can get there. Congratulations on 2 years cancer free. Looking forward to following your journal. Thank you! I'm always here if you have questions. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 13, 2021 Author Share Posted July 13, 2021 Tomorrow is D-day. I'm moving my tanks to 0dKH. I'm nervous, but ready for the adventure. I'm hoping my Belem will like the change. I also cranked up the CO2 today, I hit a 5.7pH, can't imagine how low it will go with 0dKH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 14, 2021 Author Share Posted July 14, 2021 It's done, 0dKH has begun! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 15, 2021 Author Share Posted July 15, 2021 (edited) Alright, hit a 5.3pH at noon. Fish were hanging out at the top so I backed CO² down a bit. At 3pm, pH was 5.5. I will boost it back up as I think I was a bit to heavy handed when I backed it down. I also started my degassed sample, letting that sit out for 48 hours and will pH then. I'm looking for a 1.2 to 1.4pH drop from degassed to CO² saturation. I've also changed my dosing numbers. NO³ 18ppm PO⁴ 8ppm K 33ppm Fe (as proxy) .64ppm Edited July 15, 2021 by Mmiller2001 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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