Soidfuf's 40B Dutch

[Soidfuf]

Hey guys I'm back with another one of my tanks! Here's the info about this setup:

Started on June 22. I'm really trying to trim in the bushiness of the plants and some are shaping up while some others are not.

Tank:
Aqueon 40B

Lighting:
agrobrite t5 4Tube 2ft fixture
4.25" over surface
2x Trulumen Flora
1x Spectralux 3000K
1x Agrobite 6700K
8 hrs light

Filtration:
Aquaclear 70
Aquaclear 50 (with skimmer)

CO2:
GLA GRO Regulator
Atomic Diffuser
~1.2 pH drop from CO2

Substrate:
ADA Aquasoil Amazonia

Fertilizers:
3x Week:
8 ppm N from KNO3
1.4 ppm P from KH2PO4
1.5 ppm K from K2SO4

2x Week:
0.1 ppm Fe from 11% DTPA Fe
0.1 ppm Fe from Plantex CSM+b

1x Week:
4.4 ppm Ca/ 1.8 ppm Mg from GLA GH booster
5.2 ppm of Mg from MgSO4

I'm interested in reading opinions about plant health and growth in this tank as there a species that are growing quite well with other slowly trailing behind or severely stunted. Starting with the biggest stunter, two of the three stems on this nesea species are really showing bad curling while one is seemingly ok. Take a look:

The rotala wallichii is also fairly stunted however it is newly planted and I've been trimming it down repeatedly to get more tops. Its possible it will look much better once it gets fully replanted.

Here's some more photos of all the plants tops to help us get a good look at their growth patterns to see if there are other issues I don't see:

The bacopa monnieri grows slow but it looks decent in my opinion. Is there more to it? The lobelia cardinalis grows like a weed, I'll need to be trimming and replanting very harshly soon. Guess I'll need to try and sell off the extras...

My alternanthera grows quite well with very little algae growth on leaves that I pluck off every week once they start looking obvious.

This staurogyne repens was panted from 6 stems a month ago and has exploded and seems to be doing quite well.

The hygrophila grows well without much algae on the leaves, however the substrate around it always accumulates BBA on it.

The pogostemon helferi grows quite slowly but doesn't appear to look bad. These were transplanted from the 20 gallon a week or two ago and haven't quite rooted in.

Anyway, I'd really love to hear thoughts about my plant growth and how I can improve it from anyone. I'm not having serious algae issues in the tank besides the more exposed soil growing BBA. Thanks!

 

[DutchMuch]

Well it looks like your taking the highway now! all you have to do is wait for plant growth it seems... right now I don't see any need for "improvements" but eventually in your first pic:

I would (and of course this applies to your next trim if you want) slope the lobelia, and don't make it curve to the front of the tank as much, it takes up to much space and just is to blunt.
S repens, looks nice
Your AR mini, I would trade places with the stems behind the lobelia, so it overhangs the lobelia.
On your right portion you mostly have foreground so the stems will offer height differentiation.

That was my scape advice,
Plant growth advice, well you may want to ask someone more qualified for that. Im just a "hit or miss"

Hope that was constructive enough!
Tank and plants look gr8 though!
Nate

 

[Soidfuf]

slope the lobelia, and don't make it curve to the front of the tank as much, it takes up to much space and just is to blunt.

I agree that something has to be done with the lobelia. I've been slightly trimming the front lower than the back but do you think that I should also remove the front section so that its more of a line rather than a triangle?

 

[DutchMuch]

should also remove the front section so that its more of a line rather than a triangle?

Agree

 

[burr740]

The Lobelia just needs lowering in front. The shape of the group is good I think, very good. It just seems overpowering atm because the rest of the tank hasnt grown in yet.

The way to lower the Lobelia is pull the plants up, separate them and replant the babies. If you pull one up you'll notice its actually several small plants which you can just pull apart. Each one of those now will divide into probably 5-6 smaller ones, or more.

Replant in ascending height something like this

 

[Pikez]

Nice!

What's your water chemistry like?
Water changes?

Other than your Ammannia gracilis (Nesaea?) and Rotala stunting (What's new?!) I see this a lot in hardwater-EI-high-tech tanks.

Everything else is doing OK or great, so you're doing a lot of things right.

Your soil is still leaching a lot of ammonia. There is PLENTY of nutrients in it. I'd back off on light and ferts dramatically.

The only time I have ever had BBA on the substrate is when I deliberately turned down my CO2. I am not saying you need to increase your CO2, but just sharing my experience.

 

[fablau]

Very nice tank and plants look very healthy. I especially like your AR, very nice and flat leaves. I think Pikez is right, being your AS new, you can lower your water column ferts and see if that helps. And of course, check your Co2 for consistency and level. It looks like you have high light, so... easy to screw up

 

[Soidfuf]

The Lobelia just needs lowering in front.

Yeah, I've been meaning to replant the tops on those soon. I think I might remove a little bit of with width of the triangle base but not all of it. I like how geometric it looks and might try to get more of those angles with other plants.

What's your water chemistry like?
Water changes?

I haven't been testing my parameters lately, I know the macros aren't deficient that's about it. I would guess N is around 20-30 and P is around 3-5. Hardness was last tested a month ago at KH = 3, GH = 6. I've not been paying all to much attention to them but micros along with Mg have me wondering. I add that MgSO4 specifically for the nesea, I'm not sure if its actually ammania gracillis I originally thought it was but the person I got it from was sold nesea, because she said it bottomed out her Mg on addition of the plant.

Your soil is still leaching a lot of ammonia.

Well the soil is actually 1 year old. The tank itself is a couple months.

I do think I need to bust out the pH monitor and recheck my CO2, however, I think its the diffusion method more than the volume.

 

[Pikez]

I haven't been testing my parameters lately, I know the macros aren't deficient that's about it. I would guess N is around 20-30 and P is around 3-5. Hardness was last tested a month ago at KH = 3, GH = 6. I've not been paying all to much attention to them but micros along with Mg have me wondering. I add that MgSO4 specifically for the nesea, I'm not sure if its actually ammania gracillis I originally thought it was but the person I got it from was sold nesea, because she said it bottomed out her Mg on addition of the plant.

Well the soil is actually 1 year old. The tank itself is a couple months.

I do think I need to bust out the pH monitor and recheck my CO2, however, I think its the diffusion method more than the volume.

Everything sold as 'Nesea' is actually Ammannia. Nesaea is an invalid name. So, yes, you have Ammannia and A. gracilis is the most common plant with that look. And it stunts exactly like that for me, given similar conditions.

It does just fine with 1 to 2 ppm Mg. So no need to dose more MgSO4 for that plant's sake.

 

[Soidfuf]

Everything sold as 'Nesea' is actually Ammannia. Nesaea is an invalid name. So, yes, you have Ammannia and A. gracilis is the most common plant with that look. And it stunts exactly like that for me, given similar conditions.

It does just fine with 1 to 2 ppm Mg. So no need to dose more MgSO4 for that plant's sake.

Yeah it didn't seem to show any changes since I've been adding that weekly Mg dose.

I'm recording my pH swing today and hopefully can get a picture of that graph up for us to look at. I have a feeling I'm not going to be reaching my needed saturation quickly enough.

 

[Soidfuf]

Here's my pH fluctuation with the new adjusted time added on in orange. Gas on at 10 and off at 5 initially. But after seeing the chart I changed the gas to be off at 7. My lights turn on at 12 and off at 8. It was interesting to see the very linear off gassing.

Any thoughts? Hopefully the CO2 change at the end of the day helps the plants do better. It seems that I'm getting enough CO2 in time for the lights though.

 

[Dale Hazey]

I'm a humble amateur, but it looks like you nailed the co2.

Tank looks really good
I'm following
Lots of pics plz and thx

Dale.

 

[Dale Hazey]

Forgive my noob ? but
You do anything special with the AC70 and AC50 ? Extra internal sponges? Filter floss?

The picture makes it look like you have them pitched forward big time, with the intakes close to the glass...

I like mine level, with the water level just right, the water just glides across the top of the aquarium water... Just curious about your AC setup and reasons.

Dale.

 

[Soidfuf]

Forgive my noob ? but
You do anything special with the AC70 and AC50 ? Extra internal sponges? Filter floss?

The picture makes it look like you have them pitched forward big time, with the intakes close to the glass...

I like mine level, with the water level just right, the water just glides across the top of the aquarium water... Just curious about your AC setup and reasons.

Dale.

I have them up because I find it makes them push water further across the surface. Nothing special inside the filters besides extra bio media and the ac50 has a surface skimmer on it.