Phishless 80G Journal

Phishless

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My tank looks pristine this eve!
Clarity of the maximum! :D
Trimming really helps a planted tank by far.
Need to test water since I'm slowly lowering KH.

Not much too say but I need to get plant shipments ready for the am.
I'm not looking forward to it though.
Will need to clean corner filters this weekend, not fun.
I now soak them in bleach solution and rinse well.
Poret foam cleans up super good but when I'm ready to put it back in 200 shrimp are in that corner.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
I never really consider the BB since the plant load is so high and phish load so low.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Ludwigia alata is taking off, a bit slower than polycarpa but looks fair.
c962a5efc7eb6d96a8b41fc7c74110e3.jpg
 

Phishless

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Good Evening All:

Well I have been hearing nothing but crickets around here lately! :rolleyes:

Battling bronchitis for over a week and finally got to plants last night.
Gutted my 33G grow out tank, vac, 50% WC, front end macro dose and trimmed all the plugs of plants.
A minor hair algae outbreak in this tank too.
I move sellable items to the 75G and wait a week.
Not sure if the SafeTSorb substrate or the Amano shrimp clean it up, but it works.

My 80G frag tank is a mess, sort of.
Lots of healthy plants and still experiments going on.

Some pics this week for sure!

Night All:
 
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Phishless

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No pics yet, the wind is not in my sails! :D
Moderate trimming, just sort of watching everything grow right now.

New spraybar in the 75G, straight flow toward the front.

33G hair algae removal with toothbrush and getting better too.

80G just watching.
Pulled a bunch of cypress helferi yesterday, what a deep rooted mess for a dirted tank!o_O
This stuff grew into a monster, maybe not a keeper in the frag tank.
Or maybe a few pieces only in the background???

Night All:
 
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Phishless

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Good Evening All:

My tank is a train wreck due to the quantity of plants involved! o_O
Cory's are fine and happy, shrimp have multiplied to the extreme.:)
I'm not culling the shrimp they are what they are.:rolleyes:
Many nice RCS and many nice blue dream, and the assortment of mud-bloods of whatever color they become!:eek:
I never claimed to be a shrimp breeder.:D

The big Buce is starting to get some clado here and there. This is easily cleaned up though.
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Mini Catherinae has been a field of blooms lately
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Star grass has finally adapted to my tank and went crazy.
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Limnophila aromatica mini has prospered well. Thanks to @Greggz !
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And some more of the mess @ hand!
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Big sale soon I can't keep it all.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Evening All:

Some observations from recent months.
Anyone please feel free to comment with ideas and thoughts!

75G with SafeTSorb, the cleaner tank.
Always has a never ending light coat of diatom always going on, but!
Plants usually end up here before sale, any algae is quickly removed.
Is it the tank or the amano shrimp that clean things up?
Any hair algae, BBA, or clado is gone within a week. Tank has never had GSA?
60PAR @ sub, moderate CO2 and moderate EI dosing. WC of 25G every 3 months, RODI top offs always.

My soil tanks, the 33 & 80 have me puzzled.
While using tap water months ago initial start up produced a surface scum.
This subsides after 2 or 3 months and all was good with tap water top offs and WC's.
The purchase of my RODI changed things.
Originally I was just topping off and no ill affects.
Once I began using Colin's GH booster to reach 3GH for the top offs & WC's things got crazy.
GH booster is put in the Brute can to raise GH from 0 to 3.
When adding this re-mineralized water the surface scum re-appeared.
Seems like something is precipitating from the added water?
 

burr740

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I couldnt begin to diagnose a soil tank but isnt surface scum usually organic related? Assuming dirt has a high cec it's probably sucking a lot of Ca in from the GH booster. Maybe in the "exchange" something is releasing from the soil??
 
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Phishless

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I couldnt begin to diagnose a soil tank but isnt surface scum usually organic related?
Assuming dirt has a high cec it's probably sucking a lot of Ca in from the GH booster.
Maybe in the "exchange" something is releasing from the soil??

Well I'm back to RODI top offs and in a few days no surface scum?o_O
Does my soil have a high CEC? Who really knows.

Took my 20lb CO2 tank to work for a refill today.
Not too bad, 20lbs handled 190 gallons worth of tanks(3) for 6 months about.:D
Net cost of 20lb liquid refill is only $1.76

It's a jungle but I'm trimming a little each eve.
Big sale soon to relieve me of the chaos.
It's a camping weekend coming up and I'll post something mid-next week I hope.
 
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Phishless

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Good Evening All:
Not much tank wise going on.
Still having to skim some and add water, mini WC's on soil tanks.
Trim what gets near the surface and call it a day.
New pics by the end of the weekend, to include some overhead pics of certain plants I hope.

Polycarpa has turned an extreme pink/orange color, sharp looking plant now.
Alata looks great, healthy, but a way slower grower with high PAR. This is a good thing.
Tornado has taken a long time to "like" my water but is starting to grow right.
Buce is going for a second round of blooms right after the first. Usually a large pause between blooms.
Rotala Vietnam IMHO is better than wallichii, but if under 110 PAR it is weak.

Phish:
Cory's are an awesome phish to have in a planted tank, I would highly recommend them.
The amount of debris they stir up is amazing and it all seems to end up in the Poret foam.
Little vacuuming is needed only in the rear of the tank where remnants settle.

Simp:
RCS & blue dream are constantly breeding and seem undisturbed by the Cory's.
Amano simp in the 75 are a work horse by all means. They seem to eat anything.

Snails:
In all tanks they are on a huge decline, empty shells everywhere.
Is this due to a decline in KH with the addition of RODI water.
Targeting GH of 6 and KH of 1, a slow road since I don't change much water.
Maybe I will be there in 2 more months, plants are liking the lower KH though.

75G SafeTSorb:
This tank is starting to get foggy again which means green water will be next.
Will need to sell off all the Platy's before a substrate change to capped soil.
End result will be green laser Cory's and 1 red tail shark.
Possibly no substrate and just plantings in pots??? Opinions please?

New Additions:
2 new plants coming in next week.
More to follow upon arrival and 48 hours of potential success.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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Evening All:

Minor trimming every eve as usual.
KH is slowly dropping from WC's.
Selling is slow but I need to thin out, listing on other forums soon.

Two new experiments are coming tomorrow.
Pogo heidelberg and something else, I have forgotten the name!:rolleyes:
Hoping this doesn't melt in 36 hours as in the past!:(

Taking horses to camp again, off Friday for travel and riding time!:D
Lard on macros and hit the road.
Tanks should be fine, no plants near the surface.

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Phishless

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Heidelburg showing no signs of melt @ 24 hours.o_O
Put this in two tanks, best stems in the softer water 33G.
Moved all of the rotala tornado to the softer water too. 5 stems out of 15 have now survived. (3 months old)
I should rephrase this low KH water. KH now equals 3 in the 33G. Target is 1 KH.

Lots of extra plants right now, sending some to the trash very soon.
Can't keep it all and room is much needed.
What I toss from just from trimming could make a jungle for sure.

All of the other forums are broken but here is my preference.

Night All:

Weekend camping is very much scheduled!
 

Phishless

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When is the fruit stand going to be unveiled???

The Fruit Stand?

Well if I can sell off enough in the near future it would help.
I'm hoping for someone local to buy a $20 1/2 bucket of plants again.
Typically 2-3 times a year I magically run into someone in need of plants.
This is my $20 local smorgasbord where someone gets a hell of a lot of plants.

I have learned to part with deep rooters since I have soil.
Last of the mermaid weed has left the premises. This stuff is a PITA to pull bottoms in a dirt tank.
Most other deep rooters are gone too.

I've also learned to sell off more stuff usually keeping the worst items for me.
With space I can grow them back very well.

Experiments are still going on for a few plant species (5).
Heidelburg @ over 72 hours and no melting this time!

Experiments still going on regarding a lower KH in my tanks.
Originally trying to go from 8KH to 0KH over time (months that is).
Now after some thinking that may be 1-2 KH for an end result.
The plants have really seemed to enjoy a lower alkalinity water.
The lower KH is removing green hair algae, improving water clarity, and better overall growth.

Will get some pics of stuff tomorrow.

RIP PlantedTank. Might be time for me to start up a journal over here.
Enjoy the camping weekend! I grew up in MD. Beautiful time of year up there.

Maryland was hot today and I only spent one night @ camp.
Tomorrow to be even hotter and more humid.
I will stay inside tomorrow and work on tanks for several hours. Therapy tomorrow! :D Vacation til Thursday! :rolleyes:

TPT and APC are having their issues right now with recent site moves.

Night All:
 

Phishless

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@LRJ not to worry, hot as hell all week mostly.

Good thing I didn't travel home this morning.
Woke up to a large tree across the driveway and into the road even.
All cleaned up now though, passage can be made.

Back to the lower KH testing.
TDS has dropped dramatically in the two soil tanks, both around 140 even with dosing.
Ca & Mg levels are good so not to worry there.

SafeTSorb tank needs the UV again, not green yet just cloudy, UV bulb is dead though. o_O
After only about 500 hours on a 10000 hour rated bulb.

Pics this eve though! :D
 
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Phishless

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A nasty pic of the 80G
It is a jungle by all means.
Try to trim 2 items in this tank every eve, it seems not to help much.
I toss all the bottoms and only keep the best tops.
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33G is a bit more roomy.
Heidelburg will seriously need some room.
All stems still in a plug, I figured they would all melt.
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An overhead pic of Heidelburg.
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The other experiment, some rotala tornado.
This started with 15 really rough stems from LFS, 5 have been worth saving.
806734ee72a0c323c846f74ac9a8c4a2.jpg


Not sure of the CEC rating of a soil tank capped with BDBS?
Small drops in KH have greatly reduced the TDS readings.
Roughly over 3 months KH has went from 8 to 5. I don't change much water.

Ferts are strange too.
The bottom used to drop out on both nitrates and phosphates requiring 2x EI macros.
Now only PO4 is dropping off, mind you there is no accumulation @ the end of week.

Cleaning up around here too.
All trays of mosses etc... are gone, tied on screen or sold off.
One bucket left with Buce & crypts, cleaned today, planting tomorrow.
No more containers will be left!

Good news, Bad news?
Wife wants to move next year 2019, more land, more horses etc...
I'm okay with it but moving tanks is not fun at all.
A phish room, I mean planted room could be in my future, who knows!
 

Slin

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Jul 1, 2018
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Nice photos, your horizontal drilled flow pipe is just the trick I’m going to steal off you to sort out my hack version.