Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
short for syngonanthus domination

I'm doing this journal because I love sharing my pictures and what better platform to do so than thebarrreport.
This will mainly be a picture thread updated weekly or less.
thanks for looking

this is mainly a syn only tank but my collectoritis gets the better of me
qGv1ZVP.jpg
 

Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
Nothing compares to the boom of growth in ada lines of soil ei. amazonia, malaya, africana
and amazon lite. The main ingrediant for the booming first initial months is nh4 and possibly
being the soil is clean too without all that new junk dirtying up the soil. I have nothing that
compares to the initial months of growing booming plants with little maitenance and letting the
soil do all the work. After the 1-2 month period you will find the cruise control less
effective. MTS might produce the same results but i havent tried it long enough. Africana,
Amazonia, Amazonia lite, Malaya (both malaya and africana have way less nutrients and
different buffers) all give that initial burst of boom growth
I had read online that waste in for nh4 will actually bind into the soil and for this
reason and algae management through algae peckers i had chose to get fish. The fish i
got were blue star endlers. They do peck here and there at algae but not to my expectations.
Nearly not enough pecking as platys, and mollies whom mouths are designed for it and as well
all day long they'd be grazing. But main reason why i did not choose platys or mollies is their
waste size which i'd have to siphon because they unsightly
To get the endlers i had to go from my old ways of blasting co2, usually a 10# tank would
last me estimated 2-3 weeks. In lowering co2, I've been given such a break in refills
Where I've lowered co2 tremendously, i got panda loaches and amano shrimp was a bust.
Killed those off easily, but i do not blame the co2 this time, i blame my water chemistry
of pure ro/di. My ideal fish in a planted tank would be dwarf puffers, but they don't
go for algae at all. but those would be my ideal at looking at in any planted tank.
Going back to nh4 binding with the soil (this may mean i need more fish) but the results
i tried to replicate in getting booming growth just wasn't there. I mean i was still gettting
growth, but not like the boom from a fresh batch of ada soil. I was hoping with the fishes
doing their waste i could have ever lasting soil along with buffer. Doesn't seem that way
the soil powders up, seems depleted, i will try to solve this before ever adding new soil back in
as they're the only bags left that i have and i cannot buy more they discontinued the soil types.
I'm getting growth no matter but i will try and replicate old soil growth to booming plants.
The tank has been set up since May 2018 with some redos but always using the same soil of
africana mix and malaya mix
May 21, 2018
m4esUlB.jpg


empty tank with Africana/Malaya soil
qqIqotM.jpg
 

Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
blue star endlers
they just go all over the tank
they do school when i'm scaring them and redoing the tank, to do genuinely keep in groups
and you'll see the occasional algae pecking at plants, I average feeed about once a day
jHq4Qom.jpg
 
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Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
Tank progression pics
5.7.2018
Np3ksGQ.jpg

6.2.2018
LEZIFt2.jpg

6.23.2018
WaY9aQG.jpg

7.9.2018
RiGwItb.jpg

7.20.2018
ZPmrqUv.jpg

8.3.2018
GSCb6QB.jpg

8.10.2018
bZjLYZz.jpg

8.27.2018
qMDWyOf.jpg

9.16.2018
5ZZHOMc.jpg

10.4.2018
YKjW9Q8.jpg

10.28.2018
TWRCo2R.jpg

11.7.2018
hd99xji.jpg

12.27.2018
4w5FjIh.jpg

1.21.2019 changed to coralife bulbs
W54U4Zq.jpg

2.4.2019
16dJhRq.jpg

2.13.2019
H5KE2Zv.jpg

2.21.2019
FSQoOuB.jpg

see the growth and as the tank progress-algae growth
 

Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
Some of us are just blessed with good tap water. I hate filling jugs and lugging them around. Back in the day I had a tank and all I did was top offs. There was no dosing, I didn't even have fertilizers. Tank was algae free. Some of our taps contain the good macros and such already, micros, and even algaecides. I think in these times everythings been way too overdone now, compared to the simplicity of back then. I mean I see some tanks using many many plugs just for one tank. Its excessive. Given I was mainly growing mosses back then, I did have other good common stuff that grew nicely. No, no syns back then for me.

Or1dylU.jpg
 
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Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
I was sucking really hard at growing syngonanthus. I decided to setup my 20
gallon long as my new syn tank as it would be easier to maintain (20g water changes over
56g water changes). But i really screwed myself over. 24w x4 bulbs t5 over 20 gallon long.
I figured high light and keep up on water changes that everything would be kush, but
I was dead wrong. I do blame all my algae problems on the lighting. Co2 was injected through
2 atomizers on timer. Lighting is 5 hrs a day. After a few weeks or so estimate, algae was always
quick to appear, I've gotten myself into a hole. Co2 was high, but not blasted, which i usually
do. The filter is hob aquaclear 30. I figure if i keep updating somehow my equipment that
the algae will go away. On the way, a sun sun canister filter and x 2 beamswork dimmable leds.
Currently i have a 2x24w t5 bulb on the tank for a week or two now, but algae just does not go
away. Its engrained i suppose. Its really gonna be hard to eradicate, I don't really know
what types I have but i do know i have a little bit of cyano, very little hair algae, bba
my syngonanthus. So its all going to be rather tough to deal with. I like prevention
first, my water changes are weekly, one day about 80%, and the very next day about 10-20%.
The reason for switching tanks is that I'm filling ro jugs and its a real wear down on me.
I thought that more water changes was the key to a healthy and successful syn tank. But still the
algae is rampant. Since switching to 2x 24w t5s, there also has been melting of syngonanthus, I'm
losing them left and right. It seems possible that the melt is a disease as it seems to affect
others around it. I certainly gained the experience of fixing all this, but I just don't know.
Oh btw, this is all new malaya soil as well. Usually all you need is the water changes and things
are kush. Dosing? I've been overdosing macros, i have nilocg liquid ferts, and more than the
recommended pumps of dosing, but staying to the recommended pumps of micros. That part doesn't
even matter as I didn't start with dosing waiting for the package in the mail and I started with
the rec. macro dosing, I just know there was deficiency as syns were whitish growth and that means
its lack of macros. It was all lighting that started my problems, 2nd filter underdone, 3rd co2
fluctuations in the beginning dialing in. I'm not blasting but sure its in excess, i'm pretty darn
sure no fish would survive in this tank. GH, done with lowkeys GH booster. I just add a few drops or
so randomly, play by ear, i'm usually good at playing things by ear. So seeking after that boom in growth
with the new soil and high lighting, i messed up. Besides light, the planting was very dusty as well. Lost a lot
of syngonanthus over the months, melting and all, but I'm back on track almost, the back on track photos
will be posted in upcoming posts. For now, devestation pics.

unHnBTZ.jpg

KqEQoVU.jpg

YYiZdTA.jpg

DZizCWH.jpg

kHTHS90.jpg

4kEAJp9.jpg
 
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Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
So upgrades to my tank
upgrade: 2x30" beamswork fspec leds with dimmers/timers from 30" t5 odyssea x4 bulb
upgrade: x1 mr. aqua turbo internal reactor from 2 atomizers
upgrade: sunsun canister filter w/uv from aquaclear 30 hob filter
I had kept dosing blue green slime remover and algaefix and the algae just wasn't going away
I used 2 packages of the blue green slime remover
Then all of a sudden, seemed like it was overnight or something certain algaes were going away
I still have bits of bga, free floating bba meaning its not stuck to anything which can easily be removed, and hair algae of some sort (ALL CURRENTLY)
but algae has rapidly gone away, I'm going to be moving the tank to my room and from there I will remove the rest of free floating bba from the back plants
should I purchase antibiotics to rid of last bits and pieces of bga, i'm not sure
but the tank has gone a considerable "come back" from what it was
these pictures are prior, around 6.12.19
dBHRXrD.jpg

BPerpLq.jpg

GcXarix.jpg

pfJRKTF.jpg

jxBIQg2.jpg

later posts will see removal of front free floating bba pics
I don't know how I really got rid of the algae, whether it was the lighting or co2 diffusion or flow of filter, but i'm starting to get back my passion for it all
when you see algae spreading fast in rapid flurry, you need to fix it fast, but I let this go to the crapper for a few months now
 

Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
well i'm fooled, don't know why the images aren't expanding


6/17/19
heres all the bba I had to deal with, and this is only the front role
https://imgur.com/ZR2CB7A
surface agitation seems good and doesn't cause problems.
https://imgur.com/ZEXr4CX
remember its all frontage that I've removed bba
The following will be moving the tank to my room and redoing whole tank (getting all the back bba
https://imgur.com/EH5mhPM
cleaner always better
https://imgur.com/dACj3DU
https://imgur.com/M6YgQRf
https://imgur.com/BmZ2KHe
example backgroung plants need cleaning
https://imgur.com/xnydNnO
https://imgur.com/BD6LyT1
at the earliest ages syn s can split
https://imgur.com/jGWkyuM
 

Gabe Hayes

New Member
Jul 10, 2019
22
3
3
Long Beach, CA
Nothing compares to the boom of growth in ada lines of soil ei. amazonia, malaya, africana
and amazon lite. The main ingrediant for the booming first initial months is nh4 and possibly
being the soil is clean too without all that new junk dirtying up the soil. I have nothing that
compares to the initial months of growing booming plants with little maitenance and letting the
soil do all the work. After the 1-2 month period you will find the cruise control less
effective. MTS might produce the same results but i havent tried it long enough. Africana,
Amazonia, Amazonia lite, Malaya (both malaya and africana have way less nutrients and
different buffers) all give that initial burst of boom growth
I had read online that waste in for nh4 will actually bind into the soil and for this
reason and algae management through algae peckers i had chose to get fish. The fish i
got were blue star endlers. They do peck here and there at algae but not to my expectations.
Nearly not enough pecking as platys, and mollies whom mouths are designed for it and as well
all day long they'd be grazing. But main reason why i did not choose platys or mollies is their
waste size which i'd have to siphon because they unsightly
To get the endlers i had to go from my old ways of blasting co2, usually a 10# tank would
last me estimated 2-3 weeks. In lowering co2, I've been given such a break in refills
Where I've lowered co2 tremendously, i got panda loaches and amano shrimp was a bust.
Killed those off easily, but i do not blame the co2 this time, i blame my water chemistry
of pure ro/di. My ideal fish in a planted tank would be dwarf puffers, but they don't
go for algae at all. but those would be my ideal at looking at in any planted tank.
Going back to nh4 binding with the soil (this may mean i need more fish) but the results
i tried to replicate in getting booming growth just wasn't there. I mean i was still gettting
growth, but not like the boom from a fresh batch of ada soil. I was hoping with the fishes
doing their waste i could have ever lasting soil along with buffer. Doesn't seem that way
the soil powders up, seems depleted, i will try to solve this before ever adding new soil back in
as they're the only bags left that i have and i cannot buy more they discontinued the soil types.
I'm getting growth no matter but i will try and replicate old soil growth to booming plants.
The tank has been set up since May 2018 with some redos but always using the same soil of
africana mix and malaya mix
May 21, 2018


empty tank with Africana/Malaya soil

You mentioned the use of pure RO/DI water-- do you not remineralize with Seachem Equilibrium or some other GH booster? What about adding back KH via Sodium Bicarbonate or seachem alkaline/acid buffer?
 

Dennis Singh

SynKing!
May 5, 2013
2,423
639
113
40
Orange County, CA
You mentioned the use of pure RO/DI water-- do you not remineralize with Seachem Equilibrium or some other GH booster? What about adding back KH via Sodium Bicarbonate or seachem alkaline/acid buffer?

I have used gh booster here and there in the past. Now months in i only change water with ro. I think gh and kh are zero but i dont measure. Phishless said gh 4 to 5, which syns have no problem with at all, but i just dont remineralize, i see no need for it.
 

Gabe Hayes

New Member
Jul 10, 2019
22
3
3
Long Beach, CA
I have used gh booster here and there in the past. Now months in i only change water with ro. I think gh and kh are zero but i dont measure. Phishless said gh 4 to 5, which syns have no problem with at all, but i just dont remineralize, i see no need for it.

Huh, that's interesting. I thought plants needed the minerals provided in GH booster (calcium, magnesium etc)... and the fish too for their osmoregulation?