32gals of misery

VaughnH

VaughnH

Lifetime Charter Member
Lifetime Member
Jan 24, 2005
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Sacramento, CA
My Koralia 1 powerhead is not too much for my 45 gallon tank, and I doubt that it would be for a 32 gallon tank, if you always direct the flow along the glass and tilted up towards the surface or down towards the substrate. That tends to spread out the flowing water more, so it is less intense. However, I also think the smaller Koralia unit would work too.
 
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Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
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Ska,

I would go with a Koralia I model myself if your tank is HEAVILY planted. I have the nano and the flow is very gentle and even in a 32 will not be that much through the thicker plant beds.

Plus your fish will appreciate the current and they will swim in it and be out in the open more and school a little closer...........
 
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Skabooya

Prolific Poster
Dec 23, 2008
30
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British Columbia Canada
OMG!!! Who knew death would be such an uplifting phenomon. I added an internal filter (Tetra Whisper) that my mom had for my brothers turtle tank. I know its crap but it was an experiment and only temporary anyway so that i could increase surface ripple and thus 02 absorption. WELL I looked at my tank this morning and guess what i see....
DYING CYNOBACTERIA!!!! Near the surface of the tank its turning all brown and you can see its not as thick in other parts of the tank!!! WOOOOOO!!!
I also checked my nitrate levels and they are at 15ppm which is a huge change from just a couple of days ago, it was at nearly 50 after a WC and i was doing weekly 50% WC. So Wow i am so happy its finally starting to go away BUT im not going to celebrate until its all gone.
I ordered a Korialia 1 for this tank to keep the waters moving and i will remove the whisper. WOOOO!!! sooo happy
 
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Skabooya

Prolific Poster
Dec 23, 2008
30
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British Columbia Canada
Spoke too soon, cyno started comming back and growing over the dead stuff. I turned off the lights for 2 days (still fed fish) because i was so depressed i couldnt look at the tank. When i turned the lights back on most of the cyno was brown and yucky and had little white spots on it. The cyno is now starting to grow back again on a 5hour light period (this was reduced from 8).

My ferts finally came in and so did my Hydor K1. Im surprised as to how gentle the flow is for the hydor but it is really moving stuff around. I have it positioned on the back glass facing the front glass on an angle so the water shoots across the front glass and to the other side of the tank. It is also facing slightly upwards so the suface is disturbed to allow for better 02 absorbtion.

Now for the ferts: How should i mix??? I dont have a clue. Im trying to find an easy way for me to do this and i think the easiest would be a premade solution in bottles.

I used fert calculators, rex griggs site and this one to try and figure out what would be easist for me to understand. But i just made myself even more confused.

Rex says 1 1/2 tsp KH2P04 + 250mls water to make a solution
1ml of this solution=.53ppm per 10gals of water
Easy right BUT
1/4tsp + 250mls solution
1ml=12.86ppm

I dont get it. Im really bad at math but isint 1/4 tsp smaller than 1 1/2tsp and therefore shouldnt the ppm rating be smaller and not larger?

I also tried Chucks fert calculator site but all the ferts are completely broken down so i dont now how to use the calculator properly BUT heres a try for KH2P04
1 tsp KH2P04 in 100ml water solution
1ml of this solution will give .28ppm
So i would need to dose 3.5mls of the solution weekly in my 32gal tank

KNO3 says the same thing though .28 for the same solution but i know thats not right.

From the fert supplier he says
KNO3 10g/100ml = 10mls per 100L = 1.35ppm
KH2PO4 10g/100ml = 10ml per 100L = 5.2ppm

But i still wouldnt know how to dose teaspoons and tablespoons are much easier for me to understand compared to grams, esp since i dont have a scale.

This site says that for a 20gal tank
1/8tsp KNO3 per week or every other week
1/32 tsp KH2PO4 per week or every other week
1/4 tsp trace

This is much easier to understand BUT i dont know how to calculate for a 32gal tank and i dont exactly have a measuring spoon for 1/32tsp.
If i could just scoop and pour the ferts with the proper spoons from the fert containers into the tank that would be awsome.

What also confuses me is that the other measurements ask for a lot of powder to mix into a solution of water, and then you only need to dose a few mls to get to the proper dosage. Toms measurements are very small in comparison.
Im so confused.
 
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SuperColey1

Guru Class Expert
Feb 17, 2007
503
1
16
49
Lincoln, UK
I have a 33USG tank and in mine I have a Koralia1 in the back left corner pointing to the back right corner where it hits the CO2 mist and takes it to the front and along. Not much of the mist actually goes round the corner as a lot of it revolves and goes back up where the Koralia flow takes it back down again and the CO2 bubbles dissolve in situ there with only the ones that escape getting around the corner.

Then in the front right I have my filter output pointing to the front left (700lph.)

Dosing wise I add:
40g x KNO3 and 9g of KH2PO4 to 500ml DI water (in the same bottle) and dose 9ml daily (7 days per week)
15g x trace solution to 250ml of DI water and dose 3ml daily (7 days per week)

The above combos do the trick for me. No algae anywhere, nor signs of any. Healthy vibrant fish too.

this is under 0.9WPG t5HO for 8 hours with an extra 0.5WPG T8 added in the central 2 hours

I do have a huge plantmass though so these levels of nutrients seem to get absorbed at a decent rate.

AC
 
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Skabooya

Prolific Poster
Dec 23, 2008
30
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British Columbia Canada
wow supercoley1 that is a lot of ferts to put into your tank. But then again you are also dosing C02.

So I converted grams to teaspoons and your equation looks like this
8.43tsp KNO3 + 1.897tsp KH2PO4 to 500mls water (2 cups).

You dose 9mls daily but in my tank because i have no C02 and currently very little plant mass due to the extreme dieoff i would dose weekly. Perhaps 10mls of the solution?

Is it ok to keep the solution in something like a pop bottle and store it in a dark place? Or does it need to be kept in the fridge?
 
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SuperColey1

Guru Class Expert
Feb 17, 2007
503
1
16
49
Lincoln, UK
Its not that much really. I have taken the EI method for a 20-40USG then converted the KH2PO4 quantity so that I can mix it with the KNO3 and not have to have 2 seperate bottles.

Then 50%+water change weekly.

Yes CO2 does make a difference.

Fish and shrimp are all healthy and very active so can't be too much dosing.

Not sure on the dosage for Non CO2 tanks. never been in that scenario. Sorry

Both my solutions are in the cabinet under the tank in plastic bottles (they are actually old Tropica PN bottles) I don't bother with the fridge as I don't seem to have a mould/fungus problem with the solutions

AC
 
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