All of the recent edits were to minimize photo size. With the continous large photos I didn't want the thread to be that annoying thread with a crap load of oversized images.
torpedobarb;35073 said:wow J.. that is impressive. I am getting ready to redo my tank with the colorquartz sand and mix it 2:1 with the topsoil to about 3" and then top with another 1.5" of the same colorquartz.
can you mix the topsoil with the WC?
torpedobarb;35073 said:wow J.. that is impressive. I am getting ready to redo my tank with the colorquartz sand and mix it 2:1 with the topsoil to about 3" and then top with another 1.5" of the same colorquartz.
can you mix the topsoil with the WC?
torpedobarb;35080 said:I am battling some algae as of now.. mainly some brown algae on leaves that wipes right off. I have about 10 ottos in this tank which is 75g.
torpedobarb;35080 said:lol.. mean old man.. that cracks me up. I am going to start to dose some small amounts of ferts into the water column. the one thing that I didn't like doing was weekly water changes. that isn't needed as much for me now because I cut back on the # of fish I have in the tank. definitely doesn't get dirty as quickly as it did before. I am battling some algae as of now.. mainly some brown algae on leaves that wipes right off. I have about 10 ottos in this tank which is 75g. it is blocking the light and the leaves start to curl. blah blah blah.. I am rambling
torpedobarb;35081 said:is the Delta Clay Loam the worm castings? sorry for the ? if it is stupid
if it is.. sure I can do that. I appreciate the offer
JDowns;35083 said:I use to get this before I improved filtration/circulation. Its essentially the same slime that collects in your filter. Once I took steps to improve the filtration aspect and circulation the problem was resolved.
With no water changes and under filtration I can see this being a problem in quite a few tanks.
torpedobarb;35109 said:but using the clay loam would be in place of the wc? I am a newbie to this stuff.. I have only been the hobby now for a little over a year. I don't mind water changes.. I do them about every week and a half at about 40% when all said and done. I try to vaccum most of the crapola and stuff on the bottom.. trying to stir it up with my hand and sucking it away.
I am using a catalina 216w t5 on a 8hr photo period. I have the 6700k bulbs on for the first 2hrs alone, add the 10000k bulbs for 4hrs and then back to the 2 6700k for the last 2hrs. should I just run the noon burst for 2 hrs? should I use the 10000k bulbs for the main duration with the 6700k as the burst? I do inject co2 through a needle wheel. I have the co2 timer to start about an hr before the lights come on and go off at the same time as the lights. I have good growth.. but I do have alot of lower leaves melting. I do have good flow with 2 rena xp3's on each end.
Thanks for taking the time Tom.. and sorry to have hijacked your thread J.
JDowns;35110 said:I'm amazed now that I think back to all my problems with every type of algae how just improving CO2 and filtration/circulation has fixed all those issues, and with that plant health improved considerably.
torpedobarb;35115 said:Well I did increase the flow by a crapload. on the one xp3 I am using locline to direct it where I want and I have a flow accelerator on it.. it does boost the flow alot.. thanks alot
the other one is where the co2 is being injected and I put a needle wheel to inject it to boost the flow there too. I kinda want even more flow.. but I do not like the look of a powerhead and the cleaning of the intakes.
am I running the lights correctly in the above post of mine? the light fixture is on the normal legs only about 4" off the top of the tank. I do have an open top tank as well.
torpedobarb;35125 said:thanks J.. if you could put together a bag of stuff that would be great! I can mess with it to see what will work the best. I appreciate it. Thank you