210 Barred!

H

Htomassini

Guest
I wanted to post the progress of my 210 planted. I started the tank on 8-26-2010 and I wanted to share some pics of its progress. The tank is still cycling (no livestock) and I am waiting for the plants to grow (esp the ground cover) as I will be moving my discus and clown loaches and we all know how they can be on not established plants. Today the plants started to pearl very noticeably and I took some pics. Here are the specs:

210 tank with dual overflows
72 x 24 x 29 h

Overflow 1:
to sock in 29 gal sump, mag1200 to INLAND SEAS NU-CLEAR with 25micron filter to AQUARIUMPLANTS.COM External Reactor 5000 (EXT5000) back to tank.

Overflow2 :
has 2 wye for in and out, currently connected to an Eihem 2017 classic (will be joined by my rena xp4 from my 90)

Catalina supply 8 x80w HO t5 with 2 banks


Co2 is started at 10am to 8:30 pm
1 bank of lights from 11:30 to 8:30
2 bank now on for about 4 hrs a day

airstone in sump runs when lights off

drop check with 4dk solution shows light green

Substrate is divided in to sections:
foreground for glosso

(from bottom to top)
ecco complete
ADA Bacter 100 Clear Super Tourmaline BC
ADA AS Amazonia
ADA AS Amazonia powder

2-3 inches

background
AquariumPlants.com's own: Freshwater Planted Aquarium Substrate
ADA Bacter 100 Clear Super Tourmaline BC
flourite
ecco complete
ADA AS Amazonia
quartz gravel

I have been doing EI since day one with tap water changes every 2-3 days. Last week I started once a week 90 gal w/c and today i did RODI w/c.

EI is a follows:
KNO3 2 tsp x 3 week
mono potassium phosphate 1/2 tsp + 1/8 tsp x 3 week (now cutting it to 1/2 tsp x 3 a week)
tom barr gh booster 1 week
20ml seachem iron 3x week
40 ml trace 3 x week

new tank
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setting up cardboard dividers
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adding substrate

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setting up hardscape

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H

Htomassini

Guest
follow up

planting

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Covered whole tank with plastic bags before filling up
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some water
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Had eheim hand on for about 2 weeks while i worked out the plumbing below
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thought cloudiness was algae- turned out to be ADA AS
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Week and a half ago
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H

Htomassini

Guest
Thanks. Any suggestions as far as the ei dosing? I'm very new to it so please chip in if I should change anything. I have some GSA on the rocks. Any thoughts on that? Glass is all clear.
 
H

Htomassini

Guest
Tank is finally cycled!

So I moved my non destructive fish from my 90, rummy nose tetras, cardinals, 2 pairs of rams and 2 bosemani rainbows and my wife's 2 betta girls.

The plants are zeroing out the nitrate even though i dose kno3 3 x week. Should I increase the dosage 3x a week or should I add more days?

Thanks

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Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
5,623
22
38
South Florida
Hi,

Very nice setup! Plants seem to be growing well with no algae that I can see..You may want to start trimming some of the taller stems and replant the tops. Will provide a bit more bio-mass if you want it....

Is there a substrate that you did NOT use lol

I would go for 2.5-3 tsp of kn03 3x weekly. Don't be afraid to dose heavier on the N, P, and K in general. Your micros seem fine.

Dosing daily may help as well until you get a handle on how the tank is doing....you can dose less, just more often.

Is your test kit calibrated at all? If not, I would not make any decisions based on it....