Going Dutch with Aquasoil

Pikez

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I've posted pics of my 180 gal here before. That had an inert substrate. I re-did the tank with ADA AS 20 days ago.


DAY 20.


Here's an update:


Tank: 180-gal


Light: three BML Dutch dimmed to 50-60% - works from 8 to 5 like an office job. May dim more after I measure PAR. Goal was to have Amano light levels and only moderate CO2 need.


Substrate: ADA Aquasoil


Filtration: 2 large canisters


Water: 60% RO. KH is 3 to 3.5 or so.


CO2: pH controller has been retired because AS messes with pH and gives false reading. Doing it manually and way out of my comfort zone. My guess is about 6-10 bubbles/sec. pH drop from 6.8 to 6.2. Stays stable all day long. Don't know ppm but probably around 30 or 40...more CO2 than Amano and some of the Dutch masters but definitely less than Barr. I kept a fish less tank with 90-100 ppm CO2 for 6 months. Had enough of that.


Water change: 60% every 3rd day. Using old filter media, so ammonia spike is probably almost done with. Tossed in 2 SAE and they are alive. No shrimp yet.


Fish: 3 SAE. Will add Otos, about a dozen or two wild caught silvery tetras (several blackwater species) with no ID. May be some wild caught apistos and curviceps. And about 50-100 Amano shrimp. ??


Ferts: EI minus KNO3. Plenty of N as NH4 in the tank for now. I will begin adding KNO3 next week. Forcing plants to use ammonia for now. Not sure if that is wise, but I'm doing it.


Algae: plenty, thank you. Diatom came and went. GDA and GSA initially when I was tweaking CO2, but that's pretty much gone. Nightmarish hair algae (spiro?) that has receded but still present. The tall crypts have some weird beard algae. Plants are growing well and we're getting the upper hand.


Flow: have huge pump at top left aimed at surface (going for O2) and two airstones on for 14 hours when lights are off.


Aquascaping: not my forte. But plan on moving plants around. Need something contrasting behind the Syngo. May be move the Myrio tuberculatum back there and put some Tonina or Limno Mini Vietnam between the Rotala Mac and AR. Like I said, not my forte. Please make suggestions!


Plants:


Left to right


Lud ovalis


Rot wallichii type with red stem…?? don't know what it is.


Saururus cernuus - favorite


Eichornia diversifolia - favorite


Persicaria kawagoeanum


Blyxa japonica - does not like ADA ammonia.


Lud glandulosa


Lud sp Red


Micro tenellus


Lobelia


Stauro repens


Didiplis


Hygrophila


Rotala Mac - growing like a weed!


Hydrothrix gardneri


Blyxa jap


Gratiola - piece of crap


Pogo helferi


Monte carlo


Myrio tuberculatum


Limno aromatica


Limno aquatica ? (sp. Giant - it's a freakin monster! Grows 2" a day and 5" wide by the time it reaches the surface. Already topped it once.)


Alternanthera - new leaves are 3-4" long! Looked awful in old tank.


Elatine triandra - does not like ammonia


Bacopa caroliniana


Ammania gracilis


Floscopa scandens - favorite


Rotala magenta


Syngonanthus sp. Belem?? - favorite. Loves AS but was growing well in inert substrate too.


Hygro Araguaia


Hydrocotyle


Blyxa alternifolia - favorite. This thing took a serious hit with the initial ammonia.


Blyxa auberti


Hygro sp. Foreground. From Strungout. What the heck is that thing? Cool, creeping, invasive little plant. Is it a Stauro?


Rotala Colorata.


Will get rid of about a third of these plants once tank is cycled and settled.


My thoughts: water is super clear and plants look absolutely thrilled. I'm really enjoying this tank. I think going to aqua soil is something I should have done years ago. Best thing I ever did. Thank you, Tom, for nudging me in that direction. Could not take your advice about wet/dry due to logistics and time. Would like to have done that too. Oh well.
 
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Dennis Singh

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That eichornia diversifolia is a co2 hog. When all my plants were doing just ok, that thing grew roots like mad. I'll update you if I find out what the hygro is.
 

Pikez

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strungout said:
That eichornia diversifolia is a co2 hog. When all my plants were doing just ok, that thing grew roots like mad. I'll update you if I find out what the hygro is.

Thanks, strungout. Your Eichornia is growing like crazy. Along with Rotala Mac and Limno aquatica (giant), they are the fastest growing plants in the tank.


That hygro looks like a cross between polysperma and araguaia. Grows like polysperma but leaves are twice as long and stays about 4-5" tall. Needs weekly pruning to keep it in check.
 

Tom Barr

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Might want to switch some plants out that require less mowing and trimming.
 

Pikez

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Tom Barr said:
Might want to switch some plants out that require less mowing and trimming.

Yes, will have to. Otherwise, it will be 3 hours per week.


Until the tank matures and settles down, I wanted to have rapid growers like the Giant Limno…which was a nod to old school Dutch tanks. Giant Limno will have to go eventually. What has similar visual impact but grows slow? Erio setaceum?
 

bcarl_26gal

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How has your star repens done after switching? Do you still experience any melting? Also did your get better coloration from reds?
 

Pikez

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bcarl_26gal said:
How has your star repens done after switching? Do you still experience any melting? Also did your get better coloration from reds?

Repens is doing really well. No melting. It's probably just getting its roots established, so too soon to tell.


Rotala Mac is not bright red. It's kind of an orange pink. But then again, I was not dosing KNO3 for the first 3 weeks. I just started with KNO3 today. Color may improve as I transition to full EI.


2zfvbq1.jpg
 

Pikez

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bcarl_26gal said:
Interesting.... What substrate did you use before?

Used Eco-complete before ADA Aquasoil.


Here is the tank as of Day 25. Diatoms are gone. Hair algae is pretty much gone. One or two tiny spots of BGA here and there, but nothing is spreading.


Old Hygro leaves suddenly started shedding with CLASSIC K deficiency symptoms. Aquasoil is low or missing K, so you need to be careful with that. I ran out of K2SO4 last week and did not dose for about 4-5 days. Should have been dosing more along with lower light. Some of the Rotalas (mac, enie, magenta) are starting to squirm a bit. They need steadier CO2 and more ferts, I think. Biomass is exploding - if I don't keep up with ferts and start trimming, I'll be in trouble.


The ONLY set back I've had in this tank is with Hottonia palustris - every single stem melted. Temp wasn't too high, but they were in a somewhat shady spot.


No fish yet, other than 3 SAE. No shrimp. I think tank is cycled and ready for some critters. Needed an army of Amanos about 2-3 weeks ago, but there is not much algae left for them now.


Haven't really started scaping and moving things around to increase contrast and appeal. Just want to let plants grow wild for now.


This is the most fun I've had with a tank in a couple of decades. And all I did was switch to aquasoil and turn down the lights and CO2. Having nutrients in the substrate and having less light is a lot more forgiving and lot less annoying way to go. I probably have 30 ppm LESS CO2 now than I used to with the previous eco-complete + high light system.


egtkkw.jpg
 

Pikez

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The tank is really thriving. Good growth. No algae issues.


A 6-foot, high light, EI, Dutch type tank is a second job. I went away for 20 days in June after trimming everything back to one-third its size. When I returned, there was literally no room for the fish to swim. The tank was on verge of crashing.


I got rid of a lot of aggressive weedy plants like Giant Limno (L. aquatica/Gigantea ?), Eichornia diversifolia, Persicaria, Didiplis, Hygros of all sort, Blyxa, Limno aromatica, Bacopa, Myrio tuberculatum and Elatine. Some of these plants are so pretty that I hated getting rid of them. Even bigger bummer is that I can't be bothered to sell these plants, so I've been tossing all of it into my herbivorous cichlid tanks. Rotalas, Blyxa, and Hygro get eaten first. Throwing away pounds of Blyxa alternifolia must be a crime somewhere.


The Giant Limno I got from Tom is an absolute steroidal monster! It grows with a vengeance. 5" diameter, grows 2" a day and sends out runners. Had to go.


I'm now focusing on slower growing stuff like Saururus, Acmella, Floscopa, Staurogyne, Erios, Syngonanthus.


My key hesitation with getting Aquasoil is that I like to constantly uproot and move things around to both manage growth and to work on visual impact/contrast. But the cloudiness that I feared has not been an issue at all.


The picture below is from June. Tank looks nothing like this now…I'll post pics soon.


33lnwv6.jpg
 

Tom Barr

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I have more Hottonia if you need some.


It melts from the new ADA AS.


Yes, if you have to have a certain species that grows fast, then have mostly slower growing stuff, or stuff you can just mow and top fast.


Otherwise it becomes a chore.


Another technique is to trim "waves", so the weedy plants get trimmed to the bone and down low.......then the slower growers..... leaves them taller.......


So every other plant group, you do something like this and the plants should grow better and have more room to spread out and get thicker
 

Pikez

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Ah! That makes sense. Hottonia totally melted when tank was new. Almost lost all Blyxa alternifolia and Elatine too due to new Aquasoil issues.


Pics from this week. Tank is struggling a little from my being gone for 3 weeks. Normally I come back to algae stew, but not as bad this time.


NEW PLANTS: Erio parviflorum, Erio breviscapum, Crypt sivadasani, Lindernia dubia, and (ahem) Eich azurea.


iw29g8.jpg



2e22cll.jpg
 
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Pikez

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PROBLEM!


When I came back from being gone for 3 weeks in June, I thought the lights looked a bit bright. But ignored it. Was too busy to deal with it at the time.


CURRENT SITUATION: GDA, GSA and sudden tip stunting and/or stem melting in Pogo stellata, Rotala indica, Rotala mac, Ammania, Ludwigia red, and Floscopa. Rotala mac stunts if the wind blows the wrong way, so that's not very telling. Acmella slowed waaay down. Pogo stellata narrow leaf and Floscopa scandens were 100% reliable and trouble-free before.


Monte Carlo, Blyxa alternifolia, B. aubertii, Limno Mini Vietnam and Stauro doing much better than normal.


I knew something was up.


So I checked the BML Controller this morning and sure enough - all three ports were back to 100%. !! Whipped out semi-trusty Apogee meter and PAR was 250 in foreground. I had them at 50, 50, and 60% light intensity before I left on vacation. It somehow reset to 100%.


I know how to keep this tank humming and algae-free at my 50-50-60% light intensity. I know exactly how much CO2 and ferts I need to add given stable plant mass. But crank all BML strips to 100I'm screwed.


THE PLAN: light dimmer is fixed. Doing a thorough cleaning, trimming, followed by 60-70% water change. Double-check CO2. Full EI and repeat water change every 3-4 days for a couple of weeks. This should fix the problem. My guess is in 2-3 weeks. We'll see.


Always finding new ways to screw up. The downside of high-tech.
 
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vilenarios

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Would a power outage cause the timer to get reset? Anyway beautiful tank!


Did you do any kind of auto fertilizer dosing while you were away or just rely on the Aquasoil to continually fertilize? I'm a bit nervous that once I set up my new high-light dutch inspired scape, that it will bite the dust any time I take a week or two vacation.
 

Pikez

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Hi vilenarios - I think there WAS a power outage recently…may have reset the light controller. Thanks for that!


I don't use auto-dosing. I just paid a guy to come by for a couple of minutes every day to check on the tank and dose ferts and check CO2. Once a week he did a water change. I don't think I could rely on aquasoil for all fertilizing at my light intensity and fish stocking levels. I'd probably run out of potassium and/or iron fairly quickly.


The most important task I charged the care taker with was the CO2. This is what will get you in trouble during vacation - not ferts. Make sure CO2 tank is full. Make sure there are no leaks. Make sure there is nothing wrong with bubble rate or reactor. Check and double check CO2 system. Sometimes there is bubble rate drift if you use low-end gear. People take CO2 for granted, but this will bite you in the butt during vacations if you're not ultra prepared.


If you're gone for a week or two, do a water change, clean filter, and huge trim. Then turn down light really low (50 PAR or even less at substrate) and double dose macros before you leave. There will be enough traces in aquasoil to last you a long time. Chances are you'll come back to an algae-free tank and nice healthy growth. Low light = forgiveness + stability.


Don't worry about ferts or fish during vacations. Focus on CO2 stability!
 

vilenarios

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Thanks for the tips. Looks like a Fishtank Checklist is in order once I have everything setup.


The tough part is actually planning/paying for a vacation :D