mineralized soil forgot dolomite

dantra

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Not proud of myself but this is what happened.

I finally set up my tank, took my time with everything, used mineralized soil, capped it with aquasoil but forgot one thing. Arg!!! I forgot to add dolomite or anything to keep the soil from becoming too acidic. I'm using Seiryu Stones which, if I'm not mistaken raises your kH a bit but does nothing for the soil. Here are my options:

a. poke holes in the substrate and add it that way
b. freeze cubes of it and add it to the substrate
c. leave it along, its not as bad as you think.

I can always add a booster with my water changes once a week. What do you suggest?

Thanks
Dan
 
B

Brian20

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I make mineralized soil too and not add dolomite. nothing wrong happened.:)

If you want to add kh, gh just use the booster, mix with water and inyect it into the substrate, this way I dose fert to inerts substrates, and bacterias to all tipes of substrates
 

dantra

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Brian20;39429 said:
If you want to add kh, gh just use the booster, mix with water and inyect it into the substrate, this way I dose fert to inerts substrates, and bacterias to all tipes of substrates

Hey if its no harm no foul then I'm golden. I was a bit concerned about the soil affecting plant growth. Are you serious, inject it into the soil, hmmmmm, haven't thought of that. Is it a concentrated solution? What's the ratio?
 

Tom Barr

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Mg and Ca are taken up through the leaves mostly(as well as K+).
But like most plants and all nutrients, plants can take them up through both locations(roots and water column).

If you do water changes, then adding GH booster is easy.
Dolomite can be added if you feel the need, I rarely do.

I use dolomite as a sediment by itself and dose the water column for hard water applications.

Some use it as a long term supply of Mg/Ca, but most tap water has plenty of Ca/Mg.
CaSO4/MgSO4, Gh booster etc can be added to trade mixes, but it's rarely needed that way, just add GH booster after water change.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

dantra

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Thanks Tom, I will definitely add GH booster with my water changes. I'm curious though, do also dose trace mixes with water changes as well? I mean, I have mineralized soil so I was under the impression that I don't have to dose at all.

I running pressurized CO2, I have 2ft 4 bulb 96W Tek lights but only have all 4 bulbs on for 2 to 3 hours for noon burst. Anyway, If I do have to dose what exactly do I dose? I have TMG as well as KNO3, KH2PO4 and K2SO4. I got them before I decided to go with mineralized soil. My tank is about 18 gallons (60p ADA).

Today is the first day it was up and running... finally!
 
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Brian20

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dantra;39433 said:
Hey if its no harm no foul then I'm golden. I was a bit concerned about the soil affecting plant growth. Are you serious, inject it into the soil, hmmmmm, haven't thought of that. Is it a concentrated solution? What's the ratio?

Yeah, I make that. The Injection that one use for inyect seasoning to turkeys and meats. I use it to inject all that I want in to substrate.

I make a article of that in this Internet Magazine

It is spanish but you will understand the pictures

Revista Acuamun Nº 2


Brian Soto
 

Tom Barr

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dantra;39449 said:
Thanks Tom, I will definitely add GH booster with my water changes. I'm curious though, do also dose trace mixes with water changes as well? I mean, I have mineralized soil so I was under the impression that I don't have to dose at all.

I running pressurized CO2, I have 2ft 4 bulb 96W Tek lights but only have all 4 bulbs on for 2 to 3 hours for noon burst. Anyway, If I do have to dose what exactly do I dose? I have TMG as well as KNO3, KH2PO4 and K2SO4. I got them before I decided to go with mineralized soil. My tank is about 18 gallons (60p ADA).

Today is the first day it was up and running... finally!

NYC water is excellent and really soft, like RO water.
So GH booster is required.


I'd run say about 1/2 EI dosing.
You can make a liquid 2-4 week's worth and then divide to do a daily dosing routine.

The light is really high.
The CO2 will need to be high.
Nutrients will be high in the sediment+ moderate in the water column.

Some of the issues with MS over time seem mitigated this way.
Water changes help.

Some like slower limited growth which if you do not dose, sediment rich can help(ADA does a similar thing).

The initial nutrients are very high however for ADA and MS, and much of it leaches into the water column as a result. Over time, that stops, and then grow rates slow down, often considerably. If that is the plan/goal, that's fine, but you need to account for that, and know that is what you want.

Some chose to restart and rip everything out.
Seems wasteful to me, just add water column ferts later or start that way to begin with to get longer life spans out of things, if you want to slow rates of growth, use less light(also extends the lifetime of MS).

Makes less sense to do the other way and is based on fear, not testing near as I can tell and or anyone been able to justify. Most fell back to "Because I want to do it this way" rather than stating why they really chose the method and did not add any N or P(this is not hard to add, I have to wonder why some suggest that it is or complicated, no more so than say adding traces or K+ or GH booster etc).

Results are better, last longer, makes logical sense, light is easier to manage to control rates of growth etc.

You do not NEED full EI, but adding full EI does not harm or hurt anything either.
Some really do their best to imply that it does, wasteful, cost more, bad for fish, complex(What? EI is complicated?) etc.........

I'm not sure why.

Still, with reduced light, good sediment ferts(ADA As or MS etc), 1/2 EI is generally non limiting to the water column.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

dantra

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Thanks Tom and done! I ordered the GH Booster from here. The plants are doing great. All I keep remembering was your previous post from various forums where you've always stated, "plant heavy from the start and don't be shy with CO2, usually 90% of peoples problems". I've been very liberal with it.

Incredibly, all of my plants have been pearling about 40 minutes - 1 hour after lights on and also all day long. The HC is responding very well and it seems like every leaf has an oxygen bubble on it, this occurred only after I dosed nutrients (estimative index of course) ;) Actually all of the plants went nuts. I know it wasn't the water change because the water has been sitting in a container for about a week and the plants have been pearling non-stop all day long for two days.

I know that pearling plants isn't a real indication that all is well but it tells me the plants are responding well. Anyway thank you all for your help and advice. I just got back from a conference, left Friday afternoon and I just got back so I'll see if I can get some photos up for you this evening.

Dan
 

dantra

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These aren't the best photos ever taken but its what I have right now. As soon as I figure out how to use my camera, I'll post better pics.

Dan's-Planted-Aquarium.png



Here's the second photo.


DansPAqua.png
 

dantra

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I finally got the GH Booster delivered. It got here pretty fast if you ask me, Thanks Greg!

What should I dose, I mean, how much GH Booster should I dose? I was thinking 1/4 tsp. is that about right?
 

dantra

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I had to cut down on the amount of hours the lights were on. I spent the day scrubbing rocks, wiping the glass and cleaning out the filter. Some of the plants went through a period where all of the leaves had fallen off and are growing new leaves. The filter did a good job of collecting the leaves that's why I cleaned the filter out. There was a lot of leaves.

I'm dosing half EI as Tom recommended. The algae came from too much light, my fault. All of the plants are responding well to the nutrients and CO2. My drop checker is yellow but because I don't have any fish yet I think I'm o.k. for now.

Dan
 

dantra

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Update...

All is well. I raised the lights and that pretty much solve the little bit of algae I was getting on the rocks and glass. I've been keeping up with the water changes and dosing EI including GH Booster. All I keep thinking about is keeping a good supply of CO2 pumping into the tank. I also add a cap-full of excel with the water changes. To my surprise, the overall condition of the tank has been very good. I'm about to add 3 amano shrimps. In another week or so I'll add a pair of German Blue Rams and perhaps some tetras.

Anyway here is an updated photo. As you can tell I've done some rearranging.

dantra's-planted.png



The HC is growing but very slowly. A lot of it melted away. I guess its because it was emersed and it had to get acclimated to growing under water.
 

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HC doing poorly: virtually always a CO2 issue.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

dantra

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Tom its growing but very slowly, I'm guessing because it was emersed HC but not sure. The drop checker is yellow but I still cranked up the CO2 a bit. I'm getting three Amano shrimps today so I'll see how they react to the amount of CO2 in the water. I'll pretty much use them as a guideline.
 

dantra

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I picked up three Amano shrimps today. They are fast little buggers but eventually relaxed and started doing what they do best, eating the algae. :)

drip-acclimation-process.jpg



They were scared and tried to hide under the plants that were in the bowl:

Japonica-Amano-Shrimp.jpg



More photos soon to follow... :)
 

Tom Barr

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Once you actually start adding enough CO2, it takes about 2 weeks for the HC, Gloss, Hair grass etc to get growing well.

Many think it is not working, so they abandon the increased CO2.

Plants must establish roots prior to growing above ground.
So they are just growing roots that first 2 weeks.

Keep up the CO2, but not so much to stress the shrimp.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

dantra

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I'm doing exactly what you suggested. I increased the CO2 and did so again today. Tomorrow I'll do the same and the next day until I reach the safe limit for the shrimps.

Tom I was told by nearly everyone I spoke to that if I dosed EI with mineralized soil I would get green water however I've been dosing full EI on the first day after a water change and half everyday all week long after that. Not to mention a 1/4 tsp of GH Booster with water change once a week. I have been very liberal with CO2, from day one I've been adding a lot but I'm still raising it a little more each day. Perhaps that's why I've been dodging the bullet. Oh algae is also under control since I raised the lights and cut down on the hours. The drop checker remains a constant yellow.

I've been diligent with the water changes every two day because of the Aquasoil I used to cap the mineralized soil so basically I'm getting the leeching from both substrates, aquasoil and mineralized soil and still no greenwater. Today I added purigen to the filter. It should help out quite a bit.

Dan