New Guy Questions

One main thing you want to focus on is rather simple, what type of tank do you want?

You have plenty of light.
You have CO2, but it's not being used correctly(not enough CO2 in your tank)
If the 4x96 w lights are A&H supply, you can bend the reflectors out so you can get a better lighting spread that's more even.

I know some folks in this society you belong to, you can ask them about your tap water there. I recall it's fairly soft, low in both KH and GH, but water utilities can vary some also.

Still, even with liquid rock (Very high KH), the pH is way too high if you are using CO2.

You will want to determine what the KH is in the tap.
This will help you to get a better handle on the CO2.

Take a look at this chart.
Measure your KH, then scroll down the chart to find that KH.
Follow that line over till you see 30ppm or close, now you look up and see what pH you need to have that CO2 level.

Note, you need to add more CO2 to drive the pH, do not use anything other than CO2 gas to do this!! Your goal is adding more CO2, not reducing pH. The pH + KH is just a method to measure the CO2 in ppm.

Put another way, if you want more CO2 in the water, add more CO2 gas!
Seems simple and it is, but many get side tracked about pH.

The KH ref drop checker is simple to use and gives continuous CO2 ppms, you no longer need to measure the tank's KH if you use this method.

A drop checker runs about 10-20$, the KH ref solution is sold here from Bill, I think 500mls is like 5.99$ plus shipping. Add some Bromo blue(3 drops of the Bromo blue pH indicator + 6mls of the KH ref solution) to that and the KH solution and then place in the tank.

It no longer matters what the KH is in the tank now to determine the CO2.
Just the pH which you just look at inside the glass drop checker.

So you really do not test at all, KH or pH.
They are pre done for you.

You will add more CO2 via the needle valve if the pH solution inside the checker becomes blue and less if it becomes yellow, the solution is green when you have enough CO2.

**Note correction edit**

You might need more current and flow through the DIY CO2 reactor.
This is a big tank, 2 reactors might be more wise. and then some good current blasting the CO2 enriched outflow all over the tank will help as well.

Gravel, lights, tap water, etc are all fine.

So you address the CO2 and then do EI(see articles index) and you will not need to test no more.

I'd do about 2/3 the suggested volumes for full EI.
There is an EI "light" version as well.
The concept is very simple, but folks still wrestle with it a few times.

I try to cover most of bases, so the reading is dense, most of what I write is that way

From there, you will want to look at the monthly Barr Reports going back at the beginning and read up on them and discuss them here.

This will take time....as in months to read through a lot of it.
But you can pick and chose which topics apply and use it as a resource.
Some parts those reports will go over 95% of the readership's heads.
That's fine, folks can stretch their minds and learn more if they chose, it's not particularly important to rush and try and understanding everything as fast as you can.

What is important is that you discuss and think about what it is you want, and how to deal with the more immediate issues like the algae.

I address algae as a plant growth problem, not a pest/disease.
When the plants are growing well, the algae does not.

So focusing on the plant's health is the best course of action, it makes the most obvious sense(that was what and why most got into the hobby to do -grow plants) and then you no longer chase algae species after species.

Many of the folks here are very helpful and knowledgable.Many are newer folks also, but there are some very seasoned folks as well.



Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Thanks for correcting my dyslexia

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Neil Frank use to correspond often with me about many things. He's from that area. So I have a clue as to the water, a bit like SF water.

You should focus on adding GH booster, see Greg Watson's site for that.
You can add a little baking soda, but it's not required, plants want CO2, not KH really(unless they run out of CO2, then they will go after KH).

Eco Complete;s folks are from some other planet or something regarding no need for adding anything else, they apparently think they have a silver bullet and all your growth issues are solved with their product. Flourite could make similar claims, but they are wiser and less full of beans, good folks there.

It(no substrate) replaces all fertilization. CO2, K+, Ca, Mg etc, generally all should come from the water column. K+ does not bind to organic materials.
Do not listen to that advice. Ignore the marketing hype. Traces are not really depleted but they are obviously not the sole supply for optimal plant growth(which should be any new person's goal that wants to be a gardener)

Focus on using EI, adding the GH booster and then CO2 CO2 and CO2.

If you follow EI, the rest is just CO2.
If you do the KH referenced drop checker method, then, you tweak the CO2 into the proper range, do EI and never test.

That's a very effective and simple method.
You sort of test using the pH color change in the drop checker, but you add the KH 6mls and 3 drops of pH indicator once every 2 weeks or so and then just glance at it and to make sure there's enough CO2, you do not break out test kits ever again.

You do not need them to grow plants very effectively.
Some might insist you do, but some common sense and water changes make things simpler and rules out test kit errors and other things that test kits cannot test for.

Who wants to test 12 different nutrients?
Or assume one as proxy for all the others?
That's a big assumption.

What about the non available forms, like the organic fractions of nutrients?
The cost of doing testing correctly is a lot and time consuming.

Rather than that, simplification with a basic maintenance tool, the water change is far more effective.

I think it's better for most folks in the hobby to have a very simple, effective, damn cheap, available all over the globe method to grow plants.

EI is certainly a huge step that direction. The drop checker and it's rich very accurate cousin, the pH meter + KH ref solution, take care of the rest.

I and others have essentially reduce the testing down to one single visual pH change.

Now that's much simpler than any other competing method.
You have to go to non CO2 methods to make things even easier.

You'll see me suggest that method(non CO2) as well here or marine plants and other methods. I also just feed folks the EI routine in a basic simple model, you can tweak further easily to better suit your individual taste and needs as you gain more experience

Make water changes as easy for yourself as you can.
That will help you a great deal over time.

I hard plumb the drain and fill permanently into client's tanks and my home.
I turn a knob to drain, turn another to fill.
Cost some $$ and trouble to do so, but the reduced labor even if I paid myself 5$ an hour makes it rapidly worth that initial expense. It also removed the lack of motivation factor and mess involved.

I drain the tank and clean while it drains and then I trim as the tank refills.
Even massive tanks take 2-3 hours a week.
I've taken care of a 350 gallon tank for several years and spend at most 2 hours a week on it and it's packed with maybe 1000 fish. It gets slightly heavy standard EI and good CO2.

I personally do not require nor need CO2 measuring devices to run tanks, the plants are my cue, rather than drop checkers etc.

That takes a few years to develop, but many can pick up on it with some species quickly, Riccia is good and pearls very well when you have good CO2, and not much when you do not.

Development is more what I look at and algae type etc

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Bristle nose plecos are pretty underrated IMO.
They have a rather dramatic long fin type that's interesting and very hardy.
Otto's are good for diatoms and that's about it.

Rosy barbs are effective against anything furry, moss included.
flagfish and others work well to varying degrees as well.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

I keep quite a few plecos and pleco like critters in that family.
There are many suitable species, some that might seem unlikely.

Some can uproot and cause a few smaller issues, some gnaw plants, but most do not.

Mango, Sunshine, Vampire, Satan, gold nuggets, gold spot, P leopardus and spinosus, any in the Otto group or rubber lip, Parancistrus, Sturisoma, Peckoltia, Ancistrus, etc all do well.

Many aquascapes are better suited for different layouts that will handle the larger species and rougher fish.

Some scapes? They get messed up by even very small fish.
Some of the tanks I do have to address that and I change the scpe some and add different plants that will make it in various locations.

So some trial and error is needed to get the balance between fish species and the plant species/scaping.

You can play it safe and all, but I like my fish also so I'm willing to work on this a bit more.

Malawian cichlids are generally not considered suitable either, but many have nice examples and similar cases.



Regards,
Tom Barr

 

Yes, you need to add more CO2, not enough is getting dissolved into the tank.

Consider a larger reactor, a diffuser etc and blast the outflow into the plant beds, filter outflow so that it gets well mixed in the tank.

Tap water sounds great.

Regards,
Tom Barr