Tsing's 135

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Figured I start a journal here to get more advice


April 6th, 2017

Hardware


Tank: Aqueon 135 Gallon 72.5" L x 18.5" W x 24.5" H


Stand: DIY 75.5" L x 20.75" W x 32.75" H


Filter: CPR 102 Overflow, Tom's Aqua Lifter, Using Visio 55 Gallon as a sump, Jebao/Jecod DCP 8000 (set at 46%)


Filter Media: 15 LBs of Pumice Stone


Lights: 3x SBReefLights Fresh Water Basic (Reds 30%, Blues 15%)


Co2: DIY Regulator, 20# Tank, Ista Check Valve, 4.5" x 20" Cerges Reactor, Powered by Jebao/Jecod DCT 6000, set @ lv 3


Misc: Jecod/Jebao RW-8 for extra flow in the main tank


Originally had a wet/dry filter but i think i was degassing too much to get the benefit of how much co2 i was pumping in (100 mL/min)

Current Dosing Regime


KNO3: 10 ppm, tap is 30-40 ppm already


K2PO4: 1 ppm PO4 3x a week


K2SO4: 8 ppm 3x week


Plantex CSMB: 0.116 fe ppm


FE DTPA 11%: 0.18 ppm


MgSO4: 2.5 ppm 1x week, right after water change


Whats in the tank


Substrate: 150 LBs of 20-40 Grit Black Diamond Blasting Sand


Current thoughts:


need to kill the BBA on my buces

 

[DutchMuch]

Hello TSing, Lovely tank I really like the open feel of it and the length makes it very good looking to, a large carpet would be nice in the front and I see you have the s repens growing well.

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Branches re-mossed after a massive hair algae outbreak (probably caused by plants from my outdoor pond or decaying food that got stuck). took out the chunk Malaysian driftwood that was at the right. Spent like 4hrs tying the back branches (couldnt removed the wood from the tank, would lose the scape), front branches i tied the the nite before.

Pretty sure I killed off the BBA on the front 2 wood pieces, the process:


Sprayed H2O2 on the pieces, letting the H2O2 do its work for about 5 to 8 mins. This was done outside the tank.


Next i hit it with Glutaraldehyde, letting it do it's work for 5 to 8 mins also. This was done outside the tank.


Took the driftwood to the bath tub, ran hot water on it while I scrubbed off the dead/dying BBA.


Finally soaked the wood in a bucket of hot water for a few mins.


Friday updates:


Need to prune the AR Mini some more:

Ammania Gracilis

Need to fill up some spaces between the Ludwigia Peruensis and nesaea pedicellata gold

 

[Dennis Singh]

Things are well planted (spacing is very nice) thank you for sharing. The wood in the center distracts from all else going on in the tank, i would reposition things around imo but the tank looks great.

 

[DutchMuch]

lookin' Gucci!

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Things are well planted (spacing is very nice) thank you for sharing. The wood in the center distracts from all else going on in the tank, i would reposition things around imo but the tank looks great.

thanks. originally in the pre-fill stages i had the scape a bit more to the right, but later decided against it incase i wanted to add more wood, at the time i wanted to do something like Herry Rasio's scapes:

out of curiosity what would you reposition? i was thinking of switching Ludwigia Peruensis, Bacopa Caroliana, and Ammania's positions to Bacopa, Ammania, and Ludwigia. I have a feeling that the ludwigia isn't doing to well due to the high flow around that area

lookin' Gucci!

thanks

 

[Dennis Singh]

Just for the left side for right now i would move the bacopa over to the left and have it fill to the center part


in front would be the ludwigia per. as a mid ground extending left to right until its also in front of the ammania


In front of those, grow out those plants more the repens/ar mini and then can rearrange accordingly if you want more tips or do not. up to ya.


The wood could actually go behind the right side and diagonal alignment and tilt it downward rightward a little bit.


Thats a very nice hardscape by Herry. Great to see a new name to me.


My current aquascape has a similar wood branching style like that.

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Did an 80% water change today. accidentally dosed about 45ppm of K during the last fert cycle and the leaves on AR Mini, Ammania, and Ludwigia Perunesis were curling/twisting.


Stretch out the AR Mini a bit. pruned em a bit too.

Trimmed Bacopa. Gonna try to find a plant that can deal with high currents for that spot behind the Ludwigia Perunesis

The new leaves on the Nasea Golden are coming in nice

Probably gonna add more anubias or bucephalandra to fill in those gaps in front of the swords. not sure how i feel about that huge anubias on the driftwood

Ripped out the lilaeopsis novae-zelandiae in this spot, not sure what i wanna replace it with.

FTS

Side Shots

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

bought a bunch of rotalas and filled some of it in the gap here. thanks herns. might replace it with some pinkish bacopa if i can get my hands on some lol

added some java fern too, not sure about the placement yet

lagenandra meeboldii red

Ludwigia Perunesis and Nasaea Gold are doing good now, after upping my KNO3 and KH2PO4. thanks burr740 and Pikez.

Fert Schedule:





might tweak my Micros a bit later down the road.


FTS:

 

[burr740]

Looking good Tsing!


In the dosing chart, second row in the "traces" column, is .0655 based on Mn?

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Looking good Tsing!

In the dosing chart, second row in the "traces" column, is .0655 based on Mn?

nah, it's just the total of traces other than FE. i might end up ditching the 11% DTPA for Ferrous Gluconate, my pH might be too high for it when my co2 is off. plants still use the ferts in the water column even when lights are out right? if that's the case my DTPA isn't doing anything the other 16 hours then lol.


edit: this is what it is on rotalabutterfly


To reach your target of 0.116ppm Fe you will need to add 1.08 grams (equivalent to 1/4 tsp ) Plantex CSM+B to your 160gal aquarium to yield:

Fe	0.116
Mn	0.033
Cu	0.002
Mg	0.025
Zn	0.007
Mo	0.001
B	0.014
dGH	0.006

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Huge trim today on the left side:


Moved Perunesis to the "sweet spot" of the left side of the tank

Filled the Section 4 (the back left corner) with bacopa. me and a friend just call that area Section 4 (4 being the homonym for death in chinese lol) cuz whatever plant i throw in that corner usually doesnt do well.

Might replace the Ammania Gracilis on the right of the Bacopa and L. Perunesis, i think it might be too big.

Moved the Nasea to center (temporary spot)

Got a new piece of manzanita for $9. 18" x 1" x 1" approximately

not too sure where it's gonna go yet, maybe somewhere around here?

I'm half tempted to move all the hard scape a bit more to the right, only reason i havent yet is cuz i'm still looking for more manzanita driftwood. need to figure out some flow related stuff if i do.

 

[burr740]

I'm half tempted to move all the hard scape a bit more to the right,

Would be a good move imo. That wood is dynamite, but it looks a little awkward being dead center


Great updates btw, very enjoyable to see and read.

 

[Jason King]

Agreed that now you have that new wood move the original wood to the far left or right of the tank and intergrate the new wood so it hits the second rule of thirds mark.


Keep us updated tsing

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

how far would you guys move it? render doesnt include the new piece


current:

option 1:

option 2:

option 3:

option 4:

 

[burr740]

Believe I would start with #2, or possibly #3. Have the base originating from the big sword

 

[LRJ]

I vote option #2

 

[Tom Barr]

Option 3, then add more wood to extend to the left along the bottom.

 

[SingAlongWithTsing]

Rearranged the wood today. went with option 3 or whats close enough to it lol. the end of one of the wood pieces was longer than what i initially remembered

from back to front: rotala sp., limnophila aromatica mini, hygrophila araguaia. nasaea golden was just placed there to grow/temporary spot

not sure if i wanna keep the regular java fern up here

not sure what i wanna do with the argentine? swords. the main one is over 18" tall

not sure what i wanna do with my huge ass crypts too

might just shove it into the driftwood like this

 

[burr740]

Looks nice. If you put the sword(s) in back behind the branches, it'll make the branches stand out better. Might be a good look...