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New tank status and questions...
New Tank Update and lots of questions:
If you've seen any of my babbling the past couple of months you'll know
I've been busy working on a new 75g plant tank. Well, it has been up
and running for awhile now (with only one horrible disaster).
After a little more than two weeks I have not had any major algae
outbreak. I do have a small amount of green algae developing on the
walls of the tank that I suspect I will have to rub off myself on a
weekly basis, however the Mollys, Ottos and Farowellas seem to be doing
their job on the foliage since there is no sign of algae on any of the
leaves...yet (think positive Mike).
I also suspect that my nifty gee-wiz Mandrin skimmer/prefilter will
become an algae refuge with no convenient way to clean it. The skimmer
cup can be removed and cleaned but the funky U-channel will likely be a
pain in the <ehem>. I'll probably ignore it unless I'm having company
over. :)
My tank characteristics are currently as follows.
Temp: 78-80 degrees
pH: 6.4-6.9
KH: 5 (90ppm Lamotte Alkalinity)
GH: 5 (?)
Iron: 0.3ppm (and dropping)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
CO2: 15ppm (Lamotte CO2)
I still don't consider the tank to be DENSLY planted. At least not
after seeing pictures of other successful tanks.
Q: Would it be smarter for me to add more plants or let the ones I have
fill in the spaces.
I ask this because the plants I have are growing at an amazing rate.
Even the anubias have new leaves coming out. The large Echinodorus
Paniculatus that I picked out at Gilbergs had a large "runner" on it
with lots of "buds" on it. I left the runner floating and now almost all
of those buds are now 2" tall babies with tons of roots.
Q: Will those eventually dislodge from the runner or do I need to
physically separate them? Once these babies have roots on them is it ok
to just plant them?
I also have a rather ugly little plant that was labled as Dragon's
Tongue. It appears to be growing and looks to be reaching for the sky.
It has also managed tp maintain its red-purplish coloration.
The H. polysperma that was rather small to begin with has doubled its
size but seems to be spreading out horizontally.
Q: Is this to be expected under high light conditions (380w of VHO
lighting)?
Q: I have a couple of Spathiphyllum wallisii planted as well but have
since read that this is not a true aquatic plant and that it will
eventually lose interest in a submerged existance. Is this true? What
kind of luck have people had with this plant?
Fertilization:
Q: How closely do folks follow the Dupla dosing recommendations? It
seems I've seen George mention that he use less than the recommended
dose of both the tablets and the daily fertilizer. That is not a quote
BTW! I started with about half the recommended starting dose of
Duplaplant and have only added a few drops of Duplaplant24 since
startup. As you can see from my iron levels I don't feel like I need to
be adding anymore right away.
Water Testing:
Q: Isn't GH a measurement of the total hardness (Calcium & Magnesium)?
No one at Lamotte is at all familiar with the term GH. They do have a
hardness kit that measures total hardness.
It turns out I purchased the wrong kit initially which would explain my
less than accurate readings. I tried to mix RO water with tap to obtain
the desired hardness, but when measured, the hardness came out too low.
My water has a Total hardness of around 280ppm. I figure if I mix 2
parts RO to 1 part tap, I should have a hardness of around 90ppm. The
Lamotte Kit measured 60ppm. My kit is actually Calcium hardness only.
Lamotte does have a Total Hardness kit which I intend to purchase the
refill for since the rest of the kit is the same.
Q: Would this explain the difference in my readings?
This is probably enough questions for one message. :)
Mike - St. Louis, MO