Fat Guy's ADA with hand made lily pipe

[sunyang730]

LOL I will be interested in getting one. LOL I hope it is cheaper than the one they have outside. LOLOL

[bluestems]

Originally Posted by Fat Guy

he likes the tank as much as I do...and the crs on the rock...but really he's just waiting for an algae wafer snack...because that acrylic top is near bullet proof!!

he looks like my kitty... I'm loving the acrylic top too.

Nice setup!

[Fat Guy]

Originally Posted by bluestems

he looks like my kitty... I'm loving the acrylic top too.

Nice setup!

thanks!! just checked out your journal. bummer about your pipes. great setup too!!

[bluestems]

Originally Posted by Fat Guy

thanks!! just checked out your journal. bummer about your pipes. great setup too!!

oy, that was a costly learning experience...

[Fat Guy]

Not much to report here save for Hurricane Sandy here in NYC. Weather the storm and working on the tank. Had some CRS deaths which at first I attributed to improper water changes and overdosing of micros (possibly). But I think the main culprit was too much co2. so i cranked it down a little and am dosing phophorus and potassium daily and nitrate (when needed after testing). I really think that my co2 was the issue though. my amanos and rcs were fine, but I think the ph swing may have been too great for the crs. so now I'm adjusting the co2 accordingly and keeping an eye on the plants and crs. So far so good.

I'm also going to change the water in the tank with aged water instead of straight from the tap. I feel like this will minimize temperature swings and give the crs more of a fighting chance. I'm also going to reduce the feedings to twice a week for them. The CRS do seem to be an excellent indicator of tank conditions. Hope to see them reproduce soon and thrive.

Today I accidentally crushed a bladder snail when I cleaned my top. It was a larger one and it fell to the bottom of the tank. Within a minute an amano ran over and grabbed it like a madman and began munching away. Quite remarkable how quickly those shrimp will go after a dying fish (or snail). I have some glosso growing low and some growing tall. I'm going to let it root more before I get at the larger stems. I think I trimmed it prematurely before and that attributed to a brief stint of staghorn which now seems to have gone away after I balanced out my water parameters.

Here's the amano with the bladder snail in his grasp. Not the best photo, it in his pinchers right above the grain of power sand.


A full tank shot. plants are bubbling o2 into the water column every second which I see as a good sign. That and the minimal algae on the rock (which in the past had been an issue). Just trying to keep the water balanced. EI dosing potassium and phosphorus and spot dosing nitrates.

[oliver77]

Originally Posted by Fat Guy

Not much to report here save for Hurricane Sandy here in NYC. Weather the storm and working on the tank. Had some CRS deaths which at first I attributed to improper water changes and overdosing of micros (possibly). But I think the main culprit was too much co2. so i cranked it down a little and am dosing phophorus and potassium daily and nitrate (when needed after testing). I really think that my co2 was the issue though. my amanos and rcs were fine, but I think the ph swing may have been too great for the crs. so now I'm adjusting the co2 accordingly and keeping an eye on the plants and crs. So far so good.

I'm also going to change the water in the tank with aged water instead of straight from the tap. I feel like this will minimize temperature swings and give the crs more of a fighting chance. I'm also going to reduce the feedings to twice a week for them. The CRS do seem to be an excellent indicator of tank conditions. Hope to see them reproduce soon and thrive.

Today I accidentally crushed a bladder snail when I cleaned my top. It was a larger one and it fell to the bottom of the tank. Within a minute an amano ran over and grabbed it like a madman and began munching away. Quite remarkable how quickly those shrimp will go after a dying fish (or snail). I have some glosso growing low and some growing tall. I'm going to let it root more before I get at the larger stems. I think I trimmed it prematurely before and that attributed to a brief stint of staghorn which now seems to have gone away after I balanced out my water parameters.

Here's the amano with the bladder snail in his grasp. Not the best photo, it in his pinchers right above the grain of power sand.


A full tank shot. plants are bubbling o2 into the water column every second which I see as a good sign. That and the minimal algae on the rock (which in the past had been an issue). Just trying to keep the water balanced. EI dosing potassium and phosphorus and spot dosing nitrates.

Nice setup. The glosso seems to be going very well! I love glosso too bad it's a high tech plant.

[Fat Guy]

Good news this week is that the glosso is finally starting to plane out in certain sections and grow low instead of up. I've learned a lot about my tank from this plant. I'm going to start mixing my own ferts for this tank. Been having some trouble getting things shipped out here to nyc after sandy. I've upgraded my needle valve to the Fabco NV-55-18 (but am still waiting for it to be delivered).
I'm going to have to make another run to home depot to get some couplings and a 1/8" barb for the valve. Looking forward to it though. Just purchased an aws scale for measuring the dry ferts I'm gonna mix for the EI dosing.
got the scale off of amazon along with a 100g calibration weight.

gonna be on the hunt for some nice bottles to mix my solutions in. any suggestions where one may find some quality 500ml containers?
So the big news this week is the change in growth for the glosso and the pending shipments that are one the way. A big shout out to greenleafaquariums.com for their excellent customer service. I had a package of dry ferts get lost at the post office here in the city and they reshipped me the package via ups immediately after I notified them. Very happy with their company.

parting shots: fabco nv-55-18; aws scale; callibration weight; glosso; full tank

[@marko@]

looks like things are progressing well.
glosso is a nice plant, but very high maintenance, IME. good luck.

[Fat Guy]

enough typing. just pictures-

NOV 26, 2012
new co2 build. swapped a new tank NOV 26, 2012





DRY FERTS FROM GREENLEAFAQUARIUM.COM

making a fertilizer soluition







full tank

[plantbrain]

FYI, smaller tanks need topped off for evaporation, CO2 changes are much larger and big issues for smaller tanks.

Ferts: just make a DIY liquid and dose richer.

You have a lot of light and a small tank.....CO2 demand is going to be quite high, adjust the light up to reduce intensity.

CRS adults are somewhat tolerant of CO2, but not the breeding and fry.
You will always get better growth, breeding/brood production with non CO2 methods and shrimp.

I would suggest a better valve than the fabco, you spent a wad on the tank, the light and the soil, even the hardscape, but the single MOST LETHAL thing........you went cheaper on????

You cannot kill shrimp with light or ferts(unless you really go nuts).
CO2? People do it every week on forums and kill fish which are even tougher.

Less light= less CO2 demand.

I have 1.2 W/gal of T5 lighting on this 350 Gal tank and the Gloss grows nice and tight:

[freph]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

FYI, smaller tanks need topped off for evaporation, CO2 changes are much larger and big issues for smaller tanks.

Ferts: just make a DIY liquid and dose richer.

You have a lot of light and a small tank.....CO2 demand is going to be quite high, adjust the light up to reduce intensity.

CRS adults are somewhat tolerant of CO2, but not the breeding and fry.
You will always get better growth, breeding/brood production with non CO2 methods and shrimp.

I would suggest a better valve than the fabco, you spent a wad on the tank, the light and the soil, even the hardscape, but the single MOST LETHAL thing........you went cheaper on????

You cannot kill shrimp with light or ferts(unless you really go nuts).
CO2? People do it every week on forums and kill fish which are even tougher.

Less light= less CO2 demand.

I have 1.2 W/gal of T5 lighting on this 350 Gal tank and the Gloss grows nice and tight:

How much richer do you mean when you say dose richer? Just per EI?

Also, the evaporation thing is very much true. I top off every morning and evening to keep things as steady as I can.

[plantbrain]

As far as ferts, standard EI (this web site's version, my own is very different and there is no set ppm target). I have SSS grades and SS grades for a couple of years without issues. CO2? Far far worse. Removed that and still dose relatively the same EI on my 60p, they do excellent/far more brood production.
Ferts are independent.

[Fat Guy]

Originally Posted by plantbrain

FYI, smaller tanks need topped off for evaporation, CO2 changes are much larger and big issues for smaller tanks.

Ferts: just make a DIY liquid and dose richer.

You have a lot of light and a small tank.....CO2 demand is going to be quite high, adjust the light up to reduce intensity.

CRS adults are somewhat tolerant of CO2, but not the breeding and fry.
You will always get better growth, breeding/brood production with non CO2 methods and shrimp.

I would suggest a better valve than the fabco, you spent a wad on the tank, the light and the soil, even the hardscape, but the single MOST LETHAL thing........you went cheaper on????

You cannot kill shrimp with light or ferts(unless you really go nuts).
CO2? People do it every week on forums and kill fish which are even tougher.

Less light= less CO2 demand.

I have 1.2 W/gal of T5 lighting on this 350 Gal tank and the Gloss grows nice and tight:

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the response. I think I've already employed some of your suggestions (specifically ferts) before. And then there were some suggestions you made above where I started to wonder whether or not they were specific to me or general swatches of wisdom you were passing on. ie: raising the light on an ADA solar mini lighting unit; etc.

Regardless, I really enjoy your site. So suggest away.

here goes:
I top off my tank as needed. I have a top which limits the evaporation. I keep my outflow pipe a little higher to get better gas exchange at the surface.

ferts:
I've gleaned a lot of how I dose after reading your site. I am using the EI method and the nutrient calculator in order to make the solution as endorsed on your website. Do you suggest I make a richer solution, other than the one I am using? Do you think, because of the high lighting, and assuming that I have dialed in my co2, that I should provide more ferts then what I am using??

lighting:
the most I've spent on the tank was on the light (2 years ago). How would you suggest I raise the light over a mini M with the solar mini lighting unit? That suggestion (which I understand in theory) really confuses me because the height of this tank light is fixed. Do you think maybe switching out a lower wattage bulb would be a good idea if I can't raise the light itself?
What do you think about this bulb: https://www.interlight.biz/light-bulb/FPL18EX-N or maybe this one (not sure if the dual 6500K and 10000K would be ideal: http://www.marineandreef.com/18W_Dua...p/rcu02018.htm http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...5&cagpspn=pla?

I haven't had any real CRS issues except when they first arrived. I lost a couple after doing a poor water change. I now use water that has aged overnight and with the same temperature. I'm not trying to breed these shrimp. I just want them to coexist with the plants.

Man oh man, do I understand the danger with CO2.

So, here's the kicker for me-
It's ironic that you think my FABCO purchase was a bad one. The reason I purchased it was because I was swayed by a lot of enthusiasm for the product after reading your site. For example, this thread:
http://www.barrreport.com/showthread...-now-available
I'm not as tech savvy when it comes to valves, but I have to admit I think it was a nicer upgrade from the Clippard I was using before. Not having a lot of experience in this department and trying to sift through the myriad of information good and bad out there online, I thought I was moving in the right direction. I may be wrong to assume that it's a good valve. However, I did build a lot of my assumptions on this product after reading its endorsement off of the forum from your website. You think my decision for the FABCO was lethal...can you imagine the horror that used to be my tank when I had the CLIPPARD??? I had no idea I was being cheap.

I'm not sure why you are assuming that I have been murdering my fauna. But I am taking these assumptions with a grain of salt. After all, I've learned a great deal from you. Maybe you are just fishing for compliments

I used to grow HC in this tank no problem.
Here's a pic
.
But you are right. Your glosso looks a lot better than mine in your attached photo. There's the rub!
I thought for a while that it was because I purchased it emersed. Just now it has started shooting out a good amount of runners. But I'd be lying if I told you that it happened overnight. It took a lot of time and patience. And looks like it will take a lot more.

I think you are dead on regarding the light. The light intensity is too great for this small tank. I've probably tweaked every little thing on this tank but haven't touched the light. I think reducing the wattage may be a step in the right direction because I can't raise the light any higher than where it is. Less light = less co2 = happier shrimp = more balanced environment.

There are a lot of hobbyists out there with all different levels of experience. I think I am somewhere in the middle. I have gleaned a ton of useful information off your website. some of it now appears to be conflicting, but, nonetheless- thank you. I wasn't expecting your response. I'm looking forward to more. The more specific the better.

best, walter

[Green_Flash]

that was a nice HC carpet, just curious why you switched to glosso?

[Fat Guy]

Originally Posted by Green_Flash

that was a nice HC carpet, just curious why you switched to glosso?

had it going for almost a year and just wanted to try something different. (The glosso is a lot easier to net after trimming too...)