20 gallon long dirt tank

[BenderBendingRodriguez]

I'm with straightaddicted background plants would be nice as well as some driftwood covered in some sort of moss. It would give your shrimp babies a place to hide and provide a good forage patch for them as well. And plus moss and driftwood is just awesome.

[TonyK]

How are you diffusing the CO2 into your tank?

[tryank]

Originally Posted by TonyK

How are you diffusing the CO2 into your tank?

Straight into the filter intake. Are there any drawbacks from doing that with a canister filter?

[synaethetic]

Now that you are using a 2213, I would recommend constructing a PVC pipe c02 diffusor. They are cheap and easy to make with a trip your local hardware store.

[PeterN1986]

Your HC grew A LOT before your CO2, AND it was submerged, not even dry-started. Your soil in Idaho has to be super nutrient rich or something, compared to the east coast where I am at. I'm on the 3rd week of dry-starting my HC and don't see anything near the growth you got with non-CO2. I think you've shown how much of a difference the soil makes in the substrate!

[TonyK]

I don't really know the Pros and Cons of running the CO2 into the intake. I have been following your thread because I am trying to grow HC without investing in an expensive CO2 system. Your tank is basically what I want mine to be.

Originally Posted by tryank

Straight into the filter intake. Are there any drawbacks from doing that with a canister filter?

[TonyK]

Can you explain this or have any write ups for it?

Originally Posted by synaethetic

Now that you are using a 2213, I would recommend constructing a PVC pipe c02 diffusor. They are cheap and easy to make with a trip your local hardware store.

[BenderBendingRodriguez]

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...2-reactor.html

I just built one of these myself.

[tryank]

This was before I changed the hardscape, before the Eheim, and before the glosso...

Planted Tank (with some Cherry Shrimp) - YouTube

Planted Tank (with some Cherry Shrimp) - YouTube

I'll get another current shot soon.

[tryank]

Here's what it was a week ago...



Here's the scape now...

[tryank]

Dec.


Now

[tryank]

The dividing line right down the middle of my tank is sure an eye sore. But I think it will look good when (if) the glosso fills in.

[tryank]

I call that last one "Shrimps On Rock." The two platys on the left are having a chat about something...

[tryank]

Well, shoot. A few weeks ago I trimmed some HC that had little clumps of what looks like black beard algae (BBA). Never encountered it before then. It's back and is in a couple different spots - on my rocks, on the HC, and on a tall plant's leaf. Also, some thin thread-like algae that might be "spirogyra" is forming over my HC.

I think this might be due to fluctuations in my CO² levels, since it's DIY and running straight into my canister filter. So I need to decide whether to...

A) Construct a PVC pipe CO² diffuser, like synaethetic suggested

Originally Posted by synaethetic

Now that you are using a 2213, I would recommend constructing a PVC pipe c02 diffusor. They are cheap and easy to make with a trip your local hardware store.

(example:http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...2-reactor.html).

B) Make the jump from DIY CO² to a paintball system or whatever (need to research this a bit, $ is the obvious factor here). Get a glass diffuser. ?

C) Start over! I want to de-rim my tank anyways. But then again there are a grip of baby shrimp under my HC carpet that probably wouldn't make the transfer. And I don't know how much of the HC I could transfer without transferring the thread algae stuff or the BBA also. If I did start over though, I think I would do 100% dirt capped with sand again. As much as I like the Eco-complete, and as much as the glosso seems to like it, the HC went nuts with the magic Idaho soil. ...the best potatoes do come from Idaho dirt...

Pictures of the algae to come...

[CPDzeke]

Just send me the HC!