Trenton's ADA 60P Journal - Tank Planted

[Uptown193]

Nice supplies and tools so far. Looks like you are planning everything out perfectly. Now the hard part comes at getting the perfect tank and setting up the scape. Good luck on your build, lord knows we all need it. lol...

[trenton]

Originally Posted by vraev

Looks awsome man. I didn't get the additives and stuff, but have a pretty similar setup to yours...pfertz included and the same ADA rip off bubble counter (which is just soo cool looking).

Nice to see another canadian here. Subscribed.

Your setup is looking pretty solid yourself. Love the riccia carpet so far. Yeah, the bubble counter looks like it is pretty well built. We will see about it’s functionality when I get everything setup.

Originally Posted by Uptown193

Nice supplies and tools so far. Looks like you are planning everything out perfectly. Now the hard part comes at getting the perfect tank and setting up the scape. Good luck on your build, lord knows we all need it. lol...

Thanks! I am really trying to plan everything out as much as I can beforehand. Takes a lot of time, but I think it will be worth it in the end. Good thing my wife is patient about my excessive researching before I purchase anything (and I mean everything)! I/we have a whole new (expensive…) hobby from her original comment of suggesting a fish tank. I’m glad though. It was so much fun, albeit frustrating at times, to research everything I needed/wanted to get.

[trenton]

Yesterday was such a good day!
1. It was our 1st year anniversary.
2. The new Macbook Pros were announced (now I have decide which one…)
3. My 60P arrived along with a bunch of other stuff

My heart couldn’t take. I couldn’t even eat my lunch I was so excited watching the 2012 WWDC!

On to the pictures.

Stupid UPS COD. Can’t complain that they are here though.


Goodies!


The Amazonia powder ripped about an 2cm… got dirt and dust on everything in the box.


A small tree was used to protect the 60P.


Here are all the goods. I had to order Green Bacter/Gain from the US cause apparently it’s not approved for sale in Canada yet. I guess customs didn’t have an issue though, thankfully.


Here is the tank in place (sorry about the blurry picture).





Light fixture is waiting at the post office, so I should be picking that up today.

[dxiong5]

Nice equipment, looking forward to how this one progresses!

Lol about the small tree protecting the 60P. I have a 60P too and mine came with the same amount of cushion.

ps: MacBook Pro with Retina Display!

[trenton]

Originally Posted by dxiong5

Nice equipment, looking forward to how this one progresses!

Lol about the small tree protecting the 60P. I have a 60P too and mine came with the same amount of cushion.

ps: MacBook Pro with Retina Display!

Thanks! It has really started to come together in the last week. It sucks I have to wait another month though, I guess it gives me time to get the rest figured out... I have to kinda finalize my dosing routine of sorts and figure what mix of foods is best for the fish that I chose.

Ps. Definitely thinking of the MBP w/ retina. I have a 2006 15" MBP right now which is super slow although still works perfect, never had a problem with it. I was planning on getting the new MBP and updating the hardrive to a flash one anyways. All the better if it comes with a flasqh drive aaaand a retina display. Who needs a cd drive these days anyways.

[trenton]

Picked up the Aqua Medic 24" Sunbeam yesterday from the post office. Everything looks great. Looks well built and feels solid.

It also came with two Aqua Medic ocean blue actinic bulbs. I won't be using these as I got the Giesemman Midday bulbs but I'll keep them for backup though in case anything happens to the primary bulbs.

Sorry about the cell pics, I wanted to open it but my D90 battery was dead.


It was a bit tricky getting the bulbs into the waterproof o-rings. Seals pretty good though.




The reflectors clip directly onto the bulbs. They look to very good quality.





In-situ:



Going to hopefully get to the DIY conduit hanger this week and attaching it to the stand.

[trenton]

Hey Guys,

I have a dosing question. I came up with this dosing/water change schedule that I wanted to run by you all to see if it looks OK.

1st Week Plan:

• Water Change – Daily @ 80% change
• Pfertz – After water change, ½ dose (one pump each)
• Green Gain – Daily @ 6 drops
• Green Bacter – Daily @ 6 drops

2nd Week Plan:

• Water Change – Every other day @ 75% change
• Pfertz – After water change, ½ dose
• Green Gain – After water change, 5 drops
• Green Bacter – After water change, 6 drops

3rd Week Plan:

• Water Change – Every third day @ 50% change
• Pfertz – After water change, ½ dose
• Green Gain – After water change, 4 drops
• Green Bacter – After water change, 6 drops

4th Week Plan:

• Water Change – Once a week @ 50% change
• Pfertz – After water change, ½ dose NPK, next day ½ dose Micros
• Green Gain – After water change, 4 drops
• Green Bacter – After water change, 6 drops

5th Week and onward:

• Water Change – Once a week @ 50% change
• Pfertz – Full dose (2 pumps each) of NPK one day, Micros the next day with a rest day the day before water change (dosing 6 days a week)
• Green Gain – After water change, 4 drops
• Green Bacter – After water change, 6 drops
• ECA – After water change, 16 drops??
• Phyton-Git – After water change, 12 drops??

Should I start adding the ferts later on? Like after week four? Does ECA and Phyton-git need to be added regularly?
I have attached a picture as I think it is more clear (to me at least).

Thanks guys!

[trenton]

Anyone else dose with a Pfertz and ADA supplemented regime?

[jcgd]

Hey dude. Have you checked out frank's journal? The how to do everything one? He has the schedule he (Ada) recommends. It would lay out what to dose and when.

[trenton]

Originally Posted by jcgd

Hey dude. Have you checked out frank's journal? The how to do everything one? He has the schedule he (Ada) recommends. It would lay out what to dose and when.

Yeah, I have read through pretty much his whole journal a while back. It’s hard to find all the information though cause it is so spread out…

I found this on another website (http://www.azaquaticplants.com/commu...ead.php?t=8499).

------------------------------------------------------
Dosing:
------------------------------------------------------
There seem to be large variations in how different people use the ADA products. You also might become frustrated with the Japanese on the box and the bottles, forcing you to dig out the instructions paper each time you want to use these. You will also find yourself doing the Liter to Gallon conversion over and over again. Here are some guidelines based on converting the ADA instructions to Gallons, w/ notes on other uses and dosing levels:

- ECA: Recommended dosing is 15 drops per 10 gallons of water, once a week. Many people use MUCH less (20%-40% of this dose). Remember you are getting Fe in your Micros as well!
- Green Gain: 3-4 Drops per 10 Gallons of water, once a week. Up to 9-12 Drops per 10 Gallons of water after heavy trimming
- Python Git: 7-8 Drops per 10 Gallons of water, once a week. If treating algae, dose up to 35-40 Drops per 10 Gallons of water
- Green Bacter: 3-4 Drops per 10 Gallons of water, once a week. At initial setup or to treat cloudy water dose up to 9-12 Drops per 10 Gallons of water

So based on the above, and what I have found in Frank’s journal, I think I am pretty close.

I will make the following changes:

• Keep the Green Gain at 6 drops instead of dropping it after first week. After trimming, I will dose between 15-20 drops.
• Green Bacter will be upped to between 15 and 20 drops a day in the first week.
• Seeing as how I won’t have any red plants, I will drop the ECA down to 10 drops per water change.

When should I start dosing the ferts and supplements? Should I be at full dosage of Pfertz and dosing ECA at one month? I am assuming as how you need to promote growth and fight algae, Green Gain and Phyton should be dosed from the start.

Question JCGD, have you used the filter media from Pisces that is their own brand? It looks like a good idea that it already comes with a bacteria culture on it? The guy there told me studies have been done and proven that their bio x max (I don’t know if that is the correct name) is superior to others, including the synthetic eheim media.

[jcgd]

Nah, I use whatever. I don't really bother with any of that stuff. I prefer Seachem Matrix but I buy it from j&l instead because it's much cheaper. I'm trying to source pumice in Canada because it's one of the best mediums, and raw bulk stone should be pretty cheap.

Even with the premixed ferts, I can't fathom why someone buys them once thy learn of dry ferts. No offense to you or anyone else, but if you really wanna spend the money, buy a lifetime supply of ferts for the same price and donate the difference. Honestly if you can't mix your own ferts, than you have no business keeping a tank because understanding the balance of the tank is 10x more complicated. Not aimed at you, aimed at everyone in the hobby.

This mantra I apply to any of those instant bacteria liquids, media, etc. but if you want name brand media, I suggest the repackaged pumice stone - Seachem matrix. Apparently is had a bit more area then the Eheim stuff. I've used both and I usually buy whatever is cheaper.

[trenton]

Originally Posted by jcgd

Nah, I use whatever. I don't really bother with any of that stuff. I prefer Seachem Matrix but I buy it from j&l instead because it's much cheaper. I'm trying to source pumice in Canada because it's one of the best mediums, and raw bulk stone should be pretty cheap.

Even with the premixed ferts, I can't fathom why someone buys them once thy learn of dry ferts. No offense to you or anyone else, but if you really wanna spend the money, buy a lifetime supply of ferts for the same price and donate the difference. Honestly if you can't mix your own ferts, than you have no business keeping a tank because understanding the balance of the tank is 10x more complicated. Not aimed at you, aimed at everyone in the hobby.

This mantra I apply to any of those instant bacteria liquids, media, etc. but if you want name brand media, I suggest the repackaged pumice stone - Seachem matrix. Apparently is had a bit more area then the Eheim stuff. I've used both and I usually buy whatever is cheaper.

I will check the price of the Seachem Matrix next time I go to Pisces and compare it to their in-house brand.

No offence taken. I know why a lot of people are all for dry ferts and I have nothing at all against them. I will probably try my hand at them eventually. I understand the dry chemicals and have the ability to mix them myself (working in the chemical/process engineering field and all), I just don’t want to. I'm not bashing one or the other.

And yes, even though they are “expensive”, when you break down the actual cost/month, it’s really not that unreasonable. See the chart below that I made up when investigating the ferts. $4.30/month isn’t that bad… and when they run out and I refill with the jugs, that drops down to $2.19/month.

[jcgd]

Wow dude. Those charts are nifty. Would you mind removing the info that only applies to you and adding the charts to the dosing sticky?

If you are going with matrix I can pick some up for you in Vancouver over the long weekend when I get my own. Saves on shipping and they usually give me a little off because they don't need to honor the free shipping deal. Same goes for anything else you need.

[trenton]

Originally Posted by jcgd

Wow dude. Those charts are nifty. Would you mind removing the info that only applies to you and adding the charts to the dosing sticky?

If you are going with matrix I can pick some up for you in Vancouver over the long weekend when I get my own. Saves on shipping and they usually give me a little off because they don't need to honor the free shipping deal. Same goes for anything else you need.

Thanks. I use spreadsheets to tabulate a lot of my information. I find it the easiest to work with.

I think I will hold off on the matrix, but thanks though! I haven't decided what I am doing yet for media. I wanted to start out with quite a bit of carbon to absorb the excess stuff in the water for the first couple of weeks so I still have time to research.

I actually made an order from J&L a while ago. I got my heater (with the wrong size barbs... I didn't realize there were Hydro 200W heaters with 1/2" and 5/8" barbs), test kit and Giesemann bulbs from them.

[trenton]

Updated planned dosing schedule: