CmLaracy's ADA 75P v.5 (6/4 FTS)

[Overfloater]

Were the Amanos eating your plants? I had a problem with my Amanos eating my hygrophilia and alternanthera. They absolutely destroyed those plants. I started feeding them sinking wafers. Unfortunately I removed the chowed plants so I don't know if feeding them helped or not.

[@marko@]

Originally Posted by CmLaracy

Just hit up my LFS, they had 1 Borara. Even smaller than I expected them to be, had them place an order for 60. Look who showed up in my tank, buggers are doing a real good job de-planting! 10 Amanos and 4 ottos, the Amanos are actually significantly larger than the ottos! They kicked up a couple melted stems of HC that didn't make it through the melt phase and transition from emmersed to immersed. They're also tossing and turning the Aquasoil like it's their job, the front dirt line is no longer perfect. They're a bit too big, had I known I would have waited another week... I just hope they don't do too much damage. I'm feeding them as much as I can so they take it easy. I need a macro lens. One week FTS coming tomorrow.

i dont like adding any fish or shrimp to the tank until at least a week after the plants show growth, that way they have a root system established enough to prevent unplanting. though this doesnt help much for foreground replants...

you seem to be doing really well with the regular lens, would really like to see the pics youd be posting with a macro. save up from selling your trimmings.

[CmLaracy]

Here's a sloppy FTS with the CO2 on blast and all the hardware in the tank, wanted to reply to Overfloater and Marko but felt silly not providing any pictures! Things just started to visibly take off about a day or so ago so there's not much YET to look at, but give it a couple days. The HC and Cyperus helferi were both being grown emmersed at the LFS so they need a good little while to transition. Oddly enough, the helferi seems to be growing faster than the HC and the moss.

Day 8:

Originally Posted by Overfloater

Were the Amanos eating your plants? I had a problem with my Amanos eating my hygrophilia and alternanthera. They absolutely destroyed those plants. I started feeding them sinking wafers. Unfortunately I removed the chowed plants so I don't know if feeding them helped or not.

Nope, they're just so big (like roach size) and so active that their "romping" around is doing a good job at disturbing the neatly manicured soil I took a lot of time to cultivate. They also stirred up every melted HC stem, which isn't bad cause they essentially pruned for me, but a few sprigs that weren't melted were uprooted and that was annoying, but I just put them back. What I really hate is how much they messed up the front line of Aquasoil, which WAS nice and thin and even... not anymore, I have to level it out every day and it's not nearly as thin as it used to be, something only I'd notice most likely I can be compulsive.

Originally Posted by @marko@

i dont like adding any fish or shrimp to the tank until at least a week after the plants show growth, that way they have a root system established enough to prevent unplanting. though this doesnt help much for foreground replants...

you seem to be doing really well with the regular lens, would really like to see the pics youd be posting with a macro. save up from selling your trimmings.

I was going to wait 2 weeks for that exact reason, but the cycle went so fast (3 days, pre-seeded media) I couldn't resist, and there was no way for me to predict these amanos would be the size of my thumb (would have waited but my LFS is an hour away so I didn't feel like leaving empty handed). And that's not an exaggeration, they're actually kind of gross looking they're so big. I'm lucky they've only unplanted about 2 growing sprigs, everything else was from the melt stage.

And with regards to the camera, I've learned a thing or two recently, but I kinda have to give the amanos credit for the macro shots, you wouldn't be the slightest bit impressed if you saw these things in person. A point and shoot could probably take a mediocre macro of these things. They actually throw off the scale of the tank when they're out and about

[@marko@]

well, on the bright side, a big amano needs more food than a regular-sized one, and that mean less algae.

are those RCS i spot in the tank?

[crazydaz]

Nice start to the tank, and I think that it'll be pretty epic....you don't see Cyprerus often used in this type of scape.

Just keep that moss trimmed close, when it's firmly attached, and this will be a stunner!

Great job CmL!

[CmLaracy]

Originally Posted by @marko@

well, on the bright side, a big amano needs more food than a regular-sized one, and that mean less algae.

are those RCS i spot in the tank?

I've actually had to feed them cause there has yet to be even a precursor to algae, pure RO/DI water has made a world of difference. My tap is riddled with silicates.

Yes it is, was looking through the bucket I used to clean the last setup with, saw some movement. 3 small male RCS, no females. Threw em in the tank cause they won't start multiplying.

Originally Posted by crazydaz

Nice start to the tank, and I think that it'll be pretty epic....you don't see Cyprerus often used in this type of scape.

Just keep that moss trimmed close, when it's firmly attached, and this will be a stunner!

Great job CmL!

Thanks, and yeah I plan on keeping the moss nicely trimmed. I haven't been too sure about the helferi, but when I picture in my head what it'll look like grown in I somewhat like it, so I'm going to let it do just that before I decide if I want to remove it or not.

[@marko@]

Originally Posted by CmLaracy

I've actually had to feed them cause there has yet to be even a precursor to algae, pure RO/DI water has made a world of difference. My tap is riddled with silicates.

Yes it is, was looking through the bucket I used to clean the last setup with, saw some movement. 3 small male RCS, no females. Threw em in cause they won't start multiplying.

thats really nice, i love a lack of algae.
no Si means no diatoms, but be sure to give your plants extra gh booster to make up for it (i lost a lot of plants til i figure out they needed more Ca and Mg on RODI water). what are you adding for CO3--?

do you plan on having a shrimp colony in this tank?

[CmLaracy]

Originally Posted by @marko@

thats really nice, i love a lack of algae.
no Si means no diatoms, but be sure to give your plants extra gh booster to make up for it (i lost a lot of plants til i figure out they needed more Ca and Mg on RODI water). what are you adding for CO3--?

do you plan on having a shrimp colony in this tank?

Actually, Brighty K is potassium in the form of KCO3, Amano chose KCO3 to compensate for the softening properties of Aquasoil. I'm banking on brighty step 1 having Mg and Ca as a part of its micro complex, if I see any signs of Mg deficiency I'll start to add a bit of epsom salt (MgSO4). Though I'm almost positive bright step 1 has calcium, and nearly positive it has Mg. I usually dose 8 pumps of brighty step 1, but with the switch to RO/DI I've been adding substantially more (12-16).

And for now, until I see some signs of algae, I'm going to leave the 3 males alone. If I see some algae happening I may throw in a female or two. Anxiously waiting on my 60 Borara brigittae, my LFS hasn't gotten back to me yet.

[@marko@]

Originally Posted by CmLaracy

Actually, Brighty K is potassium in the form of KCO3, Amano chose KCO3 to compensate for the softening properties of Aquasoil. I'm banking on brighty step 1 having Mg and Ca as a part of its micro complex, if I see any signs of Mg deficiency I'll start to add a bit of epsom salt (MgSO4). Though I'm almost positive bright step 1 has calcium, and nearly positive it has Mg. I usually dose 8 pumps of brighty step 1, but with the switch to RO/DI I've been adding substantially more (12-16).

And for now, until I see some signs of algae, I'm going to leave the 3 males alone. If I see some algae happening I may throw in a female or two. Anxiously waiting on my 60 Borara brigittae, my LFS hasn't gotten back to me yet.

never new that. i use dry fertz and my supplimental K is in the form of KSO4 (along with the KNO3 and KH2PO4), and the only Mg i had was in the plantex CSM+B.
if you need more Ca or CO3--, you could probably just stick a few bits of coral skeleton in there.

which LFS? absolutely fish?

[CmLaracy]

Originally Posted by @marko@

never new that. i use dry fertz and my supplimental K is in the form of KSO4 (along with the KNO3 and KH2PO4), and the only Mg i had was in the plantex CSM+B.
if you need more Ca or CO3--, you could probably just stick a few bits of coral skeleton in there.

which LFS? absolutely fish?

Fishtown USA, but it's irrelevant now, I had a very specific budget with this tank and unfortunately my MH bulb is dead so the fish money is going towards a new bulb. Can't decide between the standard ADA 8000K and the 8000K 'green'. Probably going to give the 'green' a shot as I never plant with anything besides green plants. I just swapped in the 13KK bulb that came with the fixture to get growth back up to speed, it's quite an intense light. The new ADA bulb will be ordered this weekend with 2-3 day shipping so it gets here by tuesday-thursday.

Also, my Seiryu stone adds hardness to the water, something I forgot to mention before. The longer I go without changing the water the higher the TDS and pH gets, and it happens quite quickly as compared to without the stones.

[CmLaracy]

So, the bulb I started this tank with was quite dead. After putting in the new 13000K bulb that came with the light the growth took off. The first 11 days of this tank were messed up by a dead light, and so the growth isn't currently as far along as I hoped it would be by now. Today the 8000K 'green' came in and I love the way it looks in person, and it also has some burning in to do before it shows its true color, usually after 100 or so hours they shift to white a bit. Regardless, it's impossible to photograph, I simply don't have the DSLR know-how to get a good picture. The following pictures are super saturated in green and out of focus, I'm really having a hard time getting a realistic picture, some advice would be appreciated. I've snapped about 200 so far and can't find any I like.

Two week FTS:

[crazydaz]

Still progressing nicely!! I wouldn't worry about growth....it'll come in time! Just be happy that you don't have any algae problems!

Could you tweak the hue on the photos back to the red? You should post a few shots in the Photography forum.....what camera are you using CM?

[Overfloater]

How would you characterize the green vs normal Ada bulb?

I have been using the same 150w Ada bulb for like 3 years now and I bought it used with probably 2 yea years on it. Maybe I should replace it.

[@marko@]

for the focus, try using the manual focus feature. just use a tripod if your swaying a little bit as your trying to focus.

no advice on the color camera wise, but i have a similar problem (my shots look too blue) and i fix it digitally. i use photoshop and reduce the amount of blue under "color variations".

[salmon]

Looking great! I've always been curious about the look of the "green" halides.

For pic tips, I would try manually playing with white balance settings ( in the camera) and see if that helps.