[Ben Belton]

I really want to get something like this started, but as the summer approaches, I'm not sure this is something I should be diving into right now. It's hard to resist.

 

[Ben Belton]

Long story short, my central unit is toast. It was pretty old and the compressor finally crapped out.

Wow... no AC in Alabama. That sucks. Better start selling off some stems to pay for it :grin2:

 

[Ben Belton]

Sigh... A whole page without any pictures

From the person closing out their tank. :grin2:

 

[Ben Belton]

Looks really good.

 

[Ben Belton]

Also if I ever dosed it when the PH was still high, like in the 7.4 range before the CO2 kicks on, it clouded the water immediately, a milky white cloudiness that lasted a few hours. It wouldnt happen if the PH was down in the low-mid 6s

It's been a long time since chemistry, but I wonder if your problem was that at the higher pH, the iron was in it's ferric (+3) state so it precipitated your phosphate (-3). I've had this happen before. Would have explained a PO4 deficiency if you were having one at the time.

 

[Ben Belton]

Ive never seen much in the way of P deficiency. But I DID notice a drastic improvement in the 75 once when I cut P way back. That seemed to fix a lot of Fe deficiency looking symptoms I was dealing with at the time. Symptoms which couldnt be fixed be simply adding more P. None of which ever really made sense to me. Got any ideas about that?

Maybe when you cut your P back, there wasn't enough to precipitate out all the Fe. So there was some left over?
Complete guessing there.

Next time you are fiddling with your dosing, might could experiment. Increase your P and only add Fe later in the day when the pH is low.

 

[Ben Belton]

I am hoping to get a 75 going in the fall, and I have started getting stuff together to set it up. I was at my dad's today 2 hours away, and finally was close to a Tractor Supply for the Black Diamond blasting sand. Attached are how the bags were marked. WTH? It wasn't very helpful. I assumed the top one was 20/40, but I didn't want to buy a bunch and be screwed. It was very frustrating. I could feel the grit through the bag, and the one I thought was 20/40 had a hole, so I could actually get some out of the bag, but it seemed much too tiny. The bags seemed small too. Not what I was expecting.

So Burr, or anyone, next time you have your arm in your tank, can you get some up on your finger and snap a quick phone pic so I can see how big it is in case I run into this the next time? Thanks in advance.

BTW Burr, I think you are up to 75% more Dutch with these last pics. You have the streets, the defined groups, different leaf shapes, focal point, and the coalesce on the sides.

 

[Ben Belton]

Yeah, my issue was that the top one was marked 20/40, 16/30, and 12/40. While I ASSumed it was the 20/40 like you two say, you know what happens when you assume. :grin2:

There is a Tractor Supply closer to me than 2 hours, but I haven't wanted to drive up after work when I'm dead. It might be that I can order the stuff online to be picked up at a certain store. That would work. I'll look into it.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Ben Belton]

Amazing as always. The Isotes with the red behind it is my favorite part I think.

 

[Ben Belton]

On my phone so I'm not sure this will work but I am thinking congratulations are in order.

 

[Ben Belton]

High-Tech Planted Tanks

You may also want to try Aquascaping the World, another big group.

Planted Aquariums has 11K

Couple others that are small but OK are Waterforest Aquatics and The Aquascapers Collective

There's also a "Low-Tech Planted Tanks" group (if I got the name right) that's really big and I would assume very active. Im not a member of that one though

And don't forget the AGA Facebook page. It tends to be more general. :grin2:

 

[Ben Belton]

in a perpetual game of whack-a-mole.

I think this sums up my life in general :grin2:

 

[Ben Belton]

Bacopa should now be good for a month or so. Colorata grows a lot slower than it's cousin, B caroliniana

I read the first sentence and thought, Are you kidding me? But then I read the second part and though, Ah.. OK. I've never had the Colorata, but I know the normal one can grow out of the tank in just a few days. I love Bacopa. Hope to have the Colorata some day.

Check out that sweet Crypt Vin gave me, brand new to the hobby - Cryptocoryne spiralis 'red tiger'. New leaves have a green stripe in the middle, older leaves are pinkish brown with dark striations.

Is this thing ballin or what?? Thanks Vin!!

That's awesome. Never seen that one.

 

[Ben Belton]

'Why do we grow plants so differently here in the US?' No other place fertilizes as much as we do.

Just a thought. From the tanks I see online, I don't often see Asian growers trying to do all these red stem plants. They might have one or two accent reds but not half a tank. We love them here. I love them. What do you think?

 

[Ben Belton]

Would be interesting to get one of the wide spectrum and the red bloom ones. Gets a bit pricey though.

 

[Ben Belton]

I think this aquascape is amazing. Your photographs are over the top. If I can get a tank going, I'm going to have to get up with you about how to photograph. I can see the judge's comments. There were 2 excellent tanks in this category IMO, and they can only pick one winner. I prefer yours, but I can see that from a strictly Dutch judging criteria, they make good points.

 

[Ben Belton]

Joe, sorry if there is a discussion somewhere else about your AGA tank, I can't find it. Anyway, I think your submission is awesome. It reminds me of the old pictures of Dutch tanks with the varying leaf shapes and subtle colors. It's really well done. Have to say I'm surprised you didn't win this one.