[NanoNoodle]

Never heard of terra tape, seems cool? It helps plants attach?

It helps grow plants immersed by wicking water above the waterline.

DOOA Terra Tape

DOOA Terra Tape is a self-adherent water retentive tape product for keeping live plants from drying out by winding it around driftwood and creating an appropriate environment for growing epiphytes such as moss. Please wind it around driftwood while leaving its end in the water and attache some...

aquaforestaquarium.com

 

[LidijaPN]

It helps grow plants immersed by wicking water above the waterline.

DOOA Terra Tape

DOOA Terra Tape is a self-adherent water retentive tape product for keeping live plants from drying out by winding it around driftwood and creating an appropriate environment for growing epiphytes such as moss. Please wind it around driftwood while leaving its end in the water and attache some...

aquaforestaquarium.com

super cool!!! curious to see how it does for you.

 

[Asteroid]

Considering this is a new tank and since I'm using inert substrate, should I still do frequent water changes? I'd rather not disturb the aquascape until the wood gets waterlogged.

You don't need to do daily, but you should still be changing water at least weekly or semi-weekly. There will still be decomposing organic matter that won't be processed by an immature bio-filter, plus with inert substrate I assuming your dosing and you want to keep those within range. Water changes are always good for several reasons. It doesn't take alot to start algae once you have the lights going.

 

[NanoNoodle]

I zip tied more rocks to the driftwood to get it more stable. I'm planning to do a 30% water change tonight.

I finally got my hanging kit for the Chihiros lights, and I'm loving the colors. I don't have to adjust temp setting on all my photos anymore.

I didn't realize I planted some pinnatifida above the water line. It's near some terra tape and I see the roots growing towards the water. I hope it survives.

I really like how the anubias barteri 'snow flake' and the buce pygmaea look. I'm excited to see them grow out.

 

[Mbrman]

Looks great! I really like your minimalist hardscape. It's going to look awesome when it grows out.

Dave

ETA...those anubias have more roots than Heinz has pickles!

 

[LidijaPN]

ETA...those anubias have more roots than Heinz has pickles!

Legit they look like jellyfish!!!

 

[NanoNoodle]

I went out of town for a few days to come back to a hair algae outbreak on my BioCube.

Hopefully a 75% water change and bump in CO2 would tone it down.

The 60P is doing well. Pinnatifida started growing. They even have a reddish hue. I’m going to switch to dry ferts tomorrow.

 

[NanoNoodle]

I promised myself I would keep tech to the bare essentials. I don't even have a thermometer for this tank. However, the gear head in me couldn't help it. I ordered a Red Sea Reefdoser 4 channel dosing pump for ferts and top off.

I still want to keep the tank as clean as possible, so I tried finding a spot that would be minimally invasive. I thought next to the lily pipes would be the best choice, but I didn't realize how beautiful the tank looked when viewed from the side.

 

[NanoNoodle]

Not much to report on the 60P today. I did however get a new accessory to my very first low tech immersed water feature.

I had a little pier/dock installed, so I could fish in this 1/4 acre pond. Aside from the aerator, all I have to do is throw some bacteria packets every couple weeks. The fish take care of all the problem algae. I wish my indoor tanks were this easy.

 

[NanoNoodle]

I installed a mirrored light hood to the Chihiros WRBGs and new dosing unit over the weekend. The light hood purchase was mainly so I could get free shipping on the hanging kit from FZone, but I actually like it. It's nice to see a reflection from above. I'm not sure if it intensifies the light much, the lights are already plenty bright.

The dosing kit is the Red Sea ReefDose 4. Red Sea makes some solid gear and I liked how easy it was to service the dosing heads. The pretty tube colors and clips also helped. Sadly, those color tubes are 3mm ID/5mm OD and wouldn't fit onto my DIY dosing containers. I ordered some John Guest barb connectors to finish the setup.

The Pinnatifidas seem to be growing fast and coloring nicely. Even the Christmas moss is a nice shade of green. The Buce Green Wavy and Sintang are slow growers, but I see new leaves popping out.

I'm a little concerned about the Anubias barteri 'snow flake'. The roots have grown, but I haven't any new leaf growth. Also, they seem to be covered by diatoms. Do you think the diatoms will be pass on its own? The tank is 2 weeks old, so I'm assuming it's just the cycling process.

I've been dosing GLA's PPS-Pro recipe (2ml macro, 1ml micro) daily. I tested my nitrate levels last night with a Salifert test kit, and it was undetectable. I increased ferts to 3ml macro and 2ml micro today. CO2 drop checker is green at lights on (9am) and near yellow by lights off (5pm). Should I increase ferts even more? Also, I've been doing 30% water changes every 3 days.

 

[NanoNoodle]

I did a 75% water change a couple nights ago and ended up with what looks like a bacteria bloom in the water column. The plants don't seem to mind it. Pinnatifida growth is speeding up, and I even see new/larger leaves on the Anubias snow flakes. Is 75% too much? I didn't think I'd hurt anything since there's no live stock.

On other news, freshwater Salifert test kits! They do exist. These were delivered from fishtanksdirect.com.

 

[LidijaPN]

Just changing the water shouldn’t hurt anything, even if you change 90%.... as long as you dechlorinate?

 

[NanoNoodle]

as long as you dechlorinate?

I use RO/DI water re-mineralized with Seachem Equilibrium. Maybe it's because I pulled one of the canister filter sponges out and replaced it with polyfill last week. It might be doing another cycle because I removed too much bacteria.

Freshwater feels so forgiving when compared to reef tanks, I've gotten a little complacent. You'd never squirt H2O2 directly onto corals to get rid of algae. It's nice not being so gentle with aquariums. Consequently, this why I'm down to 2 corals and anemone. I'm sorta just waiting for an excuse to turn that tank planted.

 

[LidijaPN]

I use RO/DI water re-mineralized with Seachem Equilibrium. Maybe it's because I pulled one of the canister filter sponges out and replaced it with polyfill last week. It might be doing another cycle because I removed too much bacteria.

Freshwater feels so forgiving when compared to reef tanks, I've gotten a little complacent. You'd never squirt H2O2 directly onto corals to get rid of algae. It's nice not being so gentle with aquariums. Consequently, this why I'm down to 2 corals and anemone. I'm sorta just waiting for an excuse to turn that tank planted.

Oh yeah I had the same thing when I changed out the filter sponge once.

 

[NanoNoodle]

I've been trying to understand how to properly use a TDS meter with the PPS-Pro fert system.

Perpetual Preservation System - TDS Meter

TDS meter Total dissolved solids TDS meter is an electronic device measuring electrical conductivity of water. Pure water has low conductivity and water with dissolved inorganic ions has conductivity higher. Organic contaminants, such as from fish and plants don’t have much impact on TDS

sites.google.com

I didn't realize there's different ways to measure TDS. First I needed to measure in µS instead of ppm, and I needed to make sure the tank's TDS stayed under tap water + 90 µS. For me that would be 250 µS (re-mineralize RO) + 90 µS = 340 µS. Each daily dose should add 10 µS which the plants should use up each day. At 4 ml macros + 2 ml micros, I've been dosing way too much. My tank's TDS was at 450 µS.

Last night I did a water change using pure RODI water (5 µS) which brought my TDS down back to 250 µS. I dosed 4/2 ml ferts this morning to determine how much it raised TDS. It was 20 µS, so I'll need to cut ferts down to 2 ml macros and 1 ml micros. Hopefully I'm doing this properly or at least don't hurt the plants.

Unfortunately the bacteria bloom didn't go away, but luckily the plants don't seem to be affected. I'm enjoying seeing the pinnatifida grow so quickly. They appear to be pearling to me, but I'm not if that's just the CO2 building up on the leaves.

 

[NanoNoodle]

You don't really notice how much plants are growing unless you step away for a few days. After going out of town for the weekend, I came back to what looked like an explosion of pinnatifida. I was thinking of ordering more plants next week, but now I'm not sure if I'll have room. I hear you need to be aggressive when trimming pinnatifida. Would it be ok to trim roots, or is that a no-no?

I didn't know Christmas moss had roots. I was too lazy to break out the DSLR macro lens, but here's a close-up with my iPhone.

 

[NanoNoodle]

I did my first trimming last night. I was afraid to really cut into it, so I just cut the large pinnatifida leaves. I'm getting diatoms on my anubias and some buce, so I pulled everything out and brushed it off. Also, since the driftwood was completely waterlogged, I was able to remove some zip tied rocks.

I should have paid more attention to maintenance when creating my scape. It's a big pain to get between that driftwood. I sorta wish I started with an iguami scape instead. Hopefully algae won't be a big problem once it matures. I'm really debating on getting one of those Twinstar algae inhibitors. I'm not looking forward to another 2 hour cleaning session.

This is how everything looks this morning.

 

[LidijaPN]

super nice looking!! It's a very unique setup in that you can easily pull out just about any part of your hardscape hahah. Definitely can't do that with mine!! I think it's kinda genius

 

[Asteroid]

Algae is always going to be a challenge with limited plant mass scapes. You probably don't need alot of light since the Pinna is way up top and you have lowlight plants on the bottom. Adding some more plants might help, even some moss covered stones around the base of those branches. I would also consider using carbon in the filter and obviously keep up with large and consistent water changes.

 

[NanoNoodle]

Adding some more plants might help, even some moss covered stones around the base of those branches. I would also consider using carbon in the filter and obviously keep up with large and consistent water changes.

I'm really new to planted tanks, and I wasn't sure how plants grew. I thought christmas moss would cover all the wood, but it's seems to prefer growing upward. I'm planning get some weeping moss to cover the rest.

Pinnatifida on the other hand grows so fast, at least compared to other plants I have. I'm actually trying to get it to turn redder, hence the high light and low nitrates. They should shade the low light plants underneath.

I ended up ordering the Twinstar algae inhibitor. I'll try carbon sponges for the Oase prefilter. I prefer less water changes, but it's not really a big deal with double taps on the canister hoses.

My war with algae starts now!