[blackdog76]

I tore down my 55 gallon a while back because of a never ending battle with cyanobacteria, uncontrollable java moss, a snail infestation and many other factors...

Stones: Going with black lava rock
Substrate: Crushed back lava rock on bottom to prevent compaction as I am making a steep incline to the back. Didn't want to pay the insane price for ADA power sand.
ADA Aquasoil Aamazonia regular and fine on top
Plants: hc in front, staurogyne repens on rocks, rotala rotundifolia and rotala wallichii in background.
Lighting: Finnex Ray 2.
Filtration Eheim Pro III
Co2 inline diffusion

 

[blackdog76]

The humble dry start...

 

[blackdog76]

Yesterday before filling...

 

[Big O]

Wow!

that's already really nice!

 

[Crazy4discus]

Can't wait to see how it fills in!

 

[blackdog76]

The CO2 has been cranked since filling the tank. Photo period is 6 hours right now during the transition. HC is doing good and pearling but some is melting as expected. The staurogyne repens turned a little brown and yellow even before I filled the tank with water (probably because the black lava didn't have enough nutrients) but the new growth looks good. The rotala rotundifolia and rotala wallichii are taking off in the rear.

I have the eheim spraybar vertical and took off one of the sections to provide more flow. The inline diffuser shoots out a lot of visible co2 bubbles and covers the front of the tank with them which is kind of annoying. I know I have it up high but I thought the point of the up aqua inline diffusers was 100% dissolved co2? My drop checker is yellow so I'm not too worried about it.

My only major problem so far. Cyanobacteria. I hate this stuff!!!! This is the reason that I tore down my last tank. Even before I found it in my tank 2 days ago, I could smell it. There is a lot of die off from the transitional growth that I cleaned up, and did a water change. There was one spot of cyano on the HC that I sucked up, spot treated with Ho2 and then did a Myacin treatment to the entire tank. Most of the cyano is below the substrate line in the front of the tank. I hate this stuff....

Anyway, some pics

 

[j-pond]

Off to really nice start, can't wait to see how it fills in.
What if any other plants are you planning on adding?

 

[blackdog76]

Off to really nice start, can't wait to see how it fills in.
What if any other plants are you planning on adding?

Well see how red the plants in the rear get. If they don't add some contrast, I'll add something else to break up the green.

 

[talontsiawd]

That black lava rock looks awesome. I like the shape of lava rock but never the color, never seen black before. Looking forward to this.

 

[blackdog76]

Still have the co2 blasting. The HC started to melt on either side of the tank and a little in the middle rear so I was concerned about flow and temp. I ordered a Koralia wavemaker and decreased the temp a few degress and it looks much better. Not too much algae, but then again I'm still at a really short photo period. The staurogyne repens actually seems to be struggling the most. I have 2 varieties I guess? I have some that grow long stems and long leaves, and the other the opposite. Pretty obvious in the pics. Transition for them from emersed to submerged seems to have been the hardest. Emersed growth leaves turned brown and yellow. I removed most of them as they were barely connected anymore at that point. The rotala is growing like weeds in the back...

 

[blackdog76]

Good flow is really challenging in this tank. With the rocks blocking flow and the fact that the tank is long and narrow. A good circular flow is hard to do. The Korilia wavemaker seems to have helped a lot. I can at least see all the plants moving around a little and the co2 bubbles graze the tops of the plants pretty much everwhere.

 

[AquaAurora]

Nice tank. hope the staurogyne repens kicks into gear. Do you do (or plant to) any dry/liquid/ei fert dosing?

 

[blackdog76]

Nice tank. hope the staurogyne repens kicks into gear. Do you do (or plant to) any dry/liquid/ei fert dosing?

Yeah, DIY liquid fertilizers are on the way. I have a ton of dry fertilizers that I'm giving up on. I can never get the mixture right.

 

[AquaAurora]

Yeah, DIY liquid fertilizers are on the way. I have a ton of dry fertilizers that I'm giving up on. I can never get the mixture right.

I've been using Seachem liquid ferts for a few months (excel, phosphorus, potassium, flourish) and have a small needle-less syringe to measure out dosages that's strapped to each bottle, also marked the bottles with dose and day to dose to make it easier. Seachem is probably more expensive then some brands but it works, my older anubias gave me a flower this past week so I must be doing something right ^^

 

[blackdog76]

Tank has been going through some growing pains. I started dosing and started running low on co2 recently so between those two big changes, big changes happened as a result. I got a bunch of diatomes, which I was waiting for anyway, but they were followed by lots of pearling hair algae. Followed by an enormous amount of bio proteins clouding the water and forming a thick film on the top of the tank that I can't break with my finger. The tank smells horrible when I stand over it. I also saw a ton of tiny white worms flying around the tank in the currents (feeding on the protein I guess). And worst of all the cyano is back again. Forming small spots here and there. I replaced my Co2 cylinder and have it cranked up again so hopefully things will even out again. I'm resisting the urge to do anything rash. I'm just going to be patient, keep dosing EI and do a water change on Sunday.

 

[blackdog76]

Also noticed on the long stem, long leaf repens that the leaves were curling a little. Don't know if that's from the low co2 or what?

 

[Markz]

Wow the baby tears look amazing! What lighting fixture are you using? Im working on my 55 as well and need better light atm.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[AGUILAR3]

What lighting fixture are you using?

It's right there on the 8th line of the first post.

Lighting: Finnex Ray 2.

 

[Markz]

Thanks lol... it was late last night and using my phone.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk

 

[blackdog76]

Water has been murky lately but from what I've read I should wait it out...I did a large water change and it returned with full force in 2 days. Not too worried about it if the plants are happy. Started to add livestock to combat the hair algae. I bought 2 juvi chinese algae eaters who have been going to work for 2 days and just picked up two shrimps today.