[Kevin1]

Hi -

A few people have been helping me, much appreciated, just figured I'd post some pix for reference.

6 Gallon Fluval Edge Setup

Lighting:
Ecoxotic: 16 Watt Panorama Pro 8000K
Ebay Custom: 18 Watt 10000K

CO2:
AquaTek Nano Regulator
Mr Aqua Bubble Counter
Paintball tank
Up Aqua Atomizer
CO2 Drop Checker
Milwaukee PH Controller

Filtration:
Eheim 2213
Inline Hydro Heater
Coarlife UV Sterilizer

Decor:
Sieryu Rocks

Substraite:
Eco Complete

Ferts:
PPS Pro Fert Pack - Greenleafaquariums.com (daily)
Flourish Root Tabs
Flourish Excel (daily)
Weekly 30% waterchange with tapwater/RO (50/50) and Prime.

Plants:
Dwarf Baby Tears (My main growing goal)
Dwarf Hair Grass
Moss Ball
Ranunculus Inundatus
Dwarf Anubias
Two other things -forget the names.

New to the hobby - trying my best. Still in the process of figuring out fertz and lighting.


Here you can see a two week old dwarf plant vs a newly planted on. The two week old one has lost color. :-/


Here you can see some problems with my Anubias. Holes and Algae on the leaf. I'm sure some of the problems seen here are due to the trial and errors trying to understand how planted tanks work.


UV Sterilizer keeps the water pretty clear.

 

[MaxLaf]

this is going to look very sharp!!! keep us updated!

 

[chan1011]

Wow for a 6G you got some serious equipment in that!

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[Kevin1]

Wow for a 6G you got some serious equipment in that!

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

I wanted to eliminate as many variables by automating as much as possible. Trying to manually turn things on and off lead to much algae dead plants, and dead fish.

It all started once I found out the stock fluval filter needs to be primed after a power outage. Then trying to figure out how I can hide as much as possible I started adding as many inline features as I could. The eheim before all the addons was pretty strong for my tank. After the feature addons the water has signficantly slowed, and almost perfect for my tank at full power.

 

[Kevin1]

I also created a matrix to help anyone with a 10-20 size gallon tank. Maybe this would be bennificial to others.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23280519/tank%20breakdown.xlsx

 

[dru]

I would recommend splitting that HC into much smaller clumps, it will propagate faster.

I am actually impressed you could even get that big clump planted.

 

[Kevin1]

I would recommend splitting that HC into much smaller clumps, it will propagate faster.

I am actually impressed you could even get that big clump planted.

I've actually burned through probably 7 or 8 of these plants trying various things will no success. Granted, I've only been 'stable' for the past two weeks - it was a volitale nightmare prior to that.

Before I would split the pods and plant but it felt like whack-a-mole trying to keep them planted. Then watched a few videos where people recommended just trying the large clump to a rock, and that's what I did in the posted pictures. Simply took the plant out of the pot, laid it on a flat rock, and tied it with clear fishing line.

I'm a little less concerned with the growth rate - more interested in just keeping them alive. Once I can accomplish that, I will at least know my water levels, lighting and CO2 are where they should be and can adjust from there.

 

[dru]

IMO you can almost count on some type of issue with HC initially. Mine actually didn't really take off until I had it in a tank that was being neglected due to me being out of town on/off for a few months, 4 hour photoperiod, no co2, and probably sky high nitrates.

I was only around the tank once every couple of weeks and I would just be amazed at the coverage I was getting after initially trying to dial in co2/ferts/lights precisely.

It just takes time.

 

[Kevin1]

IMO you can almost count on some type of issue with HC initially. Mine actually didn't really take off until I had it in a tank that was being neglected due to me being out of town on/off for a few months, 4 hour photoperiod, no co2, and probably sky high nitrates.

I was only around the tank once every couple of weeks and I would just be amazed at the coverage I was getting after initially trying to dial in co2/ferts/lights precisely.

It just takes time.

I think there's truth to what you're saying - you read a lot about plants melting during the first month or so. I'm not sure if pearling is a sign of good water quality but recently I've been seeing a lot of pearling on some of my plants including the DBTs.

Maybe it's me - but for someone new to the hobby a small size tank can be really tricky - over dosing chemicals/fertz is very easy. I also have learned the hard way that too much light is just as bad as not enough, and something others should be careful of.

Kudos to this forum though - you have some really smart members. It might take me a year to fully understand some of the lighting posts from Hoppy the mad scientist. Something to keep me busy. :thumbsup:

 

[prighello]

Looks great! Respect those that scape these things; seems like it'd be a bit harder than a regular tank.

 

[Kevin1]

Updated pics:







Any suggestions on keeping DBT's rooted?