[Greggz]

Good story and illustrates something.

Keep good records. I keep a spreadsheet that I update every week to keep track of things like CO2 fill ups, lighting schedule, fert dosing, TDS readings, filter cleanings......and yes, pH probe calibration. I try to do it about once a month. And like you said, as long as you doing other maintenance of the tank, takes little effort to do so.

 

[Grobbins48]

Good story and illustrates something.

Keep good records. I keep a spreadsheet that I update every week to keep track of things like CO2 fill ups, lighting schedule, fert dosing, TDS readings, filter cleanings......and yes, pH probe calibration. I try to do it about once a month. And like you said, as long as you doing other maintenance of the tank, takes little effort to do so.

Funny thing is I have been keeping a Google drive excel sheet for the past year now, but I continue to find new things to add! Time to refresh the look of the sheet and add some more X columns that are easy to read and filter on.

 

[Grobbins48]

@Greggz that gets me thinking; What are the things you are capturing on your excel records? Here is what I have so far:

Date
Tested water parameters
TDS pre water change
Water change amount (gallons)
Dosed fertilizer in ppm
Gallons I am dosing to (target dosing)
TDS post WC and dosing
What filter was cleaned
New CO2?
pH Controller Calibrated?
New Micro Mix?
General Notes

Would love thoughts on what else we can track against. Also, full disclosure- I have not been amazing at capturing all of these. I need to get better at TDS, as that is a great gauge once you know where you tanks hang around. Might be a good indicator something is off before plants/ algae tell you!

 

[Greggz]

@Greggz that gets me thinking; What are the things you are capturing on your excel records? Here is what I have so far:

Date
Tested water parameters
TDS pre water change
Water change amount (gallons)
Dosed fertilizer in ppm
Gallons I am dosing to (target dosing)
TDS post WC and dosing
What filter was cleaned
New CO2?
pH Controller Calibrated?
New Micro Mix?
General Notes

Would love thoughts on what else we can track against. Also, full disclosure- I have not been amazing at capturing all of these. I need to get better at TDS, as that is a great gauge once you know where you tanks hang around. Might be a good indicator something is off before plants/ algae tell you!

Sounds like you have the bases covered.

And I have also been tracking TDS for some time now. If it starts creeping up there is a reason, and I do a mid week water change to bring it down.

 

[Grobbins48]

I have had some uncharacteristic BBA for the past couple of months, and I have been scratching my head a bit on it. Filters are clean, dosing is appropriate, lighting is good (recent increase unrelated, BBA has been around).

Then I has a realization- the BBA showed up when I added the 2nd Fluval 407. The strong flow of these two filters I believe is causing my issues. I watch the movement of plants very closely for a while today, and everywhere there is strong current, there is BBA.

I has throttled both of the filters back to see how this helps. Some BBA removal is easy, some more difficult like what is in the grass.

Time will tell, but I hope this cleans things up a bit.

In other news I did grab two 660's today from the local hydroponics store. I also grabbed one of the power veg 420's as well, because why not? They did have the agromax LED bloom tube. I did have one in my hand, but I ended up putting it back for now. I have plenty of fun bulbs to play with!

I also have another T5 fixture due to and error on my part for ordering. For now I have a backup. I think I have room for one more, so maybe I'll store it under the hood

 

[Greggz]

I am guessing you see a reduction of BBA with the reduction of flow.

The same thing happened to me a while back before I drilled out my spray bar holes to make them wider.

And good pick up on the 660's. It seems finding the right local hyrdoponic store is the key.

 

[Grobbins48]

Super Flora
Super purple
660
660
420
10,000K

 

[ReeferRusso]

I have had some uncharacteristic BBA for the past couple of months, and I have been scratching my head a bit on it. Filters are clean, dosing is appropriate, lighting is good (recent increase unrelated, BBA has been around).

Then I has a realization- the BBA showed up when I added the 2nd Fluval 407. The strong flow of these two filters I believe is causing my issues. I watch the movement of plants very closely for a while today, and everywhere there is strong current, there is BBA.

I has throttled both of the filters back to see how this helps. Some BBA removal is easy, some more difficult like what is in the grass.

Time will tell, but I hope this cleans things up a bit.

In other news I did grab two 660's today from the local hydroponics store. I also grabbed one of the power veg 420's as well, because why not? They did have the agromax LED bloom tube. I did have one in my hand, but I ended up putting it back for now. I have plenty of fun bulbs to play with!

I also have another T5 fixture due to and error on my part for ordering. For now I have a backup. I think I have room for one more, so maybe I'll store it under the hood

You're very fortunate to have a local store that has the 660 bulbs. I've been checking around and four local hydroponics stores do not carry those bulbs. As a matter of fact, none of them carry the PowerVeg T5 tubes, at all.

I did find these on Amazon but know nothing about the brand. As you will see, they offer a 5 tube buy of a single color or a 5 tube buy with one of each color. For $10 a lamp, I may just pull the trigger and give them a try once I have my T5s up and running.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBTLCCT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_60AVYYHTCHV4MAS1B29V?psc=1

 

[Grobbins48]

This week led to having some short hair algae on many of my stem plants. I have not been testing the water parameters weekly, but with the change in light figured should keep a closer watch on the water column levels.

PO4 was maybe 1ppm, and NO3 was somewhere north of 30. I am guessing the increased light led to my already pretty low PO4 levels to bottom out. I upped dosing this week to 6ppm for the 50 gallon water change, and added some met 14 today to help knock out the hair algae.

I'll keep an eye on things a bit closer until things level out.

 

[Grobbins48]

You're very fortunate to have a local store that has the 660 bulbs. I've been checking around and four local hydroponics stores do not carry those bulbs. As a matter of fact, none of them carry the PowerVeg T5 tubes, at all.

I did find these on Amazon but know nothing about the brand. As you will see, they offer a 5 tube buy of a single color or a 5 tube buy with one of each color. For $10 a lamp, I may just pull the trigger and give them a try once I have my T5s up and running.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBTLCCT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_60AVYYHTCHV4MAS1B29V?psc=1

I have looked at those a few times and wondered also! Curious to see what you think of them if you do grab them!

 

[ReeferRusso]

I have looked at those a few times and wondered also! Curious to see what you think of them if you do grab them!

I ended up contacting a total of 10 hydroponics stores within a 100 mile radius. No dice. So I ordered the set of 5 different Nobel lamps. They should be here Tuesday. 2 day Prime shipping is now 4 day Prime shipping. No biggie though because I'm waiting on macros and micros to be delivered too. Probably won't make the change from LED to T5 until after I have everything on hand.

 

[Grobbins48]

A look at the tank after the hacking yesterday. Glut seems to be helping knock out some of the hair algae, now the key is keeping am eye on things to keep it away!

 

[Grobbins48]

Although the hair algae was getting under control, I found I just did not have the time/ motivation/ patience/ want to focus in on tank parameters this week. Overall, I have decided that I want to refocus myself on enjoying the tanks more than trying to drive them hard. I also want to start enjoying the fish more thank I have recently.

I have decided to drop down to 4 bulbs for 7 hours, with 2 bulbs for the final hour. 120 PAR was juts more than I wanted for right now, so I am back down to about 80PAR.

The current combo is 7 hrs of:

Flora Sun
3000K
Powerveg 660
Giesemann Actinic Blue

Then the last hour is a 660 and a super purple for a funky and fun look.

We will see how I feel over the next few weeks with the tanks and go from there.

 

[Immortal1]

Can certainly understand wanting to enjoy the fish more and less time with your arms in the water trimming/cleaning/detailing/cleaning...
Did I say cleaning twice? Oops.
"Then the last hour is a 660 and a super purple for a funky and fun look." I think I would like that the end of the day

 

[Grobbins48]

@Immortal1 here it is!

 

[Immortal1]

@Immortal1 here it is!

Nice!

 

[Grobbins48]

Now that the weather is getting nicer the tanks get a bit less attention. If I am being honest I have lost a bit of interest for super high power flowery stems the past month or so. I think a lot of it is time, or lack there of. I am also trying to enjoy the tank in gneneral, the fish, and not trying to push as hard as I can.

Anyways, the grass carpet took a big hit from hair algae, so that was ripped up this week. I also have been digging vibe of my 40 gallon more of a nature style. I once again added the wood back into the 75. Took about 3 min to scape it, but pretty pleased with the results.

I am also down to 4 bulbs and am going for a warmer look. I think I am running a 5400K, 660, and two flora sun's. I'll need to do PAR reading on it, but it should be 80 or lower I think.

We will see what the coming weeks bring and maybe find a way to reinvorgiat myself. Overall this tends to happen when the weather gets nice, and that's okay!

 

[Immortal1]

Kinda hate to say this - I really like the 40g tank. Somehow I can imagine bi-monthly trimming, bi weekly water changes, simple enjoyment

 

[Grobbins48]

Kinda hate to say this - I really like the 40g tank. Somehow I can imagine bi-monthly trimming, bi weekly water changes, simple enjoyment

You are spot on though. I rarely trim it, but do give it weekly water changes. I never really need to even clean the glass. Just an all around great tank!

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[Grobbins48]

Bit of better color. Swapped the 5400 for a 6500 Tropic.

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