[Marty.h]

Having kept marine for a lot of years and selling that a few years back recently decided I wanted to have a go at a planted tank and so far it has not gone to badly it's been a learning curve but I'm hoping I'm finally getting my head around it all

Here is a few pictures of it when it was first setup 1st October 2019

And where is is now 25 days later still waiting for it to grow out fully.

It has changed a lot over the last month and growth has been excellent had an issue with staghorn alage but I believe I have now got over that and killed it all as it's all gone red hard to see the staghorn as it was only a small amount localised.

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[iamaloner]

That's really nice looking

What's your substrate and lights?
Planning on anything else stocking wise?

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[Marty.h]

That's really nice looking

What's your substrate and lights?
Planning on anything else stocking wise?

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Thanks

It has oliver knott nature soil and 4 x 54w HO T5's

Stocking wise I may up the cardinal stocks more but at the minute happy with whats in there

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[iamaloner]

That's why it looks so nice. Classic t5hos illumination you have going on there.


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[Marty.h]

That's why it looks so nice. Classic t5hos illumination you have going on there.


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I know I could of gone LED ect but T5's well and truly proven in marine and freshwater keeping so went with what i know works and seems to be working well at present

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[Marty.h]

Things are still growing away at a very rapid rate and looking healthy and currently no sign of any algae

I also cant seem to get any nitrate reading I've upped the Ei dose and been feeding heavy so looks like the plants are just munching through it.

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[Quagulator]

Looks really good.

Try taping the NO3 bottle #2 onto a reciprocating saw and run it for a minute then perform the nitrate test... Joking aside, you have to beat the daylights out of the NO3 bottle #2 for a more accurate measurement.


What are your water changes and NO3 dosing schedule like?

 

[Marty.h]

Looks really good.



Try taping the NO3 bottle #2 onto a reciprocating saw and run it for a minute then perform the nitrate test... Joking aside, you have to beat the daylights out of the NO2 bottle #2 for a more accurate measurement.





What are your water changes and NO3 dosing schedule like?

I'm just mixing basic mix up

But I'm dosing 100ml of each component on alternative days and doing as this says

Sunday I do a 50% waterchange which is 200 ish litres

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[Greggz]

Another former reefer coming over the planted tank side.

We have quite a few on here now.

Very, very nice start. And yes, good old T5HO still works quite well.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

What size is the tank?

 

[Marty.h]

Another former reefer coming over the planted tank side.



We have quite a few on here now.



Very, very nice start. And yes, good old T5HO still works quite well.



Looking forward to seeing where this goes.



What size is the tank?

Thanks its 6ft my old reef use to be 6ft some say it's easier coming over to planted once you had marine but it does vary a lot here is my old marine tank

Do I miss it the colours yes but the agro and maintenance no

I like T5's you know where you are with them and proven to work

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[Greggz]

When you post your fert dosing, it's a good idea to start thinking in ppm vs. tsp. It's the common language around here and will make it easier for others to understand what you are dosing and for you to compare your dosing to others.

There are two calculators that are helpful, Rotalabutterfly and Zorfox. Learn how to use them and they will be your friend.

Is that 6' tank a 125G? If so, I calculated below what your weekly dosing looks like based on 110G of actual water. If it's a different size, very easy to recalculate.

NO3 18.36ppm
PO4 5.67 ppm
K 13.89 ppm
MG 4.32 ppm

The mix does not add Ca, but you might have adequate amount of the tap.

Can't find the actual numbers on the trace mix, but it appears to be a CSM+B clone. If so weekly Fe would be 0.39 ppm.

With a tank that size, no reason to make a solution for the macros. Much easier to just dry dose. You could also increase the concentration of the micros solution. For instance, my Fe from micro dosing is very similar to yours, but I dose 20 ml per day. Simply a richer solution is all.

Hope that helps. And once again, very, very nice start.

 

[Marty.h]

When you post your fert dosing, it's a good idea to start thinking in ppm vs. tsp. It's the common language around here and will make it easier for others to understand what you are dosing and for you to compare your dosing to others.



There are two calculators that are helpful, Rotalabutterfly and Zorfox. Learn how to use them and they will be your friend.



Is that 6' tank a 125G? If so, I calculated below what your weekly dosing looks like based on 110G of actual water. If it's a different size, very easy to recalculate.



NO3 18.36ppm

PO4 5.67 ppm

K 13.89 ppm

MG 4.32 ppm



The mix does not add Ca, but you might have adequate amount of the tap.



Can't find the actual numbers on the trace mix, but it appears to be a CSM+B clone. If so weekly Fe would be 0.39 ppm.



With a tank that size, no reason to make a solution for the macros. Much easier to just dry dose. You could also increase the concentration of the micros solution. For instance, my Fe from micro dosing is very similar to yours, but I dose 20 ml per day. Simply a richer solution is all.



Hope that helps. And once again, very, very nice start.

Thanks for taking the time to reply this is all new to me dosing isn't but that consisted of mag,alk and calcium before I'll have a look at them links you provided

The tank is 420 Litre that's not taking away substrate and plants that will bring that volume down

I dont think it's a bad start at all and I'm quite happy with what I have accomplished so far just a case of making sure I stay on track and keep everything in check

What is it you mean by the trace elements as in add raw powder ?

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[powhound84]

Do I miss it the colours yes but the agro and maintenance no

Agreed! I kept reef tanks for a long time but the constant battle against rapidly degrading water quality got old. Now I prefer freshwater with plants and critters that help me keep the tank clean instead of mucking it all up

 

[Marty.h]

Agreed! I kept reef tanks for a long time but the constant battle against rapidly degrading water quality got old. Now I prefer freshwater with plants and critters that help me keep the tank clean instead of mucking it all up

It was a constant battle adjusting doser chasing numbers to keep a balance, I dont miss waking up thinking what coral has stripped this morning or bailed out of its skeleton for absolutely no reason at all then having to throw a very expensive skeleton in the bin , that's not including the nights infront of tank with red torch looking for stow always and setting traps to catch the nasty crabs , bobbit worms and polyclad flatworms to name a few I had to catch over the years they honestly get draining at times

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[Greggz]

What is it you mean by the trace elements as in add raw powder ?

For a tank that size, no sense in making a solution for macros.

You can just dry dose with tablespoons or preferably a gram scale.

For instance, I recalculated your KNO3 dosing based on 100G (378L).

Right now you are making a solution that provides 6.73 NO3 per 100ml dose......

Here is the same calculated for dry dosing. So instead of the solution you would dose 4.19 grams of dry KNO3 (about 3/4 tsp).

Hope that makes sense.

And I found your trace mix listed on Rotalabutterfly.

So you are dosing 0.26 Fe per dose. But that's a 100ml dose, and you will be making solutions quite often.

You can create the same ppm with a smaller dose by making the solution stronger......

Again, hope that makes sense and helps.

 

[Marty.h]

For a tank that size, no sense in making a solution for macros.



You can just dry dose with tablespoons or preferably a gram scale.



For instance, I recalculated your KNO3 dosing based on 100G (378L).



Right now you are making a solution that provides 6.73 NO3 per 100ml dose......

Here is the same calculated for dry dosing. So instead of the solution you would dose 4.19 grams of dry KNO3 (about 3/4 tsp).

Hope that makes sense.



And I found your trace mix listed on Rotalabutterfly.

So you are dosing 0.26 Fe per dose. But that's a 100ml dose, and you will be making solutions quite often.



You can create the same ppm with a smaller dose by making the solution stronger......

Again, hope that makes sense and helps.

Yes that does make sense for example add double the macro to solution dose half the amount as in 50ml would be equivalent to 100ml ect use to do the same with the marine make a stronger solution to save having to dose such large quantities

Thanks for taking the time to work it out above in marine we had figures to work to for optimum water example below

Is there something similar for a planted tank as in a parameter set to work to I know Ei is to put nutrients in abundance so it a case of a planted tank as long as plants are healthy and not showing any negative signs then you on the right track and if they start showing issues look the issue up against this chart below for example

Sorry for all the questions it's a bit of a learning curve and thanks again for taking the time to reply




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[Marty.h]

@Greggz I now went onto that site and looked at the section working out my lighting what range is this classed as Low tec or high tec

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[Greggz]

Thanks for taking the time to work it out above in marine we had figures to work to for optimum water example below

Well optimum water parameters is a relative term in planted tanks. No two seem to be alike. So half the battle is finding out what works best with your tank.

The levels you are dosing are a good start. You might be a little high on the micros. 0.26 is 0.78 ppm Fe weekly. IMO, a range of 0.35 to 0.45 weekly is enough and may be better. That being said, if things are keep going well, don't change a thing.

You also might need some Ca. You can get a test kit to see where you are at.

Your 4 x 54W T5HO at 100 PAR is considered high light. But you have 4' tubes over a 6' tank, so you probably have some serious drop off at the edges. Generally not a problem, but something to be aware of. High light plants may not do well at the outer edges of the tank, as PAR will be lower.

As to the chart above, I wouldn't put that much stock into it. Deficiencies are difficult to diagnose, and many look alike. You can also have other problems besides ferts that can create the same looking problems (not enough light, not enough CO2, dirty tank conditions, etc.).

And keep in mind dosing is not the same as actual water parameters. With EI type dosing water changes are a key to the formula. The idea is that with 50% water changes you will never have more the twice your dosing. So if you dose 15ppm NO3 weekly and do 50% water changes, your actual NO3 reading will never be more than 30ppm. Now that does not include calculating in fish waste and plant uptake, but again that is a much longer discussion.

And while reef tanks are very complicated, planted tanks are as well. It's all about creating a good balance between light/CO2/Ferts/Maintenance. And each one of those is lengthy discussion.

FYI here is the type of things that folks track in their planted tank. This chart is available for download in the Google Drive link in my signature, and anyone can use it any way they like.

And believe me, I completely understand being new to this. When I got started, I thought some folks here were speaking in tongues. But just like with the reef, it will all make sense over time.

 

[Marty.h]

Well optimum water parameters is a relative term in planted tanks. No two seem to be alike. So half the battle is finding out what works best with your tank.

The levels you are dosing are a good start. You might be a little high on the micros. 0.26 is 0.78 ppm Fe weekly. IMO, a range of 0.35 to 0.45 weekly is enough and may be better. That being said, if things are keep going well, don't change a thing.

You also might need some Ca. You can get a test kit to see where you are at.

Your 4 x 54W T5HO at 100 PAR is considered high light. But you have 4' tubes over a 6' tank, so you probably have some serious drop off at the edges. Generally not a problem, but something to be aware of. High light plants may not do well at the outer edges of the tank, as PAR will be lower.

As to the chart above, I wouldn't put that much stock into it. Deficiencies are difficult to diagnose, and many look alike. You can also have other problems besides ferts that can create the same looking problems (not enough light, not enough CO2, dirty tank conditions, etc.).

And keep in mind dosing is not the same as actual water parameters. With EI type dosing water changes are a key to the formula. The idea is that with 50% water changes you will never have more the twice your dosing. So if you dose 15ppm NO3 weekly and do 50% water changes, your actual NO3 reading will never be more than 30ppm. Now that does not include calculating in fish waste and plant uptake, but again that is a much longer discussion.

And while reef tanks are very complicated, planted tanks are as well. It's all about creating a good balance between light/CO2/Ferts/Maintenance. And each one of those is lengthy discussion.

FYI here is the type of things that folks track in their planted tank. This chart is available for download in the Google Drive link in my signature, and anyone can use it any way they like.

And believe me, I completely understand being new to this. When I got started, I thought some folks here were speaking in tongues. But just like with the reef, it will all make sense over time.

Thanks again for taking the time to reply really helping I have looked at the water report for this area and this is what it shows

I will pop out and grab a test kit what brands work best and what kits would you reccomend in marine Salifert is what we used I have been Using the APi master kit for this freshwater

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[Greggz]

I will pop out and grab a test kit what brands work best and what kits would you reccomend in marine Salifert is what we used I have been Using the APi master kit for this freshwater

I use Salifert for NO3 and API for PO4. Here's why...one of my kitchen table experiments.:grin2: Also using API for Calcium but I am sure your Salifert is probably as good or better.

https://www.plantedtank.net/forums/12-tank-journals/1020497-greggz-120g-rainbow-fish-tank-almost-back-normal-10-12-2019-a-56.html#post10675714

I would also be testing GH & KH. GH is basically a combination of Ca & Mg. So when you know your Ca and GH, we can figure Mg from those values. Now where you want those levels is another discussion.