Planted tank help

Thank you!

I've been breeding angelfish for a while but i've now actually sold them all!
Pretty much sold all my tanks and bought a nice 100x50x50 tank (because i was fed up with cleaning all these huge tanks :icon_smil)

So i've got a 100x50x50cm tank with a 4x 39w fixture.
Im using 2x philips 865 @ 6700k and 2x ?? lights (just too test, and i seems to work pretty well) @ 10.000k
Im using 10kg pressurised co2 with an Milwaukee sms122 controller (pH at 6.8) and a diy diffuser made out of pvc.

Im using the EI Method dosing 1ppm PO4 and 10ppm NO3 every other day

Monday; rest day
Thuesday; 50% change + po4/no3 + traces (at night)
Wednesday; fert
Thursday; po4/no3/
Friday; fert
Saterday; po4/no3

After all these angelfish adventures i wanted to start off easy with some fast growing plants:

Plants;
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Rotala rotundifolia
Vesicularia dubyana (had some leftovers stuck on a tank wall)

Fish;
Caridina multidentata

It all goes really well actually. (some minor algae issues)
Pf thats a lot of typing, any other questions??:flick:

edit; quite hard getting into the planted aqua again, but i did some homework (i think)

You have way too much light, so your first step should be to reduce it by raising the light fixture to at least 80 cm above the substrate, or by using only two bulbs and raising the light fixture to about 60 cm above the substrate. Or, use a PAR meter at the substrate level, and raise the lights/turn off lights until the reading is about 60-80 micromols per sq. meter per second.

Once you reduce the light it won't be nearly as critical to get everything else perfect. With pressurized CO2 it is a very good idea to have a rippled water surface, usually from directing some of the incoming water flow a bit towards the water surface. This increases the amount of oxygen in the water, making it easier on the fish when you have the high concentration of CO2 in the water that is needed for high light tanks.

You can use the pH controller best by first using a drop checker to guide you into the right range for CO2 concentration, then slowly, a little bit each day, increasing the bubble rate, until you get good pearling from the plants, and the fish are not showing distress by clustering at the surface "gulping air" or laying on the substrate. Now, set the pH controller to control to whatever the tank water pH is at that bubble rate. If you like you can then slightly increase the bubble rate, so the controller will shut off the CO2 occasionally.

Well a little update then;

Started off with 10 small bunches of HM now it looks like this:


Already pruned the rotala. Ill just leave everything as it is and let it grow.
Yes i know looks bad for now

Q: is it normal for my rotala rotundifolia to start develop 'aerial roots'?

Found something today growing on a few plants and on the tank glass

Looks like thread algae in an early stage..


Cant find any decent info about it. (except excess of iron)
Any help?

edit: and no i didnt try to eat it this time

Little update then :S

Have removed the little bit of 'thread' algae (took me 1 minute) and havent seen it since.
The ph controller had a hard time catching up so I increased the bpm.
The plants dont seem te be so out of control after the light change :tongue:

Cleaned my last angelfish tanks!
3x 200x45x45 cm
2x 30x30x20? cm
Trying to get rid of them soon!

I thought i got rid of all my angelfish but there was still one left.
Hidden in a bare bottom tank without heater/food/filtration :S
I'll get it back into shape and eventually give it away! (poor little thing)

Got 16x Caridina multidentata now!
Started of with 5 of them three weeks ago just to see if they could handle in my tank.


I also got 15x 'blue emperor tetras??' (Inpaichthys Kerri)
which are my all time favourite fish *click*


edit: I made the cutest little bubble counter a couple of days ago!

Im not actually using it 24/7 (because i know who made it P), but i wanted to know how my bpm putting into the tank.
Its still connected to my Co2 system now but with a little valve.

I also noticed the HM growing more upward and not trying to cover the substrate anymore!
Does that have anything to do with the reduced lighting? (changed from 4x 39w to 2x 39)
Im just down to pruning and replanting.. is that the right way to go?

After some algae issues (still fighting but winning) it all worked out ok (i think).
far far away from done yet, but at least now i know i can grow some aquatic plants now :hihi: and maybe add some more...

it started like this:


i just made this video to show what it looks like now!
i let ytube choose the music and dont even start about the title or the lame moss bridge :biggrin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3DSAnXZvRk

edit: the vallisneria started to take over so i removed it and put some ludwigia instead..