40 breeder planted aquarium

[Kalemh]

http://s38.photobucket.com/user/kalemh/media/20170201_194241_zpswqqcahir.jpg.html    here is my 5 week old 40 breeder there is currently a bunch of guppies which I'm trying to sell off pm if interested 8 dwarf rainbows and 8 lambchop rasboras I am running a fluval plant and fresh 2.0 led , pressurized co2 and hope to start dosing soon

[Kalemh]

For plants I am growing ar mini , crypt undulata spiralis wendetti bronze and crispulata, Ludwigia sp red ,rotala bonsai and wallichi, starogyne repens, parrots feather,blyxa japonica and some unknown plant I got from critter jungle I am using fluval stratum, an eheim Jager and eheim 250 as well

[charlie]

Great start, keep an eye to the light intensity , since the 40 B is a shallow tank and that light fixture put`s out some serious light.
Thanks for sharing

[Kalemh]

This aquarium was torn down this morning and was rescaped. I will post photos once it clears up more and try to update everyone more this time around. I tore it down because of algae problems and not having enough spread on light. Also wanted to get some rock in there after seiryu stone was removed after affecting water chemistry.

[Mike L]

Hey Kalemh
I'm curious. Could you elaborate on the water chemistry issues that arose please. I'm always trying to gain insight into water perimeters given that I modify my water gh/kh/Ph.
Regards Mike

[Kalemh]

Because of the what I believe are calcium veins inside the seiryu stone they would slowly raise my kh  and whenever I did a water change it would bring it back down to normal. So what was happening is my co2 would go from way too little for the plants to (after a water change) having my fish gasping at top of water for 2 days. I monitored it once more before I removed the rocks and my kh would start at 2DKH and by then end of the week be at 6 Dkh

[Mike L]

 What is the kh gh and Ph of your source water. That rock you mentioned is limestone from what I read. I'm not familiar with the effects of co2 exactly, however I have attached a link from this site that might be of some help. I do know for certain that limestone or any calcium based substances with not breakdown in water Ph above about 6.7 I've used limestone and Aragonite in my cichlid tanks for years in an effort to increase my Ph/kh/gh or at least maintain it. It does not help significantly enough especially since 8m doing a 50 to 60 percent water change weekly. I have tested limestone in a bucket with water circulation for well over a month and the the 3 perimeters don't change. Just trying to understand and maybe help from the perspective of a hobbyist that want hard high Ph water.

http://ovas.ca/forum/index.php?topic=52278.5;wap2

[Kalemh]

well my water was at least under 6.5 PH but I don't remember exactly. because of the amount of co2 I was pumping at the time. so that could be the reason it was dissolving because of how acidic my water was. and parameters out of tap are 7.8 PH and 2 or 3 KH

[Kalemh]

 here is a link to a photo of the tank any question I will get back to you and more updates coming soon

http://s38.photobucket.com/user/kalemh/media/20170806_155930_zpsbjguze3l.jpg.html

[Mike L]

Have others on the site had issues with this rock. My understanding is that it's used often in aquascaping by some of the most preeminent designers. Your right to be concerned for the well being of your fish. When you tested for kh was your Ph drastically fluctuating as well. Guess 8m wondering if something else is at play in this situation.
BTW my tap water in Kanata south is 8.4 out of the tap but after 24 is down to 7.2ish. Kh 3 gh 7.
I keep my tanks at 8.6 Ph, gh off the charts and kh of 14 to 16.
Mike

[Kalemh]

I was told by Errol and Greg about how it's not safe to have this kind of rock because of fluctuations it causes because of Co2 and the ph would stay around 6.5 or whatever it was at but would drop over night when it was turned off

[Mike L]

 It makes sense given the the lower Ph. I just had no idea it could change water perimeters so fast. Too bad because it is very nice looking rock. Thank you for the info. It was enlightening. Looking forward to  pictures of the rebuild.
Mike

[Kalemh]

Unfortunately I have had a lot of meltback in my alteranthera reinikii mini ,crypt wendetii, Barclaya longifolia, pygmy chain sword , and the other plants aren't looking too good. They are probably not appreciating the fact that I left them in a bucket with cold water and hydrogen peroxide spraying. I will update with pictures if things start to bounce back

[exv152]

I wouldn't be too discouraged about the algae, it happens to everyone who does planted tanks. For your next setup, I would plant the tank very heavily (not leaving any empty spaces in the substrate). Use fast growing stem plants, and try avoiding slower growing plants. Also reduce the lighting significantly (to half if possible).

[charlie]

I was told by Errol and Greg about how it's not safe to have this kind of rock because of fluctuations it causes because of Co2 and the ph would stay around 6.5 or whatever it was at but would drop over night when it was turned off

There is some misunderstanding to what i said , while it is true that any limestone based rock will  adjust water parameters especially KH and subsequently PH, i don`t subscribe to the theory of it not been safe.
I honestly believe your algae woes were from some other reason.
Errol

[Kalemh]

At the time I only measured the amount of co2 in my tank using a kh-ph chart and I would adjust the co2 based on if it were too low or high on the chart. At the time I did not know that it's not always correct especially if there are other influences in tank. So I would be continually raising the co2 to keep up with what I thought was my waters parameters and then forgetting to lower it. And I agree with you on the algae I think it was caused by the changing in co2 so frequently as well as the amount of guppies I have in the tank (which should hopefully be out after the garage sale). The main reason I reshaped the tank is because I wasn't happy with the way the tank looked without the rocks and my lights spread that's why I only have plants covering 2/3 of the tank

[Kalemh]

After 3 weeks I have had my ups and downs with this tank. I forgot my plants in a hydrogen peroxide bath to remove any kind of algae for about 2 hours . After I realized they were in there I went and removed them and everything seemed fine.  Within a couple of days plants started melting back and dying only the monte carlo, needle leaf java fern and some bucephalandras survived. Luckily I had back up of most plants but had fill some spots with different plants I will try to post a picture but have been having trouble doing so any help would be appreciated

Now onto the good news the plants that were re added have been doing great my rotala rotundifolia is putting on a lot of growth from where it started and so have a lot of plants. I have my co2 in check where I want it to be at about 35 ppm. so far this is doing good and most importantly there seems to be no algae at all as of this point

thanks if you took the time to read this and please any help with photos would be appriecated

[charlie]

I'm delighted to hear your tank is recovering  , these stumble, blocks is how we learn, so kudos to you for sticking with it and sharing  your experience.
Regarding the posting of pictures, look at the bottom left of your message box when composing a  new post, there will be a button that say" Additional options " select it  , choose "Attach file" - select the file from your computer and follow the prompts.
Hope that helps
Not sure if there is write up on the forum for this, if not we will  look into having a better scripted   explanation of how to do this posted.
Regards

[Kalemh]

So here is what the tank is looking like today the plants are all doing good. And I am not having any major algae problems . The ar. Mini is probably one of my favourite plants in the tank thanks matt for doing that trade. I also added a few new plants thanks to errol which are the rotala bonsai amd rotala vietnam h'ra. Finally i added a small school of normans lampeye kilifish. I recommend these little guys to anyone who wants a smaller fish to just pop in your planted tank. Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[Gilbotron]

Looks amazing! Excellent use of contrast with both colour and texture.  Glad to see things recovered nicely!

Agreed on the lampeyes.  They look great in planted tanks where most other fish just get lost in the weeds.  Plus they add lots of activity similar to a danio.