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Both of my CO2 injected tanks were virtually free of visible algae until I replaced the substrate in both of them on the weekend of November 2nd…
Since then I am pinching off dozens of leaves daily.. I get green dust on the glass, hair algae on some plants, black beard on others, staghorn on some..
I have continued weekly water changes of about 60-70% of the water. Am dosing PPS Pro daily. Co2 at ph drop of 1. I have Fluval 207s and they were not disrupted in the swap. Shut them off and floated media in a bucket of tank water with airstone while doing the changeover…. O ppm ammonia and nitrite, nitrate hovers around 10 ppm.
Now I did change to PPS Pro daily dosing from EI soon after changing substrate in an effort to get my Rotala Rotundifolia Orange Juice to color up more impressively, (it hasnt) and to tanp down a Green Dust algae issue which it seemed to help some…. Fir about 6 weeks I assumed old growth was sacrificing and figured I would grow out of the problem, yet I am pinching off leaves now that has grown since the fert change was instituted…
Plants seem to be growing well and in good form….
I would have thought the established canister filters would have offset newness of substrate. (1/2 inch Safe T Sorb in mesh bags on base with 2-3 inches BDBS on top….
I did have Purigen in filters before the reset which I dont now. A blown out seam in a mesh bags on base caused a Purigen snowstorm that precipitated the substrate replacement…
My non injected tanks are humming along with no visible algae in them albeit much slower growth…. None of them have Purigen either and only see monthly water changes…
So…. Do you think substrate maturation is playing an outsize factor is my rumbling Algae issues coming on up to 8 weeks out from substrate replacement?
Is the lack of Purigen a minor or major factor? Am I missing something?
Just finished a midweek water changes to both tanks. I figured I would try doubling water changes per week to see if that helps. Pinched off all algae infested leaves, thinned trimmed 60-70% water changes while irrigating substrate with turkey baster and hoovering up debris clouds…
Since then I am pinching off dozens of leaves daily.. I get green dust on the glass, hair algae on some plants, black beard on others, staghorn on some..
I have continued weekly water changes of about 60-70% of the water. Am dosing PPS Pro daily. Co2 at ph drop of 1. I have Fluval 207s and they were not disrupted in the swap. Shut them off and floated media in a bucket of tank water with airstone while doing the changeover…. O ppm ammonia and nitrite, nitrate hovers around 10 ppm.
Now I did change to PPS Pro daily dosing from EI soon after changing substrate in an effort to get my Rotala Rotundifolia Orange Juice to color up more impressively, (it hasnt) and to tanp down a Green Dust algae issue which it seemed to help some…. Fir about 6 weeks I assumed old growth was sacrificing and figured I would grow out of the problem, yet I am pinching off leaves now that has grown since the fert change was instituted…
Plants seem to be growing well and in good form….
I would have thought the established canister filters would have offset newness of substrate. (1/2 inch Safe T Sorb in mesh bags on base with 2-3 inches BDBS on top….
I did have Purigen in filters before the reset which I dont now. A blown out seam in a mesh bags on base caused a Purigen snowstorm that precipitated the substrate replacement…
My non injected tanks are humming along with no visible algae in them albeit much slower growth…. None of them have Purigen either and only see monthly water changes…
So…. Do you think substrate maturation is playing an outsize factor is my rumbling Algae issues coming on up to 8 weeks out from substrate replacement?
Is the lack of Purigen a minor or major factor? Am I missing something?
Just finished a midweek water changes to both tanks. I figured I would try doubling water changes per week to see if that helps. Pinched off all algae infested leaves, thinned trimmed 60-70% water changes while irrigating substrate with turkey baster and hoovering up debris clouds…
15 replies
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2455 views
Journal 22 gallon long bookshelf
Time to start a new thread.
I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.
90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.
Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.
I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.
I’ll fill in some details later, but I’m working on the hardscape now. Any and all criticism is appreciated. The vision is nothing more, and nothing less, than something appealing to the eye.
90cm x 30cm x 30cm Lifegard Aquatics ultra clear bookshelf tank. Buce and anubias on the hardscape, stems towards the back and center, mid to front carpet with some changes in shade and texture down to a flat grade on the right side of the tank.
Lily pipe inlet and skimmer will be in the back left corner with the outflow in the front left to hopefully achieve circular flow. I’ll be running an in-line diffuser. Light will be the P600 Pro that I regrettably did not upside to 900. Oh well. I’ll mount it high and hopefully it’ll have enough spread.
I have some dragon stone and red lava rock rubble I’ll use at the base to blend into the substrate, as well as some stratum I may or may not cap with.
221 replies
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23951 views
This is the future home for the announcements when someone obtains an achievement badge. Let the games begin!
1969 replies
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46427 views
Journal 60P Garden tank
I’ve been wanting to do a tank for a while that focuses just on finnicky plants -erios, lud. panatal, tonina and the sorts. So this is my detailed journal of how I start my planting process all the way from cycling to planting, fertilizing, water changes and the pitsfalls, lighting and what processes work best for me.
Equipment:
Oase biomaster2- 350
Fluval Visi-white 60P tank
Fzone CO2 regulator and a 2.5lb CO2 tank
Week aqua L600Pro Series Light
Fzone Brite60 Light
Yugang reactor made using a 375 mm PC cooling reservoir - will post another journal detailing this.
CO2:
1.3 pH drop from a baseline of pH 6.8.
Aquasoil:
Three 5L bags of APT Feast
Cycling:
APT Feast being a high organic content soil - I like to cycle it for a full month at least using the dark start method before planting anything. This is even more important for me as I almost exclusively use tissue cultures for my plants. Because I will be injecting CO2, the tank was also getting injected with CO2 during its dark start. I know there’s opinion out there that it’s a waste and what not, but I think CO2 levels in the water might affect microbial ecosystem development in the long run, so I like to start off by exposing the microbial community of the tank to CO2 levels it will be seeing in the long run.
The water parameters 2 weeks after start dark cycle were as follows:
Total ammonia : 10 ppm+
Nitrite: 10 ppm+
Nitrate : unreadable as the nitrite levels were interfering with the API test. I eventually used a 25% dilution to read 30 ppm+ nitrates.
At this point I did a large (100%) water change to remove some ammonia and speed up the leaching process. The steeper the diffusion gradient between the soil and water the quicker the ammonia leaches, hence large water changes facilitates that.
After 4 weeks I did another water test and the parameters were similar as above. Proceeded to do another 100% water change.
After 5 weeks I did another water test and this time the parameters were:
Total Ammonia: 1 ppm
Nitrite: 2 ppm+
Nitrate: 40 ppm+
Decided to give it another week to see if the nitrites would drop to below 0.5 ppm.
One week later the nitrites had vanished. I did another 100% water change.
So it takes about 6 weeks to fully cycle a tank with APT Feast if you don’t use any old media or cycling aid.
Next step is to plant the tank. I wanted this tank to focus on mostly uncommon species:
1. Ludwigia Pantanal
2. Ludwigia Arcuata
3. Tonina fluviatilis
4. Rotala Macrandra
5. Macrandra Mini Red
6. Mayaca Fluviatilis
7. Rotala Florida
8. Rotala Bonsai
9. Ludwigia Cuba- white edge
10. Ludwigia Senegalensis
11. Lysimachia Parv. red
12. AR mini
13. Bacopa compacta white
14. Erio Vietnam
15. Erio Quinquangulare
16. Crypt Flamingo for my centre piece
Here’s a photo after planting. Not all the species listed above are present in the photo but I did eventually add them once I was able to acquire them.
I’m also trying to make a carpet with buce needle leaf on the left side, we’ll see how that goes. I plant on planting clumps of ratnagiricum in the carpet once the carpet has settled in.
OK, so parameters after planting:
1. CO2: 1.3 pH drop from a baseline pH of 6.8. About 55-60 ppm possibly. The verify by making sure my drop checker is yellow before lights on. I turn on CO2 4 hours before lights on and turn it off 1 hour before lights off.
2. Lighting at 80% strength. I hadn’t hooked up the week aqua yet at that point so it’s just 80% on the fzone which would amount to about 60 umol of PAR at the substrate. After a week, I installed my weekaqua L series and increased the PAR to around 100 umol at the substrate. I’m a big fan of using high light (80-110) umol from day 1 of planting, I think this gives plants the best chance at fast growth. The faster the plants grow adapt and generate mass the higher my chances on skipping the diatom/GDA phase. Here’s an 8 gallon tank below where I used a 100W grow light from Day 1 of planting and you can see how the tank is algae free and growing rapidly at the 3 week mark.
This method has worked really well for me, although the key to this method is to maintain very stable nitrate levels. Your nitrates could be anywhere between 0-30ppm, and it won’t matter as long as it is kept stable. A common mistake is to not replenish nitrates after a large water change.
3. Fertilizers:
APT 1 - 1.5 ml per day
4. Water parameters:
KH - 0dKH
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0 ppm
Here’s the tank now after 4 weeks of growth:
The macrandra on the left had been trimmed last week and replanted, they had almost reaching 80% of the tank height. The tonina at the back has settled in well, some diatoms on the lower leaves which I’m not worried about. Although I don’t think that’s where I’ll kepp the tonina long run. I might use it as a midground plant and maybe move the panatal where the tonina is. You can barely see the quinquangulare behind the AR mini, but they seemed to have settled down as well. I planted 6 crowns and lost 3 within the first 2 weeks. I suspect damage from transportation - they smelled like cooked spinach when I received them.
So as is evident from above, even though I’m supplying higher levels of lighting, diatoms and GDA haven’t really taken a hold yet. The key has been regular water changes to remove detritus produced by the ramshorns, keep a stable nitrate level of 10ppm, stable CO2 at 50+ppm and good plant husbandry. I always make a point of trimming away older and emersed leaves so they don’t attract algae. The ludwigia white is actually emersed. I have removed all of its emersed leaves except the ones from the top 2 internodes and as soon as I will see sideshoots grow and develop past the 2nd internode, I will trim them and replant them and uproot the emersed stem and toss it. The plant arrangment is a little “block-like” as of now, but this isn’t really the final arrangement. I prefer to grow the plants out in a rough layout before I arrange them once they’ve all taken off.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I will add to it as the tank develops in the upcoming weeks.
Equipment:
Oase biomaster2- 350
Fluval Visi-white 60P tank
Fzone CO2 regulator and a 2.5lb CO2 tank
Week aqua L600Pro Series Light
Fzone Brite60 Light
Yugang reactor made using a 375 mm PC cooling reservoir - will post another journal detailing this.
CO2:
1.3 pH drop from a baseline of pH 6.8.
Aquasoil:
Three 5L bags of APT Feast
Cycling:
APT Feast being a high organic content soil - I like to cycle it for a full month at least using the dark start method before planting anything. This is even more important for me as I almost exclusively use tissue cultures for my plants. Because I will be injecting CO2, the tank was also getting injected with CO2 during its dark start. I know there’s opinion out there that it’s a waste and what not, but I think CO2 levels in the water might affect microbial ecosystem development in the long run, so I like to start off by exposing the microbial community of the tank to CO2 levels it will be seeing in the long run.
The water parameters 2 weeks after start dark cycle were as follows:
Total ammonia : 10 ppm+
Nitrite: 10 ppm+
Nitrate : unreadable as the nitrite levels were interfering with the API test. I eventually used a 25% dilution to read 30 ppm+ nitrates.
At this point I did a large (100%) water change to remove some ammonia and speed up the leaching process. The steeper the diffusion gradient between the soil and water the quicker the ammonia leaches, hence large water changes facilitates that.
After 4 weeks I did another water test and the parameters were similar as above. Proceeded to do another 100% water change.
After 5 weeks I did another water test and this time the parameters were:
Total Ammonia: 1 ppm
Nitrite: 2 ppm+
Nitrate: 40 ppm+
Decided to give it another week to see if the nitrites would drop to below 0.5 ppm.
One week later the nitrites had vanished. I did another 100% water change.
So it takes about 6 weeks to fully cycle a tank with APT Feast if you don’t use any old media or cycling aid.
Next step is to plant the tank. I wanted this tank to focus on mostly uncommon species:
1. Ludwigia Pantanal
2. Ludwigia Arcuata
3. Tonina fluviatilis
4. Rotala Macrandra
5. Macrandra Mini Red
6. Mayaca Fluviatilis
7. Rotala Florida
8. Rotala Bonsai
9. Ludwigia Cuba- white edge
10. Ludwigia Senegalensis
11. Lysimachia Parv. red
12. AR mini
13. Bacopa compacta white
14. Erio Vietnam
15. Erio Quinquangulare
16. Crypt Flamingo for my centre piece
Here’s a photo after planting. Not all the species listed above are present in the photo but I did eventually add them once I was able to acquire them.
I’m also trying to make a carpet with buce needle leaf on the left side, we’ll see how that goes. I plant on planting clumps of ratnagiricum in the carpet once the carpet has settled in.
OK, so parameters after planting:
1. CO2: 1.3 pH drop from a baseline pH of 6.8. About 55-60 ppm possibly. The verify by making sure my drop checker is yellow before lights on. I turn on CO2 4 hours before lights on and turn it off 1 hour before lights off.
2. Lighting at 80% strength. I hadn’t hooked up the week aqua yet at that point so it’s just 80% on the fzone which would amount to about 60 umol of PAR at the substrate. After a week, I installed my weekaqua L series and increased the PAR to around 100 umol at the substrate. I’m a big fan of using high light (80-110) umol from day 1 of planting, I think this gives plants the best chance at fast growth. The faster the plants grow adapt and generate mass the higher my chances on skipping the diatom/GDA phase. Here’s an 8 gallon tank below where I used a 100W grow light from Day 1 of planting and you can see how the tank is algae free and growing rapidly at the 3 week mark.
This method has worked really well for me, although the key to this method is to maintain very stable nitrate levels. Your nitrates could be anywhere between 0-30ppm, and it won’t matter as long as it is kept stable. A common mistake is to not replenish nitrates after a large water change.
3. Fertilizers:
APT 1 - 1.5 ml per day
4. Water parameters:
KH - 0dKH
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Phosphate: 0 ppm
Here’s the tank now after 4 weeks of growth:
The macrandra on the left had been trimmed last week and replanted, they had almost reaching 80% of the tank height. The tonina at the back has settled in well, some diatoms on the lower leaves which I’m not worried about. Although I don’t think that’s where I’ll kepp the tonina long run. I might use it as a midground plant and maybe move the panatal where the tonina is. You can barely see the quinquangulare behind the AR mini, but they seemed to have settled down as well. I planted 6 crowns and lost 3 within the first 2 weeks. I suspect damage from transportation - they smelled like cooked spinach when I received them.
So as is evident from above, even though I’m supplying higher levels of lighting, diatoms and GDA haven’t really taken a hold yet. The key has been regular water changes to remove detritus produced by the ramshorns, keep a stable nitrate level of 10ppm, stable CO2 at 50+ppm and good plant husbandry. I always make a point of trimming away older and emersed leaves so they don’t attract algae. The ludwigia white is actually emersed. I have removed all of its emersed leaves except the ones from the top 2 internodes and as soon as I will see sideshoots grow and develop past the 2nd internode, I will trim them and replant them and uproot the emersed stem and toss it. The plant arrangment is a little “block-like” as of now, but this isn’t really the final arrangement. I prefer to grow the plants out in a rough layout before I arrange them once they’ve all taken off.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I will add to it as the tank develops in the upcoming weeks.
11 replies
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286 views
Hello folks,
I have a Twinstar 1200S V (the new model that has app support). I love the look of the light itself and it makes my tank look great, but either the app is fundamentally flawed or I'm missing something obvious. I have a smart plug on this light so I can turn it off and on with a voice command. The light clearly has a saved state as when it gets powered on it turns on with the right spectrum and the intensity. BUT, it also only turns on for 6 hours before turning off. Every. Single. Time.
My set photoperiod is 8 hours, so the light turns off 2 hours short of the correct time every day.
I can make a work around by turning the light off and back on again at the smart plug, (gaining an additional 6 hour window of 'on' time when I only need 2 hours before the smart switch unplugs the light again). BUT, I would much rather have the light allow for it to be on for as long as I want and turn off when I want.
I contacted twinstar support via email more then a month ago and got absolutely no response. So pretty much the worse product support something can have.
The obvious issue is the inbuilt timer in the app is defaulting to 6 hours. I have tried changing this timer to be longer (set it for 23 hours). I also have tried having the timer just set to 'off'. Neither does anything.
Does anyone else have this light? Does anyone else have any suggestions?
I have a Twinstar 1200S V (the new model that has app support). I love the look of the light itself and it makes my tank look great, but either the app is fundamentally flawed or I'm missing something obvious. I have a smart plug on this light so I can turn it off and on with a voice command. The light clearly has a saved state as when it gets powered on it turns on with the right spectrum and the intensity. BUT, it also only turns on for 6 hours before turning off. Every. Single. Time.
My set photoperiod is 8 hours, so the light turns off 2 hours short of the correct time every day.
I can make a work around by turning the light off and back on again at the smart plug, (gaining an additional 6 hour window of 'on' time when I only need 2 hours before the smart switch unplugs the light again). BUT, I would much rather have the light allow for it to be on for as long as I want and turn off when I want.
I contacted twinstar support via email more then a month ago and got absolutely no response. So pretty much the worse product support something can have.
The obvious issue is the inbuilt timer in the app is defaulting to 6 hours. I have tried changing this timer to be longer (set it for 23 hours). I also have tried having the timer just set to 'off'. Neither does anything.
Does anyone else have this light? Does anyone else have any suggestions?
3 replies
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138 views
Does anyone know how a chiller should be connected? Do I need to buy a separate external pump, or can it be connected directly to a canister filter?
9 replies
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89 views
Hi guys,
Lots may not know me, few maybe yes, following the suggestion from @Burr740, I'm creating my first journal. Seems a very nice moment to start a thread like this, considering that the tank is still doing the Dark Start, and will be planted this week.
The tank is a ~90g 110-50-60h (I'm a metric guy).
Equipment that I own/plan to use are:
- 2 Oase Biomaster Thermo 600
- 1 Week Aqua P900 with hanging kit
- pressurized CO2 with inline kit and regulators from CO2art
- Tropica soil, 8cm front, 10-12cm mid, 15cm at the back
- 2 Lily with intake skimmer
Right now, I'm still looking around for new plants to add in this tank, I have another 20g that is stocked with lots of Rotalas and I plan to reuse the healthy one in here, but considering the size difference I need for sure new plants.
I list all the plant that I like (probably I won't buy all of them, maybe) - attachment
the plants that I already own are:
- Macrandra, orange juice, H'ra Wallichi
- Limnophila hippuridoides
- hygrophila lancea araguaia
- egeria densa and sessiflora
- nymphea red lotus
- AR rosanervig
- bacopa Caroliniana
The plant stock is already quite diverse, but I want to add some more and maybe substitute others.
for sure I want to buy both "ramosior", rotala indica and Meta, because I have lots background plant but very few front and mid.
Lots may not know me, few maybe yes, following the suggestion from @Burr740, I'm creating my first journal. Seems a very nice moment to start a thread like this, considering that the tank is still doing the Dark Start, and will be planted this week.
The tank is a ~90g 110-50-60h (I'm a metric guy).
Equipment that I own/plan to use are:
- 2 Oase Biomaster Thermo 600
- 1 Week Aqua P900 with hanging kit
- pressurized CO2 with inline kit and regulators from CO2art
- Tropica soil, 8cm front, 10-12cm mid, 15cm at the back
- 2 Lily with intake skimmer
Right now, I'm still looking around for new plants to add in this tank, I have another 20g that is stocked with lots of Rotalas and I plan to reuse the healthy one in here, but considering the size difference I need for sure new plants.
I list all the plant that I like (probably I won't buy all of them, maybe) - attachment
the plants that I already own are:
- Macrandra, orange juice, H'ra Wallichi
- Limnophila hippuridoides
- hygrophila lancea araguaia
- egeria densa and sessiflora
- nymphea red lotus
- AR rosanervig
- bacopa Caroliniana
The plant stock is already quite diverse, but I want to add some more and maybe substitute others.
for sure I want to buy both "ramosior", rotala indica and Meta, because I have lots background plant but very few front and mid.
390 replies
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46519 views
Journal Farmer D. Singh's journal
Ive reorganized the order of my tanks so I can better keep track of them ie. Tank 2 moss tank is now tank 3. This helps in any confusion I had when tracking tanks they are in a sort of order now. Rather than taking time editing my old journal id rather create a new thread. Pics will be current (for the most part) as they are posted. I am not aquascaping. I am just farming.
12 replies
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571 views
The Biomaster Thermo 600 on my farm tank had been screaming at me lately that it was time for some TLC. It was doing the typical air sucking, hard to prime, small leaks, etc. all the indications it needed to be fully torn down and have all the gaskets/o-rings lubricated. This is the nice thing about having extra complete filters so I can have a pump head, heater, priming assembly, and inlet/outlet connection unit all cleaned, lubed and ready to go on an active filter. This is especially true for the Inlet/Outlet Connection Unit which seems to be the most common cause of leaks and air intrusion. For this reason, I also keep a couple new spares on hand because I've had a couple break in different ways. Today, while tearing the old one down to lube not only the two visible o-rings, but also the 3 buried within, I broke one of the retaining tabs that hold the inner portion in tightly against those buried o-rings. When I grabbed a new one that I'd just recently purchased, I noticed the visible o-rings were now orange instead of the normal black. They also look a little beefier. I wonder if this is Oase addressing the known common issues with this assembly and making some quiet updates and improvements.
Oh, and the farm tank filter is running great again...so far.
Oh, and the farm tank filter is running great again...so far.
9 replies
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414 views
Journal 62G AIO Dirty Soil Lagoon
Well I’m done talking about it, it’s time to get this journal started.
I have been really out of it the last year or so in terms of maintaining my own tank, mainly out of frustration with time constraints and inconsistency with dosing etc. However, I have now acquired a dream tank, rimless and with low iron glass like I’ve always wanted. While I loved having a sump and prided myself on putting it together, I’m past that desire. The AIO allows the same benefits with hiding equipment, and overall easier maintenance without climbing in and out of cabinets. Now onto the details of this build.
Tank: Planet Aquariums Tideline 62 Gallon AIO Lagoon
Filtration: (2) 250gph pumps on either side of the tank with center overflow into socks (I’m going to punch holes in the socks for now and stuff with polyfill, reviews state the socks clog way too quickly and there is no replacement sock as the insert is not the common round style). The baffles will be stuffed with the poret foam I have already from my sump for extra mechanical/biological.
Substrate: The bottom layer will comprise of bagged pond soil/peat/earthworm castings/ STS. This will be a thin layer and will mainly act as filler to raise up the cap of APT Feast. This is similar to a substrate setup I did when I first started back up in 2020, And that tank did very well. While capping with sand and relying on the dirt to feed the stems worked well, it did require a little more effort on my end with dosing. I don’t trust myself to be as diligent as some members on here are with their inert subs, so I’m taking the mulligan and using aquasoil as a cap, hence, “dirty soil.” This will be another island style layout, and the surrounding substrate will be comprised of Caribsea Carolina Creek Sand.
Hardscape: River rock (local hardscape center sourced) and malaysian driftwood. I have recently acquired another large piece of wood and I’m sourcing new stone this week, as what I have just isn’t meshing with my current vision for the tank.
Plants: …. I have not solidified my vision of what this scape will look like just yet as I haven’t been able to setup the hardscape to outline the island. The plan is to use a good amount of colorful stems, epiphytes, and potentially moss.
Lighting: I will be ordering the Week Aqua Z400 this week and am excited to test it out.
That’s all for now, more pictures and details to come. I should hopefully have the hardscape setup by the end of this coming week after acquiring more stone and wood.
CO2: Almost forgot, for Co2 injection I have made a DIY Yugang with a locking food storage container. It will be stored in the cabinet and the hook will feed into the return pump chamber on the right. I initially was bummed that I had to sacrifice storage to fit a 5lb CO2 tank under the stand, which also meant getting rid of of the 20lb tank I’ve only been having to fill twice a year. @GreggZ Will appreciate this, my awesome father in law suggested that I hide the co2 tank in the pantry closet which is directly behind that wall and just drill a hole for the co2 line. Since my father in laws word is pure gold in my wife’s eyes, that suggestion was approved! He’s just as much my dad too so I appreciated him supporting the project
45 replies
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2054 views
For a few years I have been using NilocG EI Based DIY ferts.
This is a kit that comes with a 500 ml bottle for both Macros and Micors as well as three sets of each salt mix.
Last week I mixed up a batch of ferts.
I sterilized both bottles in boiling water.
I used distilled water as always for my mix. I even heated up the distilled water before pouring in the bottles so the salts would dissolve better.
Everything dissolved fine with vigorous shaking.
The instructions for the Micros say there is a possibility it may grow mold and so to prevent mold the offered solution is to add 10ml of Excel or store the Micros in the refrigerator. I opted to keep them in the fridge, why would I buy a bottle of Excel just to use 10ml?
The problem is, and this has been a recurring problem, the Micros seem to turn back into solid chunks. I mean I have particulates and larger solid pieces in the Micros mix.
I can't help but feeling my plants are missing out on nutrients when everything is not totally dissolved in the water.
Any thoughts? Any similar experiences? Any solutions? Should I just switch ferts?
NA EI BASED DIY DRY TO LIQUID FERTILIZER SET
DIY EI Liquid Premium Fertilizer for Planted Tanks Do you want to dose fertilizers but the cost of liquid fertilizers is too high? Do you want to avoid going through the hustle of mixing dry fertilizers yourself? Then this is for YOU!!!!!! What you get- 2x 500ml dosing bottles (1x Micros, 1x...
nilocg.com
This is a kit that comes with a 500 ml bottle for both Macros and Micors as well as three sets of each salt mix.
Last week I mixed up a batch of ferts.
I sterilized both bottles in boiling water.
I used distilled water as always for my mix. I even heated up the distilled water before pouring in the bottles so the salts would dissolve better.
Everything dissolved fine with vigorous shaking.
The instructions for the Micros say there is a possibility it may grow mold and so to prevent mold the offered solution is to add 10ml of Excel or store the Micros in the refrigerator. I opted to keep them in the fridge, why would I buy a bottle of Excel just to use 10ml?
The problem is, and this has been a recurring problem, the Micros seem to turn back into solid chunks. I mean I have particulates and larger solid pieces in the Micros mix.
I can't help but feeling my plants are missing out on nutrients when everything is not totally dissolved in the water.
Any thoughts? Any similar experiences? Any solutions? Should I just switch ferts?
4 replies
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42 views