Journal First high tech setup.

[Wildwhimsy]

So, checked parameters day after water change like suggested. The parameters were checked after I added about a gallon of distilled water remineralized with the shrimp stuff and one pump of apt 3.

Ph 6.8
Nh3/4 0
NO2 0
N03 20
TDS 215 ( before I did the water change the day before and calculated actual volume my tds was 250(
GH 7 drops (apt test)
KH 3 drops (apt test)

I noticed tht even though I removed algae from the glass during my water change and it was crystal clear- 24 hours later algae was back on the glass. I haven’t experienced this before, nine of my low tech heavily planted tanks experienced algae so this is new to me and a little frustrating. Maybe it’s my light? I know the skylight is wicked strong and I have it on for a full 9.5 hours and 8 hours of that is at full power. My c02 comes on 2 hours before the lights.

I have the Hanna c02 test kit I’m just not sure the best way to use it to dial in my c02, I’ll do some digging in the forums to see if I can figure it out.

9 second video

16 second video

5 second video - this video shows this weird thing happening where a plant is being both pushed and pulled into the lily flow outlet. It also took me hours of chatting with GLA to get the skimmer working. Such a pain!

 

[Scaper26]

So, checked parameters day after water change like suggested. The parameters were checked after I added about a gallon of distilled water remineralized with the shrimp stuff and one pump of apt 3.

Ph 6.8
Nh3/4 0
NO2 0
N03 20
TDS 215 ( before I did the water change the day before and calculated actual volume my tds was 250(
GH 7 drops (apt test)
KH 3 drops (apt test)

I noticed tht even though I removed algae from the glass during my water change and it was crystal clear- 24 hours later algae was back on the glass. I haven’t experienced this before, nine of my low tech heavily planted tanks experienced algae so this is new to me and a little frustrating. Maybe it’s my light? I know the skylight is wicked strong and I have it on for a full 9.5 hours and 8 hours of that is at full power. My c02 comes on 2 hours before the lights.

I have the Hanna c02 test kit I’m just not sure the best way to use it to dial in my c02, I’ll do some digging in the forums to see if I can figure it out.

9 second video

16 second video

5 second video - this video shows this weird thing happening where a plant is being both pushed and pulled into the lily flow outlet. It also took me hours of chatting with GLA to get the skimmer working. Such a pain!

Everything seems fine. It seems that you might have a minor green dust algae outbreak. Now that your nitrate is at 20 ppm try keeping it stable at that point through water changes and once the plants have settled in, the algae will subside. Also trim away any leaves that are too badly affected by algae.
I’d suggest turning CO2 on 4 hours ahead of lights on, that way the levels get to stabilize .

 

[Kwyet]

I don’t know if you care, but when I click on your videos it reveals your real name.

I agree that you probably need to turn on CO2 earlier, and drop the light period back to 8 hours.

You would use the Hanna test kit to measure the level when lights turn on and periodically throughout the day to see if that level is staying steady (allowing about 5 ppm difference). If it keeps going up all day, then you need more surface agitation to balance it. If it goes up for a certain amount of time and then levels off, then you need to turn it on that amount of time earlier.