Palmfiber Peat soaked in Chemicult as a substrate.

shakester, I would like to suggest you read the whole tread slowly... and a lot of questions will be answered...

 

ya well in my town the reply ill get if i askn for PFP is 'eish' so how to get it ,o and can i mix it with my tetra cs

 

my tetra cs is giving me alot of problems at the moment, go with pfp only, i couldnt find pfp in potchefstroom aswell so on a recent business trip to bloemfontein i found some at their builderswharehouse.

but most good nurserys should be able to get it for you, i think Starke Ayers distributes pfp aswell and all nurseries order from them

 

i found some pfp but i cant seem to find any chemicult here in durbz

 

Hi Shakster. here is pics of what the pfp and the chemicult looks like in the shops... Go read Big G's post in the begining on how to use it... It could not be explained better!

Schalk

The pics:

 

finally found some! :bigsmile:

 

hi all

I did this whole palm fibre peat method approximately 2/3 months ago.

Apart from my weater still being brown...(think i'm bying purigen at month end) i think i may have put it too much chemicult.

i put in one tablespoon per brick...?

I did not worry about it at first, but i am wondering if it has an effect on my plants at the moment...

I am using prof's drops as a fert, but most of my plants seem to be either going brown from the bottom, or the plant gets "stripped" down to the core...
They have all got excellent root growth, can see roots coming out everywhre, but the actual stem of the plant does not look so good

Almost like it's being "burnt" by something...

Any ideas?
:amazed:

 

I did 1 tablespoon per brick, dosing CO2 and DUB's Ferts - no issues.

I dont know where some of the brownness comes from but i pulled a HUGE apologenton out and got LOTS of PFP in the tank - no brown water.

What is your light spec on the tank?

 

hi henk
i got 2x 24w T5's and 1x 30w T8...

 

I used pfp with my new tank 4 days ago but the water is still very clear. there might be a slight yellow to it but hard to see. Maby its just the substrate your using

 

prof said originally that it is normal for the water to go brown/amber

mine went brown roughly 3/4 days after putting in the pfp and has been that way ever since.
the intenisty just varies, depending on if i did a water change or not.

I have also been doing weekly water changes...?

 

Juls do you have it capped with sand? Does it get dug in by anything?

I also think that you might have to up the lighting - maybe replace the 30watt with another set of 2x24watts

 

hi henk

i have it capped with a very fine gravel - almost like sand
i have cory's and some loaches

i also have a large pleco...

do you think they are exposing the peat ?

 

could very well be....

 

My 5 yoyo loaches started digging like they wana tunnel all the way to china! Mine exposed some of the pfp but i'm getting rid of them when i re do the tank... They are impossible to catch when there is anything in the tank! Good luck with that!

 

Right Guys,

I am back on the block, but a little shaky.......

Juls, I send so many people plant food nowadays, I can't keep up and these names on the forum are confusing, so forgive me if I cannot remember where you are from. Why I ask this is because I want to determine what water you have coming from your tap.

I want to know what the pH is of your tank because I think your pH has dropped to very low and this will cause the problems you describe. I do not think that the added chemicult is the problem. The root growth that you have, which is good is telling you that that is fine.

I also want to know which plants are showing these symptoms and how long their stems are in total, I mean are you talking about a plant that is 50 cm tall that is now losing leaves on the bottom 5 cm?

I am sure that different batches of the peat leach out different amounts of the tannins in other words the brown colour. If you are not getting this under control with water changes, but some cheap aquarium charcoal and put it into your filter, it does bind tannins, but you must remove the charcoal after about a week. You can repeat this and I am sure it would help. I am opposed to advising people to use the expensive route and you do not need to use Purigen, this is a waste of money for this application.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Prof

I am from Table view in Cape Town
My Ph is around 7, going to test again tonight.
As far as i know my Ph has been quite stable

i dont know much about the names of my plants so i have taken pictures.

The swords are looking the best except for slightly brownish on the leaves, and being very thin.

My anubia's are doing very well.

Its mainly the "cabomba" looking ones are going brown from the bottom and the "big leaf" ones with the stems.
Their stems are the ones getting stipped down and the leaves that touch the ground get "burnt". Even though there are new shoots on top and lots of roots coming out from the stems.

I have only recently enquired about leaving lights on very long.
Until a couple of days ago, i would leave the lights on for 15hrs or more.

Hope this helps...
Awaiting your ideas, Thanks A Million.
:bigsmile:

 

Hi Juls,

After having sent off my email this morning I read your short comment to Henk and I realized you have one huge problem and that is your pleco. Plecos have absolutely no place in a planted aquarium. He is rasping away your sword leaves. You need to get rid of him, it is as simple as that, he is eating your swords and he is nibbling along at everything else.

I also noticed that some of your plants have been grown above water and will drop their leaves if you put them under the water no matter how you treat them, I also think that this plant is actually not aquatic, I have seen if offered in shops in Somerset West as well and it just simply eventually rots and dies. It looks similar to Hygrophila corymbosa but is not this plant.

What you think is cabomba is not cabomba but Limnophila sessiliflora or a similar species but very definitely not Cabomba. Its bottom leaves have been mown off by the pleco, but this is quite a unpredictable plant and tends to melt when a tanks becomes more established.

The edges of the Anubias have also been damaged by the pleco.

Besides getting rid of the pleco, I also still think that I see a pH problem here. Drop and strip tests are highly unreliable and you need to have the water tested using a reliable laboratory pH meter.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Hi Prof

Thanks for the advice.

Please just humour me with these questions so that i can understand whats happening:


Which ones look like it was grown above water... pic 2 and 3?

The Limnophila sessiliflora pic 3 & 4- what do you mean by "melt," will it wither away.
The lfs said it grows like wildfire! Guess i was conned...

Any ideas of what i can do with my pleco?

Thanks Again
Much appreciated

 

Northern Aquatics will take it from you.