Zoom's 4ft system

thats a lovely looking tank Zoom...i love the green...

 

I think this is where you got it right. If you cant afford or not bother with all the fancy CO2 and stuff then just get the plants to fit you setup.

The light blue background really sets well against the green.

Have you tried to shorten the amount of light time to see if it helps with the algae?

 

do you guys have the names of the " easy growers" plants that your'll refer to? I would like to know...thanks

 

what fert substrate r u running?

Jesse: try hygophillia, anubias, Vails, etc. you dont even need a fert substrate for these

 

cool, thanks man...

 

As I said before, I'm NOT using any fert substrate. I bought some tablets from AK about 2 months ago that you just push into the substrate near the roots. According to my tank size, I should have used 3 packets of the tablets, (12 p/pack)... but at R49,95 p/pack, I only put in 1 packet. It also only lasts about 6 weeks... which is why I suspect it was finished a few weeks ago.

I bought it because a lot of my plants were dying from the medication, and I needed to give them a boost to recover.

I prefer the blue background too.... I find the backgrounds with pictures on them can be distracting with a planted set up. But a background with rocks on for a malawi set up is different.

I will tone the lights down... just need to get a decent timer to do so. At the moment I turn it on at 07h00, and then turn off at about 20h00. Ideally I'd like it to only come on after 11h00.

 

Zoom:

get your lights to switch on a 7. then use a timer to switch them off at say 10:00-15:00 and then on again till around 10pm.

im guessing you wont be home during the off hours and then when you get home it will be on till late.

just a thought

**EDIT* This also helps with guys who suffer with heat issues with their tanks. turn lights off during the hottest hours of the day

 

Yeah... I use to do that. I'm just not sure how breaking the light like that effects the plants??? I doubt it does, but on the odd occasion when the lights turn off at 10am, adn then on again at 3, the fish get a shock... so I'd prefer to turn on once, and then off once. I also have a problem in that my tank hood is prewired... one switch turnes 1 globe on, the other switch turns 2 globes on. Which is ideal to turn the lights off slowly. I.e I first turn the 2 lights off at 19h00. Then the final light off at 20h00, and then the lounge lights when I go to bed... so I don't plunge the fish into darkness.

But this will b difficult at the hod only has one PLUG... need to rewire with e new plug for the 2 switches.

 

yeah, it shouldnt affect the plants. think about the amazon. it rains there everyday!! just a cloud cover that comes over every day at the same time

fish shouldnt stress out as there is light in the room anyway during daylight hours?

rewiring.. what a mission

 

Heehee.... exactly!

(I'd also prefer to put the lights on later, and leave them on permanently for weekends when I am actually at home during the day.)

But you do make a good point.

 

What plant is in the back right? I want it!

 

limnophilia sessiflora if im not mistaken. zoom. itimed my lights in 4h periods. t5 go on at 7.30 off at 11.30. 1 hour only ambient light from glass sliding doors. then MH go on at 12.30 to 16.30. then 1h ambient light. then t5 again from 17.30 till 21.30. at which time i go to bed as my day starts at 4.45 to make it to work on time, on the road at 6. home by 18.30 .lol.

 

i have short hairy/fuzzy algae on the wood in my 4ft. but ive had it before/ always grows on wood in a newly setup tank then goes away after a time

 

Did a W/C this evening.

Manually removed a lot of green hair algae. It has been growing BOON in this tank over the past week. Generally a little bit of algae doesn't but me... but this was really getting out of hand.
I have been in contact with both Laure and Prof. Dirk. I even went as far as printing out that HUGE thread on fertilization strategies started by Laure. (60+ printed pages I might add), and will hopefully be wading through it this week.

From the conversations I have had with Laure and the Professor... it would appear that I have an imbalance of fertilization nutrients to CO2.

I have totally scrapped the CO2 now, as the algae really started when I added this to my tank... and at the moment, I beleive my new fertz are n transit from Prof. Dirk.

It would appear to me that although the Bio-Elite stuff has promoted excellent plant growth, it has disasterous effects long term. (i.e the algae). I'm not going to go into detail about the comments I have received about the product.

I did a complete chemical test on my tank as well. I usually don't test much anymore, because my tank has been very stable (0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, and 5 Nitrates at most) for a few weeks now. I was shocked to find that my Nitrites were at 5, and my nitrates were at 20!! I have done nothing new recently to the tank... only introduced CO2. So it would seem that something has gone wrong, and possibly the high nitrates contributed to the algae bloom too.

Anyway, I will start with the professors fertz as soon as I have familiarized myself with the reading material he sent me on his fertilization, and will keep you all posted.

On a side note...

Yesterday I bought that Australian Blackworm that Slagter imported... well... the fish were a little skeptical at first as it was something new.. but the moment they ate some of it.. they became like ravashing beasts!

 

WOW, very cool

 

Well, firstly I'm glad to hear the fish are eating the Blackworms! That's very good news!

Secondly, remember what the main ingredient in plant ferts is: NITRATE!

Nitrate is absorbed by the plants. This is what they feed on. Just adding the Micro ferts is not going to promote the successful growth of plants. This is why so many people have moved over to the EI dosing method.

You are dosing NPK. Nitrates, Phosphates and Potassium. Then you add enough CO2, but not too much. You'd need a Co2 test kit as well. With enough light.

If one of these factors is limited, you will most probably get algae.

You have to have a ratio, which when using the Professors Drops, is clearly explained. This will enable you to adjust to your own system accordingly.

When using these ferts, especially up here in the Highveld, you should be adding Co2. In soft water, the Co2 addition is not too much of an issue, as stated by the prof himself, unless you are running high light - 3 - 4 watts per gallon. You cannot limit anything.

I recon, once you have been dosing this regime for some time, you can easily see when problems arise. I would recommend starting with half doses of everything. If you get good growth, up the amount you are dosing gradually. Once algae starts appearing, drop the dosage to the amount you were dosing a week or 2 before. It lets you iron out the bugs as all systems are different, and it also let's you see the consumption level of your tank, first hand.

Damn... That's the longest post I've written in a long time...

 

Thanks for that Slagter,

I see you have been following Laure's thread on Fertilization strategies closely. HeeHee. You are 100% correct in the fact that NKP is the main fertilization, but if memory serves me correct, the professor has removed the N from his fertz, as out fish bioload supply's all of that.

I have been in contact with Prof. as to my water hardness, (has it properly tested at 6dGH), and the Porf says I should still use the GH+, but half dosage, K+ at full dosage, and the trace mis at full dosage. He recommended me to eliminate the CO2 for now, as he does not believe it to be necessary, or even beneficial in a low tech set up. He even says a medium tech set up is wasted on CO2.

We believe that the hardness is at 6dGH due to the high amount of one of the elements (I think calcium), but the other element which helps determin hardness (Magnesium I think) would be low... hence I had to half does the GH+.

So now we wait and see.

 

No problem Zoom...

I haven't really followed that thread, it's just from all the reading I did when going the High Tech route and with a lot of help from Algae Wizard.

I'm glad you got your water tested with something more reliable. I'd follow the profs advice. It is sound. I still believe in Hard water, Co2 is necessary. It's one of the building blocks of a complete system. But it could cause other problems.

Good luck with the tank.

 

I would definately go with CO2... if I could afford to go the proper pressurized route with a solenoid, and also with the correct buffering of the KH (I think it is) to prevent the pH swings.

Right now I'm going with the Prof's advice, and sticking to his low tech advice... i.e just his mix... reasonable light, and good quality water.