The journey continues...my rimless Aqua Forest
- Thread starter jcardona1
- Start date
UPDATE time!
just did some slight re-arranging of certain plants. Cambomba is growing like a weed and I think i have too much of it now. May be getting rid of some and throwing a different plant in its place, not sure what yet.
On another note, I've been messing around with my lighting for a few weeks. I lowered it down almost to the rim of the tank. I then tried running a 'burst' for a few hours using all 4 bulbs, and then using all 4 bulbs for the entire 9 hours. The result? ALGAE!!!!! I got lots of BBA and hair/thread algae on most of the plants, except for the Cabomba since it grows so damn fast. So now I'm back to just two bulbs and raised the fixture back up considerably. Adding a double dose of Excel to get things back in check. It didn't help that I left town for 3 days this weekend and left the tank unattended. Came back to lots of GSA on the glass which resulted in lots of manual scraping.
Anyway, all is well again and I've been trimming the stuff that was taken over by algae. That was a fun little expirement
I'll stick to lesser intense lighting from now on.
PIC
just did some slight re-arranging of certain plants. Cambomba is growing like a weed and I think i have too much of it now. May be getting rid of some and throwing a different plant in its place, not sure what yet.
On another note, I've been messing around with my lighting for a few weeks. I lowered it down almost to the rim of the tank. I then tried running a 'burst' for a few hours using all 4 bulbs, and then using all 4 bulbs for the entire 9 hours. The result? ALGAE!!!!! I got lots of BBA and hair/thread algae on most of the plants, except for the Cabomba since it grows so damn fast. So now I'm back to just two bulbs and raised the fixture back up considerably. Adding a double dose of Excel to get things back in check. It didn't help that I left town for 3 days this weekend and left the tank unattended. Came back to lots of GSA on the glass which resulted in lots of manual scraping.
Anyway, all is well again and I've been trimming the stuff that was taken over by algae. That was a fun little expirement
I'll stick to lesser intense lighting from now on.PIC
I love looking at your tanks J.
i have a cleaning question.. how do you get algae off the silicone? If i use a sponge or something semi abrasive it feels as if I'm pulling at the seal and can possibly create leaks.
~LiquiD~
i have a cleaning question.. how do you get algae off the silicone? If i use a sponge or something semi abrasive it feels as if I'm pulling at the seal and can possibly create leaks.
~LiquiD~
So, the pics are great, but can you fill us in on some of the details that worked for you? Ex--Whats the "sweet spot" on your fixture height (inches above surface)? Are you using a substrate heater? Still using the same substrate? With or without root tabs? Color temp of your lamps? etc, etc....
Also, how's the other new tank going? The taller one... Did you ever pick up that MH for it? THANKS JOSE!
Also, how's the other new tank going? The taller one... Did you ever pick up that MH for it? THANKS JOSE!
hmm i actually dont get algae on my silicone. i had a few spots of GSA on the edges close to it, but i dont mess with it for the same reasons you mentioned. it seems to have gone away completely.Liquidplants;4474452;4474452 said:
JakeH;4475355; said:
Hey man,
Sorry for the late reply, haven't check this thread in a while! Well, I went to Japan for a week a few days ago. I had my gf take care of the tank. Needless to say I came back to a bunch of algae and a cloudy tank lol! I think she forgot to add ferts on certain days even though she says she didn't
Spend a good amount of time cleaning the tank out and cutting off any leaves with algae. It's now back under control for the most part. I've ended raising my fixture as high as I could based on how I built the support for it. Right now it's about 10-12" above the rim of the tank. I also added a piece of mesh bug screen underneath the fixture to reduce the lighting intensity a bit. I've now discovered that I AM NOT a fan of high lighting! I had higher lighting for the first couple weeks to get everything growing. Now I can scale it back and just enjoy looking at the tank.
It's fun to watch the crazy growth you get with high lighting, but blink for too long and you'll have an algae outbreak. The upkeep is no fun. The overall tank seems to be doing better with lower lighting. High lighting is overrated, and not needed for a large majority of the plants out there.
As for my substrate, it's still the same Eco Complete. I haven't added any root tabs. Although I have thought about adding some to see if it would make a noteable difference. Both of my T5HO bulbs are 6500K. I started out with 10,000K, but I concluded it was too blue for my plants/fish. The 6500Ks really make the color of my Denisoniis' pop! And not using a substrate heater either, this is a waste of money in my opinion. I only have the 500w titanium rod in my sump.
As for the other tank, nothing much has happened. I have all the plumbing for it, but I just haven't found the time to piece it together. I'll be very busy with work in the coming months. Working for a public company with a 12/31 fiscal year-end, this is the time where we get real busy
And here's a quick cell phone pic showing how awesome the color of the denisonii barbs has gotten. When I first got them the stripe was very short and a drab orange color. Now it's a bright red and extends halfway into the body. Beautiful fish!!
here's what they looked like at 7/31/10. ugly little turds compared to now
here's what they looked like at 7/31/10. ugly little turds compared to now
