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Hello

My still cycling 43.5GG (US) is on it's way to being heavily planted (not quite there yet). It's one of those "all in one" tank sets ups, the writing on the impellor says it filters 2000 L/per hr ( or 528.4 G US per hr). I have 3lights built into the hood, 2 of them appear to be a normal light colour (whitish) - the 3rd has a pink/magenta hue. I can only read the wattage on one of the tubes (a white one, says 10000k 25W Super Light). I have the lights on a timer, to turn on 10hrs a day. I'm about to set up a Red Sea brand Turbo CO2 Bio system. It's not one of the good ones, like the planted log guy's have (I've been quietly reading some of your logs when I can - very impressive). Mine's the type where you have some sort of yeast mixture (you replace this monthly). After the reactor generates the C02, a diffusion pump injects the CO2 into the tank via a purpose designed venturi, sitting just on or above the substrate. This is going to run on a timer, to match my lights turn/ on off pattern. I also have a bottle of Fourish Excel. What else should I be adding? PS. love the pictures of all the planted tanks in the logs on this forum. They all look great.

IF anyone can give me some advice about ferts, macros, etc. I'd really appreciate that.

Cheers
TW

Here you go:

Change the yeast mix once every week to 10 days, not once a month, you'll see a definite decline otherwise and get algae. CO2 will be the biggest upkeep. I think you may need another 2 liter bottle in addition to the one you already have. You can change them on alternate weeks, but you should make sure you do it at least once every 10-14 days.

Add as many plants as you can with any new planted tank, so the sooner the better you get more in there.

Ferts:

KNO3 1/2 teaspoon 1-2x a week
KH2PO4 1/8 teaspoon 1-2x a week
Traces, Tropica master grow is very good, 10mls 2x a week.

If you have soft water(GH less than 2-3 degrees), add some GH booster.

You may also want to add a little MgSO4, epsom salt, at 1/2 teaspoon after the water change.

Weekly 50% water change.

That's pretty much it.
You have a good timer idea for the CO2, stick with that. Amano, myself etc do that.

You can save the Excel for any algae that appears, add it at 2x the dosing rate asap if you see any black brush algae and change the yeast brew(6 cups of luke warm water, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon baker's yeast).

Aquaessentials.com (UK)sells the above chemicals.
Or www.gregwatson.com sell it here in the USA.

Regards,
Tom Barr

www.BarrReport.com


Regards,
Tom Barr

Robyn,

Name change already?

Well, you heard it from the master of fertilization (Tom), there is nothing for me to add.

Have fun,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks Tom

[ I think you may need another 2 liter bottle in addition to the one you already have. ] Do you mean that I have to run both at the one time, or just take turns which one I'm using. I think you mean the 2nd - but I just want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding.

I hope to have my extra plants by Tuesday afternoon, so that takes care of the not enough plants issue.

Re: the ferts. Are KNO3 & KH2PO4 the actual name of the product I go looking for, or am I just looking for products that contain these as ingredients? Do they need to be separate ingredients, or if both are contained in one product - is that OK? Do I add these (& the traces) at the same time, or is there benefit in adding different products on different days?

Ok, so I'll stop using the Flourish Excel (except when I see any algae). I might have some now, in fact. Every night I wipe white cloudy stuff off the top of my heater. Will the flourish help get rid of that, if I do keep using it (just until it clears)?

Thanks heaps for including the recipe for the C02 stuff (sugar, yeast etc). That will save me heaps. Once a month refill kit from Red Sea was going to cost me nearly $14, so by following your increased change over schedule, that cost would have gone up to $28 or more. I wondered if it was just plain sugar in the bag they sold me. This will be heaps cheaper now.

I'm in Australia, so I'll probably need to source a different supplier than the ones you suggested, but thanks for mentioning them.

I don't know if my water is hard or soft. I guess test kits are available - so I'll have to get one of those.

Re the 50% weekly water change. Not sure if I should do this yet? My tank is still early in it's cycling & I thought that it's best not to water change until after I finished cycling? At least, that's what I've read & the advice I've received. My tank is 12 days since setup & the 1st 4 fish moved in just over 24 hrs ago. So what do you think. Does the addition of all the chemicals for the plants, mean that I have to change water earlier & will that effect cycling if I do?

(Sorry - I have too many questions, as usual).

Thanks for the help. /:'

Cheers
TW

Hi Ingo - you must have been replying, when I was replying to Tom, so I didn't see yours before. Being a little unsure of things & bit slow on the uptake, I had a few extra questions (as usual), which you can see in my reply to Tom.

Yeah - I felt a little bit left out of things, without an alias. So I got my kids to pick one for me. I was almost "FishFace" , but in the end "FishyFingers" it was. They also thought that "TankWatcher " was an appropriate name. I still kinda like that one myself - so don't be surprised if I get bored & change it!!!





Cheers
TW

Oh Robyn,

Now you force me to remember your name (replaced by siggie) and I am horrible with that, I might just have to call you FishyFingers, .

I think it would be advisable to create a new thread that points your mates (aka Australians) directly to the commercial name question. I think to remember that there are some issues down under with the availability.

Water change: do it, but don't vacuum the whole gravel area, only maybe 1/4 of it at each water change. Beneficial Bacteria are mostly located on surfaces, aka gravel, plants, even glass (and the filter, of course). Simply suck out most of the water straight from the water column. In particular once the new plants are in.

I personally believe that knowing your ph, KH, and GH is a good thing as it gives you an idea of how many goodies are in the tank and how much CO2 it contains.

Hope this helps,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Okie dokie LF, I'll start a new thread & hope my Aussie friends can tell me what I should buy. My LFS didn't understand what I was asking for & as I didn't either, we didn't get too far. This was my 2nd attempt to buy fertilizers - both times I come away with none.

PS. I take your point - I've put my name back in my sig.

PSS. As previously threatened, I've changed my alias again. Will have to wait a day or so to see if I like it not. May get bored again.

Once again - you're ever so helpful.

Cheers
TW