Tank, PMDD, CO2, Update [long]
Jean-Michel F Moreau
Ok... a couple people said they wanted to know how some of the things I was
doing worked. So after a couple weeks here ya go :-)
Setup: 46g
Total NH: 0, NO2: 0, NO3 0, pH 6.3, GH soft, CO2: ~140+ppm
Additives: 1mL blackwater extract/gal with water change & Prime
0.5mL PMDD each day
Lighting 4 NO flor (2 chroma50, 2 aquar/plant) on a pin-timer for 12hrs/day
Fish: 2med Angels, 1lrg Angel, 3 clowns, 2 SAE, 1 Oto
Substrate: 3.5inches: 8L scotts peatmoss under 75lbs of playsand + 3 jobes
plant spikes
Plants: 2 amazon swords, 2 alternithera (red hygro?), water wisteria, Gaint
hygro, willow leaf hygro, java moss, amazon frogbit, duckweed, plus
something else I can't think of the name.
Water changes: 25%/bi-weekly (changed from 25%/mo)
***PMDD and NO3
Well I have a heavily planted tank. My natural NO3 (from the fish before
PMDD) readings where always around 15ppm. NO3 stayed @ ~ 15ppm only because
of my water changes. If I stopped doing h20 changes the NO3 would creep up.
I ordered a PMDD kit from homegrown hydroponics. I mixed the KNO3 separate
from the PMDD. Now after 2+ weeks and no water changes my NO3 level is 0
ppm! I thought about starting to add KNO3, but I am going to skip it
entirely because I use jobes plant spikes in the substrate so I doubt I need
more N. I also have a little bit of algae some green algae on the walls
plus some dark green hair algae on some of the plants. The SAE's seems to
be keeping the algae from getting out of hand.
***PMDD dosage & water changes
I read in the dosing section of www.thekrib.com that a 40g tank should get
0.5mL a day. So that is what I do. I also got a Fe kit (came w/ the CO2)
and my level reads 0.1. I was going to up my PMDD dosage, but I already
have some algae and I think adding more PMDD would just add more algae.
Right now I have only a med amount of algae any more and I would have to do
something about it, so I am not adding any more PMDD. I used to do water
changes only every month, but because I use PMDD I am going to do them every
2 weeks. This is so some of the trace elements don't accumulate to toxic
levels.
*** Plant Growth
OMG! Wow Every morning the water wisteria has grown 2-3inches taller with
tons of new leaves. It also seems to have gotten used to the light timer
because it's leaves sorta close up at night and open up in the morning. My
other hygros (giant, willow leaf) are growing just OK (but I don't really
want any more growth). The banana plant shoots up every day pretty soon it
will have leaves at the top. My amazon sword is growing a lot.. every so
often an old leaf gets taller and thicker. Some of the smaller leaves have
turned yellow and or wilted. Only 3 or 4 leaves have done this. Doesn't
this mean more Fe? Maybe I should mix a trace mix only bottle to add when
this happens? I would be worried about the sword plant... but it still
seems to be growing gang busters. And it has 1 jobe spike under it.
***1 gal juice jug CO2
Ok well it has only been 2 weeks... but normally in 2 weeks my CO2 pop
bottle starts to fade. Currently I am using a 1 gal juice jug with the same
amount of yeast (1.5tsp), double the sugar, and double the water (4liters as
apposed to 2L). Well my CO2 bubble count it the same! So it appears to me
that if you use a juice jug for CO2 and more sugar you can go a longer
period of time before changing the mixture of yeast. I just bought a CO2
test for the hell of it and found I have a shocking 140+ppm of CO2 (which
makes sense actually if you consider my KH & GH & pH). So next month I will
be using less yeast.
*** Number of fish... & other stuff
I used to have more fish. Some died while medicating the tank. So just
some advice... don't rush to medicate. And if you have to medicate choose a
weaker med like aquarisol. I chose not to replace all the fish that died
from my 46g. So now I have less fish and it looks much better. I think
tanks look better with a minimum number of different species. Basically my
big tank only has angels, clowns, & a small algae crew. I had some other
species of fish that survived but I moved them to a new 20g long tank. So
now I go a 46g, 20g, & 10g. And in my 10g I am spawning bettas for the fish
time. The eggs hatched out of the bubble nest yesterday! One other cool
thing... I found a source of free live food: mosquito larva. They just grow
(on their own) in this abanded little pond (?30gal) they hide when they see
you coming so you gotta be sneaky and scoop them up with a brine shirmp net.
Well I hope that wasnt way too long :-) I hope someone found that pmdd stuff
useful.
--
"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy
enough people to make it worth the effort."
-Herm Albright
Wayne Jones
Jean-Michel F Moreau <jean_f...@hotmail.com.NOSPAM> wrote
When you double the size of the yeast/sugar container it usually only makes
the fermentation last a little bit longer. There are a lot of variables so I
would not jump to the conclusion that it is the container that is mking the
difference. The length of a fermentation is much more dependant on the
nutrition available to the yeast, in particular, the available nitrogen. If
the proper nutrition is available your fermentation should last at least 6
weeks in either container.
You do not have 140 ppm CO2 your test kit is just incorrect. It is probably
being thrown off by the black water extract and/or the peat in the
substrate, so don't make any changes that assume the value is correct.
Wayne
Chuck Gadd
<jean_f...@hotmail.com.NOSPAM> wrote:
>ppm! I thought about starting to add KNO3, but I am going to skip it
>entirely because I use jobes plant spikes in the substrate so I doubt I need
>more N. I also have a little bit of algae some green algae on the walls
Withholding the Nitrate will eventually increase your algae growth.
This is because your plants won't be able to consume the excess
phosphate. And excess phosphate is much worse than excess nitrate.
Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua
Jean-Michel F Moreau
news:391e6ae...@news.uswest.net...
> On Sat, 13 May 2000 08:56:25 -0700, "Jean-Michel F Moreau"
> This is because your plants won't be able to consume the excess
> phosphate. And excess phosphate is much worse than excess nitrate.
OK... yeah... that makes sense I should start adding KNO3. What would be a
target NO3 ppm? Btw, I borrowed someone's digital camera and I am trying to
make a website. So.. I'll keep ya'll posted.
Chuck Gadd
I shoot for levels around 5ppm. The test normally shows somewhere
between 5-10ppm.
Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua