Nice! I always like dutch style.

I don't know how to configure my flow because I have a lot of stem plants. At certain point in the tank, the flow seems too strong because one or two plants there almost knocked over while there seem no flow on the other part of the tank. However when I feed my fish, I can see flow there when the semi floating micro pellets sink. I only use small dophin internal pump filter which I do need to clean the sponge filter everyweek.

Did you try amano shrimps? Maybe they can take care that BBA/staghorn issue on the moss. BTW, did you use fan or just air condition to keep water temp low?

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jan 30 2021, 05:02 PM

Yeah, I read even SAE don't eat much. My first BBA experience, it just covered the leaves with matte black layer but it seems like it is stunted, didn't grow to hairy like looking. My 2nd BBA experience in different tank, it grow hairy on the edge, around the leaves. I don't think it is staghorn because the color is black, not grey. It also look stunted, not blooming. I put in 3 CAE for different reason but they end up eating all the BBA. However BBA keep coming back. The older leaves that already cleaned from BBA by CAE remain clean but the newer old leaves get infected with BBA.

I think it's more like CO2 did not spread evenly to all area. Maybe you can try reposition the CO2 diffuser next to the moss. Maybe that can help since it is easier to have dead spot around moss.

Do you dose any fertilizer? My best guess is you're missing some macronutrients.

Yes, you are right. Hydrogen peroxide works too. I just bought it today too just in case I need to deal with BGA or BBA in the future. I don't know why I did not buy this sooner. I may have save a lot of plants if I did. 😁



This post has been edited by kizwan: Feb 4 2021, 06:29 PM

Maybe need to dim the light. The light maybe too bright which encourage it to grow too fast. Also looks like the old leaves are melting which is normal. Let it melt & drop. New leaves should remain healthy. If not, definitely it is nutrient deficiency.

Seachem Excel is not toxic. You really need to overdose it for it to become toxic.

On fertilising, two times a week for both micro & macro seems the best. My plants grow well, new leaves are healthy. Since I have reset one of my tank by dipping all the plants in clorox bleach solution to get rid BBA, I have been dosing macro & micro on alternate days; today macro, next day micro, repeat. Sunday is water change day. However in this particular tank, the older leaves on Ludwigia look damaged. New leaves look healthy-ish. Maybe take weeks to thrive back. The plants was taken from another tank & was healthy.

There are more than one type of aquarium. I think the RM800++ ones maybe the expensive ones. If you're looking for standard ones, I think you can get cheap. I forgot how much mine was. It was long time ago. Mine are standard 2 feet aquarium. I think it around below RM100.

My tank is standard tank. I mean it is not standard size for planted aquarium but standard. 60x30x30 cm or 2 x 1 x 1 feet.

Btw I want to ask about my fertilizing routine. Right now I'm dosing Aquaforest AF Macro three times a week.

This is manufacturer data:-
1 ml in 10 l of aquarium water will raise levels:

N Nitrogen 7,0 mg/l (ppm)
P Phosphorus 0,3 mg/l (ppm)
K Potassium 7,00 mg/l (ppm)
Mg Magnesium 0,9 mg/l (ppm)
Ca Calcium 0,2 mg/l (ppm)

So I have been dosing around 3 ml for three times a week

3 ml in 56 l of aquarium water will raise levels:

N Nitrogen = 3 * 7.0 * (10 / 56) = 3.75 mg/l (ppm)
P Phosphorus = 3 * 0.3 * (10 / 56) = 0.16 mg/l (ppm)
K Potassium = 3 * 7.00 * (10 / 56) = 3.75 mg/l (ppm)
Mg Magnesium = 3 * 0.9 * (10 / 56) = 0.48 mg/l (ppm)
Ca Calcium = 3 * 0.2 * (10 / 56) = 0.11 mg/l (ppm)

So, for phosphorus, 3 * 0.16 = 0.48 ppm a week. That is low right? Should I increase the dosage? I do see slow growth in one of my tank but not in bad way. It just too slow or too lean for my taste & nitrate is high, around 40 ppm (weekly partial water change). I just want to boost it a little bit & this also will help increase nitrate uptake. I know all in one macro is not the best.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Feb 22 2021, 03:25 PM

I'm trying to find the dosage for the 2hr aquarist. Did it say anything like X ml in Y l of water add ??? ppm of nutrients?

I'm changing my fertilising regime again. Not happy with the outcome after a month dosing macro & micro on alternate days. Changed to macro everyday while micro 2 times a week.

For micro I use Seachem Flourish, two times a week. Yeah, I know, even with weekly partial water change. When I calculate, if I want phosphate to 1 ppm per week, I need to dose everyday. Three time a week that I dose previously only provide 0.48 ppm of phosphate per week. That is too low. That's why nitrate is high because phosphate is low. No algae. If any just little bit brown algae on the sand & behind the internal filter.

That gravel soil is just fine gravel right? ~2-3mm. Well I have never heard of worm casting but turn out it is good soil for planted aquarium. 1 inch of fine gravel on top as cap. Don't mix with the gravel. The fine gravel goes on top. If you want to mix the worm castings with other soil, that's ok.

That 1% of nitrogen mentioned in the article below, I think it refer to urea (nitrogen source is ammonia, urea & nitrate). That going to cause ammonia to spike. So you should check ammonia before adding any fish or invertebrates.

https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/15-1-...to%20be%20added.


This post has been edited by kizwan: Feb 24 2021, 01:25 PM

Other than ADA, I think you can try DIY it. If you can find white acrylic plate you can diffuse the light, so the light would look uniform.

Well, in dirted planted tank, the soil we use will make the water cloudy. That is why you will need to add cap which is one inch of fine gravel. There is no need to mix with gravel because dirt/organic soil (compost/top soil/potting soil) are cheap. It is very easy, not complicated at all; one inch of organic soil & one inch of fine gravel.

There are several other ways to prepare the organic soil like bake it in oven or microwave oven. There also another method like mixing it with clay. But you can skip these.

I don't know the composition of red potting soil. So I cannot recommend it. There is also organic soil labeled with "nursery soil" which you can use.

I would advice you to try this in nano tank, to get the experience. Go with dutch style.


You can see my dirted low tech tank in early days, using organic compost soil. See how well the two stem plants grows, under 10 days & after 28 days; bacopa caroliniana & ludwigia sp. 'dark orange'. Just ignore other plants that I tried to grow underwater. The moss & hairgrass failed because I was lazy & didn't care the tank properly, allowing algae to take over.

This is my first trim. See how healthy those stem plants are.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Mar 1 2021, 05:14 PM

Don't mix anything. Keep it simple.

Back then, no CO2 & no ferts. Right now I dose ferts because phosphate somehow low or limited.

I have few extra stem plants after trim that I don't want to throw away. So, here it is mini planted aquarium using oat container. Using "free peat" brand organic soil. 😁 It is so simple, there is no need to mix with anything.


For Flourish, I dose using recommended dosage two times a week. For macro, I use Aquaforest AF Macro, dosing everyday except Sunday. In one of my tank, I need to double the dosage for macro because the plant behaved like phosphate is limited especially bacopa caroliniana growth are slow. After two weeks using this dosing regime, I can see new & bigger new leaves on bacopa caroliniana.

In my tank that I killed most plants in it after bleach dip earlier this year, I'm having problem getting new plant growing roots. I don't know what's wrong. I already add root tabs. The stem plants are growing though, just problem with roots not developing. The Ludwigia sp. 'Dark Orange' are not healthy though where old leaves damaged either partial melting becauae in new environment or necrosis. The new leaves show sign of iron deficiency; light green with dark vein. Both of my tanks is in same dosing regime except in this problematic tank, single dosage for macro. Let's give this tank a couple of more weeks if it can recover.

Not good in a way you cannot tune it. For example, nitrate is high but phosphate is low. The best way to deal with nitrate in this case is to increase phosphate. With all in one, you increase everything. I use all in one because buying individually are too much for me. 😁

This post has been edited by kizwan: Mar 6 2021, 09:34 AM

I think standard slope like lower in the front & higher in the back, I think it is doable as long as you don't have any fish that like to dig into the soil.

Have you read this yet?
https://barrreport.com/threads/earth-worm-c...ts-how-to.5533/

This post has been edited by kizwan: Mar 7 2021, 04:04 PM

I've never tried worm casting before, so I can't comment but usually there's more than one option to prepare the substrate. Like dirt (organic soil), when I first learned about it, you need to bake it, you need to add clay to it but when I explore further, actually I don't need to do all that. That's what works for them, so they share it. Try google more, see if there's other people that use worm casting without complex step to prepare them. The link to a website that I post before, doesn't say anything about preparing them.

BTW, I bought cheap root tabs like RM15 for 30 (+10 free = 40) root tabs from Shopee. Inside the capsules, it's looks like osmocote.



This post has been edited by kizwan: Mar 8 2021, 01:44 PM

Yeah, they use capsule because this is for inserting into the soil.

Where's that curiosity to try different things? Buy small tank or you can buy that small plastic aquarium too. Setup simple Dutch style theme aquarium. Due to small size you will not need to spend a lot on plants.

I dunno. I just tried it. The contents of the capsule looks very much like osmocote. I have read a lot about people using osmocote in the soil & get good result from it. Should able to see the result in a month. However I also dose ferts. So I cannot really tell if it works though. My tank is phosphate limited somehow. So I should able to see if the root tabs works or not.

I dunno. It also looked like successfully molting. Just feels the head whether it is soft or not.

I have fixed phosphate limited issue in one of my low tech tank. The new leaves are in normal size. Can I reduce the frequency of macro dosing now? I have been dosing macro 6 days a week for a month & I want to go back to three times a week. Three times a week would be phosphorus 0.48 ppm/week & Nitrogen 11.25 ppm/week. Sound good?

Dip in bleach solution.

Don't know. Never tried myself. I remember someone at FB club use bleach to clean the same curvy glass pipe.

I would suspect CO2.

Do you have CO2 drop checker?

It does take 1/2 to one hour to show current co2 level. Without co2 drop checker, you wouldn't know whether co2 is enough.