I need to get nerite snails. Mine died few months ago.

ahh
so they can adapt
keep yr fotos coming ..
would love to see how others do their tanks


i brought back the pegaga-like plant
forgot to water it
& it withered
will hav to wait for mco to over
& go back take a new plant

anyone use liquid co2 ?
as gas co2 seems so xpensif

I saw some seller sell complete set for RM300 at aquascape fb club. Or you can try DIY co2 using acid citric & baking soda. Even with DIY you will be itching to get a solenoid. If I remember correctly, solenoid for DIY co2 is a lot cheaper.

liquid Co2 is not equal to actual Co2 that plant needs, its normally using to kill algae.

Better direct invest on proper Co2 system, those DIY style, you unable control amount of Co2, fluctuation of Co2 causing more algae issue.
I using 2L tank @10g tank, used from >6month, still having plenty inside.

I agree but I have seen a lot of success with DIY co2.

Hi guys, having been away from aquascaping for the last decade or so.
i first started my aquascaping journey in 2011 and quit in 2014 and went into guppy breeding, then shrimp breeding (still breeding). Now I'm finally coming back to make a small scape, a 1ft cube by this weekend.

got some driftwood, treating it now, still releasing some minor tannin from it, will continue treating it until this coming weekend before use.

got some ryouh stones as well, soaked in clorox last night for 30 minutes, now soak in clean water, will continue doing so until this weekend.

just bought 6 types of plants, waiting for its arrival this week:

1 tissue cultured HC ready for foreground
1 tissue cultured Alternanthera Reineckii Mini (submerged form), for midground of one side, separating the foreground and the background.
1 tissue cultured rotala bonsai for midground of the other side.
4 types of stems plants, consisting rotala red, rotala green, luwigia red and super red for the background.

for the stems plants, since they are not tissue cultured, will do some treatment first before setting up the plant.

on hardware, it's just a 30cm cube
will be using a hob filter instead of canister, if i upgrade to a 2ft tank next time, then i will get eheim 350 since i also have lily pipe ready.

on lighting, this part i'm a little unsure because i am only using chihiros A series, not sure if it is sufficient for the red plants (since i focus on red plants this time), thinking of adding a small WRGB for the red plants, but will see how it goes after a month or 2 after set up.

temperature wise, it will always be around 26 degree or lesser as i am putting it my shrimp breeding room, so it's air-conditioned. whereas, last time i only use PC fans to bring down the temperature to around 28 or so.

on CO2, don't wanna splurge on it yet, maybe next time i can get a bigger tank to support multiple scape, will use diy co2 first in the meantime, will prepare it on a weekly basis, see how it goes.

Will be using soil base as substrate for this scape, still toying around with the ideas on driftwood and ryouh stones.

Not to forget, also already gotten seachem excel, potassium and flourish as ferts.

despite it only a small scape, already put in like close to 400 bucks just for the ferts, rocks, driftwoods and plants eh.... soil i'm using my leftover from shrimp breeding hahaha....

Aiks... you already bough to stem plant, else can try dry start.
Its seen having higher success rate for HC and you dont need Co2 at start.

its oklah, i think i can straight away do submerge style, my stem plants are also coming together.
i tried HC before, during my first ever scape in 2011, now, wanna try it again, but the difference is that, i had co2 back then, now using diy co2.

also, last time was pretty high temperature at around 29-30 degree, now can do 25-26 degree. so give and take. let's see how it goes.

pray for me heheheh....

Seen you going lean style fert, why getting flourish?

For NPK, nitrogen would have small amount in the tap water already, as for phosphorus, just have to keep a few more lifestocks, should be able to provide ample amount of phosphorus to the plants already. the only thing that's missing from the equation would be potassium which the plants need in larger amount. so I have it dosed 2 times a week.

As for liquid carbon or excel, this is not a direct substitute of the co2, but a good amount of excel can prevent some algae growth, also can do spot treatment on areas to reduce algae such as BBA etc.

For flourish, it is the most comprehensive micro elements trace and nutrients for the plants already, it can help the plants to absorb the NPK more effective, this would be dosed at a very minimal level on a weekly basis (to avoid algae growth also). It has very minimal level of nitrogen and phosphorus to help the plants too.

You may ask why not Flourish trace > this provides mainly trace elements, which can also be found in the flourish already. and flourish can do a bit more too. so yea.

As for my dosing regime, can see below, the one i set out based on my needs.



Any comment on the dosage above?

good discussion....
i am also struggling on doing fertilization.

when started my scaping journey 18 months ago... my though is the soil should give enough fert.... i was damn wrong
then started getting 2 fert... only realized both also micro.....
now using NPK from JBL, and top up K from JBL, and continuum for micro... dosing also not really consistant. Try to do it 2X macro 1 x micro per week.

recently only got a diary to mark it down- the WC, macro and micro so hopefully can follow consitantly.

As my JBL is finishing- now switching to 2hr Aquarist... see if it helps.

My intentions is
Sunday WC + Macro
Tuesday Micro
Thursday Macro
any comments?

also been struggling with staghorn and BBA on the moss...
Java moss is really hard to take care. need to keep trimming and flow ever where.
i am converting some to Xmas moss.

tehoice

I think you are up to a good start. Your experience have served you well. On the fertilizer subject, I consider myself in a camp where I don't believe excess nutrients can cause algae unless there's deficiency occurred as well. Since I & others have experience phosphate deficiency, I think you should dose phosphorus as well because I believe the amount of phosphorus in our tap water is too small. Also since Nitrogen (nitrate) & phosphorus go together, you should dose Nitrogen as well.

It is good idea to start Flourish with once a week until your tank balanced & after that you can increase to 2 times a week & as your plant grow more, 3 times a week. I read plant can store phosphate really well, so once or twice a week should be enough.

This is just opinion. 😁

I have been dosing micro (Flourish) & macro (aquaforest af macro) on the same day. So far I don't see any problem. I read since we're dosing ferts in large body of water, there should not be any issue where other nutrients such as iron reacting with phosphate to form a precipitate (I read if it does it will form a cloudy white powder that fall to the bottom).

BTW, I just destroyed my first tank because of BBA. Mine confirmed BBA because it is black & hairy instead of white. Grow on the edge of the old leaves. When new leaves grow, the new old leaves also got infected. CAE did eat BBA because majority old leaves become clean from BBA but that is not enough because it reappear on the new old leaves. The plants was growing so well. I dip all of the plants in bleach solution but the mixture is too strong & I dip too long. 9:1 water to bleach (clorox) mixture for 5 minutes dip. Well it turn out many people dip in 20:1 or 25:1 mixture for 1 to 3 minutes, some people do it less than a minute. Majority of stem plant died. The ones that survived, majority of the leaves fall off but recovering because new leaves appearing. I trimmed plants from my other tank & planted them in my first tank. I'm either buy new plants or wait a couple of weeks to trim plants from my other tank & plant it in my first tank.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jan 27 2021, 12:01 PM

hmm, got a picture of your tank? let's see how it goes since the last 18 months? i think your schedule is quite okay but just need to be a bit mindful.
is your macro fert all in one type?, consistent is the key, let your plants adopt to your consistent dosing schedule, you should be fine.

by the way, can ditch your java moss already. really not nice and they grow all over the place.....

This post has been edited by tehoice: Jan 27 2021, 12:00 PM

haha, been doing that many many years ago, and lately during my shrimp keeping journey, i'd still in touch with plants.
thanks for your comments on the phosphorus and nitrogen, but they will need in a very very small quantity, no? that's why my comment earlier is that, we likely dont need to dose extra as the minimal amount is already present in the tap water.

yeah, for now, i'm dosing flourish once a week, wait till i put more plants into it and see how they do.

For macro, they need in large quantities. Before dosing macro, my stem plant doesn't grow well. Typical phosphate deficiency, like small new leaves, stunted growth. I don't think our tap water contain enough phosphate. However, my other tank that use organic soil (compost) doesn't have phosphate deficiency. I think the plant get extra phosphate from the soil.

Yeah, I agree. For now let see how your plants progress first.

I've decided to try dosing macro & micro on alternate days. To see how my plants react to it.

Maybe the phosphate concentration is very low and insufficient for the plants. You can also use root tabs fertiliser to boost the health of the stem plants. i used it in mine tho.

yeah, let us know how it goes, for your alternate days micro and macro dosing.

I've just set up my tank yesterday. Due to time constraint, etc. I've decided not to use any of the plants and rocks that I bought previously, maybe for the next scape. So for me, I just go Dutch this time, given that I have sufficient plants to go with.

Here's a picture of my tank at Day 1.

I've also taken some video clips, but still haven't got the chance to vlog it. next time when i'm free, i will do it.


Attached thumbnail(s)

Sharing photo of my tank, about 6 months now.
still much to learn.....

previously used Dophin 1400, flow was high initially, then later feel not high enough
change to Fluval 307- also feel not really enough. added a sobo pump ( back thing at top left). may be i am over obsessed with flow.
i am thinking flow could help to reduce the algea issue.





Currently facing green dust algae on the tank wall- i can scrap it off weekly.
though some BBA break out recently... clear those on rock with excel, but seems it is among the moss
Had some staghorn earlier as well..... it is gone for now.

i suppose the CO2 dosing wasnt enough
not sure if too much waste as well.... so reduce feeding for now
WC is 30% per week



PS: on the 2nd photo
top is Java moss, bottom is Xmas moss.
Java is really messy as it goes long and require regular trimming. the off trim goes everywhere in the tank.
Xmas moss is more neat.

This post has been edited by Clueless07: Jan 29 2021, 03:55 PM