New planted tank journal!

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

thanks naps!

[naps]

Re: New planted tank journal!

thanks naps!

No problem, great work!! Did you make it to the NASH meeting today???

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

i woke up late  :(

i will hopefully make the next one

[naps]

Re: New planted tank journal!

i woke up late  :(

i will hopefully make the next one

I really think that you will like them, I've heard great things, I just have to work every Saturday    :evil:  

[sproett]

Re: New planted tank journal!

Wow, your tank looks great.  You planned your layout well.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

im thinking so too naps and i wanted to make this last one cause it was held at ADG.

thank you sproett!

[Mzungu]

Re: New planted tank journal!

That will look very nice! Are you using any driftwood? I can't really tell...but great job! Post some more pictures when you can.  :)

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

the only driftwood is under all the java fern and the piece that the fissiden is attatched to. i thought about doing the whole driftwood amano thing but i like the wild natural look better.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

removed the crypt, some blyxa and downoi and ordered some high light plants.

here is the tank now pre-finished planting but with my new drop checker!

[armthehomeless]

Re: New planted tank journal!

drop checker? what is that?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

somewhat of a ph reader.

quoted from hoppycalif over at apc.

First, take some distilled water, mix in a bit of baking soda, measure the KH, and adjust slowly until you get KH of 4 degrees, as close as you can get it. I used 4 times the normal water sample, so each drop of my AP test kit would equal 1/4 degree of KH. I think I got it to within +/-.1 degree of being exactly 4. Now, this water has no other substance that affects alkalinity and no substance that affects acidity in it, so it is "perfect" water for the KH/pH tables to give the CO2 ppm.

I had previously tested my AP pH kit to see if the number of drops of reagent was critical for measureing pH, and found that it isn't at all critical, just as I would expect. This means you can add more reagent to get a more intense color.

If you check the ph/KH charts, or better yet, the calculator, for KH of 4 degrees, Measuring CO2 levels in a Planted Tank, you see that the pH target to have 30 ppm of CO2 is 6.6. And, an error of .1 in pH gives a range of 25-40 ppm of CO2, which is a reasonable range, since you can actually see the difference between pH of 6.5 and 6.7, so you can easily reduce that error range if you wish, with a good careful look at the color.

Now look at the color chart for the AP or any similar test kit, you see that the color corresponding to a pH of 6.5 to 6.7 is green - slightly yellowish for 6.5 and slightly bluish for 6.7. So, it is easy to judge the color as being green, not blue green and not yellow green.

So, water with KH=4.0 will definitely be green at the pH that gives the correct ppm of CO2 for our tanks. And, if the color is yellowish, the pH will be low enough that the ppm will be much too high - about 70-80 ppm. Likewise, if the color is blueish, the ppm will be much too low - about 10 ppm.

So, if we put this KH = 4 water in the bulb of the "Drop Checker" with enough indicator solution to get a strong color, which took about 7 drops for me, we have not a pH indicator, but a good CO2 indicator.

its the ball looking thing next to the thermoter, really just for "whoa" factor since it takes some time to actually change in color.

[armthehomeless]

Re: New planted tank journal!

sounds interesting

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

Some new pictures of the tank, I kinda stunted the growth with an accidental Excel overdose so all the plants melted and are growing back out.

Planted some rotala colorata on the right side and have some Limno Aromatica, Ludwiga Acruata, and Ammania Gracilis coming from Aquadise. Only sucky part is he lives 5mins from me but have changed his policy to no pick ups and the package shipped out mid week but did not make it to me yet so it's probably waiting in transit over the weekend. Week in the mail to trave 5mins away.......

Also added 5 Koi Angelfish that I got from fishysue along with the one I had and my 3 dwarf puffers finally to the tank after the ammonia spike went away from the Aquasoil.




after realizing that human fingers dipping into tank means FOOD!!!

[sproett]

Re: New planted tank journal!

Your tank looks pretty.  I love your angelfish.  Are you keeping the dwarf puffers with them or did I read that wrong?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: New planted tank journal!

They are all together at the moment and seem to enjoy each other's company.


Thanks for the compliments, the tank has a lot of growing out to do though.