Fastlight81's 37g planted journal

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fastlight81

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May 22, 2010
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I figure I will start a journal where I can catch the eye of a few people. This is my first planted aquarium. I actually find it more challenging than my saltwater reef. I am hoping that I can use this thread as a way to have my questions answered instead of always starting new threads.

Tank specs. 37 gallon used aquarium bought off craigslist.
Started as a community tank.
Lighting 4x24w (6500k and 1000k) Catalina....amazing light...highly recomended
Filtration c-220 marineland cannister filter. does its job and is growing on me.
co2. diy co2
substrate eco-complete plant substrate black. as this is my first planted couldnt tell you if this stuff is the best or not. But it did raise my kh from 3 to 7. It is supposed to go neutral after 3-6 weeks.

plants.
2 anubias nana on driftwood
1 anubias congenis (becoming a favorite)
3 seperate bunches of ludwigia repens ( gone nuts with the new lighting)
2 seperate bunches of ludwigia narrow leaf ( they grow bba on their leaves...that about it)
1 amazon sword (started with 2 leafs and quickly becoming a strong plant)
7 dwarf onion plants ( not sure about these bad boys)
2 bulbs apongeton crispis (had a week and notice quick growth)
1 bunch moneywart? unsure of what exactly this is but a very quick grower
2 pots micro sword ( ummm nothing yet)
2 pots hc....pearling like mad..but not much growth


Starting today i will be doing the ei dosing method with ferts. My ferts just came in today so we shall see how this goes.

You can see the progression of my tank over the course of 3 months. As you can see the obsession with plants hit me with hard...and I am now addicted! There are only 2 bn plecos in the tank now with 15 baby rcs and 2 zebra nerita snail...and some dang pond snails lol

Focus on the last picture. This is my current setup and basically what I want to stick with. The plant in the back right corner the tall one...what is that? moneywart? How would you improve this tank. I am up to suggestions.
What I dont like...the ludwigia narrow leaf. Next to the supposed moneywart. It doesnt want to grow anything but bba on it...and it is the only plant that is doing it. Also How about the layout? The ludwigia repens has grown like a weed this week after the addition of the t-5 lighting....I LOVE IT!!!! I think it will quickly overtake the driftwood and will be my cash crop at the lfs:thm: This sat when I do my water change I will be pulling the driftwood with the 2 nana attached to it. I want to boil some hydra off of it and better attach the nanas with some cotton string

Also I do diy co2. And the first time i did it I had no problems with anything getting in the tank. The last 2 times for the first couple days I get a coat of something on the top of he tank...like a yeast film. I have the setup going from my 2liter solution bottle to a 1 liter bottle that acts as a bubble counter and what I would have thought kept the yeast out of my tank. it doesnt. Then it goes to an air stone where it gets sucked up into the intake of the cannister filter. I dont think this is the best thing for my cannister filter impeller since it is always getting a collection of co2 bubbles then spitting it out. Id like to get one of those green leaf ceramic glass diffusers then let my powerhead spread those bubbles in my tank...but I hate the look of bublles in the aquarium. BUt I wonder if the bubbles would be tiny enough that I wouldnt notice it? How about the output diffuser that connects to the output of a cannister filter by grean leaf that is like 120 bucks???anyone use one of those?
Well hopefully I can get some help and comments on this and everyone will like the read.
Thanks guys

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fastlight81

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May 22, 2010
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Oh trust me black background is in the works! Also saving up for a fully automated co2 pressurized system. Never new that co2 as beneficial as it is...can be so detrimental as well. Thank you my Barr for that realization!
 

fastlight81

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May 22, 2010
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Just gonna get a sheet for the back. It would be too much work to paint it at this point. In the future when I get my bigger aquarium I would like to paint it.
 

fastlight81

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May 22, 2010
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I pulled the red ludwigia narrowleaf today with my 50% water change. Way to much bba on it. When I tried to get the algae off the leaves came with it. Its a shame because that plant had potential of a very deep red which is what I am looking for. The ludwigia broadleaf isnt red enough for me. Can anyone put a positive id on the plant on the very back right? the tall one. I was thinking moneywart....but I am not so sure. Wish my local pet stores would id better when they get plants.
 

fastlight81

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May 22, 2010
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Another full tank shot. This is one full week after my last full tank shot on the first post. As you can see the ludwigia repens have just plain gone nuts! And the aponogeton crispis have also showed impressive plant growth. I am thinking of removing the dwarf onion plants....they seem to just slowly wilt away. But then again the 2 leaves that are out of the water are doing well....wonder if I have the true aquatic species. My amazon sword is a steady grower. Noticing lots of algae on the micro swords....they need to start growing and out compete that algae!:devil: The HC isnt doing much of anything as expected....just got to give it time. I put in 15 rcs...yea i rarely see the little guys they were only about 1/8in and i dont cover my filter...so who knows. Well any suggestions?
 

fastlight81

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May 22, 2010
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oops heres the pic

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fastlight81

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May 22, 2010
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ripped it all out. not sure if i wanna do this anymore. they are all floating in my non planted community tank
 
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