Putting prefilters on your filter intakes goes a long way in keeping the filters from getting too filthy.
75 gallon Planted Office Tank Journal
- Thread starter geekpryde
- Start date
Actually, I like that the filters are getting filled up with nastiness, it means that crud is not in the water or the substrate. I have attempted to address the issue of why I have so much crud, and to me, it seems there is just too much decaying plant matter, since my plants are stuggling so much with algae. Solution? I just tossed most of the plants. Looks like I am going to keep the few algae resistant plants I have, and work on building a rock scape for now. Then I will try a few plants and see what works and what doesnt. I was making no progress with the way I had been going. Pictures coming up from the most recent tear down.
Here is my root floater, one shot from above, and one shot from below. You cant really see it in the pics, but the roots of this plant are very cool looking.
Sorry I dont post much lately, too busy being depressed about my "planted" tank.... :irked:
Already have the rocks, they are coming soon.
Ahhh! What happened to all the crypts? The last FTS was looking nice!
I think myswtsins has some great advise here... don't give up!!
Your tank has constantly been changed or adjusted and never had a chance to balance out. I've found that rereading my threads really shows me how much I have gone through or how my thought process has changed. I bet if you went through this thread you'd be shocked at how many times you've adjusted this tank, and those are just the adjustments you've documented.
I know you haven't taken my advice in the past but I'll try again.: Lower your light intensity, focus on stable CO2, good maintenance & keep on top of your fert/WC schedule and things will work themselves out.
I think myswtsins has some great advise here... don't give up!!
Yeah, that pic did look good. Im afraid it didnt last long, as alage took over quick. Im trying to get a FTS from today up here, but my d70 is so old an fickle now, it hardly works. Time for a d90?
Great Journal, just read the whole thing sorry about your recent problems, still a great thread!!
GeekPryde:
I just read through pretty much this whole thread. I had been reading/following it as I saw new entries for the past few months, but I don't think I ever posted. Just wanted you to know that this is an amazing thread. I wish I had the same ability to document all of my steps in my journal. I'm hoping this re-read will make me a little more mindful when I'm doing things to my tank, maybe I can track things better in my journal.
It really sucks about the problems you've had. Since I've never really done this until now, I can't offer any advice but reading this (again) did make me wonder how much of this is what 99 percent of planted tank people go through. For example, even with your heavy documentation and picture taking, you were obviously trying to show us the GOOD stuff. You certainly have been documenting the bad stuff, but no pictures, for example, of what your full tank looked like before you did these tear downs. So I'm sitting here comparing my tank to yours, thinking how I'll NEVER get mine to look like yours, and there you are, probably comparing your tank to other peoples' "best of" shots. I guess if I'm offering any advice here it's that maybe you need to ride out some of the bad breaks a little longer? Of course you're in a completely different position than me. My tank's in my basement, and I don't have a daily, live audience (outside of my family) to worry about. So I can afford to ride things out for a long time (not that I've had time yet, with this tank.)
So I hope you keep going and keep posting. You're a real inspiration.
And finally (I think,) did you ever hear back about Tom Barr's issue(s) with Eco-complete? Reading this thread this time is actually the first place where I've seen it in the kind of negative light that I think it was cast in there. I put EC in mine thinking it meant I wouldn't have to worry with root tabs, and now i'm wondering if I should look into something like that. Or Seachem Flourish tabs. Or something.
I just read through pretty much this whole thread. I had been reading/following it as I saw new entries for the past few months, but I don't think I ever posted. Just wanted you to know that this is an amazing thread. I wish I had the same ability to document all of my steps in my journal. I'm hoping this re-read will make me a little more mindful when I'm doing things to my tank, maybe I can track things better in my journal.
It really sucks about the problems you've had. Since I've never really done this until now, I can't offer any advice but reading this (again) did make me wonder how much of this is what 99 percent of planted tank people go through. For example, even with your heavy documentation and picture taking, you were obviously trying to show us the GOOD stuff. You certainly have been documenting the bad stuff, but no pictures, for example, of what your full tank looked like before you did these tear downs. So I'm sitting here comparing my tank to yours, thinking how I'll NEVER get mine to look like yours, and there you are, probably comparing your tank to other peoples' "best of" shots. I guess if I'm offering any advice here it's that maybe you need to ride out some of the bad breaks a little longer? Of course you're in a completely different position than me. My tank's in my basement, and I don't have a daily, live audience (outside of my family) to worry about. So I can afford to ride things out for a long time (not that I've had time yet, with this tank.)
So I hope you keep going and keep posting. You're a real inspiration.
And finally (I think,) did you ever hear back about Tom Barr's issue(s) with Eco-complete? Reading this thread this time is actually the first place where I've seen it in the kind of negative light that I think it was cast in there. I put EC in mine thinking it meant I wouldn't have to worry with root tabs, and now i'm wondering if I should look into something like that. Or Seachem Flourish tabs. Or something.
don't miss the sticky at the top of this section... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=169591
and, yes root tabs are a great idea with e/c. maybe do a search around here and apc for osmocoat or osmocote (with the latter being the correct spelling, but that doesn't stop people).
and, yes root tabs are a great idea with e/c. maybe do a search around here and apc for osmocoat or osmocote (with the latter being the correct spelling, but that doesn't stop people).
