Where to go from here...

jpappy789

jpappy789

Plants need meat too
Feb 18, 2007
26,364
5
89
35
Gainesville, FL
Real Name
Josh
So I am in the process of re-scaping my planted 30 gallon tank. I'm now left with some smaller stems of cambomba, some cryptocoryne wendtii green and red (red is newly planted), dwarf sags (newly planted), anubias nana, vals, java fern, rotala indica (not doing to well now), wisteria (newly planted), and of course some duckweed. Now, I just don't know what to do.

I have 75 watts (I think) over 30 gallons which was an upgrade a few months ago. Also no Co2 at the moment and currently dosing flourish excel every once and a while.

I have the hagen Co2 system for smaller tanks and was thinking about using that for a DIY set up if that would work. For ferts I was contemplating going using no-salt, fleet enema, salt petre, etc. or just going with bulk ferts. I was leaning towards the latter as dosing would probably get too complicated for me using non aquarium products to get ferts for the plants. Also bulk ferts seem more economical and money isn't something I have a lot of...

I'm kind of jumped into upgrading my lighting before getting a good enough knowledge base about what I would need to do afterwards. Now that I have more time to focus on the plants I would like to get as much out of them as possible. I know that I could probably do just as good without all of this considering the plants I have but I want to get into the heavy plant care because it's something that I haven't tried yet and something that really interests me.

So, any suggestions?
 
Looks like you are headed in the right direction. If you already know where to get the no-salt, fleet enema, salt petre, etc. for a good price then go for it but if not then rex's $25 shipped package would be the best here. You can premix them in some 500ml bottles and dose them as Flourish line.
For co2 with that amount of light i would try and be on top of it. For a 30g tank try and have atleast 4-6L bottles on it diffused to its max.. Also try and limit your photoperiod to 8hrs. Trust me with this lighting it will be well worth it.

Try and mess with that and your current plants for a week or 2, see which do good, which dont and from there start working on a scape including those plants that had worked for you.
 
Thanks!

I'm kind of a Co2 newb here, so I'm not really familiar with the aspect of DIY Co2. I plan on using Mg's recipe found here.

http://aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136668

I have the bubble ladder that comes with the Hagen kit and so could I incorporate that in as the diffuser? And by 4-6L bottles do you mean that I need multiple bottles for this tank?
 
the hagen bottle is only .5L which is minimum for even a 10g tank. When i say use 4-6L on the tank, i mean get a T connector and connect all bottles together to go into one and get diffused that way. (if you have a canister the diffusion can be close to max)

for the diy co2 the mix is simple
For 2L bottle
1.5-2cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon of yeast (hydrate before adding to whole mix)
lukewarm water
 
Oh, I see. So I need to connect them all so they go through one diffuser, which by the way what should I get for that? So no bubble ladder also.

I have a Rena cannister with an AC but I'll be removing that with the addition of Co2. Diffusion should be close to max then.

I'm looking at getting Rex Grigg's combo pack...about how long should this last me?
 
DIY Co2 works like charm. You could argue that the pressure isn't constant and powerful enough, but that's why some guys have 2 DIY bottles (me).
 
jpappy789 said:
Oh, I see. So I need to connect them all so they go through one diffuser, which by the way what should I get for that? So no bubble ladder also.

I have a Rena cannister with an AC but I'll be removing that with the addition of Co2. Diffusion should be close to max then.

I'm looking at getting Rex Grigg's combo pack...about how long should this last me?
Click to expand...
ferts will last you a long long while year++

you can get rid of the ladder and place the airline directly into filter intake
 
So directly into the filter intake eh...how does that work without diffusing the Co2 before reaching the tank? Sorry, I'm a horrible visualizer...

It looks like a have a project for next weekend though, which is good because I finally want to get this tank going on the right track for the plants.
 
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