Re: [AGA Member] HELP W/ 180 GAL PLANT TANK/reply

[Albert Karcher <ahkarcher@yahoo.co.uk>]

Think about this....  I also have had a 180 gal planted tank for 1.5 + years.  I have mostly followed Crandall's advise from Sunken Gardens but have started to stray lately.  
I use local Corpus Christi Water,  ph 8.0 & hardness about 4 or 180 ppm.  I try to find fish that are compatible with the local water simply for convenience(Tanganyikan's.  I have filter gravel on one side and Fluorite on the other.  The tank is divided but water is passing through both sides.  196 watts on the Fluorite side and almost the same on the  other.  I struggled about a year with the yeast CO2 systems but several months ago purchased cylinder and two each (different types) diffusers  They have helped tremendously.  
I have tried many types of fertilisers including making some of my own.  However I have had very good luck with the following blends.  
I looked at Flourish's ingredience and listed it on paper.  I then looked at Tropica Master Grow and listed it's ingredients on the other side of the paper and compared concentrations.  Where Flourish concentrations were low Tropica Master Grow's were high.  Not very scientific, I realise but for my tank perimeters this has been working very good.  I have been using the follow doses with an Eheim dosing unit.
Flourish  0.82 ml/day
Tropica   4.1    "
Seachem's Phos  0 to 1 ml/day
Seachem's Nitrogen   1 ml/day
Seachems's K       1 ml/day
Fe (Carls or Seachem) 4 to 8 ml/day (I think)
 
I monitor Iron, Phosphates and NO 3's once every 3 to 5 weeks and adjust accordingly.  I have to harvest every 2 week. 
The only algae I have is on the plant leaves and that seems to be controlled by reducing light.  I'm kinda lazy so bleach dipping is out of the question. 
 
Good luck
ck
 
By the way, exactly what is pearling?

RUDY STA ANA <rsta_ana@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hello, Everybody!
I am a new member-1st post- and started planted
aquarium when you had your convention here in Houston
last year. I converted my 75 gal fish tank to planted
and after 6 mos grew Ludwigia and Stargrass pretty
good w/ Carbo Plus. I thought that I needed more space
for both plant and fish and thereby invested in a 180
gal. 
I had mediocre results-a little daily pearling and
respectable growth on plants using Seachem Flourish a
lot cheaper than Dupla 24 drops). 
I had to tear it down due to problems w/ tank that is
covered w/ warranty.
I had the replacement running for about a month now
and have algae problems and non-pearling. I know or I
think at least that the algae were result of adding
Seachem's nitrogen and phospate. Since then only used
Flourish, Potassium, and Iron - 10 ml ea/wk with
40-50% weekly water change. I have 480 watts of PC and
60 of reg flourescent(total 540) and pumps about 2 bps
of CO2 gas. 
My tank has 0 ppm NH3 & NO2. PH=7.2 and about 10-11
deg KH & GH, Temp= 82deg. I have 5 3.5 in Discus, 10
o-cats, 20 Cardina J.,and 10 hatchets and 7 Corydoras.
Can you guys help me out as to which kind and brand of
ferts to use. Is my temp to high? Any help from
anybody will be greatly appreciated. I am just
desperate to grow a nice healthy planted tank.


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com
------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, please send mail to majordomo@thekrib.com
with "Unsubscribe aga-member" in the body of the message. Archives of
this list can be found at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-member/




---------------------------------
Want to chat instantly with your online friends??Get the FREE Yahoo!Messenger

--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/alternative
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
  text/html
---
 ------------------
 To unsubscribe from this list, please send mail to majordomo@thekrib.com
 with "Unsubscribe aga-member" in the body of the message.  Archives of
 this list can be found at http://lists.thekrib.com/aga-member/