# Planted Tanks > Aquascaping >  My first 120L aquascape with dry start HC

## TTerry

With all the informations and advises from AQ forumers, i decided to go with the following list of equipments.

To save cost, i bought some accessories from TB, hunt for pre loved equipments & compare prices from few LFS before buying  :Grin: 


Tank - 60cm*45cm*45cm (Customized)
Cabinet - 60cm*45cm*90cm (Customized)

Filter - Eheim pro 3 2073 (Pre-loved) with Seachem matrix

Co2 injection - 3L, Ans regulator (Pre-loved) with Ista reactor 

Light fixture - Chihiros RGB60 & Chihiros A series 601

Fan - Ans 3000

Substrate - ADA soil


DSM started on 22nd July..... To be continue...

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## TTerry

Week 1 - 22nd July


I started off with HC and dwarf Hair grass.

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## TTerry

Week 2 - 29th July


I added Staurogyne repens.

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## TTerry

Week 4


My HC still browning, DHG mostly melt, except the 2 bunches at the back which were further away from the light. S. repens is easy plant, doing great.


Decided to lower my light fixture to 3cm and increased my light duration to 12hrs

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## TTerry

Week 5

I pull out all the melted DHG... HC seem to be stable but still not much progress. S. repens doing great.

Lowered my light fixture to the lowest, increase light duration to 14 hrs.

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## TTerry

Week 6 

Lowering the light fixture really helps to improve the PAR to substrate. Start to see better progress on my HC, S.repens still doing great. I have a bunch of bucephalandra (dont know what species), so just experiment it with DSM

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## TTerry

Forgot to take photo on week 7


Starting of week 6, after lowering my light fixture height, HC was making progress, but some of my S.repens started to turn a bit yellow and melt on the edge of the leaves. (Can anyone advise please)


i decided to add another Chihiros A series to spend up my HC, since RGB60 wont be enough to cover the whole tank.

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## TTerry

Week 8

Bit of browning here and there for my HC, but overall still ok. And trimmed off some of my S.repens. Surprisingly bucephalandra survived!

Just setup my filter and co2 yesterday, looking for plants and FINALLY... Ready to flood the tank =)

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## TTerry

Week 9 ready to flood!

Hygrophila pinnatifida
Ludwigia palustris
Rotala rotundifolia
Staurogyne repens
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Hemianthus Callitrichoides

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## torque6

If you clumb up your hair glass like this, I think it will melt and die. With hair grass, you may need to separate to a 7-10 strands then plant. I use only 1 pot of Tropica 1-2 grow for my 3 FT tank.

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## TTerry

> If you clumb up your hair glass like this, I think it will melt and die. With hair grass, you may need to separate to a 7-10 strands then plant. I use only 1 pot of Tropica 1-2 grow for my 3 FT tank.


I see... Thanks Thanks... no wonder all died... i think i bought 2 pots.... haha! I will try DHG again on my next tank

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## torque6

The instructions on the tropica 1-2 grow isn't the best. If I remembered clearly, they ask people to cut into 6 clumps then plant. For my case, I only bought 1 box so had to split the cuttings into 40 parts, then planted them buffet style. I am using Gex inert volcanic soil and had to add Seachem root tabs as inert soil not as good as ADA aqua soil.

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## TTerry

> The instructions on the tropica 1-2 grow isn't the best. If I remembered clearly, they ask people to cut into 6 clumps then plant. For my case, I only bought 1 box so had to split the cuttings into 40 parts, then planted them buffet style. I am using Gex inert volcanic soil and had to add Seachem root tabs as inert soil not as good as ADA aqua soil.


Yes, i followed their instructions on the box. Even i cut into 10 over pieces still quite a lot per clump. You did DSM or just usual flooding for your tank start up?

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## TTerry

Flooded!! 



Seachem

Flourish - 1ml
Iron - 2 ml
Potassium - 2 ml
Trace - 2 ml


I dosed half of the recommended dosage

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## Saint888

Getting more chio by the day..  :Wink: 

what kinda fish will u keep?




> Flooded!! 
> 
> 
> 
> Seachem
> 
> Flourish - 1ml
> Iron - 2 ml
> Potassium - 2 ml
> ...

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## jackychun

Looks like the HC is spreading out nicely, bro!  :Smile: 

Keep us updated on the progress!  :Grin:

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## TTerry

Hi, thanks. I intend to keep 2 schools of smaller fauna like rummy nose/ boraras species. Once my tank complete cycling, i will sent in a batch per week. this is my plan..

1st week (scout and commando haha)
1 x nerite snail
2 x amano

2nd week
2-3 x Otocinclus
My whole battalion of fire red shrimps
Meanwhile i will buy 1 school of rummy nose and quarantine for a week

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## TTerry

> Looks like the HC is spreading out nicely, bro! 
> 
> Keep us updated on the progress!


Sure! Hope they survive the conversion...

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## Saint888

Cool, my experience with Amano shrimps is that i introduce too early in the end, somehow they uprooted some of my plants, but mostly DHG, because i think they take longer to establish roots. So juz FYI.




> Hi, thanks. I intend to keep 2 schools of smaller fauna like rummy nose/ boraras species. Once my tank complete cycling, i will sent in a batch per week. this is my plan..
> 
> 1st week (scout and commando haha)
> 1 x nerite snail
> 2 x amano
> 
> 2nd week
> 2-3 x Otocinclus
> My whole battalion of fire red shrimps
> Meanwhile i will buy 1 school of rummy nose and quarantine for a week

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## TTerry

> Cool, my experience with Amano shrimps is that i introduce too early in the end, somehow they uprooted some of my plants, but mostly DHG, because i think they take longer to establish roots. So juz FYI.


Thanks! i better do some testing before adding the shrimps.

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## AQMS

:Well done:

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## TTerry

Week 9 - day 5 after flooding (transition in progress)

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## TTerry

I think my co2 injection was too low for the first 2 days at 1 Bps I had switch up to 2 - 2.5 Bps Some browning and darker leafs spotted. Hope they survive... Stems plants doing well, i intend to make some changes to the left rear corner.

Lighting - 8 hours a day
Co2 - 7 hours a day

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## TTerry

> Wow, very nice and green! 
> 
> -Paola


Thanks haha

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## TTerry

Week 10, day 5


Lots of thread algae......

Added Pogostemon Erectus and Rotala bonsai and some Hydrocotyle Tripartita. Decided to make this a heavy planted tank instead.

Not sure why, my S.repens not doing well, they grew very compact and near to substrate, many start to melt away... So i took out most of it...

Hygrophila pinnatifida mostly melted.

Rotala Bonsai seem to be tricky, first 2 days they were doing well and pearling nicely, 3rd day onwards almost half turned brown and some melted

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## TTerry

my HC carpet still see some browning, but positively i see some runners.

Big mistake by started off my Co2 low from 1bps, should had blasted my co2 from the start and slowly adjust down instead

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## TTerry

Plants

Pogostemon Erectus
Hygrophila pinnatifida
Ludwigia palustris
Rotala rotundifolia
Hydrocotyle Tripartita
Staurogyne repens
Rotala bonsai
Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'
Hemianthus Callitrichoides

Co2 - 3bps

Fertilizer dosing as of now
- Seachem Flourish 1ml twice a week
- Seachem potassium 2ml daily

Lasted tested on the 10th day - no No2 yet
had a 1 hour power disruption on Wednesday due to HDB maintenance, hope it wont affect cycling...

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## torque6

3bps for 10 weeks and your 3L co2 still full?

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## TTerry

> 3bps for 10 weeks and your 3L co2 still full?


Hi, week 10 is the whole process including dry start. Only 2 weeks since flooded

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## TTerry

Week 11 (Since DSM)
Week 3 (Flooded)

My HC seem to be much stable  :Jump for joy: , hence i lowered my co2 to 2bps...

Plants pretty much doing ok, as good as my algae lol, S.repens left those few stalks which still look ok so far..... i went Fishybusiness last weekend, the boss told me S.repens actually not an easy plant, and it may survive better if i plant it after my tank had done cycling. And he also advise if i am using ADA soil, i should do 50% water changes daily (remove ammonia) on my first week to minimize my algae..

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## TTerry

I noticed all those melted rotala bonsai, whole stem is brown and soft except the tip/ top of the plant is still green, so i took out those green ones with roots, and replant the it.... just trying my luck...

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## jackychun

> I noticed all those melted rotala bonsai, whole stem is brown and soft except the tip/ top of the plant is still green, so i took out those green ones with roots, and replant the it.... just trying my luck...


You have done the correct way. I think Rotala Bonsai can bounce back with that strong stems replanted. 


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## TTerry

Heng ah haha! Thanks




> You have done the correct way. I think Rotala Bonsai can bounce back with that strong stems replanted. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## TTerry

Ah! I just recognized your blog name. Im the Terry who got the trimming from you  thanks for the plants




> You have done the correct way. I think Rotala Bonsai can bounce back with that strong stems replanted. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## Goalkeeper

Congrats... Your HC seems to be growing nicely. Always a challenge to grow this in my opinion.

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## TTerry

> Congrats... Your HC seems to be growing nicely. Always a challenge to grow this in my opinion.


Thanks thanks.

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## TTerry

Decided to change my reactor to atomizer. And I do prefer the atomizer than the reactor, but not sure about the maintenance part. 

1) no need step down connector
2) my flow improved greatly (i can see from my water surface)
3) i like the misting effect and it also tell me there 's Co2


Now i understand why others complaint about this....

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## jackychun

> Decided to change my reactor to atomizer. And I do prefer the atomizer than the reactor, but not sure about the maintenance part. 
> 
> 1) no need step down connector
> 2) my flow improved greatly (i can see from my water surface)
> 3) i like the misting effect and it also tell me there 's Co2
> 
> 
> Now i understand why others complaint about this....


So sad seeing this broken. I dont dare to take this off during cleaning. Just leave the whole things together. 


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## TTerry

I bought this UP Aqua Atomizer last week, i saw the thread wasn't align 
, the moment i twist, it break..... luckily UP aqua have replacement parts! if not $30 fly...

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## TTerry

> So sad seeing this broken. I don’t dare to take this off during cleaning. Just leave the whole things together. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


exactly... less than a month only..... thought can keep for future use.... now i keep as spare parts lol

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## TTerry

Hi Kamran,

thanks for asking. This is my first planted tank, more like learning on the job.

most plants managed to survive except S.repens. Looking for plant to replace.

im getting skilled at removing thread algae, which not a good sign lol!

Tank just cycled, going to sent in a small group of shrimps soon, wanted to add nerite snail but worried the snail may not survive my water pararmeter

Ph 5.6 (Co2 period 4.9/5)

GH 5







> Sorry to hear about the setback, TTerry. Has your aquascape been doing well otherwise?
> 
> -Kamran

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## TTerry

Week 12 - day 4


My tank is cycled  :Smile: 


Finally added my cleaning crews! Hope it can help with my thread algae. I have a small patch of BGA on my HC too, i manually remove as much as i can, they are thick and sticky, and have a very strong smell. Hope the cleaning crews will clear it!

40 x Cherry shrimps with some shrimplets (Hopefully they can adapt, because my shrimp tank's water parameter is towards the hard side)
6 x Yamato
4 x Otocinclus

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## TTerry

This corner part of my HC was badly affected by thread algae, with my very rough movement, i accidentally lifted this patch of HC 2 weeks ago, they still survive, but just look puffy despite my attempt to push it into the substrate. i notice the underneath potion was browning, So i pull them out, remove those with algae and replanted them.

Good to know those Rotala Bonsai which i replanted survived!

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## TTerry

To battle the algae, i had further lowered my front piece of chihiros A series to level 3, while chihiros RGB (behind) kept at full level.


Co2 - 1430hrs - 2130 hrs
lightning - 1530hrs - 2230 hrs

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## jackychun

> Ah! I just recognized your blog name. Im the Terry who got the trimming from you í*½í¸ thanks for the plants


I see. Haha. So sad seeing all the hygrophila pinatifida melted. 

BTW, the lighting for your tank is very strong! That makes the plants grow so well. On the other hand, algae also has chance to develop. So may be you might dim the RGB light as well? Or just keep one light? If you do that, please do gradually. Sudden change of light, CO2 can cause algae bloom as well. 

Cheers bro! 


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## TTerry

Left 3 stalks haha!

the RGB is towards low/ med PAR light as compare to A series. 1 set of rgb coverage not enough for my Width of 45cm. I prefer to have more RGB color in my tank, so I dimmed the A Series instead as the front part mostly foreground plant. Yea, I noticed my AR. Mini on the front left grew fast and tall  :Grin:  need to do some trimming

Im considering to change it to 1 set of twinstar S Series. Dont know will it be a bad idea...




> I see. Haha. So sad seeing all the hygrophila pinatifida melted. 
> 
> BTW, the lighting for your tank is very strong! That makes the plants grow so well. On the other hand, algae also has chance to develop. So may be you might dim the RGB light as well? Or just keep one light? If you do that, please do gradually. Sudden change of light, CO2 can cause algae bloom as well. 
> 
> Cheers bro! 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## TTerry

Just look unsightly to me....




> What makes thread algae so dangerous to aquascapes? What would happen if it was left uncontrolled?
> 
> -Kamran

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## jackychun

> Left 3 stalks haha!
> 
> the RGB is towards low/ med PAR light as compare to A series. 1 set of rgb coverage not enough for my Width of 45cm. I prefer to have more RGB color in my tank, so I dimmed the A Series instead as the front part mostly foreground plant. Yea, I noticed my AR. Mini on the front left grew fast and tall  need to do some trimming
> 
> Im considering to change it to 1 set of twinstar S Series. Dont know will it be a bad idea...


I am using Twinstar for my small tank and can see it really good for plants and colour rendering is very good. Changing light also need to be careful since it might cause algae, too. Last time I changed from Up Aqua Z series to Chihiros A series then my tank got suffered for some time. So just do it gradually... 

For Hygrophila Pinnatifidas, let me know if you need more, I will spare to you next trimming, of course FOC. Haha. I would like to see how it grows in your beautiful tank. 


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## TTerry

Yes. Bit worried about the high PAR level. Probably need to increase nutrient dosing and co2 rate. 

Sure! Thanks for the trimming  :Smile: 




> I am using Twinstar for my small tank and can see it really good for plants and colour rendering is very good. Changing light also need to be careful since it might cause algae, too. Last time I changed from Up Aqua Z series to Chihiros A series then my tank got suffered for some time. So just do it gradually... 
> 
> For Hygrophila Pinnatifidas, let me know if you need more, I will spare to you next trimming, of course FOC. Haha. I would like to see how it grows in your beautiful tank. 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## TTerry

I guessed i got my first step wrong. I should had dose excel/ h202 to kill the BGA before removing them, i saw some around the nearby area, i may had spread it to other area.

I find it difficult to differentiate the orange color of the api no3 test. Not going to manually remove bga at the moment, will increase my nitrate level to see if it improve.

API Erythromycin*will be last resort.....

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## kalkwasser

Have you tried lowering your light intensity?

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## TTerry

> Have you tried lowering your light intensity?



Hi, I did. As per jackychun, I took off one set of light fixture... 


1) spot treat h2o2
2) increase nitrate
3) I dosed easy life - blue exit
4) going to increase my water flow

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## jackychun

> Hi, I did. As per jackychun, I took off one set of light fixture... 
> 
> 
> 1) spot treat h2o2
> 2) increase nitrate
> 3) I dosed easy life - blue exit
> 4) going to increase my water flow


Here we go the chemical treatment battle! It might take a course of 3-4 weeks to see the difference bro! Cheers! Keep us updated! 


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## TTerry

> It sounds like algae can be quite a pickle at times. Let us know how the new treatment goes.
> 
> -Kamran


Yes.... so i started off with blue exit which supposed to be the mild treatment compare to others....

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## TTerry

> Here we go the chemical treatment battle! It might take a course of 3-4 weeks to see the difference bro! Cheers! Keep us updated! 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yes bro! The instruction is to dose 5 consecutive days, follow by 2 weeks no water change/ top up.. which isnt possible for me... so i overdose the blue exit sightly and will continue to top up water with 1ml of blue exit for the next 2 weeks..

H2o2 works wonder, next day bga gone... HC also turn light brown. Only concern is those blind spot area, i actually bought api EM, but decided to try blue exit first.

I was introduce ultralife slime remover, i read it have good review, but seaview only have red slime remover for reef, so i skip...

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## greenie

TTerry, sad to hear you're having algae problems. Just a reality check, once they are in your tank esp hair/thread algae and bga, they will always remain in your tank, even if you manage to eradicate them. 

It is just a false sense of accomplishment. From then on, you need to be on the ball in terms of water management, fert dosing and CO2 injection. One slip and these will appear. It will be a burden after a few episodes of outbreak and many will give up.

I had these issues for 3 years and finally decided to tear down everything, nuke the tank and equipment until no living thing can survive, rescape and when it come to replanting, I adhere to strict quarantine process for plants before adding to substrate. Fish and shrimps also need to go through the quarantine process to prevent alga from the LFS to invade your tank not just parasites. Of course LFS will be happy for you to have these problems.

Until now, 10 months later, the only algae that I have is the green spot algae. Don't mind that, as a sudden outbreak of GSA only means my pO4 dosing is lacking. It will always go away in 1-2 weeks after increasing PO4 dosage. 

Really enjoying this hobby after the tear down. Just as a escape plan in case those algae outbreak becomes a chore.

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## greenie

> Yes bro! The instruction is to dose 5 consecutive days, follow by 2 weeks no water change/ top up.. which isnt possible for me... so i overdose the blue exit sightly and will continue to top up water with 1ml of blue exit for the next 2 weeks..
> 
> H2o2 works wonder, next day bga gone... HC also turn light brown. Only concern is those blind spot area, i actually bought api EM, but decided to try blue exit first.
> 
> I was introduce ultralife slime remover, i read it have good review, but seaview only have red slime remover for reef, so i skip...


Bro, for BGA, H202 is the best as the reaction kills the bga immediately and converts H202 to h20 - which is water. Just do large water change afterwards as the nuked bacteria will add waste in your water column. I usaully do 3 H202 treatments within a day or two of each treatment. 

Tried EM, it's effectiveness will diminish with subsequent outbreak and it's not cheap and it will impact your filter beneficial bacteria. Bought also the slime remover, did not use as I decided to teardown my tank but keep it as a backup that unitl today I have not used or no need use. But like I post earlier, it will come back from time to time based on how diligent you are.

Mulm at substrate is the cause of my BGA then because of my high tech tank setup and large fish population and my non-existent plant/fish quarantine procedure. Now, my fish population is much less with same setup but regular vacuuming of substrate (1 month once). My tank is carpet full of MC. My algae crew is only oto. No BGA since day 1 with same equipments but new substrate.

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## TTerry

> TTerry, sad to hear you're having algae problems. Just a reality check, once they are in your tank esp hair/thread algae and bga, they will always remain in your tank, even if you manage to eradicate them. 
> 
> It is just a false sense of accomplishment. From then on, you need to be on the ball in terms of water management, fert dosing and CO2 injection. One slip and these will appear. It will be a burden after a few episodes of outbreak and many will give up.
> 
> I had these issues for 3 years and finally decided to tear down everything, nuke the tank and equipment until no living thing can survive, rescape and when it come to replanting, I adhere to strict quarantine process for plants before adding to substrate. Fish and shrimps also need to go through the quarantine process to prevent alga from the LFS to invade your tank not just parasites. Of course LFS will be happy for you to have these problems.
> 
> Until now, 10 months later, the only algae that I have is the green spot algae. Don't mind that, as a sudden outbreak of GSA only means my pO4 dosing is lacking. It will always go away in 1-2 weeks after increasing PO4 dosage. 
> 
> Really enjoying this hobby after the tear down. Just as a escape plan in case those algae outbreak becomes a chore.


Hi bro, yes. I agreed with you that bga wont be fully eliminate. It's just matter of making the condition good for my plants/ live stock and bad for bga to surface.

I find all these issues interesting instead of a setback. From planaria/ seed shrimps then bga lol!

when i first doing dry start, i already notice some of my soil is darker green color but not slimy, i thought was normal. Out of my suspicious, beside those bga, i nuke those soil with h2o2 too, and indeed they disappear too.

Yes. Quanrantine really test patience. I should do it.

I did and going to do some changes

1) I lowered my lighting (monitoring my plants too)
2) increase my nutrient dosing (i bought dry NKP to lower cost). Only N and K currently. Will wait till my blue exit treatment over/ tank stablize then start to dose P and micros.
3) im changing filter after the 3 weeks treatment to improve circulation/ dead spot.

Really dont like the idea of using antibiotic too

Really good advises from you. Thanks a lot!

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## TTerry

1 more week to go for my blue exit treatment.... i did a water change with top up of blue exit. Many HC died off due to H2o2 dosing, other plants doing ok. i feel AR. mini quite easy to grow but tropica.com labelled it as "medium", i trimmed quite afew times. Finally added 6 x glowlight danio ( i almost killed them from paraguard dip, next time i should add air stone during treatment)

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## jackychun

Very good looking tank now bro! Well done! 


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## TTerry

> Very good looking tank now bro! Well done! 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks bro. Thanks to your reminder of my lighting. i kept thinking 1 light fixture not strong enough because my dry start was slow when i uses my RGB only, but i forgot that PAR is a lot higher when tank is flooded... Lesser hair algae now..

Hope this will improve my algae issue  :Grin:

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## jackychun

Very good looking tank now bro! Well done! 


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## Saint888

Hi greenie, po4 meaning phosphate? May i know what brand and where you get it?




> TTerry, sad to hear you're having algae problems. Just a reality check, once they are in your tank esp hair/thread algae and bga, they will always remain in your tank, even if you manage to eradicate them. 
> 
> It is just a false sense of accomplishment. From then on, you need to be on the ball in terms of water management, fert dosing and CO2 injection. One slip and these will appear. It will be a burden after a few episodes of outbreak and many will give up.
> 
> I had these issues for 3 years and finally decided to tear down everything, nuke the tank and equipment until no living thing can survive, rescape and when it come to replanting, I adhere to strict quarantine process for plants before adding to substrate. Fish and shrimps also need to go through the quarantine process to prevent alga from the LFS to invade your tank not just parasites. Of course LFS will be happy for you to have these problems.
> 
> Until now, 10 months later, the only algae that I have is the green spot algae. Don't mind that, as a sudden outbreak of GSA only means my pO4 dosing is lacking. It will always go away in 1-2 weeks after increasing PO4 dosage. 
> 
> Really enjoying this hobby after the tear down. Just as a escape plan in case those algae outbreak becomes a chore.

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## TTerry

Btw, this is my nitrate test reading for the passed 3 weeks after my 3 days heavy dosing of nitrate... There were many debates about high nitrate against live stock especially shrimps. My shrimps and fishes so far doing ok, no sign of stress yet.

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## TTerry

Top view during maintenance  :Smile:  After 2 weeks of BGA treatment with easylife blu-exit, BGA immediately grow back. Still adjusting my tank balance... Think i will buy bigger bottle of H2o2......

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## TTerry

No more hair algae on my plants or rocks. But the moment i increases the intensity of my lighting by 1 level, the hair algae on the glass appears.


Nutrient dosing

N - 4ppm, P - 0.5ppm, K - 1.5ppm (3X per week)

Seachem micro - 5ml, Fe - 0.2ppm (3X per week)

Mgs04 - half TSP after water change


Co2- currently at about 2.7 BPS, how much i wish to increase Co2 injection, but my Ottos and some shrimps already show sign of inactive and hiding under my HC carpet..


And i added 5 x CRS! 1 died, 4 of them survived the first week...

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## NanoScaper

> Top view during maintenance  After 2 weeks of BGA treatment with easylife blu-exit, BGA immediately grow back. Still adjusting my tank balance... Think i will buy bigger bottle of H2o2......


Looks amazing from the top. Like a Dutch style tank with all the plants clearly separated. Can we see what the tank looks like now from the front?

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## TTerry

Thanks bro, will update over the weekend.

to date, my CRS still survive


I tried tiger shrimps.... all died within 2 days..... I thought they were more forgiving....

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## TTerry

Color contrast so much different without the RGB light... Ar mini grew quite fast, but bottom part of the AR. mini not doing well, will be doing a deep pruning this weekend. Probably gona leave the HC as it is till H2o2 spot dosing over... If i position my lily pipe at certain water level, it will constantly mist O2 into the tank, i guess it may help me to increase my CO2 level.

After increasing my Po4 dosing, So far haven't seen any GSA on my glass

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## torque6

Hello Terry,

You actually need not sell the Chihiros RGB, because your tank height is 45cm compared to the normal 2FT around 35cm. 0.36 watt per LED is a good PAR led for this height; same as mine. You have good plant growth from start and things should start balancing out by itself. Set Chihiros A series 1- level power and RGB 3- level power. 

RGB has better Color Index than the A series, so can keep. Until of course Ryan from EOA brings in the dimmers for Twinstar, which I highly doubt it.

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## TTerry

Hi torque, make sense... but already sold... 

i really like the RGB, i tried adjust the stand to 10cm high (barely cover my whole tank) at this height my rotala roundifolia also wont grow.... so i thought my prority should be keeping the plants healthy, thats y i changed to 1 set of A series. And u caught me haha! Im actually thinking to get the twinstar LED but only if i can increase my co2 injection without stressing my livestocks.... so i tot i should keep A series since its higher PAR and can be adjusted. Now you mentioned, i kind of regret selling off  :Knockout:  

Currently my concern is the BGA, i believed sooner or later, my HC carpet will be overrun by BGA.... using h2o2, will kill all my HC... as per greenie, i did mostly all like increase nitrate, flow and so on... still so fast appear...

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## torque6

> Hi torque, make sense... but already sold... 
> 
> i really like the RGB, i tried adjust the stand to 10cm high (barely cover my whole tank) at this height my rotala roundifolia also wont grow.... so i thought my prority should be keeping the plants healthy, thats y i changed to 1 set of A series. And u caught me haha! Im actually thinking to get the twinstar LED but only if i can increase my co2 injection without stressing my livestocks.... so i tot i should keep A series since its higher PAR and can be adjusted. Now you mentioned, i kind of regret selling off  
> 
> Currently my concern is the BGA, i believed sooner or later, my HC carpet will be overrun by BGA.... using h2o2, will kill all my HC... as per greenie, i did mostly all like increase nitrate, flow and so on... still so fast appear...


Both our tanks all 45cm width/depth and also 45cm in height, so at least need 2 sets of LED with combine width of 15-18cm, so light spread will be around 120 degrees, with slight light overflow behind so back plants can grow straight up instead of curl towards when growing up mid way.

The Chihiros RGB no need to lift to at 10cm more in height as it's PAR is lower than the A series in general.

You tank setup can use Twinstar, but maybe ask Ryan (EOA) to see if they are bringing in the dimmer for Twinstar first, if more people ask, maybe he will do it.

BGA is one of the hardest algae to remove, because it will always come back even if you have everything balanced. The only way is to use anti biotics and then use RO water (with bacteria removal filtration). After which, all your plants, fish and shrimps from LFS all have to be quarantine before introducing into your display tank.

I was watering my plants outside the other day and while repotting, all of the soil have that smell of BGA indicating a problem with our waters.

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## TTerry

i lifted my a series at 13cm high from tank and running at level 5 (i tried 6 but algae came out fast...).

I had been searching online for the twinstar dimmer, only see people talk about it, but cant find any online shop selling. I wonder if chihiros's dimmer or any other generic dimmer can do the job. The twinstar Sseries looks great and wide, but it stated as super bright LED. Think the PAR mustbe high, and SP series is hanging type.

Im using tap water only..... i increased my lighting to level 6, within few days bga climb up to my glass... read that some people experienced BGA staying under the substrate only. Hopefully i can find the sweet spot for my tank balance. API antibiotic will be my next resort...

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## NanoScaper

> i lifted my a series at 13cm high from tank and running at level 5 (i tried 6 but algae came out fast...).
> 
> I had been searching online for the twinstar dimmer, only see people talk about it, but cant find any online shop selling. I wonder if chihiros's dimmer or any other generic dimmer can do the job. The twinstar Sseries looks great and wide, but it stated as super bright LED. Think the PAR mustbe high, and SP series is hanging type.
> 
> Im using tap water only..... i increased my lighting to level 6, within few days bga climb up to my glass... read that some people experienced BGA staying under the substrate only. Hopefully i can find the sweet spot for my tank balance. API antibiotic will be my next resort...


Will you be trying the API E.M. ERYTHROMYCIN POWDER to get rid of the BGA?

EO used the Boyd Chemiclean to get rid of cyanobacteria in one of their tanks.

Curious to know if it works.

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## torque6

> Will you be trying the API E.M. ERYTHROMYCIN POWDER to get rid of the BGA?
> 
> EO used the Boyd Chemiclean to get rid of cyanobacteria in one of their tanks.
> 
> Curious to know if it works.


Whether chemiclean or erythromycin works is kinda of subjective. After using it in your tank and BGA stop appearing for 3 months, can you safely said it works? What if it re-appeared under the substrate after the 4th month? Does it also mean it worked 3 months and doesn't on the 4th?

Anti biotics only works effectively if you have an empty tank. If you have soil, plant materials, filters, pipes, sponges, biomedia, then it's obvious that some of these bacteria will survive and re-surface again when there are problems. Who knows, you may even develop a strain of bacteria that has resistance to erythromycin.

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## TTerry

I bought a set of twinstar E series and tried the dimmer. IT WORKS  :Grin:

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## torque6

> I bought a set of twinstar E series and tried the dimmer. IT WORKS


It fits the Chihiros dimmer? any flickering at power level 1 and 2?

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## TTerry

Double post

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## TTerry

Yes, chihiros dimmer, one side of the connector is abit tighter. Visually i cant really see flickering, only if uses camera directly on the light itself you will see black lines travels, same as Chihiros rgb. Any 12v, >3A dimmer should work the same.

Do note twinstar e600 is "tight fit" on 8mm tank

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## NanoScaper

> Yes, chihiros dimmer, one side of the connector is abit tighter. Visually i cant really see flickering, only if uses camera directly on the light itself you will see black lines travels, same as Chihiros rgb. Any 12v, >3A dimmer should work the same.
> 
> Do note twinstar e600 is "tight fit" on 8mm tank


Thanks for sharing this, TTerry. I've been eyeing the Twinstar E or S series LED lights but feedback about the S series is that it may be too bright. If I do get it, I hope the dimmer works on it too.

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## TTerry

I have not seen the S series yet, but i read from other forum the connector is different from E series. And SP series is hanging version, so it will probably help with PAR/ spread. I was eyeing on S series too haha! Anyway, i took out the dimmer. Cos the brightness of the light just to nice to be lowered  :Cool:

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## torque6

Passive dimmers does not work on S series, that's for sure as highlighted by the Twinstar UK supplier on UKaquatics. Good to know that the Chihiros dimmer do work on the Twinstar, but since there is no real test, it may not be the best to use it for now.

What I mean by real test is that the dimmer, LED and power adapter runs cool with no flickering for at least 1 year of usage with no burn out. If somehow or rather really spoil, you may end up voiding the Twinstar 1 year warranty with EOA.

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