jmike

Dont worry it'll be back.. it always comes back

Weeds wacked!

The day before I pretty much got fed up and made some drastic changes.. what a jungle! I went out of town for two weeks and the wife (not her fault, im really lucky she'll take some care of the tank for me) didnt realize that two of the filters stopped working and the CO2 ran dry. BGA attack! Hair Algae attack! BBA attack! what an onslaught.. but with a nice water change, some filter maintenance and a new CO2 bottle things bounced back within a few days.. stiffled the cambobia enough that i pretty much removed most of it.. will post pics asap of the new arrangements..

yes CO2 is best. If your going to furtilise and have high light you really do need it, excel can only do so much.

Buy an real canister and good regulator $250.

Milwaukee Co2 MA957 Regulator Set - owned ok

AQUARIUMPLANTS.com's Co2 Regulator (The 2nd BEST) - owned good

AquariumPlants.com's Electronic Co2 Regulator (the BEST in the World) - new looks awesome or just to good to be true dont know

I never killed off my tank with CO2. I shut CO2 off at night, but a lot of people do not. Its really not that hard once you have read up and done it. In overall long term cost benefit you will spend way more in ferts and other stuff then in CO2, equipment included.

But a bit of advice is to buy the best once there are a lot of crappy regulators/solenoid out there if something will die and cause havoc its that. If you cheap out at the start you will just pay more later.

Agreed! Love my "AquariumPlants.com's Electronic Co2 Regulator (the BEST in the World) ".. awesome buy.. i just keep an eye on it and it does the rest!

All depends on the cash.. I seem to have more money than time so the DIY are out for me.. I demand automation! Mine is hooked to the pH controller and light timers so there is never too much or too little getting dissolved.. Last DIY ended up somehow with the solution being sucked into my tank.. good thing rainbows are terminator fish (hard to kill!) I bet all said and done I have 600 bones into my Press Sys.

Wow... Is that 80 psi on the secondary side of your CO2 regulator? Might have something to do with blowing the diaphram... I thought I ran mine secondary side high at 20-30psi.

Thats 80kpa or 11psi.. too much pressure and i just end up filling my reactor with gas and the water just poor through with no dissolution.

I'll tell you where I got the rock if you promise your not the rock police.. :ph43r: :ph43r:

Everything is getting out of hand! The plants in the back are relentless in their pursuit of more light. Bi-weekly trims are now required.

The light is a Tek something er other but has 8 T5 Bulbs.

I did not look to far into the Red Sea System (I found out about it after I ordered from aquaticplants.com) I wanted the AP one because I used a refillable 5lb bottle not the Paint ball style cyclinders.

Thanks for the comments everyone

OxyPro - 5lb filled - $125. 10lb - $175.

My response: NO!

I'd would rahter buy the nice one Henry carries at Natures, but he said he didn't have any instock.

Anyways my budget is $110 max for a 5lb cylinder.

I went to a Praxair dealer and I think mine was 55ish refilled..

http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/pr4026.htm

Are you talking about this setup?

I've looked at it before maybe ill get it when are dollar recovers a bit hehehe... (who knowes when that will be)

Yuppers.. seems to work great.. just remember to open the valve on the regulator before you crack the bottle or you'll blow that little diaphragm out.. my whole system is automatic.. the pH controller is set at 7.0 and when it drops below it shuts the CO2 down.. the power for the unit is tied into my lights so when the lights are off no CO2.. I just check the units calibration every water change and Im good to go.. a 5lb bottle lasted me just about a year running a 2-5sec/bubble. The reactor is cool but I might try a Rex inline reactor so there is one less attachment in my tank..My lights are on a timer they come on at 10am and have a 1.5hr siesta and shut down at 9pm.. sings just like a song..

Just a few more pics I uploaded

Very nice, how did you get rid of the green hair? PM me... I'm in need of some tips BTW I never see my Amano Shrimp in my tanks after I put them in either, lol!!!

Green hair went away with extra CO2 and Excel coupled with extremely fast growing plants. Plus the Siamese AA seem to munch on it a bit. But it still comes and goes..

how much did it cost for the C02 set up?

I have a planted tank but it doesn't look nearly as impressive as yours.

I got it from aquariumplants.com, it's the ultimate setup with a pH controler and everything..

Yeah the rocks looked huge when I picked them out.. hehe not so much anymore

Hey Everybody,

Just thought I'd drop a thread about my 140g planted aquarium. Things were fairly rough at the begining as I struggled with multiple algae blooms. I had Brown first, then came the Blue Green Death, finally came the BBA and Green Hair. with limited plants, high KH and GH, high light and CO2 injection. The situation was bleak!

The installation of an RO unit and a trip to Natures Corner (who had an awesome sale!) I loaded up on plants and fertilizers and within a week almost all of the algae and scum was replaced by rapidly growing beautiful plants.

This when I first had the tank planted after a trip to Natures Corner

A few weeks ago after some time to grow

And now after a few trimmings

My Current Specs on the Aquarium are:

- 140g 48" x 24" 30"

- 8 x 10,000K T5 @ 3.4 WPG

- Pressurized CO2 injection into a power reactor w/ pH monitor

- RO system w/ weekly 15% water changes

- 2x Fluval 404, 1 Fluval 305 Canister filters

- 2x 250W submersible heaters

- Seachem Flourite Substrate @ 3 - 5" deep

- Water Spec as of this morning: PO4 @ 5ppm, NO3 @ 5ppm, NO2 @ 0ppm, KH 140mg/L, GH 160 ( I had 330KH and 400GH before the RO), NH3 @ 0ppm, pH @ 7.0, CO2 @ 23ppm,

My Plant List is:

- Ammania sp. 'Bonsai'

- Anubias barteri 'Petite'

- Aponogeton crispus

- Echinodorus amazonicus

- Egeria densa

- Lemna minor

- Lilaeopsis brasiliensis

- Ludwigia glandulosa

- Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata 'Pantanal'

- Microsorum Tropica

- Rotala sp. 'Goias'

- Taxiphyllum barbieri

My Fish List is:

- 12x Neon Tetras

- 2x Golden Wonder Killis

- 7x Assorted Rainbows

- 2x Chinese Algae Eaters

- 2x Panda Corys

- 2x Siamese Algae Eaters

- 2x Clown Pleco

- Lots of Snails

- There were some Amano Shrimp but I havent seen them in a while...

Thats it for now, I will post as I have more pics and info!