I'm an amateur aquascaper with a passion for all things aquarium-related. On my channel, you'll find a variety of content, including aquascaping tutorials, product reviews, and DIY projects! I love sharing tips and tricks for beginners and experienced aquascapers alike, with a broader focus on plant health and growth!
Really depends on the species of stem plants you're growing. If it's easy to grow stem plants, such as limnophila sessiliflora, hygrophila polysperma, bacopa caroliniana, etc. You can probably get away with cheaper lights. Furthermore, there's more to just lighting when it comes to plant health. You need to make sure you have adequate nutrients as well. I could tell you the best light you can get, but if you can't balance it with the other variables, you will have a bad time
@@TropiscapeAquatics I heard that the mayority of cryps could withstand some salt but I want to be sure before buying them. But I don’t nt find info on the red cryps which I’m interested in. It’s so that I can add some color to my silver tip Colombian catfish tank. It’s pretty empty and basic looking rn.
Interesting... it could be worth a try if they are easily accessible and at a good price. Otherwise, there's always that risk, especially with more "artisian" crypts like flamingo.
C'mon man, you're just being lazy... I went over important water parameters that you should know about. Every tank and every plant species have different requirements. It's up to you to find the correct parameters to create the environment you wish. This video gives you the knowledge, and now it's up to you to apply it.
I noticed it with my red root floaters. I give away the more green-ish floaters and left the more red in the tank, eventually all of them started reproducing and giving more and more red plants. Took a while, but is possible.
Technically, I could have a bare-bones tank that has no light and is just full of water and that would be considered an algae free tank. But then again, that's going into the semantics of things and that's not fun lmao
Uuhm i recommend Co2 injection to compensate for the light that creates algea everybody has at start of hobby. It blows plants growth up in the sky and keeps algea away at same time. it also clears the water, if your aquarium is full of yellow or brownish tint, this is called tannins and can be filters out with purigen or with activated charcoal just dont let te activated charcoal sit for more than 4 days straight, as if it sits there for more than 2 weeks it can develop hole in the head disease on fish or AKA as HLLE.
It's more about finding that balance for a tank rather than straight up using CO2. There are tons of tanks out there that don't use CO2 injection and are able to have virtually no algae present in their tank. Furthermore, I think HITH disease is more prevalent in certain fish species compared to others. I've had activated carbon sitting in filters for more than a few months and I never had any issues when it comes to HITH disease. I've mainly kept guppies and tetras. As far as I know, those aren't susceptible to HITH disease as compared to Flowerhorn's or other cichlids.
This was my problem with my inline diffuser, big bubbles strong flow caused BBA on my anubias. Cleaned my diffuser and hopefully in time the BBA alao. Great video 🎉
If, while first setting up the tank, I buried fertilizer deep in the substrate and capped it with sand, would the gel capsules be necessary? I’m setting up a planted tank right now and have some fertilizer lying around (golfgreen plant starter fertilizer). I feel like I should just be able to use that, but am worried about it leeching.
Capsules won't be necessary. I usually sprinkle it on the bare glass bottom before setting up anything. This can be done with any type of substrate as well! Just make sure to have enough substrate that it keeps the beads from breaching the surface. If you're worried about leeching, you can periodically do water tests. Just be aware that you'll get ammonia spikes from the start. That being said, I'm not sure how well GolfGreen fertilizer will do. It's a gamble as there could be an inorganic chemical that isn't safe for aquatic use. Definitely search to see if others have done it before with that fert brand. If there aren't any, you could try being the first!
So i have cladophora(atleast that's what I'm told) but not from a moss ball. I actually have no mood in my tank. My breakout happened when i went on vacation. Does this still fall into the filamentous algea section or is it a category of its own?
Cladophora would technically fall into the filamentous algae section. However, it's a different kind of beast on its own that makes it fall into a filamentous sub-category. The typical solutions for filamentous algae might not work for Cladophora... I made a video about Cladophora that you can watch here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AhAlV19YgQ4.html
I have a API gh kh test kit, does degrees mean how many drops that you add to get the color change? I have well water and I had to add 21 drops for the kh and 26 drops for the gh. My ph is 7.2. I am planning a 10 gallon planted endler and neocardina shrimp tank, is my water too hard?
Yup! Number of drops = degrees of KH/GH. As for the shrimp, the water could possibly be a bit too hard. However, I believe neocaridina shrimp prefer harder water, so I think you should be fine. If you're worried, you could do a 50/50 mix of distilled water and tap water when you do any water changes
To some extent. If you're not injecting CO2, then you can lower surface agitation, but I wouldn't completely eliminate it. Especially if there's a lot of surface scum. It also depends on how much CO2 is being naturally generated in the tank. That being said, it's always worth a shot to test it yourself and note down your observations
I ordered an air pump for $20. It is chargeable but also can run with a connected usb cable. The battery is good when the electrify is down. I am surprised as it is dead quiet.
dutch and iwugami looks so cool i think dutch doesn't look that hard to scape you just have to catergoties the each plant and it will give you that look i realy like that scape its so cozt looking : )
Dutch style isn't that hard to scape. Its difficulty is with maintaining its look and the maintaining plant health. It can be a little difficult long term from my experience
Considering it's my first project with electronics and Arduino's. It was a little overwhelming at first. But as I started playing around with it, it became a little simple. Minus the mistakes lmao
It's hard to tell. The best advice I can give is when you do your water changes, you should replace it with water that has the GH/KH that you're aiming for. Eventually, things will be how you wanted. The reason for why I would do it over a longer period of time rather than all at once is to prevent any shock to any livestock or plants due to the sudden water chemistry change.
@@TropiscapeAquatics still doable if you dilute the solution to the proper concentration :D Even you can use less voltage, probably the motor will work with it, but spin in a lower rate.
Thank you for making this video! It was a lot more helpful for me than just reading the directions. I feel a lot more confident testing my tank now. We recently had 2 fish die and according to the strips, everything is fine, so this will be a lot more accurate.
There are guides on making your own fertilizers using dry ferts/salts. They can generally be cheaper than buying liquid ferts. However, depending on your location, it might be difficult to obtain the ingredients. Other than that, I don't recommend using any garden liquid fertilizers for aquariums.
This is a new style of video that I'll be trying out. I had the most fun making this one out of all my other videos! But, I do want your input on this. Did you like the editing, storytelling, concept, pacing, etc.? Is there anything to change? Let me know what you think! Personally, there are a few scenes that did not cross my mind where I could have held onto a bit longer and other scenes that could have been explained more.
I don't feel like the debris are a big issue if you have good filtration. Aqua soil also sucks nutrients out of the water colum and from root tabs. It shouldn't ever really need replenishing, ofcourse you can if you want the extra nutrient boost but you shouldn't ever really have to. This seems just like a dirty tank issue, bad filtration perhaps
Aquasoil will eventually deplete. Sure, it may be able to absorb some nutrients, but the amount will not be enough for it to regenerate back to 100%. Furthermore, aquasoil will degrade overtime, as in it will eventually turn to mush. This mush, especially when it piles up at the bottom of the tank, can lead to messy situations like in the video. The 12 gallon tank in the video is running an Eheim 2213 canister filter. It is definitely sufficient for filtration. Of course, its efficiency can also vary depending on its cleanliness. There's also various types of plants that benefit way more when actively cleaning the substrate. Hygrophila sp. 'Chai' and Rotala ramosior 'Florida' are two that come to mind.
The mush should be cleaned up by the filter, aqua soil doesn't deplete. yes plant growth can be so strong that they pull nutrients to fast for aqua soil to recover but I mean replacing it will just lead straight back to that same situation very quickly. I'm sorry but the actual issue you had here was that your tank was so dirty the debris starved your roots. Which means bad filtration 🤷 the type of filtration you have is completely meaningless if it's not actually taking the debris out of your tank and they're building up in your substrate. Plants wouldn't need the substrate cleaning if the filter is good eough to pull the debris out
Do you have any sources for your claims? I would love to do some further reading on the topic, as the major consensus is that aquasoil will eventually deplete over time, but can take years for this to happen, but that depends on the aquasoil being used. (For reference, my tank has been running for 2 years, almost 3 now). Furthermore, I believe that it also depends on the water column fertilizing technique. As in, using an EI based fertilizer vs Lean based fertilizer. That being said, I also did some further research of my own. When it comes to nutrient depletion in aquasoil, it was surprising to learn that some elements, such as iron, increased overtime. Although, the same cannot be said about copper and especially nitrogen. Source: barrreport.com/barr-report-resources/old-newsletters/ADA-Aqua-Soil-Power-Soil-Analysis-Barr-Report.pdf Here's another source for the benefits of substrate maintenance, especially when it comes to growing more sensative plants: www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/substrates-overview/aquasoil-substrate-maintenance Filters will not be able to catch 100% of organic material, no matter the type of filtration used. This is true if things like food, decaying matter, and fish waste get trapped in places where there is weak water flow or obstruction caused by hardscape and/or plant mass. Furthermore, detritus is not necessarily a bad thing to have given how it can provide plants with some nutrients, albeit not as much as liquid fertilization. Obviously, when there's too much, it's not beneficial at all. It's more the environment that the large amount of debris created that choked out plant roots rather than the debris itself.
I have a chihiros light and I run it on 100% 12 hours a day. I know you gasped and my tank must just be full of Algue but nope. I get the odd specs on the glass and drift wood that get cleaned up by snails or otos. Over all no Algue at all because my nutrients and co2 are balanced. Been running like this for about 6 months now, first month or two where pretty Algue filled now it's balanced, no Algue at all and 12 hours to enjoy my tank
To sum up: nymphaea zenkeri limnophilia hippuridoides /aromatica Ludwigia palustris super red cryptocoryne windtii red alternnanthera reineckii thanks for sharing
you didn't say the most important thing: the best light which is sunlight. there are such excellent LEDs on the market that meet the requirements of D50 D65 and are 99% compatible with daylight. with an excellent color rendering index, our fish, plants and the entire decor. They do not need any additional color channels that only spoil their spectrum. Yes, we have to build such a lamp ourselves, but the construction costs do not exceed the purchase of these most expensive factory models, and they leave them behind by years great.
While I agree that natural sunlight is the best kind of light, this video is more about LED lighting and what to look out for when shopping for LED lights. Plus, not everyone has a place that gets natural sunlight, especially when it comes to their location, weather, and seasonal changes. However, I'm going to kindly disagree with what you said when it comes to CRI. You can have a light that has a low CRI rating, but is able to still grow plants well. There are fluorescent lights out there that have a low CRI rating, yet they are able to grow difficult plants. Personally, CRI is something for us and not for plants. As in, we can choose a light that renders tank in a way that we personally like. Plants care more about spectrum and PAR values rather than CRI and D50/D65 variables. This link here goes a bit more in-depth on CRI and planted aquariums: www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/light-3pillars/what-about-cri
