55 Gallon: Third Time's a Charm - Page 2 - El Natural

BRUCE BOGMAN · 02-25-2012, 04:47 PM

Look very nice . What is the cap you are using for the soil ?I really like it .Type and name please of cap..

Marconis · 02-25-2012, 05:43 PM

Quikrete All-Purpose Sand. If you get it, make sure you rinse it very, very well. This time around I didn't rinse enough and it's taking a really long time for the brown soot to come out. When rinsed well it should look like this:

I absolutely love it, perfect grain size.

BRUCE BOGMAN · 02-26-2012, 05:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marconis

Quikrete All-Purpose Sand. If you get it, make sure you rinse it very, very well. This time around I didn't rinse enough and it's taking a really long time for the brown soot to come out. When rinsed well it should look like this:

I absolutely love it, perfect grain size.

Thanks, looks great and cheap too .How much did you use ?Also how much of a cap did it make? i was going to use black sand but after seeing a pic up close of yours i changed my mine.It looks more natural.Did you add anything to the soil or the bottom of tank before soil added ?Thanks

Marconis · 02-26-2012, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BRUCE BOGMAN

Thanks, looks great and cheap too .How much did you use ?Also how much of a cap did it make? i was going to use black sand but after seeing a pic up close of yours i changed my mine.It looks more natural.Did you add anything to the soil or the bottom of tank before soil added ?Thanks

Yeah, I think it was like, $3.50 for 50lbs. I only used about 25lbs, and my cap is about 1.5" all around, maybe less. I didn't add anything to my soil...was going to add clay, but just went with the soil alone. I think my lack of rinsing adequately is preventing proper aeration of the soil, because I've been seeing more gas bubbles coming up than I did when I first used the sand (doesn't smell yet so I'm sure it isn't too bad down there). However, like I said, rinse, rinse, rinse...use a mask when you rinse it, too, because there is a lot of dust. It honestly is my favorite sand, because the grain size is literally perfect.

Marconis · 02-26-2012, 08:20 PM

Also, here's some shots from today:

Never seen my Rotala grow like this:

BRUCE BOGMAN · 02-27-2012, 11:02 AM

WOW .that is growing nice.That is some nice growth,growing in nice.Sword perfect there.

Marconis · 03-01-2012, 08:44 PM

Sorry if I am boring you guys, but I like taking photos of my tank. As you can see here, I removed hornwort from the right side, but left it on the left side. You can also see that there is no longer any algae on the hornwort either, which is good. Overall, algae has subsided immensely. I tried taking the rock off of the driftwood, but it still floats a bit...however, it is able to stay down with a lighter rock. Maybe another month of that and I should be good to go. I also pulled up that Rotala to try and get it to grow upwards, but I have a feeling the roots that I took out will just find their way back down to the substrate. This photo was taken after a PWC tonight:

Marconis · 03-12-2012, 05:07 PM

Hey, I don't have any pictures, but my water sprite is yellowing in a lot of places all of a sudden. I was away for four days and I also had to pluck four yellow leaves from the bottom of my Amazon sword. Any idea of why this may happen so suddenly? It's worrying me.

Thanks

Marconis · 03-12-2012, 05:26 PM

Got some pics, this was the best I can do:

Marconis · 04-30-2012, 06:19 AM

Been a while...Have been dosing Cidex diluted to ~1.8% Glut, and KNO3 2-3 times per week to bring the green back to my plants and help curb algae. On Thursday I raised my light an inch and have already seen improvements.