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Report on PPS Pro - 20G Southeastern Tx Biotope

3K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  Pyrotrons 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi All,

I think I have enough material now to give a little feedback on the PPS-Pro system. This is my first "real" planted tank, I can tell I need a lot of work on aquascaping, but I am thrilled with it. It is a 20G breeder that I set up nearly a month ago. At first it was sparsely planted, then quickly stocked with plants from local creeks and ponds. "The area" would be about a 20-mile space in Houston, TX between Hwy 249 on the North side, and Interstate 10 on the South side. East/West was a little less than that, about 10 miles. Occasionally I will put put in a small store-bought plant to propagate for other tanks, but they don't stay long.

Tank Spec's:

  • Size: 20G
  • CO2: ~20ppm measured with drop-checker with 4dKH indicator sol'n. DIY w/ 1L bottle.
  • pH: 6.8 (msm't w/ API test kit)
  • Hardness: Very hard water (Houston tap).
  • Dechlor: Prime.
  • Light: About 55W of CFL's, two 3000K's and one 5000K.
  • Macros: PPS-Pro Macro solution, with KCl in place of K2SO4
  • Micro's: Nutrafin Iron-enriched Plant Gro
  • Flora: Ok I'm not very good at this, but I think: Riccia Fluitans (dwarf), Sagittaria Graminea, Lysimachia nummularia, Pistia stratiotes, Bacopa monnieri, Sagittaria graminea, Hydrocotyle verticillata, Ludwigia Palustris, some kind of Potamogeton (Illinois Pondweed?), Ceratophyllum demersum, and something that looks like Parrot's Feather, but definitely isn't (slight-left center of second-to-last picture below, dark green feathery plant).

Tank Logbook:

April 4th, 2010

Added 65g KNO3, 6g KH2PO4, and 41g MgSO4 to 1L tap water in "Smart Water" bottle. Need to add 59g of K2SO4. Must order now, or use KCl as extra Potassium source...(then what about S?)

Adding Nutrafin Plant Gro in full concentration from bottle in amount of 0.75mL/day (~0.05mL Fe/Day).

Prepared CO2 bottle in 1L smart water bottle. Used 2 cups Sucrose & 1/2g yeast.

~7APR: Added KCl to Macros solution, keeping % Potassium the same as if adding K2SO4 (as per PPS-Pro concentrations). "No-Salt" was used. Something opaque and insoluble came out of solution and is sitting on bottom. Going to ignore it.

April 10th, 2010

GSA all over the back wall where light is at maximum. This is bad.

12APR2010

Scraped GSA off, did 50% WC, backed off on ferts. New dosing regimen is 0.75mL TE, 1.5mL macros.

Cut photo-period in HALF. Started 8-hour photo period instead of 16. Oops.

19APR

Crazy plant growth, very little algae. Trimmed tops off of Ludwigia (back right corner) and re-planted cuttings.

20APR

Added Creeping Jenny.

24APR

  • Noticed that plants weren't pearling as much, then figured out that CO2 ran out, drop checker @ blue.
  • Changed out CO2, using 2 cups sugar & 3/4g yeast this time.
  • Noticed that "grass-looking, teardrop-and-star-shaped leaves-plant had completely detached itself from substrate. Bottoms just melted away. So I cut the old bottoms off and let it float. It's still pearling nicely, growing fast, but differently. Leaves are thinnier and much more star-shaped.
  • Re-arranged a bunch of plants.
  • Added Illinois Pondweed and "Moneywort-looking, and upwards-pointing teardrop-shaped alternating single-leaves" plant.
  • Nitrates at ~20ppm.
  • Pics are at end of the day, everything listed above in place.

26APR

Started dosing more because of larger plant mass. Now dosing 1mL TE and 1.5mL macros (about 75% of full concentration).

28APR

GH at 140ppm. Sounds about right.

1MAY

Light sprinkling of GSA on well-lit glass surfaces. Not to bad.

EDIT, Added the following: Theres definitely a bit of what I think is BBA showing up too. Little tufts of dark blue/gray algae clinging to the edges of plants. It's all over the filter input/output risers too. There does not seem to be any (zero) on the side of the tank opposite the filter pipes...so I'm guessing there may be a difference in CO2 concentration there, but mainly water flow-rate. From what I read, BBA can be caused by fluctuating CO2 levels...well, that's definitely happened in this tank. I'll try to smooth it out by adding another DIY bottle before the current one runs out. What do you ya'll think? Thanks.

K2SO4 is on the way, there's probably a major Sulfur deficiency in my plants, though they're not really showing it (low S apparently limits the uptake of N, shows up in older leaves as yellowing...not really seeing that). Except in Hydrocotyle Verticillata!!! This just occurred to me...it's supposed to be an easy plant to work with. Mine is barely growing, and older plants are yellowing and dying off! Oops. Better rush the K2SO4.















 
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