Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 4:13 pm Post subject: Re: need help with monte carlo carpet
Hi Manish,
Monte carlo is one of the easiest foreground plant to grow, checked your setup in the link provided your light looks too much and co2 distribution looks less.
will tell you some basics which i follow when setting up a planted tank. Hope it might help you in someway.
1. some what good substrate which can hold your plants good because when you fertilize tank this wont be a that much of a issue
2. check the volume of your tank and multiply with 10, example if your tank is 60litre then you require 600l/h output filter because filtration and circulation plays a main role in planted tank.
3. good lighting and don't calculate watts per gallon(wpg) which is wrong need to calculate par value actually below are some table for your understanding if you don't know how to calculate for your tank below is the guidance for beginners nothing like you need to follow that.just a guide:) and please do note 6500k to 10000k is very good lighting for planted tank because these spectrum can penetrate till your substrate level.
4. Co2, do procure a pressurized co2, one time investment but can be there for long time and you will see the output you like, which you already have and don't follow 2,3,4,5 bubble per second get a co2 indicator and place opposite to your co2 diffuser and check till it changes to green, if its blue then low if its yellow then high, so you inject co2 high or low till you see your desired color, this way you can really check the co2 distribution in your tank.
And finally lets come to your point basic mistake ppl do is when setting the planted tank they keep 8 hours photoperiod which is a over kill because you need to increase the photo period in 2 months time start from 3-4 hours then gradually increase a hour every 2 weeks and once you become expert in lighting you no need to follow this but initially do follow like this because your plants need to settle to the new environment and once they settled then its difficult to kill them and in this time you can see plants to loose their leaves which is common, so no need to panic.
And its always best to start co2 1 hour before your lights come up and stop 1 hour before your lights goes off, And start dosing ferts by 50% from day 1 of your tank size or volume and once plant settles follow the 100% rule of dosing which ever you follow like EI dosing,PPS dosing or seachem dosing
Things you need to understand first at starting 3 months of your new planted tank step-up, your plants are settling and transition part is going on so algae will show up to consume the energy,ferts which your plants not consuming this is normal just clear the algae when changing water that's why at initial stage they change 25 to 50% water 3-4 times a week for 1 month to stop feeding algae
you will see tremendous change at 2-3 month and once your plants settle algae will disappear automatically .
Mistakes people do at starting time when they see algae they try to change photo-period timing, co2 injection changing low to high, which will trigger more algae growth and will stunt your plant growth which leads to your plant death.
Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2017 1:07 pm Post subject: Re: need help with monte carlo carpet
Thats lot of good info from Andrew.Thanks you.
On #3 how do we calculate this for LED lights, the table shows for bulbs like T5..etc. Can you please tell us how to determine if it good,low ,overrated lighting if we are using led strips.
On #3 how do we calculate this for LED lights, the table shows for bulbs like T5..etc. Can you please tell us how to determine if it good,low ,overrated lighting if we are using led strips.
Thanks,
Hi
Happy to see my post helped you in some way, Regarding led you need to have good lumens support and led with correct spectrum for planted tanks, mostly high power leds will be best for the project. 2 years back i did my own fixture where i have covered most of the things below is the link to it do check go through all the post in that where i have given links to understand led for planted tank.
DIY LED SETUP
If you looking to do co2 indicator solution also check the below link
And after lot of research and trail i find using 3watt high power led in parallel-series connection is best and cheap to get desired output, But right now i have dismantled my both tanks because of official and personal stuff will start after 6 months after that will be posting updates regularly in IAH
Joined: Nov 03, 2015 Posts: 63 Location: Bengaluru
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Posted: Wed Apr 12, 2017 11:27 am Post subject: Re: need help with monte carlo carpet
Thank you Andrew for your time and such a nice details, really appreciated...
Your tank looks awesome ....!
Problem faced with the monte carlo is that it dosn't just grow/spread and then leafs turns yellow/brown and continuous decay of branches and finally full covered in algae in a months time. I had to take them out as I was afraid that algae will spread in the tank.
Actually, I keep light to 75% brightness. I had turned my lights to full brightness to take photos and Videos since if I lower the brightness then video flickers (not actually flicker but I notice dark and lite light band in video due to frequency of LED at low power).
I think I may need to upgrade my filter, my aquarium volume is about 90 Liters and I have EHEIM classic 250 which has capacity of 440.00 L/H.
I followed water change schedule as 30% water change alternate day for 20 days and then 50% weekly.
Photo period was at 6 hours for a month then increase of 1 hour in every 10 days for next 2 hours and now its set to 8 hours.
No fertilizer for a month and then potassium and iron only.
I liked your idea of DIY drop checker, I use to use one in ebay but its pretty expensive. I will try to make my own drop checker using your method. I have two questions.
1. How long you can store the drop checker liquid.
2. From where to get bromothymol blue solution. (I live in Bangalore, in case you know any store to pick up)
Posted: Sat Apr 15, 2017 8:50 pm Post subject: Re: need help with monte carlo carpet
Hi Manish,
Monte carlo, HC cuba takes little time like 2-3 weeks for transition and adapt to new environment whenever you move these plant the growth will get stunt but once adapted you need to trim regularly that fast they grow.
Initially you pump co2 little bit high and use fertilizer also you mentioned cree led in your journal if you bought from ebay then its china cree not original cree led once i send the link to cree directly they said never manufactured a led like that below is the link for cree dealer in India, if you make your own led find good sellers who give proper high power led and you also test it with multi-meter whether it consumes the amp mentioned.
you did all correct but missed in fertilizer and looks like co2 fluctuation, follow EI dosing or PPS dosing and if you find hard to find salts then get proper macro kit from seachem or other good brand. And is water is soft or hard and always start with photo period 5 hours in starting and yes follow 10X water flow for better distribution no need to upgrade filter just add internal filter head like boyu.
if you dont have particular salt in stock for fert dosing then dont dose because dosing particular nutrient will cause deficiency, which will lead to catch algae easily.
below are some calc for dosing maybe you seen already.
And co2 drop checker solution no expiry and the batch i made used for 2 years.
Bangalore no idea where to get bromothymol but You can get from any laboratory chemical selling shops but when i checked in google found the below site in the price list in page 24 they mentioned Bromothymol solution.
Posted: Mon May 01, 2017 10:31 pm Post subject: Re: need help with monte carlo carpet
To grow HC and MC normal tube with 4000k to 6500k with good lumens is more than enough and in initial stage pump co2 little high for the plants to adapt fast, i mostly add fish after 30 days of setting the tank so till that time i inject co2 high till my drop checker turns yellow and the led light link which you send looks good and price too but including shipping its little bit high, check for chihiros this led also got very good rating so far available in india or order from aliexpress which will cost you half the amount. And below is a another article for you on light, damn giving you so many articles
Joined: Nov 03, 2015 Posts: 63 Location: Bengaluru
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Posted: Tue May 02, 2017 7:28 pm Post subject: Re: need help with monte carlo carpet
Thanks again Andrew,
Chihiros LED looks promising and at half of the price of "Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED Plus" in Aliexpress. Let me go through reviews, let me know if you have first hand experience with Chihiros.
I have purchased many items from Aliexpress but small and inexpensive. Let me try this one. Its my dream to grow HC Cuba/Monte Carlo carpet, hopefully this time I will be successful.
Joined: Nov 03, 2015 Posts: 63 Location: Bengaluru
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Posted: Fri May 26, 2017 4:46 pm Post subject: Re: need help with monte carlo carpet
Friends,
Few LEDs in my DIY setup went off, so I am using my old 60 CM SUNSUN T5 HO 24W x 2 - 10,000 K. Light looks more blue and bright so I have replaced one tube with Philips 14Watt 6500K T5 Tube.
I have just received pots of monte carlo and will be planting tonight, I am concerned if light is enough for my aquarium.
Please advice.
Aquarium : 24" x 18" x 18"
Light : 24" T5 tube - 1 x 24W 10000K and 1 x 14W 6500K
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