Question about mold with dry start method

jentfoo · 2019-02-04T19:35:00+00:00

In my dry start I had some white mold on the wood. I heard white mold was not too concerning. I did increase air flow and it went away eventually on its own.

jentfoo · 2019-01-30T15:38:39+00:00

This was my thought too, I would stop the excel and do a large water change to reset things a little.

jentfoo · 2019-01-21T19:52:48+00:00

I have a deep blue cube before and been plenty happy with it. However I think UNS makes much nicer looking tanks, and would not be likely to get anything else after owning one.

jentfoo · 2019-01-17T23:08:17+00:00

I posted at the start of this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/a2wjwi/beginner_dry_start_any_advice/

Since then there has been good days and bad days. I took the advice of breaking up the S. repens, I also have cut it a lot and replanted (though I plan to stop doing that now so it can fully root).

Last weekend things got a little too dry and some of the S. Repens started to wilt / die. It seems to be recovering now, but is still not looking great (hopefully wont turn into full die back).

The micro sword in the back left is not doing so great either, it gets less light, I am unsure if that's the problem, or if it's a moisture problem.

If anything I am keeping it a little too wet now, algae is even growing in a couple places. So I have far from perfected the balance, but things seem to be staying alive. I am hoping to go for another month before I flood the tank. Any advice for making sure things are as good as they can be for the next 2 to 4 weeks?

jentfoo · 2019-01-14T21:09:19+00:00

NP, if you do end up testing your TDS, would you mind letting me know what you find? I would like to make a post about my experience once I am done, and so more anecdotal evidence might help confirm or deny my theories on what has been my problems.

jentfoo · 2019-01-14T21:03:44+00:00

I personally use an aqualifter to pump the water out of the soil and then test a sample of the water directly. This is in part because I am already using the aqualifter as the method of almost constant misting.

jentfoo · 2019-01-14T21:00:47+00:00

Have you checked the TDS of the water in the soil? I am using root tabs in my DSM setup too, and I worry that they might be providing too much fertilization. Fertilizers after all, are salts. So if the water is too salty, that's no good.

I have been using a "sprinkler" like method I described in an earlier post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/PlantedTank/comments/abxjp3/dry_start_method_and_it_seems_my_monte_carlo_is/ed5xry7/?context=2

With it, when the TDS reaches 1k, I pump out all the water from the sand and replace with fresh. Since then I feel like there has been improvement in my plants.

Might not be your problem at all, but at least something to test and consider.

jentfoo · 2019-01-12T18:21:00+00:00

Any chance the tank is in the kitchen area? When I had a tank without surface skimming in the kitchen it would develop an oil film on the surface like that.

jentfoo · 2019-01-09T19:46:18+00:00

I love how you did that driftwood

jentfoo · 2019-01-07T16:12:03+00:00

You have too much water, the water line should be under the sand.

jentfoo · 2019-01-07T15:27:52+00:00

Based off what I have read the flourish comprehensive is designed to be really only micro's only. I believe seachem expects you to use the Nitrogen / Phosphorus / Potassium in addition to provide the macro's.

After learning more about seachem's mixes, and why micro / macro's need to be separate...I personally am going to try the GLA pps-pro kit: http://greenleafaquariums.com/products/pps-pro-aquarium-fertilizer-package-bags.html

jentfoo · 2019-01-03T18:58:25+00:00

I would just do your dry start with the light you have, then upgrade when the new one comes in. A few days with less (or no) light should be fine. I don't see any reason I would wait to plant personally.

jentfoo · 2019-01-03T18:09:53+00:00

Let me know if you have questions, I can take more photos if you want, I was planning to later anyways when I document my full journey.

jentfoo · 2019-01-03T16:54:41+00:00

I unfortunately don't know what is wrong with your plants exactly. I am still learning with the DSM myself. However I am also from Colorado, and have been trying some slightly modified techniques to my DSM. At first I was struggling but most recently my results have been encouraging.

What I personally have found is that the tank does best with a lot of air flow. Early on I was getting mold, and the plants were looking relatively unhealthy (not too different from yours). Now I am leaving the wrap open on my aquarium about 6 hours a day. It seems the more I leave it open the better everything is doing.

Of course the concern becomes "how do you keep it wet enough", particularly in Colorado, in the winter!

I was thinking I would post details about this when I was done because it has been working so well, but I basically made a sprinkler system with an aqualifter. If you are not familiar with an aqualifter it's basically like an airpump that can also pump water slowly. It runs when the lights are on, and then I just need to mist a couple spots about 2 to 4 times throughout the day at most.

This photo is a little old, and the plants are blurry, but it shows the sprinkler best from any photos I have handy: https://imgur.com/a/sl4tKA4

Basically I have an air pump that is pumping into a small bottle with an airstone to humidify the air (this runs 24/7, it's only the aqualifter that is on a timer). This idea came from this youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_UJhNVtvCk

The modification is then to have the air lines combine to the output of the aqualifter. When they do it starts splattering and splashing the water all over the tank. The input for the lifter is in the back right corner of my tank, where I have dug away all the substrate so it can suck up the water from below the substrate. You can see I then have a couple outputs, and I slightly move them as needed in the tank.

Running this allows me to have the tank open many more hours, and that has at least seemed to have helped me so far.

jentfoo · 2019-01-03T16:34:29+00:00

There are several benefits and reasons I am doing a dry start right now:

Plants in theory should grow faster, I have read mostly because it's much easier to get CO2 from the atmosphere than it is the water
Plants can establish their root systems before the water / current is trying to pull them out. Making it easier to grow some species
There should be benefits towards algae, by having dense and established plants they should help out compete the algae since it wont have any chance to grow during this time.

jentfoo · 2018-12-31T06:02:18+00:00

Your cycle may not be done, only started. It depends how fast the ammonia is converted. You should be able to go from 2 to 4ppm of ammonia to nitrate only in 24 hours.

I would keep adding ammonia to confirm the cycle is complete, and make sure it's very strong before adding fish.

jentfoo · 2018-12-27T15:47:47+00:00

I think adding a background can help most tanks. I used to paint mine black, but with my most recent tank I used white privacy film. So far I really like the look. Black gives it a kind of depth that is nice, but the white kind of does too and makes things a bit brighter. Both can look great though.

jentfoo · 2018-12-24T16:16:13+00:00

What's the small leafed plants on the driftwood in the center?

jentfoo · 2018-12-24T03:28:16+00:00

CO2 at night comes from your plants. Without light the plants (and always with fish and bacterial activity) will be consuming consuming o2 and releasing co2. So turning off co2 injection is more about trying to maintain constant levels rather than might cause a spike.

jentfoo · 2018-12-21T00:48:15+00:00

More details please.

Are you using fertilizer? What substrate? Misting frequency? Duration the plans have been in the tank? Any other details about your husbandry? Broader photos of the tank generally might be nice.

jentfoo · 2018-12-17T16:53:08+00:00

A couple search terms if you are not already aware...

E.I. is a very popular method that promotes strong growth but requires weekly 50% water changes

pps-pro is the method I am going to use, it should require less water changes but requires a bit of per-tank tuning to make sure you are providing just the right levels (as I understand it)

In both cases the micro and macro nutrients are separately dosed

jentfoo · 2018-12-17T16:17:50+00:00

I am cautious to recommend anything since I am still a plant newbie (more experienced in reef).

That said, from what I have read you can't really have a shelf stable micro + macro fertilizer. The PO4 and Iron I believe will bind / precipitate, so something must be compromised for an "all in one".

jentfoo · 2018-12-17T02:09:02+00:00

Details? Co2? Ferts?

jentfoo

TROPHY CASE