# In need of advice



## Kamon (Mar 27, 2009)

I've kept planted tanks for about 9 months, but still have questions.

1. Is it good to clean the substrate when doing a water change (using a vac)?

2. I recently purchased a 10gal tank. The filter I plan to use is this: http://www.google.com/products/cata...+10&hl=en&cid=11208496273464791961&sa=title#p. Could I drill a small hole into the intake of the filter and run airline tubing from a DIY mixture into it to dissolve the bubbles?

3. Will the DIY mixture work even if the bottle is below the tank? Such as sitting in the stand.

4. I have noticed that when I trim plants, the stems produce more shoots and thus form a thicker bunch. Is there a specific technique behind this? Or am I already doing it well enough?

5. When I buy new plants, should I remove the lower portion of the stems and replant the tops?


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## aquatic_clay (Aug 17, 2009)

1. I prefer to have just a little bit of mulm at the bottom of the tank and clean half of the bottom every time I do a water change and alternate between left and right.

2. Yes

3. Yes all of my DIY co2 sits below the tank

4. Sounds like you doing it right. I usually trim higher each time I trim stems to make a nice bushy plant.

5. I usually don't cut the bottom completely off I just trim up the roots and then plant it.


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## Kamon (Mar 27, 2009)

A few more q's:

1. I've noticed my fish "gasping" for air at the surface of the water. From what I've read, this indicates a lack of dissolved oxygen in the water. Should I run an airstone at night when the lights are off?

2. How many bubbles per second should I be using with pressurized CO2? I've read anywhere from 1 bubble per 8 seconds to 3 per second.


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## Shad0w (Nov 13, 2006)

problem is you are using DIY CO2, you probably have no way to control it. you target is 25-30ppm, you will need drop checker to properly estimate CO2 concentration in the tank


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## Philosophos (Mar 1, 2009)

Stop, put the drill down. Why would you take something with the density of a gas, put it in a liquid, then expect better diffusion when you feed it through a pump that sends it right to the top of the water column? I'm not sure who first advised sending CO2 through hang on back filters, but it was a poorly thought out idea from the start. Try using a small powerhead with a needle wheel modification (horizonally cut the impeller fins, bend in oposite directions, drill a hole in the intake cover for the CO2 tube) to achieve better diffusion and flow in your tank. Even a chopstick diffuser would be a better idea than just pumping all the CO2 right to the surface.

For the gasping, unless you've got just about no filtration I'd be looking to NO2 issues; nitrite messes with the gills, mucus would be the stress response, and that messes with oxygen uptake. Either you've got a full cycle going about half way in, or a mini cycle with a very low pH. If you've got low plant density, cycling from regular causes comes to mind. If your plant density is high, I'd be looking more at substrate choices and organics putting off NH4 then being converted to NO2. 

BPS is a measure that doesn't work between tanks. Not all bubbles are the same size, not all diffusion is equal, and if you want to go nuts about it then not everyone is at the same elevation. I use BPS when adjusting to compare BPS when I measure it vs. the BPS I'm going to. New day means new BPS count even on the same tank. I may compare the same tank once I know how it works, but changing any flow dinamics (hardscape, substrate, filters, CO2 injection method, large plant stand placement) means I pretty much scrap my previous ideas about the measurement.


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## Kamon (Mar 27, 2009)

I'm using a canister filter with the Hagen Elite Mini filter from Petco as a CO2 reactor. I'm not using a HOB filter for this tank.


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## Philosophos (Mar 1, 2009)

Ah, that'd work just fine.

Your original post links to a HOB style filter where you're asking about DIY CO2:
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=aquarium+filter+10&hl=en&cid=11208496273464791961&sa=title#p


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## Kamon (Mar 27, 2009)

That was for a second tank.  Sorry for the confusion. 

Also, where do you guys get your test kits for K, P, NO3, etc? All I can find is the "5 in 1" test strips.


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## Shad0w (Nov 13, 2006)

I'm using EI, so never test


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## Philosophos (Mar 1, 2009)

I use EI as well and test infrequently. All of the LFS's around here carry liquid tests so it's never been an issue for me. If you want to order something in, API is my favorite of the low-end test kits. Salifert is the next step up, with Hatch and Lamotte being your top of the line options for titration.

Don't bother with the K+ tests; they're notoriously inaccurate.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

BTW make sure you have a check valve on your DIY yeast airline. That way everything stays where it should be.


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