One year on
A year has passed since I made the aquarium. Since the last water change, I’ve applied the Makron fertilizer to supply phosphorus increasing the dose to 50 ml a week and 10 ml of Mangan+. The cryptocoryne plants have grown well, same way as the vallisnerias. I have to cut the vallisnerias’ leaves so they don’t shade too much. The ludwigias still have the problem of holes in the leaves and plants losing the leaves. The problem of holes is present at the echinodorus plants too.
Due to the lack of time I changed the water after five weeks on 11/11. I vacuumed the gravel well and cut leaves of the plants. On the following day, I put some balls of the Bivoj fertilizer into the sand and four tablets of the Tetra Crypto-Dunge fertilizer. I measured the iron and phosphorus levels. None of them was at the desired level. So, I applied 100 ml of the Makron fertilizer, and 20 ml of the Mangan+ fertilizer.
On Friday 17/11, it was necessary to cut the leaves of some plants again. I also measured the value of the phosphorus. It was below the desired value again. So, I added 80 ml of the Makron fertilizer and 10 ml of the Mangan+ fertilizer. The problem of these fertilizers is that they color the water and the aquarium then has a red tinge.
On Sunday, I measured the level of iron. It was slightly above the desired level. I also measured the level of phosphorus. It was still below the desired level. I only added 10 ml of the Makron fertilizer. This fertilizer contains iron as well, so I can’t apply much of it in order not to increase the level of iron. I will probably have to get some fertilizer that only contains phosphorus. I also added 10 ml of the Mangan+ fertilizer.
On Wednesday, I stopped in the Sklorex store in Brno. I bought the complex fertilizer Easy Life – Profito and Easy Life – Fosfo which only supplies phosphorus. I also bought the test Nitrat by Aquar to check the NO3 level. I measured the NO3 level at home and it was high. It will be necessary to change a part of the water. I filled the old aquarium with water to let the water sit.
On Friday, I changed 50 litters of water and measured the NO3 value again. It seemed to me it was between the values 50 and 80 mg/L. I also measured the iron amount. The iron was in order. I applied 15 ml of the new fertilizer Easy Life Profito. I also measured the amount of phosphorus. It was at a low level so I added 15 ml of the Easy Life Fosfo fertilizer. This amount should increase the level of phosphorus by 0.5 mg/L. On Saturday, I measured phosphorus again and its value was still below the desired level. Therefore, I added approx. 7.5 ml of the Fosfor fertilizer.
An advantage of the Easy Life’s fertilizers over the Rataj’s consists in not coloring the water and not reducing the intensity of the light falling on the bottom so. On Saturday, I flew to Rio de Janeiro, so I’ll see the effect when I get back. Nevertheless, I’ll monitor the aquarium over the IP camera.
