Hi there, long time lurker first time poster here.
I have set up my first high-tech tank, and have som questions.
Setup:
* About 80L of water, 30cm high tank
* Aquasoil (oase ScaperLine)
* CO2 with inline reactor
* Chihiros wrgb II light
* Oase crystal skim 350
The plan is to let the tank grow fairly dense, with a monte carlo carpet in front, and keep some shrimp and fairly small fish.
The tank has been running for 1 week now. Did my first water change (50%), and I am seeing some good growth. I added a few root tabs in the beginning, and have dosed tropica premium nutrition.
Some questions about the cycle. I haven't seen any detectable levels of Nh4. However, I had NO2 of about 0.25ppm and NO3 of about 15ppm (before water change). What does that tell me about the state of the nitrogen cycle, is it progressing OK?
In terms of pH, i have tap water of 7.3. After a week the pH was 6.7 before turning on CO2, and about 6.1 after running up CO2. I feel like i have to add a lot of CO2 to get a nice green drop checker, about 4 bubbles/second at 40 psi. From what i have read, that seems like alot?
Also, my KH is quite low, about 2-3°, also GH 1-2°. I guess I should add some salt mixture to increase those?
Posted by rettekaren