First go at a planted tank

[SgtPepper]

So I had a leftover ~30l tank which I used to use for quarantine and making sure plants were snail free. I also had a bag of planting subsoil and some sand left over from another tank. Time for another working tank right???...

I bought one new toy, the biggest, brightest LED plant light that I could find. Oh and a couple of new plants, the rest were robbed from another tank. Total spend... £60.

I am dosing liquid carbon daily in a very tiny quantity, ferts weekly in an equally tiny quantity and running the light for 6 hours on its highest setting. Been running for 3 days now whilst adding plants. Today it was finished. Please excuse the rather flat scape, I didn't have enough soil or sand left over to do anything more hilly. The stones are also left over from a previous tank, I just stuck them in, no real thought to it if I am honest. For such a small investment I figured I might as well learn the hard way!!

Anyway I would be keen to hear your thoughts on it, on fert and co2 dosage, potential fish/shrimp.

Cheers all!


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[TropicalFishForums]

[Tiddlers]

firstly i would see how the plants go with no heating - they might not need it. how cheap do you want? co2 - home made with yeast - cheap. red cherry shrimps don't need heat. nor (surprisingly) do peppered corys. - i never thought of them.. but apparently its true and can even spawn, at room temperature!!

Fish... its very small. not sure. would corys and shrimps be enough for you? Ive seen very small peppered corys. they'll grow much slower in a temperate tank i would have thought.. 2 or 3 with some shrimps? or just shrimps.

this is an unheated tank. a bit larger obviously




with corys and tetras (and others).. but your tank is too small for the tetras so not worth even thinking about. nor the other fish he has.

[SgtPepper]

The tank is heated. There are a few species of tetra and rasbora that I have been told will be small enough for this tank.


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[fr499y]

yellow phantoms could work or embers =]

[SgtPepper]

I am more interested in thoughts on dosage for ferts and co2 really. The fish side of things I think I can get the hang of. The tank has been used for plenty of breeding projects for much bigger fish than tetra. As long as the water quality is good then I don't see that as anywhere near as cruel as any lfs with Angels, Rams, etc kept in tanks of the same size.


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[SgtPepper]

Also one more thing... Over day one and two the plants were producing huge amounts of oxygen on their leaves. It looked like it was raining upwards it was so fast. That lasted 2 days. Since then not a single bubble. Is that just that the plants have calmed down and are now trying to grow their roots down into the substrate to find more nutrients or is it something I need to address with more or less liquid carbon, ferts, lighting etc? I imagine they won't grow or fill out for at least 10 days or so as they get their roots out and after that they will take off. I'm reluctant to add any shrimp or fish until my carpet in the foreground is well underway and the other plants are showing considerable growth. Is that a good idea or could I be waiting months!?


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[Tiddlers]

Also one more thing... Over day one and two the plants were producing huge amounts of oxygen on their leaves. It looked like it was raining upwards it was so fast. That lasted 2 days. Since then not a single bubble. Is that just that the plants have calmed down and are now trying to grow their roots down into the substrate to find more nutrients or is it something I need to address with more or less liquid carbon, ferts, lighting etc? I imagine they won't grow or fill out for at least 10 days or so as they get their roots out and after that they will take off. I'm reluctant to add any shrimp or fish until my carpet in the foreground is well underway and the other plants are showing considerable growth. Is that a good idea or could I be waiting months!?


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If these are true aquatic plants the roots don't matter.. aquatic plants use the entire body of the plant to absorb nutrients direct from the water. mainly the leaves.. roots help of course and will carry the plant if the water is too 'clean' - but for true aquatics the roots are mainly about holding the plant in place and storage of nutrients that they need and have evolved to store.  if the soil you put in is 'enriched' for plants then the water will have been full of food.. and the plants had a field day. things will probably have calmed down now the this first feast has gone and food is now being leached out of the soli at a slow rate.

If they're not true aquatics then it depends on species. some can use their leaves.. some can't - because they didn't evolve to live under water permanently. these plants usually live on the banks of rivers and streams or the edge of ponds and only get covered during the rainy season.. but for most of the year they're in the air.. and then its all about the roots. These sorts of plants do better with root tabs.. or fertile aqua soil.  but for true aquatics ferts in the water is definitely better.

[SgtPepper]

So it's nothing to worry about then? I don't really know much about the individual plants. I will do some reading and if stuck I will post the names up on here. Or how about a name the plants competition for all the plant geeks out there. Go on, I dare you!


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[Adw]

Ok I will have a guess I'm probably wrong tho lol the left a Echinodorus sp? very front Hemianthus callitrichoides possibly cuba. Centre background stem plants Hygrophila sp again not sure which one and not sure of the other foreground plant gonna say dwarf hair grass? and a type of crypt on the right and behind the stone near the heater water sprite? how did I do? lol
What you describe sounds like pearling it happens when the plants have produced that much oxygen that the water can't absorb anymore so it builds up until enough gas is produced that it leaves the surface of the leaf as a little oxygen bubble. Would I be right in saying this started after adding the led light? and possibly after a water change?
Anyway a lot of people like to have the plants pearling all the time during the day as it shows that the plants are doing the best they can and providing the fish with plenty of oxygen also it is pretty but to get this all the time you usually need co2 injection, good ferts and decent lighting.
But I want to stress that a healthy planted tank does not need a single plant to be pearling to be healthy it doesn't need co2 injection or even extra ferts the most important thing is getting the balance of co2, ferts and light right which can be done with a high tech set up or a low tech set up! it all depends on what you want to get out of it!
You said you have brought a led light but which one have you gone for? if it is too powerful and you are not using ferts and co2 in the right balance you may start suffering from algae issues.

[SgtPepper]

Having just compared the first pictures I took it seems that my hygrophila angustifolia is going nuts! In two days it's straightened itself out and stretched up towards the light, probably not growth but movement. It's gained a good 3-4 cm in height!


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[SgtPepper]

Ok I will have a guess I'm probably wrong tho lol the left a Echinodorus sp? very front Hemianthus callitrichoides possibly cuba. Centre background stem plants Hygrophila sp again not sure which one and not sure of the other foreground plant gonna say dwarf hair grass? and a type of crypt on the right and behind the stone near the heater water sprite? how did I do? lol
What you describe sounds like pearling it happens when the plants have produced that much oxygen that the water can't absorb anymore so it builds up until enough gas is produced that it leaves the surface of the leaf as a little oxygen bubble. Would I be right in saying this started after adding the led light? and possibly after a water change?
Anyway a lot of people like to have the plants pearling all the time during the day as it shows that the plants are doing the best they can and providing the fish with plenty of oxygen also it is pretty but to get this all the time you usually need co2 injection, good ferts and decent lighting.
But I want to stress that a healthy planted tank does not need a single plant to be pearling to be healthy it doesn't need co2 injection or even extra ferts the most important thing is getting the balance of co2, ferts and light right which can be done with a high tech set up or a low tech set up! it all depends on what you want to get out of it!
You said you have brought a led light but which one have you gone for? if it is too powerful and you are not using ferts and co2 in the right balance you may start suffering from algae issues.

The light is an aqua one plantglo 45. When compared with my other tanks running t8 tubes it is really impressively bright. It has two switches which allow two halves of the light to be turned on independently. I like tr brightness because it is also used as a lamp for a corner of my lounge in the evening. This is why I am running a 5-6 hour photoperiod rather than the 8 which I run on my other tanks (which get a fair dusting of green algae for my cleaners to deal with). I'm really liking the led for its clarity and sharpness. Also being an open top tank it doesn't get hot which saves a fair bit of evaporation although I am adding the best part of 1litre a day.


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[SgtPepper]

Also to control algae if it does become an issue I will just add some surface plants. This may help to keep some more water in the tank too and also give any fish a bit of a rest from being blinded!


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[SgtPepper]

So with the help of filter media from another tank I have finally added some fish. 5 Burma danio. I'm running the tank unheated now and with it being summer and having underfloor heating the house never gets cold. Tank temperature is 21 degrees. The first batch of 5 fish was reduced to 4 after an unfortunate attraction to the waterfall of the hang on back filter which one of them managed to swim into and decapitate himself somehow!? The remaining 4 have now decided that swimming up the waterfall is not such a fun game anymore but are now a little shy and rarely seen. They hide at the back of the tank behind one of the rocks and the plants. What is the best way to get them to come out in the open a bit more? I am planning to add more fish so hopefully they will become a bit more bold in larger numbers...? Any ideas? They don't even come out for food currently so I am a bit worried about their long term health but so far they seem fine and they've been in for a week now.

Any ideas on how I can get to see these little guys a bit more would be greatly appreciated!


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