Planting in existing Tank

[cloudwane]

Hi All,

I have setup a new tank on 17th May using about 15 litres of the water from the nano tank as well as a sponge media which has been up and running for about 6.5 months previously. I have another Fluval C2 which was running on a 10 litres small tank for about 2 weeks and transferred the fishes and HOB to the new tank as well.

On the 22nd May, I went and purchase the Eheim Ecco Pro 300 based on the recommendations from Urban Aquaria bro whom has provided a lot of advice on using the Ecco Pro.

I just did a water test today at 8pm and the result are as follow:
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
10 ppm nitrate

Does the above results shows that the tank and filter has already been cycled? The last water change was last night (11pm) I'm getting quite a few brown algae patches around the tank as well as the tubing on my canister. Any reason for the cause of this?

Current Tank:
- Tank : 60 x 30 x 36 CM
- Substrate : ANS Bright Sand
- Filter : Eheim Ecco Pro 300 canister
- Light : UP Aqua Pro Z Series LED Light 60cm (About 4 hours on Morning, break 2 hours and 4 hours evening)
- Plant - No Idea of the names for the submerge plants. Have some frog bits, duck weeds floating around. Will try to take a picture of the tank again tomorrow.
- Fertilizer - EIHO Plant Potassium (On Random days)
- Other - ANS Fan, Lily Pipe ,
- 1 Cardinal Tetra, 2 Clown Loaches, 12 guppies, 3 corys

I would like to carpet the front area of the tank and based on the above, what would be the recommended plant and would it be possible to do it with the fishes in the tank?

[Urban Aquaria]

With the use of seasoned media and inert sand substrate, it possible your tank has been cycled over the past few weeks. If you want to be sure, just do another test in a few days time, see if the cycle is stable and numbers are still the same.

The brown algae patches are diatoms, common in new tanks, you can clean them off or if you keep otocinclus fishes they will eat it. The brown coating in your hoses are a combination of algae and bacteria colonies breaking down organic material, just have to use a flexible pipe brush to clean them during filter maintenance.

For sand only substrate, you could try glosso or monte carlo, they grow via runners and can take in nutrients from the water column so even when planted in an inert substrate they can grow, just at a slower pace. You could also try inserting root sticks or tablets into the sand substrate and that will provide nutrients directly to the plant roots and improve growth (and avoid excess nutrients filling the water column too).

The clown loaches and cories will tend to uproot carpet plants when they sift through the sand though, so you may only be able to consider non-rooted plants tied to mesh (or maybe can even try gloss and monte carlo tied on mesh instead, helps prevent them from being uprooted).

Btw, clown loaches grow to 15-20cm in size, so you'll need to find a bigger tank for them in the future.

[Berny]

ive seen monster 25cm+ clown loach at c328 before

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[cloudwane]

With the use of seasoned media and inert sand substrate, it possible your tank has been cycled over the past few weeks. If you want to be sure, just do another test in a few days time, see if the cycle is stable and numbers are still the same.

The brown algae patches are diatoms, common in new tanks, you can clean them off or if you keep otocinclus fishes they will eat it. The brown coating in your hoses are a combination of algae and bacteria colonies breaking down organic material, just have to use a flexible pipe brush to clean them during filter maintenance.

For sand only substrate, you could try glosso or monte carlo, they grow via runners and can take in nutrients from the water column so even when planted in an inert substrate they can grow, just at a slower pace. You could also try inserting root sticks or tablets into the sand substrate and that will provide nutrients directly to the plant roots and improve growth (and avoid excess nutrients filling the water column too).

The clown loaches and cories will tend to uproot carpet plants when they sift through the sand though, so you may only be able to consider non-rooted plants tied to mesh (or maybe can even try gloss and monte carlo tied on mesh instead, helps prevent them from being uprooted).

Btw, clown loaches grow to 15-20cm in size, so you'll need to find a bigger tank for them in the future.

Bro UA,

Thanks for the advise once again. I bought a tub of Tropica Glosso and shall try it and see how it goes. Does SAE eats up the diatoms too?

What are the root sticks or tablets that you're referring to for the nutrients via the sand substrate?

[Urban Aquaria]

Bro UA,

Thanks for the advise once again. I bought a tub of Tropica Glosso and shall try it and see how it goes. Does SAE eats up the diatoms too?

What are the root sticks or tablets that you're referring to for the nutrients via the sand substrate?

So far i haven't seen SAE eating much of brown algae/diatoms (maybe they do eat abit but i haven't noticed it), they are known more for eating filamentous type algae... until they get a taste for commercial food pellets and wafers, then transform from worker fish to ornamental fish.

Otocinclus do a much better job of cleaning tank glass and plants of soft brown diatoms and algae, very often a group of them can clear everything up overnight.

Root sticks and tabs are solid fertilizers which can be inserted into the substrate to provide nutrients directly to the plant roots.

[cloudwane]

Wow, it's really a challenge trying to plant the glosso and monte carlo in the sand with the fishes and water. Guess I will remain my current setup for a while before doing an overhaul to replace the substrate.