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Thread: first planted tank need advice

  1. #1
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    first planted tank need advice

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    Hi all, i'm a newbie in this hobby and this is my 3 feet planted tank. It is only 3 days old. On the first day after i have done with the hardscaping and planting, one of my main driftwood floated up!!
    I had no choice but to continue setting up the tank because its very late in the night already.
    The next day, i went to 328 to get silicone to glue the rock and driftwood together but the uncle told me that using his glue is enough, no need silicone. When i reached home, i tried sticking the rocks and driftwood together but failed
    probably due to the porous surface of the lava rocks. I also tried boiling the driftwood for few hours but to no avail. End up, i have to use rocks to hold the driftwood down.
    I added fritzyme after decholorinator to cycle my tank. Any advice on my planting? how far apart do i have to plant the mid and back plants? from the photos is it ok?

    My equipments and plants are as follows;
    9L Ada Amazonia soil x 3 packs
    Some small lava rocks below the soil with bacter 1000
    Chihiros A901 x1 (waiting for the Wrgb chihiros to arrive)
    Ocean Free Hydra filtron 1500
    Hailea Chiller hs 66a set @ 25 degrees
    2L Co2 tank with Ocean Free solenoid regulator @ 2bps

    Plants
    HC as carpet
    Cryptocoryne (green)
    Cryptocoryne (red)
    Alternanthera (mini)
    Rotala (Bonsai)
    Echinodorus major
    Christmas moss
    Java moss
    Golden anubias
    Anubias nana
    And Some red stem plants that i dont know the names
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Hi aimbaka,
    Also a newbie to this aquascaping hobby. So prob not the best person to give you advice.
    Your equip damn solid i didnt had so much when i started the tank abt 3mths ago.
    I find with the gel superglue for aquascaping, it works best wen the 2 surfaces to be joint tgt is wet. The glue seemed to cure on contact however, for heavier pieces, an example was wen i tried to glue 2 long pieces of driftwood tgt to create the shape of the bonsai, i had to tie strings abd rubber band after i bonded them. Just to hold those 2 in place. After that, i removed it.
    So i believe ur driftwood to rock bond, prob some fishing line after bonding them with glue will help? Make sure the surfaces are damp.
    I did not have much success with silicone as a bond for hardscapes, pretty useless as it loosens up very quickly. Superglue gel, nets, mesh and fishing line works for me best.
    Your plants, wah HC did not work for me, it died miserably becoz i dry started it thinking it could be dry started. Heard it is a challenging plant and requires slightly colder water(Lfs guy told me)
    I think the way you spaced the plants are ok, again not an expert. Just that i think the Hc usually ppl space them further away and smaller amts. Smaller bunches means more circulation and allows you to maximize whatever you have, since most ppl purchase tropica in vitro cups( little bit ex) so if you do smaller bunches, you are able to cover a wider area with one cup. Anyway i guess the idea is that they will spread.
    Hope everything goes well for you.
    Nice scape btw, great job la considering its the first tank!

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

  3. #3
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Quote Originally Posted by Jojowhisky View Post
    Hi aimbaka,
    Your plants, wah HC did not work for me, it died miserably becoz i dry started it thinking it could be dry started. Heard it is a challenging plant and requires slightly colder water(Lfs guy told me)
    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    Most foreground plants like hairgrass, MC, HC etc all can be dry started. It takes 1-2 months for them to be rooted. After which a good PAR light and co2 is essential when flooding the tank. Your Top aqua or UP aqua brand ET series LED is not suitable for a HC setup.

    If you dry start in this tank, then you are probably not doing it correctly as well; looking at the spread, rooting, clumps etc.





    Nowadays, can use google and youtube for instructional videos. In the olden days, we learn from mistakes. So technically, with enough research and reading, a newbie can also do as well as an expert.

  4. #4
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Quote Originally Posted by Jojowhisky View Post
    Hi aimbaka,
    Also a newbie to this aquascaping hobby. So prob not the best person to give you advice.
    Your equip damn solid i didnt had so much when i started the tank abt 3mths ago.
    I find with the gel superglue for aquascaping, it works best wen the 2 surfaces to be joint tgt is wet. The glue seemed to cure on contact however, for heavier pieces, an example was wen i tried to glue 2 long pieces of driftwood tgt to create the shape of the bonsai, i had to tie strings abd rubber band after i bonded them. Just to hold those 2 in place. After that, i removed it.
    So i believe ur driftwood to rock bond, prob some fishing line after bonding them with glue will help? Make sure the surfaces are damp.
    I did not have much success with silicone as a bond for hardscapes, pretty useless as it loosens up very quickly. Superglue gel, nets, mesh and fishing line works for me best.
    Your plants, wah HC did not work for me, it died miserably becoz i dry started it thinking it could be dry started. Heard it is a challenging plant and requires slightly colder water(Lfs guy told me)
    I think the way you spaced the plants are ok, again not an expert. Just that i think the Hc usually ppl space them further away and smaller amts. Smaller bunches means more circulation and allows you to maximize whatever you have, since most ppl purchase tropica in vitro cups( little bit ex) so if you do smaller bunches, you are able to cover a wider area with one cup. Anyway i guess the idea is that they will spread.
    Hope everything goes well for you.
    Nice scape btw, great job la considering its the first tank!

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    Thank you for your advice! Just an update, all my cryptocoryne and half of my rotala melted but surprisingly my HC is still going strong. I went to east ocean to get some test strips and found out that my GH is 0. I added some GH powder after that. The melting of the plants might be because of the 0 GH or probably because of the "1-2 Grow" plants that i got from a LFS has been kept in the fridge for quite sometime. The rest of the plants that i bought from C328 are still doing fine except for the "1-2 grow" plants that melted like in 4 days.

  5. #5
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Quote Originally Posted by torque6 View Post
    Most foreground plants like hairgrass, MC, HC etc all can be dry started. It takes 1-2 months for them to be rooted. After which a good PAR light and co2 is essential when flooding the tank. Your Top aqua or UP aqua brand ET series LED is not suitable for a HC setup.

    If you dry start in this tank, then you are probably not doing it correctly as well; looking at the spread, rooting, clumps etc.





    Nowadays, can use google and youtube for instructional videos. In the olden days, we learn from mistakes. So technically, with enough research and reading, a newbie can also do as well as an expert.
    Thanks for the kind input.
    The mc u see in my tank is not dry started, after the massive death of hc during the dry start phase, i was too dejected. No guidiance from anyone so i returned to a lfs and told the guy wat i was going thru. He heard me and told me the hc is actually dead already. At that time i had already attached weeping moss all over the bonsai wood. (Dry started) and they were also looking brown and dead.
    So he very tactfully asked me to restart everything and very kindly gave me some mc to try, he said its a better plant to start with. So i restarted everything in a flooded tank, pulled out all the weeping moss that have browned on the tree and gave everything a go again.
    The mc have spread well after 3mths coz i took only a small bit fr him( paiseh) he gave so much. And the moss on the tree grew fuller as well, now the sponge cant really be seen.
    Not so "cham" anymore, that being said, i still feel the dry start method is the best to establish growth and will attempt to give it another go with a new tank im setting up for my tetras that you suggested to separate from the shrimps

    Update:
    All the baby CRS shrimps have hatched uneventfully, doing well putting on abit of colour already. No rcs have died.
    CRS are still alive and molting good, no one has died.

    Struggling only with the worm problem
    Cant be sure if its planaria or rhabdocoela.
    Fingers crossed la.



    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

  6. #6
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Quote Originally Posted by aimbaka View Post
    Thank you for your advice! Just an update, all my cryptocoryne and half of my rotala melted but surprisingly my HC is still going strong. I went to east ocean to get some test strips and found out that my GH is 0. I added some GH powder after that. The melting of the plants might be because of the 0 GH or probably because of the "1-2 Grow" plants that i got from a LFS has been kept in the fridge for quite sometime. The rest of the plants that i bought from C328 are still doing fine except for the "1-2 grow" plants that melted like in 4 days.
    ADA Amazonia leeches a high amount of Ammonia for the first 6 weeks, which in turn can melt plants to nothing. Also note that you had used Tropica 1-2 grow cultures in the tank. For your info, Tropica grows their cultures emmersed, they will convert to submersed form, and they do melt in the beginning.

    If you are using tap water, GH should not be 0, KH maybe because you are using both PH buffering substrate and co2.

    You guys need to really read up before assuming the wrong things.

  7. #7
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Quote Originally Posted by aimbaka View Post
    Thank you for your advice! Just an update, all my cryptocoryne and half of my rotala melted but surprisingly my HC is still going strong. I went to east ocean to get some test strips and found out that my GH is 0. I added some GH powder after that. The melting of the plants might be because of the 0 GH or probably because of the "1-2 Grow" plants that i got from a LFS has been kept in the fridge for quite sometime. The rest of the plants that i bought from C328 are still doing fine except for the "1-2 grow" plants that melted like in 4 days.
    Ah! You know i think the tropica plant cups will surely melt (fr experience) pretty normal as they are grown in labs and will need to adapt to the conditions you put them into.
    Also they hardly got any roots if you were to notice, so i know that melting is very normal.
    You jus need to be very patient wen using tropica plants as they will establish themselves slowly and root into the substrate first, than they will spread.
    Melting i have experienced, is very normal, as long as u are givin them wat they need, melting is them adapting to the substrate, humidity. They were living in an enclosed sterile environment with that agar sugar as food. So be patient, i know after awhile you should see some nice green new growth.
    The stems were green on my mc wen they melted underwater, only the leaves turned a transparent brown. After awhile of care, they put out new growth.
    Need to be patient!

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

  8. #8
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Quote Originally Posted by Jojowhisky View Post
    Thanks for the kind input.
    The mc u see in my tank is not dry started, after the massive death of hc during the dry start phase, i was too dejected. No guidiance from anyone so i returned to a lfs and told the guy wat i was going thru. He heard me and told me the hc is actually dead already. At that time i had already attached weeping moss all over the bonsai wood. (Dry started) and they were also looking brown and dead.
    So he very tactfully asked me to restart everything and very kindly gave me some mc to try, he said its a better plant to start with. So i restarted everything in a flooded tank, pulled out all the weeping moss that have browned on the tree and gave everything a go again.
    The mc have spread well after 3mths coz i took only a small bit fr him( paiseh) he gave so much. And the moss on the tree grew fuller as well, now the sponge cant really be seen.
    Not so "cham" anymore, that being said, i still feel the dry start method is the best to establish growth and will attempt to give it another go with a new tank im setting up for my tetras that you suggested to separate from the shrimps

    Update:
    All the baby CRS shrimps have hatched uneventfully, doing well putting on abit of colour already. No rcs have died.
    CRS are still alive and molting good, no one has died.

    Struggling only with the worm problem
    Cant be sure if its planaria or rhabdocoela.
    Fingers crossed la.



    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
    I have to disagree on your "HC spread well after 3 months".. it seems like it's dying off.

    This is what spreading means in my old tank, after dry start emmersed 1 month -> submersed with co2+fert+good light; close to 2 months. Water temperature 30 degrees.

    HC growth.jpg

  9. #9
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    Day 10. Took out echinodorus as i find that its quite an eyesore and added more plants. replanted my HC with smaller stacks. Currently using 1 unit of chihiros wrgb 90cm. (75W with 5200 lumens, 306 pieces of LED) Light is on for about 6-8 hours daily at 75% intensity.
    Is 1 unit of this light enough for my tank? Do i need another unit? If so any recommendation for a 2nd unit of light?
    day 10.jpgday 10 side.jpg
    Last edited by aimbaka; 22nd Nov 2018 at 17:04.

  10. #10
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    Re: first planted tank need advice

    The scape is looking more alive as compared to the first attempt! More colourful for sure and ya i agree, looks better now.

    Great job separating the hc into smaller clumps (im sure it was rather painstaking) *sniffs*

    Cant advice you on the lights, noob as well.
    Hopefully you get the advice you need

    Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

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