Some help with fully planted tank.

[kevdead]

Hi guys,

It's not my first time with planted tank but i used to only do mid-tech tank with only a few plants.

This is my first time doing up a fully planted tank. And i need some help and advices.

Here are my specs,

Tank : 60cm x 30cm x 36cm

Lighting : 96watts (2 tube aquazonic, both tube changes to odyssea 6500k 24w and green element evo plant led 24 6500k + 10000k 3w led x 16)

Lighting period : 10hours (11am - 9pm)

CO2 : Cylinder with solenoid at 3-4bps
Method of Injection : ceramic diffuser

Aeration : lily pipe after lights off. Shift lily pipe slightly above water level.

Liquid fertilisers : Seachem - Flourish (Comprehensive), N, P, K, FE & Trace.
Fertilization regime : Currently 1 drop of FE and 1 squirt (about 1ml) of K.

Other fertilisers : JBL Floralpol

Other additives : Tetra Aqua Safe or Seachem Prime

Substrates & Soil : Borneo Bacter at the base, top with Floralpol that i mixed with Ehiv Lav and cap with gex shrimp and plant soil. Mound and sprinkle with Gex(Green pack) plant soil.

Filter : Eheim Ecco Pro 2234 with lily pipe set (13mm).
Filter media used : Brand new Eheim substrate pro, Eheim Mech ball and Eheim lav.

Age of setup : 4days old.

Water change : once every 2 days 10% water change plus top up.

Tank Temperature : 27.4 to 28.9

API FRESHWATER MASTER TEST KIT
KH : Did not test.
GH : Did not test.
pH : 6.6 - 6.8
NH4 (ppm): 0 ppm
NO2 (ppm): 0 ppm
NO3 (ppm): 20-40ppm
PO4 (ppm): Did not test.
Fe (ppm): Did not test.
Drop checker: light green to almost yellow.

Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants)
------------------------------------------
Ermm.. not quite sure what are their names but i will try to list them to my best knowledge.

Moss - 3 types (Anchor, Mini Taiwan and Christmas)
Stem plant - 5 types (I think there is 3 types of Rotala i've planted (Not sure about their scientific name), 1 large red stem plant and Vivipara)
carpeting plant - 3 types (Hairgrass, glosso and some clover leaf like plant)
Ferns - 2 types (Normal fern, taiwan narrow leaf)
Anubias - 2 types (Nana and Mini Nana)

Plants are quarantined before planting.

Fauna: 5 silver tip (Golden needle) tetra, 7 cardinal tetra, 1 bumble bee goby, 4 mini lily(I think that are in the apistogramma family, not sure of their scientific names.), 5 otto, 3 yamato shrimps and 2 SAE.



Fauna are still in my quarantine tank supposingly to add after tank are cycled.

I have never tested any of my aquarium water perimeters before and this is my first time so,

Questions:
1. From what i see, 4 days and test results showed tank is cycled and ready for my fauna? So fast? I used to cycle my tank for at least 3-4 weeks thou i don't test water perimeters.

2. I would like to find out what is on my old black driftwood. I've never encounter this before. IME, looks like excessive protein but how it get sticks on driftwood and looks like mold? I tried siphoning with small tubing but can't get them off, seems like i have to take it out to wash them.







3. Previously i was using a 2ft UP Pro Z series LED light in the font and aquazonic at the back for 3 days. All my other plants pearl except glosso. So i went to get the green element EVO plant LED to replace my UP LED. It's my first time with glosso, it's pearling after i changed my lights last night and it looks healthy to me. I supposed i got quite high light and co2 but it's growing upwards? Could it be something wrong with how i planted them? Didn't plant them in plantlet, plant in clumps. So what should i do?

4. During initial cycling of tank, what liquid fertiliser do you guys dose? Or you don't have to dose anything?


Finally my tank:


Thanks in advance.

kev.

[Shadow]

Your substrate is mix and match from many different brand, I hope you know what you are doing.
Your light, 96 watt is a lots, especially half of it is LED
Your ammonia 0 maybe due to seachem prime
The white thing on the wood is fungus, normal.
What brand is your drop checker? Do you use kH = 4 solution on your drop checker?

[milk_vanilla]

Are you deliberately splash the water surface? It would gassing co2 out easily.

If not, better top up the water till almost overflow, it will give infinity look

[kevdead]

Your substrate is mix and match from many different brand, I hope you know what you are doing.
Your light, 96 watt is a lots, especially half of it is LED
Your ammonia 0 maybe due to seachem prime
The white thing on the wood is fungus, normal.
What brand is your drop checker? Do you use kH = 4 solution on your drop checker?

Hi Shadow,

I'm going to remove the light tube soon, still monitoring. I am afraid of the algae as well and since i'm cycling the water, i believe cannot add cleaning crew until cycled. But honestly, this is the first time i'm using led so i am not sure if it's as good as T5, don't wanna risk my plants dying off or until they show deficiency. Sorry, typical singaporean here. Haha!

I've research my substrate mix for a few months before i started this tank. It is my first try on this substrate mix as well. Most of my research are base on barrreport forum. The research of this substrate mix is simple because i have huge left over of gex soils from previous tank. IME, gex soil are only good for the first 6 months without substrate mix and thereafter loses it's nutrients (i've tested it with HC and some stem plants) first 6 months healthy and growing and after 6 months hc started melting and some stem plants show deficiency. So in order to reuse them in a cheaper way rather than using power sand and all the ADA base powder, i came up with this substrate mix. (Hope it works, else i foresee a redo)

I am using ANS co2 solution, the bottle and leaflet didn't tell what is the content? Is there a better and accurate brand? What should i look for?

How do you usually remove the fungus? Since i tied my ferns and moss on the driftwood, can i wash it with running tap or anti-chlorine water?

Ohh, one more question, i just tested my KH and GH, KH is 143.2ppm and GH is between 200-400ppm. What is a appropriate KH & GH hardness for both fishes and plants and how do i maintain the hardness of the water and bring the hardness down to desire ppm without using chemical? Large water changes?

Are you deliberately splash the water surface? It would gassing co2 out easily.

If not, better top up the water till almost overflow, it will give infinity look

Hi milk_vanilla,

Yes, deliberately, cause lighting period ending soon so i raise it for aeration for the night. Yeah, going to do water change and top up later. Thanks for reminding me.

[Shadow]

Good if you have research before hand. Maybe it work, Florapol is base fert.

For ANS drop checker you need to dilute the test solution with kH = 4 solution instead of tank water as mention in the manual. There are other brand that does not require to dilute, CAL aqua. etc.

Fungus will disappear by itself, shrimps will also eat it.

[AQMS]

Your lighting hour are from 11am to 9pm, too long for a start plus with your powerful light set
you have a high chance of getting algae.

[kevdead]

Good if you have research before hand. Maybe it work, Florapol is base fert.

For ANS drop checker you need to dilute the test solution with kH = 4 solution instead of tank water as mention in the manual. There are other brand that does not require to dilute, CAL aqua. etc.

Fungus will disappear by itself, shrimps will also eat it.

Thanks!

Any idea where to buy CAL aqua? I just came back from east ocean and they don't carry it.

[kevdead]

Your lighting hour are from 11am to 9pm, too long for a start plus with your powerful light set
you have a high chance of getting algae.

Hi zerofighter101.

Yes, already spotted algae. Performed 50% water change and removed aquazonic light set. Reset photo period to 8hrs (12pm-8pm).

[Shadow]

NA should have it, there are other brand like Dennerle if not mistaken also pre-mixed with kh = 4 solution

[Urban Aquaria]

Ohh, one more question, i just tested my KH and GH, KH is 143.2ppm and GH is between 200-400ppm. What is a appropriate KH & GH hardness for both fishes and plants and how do i maintain the hardness of the water and bring the hardness down to desire ppm without using chemical? Large water changes?

Those numbers look okay, maybe can consider it slightly hard... good for mollies and guppies.

Our local tap water total hardness is around 50-100ppm, so water changes could probably help to reduce or slow down the increase in hardness somewhat... though if you have a fair bit of rocks in the tank (i see quite a few rocks with white stripes in your current setup), they may still slowly increase the hardness and pH of the water over time.

[kevdead]

NA should have it, there are other brand like Dennerle if not mistaken also pre-mixed with kh = 4 solution

Thanks shadow. Will go look for Mr Chan soon.

[kevdead]

Those numbers look okay, maybe can consider it slightly hard... good for mollies and guppies.

Our local tap water total hardness is around 50-100ppm, so water changes could probably help to reduce or slow down the increase in hardness somewhat... though if you have a fair bit of rocks in the tank (i see quite a few rocks with white stripes in your current setup), they may still slowly increase the hardness and pH of the water over time.

Hi Urban,

But is the hardness suitable for the plants or the plants will adapt to the hardness?

Oh no, so in order to combat the increase of hardness from the rocks, daily or weekly water change? In your experience, would weekly water change suffice to reduce or slow down the increase of hardness?

Thanks in advance.

[li_gangyi]

My personal experience with GH (I have fairly low GH straight from the tap and have to add CaSO4 and MgSO4 every water change for my plants to grow well) is that plants don't mind if the GH is high, if it's low you might notice some stunting especially if you have alot of light that drives growth).

[Urban Aquaria]

Hi Urban,

But is the hardness suitable for the plants or the plants will adapt to the hardness?

Oh no, so in order to combat the increase of hardness from the rocks, daily or weekly water change? In your experience, would weekly water change suffice to reduce or slow down the increase of hardness?

Thanks in advance.

Higher gH water isn't a problem for most plants, it is a measure of magnesium and calcium in the water. As li_gagnyi mentioned, at reasonable levels it is good for their growth. So its no issue for plants.

Hard water is only an issue for certain fishes and shrimps, those that are okay in hard water or a wide range of parameter will have no problems, but those fishes and shrimps that specifically need softer water are the ones which may encounter problems. If you are planning to keep those soft water specific fishes and shrimps, then you'll need to adjust the tank parameters.

I guess its a matter of either choosing suitable fauna to fit existing tank conditions, or designing the tank to suit specific fauna.

[kevdead]

My personal experience with GH (I have fairly low GH straight from the tap and have to add CaSO4 and MgSO4 every water change for my plants to grow well) is that plants don't mind if the GH is high, if it's low you might notice some stunting especially if you have alot of light that drives growth).

Higher gH water isn't a problem for most plants, it is a measure of magnesium and calcium in the water. As li_gagnyi mentioned, at reasonable levels it is good for their growth. So its no issue for plants.

Hard water is only an issue for certain fishes and shrimps, those that are okay in hard water or a wide range of parameter will have no problems, but those fishes and shrimps that specifically need softer water are the ones which may encounter problems. If you are planning to keep those soft water specific fishes and shrimps, then you'll need to adjust the tank parameters.

I guess its a matter of either choosing suitable fauna to fit existing tank conditions, or designing the tank to suit specific fauna.

Thanks guys. Think is time to look for fauna for my tank.

Will update with my plant growth soon.

Cheers.

[kevdead]

My personal experience with GH (I have fairly low GH straight from the tap and have to add CaSO4 and MgSO4 every water change for my plants to grow well) is that plants don't mind if the GH is high, if it's low you might notice some stunting especially if you have alot of light that drives growth).

Higher gH water isn't a problem for most plants, it is a measure of magnesium and calcium in the water. As li_gagnyi mentioned, at reasonable levels it is good for their growth. So its no issue for plants.

Hard water is only an issue for certain fishes and shrimps, those that are okay in hard water or a wide range of parameter will have no problems, but those fishes and shrimps that specifically need softer water are the ones which may encounter problems. If you are planning to keep those soft water specific fishes and shrimps, then you'll need to adjust the tank parameters.

I guess its a matter of either choosing suitable fauna to fit existing tank conditions, or designing the tank to suit specific fauna.

Thanks guys. Think is time to look for fauna for my tank.

Will update with my plant growth soon.

Cheers.

[blitz2003]

i think once it bloom will be nice ....