Learning Journey: My first planted 2ft with CO2

[dwong]

Hi!

Thanks to all the advice from the pros here, I finally took the big step to setup my 2ft tank. I've been maintaining a small 13l low tech tank for the past year with gravel/anubias/java fern/tetras/RCS, but that experience in no way prepared me for setting up a 2ft with CO2. It was also the first time I'm using a canister filter, so lots of blunders along the way. My scape was really inspired by the Miracle scape (though far far from it) and a lot from UrbanAquaria's blog/posts.

Here's a shot of my tank on Day 5

Day5.jpg

Day 7 - 1 week!
Day 7 - 1 week.jpg

Here are my tank stats:


Tank Size: 60cm x 30cm x 36cm (Low Iron)
Substrate: ADA Aqua Soil New Amazonia 9l (Powder Type)

Filter System: Eheim Ecco Pro 300 / 13mm gUSH glass intake / lily pipe output
Filter Media: Seachem Matrix
Temperature: NA


Lighting: Up Aqua Z-Series Pro LED 60cm x2
Light Duration: 8 hours


CO2 system: 2l from NA, ANS Nano Diffuser @ 3bps
Co2 Duration: 8 hours (start 1 hour before LED)
Carbon Supplement: Seachem Excel
Fertilizer: None
Fan/Chiller: None


Water Change Regime: 40% (20l) every two days in the first week, will change to 40% every three days in the second week ie now


Water Parameters:
Tested using API Test Kit for Ammonia and Nitrates


Ammonia = 4 ppm
Nitrite = Not tested
Nitrate = 5 ppm
pH = 6.5 (using SERA test kit)

Flora:
HC (foreground carpet)
Japanese Hairgress (carpet on 'hill')
Blyxa Japonica (background on 'hill')
Anubias Petite Nana on driftwood
US Fissiden on driftwood

[dwong]

Despite reading up a lot on AQ.com, I still made many newbie mistakes , sharing now so hope that others can learn:

1. Keeping soil damp while planting:
Somehow this totally slipped my mind, ended up planting with about 2 inches of water. Not so bad for planting, but I noticed that by not dampening the soil first, it tended to float a lot while pouring in the water (I did lessen the impact of the water by letting it flow onto a plate first), and it tended to erode some parts of the soil away from the slope.

2. Soaking driftwood
Should have done this earlier, bought my driftwood from GC, but only rinsed it dry. So the two things happened: floating DW (solved with some rocks) and the whitish stuff started appearing. Read that it's harmless, but still an eyesore.

3. Not securing the piping onto the lily pipe tightly enough.
This was a bad one. After setting up on Day 1, woke up the next morning to see half my tank water on the living room floor! I had setup my tank till 3am the night before, didn't push the rubber hose deep in enough onto the lily pipe for fear of breaking. Didn't think it would pop out but.... Remedied that morning by first dipping the hose into hot water, and then ensuring I pushed the whole hose right up to the protrusion for the sucker pad.

4. Empty CO2 container overnight.
Another bad one. I connected all parts of the CO2 on Day 2, left it overnight but woke up to find it totally empty on Day 3! After some troubleshooting, I narrowed down the cause of error to either the regulator not being tight onto the cylinder, or more likely the bubble counter. I'm using the ANS brass bubble counter, there's a small rubber o-ring on the outlet side (away from the check valve), that I put aside cos the CO2 tube couldn't fit in. Turns out that the rubber o-ring was supposed to go onto the check valve side connected to the regulator to create a seal. So next day I had to get a re-fill from NA, reconnect (ensured the regulator/tank was super tight) and put the o-ring at the bottom of the bubble counter.

[dwong]

So now it's Day 7. Good news is my top DW finally soaked in last night, I removed the rock on it and at the same time tried to rub off the whitish stuff. Ended up with bits all over aquarium though.

Just today, I suddenly noticed Green Spot Algae growing on the walls midway up. Not just that, but it also grew on my diffuser! I read that GSA is usually due to low light or low CO2, think my CO2 should be ok at 3bps (and the drop checker shows yellow), so would like to ask the experts here if I should reduce the lighting, or maybe add phosphates?

For the flora growth, Japanese Hairgrass and Japonica seem to be doing well and growing, Fissiden seems ok, but worried about my HC. Can't tell if they are growing or not, but if I reduce to one LED, would it be enough for the HC? Or reduce lighting time with two LEDs?

Also, to encourage HC growth, is this a good time to start trimming HC? When should I start dosing ferts? Tank should still be cycling with the presence of ammonia.

[Urban Aquaria]

Looks good!

Your experiences with the loose filter hose + floor flooding and Co2 tank leak until empty is really like the ultimate trial by fire when setting up a new tank.

Green spot algae (GSA) is usually due to too much light. If you are currently using 2 sets of the lights, maybe reduce to one set instead (since the plant density is low at the moment), so that the algae does not take advantage of the excess amount of light.

Your HC may not show much growth for the first week or two, as it is still establishing roots (where it'll get most of its nutrients). Once it settles in, you will see them shoot out runners and new leaves very soon.

Only trim the HC if there are any odd stems which somehow grow vertically instead of crawling, or once its gets too thick and the top layer is shading the bottom.

Consider dosing trace/micro ferts (an all-in-one solution would be good), although the ADA aquasoil will provide lots of ammonia in the beginning, its usually the trace nutrients that tend to run short as the plant are consuming them fast, so dosing trace ferts can help cover any deficiencies.

[Shadow]

... think my CO2 should be ok at 3bps (and the drop checker shows yellow),...

Did you dilute the test solution with tank water? If the drop checker manual say it need to be diluted, use kh4 solution. Otherwise what you see is just the pH of your tank water.

...if I reduce to one LED, would it be enough for the HC? Or reduce lighting time with two LEDs?

HC is pretty OK with medium light but since you are using LED, I cant really comment . LED vary greatly from brand to brand unlike fluorescent light.

When should I start dosing ferts? Tank should still be cycling with the presence of ammonia.

You can start dosing K, P, trace and Fe.

[AQMS]

3. Not securing the piping onto the lily pipe tightly enough.
This was a bad one. After setting up on Day 1, woke up the next morning to see half my tank water on the living room floor! I had setup my tank till 3am the night before, didn't push the rubber hose deep in enough onto the lily pipe for fear of breaking. Didn't think it would pop out but.... Remedied that morning by first dipping the hose into hot water, and then ensuring I pushed the whole hose right up to the protrusion for the sucker pad.

You can actually use a lighter to heat up the end tube before pushing the hose into it,heat it not burn it
It is good to make mistakes,learn from it. In this hobby,you need to get your hands wet to get a nice aquascape.
Anyway good job on your 1st tank

[dwong]

Looks good!
Your experiences with the loose filter hose + floor flooding and Co2 tank leak until empty is really like the ultimate trial by fire when setting up a new tank.

Yeah, it's like Murphy's Law, anything that could have gone wrong... almost did!

Green spot algae (GSA) is usually due to too much light. If you are currently using 2 sets of the lights, maybe reduce to one set instead (since the plant density is low at the moment), so that the algae does not take advantage of the excess amount of light.

Thanks for the tip! I took out one of my lights, together with scrubbing using a magnetic scrubber, the GSA seems to be under control. I'm still worried that the HC is not getting enough light, since I thought HC is supposed to be a high-light plant, but yeah, seems to be so far so good.

Your HC may not show much growth for the first week or two, as it is still establishing roots (where it'll get most of its nutrients). Once it settles in, you will see them shoot out runners and new leaves very soon.

Only trim the HC if there are any odd stems which somehow grow vertically instead of crawling, or once its gets too thick and the top layer is shading the bottom.

Comparing with the initial plantings, the HC clumps are getting larger and thicker, but at the same time some parts are browning/yellowing. Hope it's just the usual growth where the weaker plantings die off and not a sign of stunted growth...

Consider dosing trace/micro ferts (an all-in-one solution would be good), although the ADA aquasoil will provide lots of ammonia in the beginning, its usually the trace nutrients that tend to run short as the plant are consuming them fast, so dosing trace ferts can help cover any deficiencies.

Yup, I've a bottle of Tropica Premium, dosed once on Day 9, but didn't continue cos a few days after that I noticed hair algae, now waging a war against that.

[dwong]

Did you dilute the test solution with tank water? If the drop checker manual say it need to be diluted, use kh4 solution. Otherwise what you see is just the pH of your tank water.

Hmm, I'm using the ISTA one, the manual doesn't say diluting, just states (actually rather vaguely) to fill up the drop checker with the provided solution, and test directly. Do I need to dilute?

HC is pretty OK with medium light but since you are using LED, I cant really comment . LED vary greatly from brand to brand unlike fluorescent light.

So far, after dropping to one LED, seems ok, hope it works out too!

You can start dosing K, P, trace and Fe.

That's what I was wondering too, cos Amazonia is supposed to be well loaded with Ammonia, so the 'N' is accounted for, but seems to lack K, P and trace. Still, with my current hair algae outbreak, quite hesitant for the time being.

[dwong]

You can actually use a lighter to heat up the end tube before pushing the hose into it,heat it not burn it
It is good to make mistakes,learn from it. In this hobby,you need to get your hands wet to get a nice aquascape.
Anyway good job on your 1st tank

Thanks! Still much much to learn, and have been getting my hands wet both figuratively and literally pretty much every day so far maintaining and scrubbing off algae!

[dwong]

Day 12:

Tested:
Ammonia: 3-4ppm
Nitrates: 5ppm

Day 12s.jpg

Japonica and Hairgrass ok, there's less of the whitish mold stuff on the DW, and I removed the other rock too cos the DW seems to be waterlogged enough.

Strugging with a sudden outbreak of hair algae now:
Day 12 - Hair Algaes.jpg

Took a good look at my tank yesterday, to my horror I noticed hair algae everywhere, on the DW, on the rocks, even some on the hairgrass and HC! Have been manually removing, but it's tedious work. Not too sure what caused it though. Read up on the net that Hair Algae is usually due to poor water flow or low CO2, but with my CO2 cranked up to 3bps, and water flow looks ok, HC is slightly swaying, not sure what caused it.

Could it be too much light? The hair algae is worse right at the top of my DW. I adjusted the DW so that it isnt directly under the LED, hope it helps.

I've been reading up on others who have experienced hair algae, seems to be one of the most difficult to handle. Nuking with excel is probably not such a good idea with fissidens present. I could turn up the CO2 though it seems already high. Or maybe reduce lighting time?

Yamato shrimps have been reported to work well against hair algae, so I'm sorely tempted to get some for the tank but two things are holding me back (1) tank not really cycled yet (2) haven't pinpointed the source so far, so getting Yamato shrimps without solving the root of the problem may just be a temporary solution.

I guess an extreme solution would be to remove and totally clean the DW of the hair algae, but that would also mean removing all the fissiden...

[Urban Aquaria]

The hair algae probably hitchhiked in on some of the plants and is now growing quickly due to the lower initial plant mass not being able to utilize all the existing ammonia/nitrates and lights, hence it usually appears in new tanks that are still cycling.

Trace/micro ferts are usually not the cause of algae outbreaks. It would still be a good idea to continue dosing Tropica Premium as it contains the necessary trace/micro nutrients and potassium which are required for plant growth (ADA aquasoil already supply more than enough ammonia/nitrates and phosphates at the start), not dosing the trace/micros might create deficiencies and end up restricting plant growth even more, so they take longer to establish and allow algae to maintain a foothold.

As you don't have much fast growing stem plants in the tank (other than the Blyxa Japonica which are currently still a few small bunches), it'll also be good to do more frequent water changes to reduce the excess ammonia/nitrates that your current plant types and mass are not able to utilize anyways.

Though not essential, you could also try dosing Excel at the recommended dosage daily to help slow down the algae growth and provide extra carbon supplementation to the plants (some plants like HC seem to utilize it better). At the recommended daily dosage added to the water column, it is relatively safe for moss.

[dwong]

The hair algae probably hitchhiked in on some of the plants and is now growing quickly due to the lower initial plant mass not being able to utilize all the existing ammonia/nitrates and lights, hence it usually appears in new tanks that are still cycling.

Trace/micro ferts are usually not the cause of algae outbreaks. It would still be a good idea to continue dosing Tropica Premium as it contains the necessary trace/micro nutrients and potassium which are required for plant growth (ADA aquasoil already supply more than enough ammonia/nitrates and phosphates at the start), not dosing the trace/micros might create deficiencies and end up restricting plant growth even more, so they take longer to establish and allow algae to maintain a foothold.

Yeah, it's really annoying, once algae starts, it's really hard to get it out, seems that it's an exponential growth, and removing bits of it doesn't seem to help the situation at all.

As you don't have much fast growing stem plants in the tank (other than the Blyxa Japonica which are currently still a few small bunches), it'll also be good to do more frequent water changes to reduce the excess ammonia/nitrates that your current plant types and mass are not able to utilize anyways.

I think I'm gonna get more stem plants. I placed some of my hornwort that's growing in my 13l into the 2ft, but I'll still go get some stem plants to bulk up the background and help to soak up the nutrients. Looking the examples here and on the Tropica website, I'm thinking of getting Rotala Green, Hermianthus micrathemoides and Lindernia rotundifolia. Haven't seen these at Seaview, which is the nearest LFS to my place, so I'm going to EO tomorrow, I know for sure they have rotala.

Though not essential, you could also try dosing Excel at the recommended dosage daily to help slow down the algae growth and provide extra carbon supplementation to the plants (some plants like HC seem to utilize it better). At the recommended daily dosage added to the water column, it is relatively safe for moss.

Yup, I've been dosing it at the recommended dosage too. As for the moss...

[dwong]

Day 14 update:
Ammonia: 3-4ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm

Still not cycled due to my lower plant mass. I transferred some mature media ( small pack of SERA siporax mini) from my 13l to the 2ft filter, also mixed in some of the filter mulm, hope this helps.

To help cycle the tank faster, I've also added in some hornwort and will be getting more stem plants.

But it might be too late for the fissiden on my DW. I can barely seem them due to the hair algae, think I'll just remove the whole lot of fissiden and hair algae, and probably wait till my tank is fully cycled before trying again.

My HC, also not looking so good. Some are turning brown/yellow, and I can see hair algae in the many of the HC clumps. Can't introduce fauna to eat the algae yet, it'll be a death sentence with ammonia still relatively high. I guess what I could do would be to apply excel? Since I would already have removed the fissiden from the DW. Then again, reading online, there's a possibility the browning could be due the the emmersed HC dying off as it converts to the immersed form.... hmmm...

[Suzerolt]

To help speed up cycling, I've read that having good oxygen for the beneficial bacteria to grow is important. In particular, after lights are off - Use an air pump or lift up the inlet pipe for surface agitation.

[Ingen]

Day 14 update:
Ammonia: 3-4ppm
Nitrate: 10ppm

Still not cycled due to my lower plant mass. I transferred some mature media ( small pack of SERA siporax mini) from my 13l to the 2ft filter, also mixed in some of the filter mulm, hope this helps.

To help cycle the tank faster, I've also added in some hornwort and will be getting more stem plants.

But it might be too late for the fissiden on my DW. I can barely seem them due to the hair algae, think I'll just remove the whole lot of fissiden and hair algae, and probably wait till my tank is fully cycled before trying again.

My HC, also not looking so good. Some are turning brown/yellow, and I can see hair algae in the many of the HC clumps. Can't introduce fauna to eat the algae yet, it'll be a death sentence with ammonia still relatively high. I guess what I could do would be to apply excel? Since I would already have removed the fissiden from the DW. Then again, reading online, there's a possibility the browning could be due the the emmersed HC dying off as it converts to the immersed form.... hmmm...

I had the same issues previously. With the recommendation from the c328 boss, I purchased Ista Algae Remover, turnoff the lights for four days and follow the dosage. To my surprised most of the hair algae were gone and I continued the dosage for another 10 days. It has been two to three months now and no issues with hair algae thus far.

[dwong]

To help speed up cycling, I've read that having good oxygen for the beneficial bacteria to grow is important. In particular, after lights are off - Use an air pump or lift up the inlet pipe for surface agitation.

Do you mean at night or after the LEDs are off? I've also been reading, seems like the use of an air pump is recommended by some, but discouraged by others due to the dissipation of CO2. But yeah, turning it on after the lights are out might be a good compromise.

[dwong]

I had the same issues previously. With the recommendation from the c328 boss, I purchased Ista Algae Remover, turnoff the lights for four days and follow the dosage. To my surprised most of the hair algae were gone and I continued the dosage for another 10 days. It has been two to three months now and no issues with hair algae thus far.

Did you redose anytime after the initial 10 day dose? Sounds like you've managed to get the right balance of nutrients, CO2 and lighting too. During the start, when conditions are still fluctuating, every bit matters. Is this safe for shrimps and fish too?

[dwong]

Day 15 Update:

Well, I cleared out my DW of fissiden+hair algae.

Added a bunch of rotala sp green, rotala sp ranjenshan and lindernia rotundifolia (i think!). Couldn't find HM at EO though. I'm dosing Tropica Premium every alternate day too.

Here's a pic of my tank:
Day 15d.jpg

Good news is that I did a parameter test today, looks like my tank is finally cycling, Ammonia down to 0.5-1ppm, Nitrates up to 10-15. The addition of fast growing stem plants does seem to help a lot with cycling. I've also gone back to 40% water change every two days. Here's hoping the ammonia will drop some more.

I've also been spot dosing Excel, up to 2ml per night on selected areas with lots of hair algae. Tried on a patch last night, checked 24 hours later and the hair algae just disappeared! Will continue to spot dose and observe.

However, GSA is back, with a vengeance, but interestingly it's building up on the wall just above the substrate. This is kinda surprising though, since I've reduced my lighting period to only 6hours with only 1x LED. Had expected a dropoff of GSA with reduced lighting conditions, but it seems to continuing to spread. CO2 is still at 3bps, drop checker is showing yellow. Puzzling.

[Ingen]

Did you redose anytime after the initial 10 day dose? Sounds like you've managed to get the right balance of nutrients, CO2 and lighting too. During the start, when conditions are still fluctuating, every bit matters. Is this safe for shrimps and fish too?

I did, once a week as per the instruction, but stopped completed for 3-4 weeks now. No hair algae since I stopped but have spotted algae growing on the glass panels, back then it only have fishes in the tank, thus, I can't be share if it's shrimps friendly for share.

[dwong]

Week 4 update!

Week 4s.jpg

With my tank cycled one week ago (0 ammonia, 15ppm nitrates, yay!), I've finally begun to add some fauna in the past week. Started off with an initial algae crew of 2x otos, 5x fire shrimps and 2x horned nerite snails. I could see the otos getting to work on the white moldy stuff from the DW almost right away. However, I knew the 5x shrimp I had wouldn't make a dent in the hair algae in the tank. Had been deciding between Yamato shrimps and Malayan shrimps, I finally decided on the latter since Yamato shrimps would really look out of scale in the tank. When I chanced upon a bag of 100 Malayan shrimps at Seaview on Christmas day, bought it straight away. The effect is amazing, within two days all the hair algae had been cleared from the tank!

To supplement the diet for the shrimps and otos, I've begun putting in blanched zucchini and Hikari algae wafers. Interestingly, the Malayan shrimp didn't take too well to the algae wafers, instead choosing to go for the zucchini. I've also got some Ocean Nutrition Shrimp Wafers, the RCS in my other tank love it, will try that next.

I've also added 10x cardinal tetra to the tank as the main fauna over the weekend. One died, within a few short hours the Malayan shrimps had reduced it to bone! At least I don't have to worry too much about it fouling up the water.

I'm thinking of adding another 3 cardinals to make a decent shoal of 12. Tempted to add a secondary shoal of Celestial Pearl Danios, maybe 6, but not sure if they would mix with the cardinals. Still, at GC's tank, both cardinals and the CPDs (called Galaxy Rasboras) were kept in the same tank.

And of course, hope to add a zebra oto if I can find one ;P

I've also added a small USB fan to see if it can reduce the tank temp. Currently it's around 28-29 dec C.

I've actually been playing around with the idea of adding back the second Up Pro-Z LED light. Had removed one earlier due to algae issues. But now that the tank seems a bit more stabilized, tempted to put in back in to stimulate the HC growth. Of the plants in my tank, most are doing well (not pearling though, not sure why), but the spread of HC seems quite slow. Itchy to do something to see if the HC growth can be accelerated a bit.