Been lurking for a while, time to introduce!

[decidophobic]

Hello all! I've been spending a lot of time here reading up about tanks since around 4 months ago when I got my first shrimp tank. Found a lot of useful information here! Unfortunately I was too impatient and excited to get started, and also a bit cheapskate so I didn't get all the good stuff. My first tank hasn't been doing too well

So yesterday I popped down to C328 with the intention of restarting everything! This time I made sure to get all the proper stuff - ADA soil, cooling fan, test kit, etc. Got everything I wanted except a nice piece of driftwood since they didn't have any left. Hope you guys can give me some tips/advice on how to improve Thanks!

FlZfee2.jpg

[Sleepy_lancs]

Welcome back then to the hobby. If you are going back to shrimp tank then you might want to keep slower growing plants with low tech setup. Get some rocks or branches with either moss or java ferns for shrimps to nibble on. For the more adventurous you can put some crypts

[georgelam]

Hi. I really love you tank and would like to set up something similar. I have a 1ft nano tank. May i know what filter you are using and the plants that are in the tank. especially the small light green ones. Is that glosso? Many thanks

[thebaldingaquarist]

I think he is using gex slim filter and the foreground is glosso.

[decidophobic]

Hi Eric, I'm actually a she But everything else you said is correct! Gex slim filter and glosso, after I took the pic I also added some HC. Not sure how they will fare...

[georgelam]

Thanks Eric. Would it be a good idea to use a similar tank set up as her minus the cooling fan for guppies and/or neon tetra? Hi decidiphobic I'll be following this thread. interested to know how the plants and shrimps fare as well. Are there any shrimp inside now? And may I know where u bought ur glosso?


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[thebaldingaquarist]

Hi Eric, I'm actually a she But everything else you said is correct! Gex slim filter and glosso, after I took the pic I also added some HC. Not sure how they will fare...

Oh! So sorry! My bad.

Hc and glosso, nice combination to keep but a bit difficult to maintain as they intertwine each other after a while.

[thebaldingaquarist]

Thanks Eric. Would it be a good idea to use a similar tank set up as her minus the cooling fan for guppies and/or neon tetra? Hi decidiphobic I'll be following this thread. interested to know how the plants and shrimps fare as well. Are there any shrimp inside now? And may I know where u bought ur glosso?


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A set up like hers is good for the fishes you mentioned. But do note not to overstock your tank with too many fishes.

Also note the use of SMS lingo in this forum is frowned upon.

U = you

[decidophobic]

Thanks Eric. Would it be a good idea to use a similar tank set up as her minus the cooling fan for guppies and/or neon tetra? Hi decidiphobic I'll be following this thread. interested to know how the plants and shrimps fare as well. Are there any shrimp inside now? And may I know where u bought ur glosso?

I'm still cycling it at the moment, not planning to put in any fauna until much later. I did throw in two feeder guppies for fun though Everything was bought at C328. Since you're interested, I'll update this thread with the tank's progress!

[georgelam]

Hi! Any updates?


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[decidophobic]

Hi George! I actually started a blog for my daily updates. To summarize, My anacharis was doing very badly so I removed all of them, and now my hornwort looks quite sad too. My anubias flowered though! I added an oto to the tank as well; bad decision on my part, but it's still alive after 3 days so I guess it's not doing so bad

[wongce]

Nice blog, if not mistaken, the plant is not hornwort but fanwort.

[georgelam]

Hi! Great blog. Now I know what to expect when I set up my tank.


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[scentz]

I love your blog! So much effort made on this activity. Will be following it... Keep it up!

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[decidophobic]

Thanks wongce! I'm really not good at identifying all these plants haha.

Does anyone know what I should do for low pH? I put in some crushed coral for a while but it's still hovering around 6.0-6.4. My tap water is around 7.6.

[tetrakid]

Thanks wongce! I'm really not good at identifying all these plants haha.

Does anyone know what I should do for low pH? I put in some crushed coral for a while but it's still hovering around 6.0-6.4. My tap water is around 7.6.

I've heard of people using sodium bi-carb, or baking soda, to control pH. Worth experimenting with a tiny pinch, by first dissolving it in a litre of water. Anyone has ideas about this?

[decidophobic]

Thanks for the tip, tetrakid

I have a new problem now. My fanwort is dying. There were a couple of white buds that looked like they were going to flower anytime, but the whole stalk just broke off. All the leaves are falling off too. Anyone has any idea what's happening? I've been dosing Excel almost every day and Flourish maybe about 3 times since I started this tank 10 days ago. Could it be not enough light? I'm using Up Pro-Led-T-36 (0.5W x 7). Photo period is 2 x 6 hours daily with a 4-hour break in between. Another thing to note might be that they are below my HO filter, but slightly to the side. Maybe the current is too strong?

[thebaldingaquarist]

It could be light or CO2.

Do note that excel is not a CO2 replacement. it helps the plant as a CO2 supplement. So if plant mass increases, requirements for CO2 increases as well. once plant mass reaches a certain limit, the CO2 present in the water through natural diffusion at water surface will no longer be enough for the plants in the tank.

Thats when a hobbyist will look for Co2 injection.

[decidophobic]

I see, thanks Eric. Are there any plants that don't require CO2 injections? I'm hoping to keep this tank low-tech.

[thebaldingaquarist]

There are plenty of low requirements that will survive (note survive is not the same as thrive) with no co2 injections. I think you search for low requirement aquatic plants, you will get a good list. Some common ones are java ferns and moss.

That said, once you have many of such plants, you will also need some co2 injection. So the key is low to moderate amounts of low requirement plants. Not too much to warrant need of co2 injection. Balance balance.