My 1st & 2nd Attempts to set up a Planted Tank (3ft)

[arclaveus]

Hey guys, just found out abt tis forum from a LFS. Nice to meet ya all n hope to gain more knowledge from the veterans in this hobby!! Here r some pics of my first attempt in 02/04 Hope u all like it...

Day One of Setup - Pic 1


Day One of Setup - Pic 2

Unfortunately, my first tank got struck by some hairy kind of algae n the tank's plants slowly withered n died.

Then, after a year of trying to salvage the situation, i decided to clear up the tank and start all over This time round, i decided to choose a different theme....but i tink it seems a little out of sorts....maybe coz i love "carpet" like grass Here is a pic of my current attempt...hope it will not suffer the same fate

My Current & 2nd Attempt - Week 2 pic


Feel free to advice! Thanks!

[Nevada]

hi there,

you have a good start up with your first attempt. anyway, what i normally did is that i learn about the characteristic of the plants first before i bought it. maybe like how they grow, what are the tank requirement, izit a high light plant or low light plant.

from your 1 & 2 picture, the midground plants are meant to be the background. that plants grows better when it is planted to the soil.. it can grow on log but not as good as when plant it in...
for hair algae, it appears when your tank water have too much nutrition/excess nutritions. this happen either when you overdoze the CO2 or fertilization...

maybe you can spare with us what is your tank spec?from that info hopufully we can help you further ...

anyway nice try ...

[Simon]

just an add-on to Nevada, the plant on both corner (infront of the inlet pipe on the left and at the front of the glass on the right).. doesn't look aquatic

[juggler]

The first attempt looked good. Too bad it faded away.

If you like carpet effect in the foreground of your 2nd attempt, can try E.tenellus which is easy-growing. Your Anubias on the driftwood is from the first attempt? Since it is a slow-growing plant, won't it get spot algae being so close to the light source?

Keep it up!

[arclaveus]

Hey thanks for the comments guys, but i'm still rather new to all the plant names so i'm abit confused abt which plants u all r talking about. Anyway, the 1st tank was actually a pretty rush idea. Decided to jus get down to it n give it a try on the morning of CNY's eve. Went to the shop, asked for the necessary eqpt n then chose the plants, soil n stuff n started it all!

So i did as the LFS owner roughly instructed n let the water n new system run wif soil n base fertilizer in it for 3 hrs before adding the other plants besides the foreground short grass. Then i let the tank settle for another 3 days before introducing tetras n other small fish like cories, algae eaters etc.

As one of u guys commented, i tink my first tank's demise was largely due to over nutrition n Co2.....which led to the growth of hairy algae. So what shld be a rough guide which i can follow. Perhaps a rough idea of my current setup will help u guys give me a better idea of wad to do.

Current Setup:

Tank: 3ft x 1ft x 1ft Nismo
Lights: 3 ft Lamp 75watt x 2 PL
2.5 ft Lamp 30watt x 1 FL (1 tube ballast spoilt)
Total: Abt 170watt/abt 8hrs a day
Filtration: Eiheim Professional II
Co2: 2.0bps(but only when lights r on...or shld it be all the time?)
Sand: Erm...forgot the brand n type
Fertilizer: Aquasoil (Each layer 0.5inch, alternating with sand) Total: 5inches
Fauna: Many different species of cories, some catfish and 2 x algae eater. Adding shrimps soon plus tetras.
Flora: 1 x Dwarf Nana, 1 x FL: Anubias barteri, 1 x Long Leaf Nana, 1 x Ammannia senegalensis, 1 x Hydrocotyle sibthorpiodies, n the rest...not very sure... (pardon my ignorance in the names of the flora)
Additives: Seachem Flourish Potassium n Flourish Iron

If there is anything else u guys need to help me improve my current setup. pls shoot! Thanks!

[Nevada]

hi there,

i'm not very sure about this but i dun think cories are algae eaters and every shop has a different style of setting up tanks. the method tought to you shouldn't have any prob.

for the fertilisation, each brand have a different dosage. but no worries, they do have the instruction on how you should dose them ... gotta do a little bit of calculation. they normally calculate it by using Litres. it is better if you can let us noe the brand.maybe one of the members from AQ uses the same brand?

ur tank light is enough and so the filtration system. talking about your base fert, Aquasoil? u mean the power sand? looks like your tank contain ADA soil " AMAZONIA " if you are using this as the base fert, i dun really recommend it. it is actually sort of a harden clay. it do contain a little nutrition but it is not mean as base fert.
anyway, when you are using base fert, u've got to make sure that it does not directly expose to the tank water. if that happen algae will bound to appear.

like what simon says, some plants that are being sold in LFS are not meant for aquatic plants. so be sure about it

gd luck!

[arclaveus]

hi there,

i'm not very sure about this but i dun think cories are algae eaters and every shop has a different style of setting up tanks. the method tought to you shouldn't have any prob.

Hey there bro, i actually meant i haf 2 SAEs n other cories

For the fertilisation, each brand have a different dosage. but no worries, they do have the instruction on how you should dose them ... gotta do a little bit of calculation. they normally calculate it by using Litres. it is better if you can let us noe the brand.maybe one of the members from AQ uses the same brand?

Actually, i oso did mention the liquid fert i'm using...its Seachem Flourish Iron & Seachem Flourish Potassium I roughly noe wad u mean by administraing by calculation...thanks to another thread which i read in AQ which pointed me to the Tank Calculator. However, i still haf one question...how often do i administer liquid fert??

ur tank light is enough and so the filtration system. talking about your base fert, Aquasoil? u mean the power sand? looks like your tank contain ADA soil " AMAZONIA " if you are using this as the base fert, i dun really recommend it. it is actually sort of a harden clay. it do contain a little nutrition but it is not mean as base fert.
anyway, when you are using base fert, u've got to make sure that it does not directly expose to the tank water. if that happen algae will bound to appear.

Thanks for the info on exposing the base fert

like what simon says, some plants that are being sold in LFS are not meant for aquatic plants. so be sure about it
gd luck!

Got it! Didnt noe tt LFS do such a thing...thanks bro Simon n Nevada!!

[arclaveus]

Finally managed to get the names of the flora i haf in my tank. Here is my updated details of my curretn setup Pls give me pointers! Thanks you!

Tank: 3ft x 1.5ft x 1.5ft Nismo
Lights: 3 ft Lamp 75watt x 2 PL
2.5 ft Lamp 30watt x 1 FL (1 tube ballast spoilt)
Total: Abt 170watt/abt 8hrs a day
Filtration: Eiheim Professional II
Co2: 2.0bps(but only when lights r on...or shld it be all the time?)
Sand: Lapis
Fertilizer: ADA Aquasoil (Each layer 0.5inch, alternating with sand) Total: 5inches of Substrate n Base Fert combined
Fauna: 40 x Cardinal Tetra
24 x Rummie Nose Tetra
01 x Emperor Tetra (Freebie from LFS )
02 x SAE
10 x Different Types of Cories & Catfish
05 x Oto
09 x Yamato Shrimp
06 x Cherry Shrimp
05 x Blue-coloured Shrimp (Dunno name )
Flora: 1 x Anubias Congensis, 1 x Anubias barteri, 1 x Anubias Nana, 1 x Bacopa, 1 x Cabomba, 1 x Pennywort(Hydrocotyle leucocephala), 1 x Egeria Najas, 1 x Tiger Lotus(4 colour), 1 x Amazon Broadleaf(Echnidorus Bleheri)and 1 x Melon( Ech, Osiris)
Additives: Seachem Flourish Potassium n Flourish Iron

[Nevada]

just a few tips base on my experience, i dun really agree if you use ADA Aquasoil as the base fertilizer. like what i said before, that is not a proper base fertilizer...
and another thing is not to overload you tank. it will help you a lot in dealing with algae.anyway gd luck for your upcoming tank setup. hope it will help you in preparing for the coming tank setup

regards,
nevada

[Weirong]

From your pictures, it looks like your tank has too little plants. Plant heavily right from the start with fast growers to cycle your tank. Once your tank is established, the fast growers can be removed to make way for other plants you desire. Nanas are not recommended for new tanks as they grow too slowly.
I would also suggest planting using less types of plants. It would look more natural that way, unless you are going for a Dutchscape.

[Goondoo]

From your pictures, it looks like your tank has too little plants. Plant heavily right from the start with fast growers to cycle your tank. Once your tank is established, the fast growers can be removed to make way for other plants you desire. Nanas are not recommended for new tanks as they grow too slowly.
I would also suggest planting using less types of plants. It would look more natural that way, unless you are going for a Dutchscape.

I don't really agree with getting all the hungry plants to start off a tank. Especially for a beginner whom are not aware what fertilising are really all about. He must be willing to test the tank's N and P atleast once every 2-3 days to keep up with the requirement and not depending solely on the instructions/notes of the bottles of the "miracle potions". Failing to understand the consequences will mean even more algaes due to lack of nutrients like CO2, N or P etc.

Just my two cents...

[Weirong]

I don't really agree with getting all the hungry plants to start off a tank. Especially for a beginner whom are not aware what fertilising are really all about. He must be willing to test the tank's N and P atleast once every 2-3 days to keep up with the requirement and not depending solely on the instructions/notes of the bottles of the "miracle potions". Failing to understand the consequences will mean even more algaes due to lack of nutrients like CO2, N or P etc.

Just my two cents...

But a new tank shouldn't be needing too much fertiliser right? N there are those common plants like Vals and swords that grow fast without the use of plant ferts.
With the amount of lights he's using, more plants are needed. Otherwise, the algae will come again real soon.

[Goondoo]

But a new tank shouldn't be needing too much fertiliser right? N there are those common plants like Vals and swords that grow fast without the use of plant ferts.
With the amount of lights he's using, more plants are needed. Otherwise, the algae will come again real soon.

If we are talking about a new tank, allow me to assume that we will normally only add one fish to start the Nitrogen Cycle. During which, the fish will only contribute Ammonia in the first week (guessing) while waiting for the correct bacteria to kick in, to nitrite, to nitrate blah blah blah (just to cut it short), the process was claimed to take about six weeks for completion.

Do you think it is possible that there will be enough NPK for the agressive plants? No doubt you can dose liquid ferts or depend on base ferts etc, in that case how would adding so much plants contribute to a "more recommended way" during the start up? And a beginner will normally tends to underestimate the power of algaes

I felt that its never easy to start a new hobby. I prefer to understand how the plants "comsume" its "food", so taking more trouble to test initially and understand how the plants "should" look like when they are healthy. Soon, I will be able to tell the water conditions based on the plant's growth like many experts here that don't even need to conduct any test to their tanks at all. However, bare in mind they all know how a healthy plant looks like and understand their growth, while a beginner won't until its too late.

Last but not least, its just me...
I believed there is millions hobbist out there with many times better knowledge than me that learned from their different ways.

[PeterGwee]

Are we wondering off topic?

Regards
Peter Gwee

[Goondoo]

Are we wondering off topic?

Regards
Peter Gwee

not really, an advise was given, an objection was raised

[PeterGwee]

Its an aquascaping section...
Please post relevant stuff...

Regards
Peter Gwee

[arclaveus]

Thanks guys for the valuable info...feel bad causing a comotion here... anyway i will repost this queries topic in another section...pls help me out over there! Thanks again!

[Nevada]

Are we wondering off topic?

Regards
Peter Gwee

[|squee|]

Nice tank there, although I'd personally remove the sword plant and replace it with something else. It looks a bit.. weird you see.

Plant more Nanas at the areas where the wood meets gravel. Leave the foreground empty, or you could accentuate it with Crypt. parva and still have the emphasis on the Nanas and wood.

Where are the fishes?

[Goondoo]

Where are the fishes?

Thats an OT too