Beginner Planted Tank

[oblivion]

1) Any shop to recommend tat is known to stock the eden 501? so at least i noe where to go if na dun have

or jus call every1?

2) estimated the range of seachem ferts can last how long if follow instrctions n dose acoordingly?

3) the diff kinds of Aquasoil is just color difference only rite? ie Africana, Amazonia, Malayan etc..
but heard alot abt Aquasoil disintegrating and also cannot dig out reuse in future. any insight?

4) how bout other brands? dennerle or ferka or wad? any gd dark grayish gravel?

5) hope to get all the plants i want together, so that can all plant in 1 shot n heavier plant mass to guard against algae

but seems hard to be able to find them together in same day.

if those that find 1st cnt jus lve em there n dun plant in 1st rite? they will die?

[|squee|]

1) I saw units at c328. Call them to ask.

2) Perhaps 2 months? They are liquids so you're essentially buying diluted chemicals we use. You can try them first, to understand completely what plants need. After that, it'll be easier for you to understand the chemicals we use often, or you can try other commercial ferts.

3) Yes it's mainly just colour difference. Yes, you can't do that for Aquasoil. It's not good for frequent rescapes. Otherwise it's a very good substrate to use. What I do when I change Aquasoil is to dig out the whole thing and use it for my potted plants at home and replace the tank with fresh Aquasoil.

4) Dennerle has dark coloured Quartz gravel but I'm not sure about the colour. Do a search will help. Ferka only has base fert (called Aquabase).

5) Leave them in a pail of water. It'll be better to get all the plants thus, Colourful Aquarium should be able to supply you with like 100% of the plants you want.

[oblivion]

Okay thanks!

So i suppose i can get started soon.
Prolly get SeaChem then... seems more "reusable" haha.
Just hafta put in more effort wash it clean b4 using.

any tips for initial setting up of tank equipment and planting in then cycling the tank?

[|squee|]

1. Styrofoam below the tank on the stand.

2. Try to keep the arrangement of equipment neat and safe. It turns me and most probably a lot others more when the first thing they notice about the tank is not it's scape but the mess around it.

3. Make sure the hoses for your filter are flexible, if not, change them at the shop.

4. Plant heavily. It doesn't hurt to buy extra pots of plants because all too often we underestimate what we need. Your tank needs to be heavily planted from the start.

5. Fill in water very gently so that you have minimum cloudiness. After setting the substrate, fill water to soak the substrate level, and plant in your short plants. After that, fill the tank to medium height to plant in your taller plants. Then fill it in all the way.

6. Remove as much of the rockwool as you can from the pots. Remove any dead/rotting leaves, wash the plants under water. Scoop up loose leaves floating at the top of the tank often.

7. Add Yamatos and fish one week after the tank has been setup. This duration depends on how fast your tank cycles.

That's all I can think of. Perhaps others will chip in.

[oblivion]

Hmm okay.

1) the styrofoam is to make sure its level right?

2) im not veri sure wat u mean by flexible hoses for filter? can u like elaborate abit for me? haha paiseh. i abit sua ku la...

3) i read smwhere tat b4 planting shd also trim off part of the roots and the leaves to encourage better growth initially. is tat true?

4) are yamatos a must? to guard agst algae? other shrimp types can?
if mus put yamatos den for my tank size nd how many? 20?

5) n r otos hardy? im thinkin when i start add fauna i will add ard 20 shrimps and 2 otos 1st.
wait another week or 2 den will add may abt 8-10 small schooling fish (ie rasboras or tetras), another week or 2 den add another 8-10 fish again.
tats my planned bio load ==> ard 20 small fish n 20 shrimps in total.
is tat bio load acceptable? too many?

[|squee|]

1. Yeap!

2. Flexible hoses are easier to "wire" around the tank. If like me, you have very inflexible hoses when I bought my filter, positioning was a problem because the hoses could not bend any way I wanted.

3. For the leaves yes, for the roots, I'd do so only for stemmed plants.

4. Well it's pretty standard, and they work. Other shrimp types can do also For your size... about 10 will do imho.

5. They are very fragile when first introduced, and once they get used to your tank they're almost indestructible. I have a oto still with me when I bought it when I first started my hobby. Good thinking on adding fauna after the shrimps and oto. 20 might be a tad too much, I'd go down to 15. That's my choice

[oblivion]

Okay. Then I'll revise my vio load.
Less fish is ok cos it means cleaner tank haha

1) during the initial stages how often change water n how much?

2) subsequently lets say all the fishes n evrythin are in alrdy, wld a wkly 30% change be fine? or 50%
see some thread some guys like change water very rarely - like once in months.
only top up water.

3) do the plants need flourish trace, excel and flourish iron?
or the rest mentioned earlier enuough alrdy?

4) any brand of cooling fan that is small n silent to recommend?

[Aquaspot World]

Plants are important right from the start. To avoid algae issues, always pack your tank with plants when you start planting.
We work with some of the biggest nurseries around the world, so we can always get most of the plants you will ever need.

[|squee|]

1) Change as per normal 50% every week.
2) 50% is always better. They don't need water changes because they're doing non-CO2 tanks.
3) Flourish trace is redundant I think. Excel is not needed if your CO2 is good. Flourish Iron... not sure. I'd include it if I feel a need for it.
4) Can't help you here.

[ranmasatome]

can i suggest that you dont use sms language?

[oblivion]

Went NA today and bought my stuffs.
Got a JBJ solenoid regulator, 36W e-ballast 8000K PL lights, and the ferts

they don't have Seachem onyx sand now. out of stock. only got onyx gravel
too big size grains for me so didn't buy. dennerle gravel looks good but quite ex at 47bucks a bag. seachem onyx gravel were selling at 25bucks in comparison. n dennerle still needs to use base fert.

NA says don't need flourish nitrogen and phosporus.
So I didn't buy them 1st.
Any comments about that?

Anyway they don't have Eden 501 in stock
Called C328 and they have. Perhaps popping down by there to get one after work on Monday since they close late.
they were recommending Hydor Prime 10.
Anything you guys can say about it?

[|squee|]

Your plants need some form of nitrogen and phosphorous supply, either from the substrate, the water, or both. Depends very much on what you do to your tank. Some people can get by with heavy feedings of their fish so that nitrogen and phosphorous are abundant, but most of us add nitrogen and phosphorous. LFSes can be wrong sometimes. Do a search around... many people add nitrogen and phosphorous to CO2-enriched tanks because the rate plants take up these elements surpass what fish can produce.

Can't help you on Hydor Prime 10.

[valice]

You could have gotten the ADA Amazonian... It is dark substrate... Although not as dark as Onxy...

[oblivion]

I didn't consider using ADA, since most people say that it disintegrates if you mess around with it too much.
Since i'm trying out some scaping here so think i don't want to waste the money on buying it, since i WILL probably be messing around with the scaping design initially.
No point taking the risk of paying for it only to have it disintegrate in front of me.
I got a small pack of ocean free base fert from my local lfs a few bucks (enough to cover my tank to around 1.5cm height) plus a bag of black color Angel gravel (10kg) for 9 bucks.
thought i'll just buy cheap and try out 1st.
tell you all the results in a week or two. =)

thanks for mentioning though!

[valice]

That is a good choice... Forgot that you will be doing abit of experimenting...
But with base fert, remember to take care that you don't pull too much of the base fert up into the water next time when you do your rescape...

[oblivion]

Yea, thanks for the reminder!

Got plenty of spare gravel from the big 10kg pack of bought. So planning to use some as "emergency cover" in case of any accidents.

Anyway i be concentrating mostly on plants like mini riccia/pellia, mosses, jap hairgrass and ferns so hopefully won't be disturbing the base fert much.

Btw, can i ask for scaping tips as in the kind of characteristics of the plants ie
- mini riccia
- mini pellia
- jap hairgrass
- spiky moss
- christmas moss
- taiwan moss

planning to have a centerpiece dw with rocks scattered around.
wondering which plant is more suitable as the foreground lawn, and which is suitable to tie onto the centerpiece dw and which to tie to the accompanying rocks.
so far i've decided on jap hairgrass as the midground plant around the dw and rocks and perhaps the ferns as backgrd.

any comments/suggestions?