Starting a Planted Tank

[Plantbie]

Thanks, will pay a visit to Keong Seong these days.

[Plantbie]

Question 1:

I have not been to Ah-Pek, Teo or Keong Seong's shop/farms. I went down to Serangoon's Rainbow and Taiwanese shop.

How's the price and variety of plants as compared to Teo's Ah-pek and KS?

Question 2:

Where can i get those tweezers, scissors, and sand leveler for aqua-Lanscaping use?

Sorry for asking too many questions

[DEA]

there's no need to compare
you will not find any lfs selling cheaper than teo's
i once got enough undulatus to plant my whole tank at one shot for 25 bucks
one pot (3~4 plants) would have cost me 2~3 dollars at the very least
i got 100 plants for 25 bucks
they're excellent for c. wendtii too

as for the tweezers, nature aquarium is quite a good place to find the things u mentioned

[Plantbie]

Thanks... Will try to get to Teo's farm this weekend

[Simon]

some lfs get their plants from Teo, go there and c it yourself.. u will appreciate the price u pay for the plants

[Plantbie]

Thanks Simon. Planning to go down to nature later to get my Co2, Lights and substrate 1st.. Probably tomorrow to Teo's side....

[Plantbie]

Finally got back with all my required equipments (5 Litre CO2 tank , 2 X 36w PL Lights, gravel and fertilizer) with some Ricca from Nature.

My 2 ft Tanks was setup with Ricca planted on steel mess. Can see that the Ricca is trying to creep out of the holes on the messes. Good Sign

Question
I got a manual regulator for the CO2 tank. Bubble counter set to 1 BPs.

a. Can i leave the CO2 supply thru-out the night?

b. And is 1 Bps enough?

Thanks for all help rendered

[David Loh]

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On 8/10/2002 9:31:43 PM

Finally got back with all my required equipments (5 Litre CO2 tank , 2 X 36w PL Lights, gravel and fertilizer) with some Ricca from Nature.

My 2 ft Tanks was setup with Ricca planted on steel mess. Can see that the Ricca is trying to creep out of the holes on the messes. Good Sign

Question
I got a manual regulator for the CO2 tank. Bubble counter set to 1 BPs.

a. Can i leave the CO2 supply thru-out the night?

b. And is 1 Bps enough?

Thanks for all help rendered


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DON'T LEAVE THE CO2 RUNNING OVERNIGHT ! Your fishes will die from CO2 poisoning. Get a timer, hook up your lighting and CO2 on the timer and let it run for about 10-12 hours per day. 1 bps is fine, but some plants needs more CO2, so it varies between 1-3 bps.

[Simon]

the bps varies from tank to tank, u gotta observe.. having yr CO2 running 24/7 will risk getting yr fishes poisoned like wat david pointed out, u can rememdy it by using a airpump at nite.. IMO, if u tank is heavily planted, u shldnt have to worry.. a good sign if u wanna know if yr plants r getting enuff CO2 is by looking at yr riccia, u have to observe how long it takes for them to produce O2 pearling..

[DEA]

what is your mechanism for getting the co2 dissolved? reactor, diffusor, or simply having the tube in the water? diffusors don't dissolve that efficiently, and they're not so much of a risk for co2 poisoning
at any rate, it's not economical to leave the co2 on 24/7

for diffusors i recommend at least 2~3 bps
for reactors, 1~2 should do
this is for a 2ft tank
my tanks are running on 5+ bps on an external reactor, but i'm using a skimmer, so the co2 levels never get too high

[Plantbie]

I dun really know whether it's a disfussor or Reactor.

I got this 5 Litre CO2 tank connector to a small Green container (filled w water)and outlet from this green container is a airpipe connecting to a 'Atomizer" to be placed in the tank.

Currently i will not be keeping any fish as i need to cycle the tank and let the Riccia bloom. So i guess CO2 will not pose a big issue.

When i have fish in the future, probably i will put an airpump to action.

Any comments? Thanks

[Simon]

thats a reactor, that green cylinder thing which is attached to yr outlet pipe.. u got add some algae eaters in during the cycling period to keep algae at bay

[hwchoy]

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On 8/11/2002 12:05:37 AM

I dun really know whether it's a disfussor or Reactor.

I got this 5 Litre CO2 tank connector to a small Green container (filled w water)and outlet from this green container is a airpipe connecting to a 'Atomizer" to be placed in the tank.

Currently i will not be keeping any fish as i need to cycle the tank and let the Riccia bloom. So i guess CO2 will not pose a big issue.

When i have fish in the future, probably i will put an airpump to action.

Any comments? Thanks
----------------

don't need airpump, just get a timer (assuming your CO2 has solenoid, ie does it have a power plug?) to synchronise your lights with the CO2. Control your bubbling rate and you should be fine.

[Plantbie]

Thanks Simon.

What types of algae eater do u recommed and where can i get it?

I planned to get some malayian shrimps and otos but dunno where..

[Plantbie]

Thanks Choy.

My CO2 tanks uses a manual regulator. Did not get a solenoid type cos got budget problem.

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On 8/11/2002 12:47:22 AM

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On 8/11/2002 12:05:37 AM

I dun really know whether it's a disfussor or Reactor.

I got this 5 Litre CO2 tank connector to a small Green container (filled w water)and outlet from this green container is a airpipe connecting to a 'Atomizer" to be placed in the tank.

Currently i will not be keeping any fish as i need to cycle the tank and let the Riccia bloom. So i guess CO2 will not pose a big issue.

When i have fish in the future, probably i will put an airpump to action.

Any comments? Thanks
----------------

don't need airpump, just get a timer (assuming your CO2 has solenoid, ie does it have a power plug?) to synchronise your lights with the CO2. Control your bubbling rate and you should be fine.
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[hwchoy]

no solenoid damn siong, suggest you start budgeting now!

anyway, you can get oto from Nature (where else) and also yamato shrimps, and get lots of malayan (like a 100 lah, quite cheap).

you can also get SAE but Nature I think recently got no stock. I found some at Pet Safari (small size, good for eating algae) around $1.5-2.00 depending how many you buy.

[hwchoy]

oh, when buying SAE make sure to get it from knowledgeable LFS unless you can tell the difference yourself. So far I only have faith in Nature, TB Ben and Pet Safari.

[David Loh]

I saw some saes, otos and yamatoes at Keong Seong the other day. Saes tends to grow pretty big like mine. Genuine SAEs has a black stripe that extends all the way to the tail end. Fake ones has the stripe stop just before the tail.

[Plantbie]

Thanks for all replies

When can i start adding these algae feeders? My 2ft tank was just setup last nite with several mesh of riccia and some long leaf plants..just for a start. My CO2 is running at 1 bbs 24/7 and using a 2 X 36W (6500k) PL light.

[Plantbie]

Question : Putting in rooted plants

I find it rather difficult to insert plants when the water level is high. Is is better to lower the water to a suitable level to put in plants?