Questions to ask on my very poor setup..

[kachang90]

I've slowly started adding the plants and the wood to my tank. As of now, the wood is still floating and ive weighed them down with stones except for the large floating one with moss. the pebbles are not strong enough to weigh it down. Here are some burning questions i have to ask..

1) Is it a must to add ferts

2) Gex soil no good? The fish shop uncle from colourful tropical aquarium (beside NA) said that gex soil is not good and magic soil is good. But the petmart uncle at Serangoon North told me that Gex was better than onyx and amazon.....

3) Are my hairgrass planted ok? will they grow? if so.. in which direction do they grow? will they spread evenly around or remain in clumps?

4) Can anyone identify the green plant in the centre of the tank?

5) Will all my plants grow well without CO2?

6) How do i clean the glass without causing scratches?

Lastly, anyone with any ideas to improve the tank setup.. What other plants can i get to place at the back.. The plants i have now are so small and ive no idea how long they will take to grow to a decent size..

Desperate noob..

[nataku]

That's alot of hairgrass.
They will grow and spread out to the rest of your tank but you will do better if you planted them more sparingly instead of such big clumps. Gex soil should do well, I myself use gex soil and have faced no problems with it so far.

Your tank seems pretty big, you can plant some big plants at the background or also some stem plants without worrying that they grow too fast since your tank looks pretty tall.

[windcharm]

Your soil thickness is not enough. You need more soil (depth) to grow rooted plants. Your hair glass need to spreadout more, too many strands in one position.

[beetlejuice403]

Hi kachang90, no worries as I'm sure there are many helpful ones who will chip in their share to help you in this hobby... My replies to your questions are in blue...

1) Is it a must to add ferts
Erm... It's not a 'Yes' or 'No' kind of thing, but what do you wish to see with regards to your plants' growth in the tank? Generally, if there are enough livestocks in your tank to provide the organic fertilisers (their poo), the plants should be able to derive their need for nutrients from it & grow - at a maybe slower rate; however, if you wish to see faster & more stunning growth rate of your plants, adding ferts (liquid, tablets etc) is the way to go. But do take note not to overdose as it may lead to algae problem in the end... A lot also depends on the types of plants you intend to keep in the tank. Some plants have slower growth rate (e.g. Annubias Nana), some plants don't really need much ferts (e.g. java moss)...

2) Gex soil no good? The fish shop uncle from colourful tropical aquarium (beside NA) said that gex soil is not good and magic soil is good. But the petmart uncle at Serangoon North told me that Gex was better than onyx and amazon.....
Ha! Ha! Went Colourful to get my Boraras Brigittae fishes & asked him about the Magic Rikki Soil also & same thing as he told you, Magic Soil is better than GEX... Personally, most of my tanks I used GEX, no complains - just that it breaks down after some time for the most bottom layer... Richard showed me that Magic soil does not & hence does not cloud the water as much when you disturb the substrate. There are many other options also with different price tag, choose one that you are comfortable with...

3) Are my hairgrass planted ok? will they grow? if so.. in which direction do they grow? will they spread evenly around or remain in clumps?
Maybe you like to break each clump into smaller clumps & spread them out more (unless you wish to localise them at a particular area). Hairgrass grows through runners - they will send runner roots along the substrate & then another few stalks of hairgrass will shoot out... You may also need to trim them if they get too tall, but the trim supposedly promotes further growth...

4) Can anyone identify the green plant in the centre of the tank?
Hmm... the leaves look like those I have from my Banana Plant leh... Sorry, but not that expert yet to be able to tell just from that pic alone... Maybe other experts please help...

5) Will all my plants grow well without CO2?
Again, it depends on the type of plants in the tank. All green plants need CO2 to photosynthesize, just that whether they need a lot or little CO2 [Whether to invest in a pressurised CO2 system, do a DIY set, inject liquid CO2 supplements or throw in those CO2 tablets]. CO2 are already present from the gaseous exchange from your livestocks via respiration. For some plants/ moss, they don't need much CO2 & can still grow. For some plants, the presence of CO2 will make it grow faster & better... All in all, it's about what plants you are getting for the tank & what kind of trimming frequency you are comfortable with. Remember, light intensity, fert regime & amount of CO2 in the tank is something you'll need to balance, if not, you may face other problems like algae outbreak, excessive CO2 posioning etc...

6) How do i clean the glass without causing scratches?
Use your hands, the safest method. However if to remove some algae (Green Spot or Brown Diatom) you may wish to use any of those unwanted cards to scrape them off the surface easily... Some bros recommend razor blade, but do use with caution. Or you may buy one of those glass cleaners with magnet on the outside so that your hands don't get wet...

Lastly, anyone with any ideas to improve the tank setup.. What other plants can i get to place at the back.. The plants i have now are so small and ive no idea how long they will take to grow to a decent size..
Can't really say much, maybe you go spend some time to browse through some of the bro/sis tank in AQ to get some ideas on the plants. Do also go read up about the plants too to know its temp, CO2, light, ease of keeping info...

Sorry for this lengthy reply, hope I helped you in some ways...

Cheers!!

[kachang90]

Woah!! Thanks for all the information man.. You posted this at 2 am? Are you nocturnal or something? Haha.. But thanks really for all the information..

[Shadow]

1) Is it a must to add ferts

Different people may have different answer for this but for me I will start ferts dossing since day one. There will be no fauna for the first couple of weeks anyway, so not afraid of over dossing it.

2) Gex soil no good? The fish shop uncle from colourful tropical aquarium (beside NA) said that gex soil is not good and magic soil is good. But the petmart uncle at Serangoon North told me that Gex was better than onyx and amazon.....

I've been using ADA without problem, reluctant to change to other brand unless it is significantly improved or cheaper

3) Are my hairgrass planted ok? will they grow? if so.. in which direction do they grow? will they spread evenly around or remain in clumps?

Should plant it in smaller clumb, direction wise can't tell, it is random.

4) Can anyone identify the green plant in the centre of the tank?

Need to go back and look on the book

5) Will all my plants grow well without CO2?

Depend on your lighting, higher wattage will require CO2 injection. Lower wattage does not reguide CO2 injection but not all plant grow well in low light.

6) How do i clean the glass without causing scratches?

Use those white filter wool or credit card also work

Lastly, anyone with any ideas to improve the tank setup.. What other plants can i get to place at the back.. The plants i have now are so small and ive no idea how long they will take to grow to a decent size..

I would say plant more, lots more, it is too empty now.

[d2sign]

1) Is it a must to add ferts
Depend on the plants and the result you want to achieve, in general, adding the right fertiliser will help most plant grow better, greener and bushy.

2) Gex soil no good? The fish shop uncle from colourful tropical aquarium (beside NA) said that gex soil is not good and magic soil is good. But the petmart uncle at Serangoon North told me that Gex was better than onyx and amazon.....
He told the same thing to everyone, maybe he earn more profit from magic soil. I also bought a small pack from him, but for shrimp tank not for planted tank, according to him, magic cycle faster compare to ADA and Gex, that's the only reason I try out magic.

3) Are my hairgrass planted ok? will they grow? if so.. in which direction do they grow? will they spread evenly around or remain in clumps?
You got 2 experts answer you already.

4) Can anyone identify the green plant in the centre of the tank?
Hydrocotyle verticillata, common name is Shield Pennywort. They are not really a aquatic plant IMO.

5) Will all my plants grow well without CO2?
Same answer as question 1, change "the right fertiliser" to "CO2"

6) How do i clean the glass without causing scratches?
I hope you mean inner glass. Expired credit card or buy those cleaning tool from lfs.

Lastly, anyone with any ideas to improve the tank setup.. What other plants can i get to place at the back.. The plants i have now are so small and ive no idea how long they will take to grow to a decent size..
Depend what you want to achieve too. Surf around, or refer to ADA annual books, got some useful step by step guide and display tanks, you will sure have a lot ideas to plan for your tank. Understand the different type of plant and their requirements, be patience, must understand that it take a lot of time and passion (and money too) to achieve a nice, full grow mature tank.

[kachang90]

Thanks for all the replies everyone.. I wanna get more plants too.. But im not sure if i should get all plantlets or get some matured plants for the backdrop.

[beetlejuice403]

Woah!! Thanks for all the information man.. You posted this at 2 am? Are you nocturnal or something? Haha.. But thanks really for all the information..

kachang90, almost turning nocturnal already... Serious insomnia problems... Busy 'talking' with my fishes, shrimps & snails...

As for whether to get matured big plants or young plantlets to start from scratch... again it depends on you. Are you the type who enjoys the process (& thus learn more about the plants & this hobby) of watching plants go through the growing phase & hence derive satisfactions - but this may take a longer period of time also (Hee hee... I'm this kind of person myself... ) or Do you just want to get BIG matured plants to plant into the tank so that you can enjoy your beautiful planted tank ASAP??

Actually in my own opinion, you have space in your tank for you to 'trial & error' with wide variety of plants that you are interested in, then you'll get to enjoy this hobby!!!

Regards.

[fishking]

Hi kachang90, you can try plants like Green Tiger lotus or the Red Tiger Lotus also....they look very nice and it is also quite cheap to get from LFS.

[luncheonMeat]

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4) Can anyone identify the green plant in the centre of the tank?
Hmm... the leaves look like those I have from my Banana Plant leh... Sorry, but not that expert yet to be able to tell just from that pic alone... Maybe other experts please help...

I think so too. i have 2 of that in my tank and also i had a thread asking bros to ID this plant. Most said Banana leaf if i remember correctly. Whatever it is, the plant i have, the stems already grew to the top of tank with a left opened up. i will post a pic next time.

Overall, i think you need to plant more.

Cheers!