New 2-ft setup

[Desewer]

Was on a 4-ft monster in 2004-2005 and thought I'd restart the hobby.

My new tank ( L24xW12xH18 ) is here:





Plants
Vallisneria spiralis
Hygrophilia polysperma
Microsorum pteropus (1 block)
Microsorum pteropus "Windelov" (2 blocks)
Cryptocoryne wendtii
Echinodorus sp. (can't really tell because it's too small at present)
another Crypt (also un-identified at present)

Fish
15 Cardinal tetras
06 Black Neon tetras
01 orange molly
02 Penguin tetra (I think. Too small for me to ID)
05 Yamato shrimp
02 Corydoras sp.
02 Golden algae eater

Equipment
Cheapo black sand and some cheapo Taiwanese base fertilizer
Eheim Liberty (the middle-sized one) with ceramic rings inside
Hydor co2 diffuser
2-litre co2 cylinder from NA (1 bps, 24hrs)
2x36W PL at 11hrs daily
Lushgro Aqua

Water Parameters
pH: Didn't bother to measure.
kH: Ditto.
temp: room temp. Don't have a thermometer, don't plan to have one either.
co2: No idea. 1bps/24hrs for your info.

Problem
#1 - The plants aren't pearling at all, but there are no algae blooms of any kind whatsoever. I'm guessing that the tank is still settling in (less than 3 weeks old) and hence the plants aren't accustomed yet and could still be rooting to the substrate.

#2 - Every day or every other day, I find one single Cardinal belly-up in the tank. It looks like it's been nipped at the belly but I don't have any large predatory fish in the tank! Weird, huh? I'm still monitoring the situation and until the plants settle in, I'm resigned to losing one Cardinal every other day to unknown reasons.

[JadeIceGreen]

Great details! Thanks for taking the time to write everything out.
All the best for this new scape and welcome back into the hobby!!!

[a4su]

hi,are u using black quartz gravel?any fert added?

[Desewer]

I think it is black quartz. Some of the bits look a little on the shiny side. Yes, base fert added. Am I doing something wrong or bad for the tank? Please let me know, thanks!

p.s. My plants are not showing any signs of growth even though it's been 3 weeks. I don't know the reason why. At least they're not dying.

[newtank]

refreshing to see someone using a filter other then a cannister for planted tank....wll have to follow this thread to see how it progresses

[Desewer]

I'll take a few more pics later today. It seems that the polysperma (hope I ID'd the plant correctly) is finally putting out new leaves and I am also starting to see the ferns putting out new leaves too.

Vallis doesn't seem to be growing. Crypts neither. Somehow I am amazed that other bro's tanks here (check other threads) has noticeable and significant growth after just a few days. Mine has been up for a month and I still can't see any growth.

Upped the co2 to 2bps/24hrs and saw some bubbling on the ferns' leaf undersides, but only after at least 5-6hrs into the light time.

As for the filter, I chose a non-canister because my tank is located in the living room and my kids' toys are there too. I don't want a situation where by daughter would fidget with the canister. I think the Liberty provides the full range of filtration to meet my needs (mechanical, biological). Was also considering a JUWEL internal power filter but decided against that after I found out that they had stopped producing that particular filter model. Hang-on filters are clean (no messy hoses) too! :-)

[Shadow]

Somehow I am amazed that other bro's tanks here (check other threads) has noticeable and significant growth after just a few days. Mine has been up for a month and I still can't see any growth.

Upped the co2 to 2bps/24hrs and saw some bubbling on the ferns' leaf undersides, but only after at least 5-6hrs into the light time.

It depend on the substrate and plant it self. Fertile subtrate will make your plant grow faster. Some plant sell at LFS is typically grown emerse thus need time to adapt to submerse condition. Some plant grow slower than others.

Suggest to reduce the light to 10 hours maximum. According to Amano, plant stop photosynthesis after 10 hours even though the light still on.

[Desewer]

Thanks for the inputs. Will adjust my light timer accordingly.

Today I planted 3 new plants into my tank:-

1. Rotala rotundifolia (Rotala indica) about 8 stalks.
2. HC on a rectangular pad (for easy lawn-making!) one pad only.
3. Hydrocotyle (should be mariitima) about 8 stalks too.

Also removed and re-tied one block of Windelov back onto the wood it was attached to.

Someone told me that in order to boost or promote fern growth in Java ferns and its variants, you just have to snip off all the leaves, leaving only the rhizome? Has anyone tried this and found that growth was significantly faster?

[Shadow]

Tried that, not sure faster or not. The idea is because the fern you bought from LFS is grown emerse thus when you put it under water after a while it will melt and foul your water.

You can try it out, once with all the leaves cut off and one without, see which one faster

[rayade76]

nice bro,

thanks for sharing

[Desewer]

Ok! Finally starting to see signs of growth in the plants. More spores with roots sprouting from the higher leaves of my Java fern, the polysperma is slowly but surely reaching towards the water surface, I see new shoots from the blocks of Windelov. The HC seems to be having trouble adjusting to my tank.

After reading some articles on co2 and water movement, I decided to max out my filter volume (using the knob). Previously I was running the filter at maybe 30% capacity because I felt that slower water passing through my filter would be better for biological filtration. After all, I *am* using a hang-on filter and I don't have much filter volume to effectively filter the harmful nitrates. Now that it is running at 100% volume, there is more surface water movement and you can also see some leaves swaying here and there. Hopefully the co2 will be dispersed more uniformly in the water now.

Will try to post pics when I can.

[blue33]

Leaves sway here and there... hopefully our thread is not effecting your plant grow...

[sandeepraghuvanshi]

Are you using any fertlizers?
You will need fet of some type.

[Desewer]

Here's a few new shots of my tank.





Note that there isn't much growth in the rooted plants at all. After 4 entire weeks in the tank, the polysperma is only just starting to reach for the surface. I'm suspecting the black quartz has something to do with the stunted growth. Now looking to replace the black quartz with lapis sand.

[Desewer]

After rescape.

[Desewer]

All the Vallis are wilting and yellowing. Crypts are melting. To address this problem, I bought a botlte of LushGro Micros and started adding a few drops daily starting yesterday. Hopefully the plants will be revived by next week.

Also ordered a pot of tenellus and a plantlet of ozelot to cover the front patch and replace the corymbosa respectively.

[sandeepraghuvanshi]

What is the grain size of your substrate, not lear from the picture.
Seems like large grained substrate.

[Desewer]

The grain size is now 1mm-3mm in diameter. Is there a relation between grain size and plant growth? I always thought they were not growing because I held back on dosing nutrients.

[Jungle-mania]

Your plants are melting because of your water change, the change in water parameters causes them to melt. Hold back your fert for a week, as you might get a spike in nitrate since it is undergoing another new tank syndrome. Get an air stone too, I notice that eversince we used chloramine in our water, the fishes are dying or suffering, using anti-chloramine is no guarantee for their health.

[Desewer]

Hmm you have a valid point there about the new-tank-syndrome. I tried to replace the water (during the re-scape) with 50% from the tap and 50% from the old tank water. I was also about to do a 50% water change tomorrow. Or should I stick to 10-20% changes daily?