Newbie to Planted tanks

[reaper78]

Hi Everyone,

I at a starting phase to buy appropiate equipments for my 2 x 1.5x1.5 ft tank.

As alot of term used here (including the plants scientific name sounds alien to me).

Neverthless, i have a few questions (which i believe has been asked before, so pls bear with me)

- Planning to use ADA powersand with ADA amazion 2 soil.
Qns: Do i need to wash it with fresh water before usage?

- I not sure if i should use the DSM or the conventional method by flooding the tank with water.
Qns: If i use the latter, i understand that it be best to plant in alot of plants right? Do i need to secure the plants roots into the gravel? Meaning literally 'dig' a hole in the gravel, plants the roots in and cover up with gravel or use a pincher to slowly lay the plants on top of the gravel? I sorry that it sound silly but i just want to adopt the correct method.

- During the cycling stage, i guess it be okay to practise frequent water change as cloudiness or excess nutrients might occur.
Qns: Dosing of Fertilizer into the water column is not recommended right?

- CO2 equipments
Qns: Is it better to place the diffuser near the bottom of tank as possible OR place it near the 'return' pipe of the canlister filter for better distribution of the Co2?

A million thanks to taking time to read and ur patience (& spelling error) to answer the questions. Pls free feel to correct should i express any invalid or wrong opinion. Cheers

[Desewer]

Hi there

Welcome to planted tanks!

Although I have no experience with ADA soil (I use base ferts and small-sized gravel e.g. Dennerle quartz sand) these soils in general will cause cloudiness the more you wash it. I've received a small amount of soil from another forumer once, and I thought I was supposed to wash before using. The more I washed it, the worse my water became. So, the ADA soil you should be able to use right out of the bag.

You can use DSM method if you plan on having a carpet lawn of your plants. Just fill the tank with water, up to the same level as your soil. This way, the roots of your plants will be submerged whereas the leaves, which take in CO2, are emersed and they will benefit from the abundant CO2 found in air. Just remember to maintain high humidity in your tank. You can do this by covering the tank with cling wrap. Also, when flooding with water once your carpet lawn is established, you have to pump up the CO2 levels because CO2 in water isn't nearly as much as that found in air.

If you plan to flood with water (I practice this method) you can plant heavily from the start. Use plant tongs or tweezers to plant the roots deep into the substrate. There is no right or wrong method. For plants with larger root systems or bulbs, I just use my finger to make a hole in the soil, and place the plant inside that hole. Then I cover it up with some more soil. Planting method depends on the type of plants that you have, e.g. small roots, large bulbs, stem plants, rhizomes, crypts, etc.

During the cycling stage, you can perform water changes once a week. For my 60x30x36cm tank, I dosed ferts into the water column twice a week and the lighting was on for about 10 hours daily. There was no harm to the plants for water column dosing. Even after cycling, I still dose into the water column without any observable adverse effects on the plants or fish. Just be careful not to overdose or spill any ferts into the water column.

As for the diffuser, I guess most people would place it near the bottom of the tank so that the fine bubble mist has a long way to travel before reaching the top, and hence increases the contact time with water, leading to higher dissolve rate. You can still place it near the bottom of the tank, and above it you can place the return pipe of the filter. Best of both worlds!

Else, you can try using a reactor (100% dissolve rate). There are plenty of models to choose from. Some are internal and will take up space inside your tank. Some models are externally fitted and will not clutter up your tank, leaving you more space for beautiful plants!

p.s. Cal Aqua Labs has an inline diffuser available. It connects to the return hoses of your filter, and is a nice piece of glassware. I've not tried it, yet.

[reaper78]

Hi there

Welcome to planted tanks!

Although I have no experience with ADA soil (I use base ferts and small-sized gravel e.g. Dennerle quartz sand) these soils in general will cause cloudiness the more you wash it. I've received a small amount of soil from another forumer once, and I thought I was supposed to wash before using. The more I washed it, the worse my water became. So, the ADA soil you should be able to use right out of the bag.

You can use DSM method if you plan on having a carpet lawn of your plants. Just fill the tank with water, up to the same level as your soil. This way, the roots of your plants will be submerged whereas the leaves, which take in CO2, are emersed and they will benefit from the abundant CO2 found in air. Just remember to maintain high humidity in your tank. You can do this by covering the tank with cling wrap. Also, when flooding with water once your carpet lawn is established, you have to pump up the CO2 levels because CO2 in water isn't nearly as much as that found in air.

If you plan to flood with water (I practice this method) you can plant heavily from the start. Use plant tongs or tweezers to plant the roots deep into the substrate. There is no right or wrong method. For plants with larger root systems or bulbs, I just use my finger to make a hole in the soil, and place the plant inside that hole. Then I cover it up with some more soil. Planting method depends on the type of plants that you have, e.g. small roots, large bulbs, stem plants, rhizomes, crypts, etc.

During the cycling stage, you can perform water changes once a week. For my 60x30x36cm tank, I dosed ferts into the water column twice a week and the lighting was on for about 10 hours daily. There was no harm to the plants for water column dosing. Even after cycling, I still dose into the water column without any observable adverse effects on the plants or fish. Just be careful not to overdose or spill any ferts into the water column.

As for the diffuser, I guess most people would place it near the bottom of the tank so that the fine bubble mist has a long way to travel before reaching the top, and hence increases the contact time with water, leading to higher dissolve rate. You can still place it near the bottom of the tank, and above it you can place the return pipe of the filter. Best of both worlds!

Else, you can try using a reactor (100% dissolve rate). There are plenty of models to choose from. Some are internal and will take up space inside your tank. Some models are externally fitted and will not clutter up your tank, leaving you more space for beautiful plants!

p.s. Cal Aqua Labs has an inline diffuser available. It connects to the return hoses of your filter, and is a nice piece of glassware. I've not tried it, yet.

Thank you for the information! Appreciate it. I bought a diffuser already (OF) brand. Not sure it is good enff as in terms of the dissolve rate.

Anyway i going to grab some PL lights for my tanks and probably a chiller later on.

Hi Everyone,

I at a starting phase to buy appropiate equipments for my 2 x 1.5x1.5 ft tank.

As alot of term used here (including the plants scientific name sounds alien to me).

Neverthless, i have a few questions (which i believe has been asked before, so pls bear with me)

- Planning to use ADA powersand with ADA amazion 2 soil.
Qns: Do i need to wash it with fresh water before usage?

- I not sure if i should use the DSM or the conventional method by flooding the tank with water.
Qns: If i use the latter, i understand that it be best to plant in alot of plants right? Do i need to secure the plants roots into the gravel? Meaning literally 'dig' a hole in the gravel, plants the roots in and cover up with gravel or use a pincher to slowly lay the plants on top of the gravel? I sorry that it sound silly but i just want to adopt the correct method.

- During the cycling stage, i guess it be okay to practise frequent water change as cloudiness or excess nutrients might occur.
Qns: Dosing of Fertilizer into the water column is not recommended right?

- CO2 equipments
Qns: Is it better to place the diffuser near the bottom of tank as possible OR place it near the 'return' pipe of the canlister filter for better distribution of the Co2?

A million thanks to taking time to read and ur patience (& spelling error) to answer the questions. Pls free feel to correct should i express any invalid or wrong opinion. Cheers

Hi Everyone,

Been almost 3 1/2 weeks since i last restarted from DSM to the wet method . Well, DSM for HC fail and Jap hairgrass turn yellow. So decided to go with the conventional way.

Reason i guess could be the very hot weather, and with 4 x t5 Lights shining for 8 hrs. Bought a fan but to no avail.

Change to new HC as the HC used for DSM turn green, follow by brown and melted away. Jap Hairgrass recovering but not very well despite some new runners are forming.

Added in other stems, java and xmas moss plus other plants that i do not really know the sciencific names but LFS uncle say okay to plant during the cycling stage.

Experiencing a snail 'boom' but leaves seems okay, no holes so i guess snails are gazing algae away? Anyway to be on the safe side, bought a buffer fish and hopefully it resolve the problem.

Hence i shall wait for another 3-4 weeks before i introduce shrimps. Probably would go with cherry shrimp first as yamato is to 'big' to my liking. And of cos, some CRS plus other nice shrimps later, and neon tetras.

By the way, any bro here cover their inlet pipe (for cannister) with sponge? As the shrimps are quite tiny and to prevent them from being 'suck' in or i just leave it as it is? I on Eheim Ecco cannister.

Lastly, I turning to sechem flourish trace element and their NPK after 3-4 weeks. Does it contain copper which can be harmful to the shrimps?

Will post some pics soon as there are some unidentified algae and hope that the bros here can comment and highlight. (wanted to try Sechem Excel but i wait and be patience).

Thanks a million for reading such a 'long' post from a newbie!

[reaper78]

Attachment 14247

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Finally managed to spare time to take some pics.

[reaper78]

Apologies that i aint good at taking pics, pls bear with me.

There are some fury-like algae growing on the side glass and HC. Some hair-like algae growing on Java Fern (i suppose that is the correct plant name).

Any comments guys? Pls help......

[Desewer]

I think the sponge that other bros use on their inlet is what we call a prefilter. Besides preventing your baby shrimps from getting sucked into the filter, it also prevents larger debris from entering and clogging the filter.

[reaper78]

I think the sponge that other bros use on their inlet is what we call a prefilter. Besides preventing your baby shrimps from getting sucked into the filter, it also prevents larger debris from entering and clogging the filter.

Thanks for the reply bro....

[k3nlim]

try to split the hair grass for better growth

[jasmine_yeo]

I do use a sponge to cover the filter inlet so that shrimps won't be sucked in. I'm also new to this & had neon tetras with my cherry, bee & orange shrimps. Realised the tetras were bullying the shrimps & think a few of them died from stress (about 2-3 dead per day). Thus, wouldn't recommend tetras with shrimps. Shrimps died either in open space or places where the tetras usually hide - thus, suspect it's tetras. I've removed the tetras now & am monitoring the situation.

[reaper78]

try to split the hair grass for better growth

Thanks for the advice. Think i got serious algae problem. I suspect it could be while the hole was dig for planting, some of the ada powersand got dug out as well.......sigh.....

[QUOTE=jasmine_yeo;478172]I do use a sponge to cover the filter inlet so that shrimps won't be sucked in. I'm also new to this & had neon tetras with my cherry, bee & orange shrimps. Realised the tetras were bullying the shrimps & think a few of them died from stress (about 2-3 dead per day). Thus, wouldn't recommend tetras with shrimps. Shrimps died either in open space or places where the tetras usually hide - thus, suspect it's tetras. I've removed the tetras now & am monitoring the situation.[/QUOT


And i thought tetras is a mild-manner fish? hmm.....i just bought couple of cherry shrimp and yamato to battle the algae problem together with oto fishes. I hope is just a new tank syndrome and the situation would improve.

May i check if you use excel in ur tank? Thanks.

[kevanyap]

You may want to intro some snails to clear the algaes.

[ranchuboy]

Most if not all newly setup planted tanks will go through a stage where there will be algae infestation. You will need a variety of algae eating creature to keep them in check. The problem will go away once your plants start to take off. In the meantime, try to resist dumping quick fix solution into your tank. Learn to enjoy the process of creating a Planted Tank.

[reaper78]

Most if not all newly setup planted tanks will go through a stage where there will be algae infestation. You will need a variety of algae eating creature to keep them in check. The problem will go away once your plants start to take off. In the meantime, try to resist dumping quick fix solution into your tank. Learn to enjoy the process of creating a Planted Tank.

Yap, fully agreed with you. I think after introducing shrimp and oto and regular wc, some improvement. But HC not growing very well...the 'leaflets' are dropping off and floating on the surface.......

[jasmine_yeo]

Nope - don't use excel in my tank. Currently using carbon tablets - I'm monitoring the tank & might get excel later on if the plants don't thrive well. Coz previous aquarium I used carbon tablets (which I grind into powder & put some into the water every alternate day & the plants were flourishing as compared to without the carbon tablets. Now new tank got new plants - so not sure how it'll work out - still monitoring the situation.

[Foxtrotperv]

Hi reaper78, did you place any bacter ball or effective microorganism every water change? Also, does your filtration media contains those Bio Rio or bio rings to encourage the good bacteria to multiply?
I'll highly recommend you go less on the lighting, about 4 hours a day or less to prevent algae from growing and do introduce Yamato shrimp and ottos.
SAEE & CAE's are good too.

[reaper78]

Hi reaper78, did you place any bacter ball or effective microorganism every water change? Also, does your filtration media contains those Bio Rio or bio rings to encourage the good bacteria to multiply?
I'll highly recommend you go less on the lighting, about 4 hours a day or less to prevent algae from growing and do introduce Yamato shrimp and ottos.
SAEE & CAE's are good too.

Hi Bro,

Nope i didn't intro bacteria during water change but i did place bio home into the canister.

Yap intro 4 x Yamato shrimp but only 2 survive this far. The rest of the shrimps are doing fine, perhaps the dead yamato are not healthy to start with? (Assumption)

Been doing 50% water change weekly plus manual remover of those long green hair/fury like algae. From my observation, the algae tend to stay on that particular plant till i remove it almost 90%, then the situation got better but the algae started growing on another plant......hmmm..didnt know algae have this versatility...haha

[reaper78]

Hi Bro,

Nope i didn't intro bacteria during water change but i did place bio home into the canister.

Yap intro 4 x Yamato shrimp but only 2 survive this far. The rest of the shrimps are doing fine, perhaps the dead yamato are not healthy to start with? (Assumption)

Been doing 50% water change weekly plus manual remover of those long green hair/fury like algae. From my observation, the algae tend to stay on that particular plant till i remove it almost 90%, then the situation got better but the algae started growing on another plant......hmmm..didnt know algae have this versatility...haha

Oh yah, The rest of the background plants are doing fine, Hairgrass seems okay too but HC not doing well...Infact very minimal growth and is detaching from the 'colony'.

Started yesterday with dosing (Seachem Trace & NPK). I dosing with caution and dosing half of the recommended dosage to avoid escalating algae problem later on.

I try to post a pic of my tank in due time.......Thanks!

[Tian85]

Algae problem is mostly cause by not enough CO2. Lack of CO2 will slow down the the up take of light and fert for your plant so the algae will make use of the fert and light to grown. If there is enough CO2 of around 30ppm and with gd fert and lighting, the plant will out grown the algae. You need a balance of this 3 things to ensure that the algae will not come back.

[reaper78]

Algae problem is mostly cause by not enough CO2. Lack of CO2 will slow down the the up take of light and fert for your plant so the algae will make use of the fert and light to grown. If there is enough CO2 of around 30ppm and with gd fert and lighting, the plant will out grown the algae. You need a balance of this 3 things to ensure that the algae will not come back.

Thanks for the pointer.....i read abt the CO2 maintaining at 30ppm b4 but i do not have the "checker'. Currently i running at abt 2-3bpm and is running for 24/7.

[reaper78]

Thanks for the pointer.....i read abt the CO2 maintaining at 30ppm b4 but i do not have the "checker'. Currently i running at abt 2-3bpm and is running for 24/7.

Yesterday went home and discovered that CO2 cylinder tank leak till empty, solenoid went loose.