Still no search feature? I just started cycling my firs...
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I just started cycling my first tank and with live plants! I’d love to know if there’s a planted aquarium community on here! #HappyPlants #AquPlants #PlantAddict #AquPlants #plantedtank #JavaFern #anubias
I just started cycling my first tank and with live plants! I’d love to know if there’s a planted aquarium community on here! #HappyPlants #AquPlants #PlantAddict #AquPlants #plantedtank #JavaFern #anubias
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Best Answer
Hi! I just replanted my tank the other day actually, here to help :) [thanks @WelsomeRhodotus for the pin]
Number 1 thing to note. Tank balance. This is a VERY intricate matter. For a non-CO₂ setup like yours, you've gotta make sure the lighting is both suitable and at the perfect amount. For you, your tank doesn't have lots of plants and a gravel substrate [i will cover a concern on that later], you don't need lots of light. If your light is dimmable, reduce it all the way down. Without fast growing plants you don't need so much light. The reason being the plants in your tank are at a constant ongoing battle against algae for nutrients, light CO₂, etc. If there's too much of one thing, algae will take hold and blanket the whole tank with green. It's incredibly hard to get rid of it too.
Second to note is regarding your anubias and java fern. Are they planted into the substrate? These are epiphytic plants, and their rhizome CANNOT be buried. Best attach them to ornaments or wood whatsoever.
Third thing is the nutrients. I notice you have Lobelia cardinalis 'Mini', or something similar. Given their size i suppose they were from a TC [tissue culture] cup? If so, they need to be dose root ferts at least. Gravel isn't very good with nutrients, and TC plants are essentially babies that need nutrients. Get some root tabs [API is a good brand, others include Seachem, or Tropica, Dennerle even 2hrAquarist for professional options], or if you want aquasoil [find Fluval Stratum, Tropica Aquarium Soil or Dennerle Scaper's Soil]. For root tabs, bury them, for aquasoil you can layer it over the gravel.
Número cuatro, startup phase. Pay attention this this especially. Fish poop produces toxic ammonia. Nitrosomonas bacteria breaks this down into slightly safer but still dangerous nitrite. Nitrobacter turns it into safe-ish nitrate. At low levels it's not toxic, although fish can adapt to higher levels [not recommended]. This nitrate is usually removed by plants, but because you have a low plant mass these excess nitrates has to be removed by you, via water changes. This is the nitrogen cycle. In a new setup it doesn't exist, so to get it going you need an ammonia source and bacteria culture. Now you already have a Mystery Snail, so that's a small source, now you need bacteria culture. Popular options include API Quick Start and Seachem Stability. Now here comes the laborious part. For the first week, perform a mega water change, about 70%. The week afterwards tone down the water changes by 5-10%. Remember to dechlorinate the water [preferably something that detoxifies heavy metals like API Aqua Essential or Seachem Prime]. Get yourself a test kit too, one that tests ammonia [NH₃], nitrite [NO₃] nitrate [NO₂], pH and preferably GH and KH. Saty away from test strips. Chemical tests are far more accurate. What you'll notice is an increase in ammonia. After some time this decreases, and nitrites appear. Soon this decreases as well, and nitrates appear. Once the nitrites are zero you can introduce fish. Another thing to note, you'll probably nitice white fungus on the wood and brown diatom 'algae' appear. These will settle themselves within a few weeks. I also notice you have floating plants, that's good to inhibit algae growth as well.
Number five, stocking. I see you plan to get cories. I recommend getting 6 [assuming the tank is about 10 gallons]. If it's 15 gallons you can probably stretch it to 8. Cories are social fish. For dwarf species [C.habrosus, C.pygmaeus, C.hastatus] you can get 8. A heads up on the mystery snail: they may apple snails accidentally sold as mystery snails. Apple snails eat your plants. Both species also tend to lay lots of salmon coloured eggs above water, and I'm talking hundreds or thousands. So be careful.
Lastly is algae management. Most beginners make the mistake of immediately getting algae eaters for algae breakouts. This is NOT an acceptable way to effectively manage it. It can help inhibit growth, but you must settle the cause behind the breakout. As mentioned earlier, it's usually due to imbalance. Find out what it is, and settle it. Manually remove as much as you can as well when doing water changes using a razor blade. If you want algae-eating fish, avoid plecos and golden/chinese algae eaters altogether. They get too big and aren't effective. Siamese algae eaters are good, but get big. Instead, get 3-4 otocinclus catfish. Amano shrimps and cherry shrimps are good too. Nerite snails and ramshorns [if you don't mind lots of little red snails] are solid as well.
I'll stop at here for now. Any more questions tag me :). You can approach other aquarium-related forums on Reddit or local forums too.
Number 1 thing to note. Tank balance. This is a VERY intricate matter. For a non-CO₂ setup like yours, you've gotta make sure the lighting is both suitable and at the perfect amount. For you, your tank doesn't have lots of plants and a gravel substrate [i will cover a concern on that later], you don't need lots of light. If your light is dimmable, reduce it all the way down. Without fast growing plants you don't need so much light. The reason being the plants in your tank are at a constant ongoing battle against algae for nutrients, light CO₂, etc. If there's too much of one thing, algae will take hold and blanket the whole tank with green. It's incredibly hard to get rid of it too.
Second to note is regarding your anubias and java fern. Are they planted into the substrate? These are epiphytic plants, and their rhizome CANNOT be buried. Best attach them to ornaments or wood whatsoever.
Third thing is the nutrients. I notice you have Lobelia cardinalis 'Mini', or something similar. Given their size i suppose they were from a TC [tissue culture] cup? If so, they need to be dose root ferts at least. Gravel isn't very good with nutrients, and TC plants are essentially babies that need nutrients. Get some root tabs [API is a good brand, others include Seachem, or Tropica, Dennerle even 2hrAquarist for professional options], or if you want aquasoil [find Fluval Stratum, Tropica Aquarium Soil or Dennerle Scaper's Soil]. For root tabs, bury them, for aquasoil you can layer it over the gravel.
Número cuatro, startup phase. Pay attention this this especially. Fish poop produces toxic ammonia. Nitrosomonas bacteria breaks this down into slightly safer but still dangerous nitrite. Nitrobacter turns it into safe-ish nitrate. At low levels it's not toxic, although fish can adapt to higher levels [not recommended]. This nitrate is usually removed by plants, but because you have a low plant mass these excess nitrates has to be removed by you, via water changes. This is the nitrogen cycle. In a new setup it doesn't exist, so to get it going you need an ammonia source and bacteria culture. Now you already have a Mystery Snail, so that's a small source, now you need bacteria culture. Popular options include API Quick Start and Seachem Stability. Now here comes the laborious part. For the first week, perform a mega water change, about 70%. The week afterwards tone down the water changes by 5-10%. Remember to dechlorinate the water [preferably something that detoxifies heavy metals like API Aqua Essential or Seachem Prime]. Get yourself a test kit too, one that tests ammonia [NH₃], nitrite [NO₃] nitrate [NO₂], pH and preferably GH and KH. Saty away from test strips. Chemical tests are far more accurate. What you'll notice is an increase in ammonia. After some time this decreases, and nitrites appear. Soon this decreases as well, and nitrates appear. Once the nitrites are zero you can introduce fish. Another thing to note, you'll probably nitice white fungus on the wood and brown diatom 'algae' appear. These will settle themselves within a few weeks. I also notice you have floating plants, that's good to inhibit algae growth as well.
Number five, stocking. I see you plan to get cories. I recommend getting 6 [assuming the tank is about 10 gallons]. If it's 15 gallons you can probably stretch it to 8. Cories are social fish. For dwarf species [C.habrosus, C.pygmaeus, C.hastatus] you can get 8. A heads up on the mystery snail: they may apple snails accidentally sold as mystery snails. Apple snails eat your plants. Both species also tend to lay lots of salmon coloured eggs above water, and I'm talking hundreds or thousands. So be careful.
Lastly is algae management. Most beginners make the mistake of immediately getting algae eaters for algae breakouts. This is NOT an acceptable way to effectively manage it. It can help inhibit growth, but you must settle the cause behind the breakout. As mentioned earlier, it's usually due to imbalance. Find out what it is, and settle it. Manually remove as much as you can as well when doing water changes using a razor blade. If you want algae-eating fish, avoid plecos and golden/chinese algae eaters altogether. They get too big and aren't effective. Siamese algae eaters are good, but get big. Instead, get 3-4 otocinclus catfish. Amano shrimps and cherry shrimps are good too. Nerite snails and ramshorns [if you don't mind lots of little red snails] are solid as well.
I'll stop at here for now. Any more questions tag me :). You can approach other aquarium-related forums on Reddit or local forums too.
@HealthfulGollum no still waiting for it to cycle but I do have a mystery snail to start the process! Hopefully in a few weeks I’ll get some dwarf corys tho!
@Araceae ✍️✍️ thank you for all this I appreciate it! I have root tabs coming in a mail, and I’ve fertilized the water already! And I have my Java and Anubias tied to a rock and set on top of the gravel, I opted away from stratum because I heard it has to be replaced every 2ish years and I didn’t want to deal with that and adding a new type of fertilizer to my routine and vacuuming seemed more manageable to me, or maybe I’ll hate it, I figured it’ll be easier/cheaper to switch to stratum if I decide too. And I’m getting a different light this is just what came with this set up, I got it off the side of the road (deep cleaned before use obviously) but thank you for all your help! I saved this for future reference!
@mars.is.mad aquasoil doesn't have to be replaced every two years. Some have used aquasoil and never replaced it for 6+ years. You just have to replenish with root tabs
Another option would be half an inch to an inch of organic compost underneath an inch to an inch and a half of gravel/sand. It's cheap and works well, although it has to be sifted through to remove any large chunks of rock or wood
Another option would be half an inch to an inch of organic compost underneath an inch to an inch and a half of gravel/sand. It's cheap and works well, although it has to be sifted through to remove any large chunks of rock or wood