Started up a freshie!

[Anonymous]

So i decided to start up a tank again. I went with freshwater this time since its been about 10 years since i had one. I picked up a 36 bowfront and a Fulval 205 canister filter.

I don't remember much on fresh so i got a few questions. How much light is needed for live plants like vals and swords? I used regular gravel for the first couple inches and flourite fo the top layer, will that work? Would i need a powerhead or is the filter enough flow? I can throw plants in now, correct?

I'm not sure on fish yet but thinking about rams, angels, school of tetras, some loaches...

 

[Anonymous]

So i decided to start up a tank again. I went with freshwater this time since its been about 10 years since i had one. I picked up a 36 bowfront and a Fulval 205 canister filter.

I don't remember much on fresh so i got a few questions. How much light is needed for live plants like vals and swords? I used regular gravel for the first couple inches and flourite fo the top layer, will that work? Would i need a powerhead or is the filter enough flow? I can throw plants in now, correct?

I'm not sure on fish yet but thinking about rams, angels, school of tetras, some loaches...

I use play sand about 2" or so. If I want neon tetras I add a layer of peat moss then the sand.

And for a 10g I use 8 bunches of anacharis, 4 vals, 4 small potted type swords and an amazon sword centerpiece. Locally, we can not get anacharis so I have been using bacopa and red Ludwigia which seems to work nicely.

If you want to be more organized you could cut a peice of eggcrate just smaller than the tank bottom. The superglue the plants to that egg crate. And bury the whole thing in the sand.

Or just poke the plants in the sand. lol

let the tank and plants set for a week.

then add a single male platy and not add food for a week.

Then add a female and start feeting a single flake per day.

In a couple of months you should have a bunch of platys and can look at what you need to do for what ever final fish you want. But at that point then tank would be relatively mature.

Just to be clear no filter, no circulation. and no water changes. Just replace the water the evaporates.

For lighting on smaller tanks, I use (smaller tanks) pig tail lights of 5500k or 6500k available at home depot or wall mart. In the round reflector sockets usually with a clamp. I just set the lights on an egg crate cut to the size of the top.

Best of luck.

hope this helps.

 

[Anonymous]

and then you should search for beasleboy's photos in this forum to see what a cesspool your tank will end up looking like! :lol:

smaller grain substrate will most likely eventually work it's way down below a larger grain, but a flourite/gravel mix is fine-fertilizer is far more efficient when dosed to the water column directly, anyway-with the exception of iron via laterite for iron intensive species like the cryptocorynes.

two 30-36 watt flouros should be more than adequate at 8-10 hrs/day for just about any freshwater plant

beware amazon swords-one sword's root system will engulf an entire tank's substrate,hogging many of the available nutrients-and they are chemically antagonistic with vallisneria. the non dwarf species get HUGE (2-3 feet across, and 2 feet tall, with flower spikes easily hitting 3 foot,clearing the water surface easily

the 205 may be abit weak if the tank has heavy plant cover-if you don't get good circulation, a small add-on PH should do

get some flourish excel, and flourish iron, by seachem-and you should have no problem adding plants now

wait a week or so, dosing with the 2 supplements, and you should be able to add about 1/2 a dozen small fish-wait another week or two, and another 1/2 dozen-if you feed properly, do water changes, and the plants take hold ok, your stocking rate could even be abit faster

this tank was done in about a month total:

http://www.reefs.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=73574

your tank, being larger, should go easier AND faster with np

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies Bob and Vitz.

Vitz, can i start putting in plants now or should i put fish in first? How does it work with FW in terms of fish load? How many inches of fish can i put in a 36bow?

 

[Anonymous]

and then you should search for beasleboy's photos in this forum to see what a cesspool your tank will end up looking like! :lol:

Exactly.

 

[Anonymous]

Just a picture of my most recent "cess pool". You can decide for yourself.

the tank is a 20g long and was started with nothing but the gravel, plants, and tap water. Waited a week for the plants to root and filter the water. Then added a single male platy and did not add food for a week. Then started feeding a single flake per day. A week after that I added a female. The silver hatchetfish were added after a month or two and are all still alive and thriving. There are now around 20 platys in there.

The tank is on a back porch and temperature has varied from 60f to 95f depending on outside temperature. This is the only time I have used heaters. They are not necessary in an environment comfortable to humans. Which is not the case on the porch.

It is now more heavily planted as the vals have spread and grown. One val leaf is now 3-4' long.

I also (for the first time) measured cycle parameters. You can see where ammonia jumped up when fish were added. Then fell back to 0 down the next day. And after a few weeks nitrates fell to 0. What happened is the plants prevented the parameter spikes. ph is 8.4-8.8 13kdh 19dgh.


Lighting is three 14W 5500k pigtails in clamp type reflectors setting on an egg crate. Pigtails are 4 for $9 at home depot the reflectors were ~$6 each.

As usual, no filter, no circulation, no water changes, no fertilizer, no soil in the substrate, no co2. And the results are typical of many tanks I have started over the years. And also typical of the results newbies have with very little experience with any aquarium. This is just the first time I bothered to measure anything. The tanks just work.

To me that is kinda a pretty cess pool. :lol:

.02

 

[Anonymous]

Just a picture of my most recent "cess pool". You can decide for yourself.

the tank is a 20g long and was started with nothing but the gravel, plants, and tap water. Waited a week for the plants to root and filter the water. Then added a single male platy and did not add food for a week. Then started feeding a single flake per day. A week after that I added a female. The silver hatchetfish were added after a month or two and are all still alive and thriving. There are now around 20 platys in there.

The tank is on a back porch and temperature has varied from 60f to 95f depending on outside temperature. This is the only time I have used heaters. They are not necessary in an environment comfortable to humans. Which is not the case on the porch.

It is now more heavily planted as the vals have spread and grown. One val leaf is now 3-4' long.

I also (for the first time) measured cycle parameters. You can see where ammonia jumped up when fish were added. Then fell back to 0 down the next day. And after a few weeks nitrates fell to 0. What happened is the plants prevented the parameter spikes. ph is 8.4-8.8 13kdh 19dgh.


Lighting is three 14W 5500k pigtails in clamp type reflectors setting on an egg crate. Pigtails are 4 for $9 at home depot the reflectors were ~$6 each.

As usual, no filter, no circulation, no water changes, no fertilizer, no soil in the substrate, no co2. And the results are typical of many tanks I have started over the years. And also typical of the results newbies have with very little experience with any aquarium. This is just the first time I bothered to measure anything. The tanks just work.

To me that is kinda a pretty cess pool. :lol:

.02

yuppers, hazy cloudy water from either ammonia, or bacteria, like a teeny cesspool

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies Bob and Vitz.

Vitz, can i start putting in plants now or should i put fish in first? How does it work with FW in terms of fish load? How many inches of fish can i put in a 36bow?

one inch per gallon, with a molly's proportions

ideally, fertilizer should first be present for the plants, but plants also metabolize ammonia directly, making it easier for the fish, initially

plants also provide cover, easing stress, and adding to decor

as long as you have your butt covered with a good supplemental fert and co2 source, i'd say don't worry too much about it

just don't stock faster than the system can catch up to the nitrogenous waste production by the fish, and you'll be fine

 

[Anonymous]

hey beasle,

how come the plants on the left (hygro difformis, mebbe?) look so leggy and scrawny? same q for the plants on the far right (anacharis?)

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I got one more question. For lighting i have 2 65watt PC's 6700K, is that an okay spectrum and wattage for this tank. I'm thinking the spectrum isn't the best.... :?

 

[Anonymous]

switch at least one to a 10K-i used a mix of both-the 6700K is abit yellow, but adds 'warmth' to the look of the tank`

you have plenty wattage

 

[Anonymous]

hey beasle,

how come the plants on the left (hygro difformis, mebbe?) look so leggy and scrawny? same q for the plants on the far right (anacharis?)

Although he is providing enough wattage, the tank is tall (deep) rather than a shallow trough. The pants are reaching because parts of the spectrum drop off as depth increases. It is this reason that a 20L is my absolute favorite when setting up a planted tank. It's also possible that his bulbs are old and not putting out quality light.

Just throwing ideas out there, don't get offended, beas!

 

[Anonymous]

Lighting is three 14W 5500k

the light is part of the issue-the other part is nutrients-difformis gets 'leggy' when it lacks the right types of 'food' (iron,magnesium, calcium, and nitrogen)-anacharis and hornwort need fairly large amounts of calcium and carbonates, or they get leggy and/or soft

i used to have pull 'bushes' of the stuff (hygro difformis) out of the fw nano, heh-it would actually grow horizontally along the gravel, throwing roots out all along the stems (both the horizontal and vertical ones)-roots would drop down from near the top of tank, even-frikkin weeds

 

[Anonymous]

Here's some pics so far. Needs some more plants and some river rocks, but its geting there.

 

[Anonymous]

don't add too much more by way of plants-what you have there already will fill out quite abit

 

[Anonymous]

I usually do start with more plants but it sure looks like you are off and running.

Looking good.

 

[Anonymous]

The tak is coming along. I've been dosing Excel and Flourish and seeing some plant growth. Seeing algae growth so I need to get some algae eating fish. Which are best? Pleco's and otto's?

Here are some pics.

The second pic shows the Java fern with what i assume are buds? How to they spread from the leaf?

 

[Anonymous]

don't freak about getting algae eating fish just yet-let the excel do it's job-it will help the plants outcompete most of the algae-just cut back a tad on the flourish

 

[Anonymous]

don't freak about getting algae eating fish just yet-let the excel do it's job-it will help the plants outcompete most of the algae-just cut back a tad on the flourish

Okay, i'm doing one capful 2x per week of the flourish. Cut back to one?

 

[Anonymous]

hard to know, exactly, but what's going on is this...

the excel is the source of carbon (like CO2) that enables the plants/algae to use the ferts (iron, etc) in the flourish

right now you're adding enough carbon AND nutrients for both the plants and algae

plants will actually utilize the excel more easily than the algae will-so cutting back just enough on the ferts will make the algae disappear (excel naturally also helps to supress algae).

you can also manipulate the photoperiod-try cutting back about 2 hrs/day, and reduce the flourish by 1/2-1 capful/week.your mileage may vary

the excel is more important to plant health than the flourish, imo.

OR, you can boost the excel, and leave the flourish as it is

OR-you can not turn the lights on every 3rd-4th days, and also reduce the flourish

if you do nothing-the plants will most likely overtake the flourish consumption over the algae anyway-but depends on how much of the dose is presently actually 'extra'

HTH