The Progress of a Planted Tank

[Chrona]

This is my tank before CO2 injection, which I am starting today. On Monday, I will be getting my new 28w fixture, so I will post some more pics then, along with the results. As it is, this tank is nothing to be proud of...lol

The brown film you see on the older leaves on the plants is proof that using water clarifiers that clump particles to get rid Flourite dust is NOT a good idea. I can't even scrub this stuff off and have decided to just wait until I can clip the old leaves off.

This is probably not a fair comparison, since, after removing the Flourite covered leaves in a week or two, my tank will be much greener anyways :hmm3grin2orange:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1503/dsc0337tc3.th.jpg (http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0337tc3.jpg)

Hairgrass covered in smutz

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/5989/dsc0341dz2.th.jpg (http://img443.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0341dz2.jpg)

Picture of my old setup, before I put Flourite in. Not quite sure why it's so blurry...

http://img108.imageshack.us/img108/9314/dsc0335iu7.th.jpg (http://img108.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0335iu7.jpg)

[Lady Hobbs]

Actually it looks pretty darned good.

I ordered 5 lbs of Laterite today and that and my plants will be coming about Thursday I suspect and I'll be joining you in the planting game. I went with Laterite only due to the fact that I have to put the fish right back in after planting and I can't take a chance on a cyle going south with so many fish.

I can mix the Laterite in some gravel, put it in the bottom of the tank and pour my old gravel right back on top. Yes........my old un-natural looking lovely blue gravel! Having a new tank would have made things soooo much easier but alas, I already shelled out nearly $200 in fish supplies this week so no new tank for Hobbs yet.

[Chrona]

Actually it looks pretty darned good.

I ordered 5 lbs of Laterite today and that and my plants will be coming about Thursday I suspect and I'll be joining you in the planting game. I went with Laterite only due to the fact that I have to put the fish right back in after planting and I can't take a chance on a cyle going south with so many fish.

I can mix the Laterite in some gravel, put it in the bottom of the tank and pour my old gravel right back on top. Yes........my old un-natural looking lovely blue gravel! Having a new tank would have made things soooo much easier but alas, I already shelled out nearly $200 in fish supplies this week so no new tank for Hobbs yet.

lol, yeah, I couldn't stand the look of my blue gravel any more. "Clown puke" as they call it.

My CO2 bottle has been set up and running for 4 hours now. Still no bubbles. I think the room temp may be too cold. Bleh. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow.

[Lady Hobbs]

Your bubbler will take a while. Sometimes up to 24 hours to ferment so let it go. And make sure no air is getting to it.

When I started getting into fish, I got white gravel. Decided it was just toooo white so added a bit of blue. Then later on added a bag of red. Oh My Gawd! Talk about an ugly looking tank then! It's good colors for a flag but lousy for a fish tank and wayyyyy too busy.

I have got it now on every potted plant in the house over the dirt and still have 3 big bags of it stored for "something." Then my big invention to go to all blue. It looked wonderful next to the multi-colors but now I hate it, too. I mean, everyone knows the bottom of lakes are not blue! Hopefully my plants will cover the whole mess up!

[jweintraub]

When I change out my C02 yeast and starter I stir it up really well before sealing it up. The first time I didn't do it and it took about 48 hours to get a bubble, I get them in about 2-3 hours now.

[Lady Hobbs]

I've read to fill bottle part way up with HOT water, add sugar, shake the blazes out of the bottle to get the sugar dissolved. Fill bottle to within 3 inches from the top and let sit until lukewarm, add yeast, shake again and you're good to go. Sound about right?

Adding yeast to water that's too cold or older yeast can also slow it down.

How far does the airline have to be in the bottle? I think only a few inches and not clear to the bottom of the bottle? I want to use the rigid airline and will probably steal it from my useless UGF I no longer use.

[jeffs99dime]

looks good chrona!thumbs2:

[Chrona]

I've got bubbles now :D about 8 per minute. I'll post pics in a week of the difference it makes.

[*Sarah*]

lol, yeah, I couldn't stand the look of my blue gravel any more. "Clown puke" as they call it.

I would think of it more as Smurf Turds.:ezpi_wink1:

[Chrona]

I would think of it more as Smurf Turds.:ezpi_wink1:

lol

Update: pH now dropped down to either 6.4 or 6.8 I can't tell. Stupid vial to chart comparision. In any case, the fish are fine and it's been pretty steady. I added another 1/4 teaspon baking soda.

[Lady Hobbs]

I added another 1/4 teaspon baking soda.
Are you adding baking soda because your water is too soft? You only use baking soda if it is.

I got my bottles all ready tonight for my CO2, as well. Instead of using soda bottles, I am using gallon water bottles. It was easier to get a hole in the top. I just used a small phillips head screwdriver, punched a hole in the cap, cut the airline in a slant (instead of straight across) stuck the pointed end in the hole and pulled it thru with a pair of pliers. I don't think I need the silicone at all as the line is in very tight but added some anyway.

Also have my driftwood siliconed to some slate. I have several pieces that sink but ofcourse want the stuff that doesn't. :)

But where I will put these fish while I cycle this tank is another whole story! This had better be the faster cycle of all time as these guys will be packed into my other tanks. My grumpy angelfish will not like sharing HIS tank for sure.

[Chrona]

I added another 1/4 teaspon baking soda.
Are you adding baking soda because your water is too soft? You only use baking soda if it is.

I got my bottles all ready tonight for my CO2, as well. Instead of using soda bottles, I am using gallon water bottles. It was easier to get a hole in the top. I just used a small phillips head screwdriver, punched a hole in the cap, cut the airline in a slant (instead of straight across) stuck the pointed end in the hole and pulled it thru with a pair of pliers. I don't think I need the silicone at all as the line is in very tight but added some anyway.

Also have my driftwood siliconed to some slate. I have several pieces that sink but ofcourse want the stuff that doesn't. :)

But where I will put these fish while I cycle this tank is another whole story! This had better be the faster cycle of all time as these guys will be packed into my other tanks. My grumpy angelfish will not like sharing HIS tank for sure.

No, the problem with my water is that it is very hard, but the alkalinity is very low, which will cause large pH swings with the addition of very little acid (in this case carbonic acid from the CO2). Adding baking soda contributes to the total dissolved solids, which is a bad thing for fish, but it increases alkalinity (by 4 dH if you use 1 teaspoon for 10g of water), which stabilizes the pH.

It's best to aim for about 5 dH of KH for starters. My normal tap water has about 4 dH, so I wanted to add some because I know the residual acid buffer I have in the tank is still eating up some of the kH. Heres a chart that tells you your maximum CO2 content based on kH and pH. I'm aiming for 4-5 kH and a pH of 6.8-7.0, which gives me roughly the ideal amount of CO2. You don't want to be in a situation where your pH and kH allows too much CO2 to dissolve. Note that if you still have any of the Proper pH stuff in your tank, it will screw all the numbers up. The chart only applies for a tank with no other buffering system other than the natural kH and CO2. I don't know about Proper pH, but the Acid Buffer I have left in my tank would artificially lower my pH, so the actual pH drop that would have been caused by CO2 alone is less, meaning that for a given kH, I probably have less CO2 than is indicated. Of course, that's fine by me for now, because the plants can't use all that anyways without the new fixture.

I found during preliminary testing that even though my fitting was tight, I still needed silicone or it would leak.

Also, I highly recommend mixing the yeast in some warm-hot water first. I made the mistake of mixing everything in cold water, which is why it took so long to get started. However, make sure the concoction cools to room temp before putting the tubing underwater though, as the cooling gas in the container will contract and pull water in, which is a nono.

[Chrona]

Update: 4 days into CO2 injections. Got my new lighting fixture today in the mail :) I definetely noticed better growth with the wisteria after starting CO2 injections. The old leaves are still covered in the mysterious brown crap I now know is brown algae (diatoms). My theory is that the Flourite dust settled onto the leaves after I (stupidly) used water clarifiers, creating a nutrient rich base for the algae to grow. Furthermore, my filter media was caked in Flourite dust, which I probably should have changed more often, so it is possible it was leaking nutrients such as silicates into the water. I've never had brown algae before, so it has to be something to do with the Flourite addition. I've tried my best to clean up everything, but it's a royal pain to scrub off the plants, especially the finer leaved ones. My hope is that with the new lighting and CO2 injection, the plants will be able to outcompete it.

In any case, here are the updated pics. Note how there is a big difference in color with these new lights. Plants look much greener imo. Water is kinda cloudy, since I just scrubbed a lot of stuff.

Tank with new Coralife 28w CF fixture with 50/50 bulb (the sleek aluminum casing looks great, although it could use a larger reflector imo. Some of the light seems to be wasted.)

http://img478.imageshack.us/img478/3599/dsc0346pv7.th.jpg (http://img478.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0346pv7.jpg)

Anubias azafaelli (sp?) growing a new leaf!

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/7351/dsc0347bl6.th.jpg (http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0347bl6.jpg)

Closeup of tank

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/6743/dsc0350wd8.th.jpg (http://img77.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0350wd8.jpg)

SAE losing the battle against brown algae (lol)

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/7155/dsc0349zx4.th.jpg (http://img409.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0349zx4.jpg)

I'll take some better pics tomorrow when the water clears up a bit.

[jweintraub]

That's an awesome light fixture! Do you have a glas top on the tank, or is it open? I'd be scared to do that on my 42G... My cichlids are constantly splashing an creating havoc in the tank.

[Chrona]

It's a closed top. I cut a piece of polycarbonate I got from work, because SAE's are known to be jumpers, and my water is filled pretty high, hehe.

[Chrona]

After some research, I've come to the conclusion that Flourite will leech a bit of silicates into the water after first putting it in. Flourite apparently does contain aluminum silicate, which, theoretically, would release the silicate when it comes into contact with an acid.....perhaps the acid buffer I still had left in the tank. In any case, I guess I'll just wait and do water changes. Everything seems to be growing nicely. I may get some shrimp, a clam, and an olive nerite snail though, depending on what my LFS has. They won't add much to the bioload, because my tank will be kinda overloaded when those mollies grow up (yes, I'm an idiot, they were actually gold dust mollies) Hopefully, they can take care of the nasty algae on the wisteria and chainsword, and hopefully, my angel won't find shrimp to make a tasty meal.

Clear pictures coming tomorrow.

[Chrona]

Bah, screw it, pics coming when I figure out how to stop this damn blurring effect and when I get my Marselia next week ^^

[hungryhound]

The tank looks great (we can only hope that ours grows-up to look that good)! We also really like your background.

My wife and I were trying to figure out what type of filter you're using, is it a hang on the back or an under gravel?

[Chrona]

Just an old HOB Whisper. I believe it's only rated for 10 gallons, but that's fine because the tank is planted. You definetly don't want to use an UGF if you plan on getting rooted plants, because....well....they are rooted lol. You can use one if you get plants that feed off the water column, however, like moss, java fern, etc. I filled the water up well past the outlet lip, so that it doesn't cause much current in the tank but breaks the surface film a bit.

Funny that you mention the background, hehe. It seems to blend in with the plants when I take a picture, but if you are in front of the tank, it kinda sticks out, so my next plan (after I let the plants grow in a bit more) is to paint the back black or something.

[Lady Hobbs]

Your tank looks very nice.

[Chrona]

Thanks Hobbs

Update:

- Took out 50/50 bulb, added 6700k full spectrum bulbs. Plants don't look as nice anymore T.T. Oh well, at least they are growing better now
- Starting fertilizing regime next week using Greg Watson's dry ferts
- New ground cover: Marselia sp. (perhaps hirsuta? could be quadrafolia as well) Got some strands of java moss with it too, as well as blyxa japonica (sp?), so this should be interesting.
- Still waging war on brown algae lol. Lone oto getting real fat, will probably trade in SAE for 2 more oto's next week, as the SAE seems to have developed a habit of ramming fish at random and isn't doing anything about this algae issue. (you can see all the brown algae it on the side panels on one of the pics)
- Water a little murky from using melafix to patch up the torn fins from the SAE rampages. Not sure why this happens. Perhaps it's my water?
- Tank growing into a random jungle. Need to scape soon :)

Pics coming in a sec.....seems I need to decrease the image size by A LOT before I can upload it here

Bleh, screw it, here's the links. You'd have to click on the thumbnails anyways :P

Tank
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m118/sunj130/DSC_0380.jpg

http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m118/sunj130/DSC_0374.jpg

Marselia
http://i102.photobucket.com/albums/m118/sunj130/DSC_0379.jpg

By the way, that marselia took me and hour and a half to plant, LOL

[Chrona]

Wow....I just looked back through the old pictures, and realized just how far this tank had come along, and how it had surpassed my expectations. And in only 3 weeks too!

Update:

- New fish: Dwarf gourami and 2 more oto cats :D
- Finally ditched the dumb airstone under the intake idea and drilled a hole below the waterline in the intake so the tubing feeds directly into it. MUCH more stable CO2/pH this way.
- Algae issue seems to be stablizing.....finally

Three weeks ago

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1503/dsc0337tc3.th.jpg (http://img249.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dsc0337tc3.jpg)




Now

[Drumachine09]

Your bubbler will take a while. Sometimes up to 24 hours to ferment so let it go. And make sure no air is getting to it.

When I started getting into fish, I got white gravel. Decided it was just toooo white so added a bit of blue. Then later on added a bag of red. Oh My Gawd! Talk about an ugly looking tank then! It's good colors for a flag but lousy for a fish tank and wayyyyy too busy.

I have got it now on every potted plant in the house over the dirt and still have 3 big bags of it stored for "something." Then my big invention to go to all blue. It looked wonderful next to the multi-colors but now I hate it, too. I mean, everyone knows the bottom of lakes are not blue! Hopefully my plants will cover the whole mess up!

You think thats bad? The guy i bought my 55 from mixed, as chrona said, "flourite with clown puke". It looks kinda bad, and i would like to go with sand or all natural looking, but that would be too much of a hassel.

[Owen Stubbs]

Very nice Chrona. How about you just ship that entire setup to me, I'll send you mine and you can start over? :hmm3grin2orange:

[Chrona]

Very nice Chrona. How about you just ship that entire setup to me, I'll send you mine and you can start over? :hmm3grin2orange:

Sure! Shipping will be 200-346 dollars though ;)

In all honesty, I think it's all about getting to the point you want it and the satisfaction that you get when you finally reach it and can enjoy your tank instead of picking algae though ;)

[Chrona]

Nothing new, got some snails, moved some stuff around, put in a black background, and did a 24 hour blackout for algae. Here's some pics after the weekly trim.

[hungryhound]

Your tank looks really good. Hopefully mine will be their soon.

What is the plant in the right of the first picture and centered in the second? Your tall plant with big leaves would be a better description.

[Chrona]

Your tank looks really good. Hopefully mine will be their soon.

What is the plant in the right of the first picture and centered in the second? Your tall plant with big leaves would be a better description.

Thanks. You mean in the left of the first picture? It's an amazon sword that grows funny in terms of leaf shape (but grows well) for some reason ;)

It's interesting because the plant originally had thick stems and a large kinda oval leaf on the end, but new leaves were all skinny and long. Wierd huh.

[hungryhound]

Thanks. You mean in the left of the first picture? It's an amazon sword that grows funny in terms of leaf shape (but grows well) for some reason ;)

It's interesting because the plant originally had thick stems and a large kinda oval leaf on the end, but new leaves were all skinny and long. Wierd huh.

Hey there has to be a reason I am taking all of your advise. The tank really is sweet.


It is a sweet looking plant. I sure did not look like a sword to me.

[Chrona]

Your tank will definitely get there, and look better because you have much more tankspace to work with. It won't be too long either. The first picture in this thread was taken on March 1st, so it's only been a month. Plus, you already have all the equipment you need for success (maybe minus pressurized CO2) :)

[Owen Stubbs]

Looks great Chrona! Now, if Icould actually get some living creatures in mine, that would be great! LOL!

[Chrona]

Looks great Chrona! Now, if Icould actually get some living creatures in mine, that would be great! LOL!

lol, yeah I seem to have the Midas touch. Except that anything I touch (in terms of advice) tends to not cycle or has CO2 issues.....lol

[Owen Stubbs]

I am sure your advice will continue to be sound, as long as you do not preceed it with "Hey y'all - hold my beer and watch this"!! :hmm3grin2orange: