My Planted Tank

[Marty.h]

I'll happily share my thoughts.

You have a tank full of lush, beautiful plants. You even noted:



They are healthy, so obviously getting what they need to thrive. I don't know your stocking off the top of my head, but would venture to guess: are you lightly stocked? Seems to me that you've got a stable tank set up going here. Don't forget the 'enjoy' part of it all.

Thanks

No its very heavily stocked some fish will outgrow the tank easily but I plan to go bigger in the near future and I feed very heavily that's why I'm shocked not to see any nitrates at all.

Tap water here has 5ppm of nitrates even after a large waterchange and I have done upto 75% the following morning no trace of nitrates at all.

Clearly everything currently is well balanced not to bad for my first go at a planted tank I suppose having a large marine tank prior helps

[Slaphppy7]

Having no trAtes is not a bad thing, but be sure you are performing the test correctly...you have the API test kit, correct?

If so, you must be sure to shake the heck out of the bottle of solution #2 before adding to the test tube; shake like mad, bang it on a desk, throw it against a wall, then shake some more...it needs to be shaken at least a full minute or so, even more so if it has sat up for a while

[Marty.h]

Having no trAtes is not a bad thing, but be sure you are performing the test correctly...you have the API test kit, correct?

If so, you must be sure to shake the heck out of the bottle of solution #2 before adding to the test tube; shake like mad, bang it on a desk, throw it against a wall, then shake some more...it needs to be shaken at least a full minute or so, even more so if it has sat up for a while

I'm use to testing water from my marine days and use the Api master kit I'll get another kit to confirm

[Slaphppy7]

The API FW master test kit is all you need, be sure the solutions haven't expired

[Marty.h]

A little update have had a bit of a re-scape and changed a few plants around and have now added CO2 so will be interesting to see what happens with growth and the plants now

Looks a bit different now

CO2 working away underneath

[Marty.h]

Well the little tank didn't last long upgrade time already it could get interesting

[sfsamm]

Oh no! What happened?

[Marty.h]

Oh no! What happened?

I shut the small tank down and now have this up and running you can see old small tank to left

[Marty.h]

Well it's nice and clear this morning will crack filter open this evening after work and plonk the purigen in will polish the water some more happy with it currently

[Marty.h]

CO2 still showing green so all good so far