another newbie question!

[keane]

Good morning to all (or good afternoon/good evening depending which continent you are on!!)

Firstly, thanks to Funky1 for the tips on my cloudy water. It actually turned out I hadn't rinsed my carbon media in my filter and so the filter was constantly spurting out dusty water! (told you I was new!!)

Anyway, now that is solved and my water is crystal clear I have another problem......some of my plants are turning yellow!!

To be honest I am not sure what type of plants they are but they were purchased from my LFS so I assume they are safe.

I think the culprit may be my lighting though.

I have a 29/31 gallon tank (can't work out exactly capacity it is) 4ft x 1ft x 1.5ft. My LFS advised me to purchase a large 40 watt light tube and I duly obliged. It does appear to be a bit powerful though (it lights up the whole front room never mind the fish tank!).

Could this be the problem? Am I overlighting/burning my plants?

If yes, then can anyone suggest what an appropriate size, type and wattage light tube I actually need.

Thanks to all in advance of any wisdom.

(by the way my tank is cycling so there are no fish being fried by the lighting!!

 

[Joviella]

Beware when you buy your plants........not all are truly aquatic and can die within a short while of being in your tank,regardless of how good your lighting is.

 

[dirtydogg]

Your lighting is good, I'd get some floating plants once you get some fish though. I'd tend to believe that since you tank is still cycling that your plants might be struggling do to lack of nitrates. you might want to repost this in the plants section to get some better responses though. Glad to hear you go rid of the cloudiness.

 

[C.j]

ummmm dont plants need nitrites and nitrates to live ive heard they feed of them so i assume they would die without them, and since the tank is cycling...

 

[Slyspy]

They do use up nitrates, which is why its good to have them. Your lighting is good (try adding a reflector to direct the light into the tank rather than the room). You could try a little fertilizer to start the plants off in the new tank though. I guess that because the tank is cycling then the plants are new? If so then you can expect the old leaves to suffer due to the change in temperature and water parameters in your tank compared to what they grew in. Only the toughest plants can be transplanted with no yellowing. Don't worry you should see new growth as the plants settle in. If they start to actually rot and decompose though then take them out and try something tougher like java fern or moss, anubias, crypts or vallis.

 

[keane]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the feedback.

Yep, the plants are new. Bought only a week ago. Some of them seem to be doing fine though so am guessing they are more hardy. Will keep an eye on the others.

Am off to the LFS anyway today to get some of the other plants recommended by Slyspy (and a reflector) because I do need more plants in the tank. On this point.....does the amount of plants in a tank having any great bearing on the amount of fish I can keep?

Having done some research and read loads and loads of previous posts on the forum my hope is to eventually build a community of the following....

Platys (4)
Black Widow Tetra (4 or 5)
Clown Loaches (3 or 4)
Honey Gourami (1 or 2)
A.N other Gourami (1 or 2) (any pointers on this please??)
Serpae Tetra (4 - 6)
Golden Rams (3 or 4)

Does the above sound reasonable? Do I have room for more? Have I pinned my hopes on too many? Any comments or advice would be more than welcome.

Was also thinking about a plec (common) but think would grow too big and cause me to reduce the community. Are there any other smaller catfish/loaches I could get instead?

Actually bought the four platys yesterday (2 rainbow, 2 sunset). My ammonia levels have reduced, all seems ok and I understand Platys are one of the most hardy. They seem to be quite happy at the moment (One of the Sunsets appears to be avidly trying to mate with one of the Rainbows!!)

Looking forward to receiving your further wisdom.

Steve.

 

[Slyspy]

Glad to help with the plants. Vallis is good for background. as is java fern. Crypts are good midground while anubias and moss are foreground plants.

Not sure on fish. I do know howver that if you tank is 30ish galls then you have far to many fish in your wishlist (about 70 inches minimum in fact when you should have about 30 inches). I would ditch the clown loaches (at a foot long adult they are too large unless you had one but fewer other fish). Try one type of tetra, but a larger group. Gourami (or two) would be good as a top dweller. Try cories as bottom dwelling catfish. A group of these will add character and provide cleanup. Perhaps some otos for algae duties?

I would try

2 more platys
1 gourami
4 panda cories
4 otos

Though if you are not cycled yet then add them slowly!

 

[sylvia]

I don't have the time just now to read through the whole post but if I understood correctly, you have a 30 gallon tank?

The tetras and platies are fine but the serpaes and black widows are sometimes known to nip. They should be in groups of 6 to minnimize this behaviour. Forget the clowns they get to 12". I'd only get one pair of rams as they get territorial at breeding time. Also watch the nippy tetras don't nip them. Nipping can also be a problem for the gouramies. The honeys would otherwise be fine but I'd get 3 - 1 male and 2 females. Other gouramies to consider are colisa fasciata, colisa labiosa, dwarf gouramies and pearl gouramies. I'd suggest you stick to one for the time being. Well that would pretty much be 12 tetras, 4 platies, 4 gouramies and 2 rams. And that's pretty much all you'd have room for in a 30 gallon

Plants do directly effect the number of fish you can keep because they use up nitrAtes. However they also take up space and use up oxygen during the night. I suggest you treat a planted tank as if it were not planted to avoid problems.

 

[Fiori]

Actually, IMHO its the carbon in your filter that may be causing the problems with your plants. Carbon removes impurities from the water so it would also take out nitrates and any fertiliser you add for your plants. Most planted tanks do not use carbon.

Your lighting gives you just under 1.5 W per gallon of light, which is fairly low as far as plants requirements go, so I would concentrate on low light plants - a reflector would definitely help as Slyspy previously mentioned. The plants discussed should be fine.

Remember that plants give off CO2 at night and use up O2, as well as giving off O2 during the day, so this could affect the number of fish you can keep. If you want to have a heavily planted tank, it might be worthwhile considering reducing the number of fish kept.

Good luck

 

[keane]

B**ger!

really wanted the Clowns too. Never mind. not buyin them just to make me happy and then see other fish suffer.

Have decided to split the advices of Slyspy and Sylvia (no offence intended to either) and I am gonna go for corys and (possibly) otos instead of the Clowns (so should provide me a fair amount of extra aquarium space) and only go for the serpae tetra (i prefer the colouring to that on the Black Widow). Also going with the 4 gouramis and 2 rams as suggested. This way I still get all the fishies I want except for the Clowns. (Will just have to keep visiting them at the LFS!! )

Don't worry, will not be buying all at once!! Tetras will be next I think. Hardier than the rest? Yeah?

Cheers to all for your fishie feedback.

Speak to y'all soon.

TTFN.