Ckutz'S First Planted Tank

[CKutz]

Hello everyone.

I have been wanting to go planted for awhile now. I decided to plant the tank I keep at college with me because i can't rely on my brother to take care of plants while i'm at school.

I picked up a 20 gal tank off craigslist. It came with a filter and hood. nothing fancy though..infact the filter is said to be for 5-15 gal tanks. So I added the filter from my 10 gal I was previously running a 10-20 gal filter. I'll list the hardware:

Aqua-tech 10-20 120gph
Penguin Bio-wheel 100 100gph.
All-Glass Aquarium 15W bulb.
Eclipse natural daylight t8 15W bulb
marineland 100W heater
Seachem Flourite

plants:
Echinodorus martii "Ruffled Sword"
Clinopodium brownei "Mint Charlie" (will post picture..some confusion as to whether this is the actual plant)
Anubias Barteri..or nana, i forget which
Hygrophilia difformis "Water Wisteria"
Ceratopteris thalictroides "Watersprite"
(this is what the plants were labelled as..so please let me know what i've actually got )

Fish:
6 pygmy cories
6 brown khuli loaches
1 apple snail
1 krib (raised from fry, a few months old)
was going to have a cherry barb and 6 harlequin rasbora, but shortly before school they all died when i changed the water and forgot to add dechlorinator... not sure what i'll add now.


I'm hoping everything is going to be alright, i bought the plants on a friday, floated them in a bucket of old tank water for a day, then floated them in a tank for a day, then threw them in a bag with water and brought them to school.
oh i was only setting the tank up once i got here..i bought it just a few days prior to moving in so i figured i'd just wait and set it all up at once.

got to school and moved in. thought i'd wash the flourite a little...wow i had no idea that was going to be so dirty..completely brown water..even after washing it a bit..finally gave up and put it in the tank and ran the filters. hoping they'd collect some dirt, and it would settle.
put the plants in. hope i'm planting them right..just made a little hole, and stuck them in, covered up the roots..the stem plants i just stuck in and compacted the flourite till they stayed in...i spread out the wisteria a little. some bits of the mint charlie that were floating around i stuck in the gravel also, will they just root and continue to grow?

I'm going to be fertilizing with Florinmulti. I haven't done that yet..wanted to see if i should just follow the instructions, or what. 5 ml per 50 gals once a week for the first 3-5 weeks.

will be adding two pieces of driftwood. and i think i'm going to add fake plants and ornaments until the plants grow in a bit. also planning to get a black background. i wanted to cap the flourite with sand, but found out i had no sand left. so i guess i'll be leaving it just flourite for awhile.

here's the pictures!

 

[betta fish]

It looks quite like water cress to me, beautiful plants you have there.

 

[CKutz]

really? they look ok?
i did everything alright?

should i start dosing?

 

[three-fingers]

If starting up a proper planted tank that's going to be given ferts, I would start of with about 3x that many plants . No point in using fake plants, just add more real ones, fake ones will look very fake next to the real ones anyway. With that little plants at start up, I hope you used mature media or cycled the tank too. Lots of plants at startup is also the key to avoiding early algae.

Filters are OK, but being HOB's they don't really provide very good circulation (inlet and outlet are placed right next to each other) and I would imagine the bio-wheel would drive off some CO2. Nothing to worry about really, not totally perfect, but still OK.

I'm not sure on one of the plants either...but you'll know soon enough.

Florinmulti doesnt seem fantastic from what I've just googled, only provides the micronutrients for the plants, which will mean you will be relying on the fish poop to provide NPK. Or use more fertilisers (dry powders, or the more expensive pre-prepared Seachem Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium).

For a first planted tank, excellent .

 

[CKutz]

yea i figured i should have more plants..i never bought any before though so i didn't really know how much i'd be getting. or how much was enough.

I was going to add the fake ones, and fake ornaments just to give the fish more cover till i get these plants going..but i haven't done it. i added the driftwood, and the ornaments just look stupid. the tank just looks a little bare, so i was considering the fakes, but idk. i would just get more real plants..but i don't have a car here at school so i won't be able to get to a lfs for a bit. and the only lfs around is petsmart..

i used the media i had been running on my 10 gal. hopefully the bacteria survived the trip.

I don't have the biowheel in at the moment. just media..i didn't want to put it in while the water was all murky cause of loading it with dirt. should i just leave it out?

hey, that leaf on the sword, the one with the brown edges, should i pluck it off?
Thanks for the help!

here's the wood:

notice how the tank looks hazy..is this from particles in the water still..or is it cause this light? the one tube is pretty bluish.
will the tank be alright by the window..it's a north facing window, no direct sunlight

just dosed 2.5 mL of florimin. any suggestions for something better. don't think i could handle EI here at school...idk

 

[CKutz]

ooo found someone on craigslist selling plants and cherry shrimp!
http/philadelphia.craigslist.org/for/1349873174.html

Hopefully I can convince someone to drive me up there. I'll get 20 cherry shrimp I guess. seems like a lot. but with 20 he gives some plants also. I'll be researching which ones would work for my set up.

 

[three-fingers]

I'd leave the biowheel off, yes . You wont need it when you get all the plants in anyway.

I probably would take the sword leave off, but only because it looks a bit off. If it was in a natural style tank as opposed to a pretty looking planted display tank, I would just leave it on since the plant can still use it even though it doesnt look perfect.

 

[CKutz]

thanks three fingers
i did take it off earlier today. and another that didn't look quite right. i also went around with a scissors trimming the other plants that had broken leaves or dead leaves.

hoping this encourages new growth?

some of the plants got uprooted while i was pruning, and i read stem plants should have like an inch or so between each stem so i replanted everything a bit more spread out...it looked like they might have some new roots growing out?

I'm poor, and decided to use the light fixture from my old 10 gal. and the light fixture that came with this thing..and it seems like by placing a light in the front where the opening usually is, it's making a glare on the water or soemthing, making it look foggy...not too happy about this.

 

[CKutz]

The tank has been running now for about two weeks.
I don't know much about plants so I'm wondering how they are doing. the anubias has some odd brown stuff on it..idk if the leaves are dying or if its algae. the leaves of the hygrophila also have some brown spots.
here's pics:

that last one is part of the mint charlie. the stem broke, so i made a clean cut with a scissors and thought maybe i could re plant that part..i did and it seems to be working. anything wrong with that?
The wisteria also seems to be doing ok..when i got it there was brownish black stuff on the leaves..but it doesn't look to be spreading..and the one stem at the bottom to the right has grown like 3" and sprouted all those leaves.

there's also like..root things coming out of the stems of all the plants

here's my little krib

 

[CKutz]

Well it's been awhile now..seems like the plants are doing ok. that mint charlie plant that I wasn't sure of being aquatic, has continued to grow, and if i replant bits of it, they continue to grow.

my water sprite has fallen apart..i thought that was a bad thing, but someone told me they do that once they get so big. the swords are also getting pretty big.

Yesterday I made some big additions I was finally able to meet up with a guy selling cherry shrimp and plants. I got 10 cherry shrimp and several plants, for $20..seems to be a pretty good deal. Unfortunately my krib fry is a little devil, and this morning he was munching on a shrimp...i didn'tt hink he'd be big enough to eat them yet, but apparently he is...so hopefully i'll be able to do something about that soon.

From him I got some vallis, ludwigia, crypts, subwassertang, hornwort, anubias nana petite, and some other anubias i think..it's really cool cause i guess the subwassertang and the one crypt i got are really rare, he said the crypt hasn't been identified yet.

here's the pics!

shrimp and hornwort ^v

big crypt v

subwassertang and some moss mixed v

all the plants v

the petite v , i really like this..i have it on my driftwood now..but i'd kinda like to carpet the tank, or a section with it

a shrimp chillin on my old anubias, eating w/e that brown crap is off it v

the tank v

Some fish pics:

 

[FishBeast]

I like it. Keep us posted

 

[Gill]

Looking Good, keep it up

 

[CKutz]

thanks i really appreciate the comments

i'd love any advice or constructive criticisms.

a lot has happened since the last post, but i just haven't had time to get on here. in short, got new fish, some of ick , did a big cleaning, almost burnt the dorm down.

update and pics will be up when i get sometime.

 

[CKutz]

alright, so what all's happened...

ok friday i got the chance to go get some fish, and get rid of my krib. i was happy the store gave me a dollar for him, he was only about 1" long. I've been wanting to stock my tank up and finally had the chance. it was tough to decide what fish to get..as usual. but i wanted a school of something..i thought about a few different tetra, but decided on 3 serpae tetras and 3 black phantom tetras. i always thought groups of them together might look pretty cool. unfortunately, just 3 of each isn't all that impressive, but still adds color and activity to the middle of the tank, and some contrast. they also had bumble bee gobies, and i've wanted to give them a try for the longest time. I got 3 of them because they didn't all look so hot, and i know all the controversy over them being freshwater or not. so i tried to get 3 bigger healthy looking ones.

lucky for me the black phantoms came with a small case of ick. i tried to check them all to make sure before they bagged them..but just couldn't make it out i guess. here at school i don't have a quarantine tank or another heater or anything.
It sucked realizing i could be putting everything i have at risk now..but here's my thinking; the fish i had are pretty healthy. they've been doing real well. and since i don't have another tank or anything, i'm going with the high temp method. the temp is at 86. maybe saturday i'll be able to pick up some quick cure, but i'm afraid to use it cause of the plants. I've seen no sign of the ick getting worse, or spreading to other fish.

I also did a big clean out the other day when i changed the water. I replanted things, trimmed off old leaves that had algae on them, trimmed anything i had got from the guy that was loosing it's old leaves. I think the plants look really good now, most have new growth coming in.

the morning before the "big clean" i dropped the whole lid, and both lights into the tank.. I let the lights set out all day while i was at class, then i came back and did the big clean. I went to eat, and when me and my room mate got back, it smelled awful in the apartment. after searching around i found the smell coming from my one light. It also didn't turn on or off. I unplugged it and took it apart and the plastic was all covered in smoke stain, and opened up the little box in there, and it was fried. The other light still works..but that was a close one...

Now my tank is down to 15 W for a 20 gal tank, instead of 30..i'm trying to figure out a cheap way to get another light fixture..

so now the tank is at .75 wpg. i'm starting to dose 2 drops of my "florinmulti" stuff everyday instead of the 1 weekly dose. and the stocking is; 6 brown khuli's, 4 pygmy cories, 3 bumblebee goby's, 3 long-fin serpae tetra, 3 black phantom tetra, 1 apple snail.

oh and i think someone was munching on the snail..poor guy.

bye bye little guy v

BBGs!!! v

the tetras v

hmm..who was messin with the snail.. v

the tank after the big clean v

i think it looks pretty good..but i'd like to move the swords to the back, the hygrophila to the sides or mid...move the mint charlie, and ludwigia around. i need them to grow a bit more though

 

[loraxchick]

looking great! i love your new gobies! they are cute little fish.
if using med for ich, keep in mind to NOT use one containing copper for the well being of the shrimp and snails.
a suggestion. the wisteria and sprite have grown very nicely, but are rather "leggy". there are lots of leaves missing at the bottom which makes them appear less "full". give a trim to some or the wisteria just below where the leaves stop(going down the stem) and replant the tops, chuck the now leafless bottoms. you said they are producing roots along the stem, so if you can trim it just right, the "new" plants will already have roots and hopefully the new growth wont be as leggy. but you wont know til it grows a bit. the speed of the growth will depend on leggy-ness and speed is dependant on the lighting. so they may ALWAYS grow leggy in your tank but the little experiment above(which is why i say try it on a few wisteria to start...not all in one go) whould let you know how they grow in your particular set up.
looks GREAT so far, esp. for your first attempt
cheers- hope that wasnt too confusing.