Just want a fish tank

[Angry_Platy]

I have kept tropical fish now for close to 2 years. It started with a 30gal then a 10 gal, a 75gal, a 6 gal then a 5 gal. Aside from the initial hiccups of cycling I think I have had a fairly successful tank/s. Now I have ventured down the planted tank path I am starting to wonder why it has to be so scientific. Like just prior to planting my tank and switching to sand then back to gravel with laterite, I had a happy tank with happy fish, a few fake (but real looking) plants, a few nice ornaments and easy maintenance. But then I see peeps on here with awesome planted tanks, like gf225 and jimboo etc. and I decide thats what I would like (for my 30gal this is). So I buy it all.....root heater, numerous test kits, laterite, better gravel, make a DIY CO2 reactor, fertiliser liquid and tablets. Then I wonder why I am doing it. Yes, I love the look of planted tanks but I also liked my tank before it was planted. I also know that I will never have a planted tank like gf225s or jimboos or any of the immaculate tanks out there. So it begs the question, do I keep going along the planted tank line with what I consider to be a less than perfect tank or do I just go back to what I had before.....a nice tank with a few fake plants, ornaments, NO ALGAE and happy fish.

Now I know having plants is meant to be better off for the fish but is it really when you consider me changing things all the time to keep the plants happy? What will the ultimate price be of a beautiful planted tank? I mean, at the beginning I just wanted to keep fish, and I still DO want to keep fish. Then I can enjoy my tank and fish without constantly looking at it wondering how I can buffer my water better, how many times a week I need to prune plants, how I can get my CO2 levels higher, why certain plants keep dying.....then in summer, trying to maintain a high light level for my current plants while trying to keep the temperature low (something I always have trouble with in summer due to the high temps here).....

Its almost like I have gone from keeping fish to keeping plants. I have found myself more worried about the plants than I have been about the fish....and as I mentioned, thats not why I started fishkeeping. its not that the fish aren't healthy now, its just that the tank isn't the way I want it to be....

I dunno, perhaps it is not the right time for me to have a planted tank considering my thoughts right now. Perhaps I could just put away all my planted tank stuff and keep fish as I did before. Then later on when I feel better about it go back to a planted tank, after all I will still have all the equipment I need.

Make sense?

Feel free to sway me either way or suggest other ideas....I am open to anything right now

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I just add lots of "flora boost" by interpet to my tanks and make sure the lighting is storng and not worn out and my plants do pretty well on that- ok their growth isn't amazing for most and i rarely bother with clipping the plants but at least they stay nice and healthy and green. Some of those planted tanks in aquarium pics section are awesome but they do require lots of maintanence and gear apparently to keep them big and green, its up to you if you want a tank full to the brim with a green forest but i somtimes i wonder if those fish have any space to swim around in with all that greenery.
If you want a new tank, i say get the biggest one you can get ! I would personally practice making your smaller tanks into little bonsai forests of green first but thats just me .

 

[Maroonostrich]

I've insisted on hardy plants and I have a well lit room and make sure the blinds are up most of the day- though the tank is always out of direct sunlight.

One of the plants does poorly but survives but the others have grown wildly and really make a beautiful picture.

I think I might just be lucky!

 

[debiasir]

when i kept plants in my tank i didn't do anything different except add a bottle cap of fertilizer at every water change. all my plants did wonderfully even with the poor light and gravel. never used co2 reacters or anything like that

 

[jimbooo]

ok firstly you are spot on in your observation that you are now keeping plants, not fish.

in fact none of us keep fish or plants, we keep "WATER"

to summarise, in a fish only tank the water stats you are aiming for are quite forgiving (ie nitrate from 0-60ppm, ph 6.5-8 etc...)

in a planted tank the "Water" you are keeping has to be more accuratly balanced hence why it is harder to keep a planted tank than a fish only one.

at first (from day 1 to say 3 months) it is a bit of a headache, constantly testing the water to find your levels of nutrients and dealing with the inevitable algae outbreaks that will result from increaced lighting and fertalisation.

however although this period is rather trying to say the least you will get to a point where you have worked out the schedule of water changes, ammount of ferts to add, when to prune etc.... at which time you can start to sit back and enjoy the tank.

you have all the equipment necessary to have a very nice tank. my advice would be keep on with it for a couple of months, definatly start the EI dosing method (as you've bought the stuff anyway) and reevaluate the situation in november.

once you have a stable tank you can swap some of the fast growers (high light plants) for slower growing varieties such as anubias, java fern etc... they will not work well at the start as the algae will smother them, once you have the balance, then replant, lower the light in the summer and the plants will do fine.

i hope that helps, please dont give up yet. you are in the difficult stage, noone would deny that but it will get easier.

 

[Sime]

im the same as you angry_platy - exactly the same!

i loved my planted tank when it was good - but i followed everyone's help to the letter, read as much as i could find, realy got into it all, but the books etc. advice didnt work - i was having terrible algae problems.

it was ok when my fish tank was "a pretty fish tank" - i used to enjoy going and buying a new fish, watching them for ages, relaxing looking at them. i had three or four real plants in there and they bloomed, but the more serious i got about keeping plants and the more books i read and "hi tech" stuff just made it go down hill.

after an outbreak of BGA it was all bad news

i now have a fish tank with a piece of bogwood, all plastic / cloth plants and love looking at the fish. no worries about algae, no dead leaves all over the place - i just come home, feed the fish and watch and enjoy

its a shame, but i think you can go too overboard on the details - now i can just stick a plant in and enjoy it, when it dies, spend another pound and start again - no messing with water or co2, just easy.

it realy upset me, but at the end of the day theres a few people with a nack and i just wasnt one of them - no matter how much i asked and read.

 

[Bloo]

I feel your pain AP ! I almost came to a point where I thought "chuck it all and go for cichlids and rocks ! I've backed off a bit from that drastic plan of action and am going to give the planted thing a proper "go".
But I can clearly see where you are coming from and feeling well and truely FED UP !
Do whatever you feel you really want to do. But don't sell your equipment and gear. In a couple of months time, you might feel the urge to try again

 

[CFC]

Sod the plants, all that money spent on CO2 injecting systems, 5 billion watt lighting, macro and micro nutrients and doobry watsit miracale making substrates could be spent on some class A rare or unusual fish (well if you weren't in OZ that is ). I use plants for two things, food for my silver dollars and Leporinus to stop them nibbling the fins of other fish and to subdue the lighting in my snakehead tank so they breed lots and make me lots of money, half the time i dont even bother to put the roots in the substrate.

 

[Bloo]

yes, and then someone like CFC comes along and throws in a comment like that !

 

[Angry_Platy]

You people are too nice

I AM going to keep going with the planted tank. I know if I don't I will regret it later. After all I have what I need to keep plants nicely I just need to put a little more into it....the right way, not haphazardly!!

Thanks zig and jimboo for yur advice so far....I hope you guys keep yur inbox clear as I expect I will have a LOT of questions as time goes on....especially initially

So onward and ahead with no regrets

 

[annka5]

Would you consider a simplified planted tank? If the limiting factor becomes light, no need for CO2 or regularly added nutrients as the plants aren't growing strongly enough to need it.
Admittendly, I only have Java Fern, vallis, cabomba, which are not challenging to grow, but so long as they look nice and don't die, I'm happy.

 

[jimbooo]

Would you consider a simplified planted tank? If the limiting factor becomes light, no need for CO2 or regularly added nutrients as the plants aren't growing strongly enough to need it.
Admittendly, I only have Java Fern, vallis, cabomba, which are not challenging to grow, but so long as they look nice and don't die, I'm happy.

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cabomba is by no way an easy plant to grow. the damn stuff wont grow at all in my tanks. your obvioulsy doing something right. round in circles we go.....

oh how i love this hobby

 

[annka5]

The stuff grows like a weed for me... how bizarre. They are the only 3 plants that've survived my "green fingers"... try adding ineptitude to the water....

 

[BigC]

If you want to grow a plant that is very easy to grow in a wide range of environments. then you can do no better than Hygrophila Polysperma
http/www.akvariumas.lt/augalai/acanthace...ysperma_big.jpg
There are now many different varieties of Hygrophila, greens,reds and wide and narrow leafed. So you see you can have a nicely planted tank with just one plant species. Should cut down your anxiety a little bit.

cabomba is by no way an easy plant to grow. the damn stuff wont grow at all in my tanks. your obvioulsy doing something right

I echo that comment and found Ambulia easier.
Regards
BigC

 

[houndour]

my cabomba did well then died pretty much instantly. Havent tried it since. I will also vouch for Hygro poly. Mine grows like a weed, but its so pretty (I have the pink veined version). Although it's not done so well in the 3 day blackout. I've only kept about 4 stems and pulled all the leaves off to see if new shoots will grow. time will tell.

I'm glad you're not giving in though Angryplaty.