New To Planted Aquarium

[SLIM]

Hi everyone

I have a 260L aquarium filtered by a external fluval 305 and lit by 2 long 39W T5 tubes.

The tank is cycled and currently only stocked with 9 small fish as im adding slowly.

I currently have it decorated with lots of realistic lookin but plastic plants and some big rocks, but have now decided i want to grow real plants.

The reason for this is to help with Nitrates and also to give the environment a more realistic and natural feel.
Unfortunately tho my knowledge on growing aquarium plants is zero!
Im hoping you lot can educate me

I have just ordered...

A large 12-14" piece of Driftwood covered in moss and plants (doesnt state which plants)
1 African Tiger Lotus
5 Crypt Becketii and
5 Crypt Nevillii
All from Java Plants

I went with small plants because my knowledge in VERY limited and wanted to start small

I have also ordered some Tetra Plantamin Plant Fertilizer, does anyone have any experience with this stuff?
Is it any good?
I chose Tetra because it was the only one i found that was free from Nitrates and phosphate.
Plus i use Tetra water conditioner

My substrate is just Natural Dorset gravel, and my Ph is 7.6

My general questions are..

1) How many hours a day should i keep the lights on for?
2) Will rotting leaves give me a ammonia spike?
3) Is it possible to put TOO much fertilizer in and poison the fish or plants?
4) Is it ok just to pust the roots into the gravel without a soil substrate under the gravel?
5) Is my PH ok for plants (Im assuming tho the driftwood will lower the PH)

If there is anything else you feel i need to know on top of these questions, then please please by all means comment and educate me The more i learn the better!

Also im not sure if this really applies to me but if anyone wants to explain to me what the deal is with CO2 injection and diffusers, what they are, how they work and what they do etc, it would be much appreciated as i really aint got a clue about any of this stuff.
It maybe something il want to do in the future if i have better understanding of it all.

Thank you for your time and for commenting

Paul

 

[james_fish]

1) How many hours a day should i keep the lights on for?
2) Will rotting leaves give me a ammonia spike?
3) Is it possible to put TOO much fertilizer in and poison the fish or plants?
4) Is it ok just to pust the roots into the gravel without a soil substrate under the gravel?
5) Is my PH ok for plants (Im assuming tho the driftwood will lower the PH)

1. I have mine on for around 10 hours. It would seem that somewhere between 8-12 is popular and sensible.
2. Yes, try to remove them. The odd few won't have an immediate effect, but if you get a lot it could cause problems. A fully cycled tank shouldn't suffer too badly
3. Yes, but double dosing every so often isn't bad for the fish but It depends on the fertz. Just don't over-do it.
4. Yes, it's fine. I've grown several plants in dorset pea gravel without a soil underneath
5. Yes, it's fine for most plants. And yes, the wood will drop the pH depending how thoroughly it is soaked/washed.

James

 

[SLIM]

Great thanx for your imput

Soooo... Should i expect alot of rotting leaves? Or will i not get any assuming the plants are healthy?
Do i just pull off the bad leaves, will this not harm the plant in any way?

 

[james_fish]

Great thanx for your imput

Soooo... Should i expect alot of rotting leaves? Or will i not get any assuming the plants are healthy?
Do i just pull off the bad leaves, will this not harm the plant in any way?

If you have healthy plants you shouldn't need to worry. You can pull the leaves off yourself or sometimes they must just come off.

James.

 

[SLIM]

Great thanx for your imput

Soooo... Should i expect alot of rotting leaves? Or will i not get any assuming the plants are healthy?
Do i just pull off the bad leaves, will this not harm the plant in any way?

If you have healthy plants you shouldn't need to worry. You can pull the leaves off yourself or sometimes they must just come off.

James.

Great thanx for thr advice!

 

[RadaR]

I chose Tetra because it was the only one i found that was free from Nitrates and phosphate.

Why? What's wrong with nitrates and phosphates? They are vital to plants and do not cause algae.

Also im not sure if this really applies to me but if anyone wants to explain to me what the deal is with CO2 injection and diffusers, what they are, how they work and what they do etc, it would be much appreciated as i really aint got a clue about any of this stuff.

If you went down the CO2 route then you would have to dose nitrates, phosphates and potassium atleast once every other day. CO2 increases plant growth and thus the plants excrete more waste. This calls for large water changes per week.

Check out this section of the forum

 

[SLIM]

I chose Tetra because it was the only one i found that was free from Nitrates and phosphate.

Why? What's wrong with nitrates and phosphates? They are vital to plants and do not cause algae.

Also im not sure if this really applies to me but if anyone wants to explain to me what the deal is with CO2 injection and diffusers, what they are, how they work and what they do etc, it would be much appreciated as i really aint got a clue about any of this stuff.

If you went down the CO2 route then you would have to dose nitrates, phosphates and potassium atleast once every other day. CO2 increases plant growth and thus the plants excrete more waste. This calls for large water changes per week.

Check out this section of the forum

Well i was under the impression that high nitrates isnt too good for fish and this is why we do water changes to keep nitrates down. I also thought Nitrates are the reason for algae. The idea was to introduce plants to help keep my nitrates down and i thought adding ferts with nitrates in will only raise them further. I know plants need nitrates but they will have a supply from my bio filter so i just didnt see the point in adding more.
Am i wrong? have i got it all wrong? Please correct me if i have. This is exactly the point of this post so i can learn the correct way

 

[ian]

RadaR is right, Nitrate and Phosphate's are added to planted tanks, to keep the plants nice and healthy. It has been suggested that fish can live quite happily in nitrates of 300-400 ppm.

have a look at these

courtesy of Tom Barr found here http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/155875-the-behemoth-tank/page__st__220

^^that tank was very heavily dosed with nitrates and yes they are wild discus, the most sensitive fish on the market.

However, the driver of everything is light and your plant mass. If you have low light, and low plant mass. You won't really need to dose nitrate or phosphate. If you have high light, C02, then you're going to have to be looking at dosing Nitrate and Phosphate.

BTW, in the planted side of the hobby, we think a little different to the rest of the world lol.

 

[SLIM]

That is an amazing planted tank!!!!!!!
I dont think il ever have that many plants myself tho lol wouldnt know where to begin.
Im only planning on having a very lightly planted tank myself so im hoping my exsisting nitrates will be enough.

Back to the nitrates, iv read alot about this. From what iv read your right, fish will adapt to high nitrates.
Saying that tho, iv also read that if you introduce new fish to very high nitrate levels, they can get sick or even die over night.

Is this true?

 

[RadaR]

NO3 gets blamed for lots of things. It's the smoking gun, if you will.
This may be an interesting read for yourself and others.