Oops Should Have Come Here First

[Virgin]

Hi all, I am new to fish keeping. My partner bought me a fish tank for my birthday last week, I only have plants in it as I was told they would be ok.
Unfortunatly the plants leaves are all going transparent.
Can anyone help me please?
My tank is a Jewel 120 ? with additional bubble curtain and black gravel (washed).
I added the 'aquaplus' and 'cycle' that came with the tank last week when all was set up.
Ammonia=0 No2=0.5 No3=0 Ph=8.5
Please help

 

[Seidge]

Oh dear, i've never heard of anyone starting off with plants

I have never been able to keep plants alive in my aquarium and it has been established for a year, they are too much hard work.

What was that you said about adding a cycle, you dont add a cycle you tank does a cycle. Theres a really useful chart for explaining what a cycle should look like. See link below. Your No2 should be 0 and your No3 hasnt risen at all. Are you still adding ammonia?

Hmm. also your PH is very high, probably the water qaulity of the area you live in, not such which fish species are best for these conditions.

p.s. does that juwel come with fitted heater and filter?

http/faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

 

[Virgin]

Oh dear, i've never heard of anyone starting off with plants

I have never been able to keep plants alive in my aquarium and it has been established for a year, they are too much hard work.

What was that you said about adding a cycle, you dont add a cycle you tank does a cycle. Theres a really useful chart for explaining what a cycle should look like. See link below. Your No2 should be 0 and your No3 hasnt risen at all. Are you still adding ammonia?

Hmm. also your PH is very high, probably the water qaulity of the area you live in, not such which fish species are best for these conditions.

p.s. does that juwel come with fitted heater and filter?

http/faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html

Thanks or your reply. Juwel does come with heater and filters. It's comforting to know that someone with more experience than me also can't keep plants alive.

The 'cycle' I am adding is a brand name for a biological supplement which mature new aquariums and filters.

Should/how do I add ammonia?

Found this forum very helpful information wise.

Thanks for being my first post.

Virgin

 

[Seidge]

Hmm , that product your adding may be the ammonia, check packaging for ingrediant, if it is your on the right track. When your No3 begins to rise and everything else drops you can llok forward to some fishes, know what your getting yet?

Some people find plants very difficult to keep, like me! Also i should mention that during the day live plants use C02 and convert it to oxygen through photosynthesis, oxygenating the water. A bubble wall also oxygenates the water. However these too things as a combination are not good because the bubbles aggrivate the water getting rid of the co2 and thus starving the plants and eventually killing them which is probably why they always die in my tank.

 

[Tuishimi]

Cycle (by Hagen) is a product that contains nitrifying bacteria to help establish the first 2 stages of a normal aquarium cycle. It is popular in the US.

From the packaging: "Cycle releases massive amounts of beneficial bacteria into the aquarium. Each dose works to reduce dangerous ammonia and nitrite levels in the aquarium."

I could be wrong, but that pH does seem high for freshwater plants.

Adding ammonia is a method for accelerating the cycle process, instead of using live fish to "excrete" the ammonia. I've never done it myself, but I have read that it works well.

 

[Seidge]

so this product is a cycle enhancer, but does not provide to ammonia needed to trigger the no2 and 3?

 

[Tuishimi]

so this product is a cycle enhancer, but does not provide to ammonia needed to trigger the no2 and 3?

Correct. It also says you can never "overdose" an aquarium. So, even tho' it says to add one capful per 10 gallons, you could dump the whole bottle in without any horrible side effects. Except that there would probably be a lot of starving bacteria.

 

[Anthony!]

Let's talk about your plants... Hmm... How much light are you giving them? Do you give them fretilizers? (Shoot... I don't, and I've managed to keep a couple alive for a couple months. I've got about as much luck with the things ) Welcome to TFF by the way! You may want to put your troubles in the plant section... you'll surely get a better answer there. I know cycle would do nothing for the plants... but I'm not too sure what aquaplus is. Is that a dechlorinator?

 

[Virgin]

Thank's for that I'm pretty sure it's not ammonia, although there are no ingrediants on packaging. It is made by Hagen, 'powerful biological suppliment to rapidly mature new aquariums.
No idea yet on the fish....... like the idea of Angel fish though.

 

[Virgin]

Let's talk about your plants... Hmm... How much light are you giving them? Do you give them fretilizers? (Shoot... I don't, and I've managed to keep a couple alive for a couple months. I've got about as much luck with the things ) Welcome to TFF by the way! You may want to put your troubles in the plant section... you'll surely get a better answer there. I know cycle would do nothing for the plants... but I'm not too sure what aquaplus is. Is that a dechlorinator?

Thanks Papa Smurf,
I think light might be the problem. After asking around, I've found out that the plants need aprox 10 hours light a day. :stupid: I kept turning the light off at night, and sometimes didn't turn it back on for a couple of days.