Reaquascaping, What To Change

[russellbrooke]

Hi, this is my first topic, so be gentle.

I've got a 260L tank with gravel substrate. A c02 injector (from bottle). Have 2 plat vail tail angels, albino cories, a few cardinal neon’s, a few bleeding hearts, 4 Rainbow Bosemanis and two botias (oh and some shrimps which I hardly ever see!). I've had the tank for about 3 years (my 2nd tank) and have been keeping trops for about 5 years. Water params are good (I think), ph 7-7.2, kh 4, gh 10, no2 0 (no ammonia), no3 100. I do weekly water changes of about 30%. I mix ro with tap to bring the hardness down as our tap water is really really hard (use Pearson's square calculator on www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk to work this out).

I'm having a bit of an algae outbreak at the mo because I’ve just taken lots of plants out to fit some new bogwood in, and replaced my lights (which I do ever year), not 100% sure wattage, but I can find out if necessary).

I want to concentrate on having a nice planted tank. So I’ve got several questions.

1. Should I change the substrate to have part soil (some variation), sand then gravel as this will provide more nutrient?

2. I want to change the diffuser for my c02 as it's rubbish, any links where I can get a new one from. My current one is just a bell which releases tiny bubbles into the water. I want on this allows the bubbles to stay in contact with water for longer.

3. What fertilizers should I use, and how often? I'm currently using a liquid fertilizer which I only add once a week after water changes?

Thanks for any comments, and I must say this is an excellent fish forum! Great articles which i could read for weeks!

 

[panboy]

your NO3 seems a little high. It should be around 30ppm for a healthy planted tank.

1. Flourite and laterite are two good choices of substrate. laterite is a bottom layer and requires a top layer of sand or small gravel to prevent clouding of the tank. flourite can either be used alone or as bottom layer. they are quite expensive, but you can sometimes find good deals, and i think they are worth it.

2. There are two types of reactors that i suggest. a diy reactor with powerhead, or an external reactor connected to the outflow of your canister filter (if you have a canister filter)
heres a link to an example of one, http/www.plantedtank.net/articles/DIY-CO2-Reactor/2/ and an example of the external reactor... http/www.rexgrigg.com/./diy-reactor.htm

3. which fertilizer is it? I currently add flourish iron and potassium, as well as kno3 and have pretty good results. if you want excellent plant growth, i suggest EI method. you can search for that, as I dont have an experience with it, I have heard it works wonders though.

I have learned a bunch from here and other forums as well. Hope I helped

 

[russellbrooke]

Thanks, great reply.

I've been thinking about it and I’m not sure about changing the substrate as I would need to rehome my fish for a while and don't want to stress them out. Do think it is a must to change the substrate or do you think I could get away with just adding fertilizer to have a heavily planted tank?

 

[panboy]

if you are going heavily planted, my opinion is that it is a must. It will help out a lot.
About a year ago, I switched gravel after I established my tank. It was also a tough choice, but it was not to bad once I decided to do it.
It took probably some 8 hours however...

Heres a quick summary of what I did.
I rinsed the gravel first, because it is really messy. (a couple hours at least)
put all my fish in a 5gallon bucket, with a heater.
grabbed a smaller bucket and put my plants in it with water.
went to target and bought a huge 50 gallon plastic container.
put in the gravel, and wood, decorations, etc.
added the water back in, and let all the dirt to settle (couple hours here too)
put the heater back into the tank for a bit, then put all the fish back in.
Returned the 50g container because I didnt need it anymore....

 

[russellbrooke]

If i use Flourite or laterite, how deep should the layer be?

Then on top of that, do you think i can use my gravel which is already in the tank. If so, how deep?