125L First tank, low turned high tech, plant and pic heavy

Hi all, i'm totally new to the aquarium scene and stumbled across the site after joining LFKC. Thought i'd make a journal in the hope of gaining much needed help and advice from the experts and hopefully see the tank grow into a well established habitat for my fish and plants.

I went with the Juwel rio 125 with the standard pump, heater and lighting system. The lights come on at 4pm and go off at midnight, the temperature is set to 26C and the pH is 8 but i'm looking to reduce this to 7 (unfortunately the addition of 2 pieces of bogwood haven't affected it so i need to look into other means of reducing it). The GH is 10 and the kH is 7.

Plants i have at the moment from left to right are:
Cabomba Carolina around the left side
Rotala Indica is just in front of these
Echinodorus "red flamed" in the foreground
Java fern on the bogwood in the middle
Vallisneria Asiatica around the right side
Rotala Wallichii next to the vallis
2 unknown mosses just infront of the vallis and wallichii







The plants have been in for around 4 weeks and i'm hoping to start off with 6 zebra danios maybe this weekend. Unfortunately though i've noticed some of the plants are dying. Some of the vallisneria leaves are brown and yellow and turning see through. Every morning i have to take out 1 or 2 leaves which have broken away and are lying on the top of the water. The indica is growing but the red leaves already present seem to be dying and nothing is growing in their place. The wallichii has only been in the tank a week and the pink tops look like they are dying and have all shrivelled up or dropped off.



Once i've got the plants back on track i'm hoping to move some around as the 2 mosses and wallichii are there to get established and not meant to be in their current position permanently.

Thanks for looking, any advice/tips will be much appreciated

Jason

First ever tank

A good start. What ferts if any are you using? And are you using pressurised co2 or one of the liquid versions?

Rudi

Re: First ever tank

Haven't used any fertilisers at all, after posting under the plant section for some advice i've just bought a Hydor Koralia circulation pump to reduce dead flow spots and also tropica plant nutrition plus in the hope to revive some plants. I'm not planning on using any CO2 devices.

Jason

First ever tank

That will be why they are dying then. You will need to use a liquid version of co2 then. To get the plants to grow and survive u need a balance of co2 and ferts. Have you just used a sand substrate or is it just used to cap a plant soil? If not you will need to use root tabs to. When you use the tpn triple the stated dose as it's not very strong. When you have used up the tpn take a look at the ones from tropical plant food company who is a sponsor on here. Works out alot cheaper specially if u buy the dry complete one which u have to add water to yourself.

Re: First ever tank

Using a carbon source really will make a whole load of difference! I found this stuff: http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/ind...word=aqua carbon&inc_subcat=0&sort=20a&page=3 to be the cheapest, especially if you can buy larger quantities. It lasts ages (1000ml lasts 3-4 months at 5ml a day on my rio180) and the plants love it. Can't stress enough what a diference it makes. I had some dwarf chain swords in an old tank that grew flat as pancakes until I added aqua carbon, and my vallis didn't grow at all without it. Same with my Echinodorus.

Viv

Re: First ever tank

There's also a post in the for sale section by piece of fish who is selling 1 litre bottles of liquid carbon for 12 pound posted. Bloody bargain

Re: First ever tank

Will look into some liquid co2 solutions. Viv did you mean this product? http://www.aquaessentials.co.uk/ae-desi ... -2988.html Your link shows results to a search for "aqua carbon." RD i've used a small gravel substrate, i also put a larger gravel substrate containing nutrients for plant growth underneath the plants but a lot of it has been mixed up with the top substrate whilst i was putting the plants in (you can see this underneath the echinodorus). Putting extra co2 into the water isn't going to harm the fish when i eventually buy some as long as i stick to the dosing instructions? Alastair i'll check that out.

Thanks again guys

Jason

Re: First ever tank

Just thought you'll not be able to see the sale post as you have less than 25 posts oops. And no mate, the liquid co2 is fine on fish

Re: First ever tank

valis is like a weed it should grow with nothing added but if you add stuff it goes nuts

First ever tank

Co2 is fine with fish aslong as you don't overdose

Re: First ever tank

Welcome to the forum buddy
Great start I can't say much other than what has been said. There's some great articles about on here and if things seem strange or confusing just ask mate, everyone loves to share there knowledge here.

When you can get yourself some liquid carbon and as said dose 2 or 3 times stated dose with the tpn plus, remeber though consistancy is key with planted tanks in mys opinion, and if dozing tpn at triple dose seems expensive....it's because it is haha it's great stuff but there are some alternative out there that are so so cheap, but for now this is good and easy so no worries there.

Enjoy your planted tank

Re: First ever tank

Yes, sorry that's the stuff I meant

I've had a fair bit of trouble with a few plants that are meant to be real easy for beginners. As already said I had no luck with vallis until I added carbon. It survived and made new plants like crazy but they had no height. They looked just like the chain swords - little flat rosettes. In fact, I forgot I had vallis until it started growing up after the carbon was added. Same with amazon fern and swords. I've got the fern in my planted tank as well as in two other tanks and it survives but definitely isn't flourishing - not in any of them :?

Viv

Re: First ever tank

Did a 50% water change and cleared up as much dead leaves and floating debris as i could. Also installed my new Hydor Koralia 900L/H circ pump to help remove dead spots in the tank and counter act the plants from dying. This is directed from the rear left towards the front middle and the thermometer was moved underneath it. I've noticed that most plants are now slightly swaying which is a good sign. I also ordered some tropica plant nutrition plus which i am dosing 1ml a day until i can see signs of improvement and then i'll do 5ml once a week (i may start to triple the dose as advised by some of you guys). I've ordered some aqua carbon which will hopefully arrive Monday, dosing that once a week will also hopefully boost the plant growth. I think some plants may be too far gone to revive, i had to take out all the rotala indica because all the leaves were dead. I cut off the tops though which had grown and replanted these in the hope they will survive.





I've left the wallichii alone to see if it improves at all, otherwise i'll remove it and hopefully do the same with the indica and try to save some cuttings. I moved the dark green moss in preperation of placing another log of wood. I've ordered some bogwood with a moss grown on it to hopefully fill the right side and also bring the pH down. I also ordered 3 moss balls which i think look fantastic and also another background plant to go next to the valis.



I also trimmed a lot of the valis and most of the tops were yellow/brown and transparent in the hope they will regrow stronger, especially with the addition of the liquid ferts. I noticed bubbles escaping from some of the cut leaves which i found quite interesting.



I think it's time to start with some fish now so i'm going to pick up 6 zebra danios tomorrow!

Thanks for looking

Jason

Re: First ever tank

Just bought my first fish and put 6 Zebra Danios in the tank, they seem to be settling in very nicely and are all darting around exploring the new environment. I fed them a few flakes but they weren't overly interested in it and now they are all searching the gravel and plants presumably for food because they keep nipping floating debris and then leaving it. Some are even pairing up and following each other around the tank which is a nice sign.

I did notice though a very very small creature float past and land on a plant. I thought it was just debris at first but could make out some eyes and a few legs. It was completely white, about 1cm long if that, with a long body and few legs underneath it. I thought it might have been some sort of shrimp but i doubt it and i'm not sure if it was picked up from the fish shop with the danios or if it came with a previous plant. Since getting my plants a few weeks back i've been taking out a snail every other day, they are abolsutely tiny, but today i noticed there was about 5 sitting on the centre bogwood. I'm hoping they're not going to get out of control as i hoped i'd keep the tank snail free.

Will probably pick up about 4 or so more zebra danios in the next couple of weeks before christmas and then leave them to settle for a month or so. I'm also split for choice as to the next fish to get. I'd love to have harlequins, lemon tetras and neon tetras but they should be kept in a largeish school so i may have to pick just 1 and have about 8 or so of them. I'll probably ditch the idea of getting a RTBS too as i don't want to risk having to return it or re house it if it is too aggresive. Instead i'll probably get 6 corys, 3 julii and 3 adolfos

Re: First ever tank

Quick update, whilst ordering the aqua carbon from AE i got sucked in browsing and bought a small piece of bogwood with (i think!) christmas moss covering it. I've put this just in front of the valis and will hopefully buy something small to go next to it. I also bought an Aponogeton Capuroni bulb, weren't too sure how to plant it but stuck the whole bulb into the gravel with a tiny bit sticking out the top. This is between the valis and the java. I also bought 3 moss balls under the pretence they were tiny (about 6cm wide), they were actually bludy huge (more like 12-14cm wide)! After putting them in the tank and leaving them in a short while they just didn't suit it at all, i tore off two small pieces off 1 of them and left them in the tank to hopefully develop into a couple of small balls, then binned the rest.

I've been dosing Aqua carbon about 5ml a day and Tropica plant nutrition plus about 3ml a day, both in the morning before i go to work. So far i haven't seen a massive difference, although i have noticed a few valis have developed secondary plants (if that's the right way to describe it) and the indica cuttings are so far holding up. The wallichii i also ditched like the indica. I felt it was too far gone to be saved unfortunately, although i did take about 5 and replant them next to the indica in the hope they survive.

Will try and get some pics but the danios are just too fast for my iphone and i can't get a decent pic. At first they all darted around on their own but they are starting to shoal a lot more. For some reason they have a fascination with the front corner of the left side of the tank, where they like to congregate, although there is no cover here whatsoever so it can't be because they are scared/shy. I was watching them last night and the light turned off, they all immediately grouped up and started swimming round in a shoal which was really cool to watch.

Re: First ever tank

Quick vid of the danios hugging the front glass and especially congregating in the top left corner, dunno if this is strange behaviour or normal? sometimes they swim and explore the tank but often they just stick to this front glass. Video taken from the side. It's on photobucket not youtube so just click the picture and it'll load a seperate website.



I've been dosing aqua carbon 5ml a day at the mo (bottle says 5ml per 250l but i've upped the dose for this week alone and will now do 2.5ml a day). Also i've been dosing tropica plant nutrition plus 3ml a day, again instructions says 10ml a week or a small dose daily for better plant growth. I'll now dose 1ml a day. Unfortunately i haven't seen much difference and i've been dosing both for about a week now. The valis was doing absolutely fine with a few leaves dying but since the introduction of either two solutions or the new powerhead, a lot more leaves have been dying which is worrying me alot. The cabomba is holding up although a lot of leaves are slowly dying off and getting sucked into the powerhead or filter (i have seen new shoots poking through the gravel though). I got rid of the rotala indica, the 4 cuttings i salvaged are holding up but the wallichii have all gone. Echinodorus is the most healthy, the leaves are really starting to grow quite big and i'm only having to cut away 1 or 2 leaves which turn yellow and brown every week or so. The java fern may need looking at as it's developing black spots on most leaves and some are starting to turn brown and yellow.

Pic of the new piece of bogwood with (i think) christmas moss on it. You can see some of the valis leaves turning brown, yellow and transparent. Also you can make out 2 indica cuttings next to the bogwood. I have also placed an Aponogeton Capuroni bulb where the wallichii was, so far it hasn't started sprouting but new roots are starting to appear.



Random snails that must have hitched a ride with a previous plant. Not sure what they are or if they are beneficial or not? So far i haven't noticed any half bitten leaves so i'm hoping i'm ok. If they become a problem i'll have to hunt them down and take them out.



The danios, too fast for my stupid iphone camera but it shows them congregrating in this damn corner as usual.



The tank so far


Thanks for looking

Jason

Re: First ever tank

danios are top column fish so they'll always swim near the surface more than at the bottom they like to be in groups of 6 or more because they shoal but they should be fine.

I'm assuming you're doing regular water changes ?

Re: First ever tank

yep about 40% a week

First ever tank

Looks good!

Re: First ever tank

Popped into Living waters this morning and spent about an hour talking to the owner. It looks like Valis doesn't do too well with aqua carbon and will eventually die altogether which is why i've been having problems with it over the last week. I ended up buying 3x golden honey gourami's instead of dwarves as i was disuaded because they tend to be disease ridden; besides the honeys looked amazing! I have 1 male and 2 females, the male has a lovely red tail and the females have a slight black stripe running the length of their bodies. I also bought a few plants to replace the valis when it eventually dies off and also a plant to create some cover for the gourami's.

I ended up buying Echinodorus Xinguensis, Cardamine Lyrata and Nymphaea 'Thai sp'.

I've removed the valis which were dying off and kept about 6-7 healthy ones. I've now moved these to the left side of the filter. In front of these i've placed the lyrata and put the xinguensis in front of the filter on the right side. I've then put the nymphaea just in front of the xinguensis. The leaves have created a bit of cover and shade at the top for the gorami's and they were interacting with the danios earlier but now they have hidden underneath and behind the middle log with the java. I'm hoping they will come out a little later once they have got used to the tank. Once the nymphaea is established i may move it towards the back of the tank and put the other plants in front of it.

The Nymphaea



A Gourami hiding under one of the pads



Another hiding in the little cave underneath the middle bogwood



Gourami's tearing my cabomba apart already!? Although they haven't destroyed it completely i watched them tear some of the leaves off and eat some





Tank so far







Thanks for looking, will update soon with how the new plants hold up

Jason