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New and needing advice!

SaintWalker01

SaintWalker01

Seedling
Joined
26 Apr 2016
Messages
10
Location
Poole
Hi, newbie here. I did keep fish a few years ago, but took a break due to repeated house moves. I now have a nice 190L tank, but having NO luck with plants! I have roughly 3-5in of plant substrate (I can't recall the brand) with a little gravel. I've also been adding plant food. Despite that, most of the plants have either died or become very thin and spindly, so have come looking for help!
 
Hi firstly welcome to UKAPS some more detailed information would be helpful, what lighting system are you using and how long are your lights running for each day? you say you are adding plant food, an idea of what kind and how often you are dosing the tank would also be helpful. Flow rate and flow direction can have an effect on plant growth, so what kind of filtration system are you using? sorry for all the questions but the answers will give a better idea of your particular set up. You are in the right place for advice and help,I'am sure one of the experts on here will be along shortly to offer some sound advice:) also Having a good read through the tutorials and general planted tank discussions is a great source of information ;)
 
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Agree with Alex. This will take a while to sort out.

Can you post pictures of the whole tank and each individual plants (bottom part and top growth part) for us? Picture can be worth quite a few words.
 
Hi welcome to Ukaps, I think Alex's advice about tutorials is the way to go and I find the Journals showing members progress with all the ups and downs very helpful as their tank develops. Start with only two or three easy category plants whereby you can still have a nice aquascaping without the difficulties encountered by more demanding ones
 
Hi, the tank is a dubai100 - not sure about the lights, just what it came with? Usually on about 6-7 hours a day. The only thing that grows is moss. Moss everywhere! It looks so messy. The filter is a bluwave 05, but it's absolutely awful and I'm about to replace it. My local shop has deals on the marina external pumps, so planning to get one once I've checked out some reviews. My plant food ran out last week and I can't for the life of me remember the brand, I think it might have been tetra. I was adding twice a week. Bear with me and I'll get pics, embarrassing as they are! Thanks!
 
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As you can see, it's a mess. Not what I wanted from a tank at all. I've already bought two lots of plants and I can't afford to keep replacing them.
 
Thanks for picture. Did you put that 'moss' in there? It looks like an algae rather than moss to me.

You will need to research a little bit more to figure this one out. For the moment, I would suggest 50% weekly water changes with removal of all that algae mossy stuff. Vaccuum the front gravel aggressively. Insert one root tab (flourish or what ever you can get) into the base of each plant.

This strategy will give you time to have a look around.
 
On the glass I think it's algae, on the back is definitely moss, I had two moss balls that went mad. Been trying to get rid of it! Happy to wait on plants, though want to get a new filter in asap! I'll get some root tabs.
 
Once the plants start growing, you can take and aggressive approach and treat the tank with algaefix (made by API). This will probably kill all that algae which will require massive water changes to reset the tank.

The filter should have at least 1200l/h flow capacity. Don't buy another tinny one.

One step at a time.

I think you can turn this around in 3-4 months.
 
I'm looking at the Marina CF60, I'll check the flow, thanks for that. Don't mind taking it slow as long as it gets there eventually!
 
Thanks! I'm only rushing the filter because I loathe mine and think it's not very good anyway. I'll have a read. :)
 
Good advice from Rebel:) it seems that your tank has two t5 tubes fitted as standard. Depending on how long you have had the tank and when you last changed them you may want to look at replacing them as the light out put degrades over time. If you are sticking to a low tech set up for now, T5's should be ok, Also from what I can tell your Bluwave 05 internal filter is pushing out 500ltr an hour which is very low for the size of your tank as your wanting to grow plants more successfully so, a bigger filter is going to help. Looks to me like the same algae on the back of your tank as at the front .Imo following Rebels advice is a really good start to getting your tank looking good and plants growing well :D
 
IMO it looks like abad algal outbreak.
If that were me i would tear the tank apart, move all the fish / plants for a day. Drain the tank, remove the algae and scrub the tank clean. Wash out the gravel and begin to start again.

Begin to build from there.
 
I've had the tank about 18 months, they've never been replaced. The Marina CF60 puts out 1192lph - is it worth getting the next size up?
I don't really have the facilities to completely empty the tank at the moment is it bad to try and do it with the fish in place? Also the soil is very fine.
 
It is do-able, of course. It will just take a bit longer as you wait for the effects to be reversed.

With regard to the soil, its probably best to avoid stirring it up in that case.
 
Regarding the light tubes,After 18 months of use I would change them for new ones, The T5 tubes can be bought for relatively little money,as for the filter It's usually recommended that you have 10x turn over so that would take it to 2000ltr per hour but, as Rebel has said 1200ltr should be a minimum as you will be running a low tech tank. Looking forward to seeing some pic's of your new and improved tank in the near future:D
 
SaintWalker01 said:
Hi, the tank is a dubai100 - not sure about the lights, just what it came with? Usually on about 6-7 hours a day. The only thing that grows is moss. Moss everywhere! It looks so messy. The filter is a bluwave 05, but it's absolutely awful and I'm about to replace it. My local shop has deals on the marina external pumps, so planning to get one once I've checked out some reviews. My plant food ran out last week and I can't for the life of me remember the brand, I think it might have been tetra. I was adding twice a week. Bear with me and I'll get pics, embarrassing as they are! Thanks!
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Please dont worry about posting pictures or questions UKAPS members and experts have been there and we all at whatever level of expertise have issues from time to time
 
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