Background options for 30 litre cube

[Eduard18]

Hi, I think you have a water flow issue : big leaved plants, a big stone in the middle ; your internal filter can't handle it ; that's why you have a build up of detritus ; btw , I don't know what substrate you're using, but your light wasn't strong enough for pogostemon helferi

Envoyé de mon SM-G935F en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[billiemackers]

Hi, I think your rescape is a big improvement

If you have algae in places, you can remove manually with a tooth brush followed by a water change. If use use a syphon to remove any detritus you can - this can improve general water quality & tank health

What soil/substrate are you using? A nutrient rich soil such as ADA aquasoil can leech ammonia from 4 - 8 weeks for example.

Thanks, I used cal aqua labs black earth - I'm still getting highish ammonia readings!

Hi, I think you have a water flow issue : big leaved plants, a big stone in the middle ; your internal filter can't handle it ; that's why you have a build up of detritus ; btw , I don't know what substrate you're using, but your light wasn't strong enough for pogostemon helferi

Thanks, I will try to improve the flow somehow.

On a different note, I wasn't able to dose the tank with easycarbo for 3 days a few weeks back, the consequence was very detrimental!! A lot of my rotala completely melted and my staurogyne repens also melted a lot in places/got black blotches on leaves. Both of which were growing really well initially too.

As I've started using EasyCarbo, will a lot of my plants now be totally reliant on it in order to survive? I planned on weaning them off it at some point if possible.

Also, I know it's a newish tank - but do I need to clean my filter of wait for the tank to be more stable/cycled first?

 

[Manisha]

Hi,
Aqua labs isn't associated with a high ammonia output upon start up up I thought? But I haven't used so I'm not sure!

Im still new to planted tanks & learning so you may wish to start a new thread in the 'co2 section' but I think there is no reason a lower light tank cannot be changed from dosing co2 to not. As some people may use liquid co2 in the initial start up as many plants (not all) benefit from co2 & this can help establishing them. I think it may be more dependant on the plants you have in the aquarium whether you can reduce co2 without a negative impact. Some like pogestemon helferi like high light & co2, but I have seen it grown in low tech, however it grows less compact & a bit leggy - so if you have less demanding & hardier plants they may make this transition more easily

Your rotala & staurogyne grew with x amount of co2 & would think if you reduced this it would mean that their 'need' for light & other nutrients would be reduced also? This may have cause their decline & perhaps an ammonia spike if there was a lot of decaying plant matter.

As long as your maintaining regular water changes & siphoning any decaying plant matter, I'd think you should be okay (no livestock yet?) but if flow is less it may be clogged with detritus & rinsing filter sponge in tank water should be ok with your next water change

 

[billiemackers]

Thanks @Manisha !

No livestock yet, no. I was just trying to establish a stable aquarium first, but it's trickier than I thought! I think I need to keep up with the water changes a bit more regular, when a lot of my plants died off I also hadn't changed any water for a week so this may also have something to do with it. Thanks for your help!