recent planted tank?

[mattyc]

how soon can i put my fish into the newly planted tank the filter has been on the old tank to get it going and the water in the new tank is slightly clowdy but getting clearer?

will put some picks as soon as i have my camara working.

 

[Ed Seeley]

If your filter is properly matured already then you could stock fish straight away, but putting a new filter on a old tank for a while doesn't guarantee this (but it will help the filter mature more quickly and was a good move).

The other thing is that leaving fish out of the tank for as long as possible means you can turn the CO2 right up above 30ppm and get your plants nice and established before any fish go in. Fish produce ammonia and this is why we need a mature filter, but ammonia is also an excellent trigger of algae! By leaving the fish out for a few weeks you let the plants get going and reduce the chance of getting algae.

I would at leaving it fishless for at least 2 weeks then, if you don't get any nitrite readings after that, stock some algae eaters only. After a few more weeks without any problems you can then start adding your shoaling fish. I know this seems a long while to wait but you plants will thank you for it and your tank will look much better with lush plant growth.

 

[mattyc]

i dont have co2 (too expensive) can you recommend any algie eaters? does a high flow filter system help with algie, the filter i have is only small, the tank is a 60l.

 

[Ed Seeley]

i dont have co2 (too expensive) can you recommend any algie eaters? does a high flow filter system help with algie, the filter i have is only small, the tank is a 60l.

It's still best to let your tank get established and growing before adding any fish though. As it's only a 60l tank you could use Excel or EasyCarbo to provide a source of carbon - you really do need some sort of carbon supplmentation for all but a very low light tank. Also Excel and Easycarbo have anti-algae qualities so help to prevent outbreaks.

As to algae eaters, depending on your stocking then Shrimp, Nerite snails, Otocinclus, Ancistrus and Siamese Algae Eaters (the real ones) are all good, along with a few others. What other fish are you planning to have in there? Anything that can fit the shrimps in their mouths will eat them and they need a mature filter. Otocinclus are great but they need to have some algae in there or they tend to starve so you need to wait until you see some algae before adding them IME.

High flow helps in a planted tank in a number of ways. It gets the CO2 enriched and fertilised water distributed all around the tank and to all the plants. It moves much more of the waste and detritus into the water column to get picked up by the filter so it can't stay in amongst the plants where it will break down and release ammonia and encourage algae. That is why we tend to look at providing a turn over of around 10 times the tank's volume. For your tank then you want to be looking at around 600l per hour, but don't be afraid to go above this.

 

[mattyc]

i have some rummy nose tetras some guppies and 2 quite big feather fin cats. this new tank is mainly to house the catfish in. think they would eat the shrimp

 

[Ed Seeley]

Yeah Synodontis will soon polish the shrimp off! I'd look at Ancistrus and Nerite Snails to start with. You could add Otos if they don't deal with the algae.

If you're stocking some decent sized cats to the tank I'd definitely let the plants establish well as their sheer bulk will probably uproot them. S.euptera will grow too big for a 60l BTW. They will get to 8" long! I hope you have a 3 or 4 footer for them when they're adults!

 

[mattyc]

they are in a 30l atm so a 60 is a lot better, not sure if i will even put them in the tank yet got a friend with some discus who might take them on. just got a new filter system today is a 600l/h am running the new one and the one i have had running on my old tank at the same time. have put some filter starter stuff in to get them going a bit better too.