Flyfisherman said:
Thx for the reply I am only adding Profito at the moment, don't want to add anything else yet until is completely running in, which I would imagine will take some time due to the small quanitity of water as it only 25 ltr even though I did use my old spent tank water from my other tank and if anything goes wrong it will be dramatic rather than gradual, you would laugh at my cuttings - they are in a medium sized plastic tub (the ones your take away meal come in) filled with gravel. I will take some pic for you - what do you think of the tank I think is neat & tidy.
My comments are in red text
OK, well I'm completely lost on this one. I must have missed something. I mean, this is a planted tank right?
NO there are a few cuttings from my other tank in there.If so you are breaking all the rules of "running in" a planted tank which means higher risk of all things bad. This is not to say that all things bad will happen, just that the risks are higher.
Firstly, the volume of water in the tank has nothing to do with the speed or efficiency at which the tank will mature.
What I am refering to is that once the tank has matured extra care will be required due of the small volume of water e.g if the Nitrates increased the affect would be dramtic in a 25ltr tank when compare with a 250 ltr tank which would be gradual - see what I mean Next, the tank should be jam packed with as many plants as possible because plants help to mature the substrate a zillion times more quickly than a bare tank. Certainly not having done a water change for two weeks is nothing to be proud of
Initial filling of the tank was with some old water from my other tank - which is matured, after one week a 50 % water change took place, this Saturday another 50 % water change will take place - that 2 x water chages within 2 weeks . A planted tank being matured should have multiple water changes because plants want
clean water free of their own organic waste. If plants are in the tank then they need to be fed and fed properly so I see no point whatsoever of "not wanting to add anything until completely run in".
the reason for the question regarding feeding was that you read threads on the forum of new tanks / set up, the substrate is added, the landscaping is done the water is added and that it - no mention of activites after - you are let high and dry and swinging from the rafters - this is why I am asking the question if it is ok to add profito to my water: 1. whilst the new set is maturing, 2. Do plant cutting need some fertz and finally I will have to be so careful with the additivies I add as I could polute the water eg 1 x gallon of antfreeze in a brook will have a dramatic affect of the water, the same gallon of antifreeze into a river would have a lesser affect as the volume of water is larger so the antifreeze bceome more diluted. The whole point of adding things, which I assume you're referring to nutrients, is that this helps tremendously in "running in". So your goals are at odds with your technique.
What a tank starts out looking like has no bearing on what it looks like later on.
This was referencing the structure /size / appearence of the tank / size of filter etc nothing to do with its contents will be and how it will look once platedCreating the biological infrastructure for future scape and fauna, while minimizing the risk of algae, is of prime importance and so these things mentioned above facilitate the infrastructure.
Hope this makes sense. :?
Cheers,