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Thinking of trying again

DEL 707

Member
Joined
18 Jul 2009
Messages
81
It's been awhile since I've kept a tank, about 7 years at the moment, and I've been feeling the urge to start again.

Last time I tried a planted tank, it didn't end well.
https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/having-another-bash.11779/

I had T5 lighting, CO2 and mixed my own fertilizers, but no matter what I tried, I just ended up with 1 big algae mess.

My water isn't very good and quite hard.
EvdzL0X.png


I did a API lquid test on my nitrates on there are more 20ppm.

This is what my water company had to say.
Your water hardness
271 mg/l CaCO₃

19.00 English degrees or degrees clark
27.14 French degrees
15.20 German degrees
2.71 mmol/l
15.20 Grains per US gallon
19.00 Grains per British Gallon

This means your water is classified as hard
http://cdn.southeastwater.co.uk/Files/West Ashford.pdf

I was quite disappointed with my tank last time, I followed guides and advice, but I had was a big mess that left me with nothing but shame.

This time I was original thinking of keeping African Cichlids and just staying away from plants. But part of me wants to try plants again, because I know I will miss them.

Am I p***ing in the wind trying to keep plants in my water? Is there something different I could try, or different equiptment this time around?

I don't want to end up with this again
fwpic4-jpg.jpg
 
Absolutely try again. This time try with ADA aquasoil and try and lower light levels by only using 5 hours at the beginning. Use fast growing easy plants and plant dense at the beginning.
 
An external canister filter with a spraybar may be a good option as most of your issues last time was poor CO2 implemation related. With flow/distrubution being the main isses, Plus no skipping the maintiance ;). Plus doing a pH profile would help OFC.
 
Is there something different I could try, or different equiptment this time around?

Try low tech, you will be surprised. Don't over complicate your hobby and pick plants wisely. Make sure you have a light fitting that can be dimmed and start off at its lowest setting. Use a substrate that's designed for planted aquariums and take things very slowly, there's no rush, get a tank going where the plants are healthy and showing some signs of new growth, you can always add in co2 and turn up the lights later and try different plants to see what works. Understandably people see tanks online and think I want one of them, buy all the equipment and add tons of this and plenty of that and that does work for experienced aquascapers but it's also fraught with problems in the wrong hands. I see so many tanks in here where there shouldn't be a problem but there is but low tech tanks are more forgiving. Fall back in love with the hobby and just grow some plants, I'm sure you'll end up with a jaw dropping scape at some point when you get your eye in. Have a look at @George Farmer youtube channel at his low budget non co2 tank for inspiration.
 
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