Newly planted tank and airstone?

[Jferrante]

I'm trying to make sure my plants can establish themselves during this initial cycle and although I like the large airstone that crosses the center of my tank I'm not sure if it helps or hinders plant growth.
I have 20 lbs of Eco Complete and 40 lbs of natural gravel.
55g tank with 305 fluval canister filter.
My Plants are 1 Banana Plant, 1 Amazon Sword (that is placed so a beam of real sunlight during the day shines directly on it), 2 italian val plants, and one 1 short Anubias slightly offset from direct light.

I put 5 Rummy nose Tetra to produce a little ammonia to start the cycle while I add Stability by seachem everyday. I also Use seachems Prime and Tropical fish food. And of course once the cycle is done I will add Purigen as the only media along side 4 sections of biomax. I've got Stress--Enzyme too incase it gets bad but overall I will be closely watching it everyday. I've got the API Master kit too.
I know a lot of people do fish-less cycles but I figured 5 tetra with 5 plants would produce a very light ammonia spike that is easily manageable (especially since my biomax has been through many years with goldfish and koi before I converted . All I did was rinse with hot water for a minute and thats it so it might be light but with everything else i assume it should recover well) that would slowly grow stronger over time.
But anyways what are some good pointer to growing healthy hardy plants and will the airstone slow down or even possible ruin its establishment or will it not be that effective on the plants.

 

[Coursair]

Make sure your Sword gets a root tab.


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[BBradbury]

Using an Air Stone

Hello Jf...

The air stone is of little benefit to the running of the tank. It will agitate the tank water a bit and that mixes oxygen into the water and releases carbon dioxide (CO2). The filter system does the same job. By adding more oxygen by using the air stone, you remove more CO2 and that's not as good an environment for the plants.

B

 

[Jferrante]

Thanks. Looks I'll just take it out then since it'd definitely overkill the aeration. and I will get a root tab as well. I was also thinking of adding three more Rummys so that there will be 8 and just leave it at that for a few weeks till the tank is thriving and stabilized.

 

[ScotJudd]

Many people who love plants spend a lot of money on injecting Co2 into the tanks for the plants. Too much and the fish suffer. Too much water agitation and the Co2 is knocked out of the water, defeating the objective. It's a difficult line to tread.
If you are a beginner with plants then I would stick to Excel (Glut) as a carbon source. It's added daily and is not knocked out of the water like Co2. It also has the added bonus of being a mild algaecide arresting many algae a including hair and bba.


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[Coursair]

For a 55g it will be much cheaper in the long run to use dry ferts for the plants.

You can order them.
PPS-Pro and EI refer to two different but common dosing methods.

I use liquid ferts once a week after changing water.

Weekly
I use Flourish Comprehensive
API LeafZone

Root Tabs only as needed. Once a month to every 4 months.

And you can buy Metricide 14 as a generic version of Excel for a Carbon source. You can add this daily if you want to speed plant growth.


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[Coursair]

Sunlight will grow algae in your tank. Direct sun is not recommended for planted tanks.

My lights are on timers. I run lights 6-8hours daily.






These are only 10g so I get away with mini CFLs


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[Jferrante]

I'm thinking if I just use flourish or rootmedic root tabs and excel that my tank will be fine for awhile then I can learn more about this whole process and get into the more complicated and dangerous stuff.

Wouldn't that be a decent dose of minerals to get started ?

then in like a month I could try out that PPS-Pro you mentioned since it seems pretty good. But Isn't PPS-Pro very similar to Leafzone just a little better overall? I just wouldn't think to use both as it could mean an overdosing.

Some say that Metricide is also a little more dangerous but I will look to see if it's at my any local aquarium specialty stores (there's 3 that are really good within 5 miles of my house. One has every bottle and treatment you can imagine, another has every fish you can imagine, and the third is the most customer friendly and is always willing to help.)
Also the position of my tank is perfect for amount of sunlight. It's inbetween my living room, kitchen and sunroom so it gets mostly diffused light but from like 12-3 the sun peers through a skylight and lights up about half the tank but gradually and since there are cloudy/rainy/snowy days it adds a natural variation of it that makes it tougher on algae. I think that if algae should make it past excel it would be a good amount for plecos or cory cats to consume which are some of the fish that I plan on getting in the future.

 

[Jferrante]

After some research I'm not sure if or how I can use Excel.. I have two Italian Vals in the tank and it can be dangerous for fish and bacteria especially during this initial cycle. I also don't want to drop $300 setting up the gas version. So if I must use excel I was thinking of using a dose that's like 1/3rd of a typical dose. I'm also thinking that once there is alot of fish in the tank that it might not be necessary. But i know that liquid fertilizer and tabs are definitely a must.

 

[Jferrante]

I got a Seachem plant starter kit with iron, Excel and Flourish. I may need to test the iron with a kit before I add anymore since I have 1 bag of eco complete in the mix. but Excel in low doses seems to do fine. The banana Plant has had a major growth spurt in the past day or two so something is working. I'm surprised by that because it's so soon.