29 Gallon Planted Aquarium Advice

[polyesterkhakis]

I have a 29 gallon aquarium that has been setup for about three years, as a non-planted tank.
A few months ago, I became interested in planted aquariums.
I have bought flourite, and mixed it with my existing gravel.
I have a bubble curtain. I do 25-30% water changes every 2-3 weeks. I leave my light on(flourescent) 12 hours a day.
Usually have loads of algae
I have the following plants:
- Carolina Anacharis- very little left , either can't live or gets eaten
- Banana Plant - is doing great
- Onion Plant - does ok, usually gets a lot of algae
- Moneywort - looks very well alive, but it looks like it wouldn't mind dying because of the algae coverage
-Corkscrew Val - just added, is doing good
- Something else that came from walmart - its a swordtype with green and yellow bordered blades - its doing good except for algae
- Some other plants

I have the following fish:
3 New Gunea Rainbows
3 Dwarf Gouramis
6 Albino Corys
A few Amano Algae Eating Shrimp.

Now for the problem:
I checked my ph the other day, the tank has had these plants for about a month. My ph is 6, or maybe lower, but it matched the yellow on the aquarium pharmaceuticals card. I added some ph up that came with the test kit the other day and it didn't increase the ph any, i added some more earlier today. My ammonia was high also, but i put some AmmoLock in, and i regularly add stress zyme. I also add LeafZone Iron and Potassium. I don't know much about co2 injection, so ive never tried it, but i thought about using seachem flourish excel. The only think that has died is 2 out of 9 amano shrimps that i added the other day. The fish look happy, they have been in for a while. I also am thinking about ordering that seachem acid and alkaline buffer for the ph problem. Can anyone contribute to this situation. Oh yeah, i got the petsmart to give me some malaysian trumpet snails, they didn't live for some reason. I will do a follow up post with the latest ph, ammonia, and nitrate results.

 

[polyesterkhakis]

Latest Test

The PH is still yellowish, 6 according to the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Card.
The Nitrate is between 5-10ppm according to the card.
The Ammonia is a little more than 0.25ppm according to the card.
I never bought a Nitrite test kit, I will next time i go to the store.

Looking over my post, i don't think clearly stated my question. After testing the water, I guess my question is how should I treat the levels above. I am going to vacumn 35% tommorrow, and get what i can of the detertus in the gravel. I hope this helps. But i wanted to get an opinion of the seachem acid and alkeline buffer for plants before used them.

 

[brendan]

You say that you've had the tank running for almost three years, I confused why you have un-natural level all of a sudden. I mean an established tank like that shouldn't have much amonia.

In my experience, once you start playing around with chemicals to raise or lower your ph your playing with fire. Get a kh test kit, then go on the net and look up C02 graphs to figure out the level of c02 in your tank. If you're serious about a planted tank you'll definitely need more C02 then what's naturally in the water.

 

[polyesterkhakis]

Reply

Thanks for your response.
I think one reason, maybe because, I am not able to vacumn as much detetrus out due to fear of uprooting plants.
I will buy a KH test.
Thanks

 

[vega]

imo 6pH is bit too acidic.

If you dKH(hardness) is below or ~1, I would recommend you to increase the dKH. With water hardness around 2-3 dkH, your pH will be buffer to around 7 which is better then pH swing due to the pH adjusting chemical you add in. Anyway adding water hardness is much cheaper then using those chemical.
I am using following for increasing dKH.

http://www.sera.de/English/autoframe.htm?url=http://www.sera.de/english/start-e.htm

You can use peat in your filter to make the water have lower pH for amazon river setup but before that i would recommend you stabalise your pH 1st.
If you planing to use CO2 then increasing your dKH to at least 2-3dKH is a MUST or you with definately have problem with pH swing.

Agree with Bren, try controlling pH with chemical you are playing with fire. Stop chasing pH dragon with chemical...

HTH

 

[vega]

Oh for the snail problem check the copper level.Dead snail norm is due to copper poisoning. but again i would recommend you fix the pH problem 1st.

HTH

 

[polyesterkhakis]

Reply

OK I am going to go ahead and get a co2 ferment system.
Would you recommend a hagen plant ferment system or a jungle labs fizz lab? Altogether I wasn't wanting to spend that much money.
About the snails, I guess I will buy a copper test kit also.
How do i control copper levels, when it is found that the levels are too high?
Thanks again for the responses guys.

 

[polyesterkhakis]

hey vega,
that link went to the sera mainpage, are you using a KH dosage or the reactor?
Im not sure anywhere around me sells sera products.
How about Flourish Excel, or Natural Aquarium Vital, or would it be better to just get the fermentation system?

 

[polyesterkhakis]

As far as that peat, I have Regent powerfilter that came with my aquarium, but i am looking into investing into a emperor filter, that has the media baskets and regular cartridges but then again, what if i just got a media bag and filled it with peat media? and drop it after the filter? Would it matter that some water got around it? I have looked at the DIY part about people making their own DIY filters,etc, but after looking, people always follow up with posts discouraging them. I really didn't want to to have to buy a canister filter, but i guess i got to do what i got to do.

 

[vega]

Hi,

Goto Sera site again under pond care product look for "Sera kH pond". Its for increase your tank water hardness(dkH). They have same type for aquarium but it cost 3 times more expensive as it pack in smaller bottle. Well if your lfs do not carry any sera product you can substitude with any other brand that increase the carbonate hardness of the water.

Before adding any CO2 to the tank, pls make sure the dKH is >2 as with low dkH the tank pH will swing. You will find out that once your tank dKH is >2, your pH swing problem will be fix for good even with adding of CO2 to the tank.

For CO2, i am using Hagen Natural Sys. The Emperor is a HOB right? If you are using CO2 in the tank, try not to disturb/air the water too much as the CO2 will escape. Since your are buying new filter for planted tank, try to avoid HOB/Bio Wheel. Btw, the HAgen Nat Sys is rated for 180L tank.

Prior adding CO2, the tank lighting will also need to be at least >1.5 wpg or your plant will not able to fully utilise the CO2. For upgrade path, try to get CO2 1st then lighting to >1.5 wpg or you will have algea problem if its another way round.

For the peat media, its ok for the water got around it.

As forthe DYI filter i have gone through all the cycle, hehehe. DYI internal filter, DYI canister filter, dYI CO2 etc... In the end imo the maintainance is quit dif and the reliability also quit questionable with the DYI as there is limitation on what u can design on ur DYI.
Eventually i brought the Fluval 304 canister filter which works great and easy to maintain. Honestly, I regret for not getting the Fluval earlier as i spend so much uneeded effort n $$ on the DYI stuff. Eheim also make good canister filter but it cost a bit more.

The nex thing you want to invest probablly is the "CO2 Long-term Indicator" under sera's maintainance product. I am using Azoo's but it look similar with the Sera one.

HTH.

 

[polyesterkhakis]

Again, thanks for your help.
I am looking on ebay to either get a fluval or a ehim, once i get these, do you have to buy anything else other than a powerhead? As far as how you suck the water and how you deliever it, what hardware do you need?

I thought CO2 was the same as KH. I need to get the KH right before i bother with co2 right?

Thanks

 

[vega]

You dont need any power head anymore. The canister filter have build it powerhead in the canister (again something almost impossible to DYI...).

I am not sure for Eheim but for all Fluval Canister, everything from water inlet strainer to outlet noozle, flter media (ceramic donut, active carbon) are inc in the package. So there is not much you need to buy anymore in term for the filter purpose.

Pls view the downloadable the manual for Fluval Canister MFS Filter n you will understand what are inc in the package or go to the 1st url below then click on "PARTS". Everything display in the "PARTS" is come with the filter.

http://hagen.com/usa/aquatic/product.cfm?CAT=1&SUBCAT=107&PROD_ID=01002050020101
http://hagen.com/usa/aquatic/manual.cfm

How the water is suck into the canister filter is explain in the manual.

I would also suggest get a filter that is rated a bit higher capacity then the the actual tank but you need to place the water outlet properly so there is not too much water current in the tank. I think Fluval 204 is suitable for 29gal (i am using 304 for my 30gal . The price is not dif much.

Btw i am also attaching following skimmer to my Fluval intake.

http://hagen.com/usa/aquatic/product.cfm?CAT=1&SUBCAT=107&PROD_ID=01002400020101

I find it very useful in keeping the surface crystall clear from dirt n protein. Probabily you can have it for the next purchase after the filter

As for KH, its measure in dkH unit. Yes get the KH (water hardness for common term) >2 dKH 1st before bother with CO2.

HTH