New planted tank: New to the plant world please help

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Jaeroo

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 19, 2015
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129
Location
Pennsylvania
Okay right now I currently have a 10g heavily planted high tech tank. It has some type of dark fluorite (I think seachem). Currently no fertilizers, co2 system, root tabs or any of that jazz but the plants are doing very well (I'm planning to get a co2 system soon). I don't understand fertilizers or root tabs (I mean the name obviously explains itself but...). Are they a substitute for something or is it an eventual NEED for every planted tank?
My new setup is a 20g long and I was wondering, is a dirted tank or a substrate tank (ex: ecocomplete) the better option in the long run as far as cost and maintenance? I'm only 15 and money doesn't come easy for me right now. I'm planning to retire my 10g and move everything as far as plants goes to the 20. There are so many options I've researched and my mind is going a zillion miles an hour . I just want the best for my fish, plants, and wallet. Please respond if you can help me out! Thanks!
P.S. I heard that you don't need to change filter media like ever because of BB that colonizes on it. It mentioned that you only need to rinse the media to get all the crap off and then just pop it back into the filter. Is this common to do? I have a aqueon penguin 100 filter and was wondering what I should do with it as far as maintenance goes?

Here is my setup now (My brother has inadequate lighting in his tank so he put his giant rock with baby tears on top of my driftwood so it looks kind of dumb.) Note: I'm not going for looks here, I just want to keep the plants alive so I can aquascape them into my 20g long. If the Image doesn't show up it will be in my album "Tanks" on my profile so please check it out! )I'm still not sure how to put pics on threads)
DSCF1901.JPG
 
Heya Jaeroo, welcome to the planted tank tribe! I know the feeling you describe so well.

Root tabs are just wads of nutrients. You use them when v the nutrients of your substrate run out (after a couple of years or more, depending on what you used) it if you're using, say, sand which has virtually no nutrients. You just poke them into the substrate a ways and forget about them. I hear they have a diameter if benefit of around 6 inches.

You don't need to clean your filters very often. You just need to make sure they are not gummed up by debris and preventing water flow. In fact, depending on what kind you have, you may not need to clean it at all. The fish poop will act as fertilizer once it has broken down so I just leave it in the ground. Having a dark substrate is great camouflage lol.

You can skip the expensive substrates and use mineralized topsoil. It's a little work to get the nutrients broken down but you'll save some cash doing it. I should also point out that, if you have mostly plants that are not root feeders but get their nutrients out if the water column (eg anubias), you should really not be concerned about Eckerd expensive substrates. Sand and root tabs is how I (successfully) ran my first planted tank.
 
Heya Jaeroo, welcome to the planted tank tribe! I know the feeling you describe so well.

Root tabs are just wads of nutrients. You use them when v the nutrients of your substrate run out (after a couple of years or more, depending on what you used) it if you're using, say, sand which has virtually no nutrients. You just poke them into the substrate a ways and forget about them. I hear they have a diameter if benefit of around 6 inches.

You don't need to clean your filters very often. You just need to make sure they are not gummed up by debris and preventing water flow. In fact, depending on what kind you have, you may not need to clean it at all. The fish poop will act as fertilizer once it has broken down so I just leave it in the ground. Having a dark substrate is great camouflage lol.

You can skip the expensive substrates and use mineralized topsoil. It's a little work to get the nutrients broken down but you'll save some cash doing it. I should also point out that, if you have mostly plants that are not root feeders but get their nutrients out if the water column (eg anubias), you should really not be concerned about Eckerd expensive substrates. Sand and root tabs is how I (successfully) ran my first planted tank.

I have a HOB filter that has disposable cartridges. It also has a bio wheel. Do I even need to replace them? If so how often? Another thing, do you just do water changes without cleaning the gravel/bottom? Also, I'm considering going dirted because it seems to have many benefits and is cheaper. Are there any good articles I can read that you can give me a link to? Thanks for replying I really appreciate it!!~:D
 
I have a HOB filter that has disposable cartridges. Do I even need to replace them? If so how often? Another thing, do you just do water changes without cleaning the gravel/bottom? Also, I'm considering going dirted because it seems to have many benefits and is cheaper. Are there any good articles I can read that you can give me a link to? Thanks for replying I really appreciate it!!~:D


As for the cartridges, clean them if they get really dirty in old tank water. Tap water kills all the good bacteria on the pad that keeps your aquarium clean. Only replace if it is just falling apart. I only vacuum my gravel when I can visibly see things that need cleaned up. Others do it with water changes. I don't know much about dirt.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish
 
As for the cartridges, clean them if they get really dirty in old tank water. Tap water kills all the good bacteria on the pad that keeps your aquarium clean. That being said, only replace if it is just falling apart. I only vacuum my gravel when I can visibly see things that need cleaned up. Others do it with water changes. I don't know much about dirt.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish





Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish
 
Sorry I sometimes hit quote instead of edit. Not sure how to delete that comment, if I could I would sorry about that.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish
 
As for the cartridges, clean them if they get really dirty in old tank water. Tap water kills all the good bacteria on the pad that keeps your aquarium clean. Only replace if it is just falling apart. I only vacuum my gravel when I can visibly see things that need cleaned up. Others do it with water changes. I don't know much about dirt.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish

Thanks for a quick response! After I learned that cycling a tank should be more like a month or two than just 1 day, (like the LFS employees told me one day was fine. they just wanted me to buy more stuff.) I was thinking what else might they be lying about? They told me to change the cartridge every month and 3 months without changing it was pushing it lol. What liars! thank you for clearing things up! What do you suggest as far as co2 systems go? (if you have experience with them of course):thanks:
 
Thanks for a quick response! After I learned that cycling a tank should be more like a month or two than just 1 day, (like the LFS employees told me one day was fine. they just wanted me to buy more stuff.) I was thinking what else might they be lying about? They told me to change the cartridge every month and 3 months without changing it was pushing it lol. What liars! thank you for clearing things up! What do you suggest as far as co2 systems go? (if you have experience with them of course):thanks:


I'll leave the co2 to someone with more experience than me. Yeah my LFS said the same thing and that's why my 75, 45, and 10 all took forever to cycle because no one told me about the cycling process till I joined this forum. Luckily I've had no fish deaths during the cycling process.


Caleb

Might have a slight obsession with my fish
 
Look up "DIY co2 yeast" on Google for tons of information on the cheapest means of injecting co2. That way lies annoyance but the cost is super cheap.

For the high pressure tank method, you're looking at close to $200 or more for a tank, regulator, diffuser and maybe solenoid valve.

There's also liquid carbon supplement you can dose. I've tried it but the results weren't anything to write home about.
 
Look up "DIY co2 yeast" on Google for tons of information on the cheapest means of injecting co2. That way lies annoyance but the cost is super cheap.

For the high pressure tank method, you're looking at close to $200 or more for a tank, regulator, diffuser and maybe solenoid valve.

There's also liquid carbon supplement you can dose. I've tried it but the results weren't anything to write home about.

With the DIY...how do you know how much co2 goes into the tank?
 
With the DIY...how do you know how much co2 goes into the tank?


By counting bubbles and using a drop checker. Pressurized and DIY CO2 systems can be hooked up to a simple device called a bubble counter. There you count how many bubbles pass during a given period of time (such as 2 BPS or bubbles per second). With a pressurized system, it is easy to adjust the output. With DIY not so much, however, you can make adjustments to the amounts of sugar and/or yeast to increase or decrease the CO2 being generated.
A drop checker is a small glass or plastic vessel containing a reagent that reacts to pH changes. It is designed to trap a large "bubble" of air which is in contact with the tank water and the reacting solution. As CO2 levels change in the tank, the amount of CO2 changes accordingly in the trapped bubble and this change is indicated by a shift in color of the fluid in the drop checker.
Here is a pic of two drop checkers:
4QUgjU7.png



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As long as you get plants that are appropriate to the lighting, you should be fine.
Lower light usually means slower growth. But it also means lower demands for ferts and CO2 and lower chances of algae outbreaks.


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With DIY, you don't really have any control over the amount of gas that gets injected. You could put more out less yeast into the fermentation bottle but then you'd get shorter or longer lifespan between changeouts.

The the good news is that, despite not having any real control, you'd be injecting only a low amount that you don't need to worry about injecting too much.

Fermentation driven injection is a good stepping stone but it'll quickly make you realize the value of a tank and regulator.
 
What about the plants I have now? I have a pic of my 10g in my profile. (I can't identify two of them too) And my LFS doesn't have tons of options for plants. Any online place that you suggest to buy some?
 
In on the mobile app and viewing profile pics or albums is a challenge. Could you try posting a pic of the plants on this thread?


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