Tank Low-Down

[Guyver]

I'm new to the forum world, but I've been running fish tanks (without proper knowledge, 90% of the time) for close on 10 years now. Started out with a 20 gal long that was the family tank that my parents left to me to manage, then moving out to college I bought my own 10 gal setup, and just recently (3 months ago) got my hands on a derelict 25 gal SW setup that I overhauled and turned into a planted FW tank. Here's the stats on my tank:

Hardware:
25 tall, full glass hood, Nova Extreme 48W HO light (1x24W Daylight, 1x24W Freshwater T5HO), AquaClear 50 power filter, heater, BioMax CO2 injection system, GreenMachine 50 UV sterilizer, lunar LED fixture. 2" fluorite substrate, 30 lbs rocks (2 lava plates and 1 river stone)

Flora:
1 tiger lotus, 2 crypts, mossy log, amazon sword, 2 rotala and an anubias

Fauna:
1 koi angel, 6 zebra danios, 1 Amano shrimp, ~6 cherry shrimp (hard to get a head count), 1 ramshorn snail (saltwater but lives in freshwater w/o reproducing), 1 albino pleco

Questions about my tank are:
I've got the CO2 system hooked up to a power head. Should I consider a reactor?

I would love to do pwc's weekly, but the water at my house is very high pH and hardness (pH 7.8, ~200 ppm KH). I can get my hands on some r/o water from my LFS (pH 7.0, KH ~20 ppm, but that comes with the drawback of having low KH. How should I be preparing my water for the pwc's?

There's thankfully no algae problems anymore, with the shrimps, pleco, snail, and UV filter put together, but I'd like to have some spectacular plant growth, and I'm pretty lost on all the necessities that go into caring for plants. I know they need iron, nitrates, phosphates, (all of which I dose 1x weekly) and CO2, plus various others from the substrate. Any other thoughts?

P.S. The picture is pre-UV filter, and before I had the algae under control.

 

[underdog5004]

That looks like a really cool set up! If it were my tank, I would try for more light wattage, to help penetrate the depth of the 25H. I see you have CO2 set up. Are any of the bubbles getting to the surface? If so, I would look for alternative methods of CO2 diffusion (I just posted a thread about my setup). Regarding the PH and hardness, most plants like harder water, since it has minerals and trace elements not found in soft/pure water. PH-wise, I find that as long as the ph is stable, it's not really a huge issue. Is the tank already cycled?

For water changes, try to match the temperature of the water, and be sure to dechlorinate! What kind of river stone is it? Did you buy it or find it? If you found it, be sure to do a vinegar test on it (google it) to make sure it's safe for your tank.

With flourite, as far as I've heard, you won't need to dose ferts, since it has pretty much everything in it (minus carbon). Just goin with experience on that one.

That tank looks great!

 

[Blueiz]

Nice tank!

I'm unsure if you were mistaken on the name of the snail that you have or have been misinformed, but ramshorn snails will breed profusely in the fw tank and are often bothersome because they can overpopulate..

 

[Guyver]

The majority of the bubbles are reaching the surface, so I'm guessing I need a reactor.

As far as the lighting, I think I'll be staying where I'm at because that stuff ain't cheap, but I'll keep my eyes open for another 24" light fixture on Craigslist or elsewhere.

The I had the river stone from my previous 10 gal setup, so it's tank-safe. The tank's already cycled and at full population (unless somebody dies/gets eaten).

As far as the pwc's, I use tap water conditioner and Stress Zyme in each new bucket added, but what about the pH? My tank's got some decent buffering from KH and the fluorite, but should I be messing with the pH from the tap before adding it? I've got some phosphate buffers like API pH Down and SeaChem Neutral Regulator, but I've been told to stay away from them with my plants. Thoughts?

And thanks for the compliment! Next to my dog, that tank's definitely my pride and joy.

 

[mfdrookie516]

dont mess with the ph at all... ph down is not a buffer, and will not hold the ph steady. consistency is key, not the reading (if within acceptable range of course).. all of my tanks have a ph of 7.8 with no problems. also, imo, youre wasting your money on stress zyme...

 

[Guyver]

Well, some fish tend to be violent, especially my zebra danios, and just the other day I noticed one was missing an eye. Pretty sure they need the zyme, haha. Thanks for the thoughts on pH!

 

[mfdrookie516]

stress coat is supposed to help with stuff like that... stress zyme is just a bottle with something in it that they claim to be nitrifying bacteria

 

[Guyver]

Gotcha. No wonder PetsMart only sells the gallons of coat instead of zyme.

 

[timwag2001]

i wouldnt bother with stress coat or stress zyme. i think you should let nature do its job there. i have an otto without an eye, he made it.

leave your ph alone. it's not very important unless you have something extremely sensitive or your breeding or something like that. like they say its all about consistency. dont try to fight your water, just work with what you have. and if it's really that important to you try to get fish that come from water thats closer to yours.

flourite is cool and it does have nitrates but they run out. and it will help your root feeders but you still need to dose your tank. you have all of your ferts right but your iron would be coming better in a mix that has other elements in it like csm+b. and dont forget potassium.

your ac filter agitates the surface which makes your co2 leave the tank.
you dont need to have a reactor, a powerhead works fine. it still does the job. some people think it actually works better. take a look at these CO2 revelations and CO2 revelations part 2#

and i agree with bluiz. i dont think you have a ramshorn (although it is possible). what you described sounds more like a nerite snail

 

[Guyver]

The snail probably is as you say - I'm horrible at remembering things. As far as the CO2, I've been using a KH/pH CO2 calculation table and it's saying I've got low CO2, which I don't find hard to believe, so I'm definitely going to check into reactors. I turned my UV filter back on tonight and I'm leaving it on. I'll also look into some better supplements for my plants. In addition, I'll leave the pH alone. Thanks a ton you guys, this is all really helpful.

 

[timwag2001]

the kh ph chart is kinda crap. ESPECIALLY if you use a ph buffer. so if you are using those it completey throws the chart off.
for nutrients i reccommend Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - Main, Main, Dry Fertilizers, Dry Fertilizers,

 

[Guyver]

Sweet, I'll look at getting a few of those fertilizers. I'm surprised that you'd need so many. I grew a very healthy sword and tiger lotus in my 10 gallon with an undergravel filter going, no substrate, only using CO2 fizz tabs, root tabs, and LeafZone plant food.