Getting frustrated!

[Cohenjl13]

I have had this tank for a year now, and it still looks like crud. The water is always dirty the plants don’t grow well, and even my Molly’s don’t have babies! I have been trying and trying to make this a nice clean looking tank but it just doesn’t work!!!

I can’t even grow moss on the Branch

View attachment 1View attachment 1

 

[Delapool]

Looks alright [emoji106]

How about floating plants?

My tank always has a bit of stuff floating around and struggles to grow algae without good lights and CO2 as so deep.

 

[coralbandit]

Looks pretty clean.
I went months without swordtail fry to only find out they were eating them !
The joy of success would not be so sweet if it was not so difficult to achieve in our own eyes. Don't beat yourself up the tank looks good..
I grow basically easy plants or plants that can withstand my treatment[neglect]….

 

[Cohenjl13]

On a side note, who’s beautiful red rocks are those are have become so famous on this forum

 

[Toad]

What kind of look are you going for? What type of light are you running? Looks like the tank walls could use a wipe, but if the water seems murky, what sort of filter setup/media is running?

For the moss you'd want to tie it to the branch till it grabs on by itself, otherwise it'll go where it gets blown.

 

[goatnad]

like toad asked we need to know more about your setup. a full tank shot along with what all you used in the tank( substrate, ferts, plants, lights) pretty much everything you have would be super helpful.

 

[Cohenjl13]

110g
Ehiem Pro 600
Finnex 24/7 Light
Fluval mixed with CarribSea substrate (mostly Fluval)
Bio Media from bottom to top of canister
Sponge with floss
Ehiem Ceramic with Volcanic Rocks
Eheim, the small stone balls with some purigen
Bag of ChemiPure.

~74 degrees
7.2 PH
25% water change weekly
Flourish Root tabs every 5/6 Months.

And the moss is tied down, just been growing out and dieing along the base where it’s attached. The glass was wiped down before this photo, that’s just stuff floating around in there. That never settles and the filter can’t seem to get out

 

[mbkemp]

How often are you cleaning your filter? You might back off a little in the amount of media inside and see if increasing flow through the filter will clean with getting debris into the filter

I will echo the others. Looks good to me

 

[Cohenjl13]

I clean it every two months or so, but I’m careful to reuse swap out only small amounts of new media each time to keep BB.

I’m always worried to remove some media because my tank is fully stocked and I don’t want a bloom or something so my B.B. can’t keep up

 

[mbkemp]

You definitely don’t want that to happen. How often do you clean your hoses?

 

[goatnad]

the first thing i see is the chemi pure. it is activated carbon which will pull nutrients out of the water. most people who do planted tanks dont use carbon for that reason. remove that and i bet you will start seeing your plants do better.



i dont see anywhere that you listed adding any type of ferts to your tank other than root tabs. root tabs will do pretty much nothing for plants that arent root feeders and will do nothing for your moss. seems to me your plants are starving.

 

[Cohenjl13]

Huh did not know ChemiPure was a carbon thought it was safe for planted tanks, and yes all I have now is root tabs because I don’t have a system for adding nutrients yet but it’s on the list.

 

[goatnad]

carbon is safe for tanks and great for keeping a fish only tank clean as it will soak up bad things from the water making it safer for the fish but in a planted tank it is a bad thing. it soaks up the nutrients needed by plants.

 

[Autumnsky]

Purigen - a favorite! Makes a tank look so much better. Online pricing is best, some big box stores will price match like items/ including if there is shipping in store as well.

Maybe adjust your light color and time.

I do not remove any filter pads. But swish in treated water. Also use Matrix and ceramic rings a pellets.

(Never have used Chemipure, so no opinion on it.)

 

[Toad]

I've heard replacing the ribbed hoses of canisters to smooth hoses has helped people get better flow. Depending on the species of moss, some do better than others for being tied, java moss seems like it grows long but gets die offs, whereas I've heard christmas moss doesn't do that nearly as much. I personally have had really good luck with anubias, it's seems absolutely indestructible. I've had it stay nice looking even in a tank that didn't get anything more than a ceiling light for two months, no added ferts etc, and this same tank, even with lights and ferts going couldn't keep java fern alive.

Can you post some pics of tanks online that are the look you are going for? You said you want a clean tank, and seem to be going for a planted tank, but I'm trying to clarify what that means to YOU, because everyone's ideas are different.

 

[Caliban07]

You’ve had this tank set up for a year and you know it looks dirty and the plants won’t grow but you continue to do the same things over and over? Have you ever considered leaving the tank alone? It sounds like you have a strong microbe community but are you over cleaning? Gravel vacuuming etc? Have you considered going longer between water changes? Allowing mulm to accumulate and be broken down in order to feed plants? Think about it.