Hello all, I hope you like to read

[Psychographic]

I'm new to this board and have a couple of questions. I've been keeping aquariums on and off for about 20 yrs. I started with African chiclids in a 40 long and since have mostly been keeping marine tanks, but along the way I've kept a lot of different tanks mostly aggresive. My favorite FW fish is the Silver Arrowanna. I have never seriously tried a planted tank though. I have dabbled but not with any success, mostly because the fish I kept would uproot them or just tear them up. I currently have a30 gal. agressive SW with a 10gal. fuge containing 15 lbs of live rocka wet/dry filter with 8lbs. of LR rubble. I made my own overflow box, fuge, wet/dryand protein skimmer. I am in the process of moving the occupants of this tank to a 180and hope to make this tank for seahorses (my first attempt). This brings me to my little planted tank, it is only a 10 gallon. It started as a feeder tank to keep guppies in til I could ween my salt guys to eat frozen and prepared foods. Once they were off the live food I saw some bulbs and threw some gravel in and off I was and now I think I'm addicted to a FW planted tank! I currently have Dwarf Lilies. Foxtails an onion, baby tears, java ferns, some sort of apongeton (I know I didnt spell that right)A small amount of micro sword, and a couple I don't know what they are. the substrate is 1/4"black (epoxy) gravel with small rock walls that create 3 levels, about 1 1/2 inch in front 2" in the center and 3" in the back. The only additves I use are stress coat with water changes and a small amount of flourish every 2 weeks. The inhabitants are 3 panda corys, 5 otto cats, 4 of the new neon red danios and 4 neons. The filtration is an aquaclear 20 (no carbon, just foam and ceramic rings), the lighting is 2 18 " flourescents with your standard aqaurium/plant bulbs and 1 2" red neon light.The lighting is on timers so that 1 of the 18's is on for 10 hrs. the 2nd 18 comes on 4 hours after the first and goes of 3 hrs. before the other, the little neon comes on just before the last 18 goes out and is on for an hour and a half. I tried to simulate the sun going up and down.The temp is 79 degrees. I have no idea what my water parameters are as I don't have a FW test kit. I have well water and live in New Jersey where the water has a ph in the mid to high 7 range. I change 1 gallon of water every week. This tank has been running like this for about 2 months. Ok if I haven't bored you to death yet here are my questions. Will the red neon lights cause a problem? Is this a low or medium light level? I read somewhere that 2 15 watt bulbs don't equal 30 but are just still 15. Should I add Co2 ( I'm not having much of an algea problem, some on the glass and the rock walls. If I need Co2 Would the small Hagen unit be good? iIt costs about the same as it would to make one and appears to be compact. Should I be vacuuming the gravel? I haven't yet because the substrate is clean and I thought what would be left over would be good for the plants. Would adding 10 cherry shrimp be ok? And lastly, the way my rock wall is setup I have a small circle type shape in the center for what I would like to have a "centerpeice" the apongeton is there now but is to tall now. I would like something that would grow about 6" and be flowery or frilly or something special, any suggestions. thank you ( that is if you haven't fallen asleep reading this). this

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

2 15's is more like 25 with the loss due to some of the light from each bulb shining on the other bulb-just inefficiency in getting the light into the water. Definitely not a low light set-up. The red neon light is just fine. If your plants are doing fine and algae is under control I would skip the CO2. You will still need to occasionally gravel vac, depending on how much stuff is building up and how good of a job the cories are doing. 10 cherries would probably be too many for your 10 gal-its already pretty full. I'll let someone else suggest a centerpiece.

Try breaking your future posts up a little. It was hard to read and find your actual questions. Welcome to AA (no we don't have a 12 step program)

 

[hashbaz]

Water wisteria is "frilly" and would likely grow in your aquarium.
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=824
I know from experience it does not need all the requirements stated in the above link. It can easily be "pruned to keep it 6in.

 

[Psychographic]

Hashbaz, what is the plant in your avatar? Is that it's true color and would that survive in my setup? I love that color It would be perfect.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

I can answer-that plant was mine before it was hashbaz's. Red tiger lotus- Nymphaea zenkeri. You can actually buy the bulbs at walmart. The big round ones (I think the package is pinkish), not the small hairy elongated ones (aponogetons). You may get some green ones though, but the bulbs are very cheap and easy to grow. They really are that red when they are healthy, get moderate fertilization, and have good light, which you do (they should look really neat at "sunset"). It does get quite big if you let it but if you trim the taller stalks it will remain shorter and fuller.

 

[BrianNY]

If your tank has been running for 2 months without algae issues you're doing something very right. As long as the plants look healthy I wouldn't change the lighting or add CO2. JMO

There are many species of aponogetons. I have a. unculatus and it's outgrown a 125g so I can't imagine a plant like that in a 10g. Some of the lotus might make an interesting center piece. The constantly sprout new leaves so that pruning as they grow is quite easy.

As far as gravel vacs go, it depends on how heavily the tank is planted. In a heavily planted tank it isn't necessary. I just do surface vacs to keep the mulm and detritus off the plants.

One thing you should keep your eye on is nitrates. I believe the same kit can be used for both SW and FW. For FW just read the high range value. Plants consume nitrates so you want to keep the level between 10 and 20ppm.

Keep us posted and a pic would be great.

 

[Psychographic]

Thanks for the info. I think I already have Red Tiger Lotus It was one I could,nt remember, are there different varieties of this plant? Mine is a bulb, but is not as vibrant (it was'nt when I got it) and appears to be slow growing. If my nitrates are low how would I go about raising them? Would I be better off Doing a water change every 2 weeks instead of one? I do have quite a bioload. I will try to get a pic up today.

 

[Psychographic]

Here it is.

 

[Hoovercat]

We've got a several stickys concerning ferts, CO2 injection, etc. on the front of the forum. Ferts sticky will answer your NO3 question.

 

[czcz]

I think you have dwarf lilies (Nymphaea stellata?). Nice tank.

 

[rich311k]

Great looking tank.

 

[Psychographic]

The larger ones are Dwarf Lilies The one all the way to the left I think is the Red Tiger Lotus I got those from a store that had them in a tank with barely any light maybe that is why they are'nt real bright , I do hope they are what they said they were, the newest sprouts have much more color. I guess time will tell. Those lilies grow FAST!

 

[Psychographic]

Sunset

Here it is with just the neon. It is quite a bit brighter but I don't have the manual for my camera handy and don't know how to adjust for the lack of light, but you get the idea. you can actually see everything in the tank when the neon is on.

 

[hashbaz]

I am somewhat frustrated with my Red Tiger Lotus. Sometimes it is bright red, sometimes it is dull. Sometimes it is nice and short, other times it grows tall and stringy. And I can't figure out how to keep it the way I want it. That pic in my avatar is the best it has ever looked (ahhhh... those were the days). I've been thinking of starting a thread devoted to "sculpting" your tiger lotus.

Color of lighting might also have something to do with the color. My lights are mostly in the red (and blue) wavelengths. I think this helps bring out the red. In the first pic of your tank, is the red neon light on?

 

[Psychographic]

First off hashbaz When I when to click on reply I was'nt paying attention and clicked on report by mistake. I'm hoping this does'nt mean that I reported a problem with a moderator or anything,Sorry about that. Now to answer your Question, no the neon is not on, just the two 18" Fluorescents. When the neon comes on just before the second fluoro goes off you can't tell any difference. The RTL was fairly brown when I got it, not a dying looking brown just not as vibrant as your avatar. I have noticed the new growth looks brighter, maybe because I have more light on it than the LFS had?

 

[fishfreek]

When I when to click on reply I was'nt paying attention and clicked on report by mistake. I'm hoping this does'nt mean that I reported a problem with a moderator or anything

Thats exactly what report does.

 

[malkore]

Yep, that's the purpose of the report button. We get a lot of false reports every single day.
Odd, since the Reply button is the first button displayed

 

[Psychographic]

Is there a way I can tell them it was a mistake? I certainly don't want to cause Hashbaz a problem.

 

[An t-iasg]

Yes - if you report a post, the "report" button will now say "unreport". If it was a mistake, click on "unreport" and the next screen will say something like "report removed". It's been a while since I've seen that unreport screen, so the wording may be a bit different, but yes, you can unreport a post that you reported.

I'm jealous of all the tiger lotuses If my tanks were bigger than 5 gallons, I would have one!

 

[Psychographic]

Update

Well it seems that the algea has started to take off. At the first sign of it I ordered a Hagen Nutrafin Co2 System. When it first started I thought this will never work but I only spent $25 with shipping so i didn't expect much. After a day and a half I could see how it was working, it's amazing how small the bubbles get by the time they reach the suface, less than a 1/4 of the size when they start out so I'm assuming that is the water absorbing the Co2. Now my question, will the algea start to recede. I do notice the the plants seem to be growing faster after only a few days. So now I'm going to need a bigger tank, maybe one of those 55's Ive got laying around!