New 30L Aquarium

[Aiken Drum]

I cant really tell you what to do here.

Planaria and detritus worms arent really an issue for fish. Some fish will eat them as a tasty snack. Planaria can be an issue for shrimp though. And if there is no food for them they will die out on their own given time. There are also chemical treatments.

But, who wants to look at worms? And you could get rid of the snails as well while you are at it. You will always have algae in a tank. Its just finding a balance in the lighting between your plant growth and the amount of manual cleaning you are prepared to do.

If you started over, i would strip everything down. Bleach dip everything (make sure you read up on a bleach dip), plants, decorations, substrate, anything that can harbour a worm or snails or eggs etc. Re-set everything up. Let it run 24 hours to make sure everything works ok, get fish, fish in cycle.

 

[aliB]

Alright, I guess it wouldn't hurt then to do a cleanup and I would feel more confident about my setup.

Do you think it would be good to add some substrate or gravel + fertilizer would do just fine ?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Are you planning on a different substrate to what you currently have in your tank? I must admit what you have will be a nightmare keeping clean. All sorts of detritus will get trapped in there and decompose.

 

[aliB]

I currently do not have any substrate in the tank, just plain gravel (DENNERLE PLANTA HUNTER Baikal S)

I was wondering if I should add some substrate this time below the gravel.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Gravel is substrate.

The issue with the substrate you have is that there are a lot of voids in it. Those voids will trap a lot of debris, uneaten food etc that will rot. You will need to do a lot of extensive gravel vacs to counter that. Any finer substrate you may lay below that substrate, eg something for plant roots to root into will just get sucked out when you do your gravel vac.

I probably would only use that substrate by scattering it over a finer substrate, rather than having it at any depth.

If any of those plants are root plants, i would probably go with half inch of a dirted substrate, like tropica plant growth substrate, couple of inches os aquarium gravel or sand capping, then your slate/shale scattered over the top. If non of your plants need to be rooted then skip the dirt.

 

[Dallascowboys16]

Thanks for all the info, really helpful !!


Is the below fertilizer good enough and is it too early to introduce any fish ? I am considering a trio of killis.


I am using a Dennerle Filter with FilterTubes + the extension with FilterGranulat, is this a good combination ?

The fertilizer you are showing me is fine. The liquid fert is a good solution for 90% of low tech tanks. What I would recommend is really trying not to overdo the liquid fert in the first few weeks you are using it. Maybe dose about half of what the instructions say until your plants really take hold and start growing rapidly.

As far as the nitrogen cycle, I would definitely read the article on the Nitrogen cycle that Aiken Drum provided. Essentially in aquariums this is the main biological cycle we are dealing with. I will give you a quick run down.

Basic Cycle
Fish food > fish waste > Ammonia > Bacteria turns Ammonia into Nitrite > Bacteria turns Nitrite into Nitrate > Nitrate is removed through consumption by plants or water changes

That right there is really the nitrogen cycle as it pertains to aquariums in a nutshell. What we are trying to do when "cycling" a tank is grow our beneficial nitrifying bacteria colonies to the point where they are rapidly converting any ammonia and nitrite into nitrate which keeps the environment safe for fish. One thing you can do to help speed this process along is use a product like Dr. Tims one and only or tetra safe start to seed your bacteria colony. I do not recommend many fish keeping products since most are completely unnecessary, but I have always used a bacteria booster when starting a tank.

Adding Fish
As far as introducing fish, while your tank is going through the nitrogen cycle it is a potentially dangerous time for fish. Ammonia is will hurt fish at nearly any concentration, but as long as it is kept under 0.25 ppm during the cycle hardy species of fish will pull through.

For stocking your tank I would recommend a fish-in cycle. The core tenet of a fish in cycle is usually to plant your tank heavily and slowly add fish over a course of a month or two. I always use a fish in cycle and I have never lost a fish while cycling a tank. As far as killis go they are usually pretty tolerant of a wide variety of water parameters and could work as the fish you use for your cycle. For a fish in cycle I usually recommend you pick up some faster growing plants to at least keep in your tank temporarily in order to help maintain water quality during the cycle. Plants like hornwort, water sprite, and dwarf water lettuce work wonderfully for this purpose.

I hope this helps. Definitely read that article because it goes into depth where I kept things pretty simple.

 

[aliB]

Well, I did full cleanup and 24 hours later no signs of worms or snails (hopefully it stays that way).

The water is not yet crystal clear, but it is getting better.

I added a couple of killis and a dose of live bacteria.

How would I know that the bacteria I added is actually alive ? And how often should I test the water ?

Can I use a product like Tetra Crystal clear or not recommended at this stage ?

 

[aliB]

The fertilizer you are showing me is fine. The liquid fert is a good solution for 90% of low tech tanks. What I would recommend is really trying not to overdo the liquid fert in the first few weeks you are using it. Maybe dose about half of what the instructions say until your plants really take hold and start growing rapidly.

As far as the nitrogen cycle, I would definitely read the article on the Nitrogen cycle that Aiken Drum provided. Essentially in aquariums this is the main biological cycle we are dealing with. I will give you a quick run down.

Basic Cycle
Fish food > fish waste > Ammonia > Bacteria turns Ammonia into Nitrite > Bacteria turns Nitrite into Nitrate > Nitrate is removed through consumption by plants or water changes

That right there is really the nitrogen cycle as it pertains to aquariums in a nutshell. What we are trying to do when "cycling" a tank is grow our beneficial nitrifying bacteria colonies to the point where they are rapidly converting any ammonia and nitrite into nitrate which keeps the environment safe for fish. One thing you can do to help speed this process along is use a product like Dr. Tims one and only or tetra safe start to seed your bacteria colony. I do not recommend many fish keeping products since most are completely unnecessary, but I have always used a bacteria booster when starting a tank.

Adding Fish
As far as introducing fish, while your tank is going through the nitrogen cycle it is a potentially dangerous time for fish. Ammonia is will hurt fish at nearly any concentration, but as long as it is kept under 0.25 ppm during the cycle hardy species of fish will pull through.

For stocking your tank I would recommend a fish-in cycle. The core tenet of a fish in cycle is usually to plant your tank heavily and slowly add fish over a course of a month or two. I always use a fish in cycle and I have never lost a fish while cycling a tank. As far as killis go they are usually pretty tolerant of a wide variety of water parameters and could work as the fish you use for your cycle. For a fish in cycle I usually recommend you pick up some faster growing plants to at least keep in your tank temporarily in order to help maintain water quality during the cycle. Plants like hornwort, water sprite, and dwarf water lettuce work wonderfully for this purpose.

I hope this helps. Definitely read that article because it goes into depth where I kept things pretty simple.

Thanks for the info

I've read also that killis are pretty tolerant so it is a bit reassuring for me as a beginner.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Well, I did full cleanup and 24 hours later no signs of worms or snails (hopefully it stays that way).

The water is not yet crystal clear, but it is getting better.

I added a couple of killis and a dose of live bacteria.

How would I know that the bacteria I added is actually alive ? And how often should I test the water ?

Can I use a product like Tetra Crystal clear or not recommended at this stage ?

My post #7 gives full instructions on how to do a fish in cycle.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Sorry. Post #16

 

[Aiken Drum]

And to answer your question about how to know if your bacteria is alive and established.

Impossible to know. The only way you could determine that would be cycle without bacteria, traval back in time, recycle the exact same tank with the same methodology but with bacteria, and see if its quicker.

Even cycling 2 identical tanks, sat next to each other, using the same methodology, ​but 1 with bacteria, wont tell you anything, because every cycle will go differently. All you could really do is run tests over a lot of tanks and see if on average bacteria was of benefit. You couldnt tell for sure if it was if benefit for an individual tank.