Sjbdvm
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi I'm new to the forum so thanks in advance for any advice. I have been on/off keeping freshwater tanks for ~ 10 years but my last one was a super fail because of my laziness so I gave it away and the new owner saved all the fish and plants and has it looking awesome. Prior to that I had several small tanks running at one time and they did fairly well but were all low light, low tech and never too heavily planted (because I was a broke college student).
Anyway, I have a little more funds and a little more time and decided to try again and hopefully have better success and stay committed. The long term plan is a big (for me) 55-70 gal tank (not purchased yet so not sure of size but somewhere in that range) heavily planted south american community tank in our soon to be new family room. I'm still planning and thinking about that one and also the room isn't finished so I can't get it going yet. In the meantime I decided to practice and try some stuff out on a small tank in our living room.
My question is whether or not I need to fertilize. I have been reading a lot and don't seem to have a clear understanding of whether this is necessary given my other parameters, obviously I want to avoid algae but would like to have fairly speedy plant growth (if possible without adding too much equipment) so I can use a lot of these plants/trimmings to supplement what I buy for my future big tank.
My tank is only 10 gal, standard rimmed tank you get at petco. I have a HOB fluval/aquaclear filter rated up to 20 gal, finnex fugeray planted + 20" light (4 hours on -5 hours off- 4 hours on), miracle grow organic potting soil under gravel. I have a small piece of driftwood with 3 anubias wired to it, 2 crypts, 2 small swords (one has reddish leaves don't remember exact name) and 2 bunches of cabomba. I will post pics later from my phone but this pretty heavily covers the substrate.
The tank has been running about 3 weeks. I only have the crappy API kit you buy at petco. My pH is 7.2, I don't know my gh/kh. I am in the midst of a small nitrite spike and did a 50% water change today, previously was changing about 20% daily or EOD to try to get some of the yellow out of the water (also currently running the carbon in my filter). I have always had zero nitrates but it may just be too early in the cycle. I have 5 neons and 1 beta which i realize were a little premature to add but I have been testing water frequently and staying on top of water changes; i have a 2 year old son very interested in the tank so adding fish was kind of important to keep my husband from wondering what was the point of this project
Anyway, I have been reading about fertilizers and liquid carbon, wondering if I should buy more testing stuff and think about adding these to jump start the plants but not sure if I have enough light to support this. Also not sure if even needed given that the potting soil is brand new.
The cabomba is doing well almost ready for some stems to be trimmed and replanted. The anubias look exactly the same but they don't look sick which I choose to take as a positive. Some leaves on the crypts look to be dying, I stuffed the swords in the back and can barely see them through the cabomba but they seem to be fine.
sorry for such a long post. and if it matters, i do not have a green thumb. I kill house plants regularly and my garden this last year was terrible except I had some wonderful spring peas. I am hoping to have better luck growing plants underwater but if if you are kind enough to give me advice, don't have the expectation that I have any natural instincts or knowledge about how to care for plants because i don't have a good track record but I do keep trying.
Anyway, I have a little more funds and a little more time and decided to try again and hopefully have better success and stay committed. The long term plan is a big (for me) 55-70 gal tank (not purchased yet so not sure of size but somewhere in that range) heavily planted south american community tank in our soon to be new family room. I'm still planning and thinking about that one and also the room isn't finished so I can't get it going yet. In the meantime I decided to practice and try some stuff out on a small tank in our living room.
My question is whether or not I need to fertilize. I have been reading a lot and don't seem to have a clear understanding of whether this is necessary given my other parameters, obviously I want to avoid algae but would like to have fairly speedy plant growth (if possible without adding too much equipment) so I can use a lot of these plants/trimmings to supplement what I buy for my future big tank.
My tank is only 10 gal, standard rimmed tank you get at petco. I have a HOB fluval/aquaclear filter rated up to 20 gal, finnex fugeray planted + 20" light (4 hours on -5 hours off- 4 hours on), miracle grow organic potting soil under gravel. I have a small piece of driftwood with 3 anubias wired to it, 2 crypts, 2 small swords (one has reddish leaves don't remember exact name) and 2 bunches of cabomba. I will post pics later from my phone but this pretty heavily covers the substrate.
The tank has been running about 3 weeks. I only have the crappy API kit you buy at petco. My pH is 7.2, I don't know my gh/kh. I am in the midst of a small nitrite spike and did a 50% water change today, previously was changing about 20% daily or EOD to try to get some of the yellow out of the water (also currently running the carbon in my filter). I have always had zero nitrates but it may just be too early in the cycle. I have 5 neons and 1 beta which i realize were a little premature to add but I have been testing water frequently and staying on top of water changes; i have a 2 year old son very interested in the tank so adding fish was kind of important to keep my husband from wondering what was the point of this project
Anyway, I have been reading about fertilizers and liquid carbon, wondering if I should buy more testing stuff and think about adding these to jump start the plants but not sure if I have enough light to support this. Also not sure if even needed given that the potting soil is brand new.
The cabomba is doing well almost ready for some stems to be trimmed and replanted. The anubias look exactly the same but they don't look sick which I choose to take as a positive. Some leaves on the crypts look to be dying, I stuffed the swords in the back and can barely see them through the cabomba but they seem to be fine.
sorry for such a long post. and if it matters, i do not have a green thumb. I kill house plants regularly and my garden this last year was terrible except I had some wonderful spring peas. I am hoping to have better luck growing plants underwater but if if you are kind enough to give me advice, don't have the expectation that I have any natural instincts or knowledge about how to care for plants because i don't have a good track record but I do keep trying.