Order of Addition on New Tank

[mikeb]

I got the tank, the background painted, the play sand filtered and my river rocks are clean.

In regards to hardware, I have my HOB filter, heater, temp gauge, light and my mineral replacements (using RO water), root tabs, fertilizer and water conditioner. Still waiting on my Dr Tim’s Aquatics Ammonium Chloride Solution. Once I get the Chloride solution, am I ready to put plants in my tank and fill the tank up with substrate and water?

Thank you all for the help!

 

[Aiken Drum]

I would set up all the equipment, fill with water, run it for 24 hours. Make sure you have no leaks, that the filter runs properly, that the heater can hold temperature in the tank. If everything is OK then drain it down sufficiently to scape the tank, refill it and start it all up again. Start to cycle it once your ammonium chloride arrives.

If you are confident your RO filter works properly you shouldn't need water conditioner.

Test kit?

 

[Colin_T]

If you have lots of fast growing true aquatic plants, you will probably struggle to cycle the tank with ammonia. The plants will often use the ammonia and stop the beneficial filter bacteria from developing.

In well planted tanks, a lot of people do a fish in cycle. They set the tank up and let the plants grow for a couple of weeks, then add a few fish. Let the tank run for a month and then add a few more fish.

 

[mikeb]

I setup the entire tank to do my leak test. While filling the tank I began to realize that using RO water probably was not the best call. The output that I can get out of my little RO facet just is not enough to fill a 29 Gallon tank.

I did the leak test with my tap water, which is soft water. Is this ok? I am planning on taking out about 2/3 of the water to start landscaping the tank, and then I will add the live plants that we get.

Before I start planting the tank with live plants is there some parameters I will need to have my tank at? The Dr. Tom's Ammonia is on the way so all this might not happen until next week.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Yes, outflow from RO filters is usually very slow. They usually discharge into storage, and then you get your water from the storage rather than directly from the filter. That way you can leave the filter running continuously until your storage is full. You then remineralise the stored water and use it for your water change. A small RO filter can make say 200 litres of RO per day.

Water is water, if it doesnt leak with your regular tap water i dont see why it would leak with different water.

The parameters of the regular tap water is what it is. Trying to mess around with them usually proves fruitless and can cause more issues than it solves. Scape your tank and see how it goes with the plants.

Please note. Commercially grown plants are cultivated “emersed” rather than “submerged”. This way the plants can easily get their carbon requirement from atmospheric CO2. They can be grown quicker which makes the operation much more commercially viable. You take that plant, put it in your aquarium, cut off its source of CO2 and the plant goes into survival mode. It starts to use up its stored carbon and the leafs melt. You may lose all your original growth to melt but new leafs will have a structure more suited to its new environment and get its carbon from the water. Plant melt is a normal stage in aquarium plant growth. To judge the health of a plant look for new growth rather than what might be happening to the original growth, and judge it over extended periods of time.