First planted 20g.

[N1NJ0]

This will be the 4th fish tank I have personally owned in my life, and by far the best. It started after a major catastrophe in my community tank that made me have to start over. I love the planted Iook and I'm doing it. I have never done as much research on the hobby in general as recently (i was a teenager for the first two and just lucky I guess). I guess I'll make my journal here. It' starting a little late but it's still cycling.

Current USA satellite plus light
marineland 200 hob filter
aqueon 50w heater
Petco brand air pump and a bubble wall cause I have kids lol
eco-complete gravel

Anacharis
anubias & moss
Micro chain swords
2 unknown swordy plants I'll update this stuff when I find out

I'm new, I had some plants Petco sold me underwater I confirmed here were not meant to be submerged. My sister has them now.

After the replant. In hindsight, I should've grouped them. I'm getting more plants and posting more pics tomorrow just wanted to start this.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Tank is looking good! I was about to mention what looked like white ribbon in the first pic not being fully aquatic still I saw it's been removed.

Here is some more easy starter plants I have had first hand experience with and good results: water sprite, bacopa, wisteria, Cryptocoryne species(root tabs), Amazon swords(root tabs), star grass(not tried but heard good things about).

I believe with your light and some ferts you could do Staurogyne Repens as a foreground for your tank which would be cool. Just make sure your fish won't dig them up till they establish their roots.

Have you read up on root tabs? Root feeding species like Repens, Cryptocoryne species, and sword species need root tabs to get those extra nutrients. I've used Seachem root tabs with success or their is a much cheaper alternative on here: look up "Mebbid's DIY root tabs" it's a thread on here. Many have used them and are proven to work very well.

Have any ideas on the fish you want?

Hope this helps


Caleb

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[N1NJ0]

Gonna do a pair of Rams, and probably 2 ottos, not sure if I'll put anything else in.. I'll check the thread, but I'm not sure I'm ready for all that lol. Buying some root tabs sounds like my best bet. I am most definitely getting some form of cryptocoryne. I am not trying to start on ferts just yet, there's about a years worth of reading before I start that. Thanks for taking a look, it most definitely helps!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Oto's like groups. I'd bump them up to at least 4. That's gonna be one easy water change.


Caleb

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[N1NJ0]

I'm going for a super light bio load, I want to do as few water changes as possible. I'll keep up with water tests when fish go in to decide exactly how often and how much is needed. 4 Ottos isn't a bad Idea at all. Thanks again for the words!

 

[ImACoolguy]

I'm going for a super light bio load, I want to do as few water changes as possible. I'll keep up with water tests when fish go in to decide exactly how often and how much is needed. 4 Ottos isn't a bad Idea at all. Thanks again for the words!

Even if it's a 5 gallon bucket a week. Which is 25% and quite easy to do, keep up with it. Neglecting water changes never ends well!


Caleb

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[N1NJ0]

Even if it's a 5 gallon bucket a week. Which is 25% and quite easy to do, keep up with it. Neglecting water changes never ends well!


Caleb

Sent via TARDIS

My test kit is my friend

 

[N1NJ0]

Unknown swordy plant #1

Unknown swordy plants #2

Any idea what these are? Emergency situation forcing me to wait till Saturday for more plants, so I'm gonna try to get these identified at least for now. I also have some questions about my plants care.

Pretty sure I'm doing something wrong with the micro chain swords.

I've got algae (I think?) On one of my swords and my anubias (unknown which, same with moss. I think nana). Worst picture I've taken but you can see it better on the sword

last picture, promise. Does this anacharis look healthy?

 

[ImACoolguy]

Your top one still looks like white ribbon. Not fully aquatic. Throw it in a cup of water with some dirt and watch it grow.

My anarchis pitched a fit at first then came back and is spreading like wildfire. Just make sure as on all plants you cut off any dead/dying leaves. Just wipe off leaves with algae on them with your finger. Cutting off dead/dying leaves makes sure the nutrients the plant brings in go where they should and not to a hopeless cause.


Caleb

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[mikem691]

Looks like you are off to a good start!

 

[N1NJ0]

Thanks for the advice cool guy, and thanks Mike, not quite where you're at yet. Did a rescape, added another rock and made a much better cave, I think it looks much more natural in general. Having some trouble hiding the LED wand in the eco-complete. I'm thinking about grabbing 10 lbs of gravel or so to help hold things down. Eco-complete is super light. Here's a pic. Let me know what you think.

 

[ImACoolguy]

Looks pretty good. Me and mike are learning on our own planted builds as well


Caleb

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[N1NJ0]

Been a while since an update. Hada slight brown algae problem that turned into.a big Brown algae problem because I thought turning the light "down" would help... Turned the light back up all the way and finally started dosing fertilizer. I got seachem flourish and I'm adding it twice a week. two days after the first dose brown algae is sifgnificantly reduced. I also added 3 baby Ottos from petsmart, they may have helped. I also added ~4lbs of regular gravel, that was supposed to be black. It really helps hold everything down.

Side views

I still need to buy a background, pretty lid (pretty sure mine is blocking more light than it should and my efforts to clean it have been fruitless), and a couple more fish. I haven't done any other ferts, suggestions are welcome. My latest test read no ammonia or nitrites, if tests are still good in 2 weeks I'll add Rams.