Java moss turning brown? New tank Help!!!
Hi! I'm really new to the hobby and started my first 10 gallon tank on Friday (today is Wednesay) it's a low tech and started off trying emmersed with just some liverwort on my "bonsai" but that quickly melted so I opted for cheaper java moss and tied it to my "branches" with floss. the "tree" kind of stretches from the back of my tank to the front and the stuff near the back of the tank is dying but the moss near the front is bright green! I've also planted monte carlo and anubias nana and the mc is doing great. a little melting here and there but I don't think I should be worrying too much, and the anubias' older leaves are browning a bit and some tips are melting, but the newer leaves are bright green. The only real problem is my java moss which I thought was the hardest thing to kill! I just put a pothos in my filter last night but it's been browning since before then so I don't think that's it. Maybe it's too close to the heater, Idk.
My water just started to get cloudy 3 days ago and has lightened up a bit since then but not much, I have white gunk on my driftwood and some stringy white stuff growing on the greener moss and the healthy mc but not so much on the browning moss. I plan to do a 20% water change to get rid of some fish flakes and to, y'know, change the water. And I've been doing 20% every 2 days my last one being right before I added the beneficial bacteria (Monday). I wanted to wait a few days for the ammonia to build up before adding the bacteria to give it something to eat. But as for the water change, I don't know if I should let my water clear up first? or should I just go on with a water change? I've been adding fish flakes almost every day but didn't add any yesterday or this morning. Should I keep adding fish flakes? Should I do it before or after a water change?
I think my lights are a little small for my tank but I ordered it online and realised too late but they're so expensive I didn't get a new one yet. It's a Nicrew classic LED plus for planted tanks. It has full spectrum LEDs with white, blue, red and green lights. It's 420 Lm, 6500k, and 8w. My filter is a simple HOB with a sponge and ceramic media (and now a pothos), My heater is at 76° but my water is between 76°-78°.
I add 15-20 drops of Tropica specialised nutrition for heavily planted tanks (1 pump is 2ml) (I read somewhere that when cycling and getting your plants going, it's ok to add more ferts than necessary to give your plants a boost) I finished my beneficial bacteria bottles (nutrafin cycle) this morning First day I did 25ml, second day 15ml, today I did 13ml to finish off the bottle. and every night I add 15-20 drops of flourish excel (20 drops being the max that I possibly can put) every night when turning the lights off. I keep my lights on between 8-12 hours a day and haven't had any algae growth yet. (I'm not worried about algae growth because once my tank is cycled, I'll add shrimp and snails to clean it up).
water parameters:
Tuesday:
pH - 6
Nitrite - 0.5
Ammonia (I don't know how to calculate it. in my test when I compare to the colour chart it's 2.4 and then the test says if it's over 1.2 to devide by 1.22 and compare it to the number chart with my pH that gives me 1.96, which if compared with my pH on the chart gives me 0.00. I added a picture of the chart in hopes that someone tells me what's going on here lol)
Nitrate - 50
Today (Wednseday):
pH - 6
Nitrite - 0.5
Ammonia - 1.2 (or 0.00 on the chart? idk)
Nitrate - 10
Idk if that makes sense to anyone But any help would be so so so appreciated!!! Thank you!!
(I've added pictures of my entire tank, the white stringy stuff on my java moss, the chart so someone can explain it to me haha, and then the colour difference of the moss between the front and back of my tank. Thank you!!!)
Also any suggestions, anything you think I should chnage, anything you think I'm doing wrong, I will GLADLY hear you out!!
Hi! I'm really new to the hobby and started my first 10 gallon tank on Friday (today is Wednesay) it's a low tech and started off trying emmersed with just some liverwort on my "bonsai" but that quickly melted so I opted for cheaper java moss and tied it to my "branches" with floss. the "tree" kind of stretches from the back of my tank to the front and the stuff near the back of the tank is dying but the moss near the front is bright green! I've also planted monte carlo and anubias nana and the mc is doing great. a little melting here and there but I don't think I should be worrying too much, and the anubias' older leaves are browning a bit and some tips are melting, but the newer leaves are bright green. The only real problem is my java moss which I thought was the hardest thing to kill! I just put a pothos in my filter last night but it's been browning since before then so I don't think that's it. Maybe it's too close to the heater, Idk.
My water just started to get cloudy 3 days ago and has lightened up a bit since then but not much, I have white gunk on my driftwood and some stringy white stuff growing on the greener moss and the healthy mc but not so much on the browning moss. I plan to do a 20% water change to get rid of some fish flakes and to, y'know, change the water. And I've been doing 20% every 2 days my last one being right before I added the beneficial bacteria (Monday). I wanted to wait a few days for the ammonia to build up before adding the bacteria to give it something to eat. But as for the water change, I don't know if I should let my water clear up first? or should I just go on with a water change? I've been adding fish flakes almost every day but didn't add any yesterday or this morning. Should I keep adding fish flakes? Should I do it before or after a water change?
I think my lights are a little small for my tank but I ordered it online and realised too late but they're so expensive I didn't get a new one yet. It's a Nicrew classic LED plus for planted tanks. It has full spectrum LEDs with white, blue, red and green lights. It's 420 Lm, 6500k, and 8w. My filter is a simple HOB with a sponge and ceramic media (and now a pothos), My heater is at 76° but my water is between 76°-78°.
I add 15-20 drops of Tropica specialised nutrition for heavily planted tanks (1 pump is 2ml) (I read somewhere that when cycling and getting your plants going, it's ok to add more ferts than necessary to give your plants a boost) I finished my beneficial bacteria bottles (nutrafin cycle) this morning First day I did 25ml, second day 15ml, today I did 13ml to finish off the bottle. and every night I add 15-20 drops of flourish excel (20 drops being the max that I possibly can put) every night when turning the lights off. I keep my lights on between 8-12 hours a day and haven't had any algae growth yet. (I'm not worried about algae growth because once my tank is cycled, I'll add shrimp and snails to clean it up).
water parameters:
Tuesday:
pH - 6
Nitrite - 0.5
Ammonia (I don't know how to calculate it. in my test when I compare to the colour chart it's 2.4 and then the test says if it's over 1.2 to devide by 1.22 and compare it to the number chart with my pH that gives me 1.96, which if compared with my pH on the chart gives me 0.00. I added a picture of the chart in hopes that someone tells me what's going on here lol)
Nitrate - 50
Today (Wednseday):
pH - 6
Nitrite - 0.5
Ammonia - 1.2 (or 0.00 on the chart? idk)
Nitrate - 10
Idk if that makes sense to anyone But any help would be so so so appreciated!!! Thank you!!
(I've added pictures of my entire tank, the white stringy stuff on my java moss, the chart so someone can explain it to me haha, and then the colour difference of the moss between the front and back of my tank. Thank you!!!)
Also any suggestions, anything you think I should chnage, anything you think I'm doing wrong, I will GLADLY hear you out!!
