lighting question

[Brookster123]

That bba is badddddd, clean house and start fresh!

 

[heather1]

Brookster123,
I received the Oscar for free and i knew when he was given to me i could not keep him long. when he gets bigger i will find him a home. as far as the clowns if i can catch the feeders supply will take them that is where i give all my fish.

ok I have extra white lights i can replace the blue. thank you for your help

 

[heather1]

That is what i am trying to do. I am reading and being told so much that this is what i ended up with. now i dont know what to do

 

[Brookster123]

I wish I could take him! I want an oscar more than any other fish now.. Good luck! Let us know how you do with the planting

 

[Brookster123]

That is what i am trying to do. I am reading and being told so much that this is what i ended up with. now i dont know what to do

yank the plants, do a 50% wc, wait a couple hours, do a big gravel vac 25% wc and start dosing excel with your new plants and try try tryyy again!!

 

[heather1]

I can get rid of all plants easy. I can replace blue light with white light easy. I can start adding excel and doing 50% water changes friday easy. But now the fish are problem. I can catch as many of the tetras as i can but they are hard. The clowns and childs I can catch and give away on tues. but this will leave a bare tank (no plants) untill monday.

 

[Brookster123]

You'll prob get a bit of the bba back but it can be beat, you'll need to get the tank in balance with stocking and ferts/excel..

 

[Fishdude3233]

Wow,

Brookster you've been busy , seriously though nice job. +1 to all things brookster said.

Btw your refund is going out tomorrow. (Had baseball all day)

 

[Brookster123]

Wow, Brookster you've been busy , seriously though nice job. +1 to all things brook ster said. Btw your refund is going out tomorrow. (Had baseball all day)[/QUOTThanks dude! I'm beat.. Bed time for me.. No worries!

 

[Fishdude3233]

Me to its 12:30 I hate daylight savings.

 

[SgtMjr]

Maybe take everything out... Everything! If you have decent live plants, peroxide them. "Tons of info in the forum on that" but remove the worst leaves first. Stick them in a bucket of tank water and cover it for a few days... The plants will make it. Find homes for your loaches and Cichlids. They should be easy to catch now that your tank is empty.
Before you replant, add some good substrate media. Buy as many plants as you can afford and plant heavy... Seriously heavy... Try fast growers that are easy like Val, Swords, Sag, Ricca, and some color like crypts... That way whatever nutrients your water is clearly loaded with gets used ASAP.
PS don't run your light all day and night. Under stock your tank and with small creatures... If you Need! A cichlid, try an angel or two rams or Apisto...

Just a thought. I went through the same thing on my 55... Which is just starting to fill in, although I would totally do a totally different "theme" if i was to do it again.
Baby ballon rams are cool!

Blue shrimpies

Or redies

 

[heather1]

I plan to remove and dispose of all plants on Fri. do a 50% water change, catch 3 of my clowns (the other 3 are babies) and my childs with as many tetras as I can. Then I will go and but a ton of plants come home and plant. should i add flourish complete, excel and api co2 booster before i plant or what? my fish would eat those shrimp but great tank.

 

[Brookster123]

I plan to remove and dispose of all plants on Fri. do a 50% water change, catch 3 of my clowns (the other 3 are babies) and my childs with as many tetras as I can. Then I will go and but a ton of plants come home and plant. should i add flourish complete, excel and api co2 booster before i plant or what? my fish would eat those shrimp but great tank.

i don't think you need to bother with the substrate.. Unless you're going for a full teardown rescape ? Do your planting, add root tabs, start the excel dose slowly, forget the initial dose on the bottle, stick with standard dose for a few weeks than you can start upping it, I threw my fish into a tornado with my first double dose, I thought my Cory's were going to fly out if the tank!

 

[heather1]

no i am not planning on doing a total teardown. Ok so remove plants do 50% water change. add new plants and does with flourish and excel????

 

[SgtMjr]

I just totally wrote a killer mini essay on what I would do... And the app crashed! All gone,(

Have patience
Decide what you really want
Fish/plants?
How much time do really have?

There are a lot of limitations in a planted aquarium and you will spend a lot of time pruning and keeping house!
From personal experience, remove everyone you know you will need to remove later, before you plant... Many a person has tore up! All the plants and root systems trying to catch one little fish... It's never worth it...

 

[heather1]

I am at home all day. so my tank cats and dogs are my hobbies. Time is not an issue. I was just wondering how to do this step by step since I cant get my new plants until friday.
I want a fully planted aquarium with fish.

 

[SgtMjr]

I had to tear apart this 13g to catch peacock fry when the syphon method was not working!! Nothing but algae problems for a few weeks... it still looks sad

My 55g in the first few sad weeks, its now looking a little better...
This picture was a few weeks ago and you can see my algae was still a problem... the tank is still pretty young I hear at 5 months.

Anyway, good luck! Isee your from KY... I spent some time there at Fort Knox... pretty area.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I497 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[heather1]

wow from what I see the tanks look great. I would kill for my tank to look that nice. great job. Thank you for you help. I wiull post again on Sat. with pics of my newly planted tank. I am in crestwood not far from Louisville but yes it is nice out here. I am originally from Florida. I have only been in KY for about 5 years now.

 

[SgtMjr]

I will send some updated too... Good luck.
Research your plant choices before you buy! And research how to plant them... I would stick with non stem types... "The kinds with actual ROOT balls... If you have access to them, try Crypts Wendii, crispus, balansae, sag, Osiris Swords are cool! Easy plants! Trim roots and separate bunches... You MUST USE SUBSTRATE TABS at the very least with these... Plants need substrate nutrients as much or more than liquid ferts... And I would do easy on these until you see how your system serves them. ie, your lighting intensity might not be enough to require much more that substrate ferts and your choice of liquid CO2.

Java fern is sweet too... Nerite snails work along with Amano shrimp and Ottos for keeping algae down...

See you Saturday!