Restarting my Planted Tank

[ricardo48]

Ok everyone.

I want to empty out my existing tank... completely clean it and reset it up with proper plant substrate and gravel on top.


I am having algae issues and just want to start fresh with proper substrate for my plants.

I will also buy all "new" plants to be 100% free from algae.


What is the best way to go about this? I am concerned about PH of my new tank as it will be same as my tap water which is 1.0 higher than my current tank due to injecting diy co2.

 

[mgamer20o0]

ph shouldnt really matter. do you have another tank to put the fish in when you are doing this?

 

[ricardo48]

I have a large container which can hold the same volume of water as my tank yes.

I will syphon into this half the water.... then remove all plants/decorations/filters.... I will then "try" catch all fish and place into container with plants.

Once everything is out I will drain rest of the water.

Im just scared to wash the tank thoroughly or even throw away all my existing substrate as this will house most of my benificial bacteria?

Is it worth just gravel vacuuming heavily on the existing gravel and then placing eco complete substrate on top of it.... followed by a layer of normal gravel?

 

[mgamer20o0]

most of the bacteria is in the filter. though there is some on the gravel. you might get a mini cycle tossing away the old stuff. i would put the filter on the container if you can when you are changing it around.

 

[ricardo48]

I will do... will also place aerator and heater on the container incase it takes longer than anticipated.

Problem I am finding is im getting poor coverage of grass plants. I only planted a few chainswords and parvulus because I expected them to grow and cover the whole bottom of the tank. 8 weeks down the line and there spreading growth was minimal tbh.

I inject diy co2, flourish excel and im at 3wpg so was thinking it had to be substrate.

 

[mgamer20o0]

chain swords are super slow growers. hair grass takes time to establish their self more so if you got them in pots and they were emersed grown. just give it some time.

 

[FishEggs]

i got a piece of chainsword about 2 inches over a year ago and it is still only one strand at about 8 inches.

it always takes longer than anticipated

personally i would leave the gravel off and just go straight eco if you have enough. i have pea gravel on top of mine and am slowly removing it. i think it holds to much waste and mostly i think the cories prefer the eco.

 

[ricardo48]

Any super fast growers for foreground plants I could get?

 

[OrionX]

Dwarf hiargrass is awesome for that, even microswords, they dont like gravel, so i just added finer gravel on the top for the roots to take into, works like a charm(even though i got a UGF). Algae means that you have too much of certain nutrients the plants dont need, I'd sugest getting a pleco to take care of that for you.

Yes and keep the old filter media and gravel as then you wont have a major re-cycle of your tank

 

[mgamer20o0]

sags might work. they are like chain swords but bigger.

 

[ricardo48]

i had some sagitaria pusilus... useless stuff.... nightmare to anchor down and just turned brown.

 

[mgamer20o0]

Sagittaria subulata

 

[ricardo48]

Ye... seen some pics of that..im after a more fine grass effect.

Dwarf Hairgrass is definetly what im after. I want it to cover my entire substrate.

I am getting 25 bunches delivered this week, is it best to seperate a few strands and plant them a few inches apart? Last time I planted in small bunches they got clogged with detritus/algae.

I will be placing root tabs all over the area where I want to start my carpet. They will be all around a mangrove root in the centre of the tank as my focal point.