Illiniguy's 72 Bow Journal

With your lighting. I would start with fast growers first. Then switch to your permanent plants for your setup. Avoiding algae issues is the key for the first 3-6 months of your tank's life.

With your lighting, any of the myriophylum species would do very well. Any Hygrophile (though you may want to replace them later for your final setup). Rotala rotundifolia is also good. A. reineckii looks great with myriophylum filigree. If your water is soft, you can try cabomba or ludwigia, if not, then avoid them. I wouldn't worry too much about layout right now, focus more on establishing a fertilisation routine, CO2 maintenance, your livestock, hardscape, stable tank parameters. That, to me is far more important. Follow general rules right now. Shorter plants up front, taller plants in the back. Don't make abrupt changes to layouts until the tank is well established. Research before you buy, and consider online plant vendors which would be very cost-effective for your size setup. Avoid slow-growers until your tank is stablized and algae-free. Cover at least 75% of the substrate with fast-growing stemplants. Have a look at the members section. I think there are a few Dutch layouts and look at the plants they used.

llj

I just purchased this CO2 Regulator on ebay.

Besides the CO2 tank, what else do I need to set up my CO2 injection? Also, does anyone know anywhere to find a good price on a CO2 tank in Chicago?

Thanks!

FINALLY UPDATED!

1. Tons of plants
2. 10lb co2 tank injecting just below filter intake, running whenever lights are on
3. fish! high white fin tetras, electric pink danios, neon tetras, cory cats
4. PICS!!!!!!!!!






Moonlights... ahhhhhh

Awsome tank, its gona be a jungle when it grows in!

It is a big nice tank. I think by having some stones or drift wood would help to make it more interesting.

Lovely looking tank bit flat at the mo, but that should change once it grows and fills out a bit. Certainly have lots of plants, which is great to see

Keep us posted on progress, BTW hows the reg? Seen them on eBay quite often, but never heard of anyone that got one? Easy to use the solenoid and adjust the bubble rate?

Sam

That is crazy dense! And I thought I was the resident jungle master. That's going to be really cool once it fills in. I'd personally like more red, but that's just my individual tastes. A piece of advice, however, the plants are almost too densly planted. I'd space it out a little more actually. Plant at most only 3-4 stems together and allow enough space for light to reach the bottom of the plant, and if you can plant some stems individually, do so. You have some species that will not like being so clumped together, myriophila being one. Many plants will shed bottom leaves if they are not receiving enough light, leading to decomposition, leading to ammonia, leading to possible algae problems, which I garner you do not want.

Many stem plants can also be cut quite a bit shorter, down to 3-4 inches or so. Stem plants can be pruned to different lengths, giving the illusion of depth to the layout. Shorter stems can be placed in the front of the tank, while taller stems, you get the idea. In addition, some species (hygrophila difformis) can be planted horizontal and then makes a unusual foreground plant.

llj

Thanks for all the advice. I told my buddy at my LFS to order me a ton cause he was hooking me up at cost so I tried to pack as much of what he gave me as possible. I may end up taking some species out just because of room... my regulator off of ebay is working great! Easy to set up and figure out.

Please keep the advice coming. This is my first time with a planted tank.

My only other bit of advice would be to get a stable 30ppm CO2 Llj's advice is sound too

Sam

New Pics!

Nice dense planting, great to see in a new tank. Aquascaping at the moment should be a secondary affair as the plants are more an anti-algae tool vital to mop up excess nutrients, especially NH3/4, that will trigger algae.

Wait until the stems have reached the surface before pruning but beware of plants blocking excess light from demanding species. You'll figure it out soon enough, which plants are easier than others etc.

After a few weeks, once the tank and bio-filtration has matured consider gradually loosing some of your weeds and perhaps concentrate on creating an attractive aquascape. Is there anything you fancy creating? Have you seen something you wish to copy? Copying great 'scapes is an excellent way to learn as you will generally choose appropriate species and composition.

Are you fertilising the water column?

No EI yet... just trying to get my CO2 levels right for now. My KH and pH both seem kinda high at 11 and 7.4 respectively. That gives me just over 13 ppm CO2. Upped my bubble count to around 4 bubbles per second which has helped some. Is that the answer? Just pumping more CO2 in to try and lower my pH? What else can be done? Why is my pH high?

Thanks

Also, would love to replicate this tank off of www.ratemyfishtank.com (#1 planted tank)

Tanks looking nice and yes just increase the bubble rate to get more CO2 into the tank.

Sam

Ok starting to get algae... mostly this brown stuff that you can see clearly on the leaf. PLEASE HELP, how do I get rid of this?

Thanks

Well, I just finished about 2+ hours of straight tank maintenance. As you probably could tell from pics, it was DENSELY packed in there. When I put the plants in originially, I just took them out of the box and put them in the tank, lead weights and all. I think this was probably a mistake because now I'm cleaning out TONS of dead plant pieces and leaves.

Things are looking better, did a nice water change and also added my first dosage of Seachem's Flourish. What are your thoughts on this product? How does it compare to EI method?

I think I was beginning to have problems with algae because of all the crap decomposing in my tank!

New pics to come tomorrow morning.

Thanks