Gab99's First Attempt At A Planted Tank

[GAB99]

well ive always wanted to do live plants and did so half heartedly up till after i moved, than i wanted to go more serious, i figured this would be a good time to start a journal for the tank

a little about me:

i joined this forum about a year ago with a messed up 20 gallon, that is now my first marine tank and i have upgraded to the current 5 around feburary. in the 20 i started out with 3 amazon swords which have given me 3-4 off spring as a result and those are currently awful looking at the moment all the info i know about plants comes from this site, another forum i used for about a week, and a book i bought to help me get the basics.

heres what i got:

55 gallon tank
topfin 60 powerfilter
1 DIY Nutrafin CO2 dispenser
5 Boesemani rainbows
5 Gold barbs
6 Praecox rainbows
2 Sterbai corys
1 OTO
1 Stripped raphael catfish
2 18" 15watt full spectrum T8 bulbs
6-7 Amazon swords
6 Argentinian swords
5 Chain swords

Things i know i want/need to get:

another topfin 60 powerfilter or Aquaclear 70
5 OTOs
6 Sterbai cories
3 boesemani rainbows
2 praecox rainbows
8 roseline sharks
8 silver or marble hatchets
Ludwigia Repens
Marimo Balls
Anubias (preferably nana)
Moneywort
Dwarf Baby tears
C. Parva
Jungle Vals
Red melon sword
Koralia power head


Budget:

unfortunatley this is all run by me and only me, being 15 im at the point where i can be useful but not quite just yet, so, income will come from good grades, birthday, and chores and hopefully soon, a job , but for now this is going to go slower than what you guys would be used to


Dosing/lighting/water:

currently just dosing KENT Marine pro-series pro-plant recommended dose arund 3 times a week
i do have root tabs but currently not using them, used them for the swords
lights are on for about 12 ours a day (little to no algae)
last time i tested Ph is around 6.6-6.4 and everything else is ok, im only doing top offs , so no WCs.

Questions:

well this might be my third time asking some things so sorry if i repeated

i definatley want to upgrade lighting to expand my options on plants, but if i remember this causes the need for more/less CO2 and more/less ferts. so confused at the moment.

for the lighting if and/or when i upgrade will it be better to get whole new fixtures or replace the bulb and ballast(or whatever that other bit is called?)?

how long should i keep the lights on and what else can i get for the plants fert wise?

i could order most of the plants im seeking now, and have all of them in in two days, would this be a wise decision?

what should i get first? i cant get more fish till i get either the new filter or enough plants to support till the new filter, plants idk, and id think the powerhead would be of little use at the current moment??


other info:

picture days are on mondays ONLY, exceptions are for emergencys but that wont happen for this tank as i know the
tropical FW fish well enough

some plants are being torn up and this could indicate the fish arent getting enough veggies, they werent doing this before but my dad thre away the food so that will be replaced soon.

PS: i am asking another forum as well just to be able to ask more questions to fully understand all that will be going on no offense to you guys i hope

 

[GAB99]

i am going to the petstore in a few days and i cant fnd anything about this lighting:ferts:CO2 ratio i think was being explained to me.

i am mainly looking for fastish growth as id like this thing to fill out before i become a senior,and of course be ableto support the plants i want to get so i dont know what to improve on if ts CO2,the lighting, or my ferts or anything


now this may seem rather urrm.. odd, but i went to foster and smith site to get a mindover the prices and i found VHO florescents that are 75W and two of those would put my tank at medium/high lighting but id assume id have to change out ballasts and starters and idk what else or if id have to upgrade to a legit CO2 system and use tons of ferts or not.

so im kinda lost at the moment but my goal is to:

fastish growth
be abe to keep all the plants i want happy and growing


and acheive this at the minimum sorry if it sounds like a really tall order but i have no idea if this is even possible, ive got about at the moment roughly 200$ to work with, and a good 50-60 will go to the plants unless i find cheaper. so farall ive got from the other source is an offer to buy plants

 

[Biulu]

You are not saying what your current lighting is...

As far as your choice of plants: you have mostly chosen plants that will do fine with low lighting, hence if you have 2 lights in your 55 gallons, you should be ok. Just make sure you have lights that mimick day light (i.e. has light of the right wave lengths).

As you rightly said, there is an ideal ratio between light, fertilizers and CO2 amount in your tank. If one of these is limited or not fully available, the result will be algae growth and or low growth of your plants. As I am correct the nutrafin instructions come with a chart which sets off the CO2 with temperature and another variable.

 

[GAB99]

heres what i got:

55 gallon tank
topfin 60 powerfilter
1 DIY Nutrafin CO2 dispenser
5 Boesemani rainbows
5 Gold barbs
6 Praecox rainbows
2 Sterbai corys
1 OTO
1 Stripped raphael catfish
2 18" 15watt full spectrum T8 bulbs
6-7 Amazon swords
6 Argentinian swords
5 Chain swords

lights are on for 12 hours a day at the moent and the CO2 is already in use

 

[GAB99]

heres my plan correct or point out if anything sounds amiss



ferts, ill use the combo pack from this-http/www.bestaquariumregulator.com/ferts.html

get nova extreme T5 HO 48" lighting fixture

get the power head

get a drop checker

keep the current CO2 as AFAIK it does nothing bad

stock as normal

get the AC70

i think i havent eft anything out lol but opinions welcome!

 

[GAB99]

ok ive edited the stocking since my cories got wiped out by what i'll dub as bad batch syndrome


heres the new stocking:
6 Celebes half beak
6 marble/silver hatchets
6 Boesemani rainbows
6 roseline torpedo shark
5 Gold barb
1 Stripped Raphael catfish
1 Angelicus botia loach
2 Whiptail catfish
2 Farlowella cat
2 Loricaria cat
6 Oto



apart from geting repaid for the 'good' food tomorrow i have received a bit of my birthday money which means tomorrow i can get something!

unfortunately I am no going on my own made up notion of 'tech before pet' so im prolly getting the AC70 and koralia 750 tomoz

then the lights, the ferts, and then the fish

 

[GAB99]

ok, some developments have occured today, most of it in chat *cough*


got what i wanted except for otos today, an Aquaclear 50 and a powerhead, the powerhead looks a bit chunky and clunky but it does a nice job, i think it might a little too much flow but thats fine since i can make a mini sponge filter out of it.

but after chatting abit with a certain member and seeing her tank made my jaw dropso hard that its now in the basement, im taking yet another sharp turn, delving deeper and deeper into this side of the hobby.

after i have eveything in place im going to ditch my current filters, but a Rena Xp3 (or whatever order those last 3 things are placed) canister filter, and instead of doing DIY i will buy my first ever compressed system which i hopefully will use for some 'other' plans i have if this goes well. however like i said before money is a big issue, and till i get a job that can get me more income this project is now into the estimated 800$s which i hopefully will get by second progress report if i get a job verry verry soon.

other than that everyone is fine, though the fish dont seem to understand the concept of current

50$+20$+50$+40$= 160$ total money gained so far
48$+20$= 68$ money spent so far
160$-68$= 92$ money available for use
money in pocket= 0$
things to still get:

lights
diffuser
check valve
rena xp3
regulator
bubble counter
drop checker
all the fish and plants
ferts

^something was off i fixed it

 

[GAB99]

well i got a coralife 48" T5 HO unit for 47$ brand new and the original price was 200$

as well as three 1+' what i think are amazon swords (pics will show...)

so im really happy at the moment lol


50$+20$+50$+40$= 160$ total money gained so far
48$+20$+47$= 115$ money spent so far
160$-115$= 45$ money available for use
money in pocket= 0$
things to still get:

lights
diffuser
check valve
rena xp3
regulator
bubble counter
drop checker
all the fish and plants (minus the amazon swords)
fertilizers


special shout out for the guy that showed me the deal! thank you chewbacca!




aslo found a site called aquaticmagic to get my Co2 stuff, much easier than hoping noone buys the thin i want on ebay

 

[lljdma06]

Hi, Gab99,

Sorry, you've been kind of going at it alone, but I'm glad you've opted for pressurized CO2. How much lighting did the 48" strip come out to in wattage?

I like the Coralife NO T5s, I'm using the 24" strip on my 36g. I've not tried the HO, but be prepared for some light. Glad you did not pay full price for the fixture!

With all the bells and whistles, why not try for a lawncover, especially if you do well with your ferts. I haven't seen a nice glosso or HC carpet in ages...

llj

 

[GAB99]

Hi, Gab99,

Sorry, you've been kind of going at it alone, but I'm glad you've opted for pressurized CO2. How much lighting did the 48" strip come out to in wattage?

I like the Coralife NO T5s, I'm using the 24" strip on my 36g. I've not tried the HO, but be prepared for some light. Glad you did not pay full price for the fixture!

With all the bells and whistles, why not try for a lawncover, especially if you do well with your ferts. I haven't seen a nice glosso or HC carpet in ages...

llj

lol it seems i have, no worries though know eventually ill get attention


total watts ia 108 just under 2wpg it hink its like 1.96 or something

i am going for a lawncover of Dwarf HC (if i remember correctly thats baby tears?)

 

[GAB99]

hey guys just want to show some before and after pics of the lights.

before:

after:

the fish show more color but i still have that nipping issue (top rightmost leaf)

this guy is also more outgoing for some reason , should be getting him friends soon

this pic was meant to get the catfish but it shows how much the chain swords have gone down, the fish ignore em now and ive put root tabs so hopefully theyll start to regrow

 

[GAB99]

well with the new feeding regime and my discovery that i can utilize pruned leaves as food has made most of the fish stop eating the plants. however my goldbarbs have been eating all the new leaves for the plants so im going to try feeding them a veggie block everyday instead of every other day see if that dont quench their nom noming.

any more ideas??


btw i flooded the house (not fish related) so i probs wont be doing anything for my birthday tmorrow...

 

[Biulu]

Wow,those new lights really make a difference! Didn't know that gold barbs like plants so much; I guess it is a good idea to give them more veggies... What about trying real vegs like cucumber, squash...

 

[GAB99]

Wow,those new lights really make a difference! Didn't know that gold barbs like plants so much; I guess it is a good idea to give them more veggies... What about trying real vegs like cucumber, squash...

i was thinking that but we dont have any at the moment

besides they are occupied now with bothering the 3 new angelicus loaches to nip at plants, the planta would be doing great if the barbs didnt eat the new leaves they were growing, now gotta prune em lol.

 

[GAB99]

so its been roughly a month and heres what happened:

angelicus loach jumps into filter and dies
causes other loaches and new whiptail catfish to get ich
all new additions die
treatment lasts for 2 weeks
during that time the tank turned black and have just put back the carbon as well as aggreed to use the 5 gallon reptile tank as a temporary QT tank till i get a 10 gallon
as water cleared up plants showed signs of new growth as old groath and the reast of the tank is COVERED in algae

oto is very fat and happy


ill be using the old topfin filter as the QT filter as im not adding ANY new fish till the planting is sorted and obviously use the QT tank for any other illness and of of course the Q part for future additions


ive also started with the CO2 ordering and since ill be getting 25$ every 2 weeks ill use one payment for Co2 and one for Plants and repeat, plants ill order in bulk AFTER i get my hands on either Easy carbo or Seachem excel.

first 25- bubble counter and i think check valve

second 25 save for plants

3rd- drop checker

4th- save for plants, order excel

5th- diffuser

6th- depends, if plants are good get the plants if not keep using excel

7th- anything else besides tank and regulator

8th- plants

christmas- Rena xp3 for christmas and MAYBE the regulator

9th- depending on funds but most likely get a tank

10+ save for regulator

then the fish now im really hoping that THIS plan works (you guys might have guessed all my 'plans' simply dont work out at all)

but if there wasnt alagae the plants would look great, the swords have really came in nicely which i dread since ill have to move them.