Well, fish off a little information.
This is my first tank, its a 15 gallon Juwel Rekord (24" X 12" X 14") and I'm hoping to get it nicely planted and have 5-10 neon tetra's swimming about quite happily.
I'm using a 15 watt 'JBL Solar Tropic' flourescent (the highest wattage i could find for my 438mm T8 fittings thats come in the stock tank hood. A basic filter with woolen media and activated carbon. I did have an air pump going but it was creating a hell of a lot of bubbles and current for the size of my tank (not to mention noise) so I'm experimenting by turning it off, the filter creates a bit of surface agitation.
I live in Hong Kong and my tap water seems to be quite hellish. It has a pH of 6 (the lowest reading on the test scale... could be lower?) 0 gH and 0 kH according to my test kit. I've dechlorinated the water.
As I live in Hong Kong I have access to probably the craziest fish shopping street in the world (Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok) with a hell of a lot of choices, but basically no English. This has meant making a few blind choices on substrate and plants. I bought what looks to be substrate specifically for planted tanks, the guy in the shop said that it would raise my pH. I'm hoping that it's the Japanese equivalent of some reputable brand (the packaging is all in Japanese). On top of this I have some largish pebbles (all about 1cm) that I got with the tank (bought second hand).
When I went into Mong Kok to buy some plants for the tank I basically had to do it blind. I asked the guy in the shop and he pointed towards a few types of plants (honestly, there were like 100+ different types of plant in this place) and I bit the bullet and randomly chose another 1 or 2 types that were cheapish and looked good. What I'm wondering is how bad my purchase has been?
As I say these were all purchased in Hong Kong and I have no idea what species these might be:
The tank:
The larger plant doesn't look too happy. He started off okay but now (2 or 3 days later) his stem seems to be a bit browner. The clover type thing in the front seems to be thriving, when I bought it it was dry and out of water, it seems to have sprung up to twice the original height in the last day or so.
Plant to the left seems a bit battered and bruised. Some leaves are broken and a few have holes in them. Not got great hopes. The middle plant looks okayish. The plant on the right has a strange sort of bulb that I thought I read you weren't meant to plant. The first day I had him in the tank the leaves actually had oxygen bubbles on them so I thought he was doing okay. Since then I semi planted the bulb thing and one leaf is starting to look a bit yellowish.
Plant in the hidey-hole in the wood seems to be doing okayish.
Maybe it's too early to tell? Maybe I was killing them with the overzealus airpump?
I've been doing some testing and my ammonia levels seem to be rising a little bit, I was thinking of getting some prawns or shrimps and put them in a stocking in the tank to add some ammonia. Would dried prawns work? (I live in the dried seafood district here and can basically walk out my front door and get a handfull of dried anything) or would they have to be fresh?
Should I turn my airpump back on? If it would be necessary I could buy a much less powerful pump.
How do I go about adding more lights? I've seen plenty of bulbs for sale but literally no connectors (is it called balast?) for sale. I take it ones bought from a hardware store wouldn't be suitable for high humidity levels.
What can I do about my pH, gH and kH levels? I've read reports that say to climatise plants/fish to your tap water rather than trying control chemicals, but are these levels just too extreme?
When should I consider co2 and fertilisers? I'm thinking of DIY'ing a yeast/sugar co2 solution. I've no idea about the ferts.
Sorry guys, I guess I'm due a roasting for just choosing plants blindly. I've tried to do loads of research but this is such a huge topic/hobby and there are so many confilicting suggestions online. Hopefully these plants will survive but I really fear that I've bought totally unsuitable plants.
Thanks for any advice guys.
This is my first tank, its a 15 gallon Juwel Rekord (24" X 12" X 14") and I'm hoping to get it nicely planted and have 5-10 neon tetra's swimming about quite happily.
I'm using a 15 watt 'JBL Solar Tropic' flourescent (the highest wattage i could find for my 438mm T8 fittings thats come in the stock tank hood. A basic filter with woolen media and activated carbon. I did have an air pump going but it was creating a hell of a lot of bubbles and current for the size of my tank (not to mention noise) so I'm experimenting by turning it off, the filter creates a bit of surface agitation.
I live in Hong Kong and my tap water seems to be quite hellish. It has a pH of 6 (the lowest reading on the test scale... could be lower?) 0 gH and 0 kH according to my test kit. I've dechlorinated the water.
As I live in Hong Kong I have access to probably the craziest fish shopping street in the world (Tung Choi Street in Mong Kok) with a hell of a lot of choices, but basically no English. This has meant making a few blind choices on substrate and plants. I bought what looks to be substrate specifically for planted tanks, the guy in the shop said that it would raise my pH. I'm hoping that it's the Japanese equivalent of some reputable brand (the packaging is all in Japanese). On top of this I have some largish pebbles (all about 1cm) that I got with the tank (bought second hand).
When I went into Mong Kok to buy some plants for the tank I basically had to do it blind. I asked the guy in the shop and he pointed towards a few types of plants (honestly, there were like 100+ different types of plant in this place) and I bit the bullet and randomly chose another 1 or 2 types that were cheapish and looked good. What I'm wondering is how bad my purchase has been?
As I say these were all purchased in Hong Kong and I have no idea what species these might be:
The tank:
The larger plant doesn't look too happy. He started off okay but now (2 or 3 days later) his stem seems to be a bit browner. The clover type thing in the front seems to be thriving, when I bought it it was dry and out of water, it seems to have sprung up to twice the original height in the last day or so.
Plant to the left seems a bit battered and bruised. Some leaves are broken and a few have holes in them. Not got great hopes. The middle plant looks okayish. The plant on the right has a strange sort of bulb that I thought I read you weren't meant to plant. The first day I had him in the tank the leaves actually had oxygen bubbles on them so I thought he was doing okay. Since then I semi planted the bulb thing and one leaf is starting to look a bit yellowish.
Plant in the hidey-hole in the wood seems to be doing okayish.
Maybe it's too early to tell? Maybe I was killing them with the overzealus airpump?
I've been doing some testing and my ammonia levels seem to be rising a little bit, I was thinking of getting some prawns or shrimps and put them in a stocking in the tank to add some ammonia. Would dried prawns work? (I live in the dried seafood district here and can basically walk out my front door and get a handfull of dried anything) or would they have to be fresh?
Should I turn my airpump back on? If it would be necessary I could buy a much less powerful pump.
How do I go about adding more lights? I've seen plenty of bulbs for sale but literally no connectors (is it called balast?) for sale. I take it ones bought from a hardware store wouldn't be suitable for high humidity levels.
What can I do about my pH, gH and kH levels? I've read reports that say to climatise plants/fish to your tap water rather than trying control chemicals, but are these levels just too extreme?
When should I consider co2 and fertilisers? I'm thinking of DIY'ing a yeast/sugar co2 solution. I've no idea about the ferts.
Sorry guys, I guess I'm due a roasting for just choosing plants blindly. I've tried to do loads of research but this is such a huge topic/hobby and there are so many confilicting suggestions online. Hopefully these plants will survive but I really fear that I've bought totally unsuitable plants.
Thanks for any advice guys.
I've heard such horror stories about certain forums that I feared the worst here. It doesn't seem that way at all though.
