Julia’s 180l Planted Tank

[julia298]

Hi all, just set up tank again.

Total rehaul after TB in tank - Do not want to have to do that again for a looooooooooooong time! Everything binned but chance to get new stuff and try a proper planted tank.
Also took out internal juwel filter & now using external (got Eheim 2026 for birthday).

So I welcome any comments. I’ve noted tank details & pics below, please, please, please I would love advice on anything about my tank. Ive read & still reading lots and talked to people but I know there is a lot to learn, so all help much appreciated.

Juwel vision 180l.
Eheim 2026 filter
2x 25w arcadia lights
2x 55w T5 daylights
(about 3wpg)
CO2 JBL Pro2
substrate- fluorite
Ferts – Flourish Nitrogen, Potassium & Phosphate.

Here is my tank on 1st clear day after all murkiness from filling, had gone.

Bought a load of fast growing plants from on-line shop. Left for a week & realised Im going to need a lot more, so bought a load more off ebay and this is tank now.

What I would like to know is, (after reading this topic) if I leave growing for another week, is my tank planted enough to not need to fishless cycle?

cheers

 

[zig]

Hi Julia

Some of your plants are not aquatic the tall one in the middle and the one with reddish colour to the leaves are not aquatic unfortunatly, so wont be much use im afraid, have you read the pinned article on dosing a highlight tank? you probably have but just checking anyway. I wouldnt add fish to this tank just yet until you get a handle on things. It may not be planted enough.

Do you have any testkits? do you know how much CO2 you are adding, do you know the nitrate and phosphate levels?

 

[julia298]

Hi Julia

Some of your plants are not aquatic the tall one in the middle and the one with reddish colour to the leaves are not aquatic unfortunatly, so wont be much use im afraid, have you read the pinned article on dosing a highlight tank? you probably have but just checking anyway. I wouldnt add fish to this tank just yet until you get a handle on things. It may not be planted enough.

Do you have any testkits? do you know how much CO2 you are adding, do you know the nitrate and phosphate levels?

they were in the batch ive just got off ebay - knew i shouldve stuck with greenline.
greenlines plants all came labelled, some with care advice but the postman missed me and i couldnt get them from the depot till the next day, so a few plants ended up worse for wear and i threw them out.

will get more plants this week & post pics again for advice before getting any fish.

My co2 came with a test kit. I added some extra rings to the diffuser so its more efficient, at mo its about 12 bubbles per min and this seems to be keeping pH at 7. Haven't got a test for phophate.

thanks zig.

 

[zig]

Julia 12 bubbles per minute will generate hardly any CO2 for a 180l tank, you really need to pump about a bubble per second to get you into the 30ppm ballpark, as a guideline you should take some of your tapwater, let it sit for 24 hours, take a Ph reading and use that as your reference point, you now want to aim for a full 1 point Ph drop in the tank water through the injection of CO2, so if your tap reads Ph 7 after sitting for 24 hours aim for Ph 6 in the tank, this should in theory give you 30ppm CO2 in the tankwater, and this is what you really need to aim for. I would reduce your lighting until you have the water parameters under control a bit better, your just inducing algae otherwise.

You also really need to start getting readings for nitrate and phosphate through testkits other wise this tank could end up a mess real fast, aim for 10ppm no3 (nitrate) 1-2ppm PO4 (phosphate) and 30ppm CO2, you will need to dose a trace fertiliser also. Once you have this under control you can increase the lighting. After a while you can do away with the testkits but in the beginning they are useful.

 

[julia298]

Thanks Zig,
am on to it
i have nitrate test kit, will need to get phosphate.

i thought 12 bubbles per min was not much but i didnt want ph to get too low as it was showing about 6 at one point, but when i reread the co2 test kit instructions i realised i hadnt done it right the first time. ph wasnt as low as i thought.

thanks again for advice.

 

[Themuleous]

Yeh I run my 90lt at 1bps CO2 gives me 40ppm ish.

Sam