New plants! Questions!

[cowgirluntamed]

This is my 20 gallon high I finally got set back up! Got everything planted Thursday. Now...all the wood is mopani. I did NOT presoak it at all. So, now I have a bunch of tannins. I'm perfectly fine with tannins. Lol. No fish yet. Stocking will be one blue 3spot gourami. Say hi to Outlaw!

He's in a ten gallon quarantine right now. Only a bit bigger than a guppy. I will be adding a group of sterbai cories when the plants grow in a bit better.

Anyway, 2 questions on the 20. One, with only plants, how often do I need to do water changes?

Next...I just noticed today that there is the white "fuzz like" stuff in part of the wood. I just added 3 Malaysian trumpet snails. Would a couple of my Berita snails eat this or do I just leave it be? I did glue some anubias to the wood on the right and noticed a bit of fuzz on the rhizome. So I need to remove it from that at least?

Anyway, I'm very happy with the plants I received from aquarium co-op!! They are amazing! The ones from live aquaria...eh...so so. If anybody is interested I can post the pictures I took of those from each place before planting. Lol. Thanks for any help!

 

[cowgirluntamed]

One more question...is there an easier way to dose the flourish feritliser? I put in a dose when I got it set up, but may have gotten too much. It's hard to see the threads on the cap. I do have some syringes though, would that work?

 

[Essjay]

I use a graduated pipette for dosing Flourish, so a syringe is ideal. But make sure you know where the mark is on the syringe before you start as it can be tricky seeing the number when it is full of Flourish.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

Thanks essjay!

 

[Byron]

Anyway, 2 questions on the 20. One, with only plants, how often do I need to do water changes?

I would do a weekly partial water change, maybe 1/3 with just the plants, increasing it to 1/2 once fish are present. I have a 20g QT for new fish that can sit fishless for months some years, and I tend to do a weekly W/C but less than with fish in the tank. I do this less for any benefit to the plants and more to maintain a more stable chemistry and biology. I would use liquid plant fertilizer normally too.

Next...I just noticed today that there is the white "fuzz like" stuff in part of the wood. I just added 3 Malaysian trumpet snails. Would a couple of my Berita snails eat this or do I just leave it be? I did glue some anubias to the wood on the right and noticed a bit of fuzz on the rhizome. So I need to remove it from that at least?

This is probably some species of fungus from within the wood. Most is harmless, some is deadly toxic. No way to tell unless you have a microbiologist with a microscope examine it for the species. Most members seem never to have issues, so let's hope you are in that group. I wasn't the one time I had this. Snails and some fish will eat the harmless fungus.

 

[cowgirluntamed]

I would do a weekly partial water change, maybe 1/3 with just the plants, increasing it to 1/2 once fish are present. I have a 20g QT for new fish that can sit fishless for months some years, and I tend to do a weekly W/C but less than with fish in the tank. I do this less for any benefit to the plants and more to maintain a more stable chemistry and biology. I would use liquid plant fertilizer normally too.



This is probably some species of fungus from within the wood. Most is harmless, some is deadly toxic. No way to tell unless you have a microbiologist with a microscope examine it for the species. Most members seem never to have issues, so let's hope you are in that group. I wasn't the one time I had this. Snails and some fish will eat the harmless fungus.

Thanks Byron! I may wait a bit and add the Nerite snails in a few days just to see. Maybe after the next water change!