Newbie Planted Tank

[LoganJay]

Hello! I'm Jay, I live in the UK and I've been wanting to get fish for years now, so I decided the other day to just go for it! I have a 110 litre tank/24 gallon tank (Juwel 110 primo to be exact).
My tank has been planted for 3 days now, with daily 40% water changes for the first week (recommended on a youtube video) and I'm also adding CO2 booster liquid, which I feel may not be necessary but I think the guy at the store just wanted more of my money! I'm hoping to get Panda Cory's to start off my community once the tank has cycled. I have a million questions though so I thought I would join here so I stop using all the staffs time in the shops!
Super excited to get a community going and giving them the best life possible.
Heres my tank so far...

 

[connorlindeman]

Hello! I'm Jay, I live in the UK and I've been wanting to get fish for years now, so I decided the other day to just go for it! I have a 110 litre tank/24 gallon tank (Juwel 110 primo to be exact).
My tank has been planted for 3 days now, with daily 40% water changes for the first week (recommended on a youtube video) and I'm also adding CO2 booster liquid, which I feel may not be necessary but I think the guy at the store just wanted more of my money! I'm hoping to get Panda Cory's to start off my community once the tank has cycled. I have a million questions though so I thought I would join here so I stop using all the staffs time in the shops!
Super excited to get a community going and giving them the best life possible.
Heres my tank so far...
View attachment 165679

Welcome! I would stop using liquid co2. Not needed and could harm the fish.

 

[CarissaT]

Looks nice! I use Flourish Excel and find it great for my plants, but others have found it harms sensitive fish in certain circumstances. Personally I think you’re better off without it right now. If you do keep dosing it you will have to continue because the plants can adapt to it and once stopped have to go through a period of re-adaptation. You should look into getting some plant fertilizer, they will do ok for a while without it but once their reserves are depleted you will start having issues. Without co2 you don’t need to dose a lot. Ideally you want something with all your macros and micros, potassium, nitrate, phosphorus being macros and micros you can usually get in a micro mix. I’m not sure what’s available in your area, but I order powdered mixes online for PPS-Pro dosing which cover all the bases and are super cheap.

 

[Morganna]

Welcome!
I love the look of your tank and can't wait to see it when the plants get bigger and fill out!

 

[Colin_T]

Hi and welcome to the forum

There's no need to do water changes if you only have plants in the tank. If you have fish in there, then do water changes.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[LoganJay]

Looks nice! I use Flourish Excel and find it great for my plants, but others have found it harms sensitive fish in certain circumstances. Personally I think you’re better off without it right now. If you do keep dosing it you will have to continue because the plants can adapt to it and once stopped have to go through a period of re-adaptation. You should look into getting some plant fertilizer, they will do ok for a while without it but once their reserves are depleted you will start having issues. Without co2 you don’t need to dose a lot. Ideally you want something with all your macros and micros, potassium, nitrate, phosphorus being macros and micros you can usually get in a micro mix. I’m not sure what’s available in your area, but I order powdered mixes online for PPS-Pro dosing which cover all the bases and are super cheap.

Thank you all for the welcomes!
And thank you Carissa for the tips on micros and macros. I will stop the CO2 and look out for those instead. I have used fluval stratum as the substrate, which I believe will give some goodness for the plants for a while. Someone I spoke to in my local store said to change it once a year. Does that sound about right?

 

[Essjay]

Changing it once a year would mean tearing the whole tank down. A more simple alternative would be to leave it there and use root tab fertiliser in the substrate next to the root feeding plants. Leaf feeding plants need liquid fertiliser even with the fluval stratum.

This is the problem with a lot of 'plant substrates', after a year or so they become depleted and are then treated like plain sand or gravel.

 

[KiwiGal77]

Beautiful tank set up!! That looks great. Definitely won't need the CO2, Seachem Flourish (just the standard one) is a popular liquid fertiliser you could look into, they do root tabs as well for heavy root feeders such as swords.

You say you'll add fish once the tank is cycled - how are you planning to cycle it? There's a great article in this forum with a plan to follow for fishless cycles if you're looking for some guidance.

Do you know what fish you're planning for it?

 

[LoganJay]

Beautiful tank set up!! That looks great. Definitely won't need the CO2, Seachem Flourish (just the standard one) is a popular liquid fertiliser you could look into, they do root tabs as well for heavy root feeders such as swords.

You say you'll add fish once the tank is cycled - how are you planning to cycle it? There's a great article in this forum with a plan to follow for fishless cycles if you're looking for some guidance.

Do you know what fish you're planning for it?

Thank you!

I may be completely wrong here, but I thought the tank would cycle over time with the plants in? I have test strips but have ordered the master test kit too.

I would like to get a school of 5 or 6 Panda Cory's to begin with...

 

[Essjay]

Plant cycling is an option, but the tank should be well planted with fast growing plants. A lot of the plants you have are slow growing. Floating plants would help a lot as they take up a lot of ammonia - and many fish like having something over their heads.


I would be wary of cories with that substrate. They do best over sand.

 

[KiwiGal77]

Thank you!

I may be completely wrong here, but I thought the tank would cycle over time with the plants in? I have test strips but have ordered the master test kit too.

I would like to get a school of 5 or 6 Panda Cory's to begin with...

That seems to be a common belief unfortuantely - a cycle is basically when the beneficial bacteria that deal to toxic ammonia & nitrite become established within a tank.

To do this, you need to feed them an ammonia source to encourage them to grow and reproduce - this will be fish food and fish waste during a fish-in cycle (risky, especially for a beginner), or by adding ammonia to the tank for a preferred fishless cycle method. Those first type of bacteria will turn the ammonia into nitrite and then you get the nitrifying bacteria growing and reproducing to turn that into less harmful nitrate, with the whole process usually taking 6-8 weeks. Without an ammonia source added, there's nothing for the bacteria to feed off so they won't establish - so your testing levels will be good and you'll think it's ok to add fish, but the cycling hasn't even started.

Have a read through here:
https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycle-your-tank-a-complete-guide-for-beginners.475055/

Cory's are awesome little fish! But they do require a sand substrate to sift through, and the one you're using now is much too rough for them (and other bottom dwellers) to live on.

You'll also need to find out your water hardness and pH levels to see what fish will suit your water.

 

[LoganJay]

Thank you all. I'm just about to pop to the shop to grab some of those things I am missing, so I can get the cycle started! I will make sure to follow that guide too, it is very clear and helpful.

Do you reckon I could carefully add some sand to half the tanks substrate to make an ideal area Cory's? Or the whole tank if not? I'd love to get them, but not if it would be uncomfortable for them...

 

[emeraldking]

Welcome to TFF...
Well, if this is your first tank, it does look incredible... It looks very serene...

 

[LoganJay]

Welcome to TFF...
Well, if this is your first tank, it does look incredible... It looks very serene...

Thank you so much, I'm really happy with how it turned out! Some plants are already growing which is wasn't expecting so soon!

 

[Byron]

That is indeed a lovely aquascape, nice work.

Now is the time to decide on the major issues mentioned by others, like the substrate. Corydoras fish should not be housed over any of these so-called plant substrates, both for the sharpness (may or may not be) but also the bacteria that will naturally be in larger-grained substrates, and can seriously impact substrate-level fish. There is also the need of cories to sift the substrate through their gills, and this requires soft sand. You can change the substrate over now, before fish are involved, your call. But I would not get cories without soft sand.

As for changing part of the substrate, this can be done but is not always successful. Substrate materials tend to mix, and sand will sink to the bottom with the larger grain on top, unless you somehow manage to seal off with some sort of divider siliconed to the tank floor.

The liquid CO2 is toxic and dangerous, toss it out. Substrate tabs, and Seachem's Flourish Tabs are excellent, is a good idea for those three sword plants, one tab next to each, replace every 3-4 months. The Flourish Comprehensive Supplement will help, just don't over use it. Once you have fish they will provide a lot of nutrients from being fed, and excess nutrients can mean algae problems.

When the plants show signs of growth, and if you can get some floating like Water Sprite, Water Lettuce or Frogbit, you will be able to add fish without any "cycling" fuss. We can advise on this once we know where you're going.