# New to planted tanks need help please



## Seditro (17 Mar 2015)

Hello there im new to planted aquariums and this website im in need of a little help i think as i don't understand what i have done wrong 

Ok so i have just bought a brand new juwel vision 180 in the hopes to plant it up i bought all the items needed as advised by a aquatics who displays planted tanks

What i have is 

Tropica co2 canister disposible 
Aquagro nutra soil 
Thats all the guy said i needed as the lights in my tank ( just standard juwel hi lite day x2 think 35w each )

I planted some sorry if names are wrong 

eloecharis purvla? ( hair grass) 

Ludwigia red repens? 

Some kind of crypto 

Tied christmas moss and anubias to my drift wood

They was all labled easy tropica plants

This was 3 days ago 

Now today i turned the lights on and co2 ( keep them on 10hrs and guy suggested 1 bubble per 2-3 seconds ) 

Iv noticed my anubias us curling and turning yellow my moss is a brownish colour 

Now i know anubias is a very easy plant so now im worried
Im doing somthing wrong here 

I have pictures but im currently on my phone and unsure how to add them


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## roadmaster (17 Mar 2015)

For now,I would reduce lighting period to six hours each day and purchase dry fertilizer's Nitrogen,Phosphates, potassium, and trace minerals.
Light + CO2+ all macro/micro nutrient's = much better growth.
Too much light,without good CO2 distribution/flow, and nutrient availability = poor performing plant's.


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## ian_m (17 Mar 2015)

I have a Vision 180 with 35W T5's & CO2 and these are definitely in the high light region.

At start up, you need to seriously reduce this light level or else you will "vaporise" the plants and end growing superb amounts of algae.

Reduce lighting to 4 hours or less.

Reduce light level by turning reflectors (if you have them) round to direct light away from the tank, put foil strips around the tubes (maybe cover 2/3rds), put darkened plastic sheet under the lights, all to seriously reduce the light level.

At these light levels and CO2 you must provide ferts. I use these
http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/fertilisers/dry-chemicals/starter-kits/ei-starter-kit.html

After a month or two, when things have settled down start increasing light level and duration. If you go too fast algae will be the result, just be patient.

99% of failures on this forum are due to poor CO2 levels with respect to the light being supplied. Other 1% are generally due to peoples failure to read (or ask) and then going off and doing their own thing and ending in disaster.....

I am not convinced Tropica canister is the CO2 way forward for a tank this size. I get through 20gr a day of CO2 for my tank, the Tropica 60 system will only last 10days at their recommended rate for a 180l tank.

Any questions, ask away....


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## Seditro (17 Mar 2015)

Hi thank you for responding to my post 

So do i need to add the ferts now or do i just do the darkening of the tank for a couple of weeks then add ferts? Sorry im new to this i dont really understand the science behind it all ☺️

So if i do this everything should be ok?

Lower the light to only 4hrs per day no co2 needed for 2 weeks then after 2 weeks increase to 6hrs with the co2? And then 8hrs and so on 

The ferts?i thought i only needed them when my tank was mature? Thats what i was told anyway 

Many thanks for the info


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## ian_m (17 Mar 2015)

Lower light levels immediately. All the beautiful tanks you see here are high light levels, spot on CO2 levels and suitably large fertiliser dosing.

Put CO2 on 2 hours before lights on and off 1hour before lights off. Plants are made of carbon, therefore need it.

Add fertiliser immediately as plants will use it. Plants will initially survive from their own stored resources and from whatever leaches out your substrate, until that runs out (days/week ?) then will start dying.

You don't state if you are aiming for high tech high light high maintenance tank or lower light lower tech and lower maintenance tank (or in between)? One is nice and easy very forgiving of mistakes and goes wrong very slowly and other isn't ????


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## Seditro (17 Mar 2015)

Oh sorry i guess just easy as its my first planted tank

Im going to get the reflectors for the vision 180 it has none at the moment

I asked a guy about my anubias turning yellow he said my ph was low it was 6.7 he sold me some ph buffer lithaqua told me to put it in my filter never mentioned about ferts or anything

So ok maybe a stupid question and i appericate your patience with me but

The aquagro nutrasoil? Why do i need ferts aswel as that i was under the impression that. Was my ferts?

Thanks again


Btw would tropica plant growth premium ferts be ok? 

Or do you recommend the one you linked me


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## ian_m (17 Mar 2015)

Adding reflectors makes the light levels even higher light, and things grow and move faster and so do the mistakes and it all going wrong a lot quicker.

The light drives plant growth and if you don't supply enough CO2 (or other carbon source) and fertiliser to match the light level, the plant starts dying, rotting and releasing organics into the water, feeding algae and it all quickly goes wrong (and green).

So if you limit the light, both in level and time, the plants don't demand such greater levels of CO2 and fertiliser, making it all a lot easier to control. Also any mistakes take a while (days) to happen, in which you have days to sort the issue.

The guy selling you pH buffer is selling you pH buffer, good for him but pointless really and probably detrimental if you are using CO2.

Plants (and fish) don't really care about pH, shops do, as they can sell you pointless test kits and pointless chemicals to correct things that aren't a problem. A high tech tank will more than likely vary by 1pH (or more) (pH is logarithmic so that's a x10 variation) in a 24hour period, fish and plants don't care as long as its not sudden.

In fact injecting CO2 produces the weak acid, carbonic acid, which lowers the pH anyway.



Seditro said:


> The aquagro nutrasoil? Why do i need ferts aswel as that i was under the impression that. Was my ferts


Yes it is, but it will soon be depleted, thus plants will demand more. If light levels are higher they will demand even more.....

Please read and digest (I will test you later ) these...

This explains what a higher energy (light) tank is. Your T5 + reflector is way in these area.
http://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=setting-up-a-higher-tech-planted-tank

Interesting about substrates. Remember many people grow monsterously growing plants in nothing but sand from B&Q. Nothing special about substrates.
http://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=guide-to-substrates

Cheap way of fertilising. Or just use the link I sent you at Aquarium Plant food.
http://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=dosing-with-dry-salts

If above is too much use this to calculate using teaspoons.
http://calc.petalphile.com/

Use KNO3, KH2PO4 & MgSO4 180l tank, dry dosing, "The Estimative Index" gives answer in gr (about 5-6gr per tsp) 2-4 times a week.

Finally the hardest part to get right.
http://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=co2-measurement-using-a-drop-checker


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## Mr. Teapot (17 Mar 2015)

Seditro said:


> tropica plant growth premium


I use Tropica's Specialised Fertiliser. I like it. Nice fresh green colour and you get a nifty pump bottle with their logo thrown in for free!


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## ian_m (17 Mar 2015)

Mr. Teapot said:


> I use Tropica's Specialised Fertiliser. I like it.


Of which is 99.9% expensive water. I prefer to pay for fertilizer rather than expensive water you get a hell of a lot more if not buying water. I can get nice pump bottles for 30p each if I think I might need to pump
.


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## Seditro (17 Mar 2015)

Thank you for the links, I am working my way through them as there sure is a lot to digest 

My understanding of your advice is, I have to cut back my lighting to less than 6 hrs per day and add fertiliser immediately. 

I have got some Tropica Premium fertiliser, is this sufficient?

I assume I am to stop the CO2 for now.

My focus for the immediate time is to get the plants to health and to get rid of what looks like the start of an algae issue.

Sorry for what may seem like the obvious to you but I appreciate your step by step advice, and patience. I am just trying to get things in the right order so I can sort out the issues before they get any worse.

Thanks


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## ian_m (17 Mar 2015)

Seditro said:


> assume I am to stop the CO2 for now.


No. Absolutely essential. Read the bit about drop checkers.

Plants take light and CO2 and fertiliser to make sugar as their starting point to making their structures. 

Read this to see how most people get their CO2. I pay £10 for 2Kg. 
http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/fire-extinguisher-co2.266/

Here's how to mix your own Tropica and save money to spend in equipment and plants.
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm



Seditro said:


> I have got some Tropica Premium fertiliser, is this sufficient?


Yes is very sufficient at transferring money from your wallet to the shop owners.

No actually it isn't it, it doesn't contain Potassium or Phosphorus. This is supplied by Tropica Specialised along with price tag and expensive water. Neither explicitly state magnesium, but I suspect they do as it is the next to cheapest ingredient (water first). You can get 25Kg of MgSO4 on Ebay for £15.


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## Rahms (19 Mar 2015)

there are two nearly identical threads about this.  He's got loads of photos in the other one: http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/new-to-plants-and-need-help-please.36556/

Since the other one is probably in the more "correct" forum lets just use that one?


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