Diving In

[Rach-D]

Just started out in this hobby and will document my progress on my planted tank, mistakes have been made and in all likelihood others will be made along the way. As it stands today the tank has been leak checked, planted up and is two weeks into a fishless cycle which is coming on nicely. Most of the plants are putting out new growth (although some look to have been grown emersed and are dying back a bit, hopefully they'll recover)


Techy info:
Tank - Fluval Roma 200 (might've bit off more than I can chew for a first aquarium)
Light - Fluval 6500K 46W LED (have the 26W LED light that came with the aquarium as a backup if needed)
Filter - Fluval 207 canister filter (very quiet piece of kit)
Air - Fluval 202 air pump (another very quiet piece of kit)

Plants - various but mainly from one of two FLS here in Aberdeen:
Alternathera Cardinalis
Echinodorus bieheri
Eleocharis Pusilla
Hydrocotyle Leucocephala
Limnophila Sessiliflora
Micranthemum (Monte-carlo)
Taxiphyllum Barbieri
Vallisneria

Substrate - Tropica Aquasoil and small pea gravel

No Co2 set up - we have very soft water here and the PH, after dechlorination is sitting at 6.5(ish), don't think that should be going any lower.

I'll also be setting up a small quarantine tank to place livestock prior to putting them into the main aquarium. Eventually planning on stocking with 2 pearl gourami as centre piece fish, 8 dwarf neon rainbow fish (I reckon they'll look nice shoaling in the open spaces of the tank) and for the bottom some dwarf oto catfish and shrimp to clean up the mess.

 

[megwattscreative]

Good luck! Looks good so far. I feel you on the big starter tank, but I think it is easier to reach stable water quality in a larger tank. Also gives you room to grow!
The emersed plants will melt a bit, but they will also bounce back. Just takes a while in a low tech set up, but worth the wait 🙂

One thing to note - otocinclus are very sensitive and quite difficult to keep. I know they're recommended as a clean up crew, but shrimp and snails will do a better job and are much hardier. If I'm understanding right, this is your first tank? In this case I'd probably avoid otos to begin with, just as they're a bit finicky. They're lovely fish - @dw1305 kept them with great success, so he's a good person to ask. I'm not an expert, but hope this helps!

 

[Rach-D]

One thing to note - otocinclus are very sensitive and quite difficult to keep. I know they're recommended as a clean up crew, but shrimp and snails will do a better job and are much hardier. If I'm understanding right, this is your first tank? In this case I'd probably avoid otos to begin with, just as they're a bit finicky. They're lovely fish - @dw1305 kept them with great success, so he's a good person to ask. I'm not an expert, but hope this helps!

Yes this is my first tank, thanks for the heads-up on the otocinclus, they are lovely wee fish but what's best for them comes first so I'll look at shrimp and snails for the clean-up crew🙂

 

[megwattscreative]

Worth noting with the soft water that the snails may struggle a bit, they need calcium for their shells. Chuck in some cuttle fish bone occasionally (like you get for birds in pet stores) and they'll be grand 🙂

 

[Onoma1]

I like the piece of wood on the left hand side it looks particularly dramatic. Miles better than my first attempt to scape!

 

[bazz]

Hi,
Your tank is looking really good and the only advice I would offer is to do plenty of water changes for the first month or so (your tap water seems to be ideal, so an easy task), if you are not doing so already. I may well be wrong, but looking at the photo it appears to me that the water could quite possibly be saturated with nutrients including ammonia, probably from the Aquasoil. I would also look at introducing some Ramshorn Snails (they seem to cope with soft water better than most) a.s.a.p.
As always though, it is your tank to with as you please.

 

[Rach-D]

I like the piece of wood on the left hand side it looks particularly dramatic. Miles better than my first attempt to scape!

Thanks, my LFS had some pieces and I liked the shape of this piece although it was a bit of a pain to lug back to the car and I got some funny looks 😀. I had initially intended for it to be oriented differently right up to the point of putting it in the tank and I realised it looked better the way it is now.

Worth noting with the soft water that the snails may struggle a bit, they need calcium for their shells. Chuck in some cuttle fish bone occasionally (like you get for birds in pet stores) and they'll be grand 🙂

Cuttlefish bone purchased today in readiness for adding snails.

Hi,
Your tank is looking really good and the only advice I would offer is to do plenty of water changes for the first month or so (your tap water seems to be ideal, so an easy task), if you are not doing so already. I may well be wrong, but looking at the photo it appears to me that the water could quite possibly be saturated with nutrients including ammonia, probably from the Aquasoil. I would also look at introducing some Ramshorn Snails (they seem to cope with soft water better than most) a.s.a.p.
As always though, it is your tank to with as you please.

Yes, the water was a bit cloudy when the photo was taken. I'd been planting earlier and I've noticed the aquasoil clouds the water quite readily when disturbed. I'm currently half way through my cycle (Ammonia is trace, nitrite is now around 0.5ppm and nitrates are 20ppm), when the nitrite is at 0ppm I'll add 1ppm of ammonia and check ammonia and nitrite after 12 and 24 hours to ensure the bacteria reduce to zero. Thanks for the advice (there are some nice ramshorn snails around). Should I wait until the cycle is finished before introducing ramshorn snails?