First tank in over 10 years!

[Adumlee]

Hi all.
Decided to set up a planted tank with my Daughter now she is old enough to appriciate it. I've had previous planted tanks with varying degrees of success.
I liked the idea of this being a crystal shrimp only tank but with high maintenance and the fact it would be a massive learning curve in itself (I've only every kept neo's) I've opted for a planted tank focusing on growing easy plants well.
I hope you like my first go at an aquascape I will be planning on planing crypts anubias java fern moss etc on the 'island' section. And maybe a carpet on the rest im undecided yet.

Does anyone have Any recommendations for a plant like vallis for the rear of the tank but won't completely take take over like vallis does?

Tanks specs are as follows.
60x40x40 opti white.
Thermo 200 filter.
Ebay light (can't remember brand)
Working out a co2 set up at the moment. I have a co2 art reg I used on a previous FE set up but not sure it will fit in the cabinet it's on.

I'm sure there will be plenty of questions in bound probably algae related!

Thanks for reading.

 

[Wolf6]

Cyperus helferi looks a lot like it but is a bit more demanding too, but since you are going co2 should be fine.

 

[Adumlee]

Current situation with tank.

Tried glueing all the hard scape with gorilla glue only for it to come dislodged from the rocks and start floating. #amateur

Have everything set up filter and Co2 wise Ticking along nicely.

I will run the tank like this until the wood sinks and rescape it all.

Currently dosing liquid carbon. Tropica fertiliser and some prevent algae.

So far I'm getting odd bits of white fur algae and a little bit of hair algae here and there.

Looking forward to doing the hard scape properly and I will add some more stem plants.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Adumlee]

Hi guys thought I'd post a few progress pictures. My tanks been running about 2 months now. For some reason my wood still floats hence the rock on it. ( rocks were ment to be under the wood ) but I'm having to go with it for the moment and will rescape it at a later date. I'm struggling with a bit of algae and slow growth mainly on the stem plants at the back. I've got the lights running for 6 hours (unknown ebay led light) I dose the tropica all in one liquid fertiliser and liquid carbon. I have co2 coming in through the inlet of the external filter and the drop checker is green ( just done a water change in this picture) I'm thinking it may be the lights are too bright as the front is shaded by the floating plants? I had a bit of hair algae but I seem to be winning the battle with that now. I was going to try and raise the light and maybe add some more fertiliser? I'm doing one pump of each 4/5 days a week then water change on Sundays. Not sure if that will make algae worse tho.

All the best.

 

[Hufsa]

Your tank looks lush!
I know this is a journal and not a help thread, but I had a few ideas, please ignore if this is not what you are looking for 😊
Your wood will probably sink soon, does it have a large mass at the center of it? I always find these massive stumps take the longest to waterlog, but once its done its done and you wont have to worry about it again.
Paying attention to light distribution is a good idea, it might very well be that your stems will get a bit more oomph if they get a larger portion of the light. Raising the light a bit, as you said, should help with that. You could also try shifting the light slightly backwards, since you have mostly crypts at the front.
Floating plants are a super safety net for a tank, but you will have to manage their numbers to prevent them from shading your other plants too much.
When you can, you should figure out how many ppm's the current Tropica dose is giving you for your tank size, its good to know so you can compare to what most are dosing for a CO2 injected tank.
Your plant health looks nice and green though, so there doesnt seem to be any dramatic issues with your current levels Some of the algae will pass just as the tank matures, 2 months is still young Keep up the good work

 

[Adumlee]

Hi @Hufsa thank you for the kind words I'm still learning as I go.

I've since cable tied the wood together to a large peice of stone and got it back to somewhat how I originally intended.

I've turned the co2 up a touch ( drop checker looks slightly dark in this image as I just refilled the tank. )

After watching George farmers video on complete fert dosing I've realised I've not been dosing enough and my fert was missing NPK. I've got a D D dosing pump coming from ebay to take that element out of the equation and I've also ordered some tnc complete. Even since upping the co2 and tropica premium nutrition I've seen some good new growth over the last couple of days.

Bit of a shift around tonight to give more room for planting. I've cut the poor growth down level and planted out with a few more plants kindly donated from @Konsa, top man really appricate that and look forward to seeing them grow in! Starting to enjoy this tank now. I know it's now majestic nature aquarium but I'm enjoying learning to grow plants and find a good balance.

I'm hoping to add some neocaridina once I'm happy with the plant growth and everything is ticking along without keep tweeking things.

All the best

 

[Adumlee]

Just a little update things looking good since increase ferts. Have some nice new growth coming through, tanks looking alot clearer in general barely any algae now except on some of the older buce leaves from when the tank was first set up and some small bits of hair algae here and there. Hopefully when in add some shrimp at a later date that will help aswell. Added some dwarf hair grass yesterday Looking forward to seeing it all grown in!

All the best.

 

[Adumlee]

Edit I think that's black beard algae on the wood! I'm still a newbie

 

[Adumlee]

Scrubbed most of the bba off was only a little bit on the wood. Some good growth still. Got a bit of hair algae coming through I knocked my needle valve and think I reset co2 slightly low, I'll manually remove as much as possible on Sunday water change and see if it subsides. If not anyone have any other ideas that would be great.
Second buce thats come into flower now.
All the best.

 

[Konsa]

Hi Adam
Do you have any update on the tank?
How you are getting on?
Regards Konstantin

 

[Adumlee]

Been a while since I posted on here! Tanks been running for a while now got a bit neglected over summer. Recently removed some plants that had bad hair algae issues. Bit of a rescape and it's looking alot better. Hoping the Vallis will fill in at the back a bit more, looking to plant some bushey stem plants behind the dragon stone and keep them fairly low if anyone has some easy recommendations. Will ad a frosted back and sides next week as I have a 60p that's yet to be set up next to it so cleaning glass etc will be harder to clean glass etc. Hopefully back on track and see some nice growth again! Picture is just after a bit water change so a bit cloudy. Thanks for looking.

 

[PARAGUAY]

Hygr.Polysperma could be a bushy option for the back. You can keep it in check and with a nice bushy look with regular pruning at a decent height I tend to do that weekly at water change day

 

[Adumlee]

@PARAGUAY thats great ill look it up thank you! As you can see I'm just using easy plants! Going to attempt an iwagumi in the 60p as a contrast

 

[PARAGUAY]

I tend to use easy plants and keep to the ones that do well for me.

 

[Adumlee]

Plants perked up a bit after being re planted. Tank looks marginally better after every maintained session, few little bits of old algae hopefully keep on top if it and ad some fast growing plants will sort it out. Picked up a 60p locally with aquasky light and eheim 2213.... light looks insane compared to my ebay lamp on the current tank! 😆

 

[Adumlee]

Found a dead amano shrimp today 😒 don't a test on the water seems the nitrate is a bit high. I dont a large water Sunday and currently dose 3ml of tnc complete a day. Could it be where its moved the tank around and its stirred the substrate up a bit? Tank volume would of been chanced since... does anyone have any advice please. Reading is between 50-100 ppm. Should I do a few smaller water changes as a pose to one large one? Thanks

 

[Tim Lee]

Are you sure it wasn’t just the exoskeleton after a moult?

 

[Adumlee]

No lots of moults in the tank definitely a dead one sadly. All the other shrimp are acting normally is that amount of nitrate poisonous do you think?

 

[Hufsa]

I dont think nitrate can kill an amano easily, they are little battle tanks. But if there was ammonia and nitrite levels before then those may have done some damage. And all youre seeing now is the end result of nitrate. Aka the smoking gun but not the bullet

 

[Adumlee]

Yeah I'm wondering if moving everything about has stressed them and it's a delayed reaction despite the big water changes. Shall do another water chance and siphon up as much debris as possible and keep an eye on them. Have more plants on order I'm looking forward to trying.