Gracemil
Seedling
Hi, I recently upgraded my fish tank and in my previous fish tank, I didn’t have plants and I now have an 80ltr. When I first set up the tank, I set it up with basic black gravel, not knowing that it would be difficult to grow plants in it. Knowing this, I don’t plan to change all the gravel in the tank, and plan to put the gravel in certain areas of the tank where I plan to put the plant to keep cost down and to hopefully reduce ammonia which I recently read can be increased with the substrate. There are 2 substrates which i am unsure which to chose from, fluval stratum and tropica aquarium soil?
Also, do people have better experience with it without co2, as i am trying to keep costs down, but if i want don’t want to kill my plant? And would soaking my substrate for at least a week before putting it in the aquarium lower the ammonia that the substrate would release? And would it allow me to put it in my tank without putting my fish in a temporary tank/tub for my current tank to cycle as unfortunately that isn’t an option for me?
And a general tank question, does anyone have experience using rainwater in their fish tank? Before planting my tank I’m trying to lower my gh which is quite high, and my Kh and ph, which are slightly too high. I’m lowering my kh and ph using tetra easy balance, but reverse osmosis seems too expensive. When collecting the rainwater I wouldn’t collect it off the roof to avoid bugs and other contaminants, and collect the bucket from outside as soon as it stops raining so that the water isn’t sitting still for long and treat it just to be safe. What is people’s experience with it? I should also say that where I live it rains frequently so I would probably more frequent smaller water changes to make sure to get as much rain water in the tank as possible.
Also, do people have better experience with it without co2, as i am trying to keep costs down, but if i want don’t want to kill my plant? And would soaking my substrate for at least a week before putting it in the aquarium lower the ammonia that the substrate would release? And would it allow me to put it in my tank without putting my fish in a temporary tank/tub for my current tank to cycle as unfortunately that isn’t an option for me?
And a general tank question, does anyone have experience using rainwater in their fish tank? Before planting my tank I’m trying to lower my gh which is quite high, and my Kh and ph, which are slightly too high. I’m lowering my kh and ph using tetra easy balance, but reverse osmosis seems too expensive. When collecting the rainwater I wouldn’t collect it off the roof to avoid bugs and other contaminants, and collect the bucket from outside as soon as it stops raining so that the water isn’t sitting still for long and treat it just to be safe. What is people’s experience with it? I should also say that where I live it rains frequently so I would probably more frequent smaller water changes to make sure to get as much rain water in the tank as possible.
