# [Wet Thumb Forum]-How long has your new tank been going?



## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

How long has your new tank been going?
After answering the poll, please replie with a description of your tank!


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

How long has your new tank been going?
After answering the poll, please replie with a description of your tank!


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## imported_baj (Aug 5, 2004)

Here is my less than 1 month old tank. 









Description:
Tank size = 10g, 20" long
Lights = DIY canopy w/ 4 15w 18" NO : 2 Philips 5000K, 1 GE P&A, 1 Daylight
Substrate = Eco-complete
Filter = DIY Mattenfilter with RIO 90 submersible pump
Heater = El-cheapo thermostat controlled Neptune heater 50W, temp maintained at 75-80F.
CO2 - DIY with a internal reactor in line with rio output, co2 levels 35-45ppm.
Fauna = 1 Betta, 1 Oto, some little snails on death row, started with 2 otos but have never seen the other one.
Flora - Riccia (sandwiched between plastic mesh and siliconed to a glass plate to keep it submerged), dwarf hairgrass, marsilea (aquatic clover), Rotala indica, Stargrass, Blood Stargrass, Red Ludwigia, Pygmy chain sword, Java Moss, Java Fern, Baby tears, Lobelia cardinal,marimo moss ball, couple of fronds of erect moss survivors (thanks to denny for the starter bunch), a bacopa of some sort, pearlweed and P Gayii. Not aquascaped.

This tank has been setup for a little less than 3 weeks. The most recent overhaul was 4 days back, when the plants were yanked out and rearranged. I dose nitrates, phosphates, Mg and K, I try to maintain a range of macros - NO3 10-20ppm, PO4 1-2ppm, Fe - dont test for it 0.5ml every 2 days, Mg - 5ml every 2 days, K - 5 ml every week. In addition I dose 1ml of Flourish every 2 days and 2ml of Flourish XL every day. No algae so far, although the rocks seem to getting covered slowly with a green algae/moss like thing, cant complain. One minor case of green spot algae on the glass at the end of the first week, mostly because I had completely neglected the tank after setting it up.


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## imported_baj (Aug 5, 2004)

Here is my less than 3 months old 18g tank (yup am a newbie), this was my first planted tank.










Tank size = 18g tall, 20" long
Lights = 1 65W PC Coralife Aqualight, 1 15w 5,500k screwon cfl, 1 15w coralife screwon cfl
Substrate = Eco-complete and Fluorite, pure laterite bottom layer, flourish tabs
Filter = 1 fluval 1 filter, mainly for cirulation and co2 mixing. There are two HOB which I never turn on, except after a water change just to clear the water of debris and hairgrass clippings.
Heater = Visitherm, tank maintained between 75-80F.
CO2 - DIY, 2 2.8l juice bottles, with a internal reactor in line with fluval 1 output, co2 levels 30-40ppm.
Fauna = 5 neons, 5 rasboras, 2 otos, 1 amano shrimp, 1 loach.
Flora - Diandra (finally got the real thing from a generous donor), Rotala indica, bacopa of some sort, P Gayii, wisteria, Java moss and anubias nana on driftwood, C. wendtii bronze, sunset hygro, stargrass, L. Glandulosa, foreground of dwarf hairgrass and microsword blended.

I follow similar dosing regimens and parameters as the 10g tank above. I tend to slightly OD on phosphates and nitrates but have never seen any ill effects. I never setlled on a uniform dosing schedule am still tryin g to figure out the tank. I initially used to dose macros once a week, then dosed everyday and am now going to try dosing every 2 days. The only algae problem I have consistently is green spot algae on the front glass which I remove with every water change by scrubbing with some rough filter media dipped in hydrogen peroxide. I do water changes every 7 days and the algae always appears on the 5th-6th day. 
My diy recipe is 2 cups sugar, 1/4th tsp fleischmann bakers yeast and 1/4th tsp baking soda, the mix lasts me a little more than 2 weeks.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I like the rockwork in the first pic! Nice Baj, is there anything that has been particularly difficult? Just from how you describe things it sounds like you have done some homework.


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## imported_baj (Aug 5, 2004)

Thanks Robert! The hardest thing is to probably figure out a good dosing schedule. It is very difficult to obtain optimum parameters from other aquarists, simply because the conditions are so different and more because most of the time people pull out advice from their backsides (all well meaning no doubt, but I have found people usually find they have no algae for a week and write down a general statement like "co2 levels must be 26ppm and there will be no algae"). The science of this hasnt been nailed down yet (after all this is a hobby and not all hobbyists are plant physiologists), the more I think about it, Tom Barr's estimative index "philosophy" seems to be a reasonable way to dose. I think it finally boils down to that, stick a finger into the wind and decide which way to go, its not super accurate but then I dont think plants need 20.000000001 ppm of nitrates exactly. 
I did a lot of reading before going into planted tanks. As a beginner, this is the best thing to do to avoid frustration. To any beginner I would suggest Rex Griggs site and Chuck Gadd's site. Then look up Tom Barr's estimative index page, and browse the forums and the articles on any reputed planted tank site. I learnt a lot by just lurking around the forums here and asking questions, everyone faced the problems beginners face at some time and it is all discussed and archived here. It also helps to start small, I learnt a lot from my mistakes with a small 2g tank which got every kind of algae described here.


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## FISA (Feb 17, 2005)

I must say I have come a long ways...

The specs of my tank is below..as my sign...

My tanks between 3-4 months old
This picture is the one I put in the foreground contest...









This was the last picture I took...and it has changed considerably since then...the whole left part is all filled up now...will have to take an updated pic and replace this one when I take it....anyways...Im currently setting up my second planted tank..which is going to be a 75 Gal...

take care all..and thanks for all the wealth of information that was shared on this forum.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

Thanks for sharing FISA, keep us updated!


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## Detox (Feb 26, 2004)

Baj, 

Your aquascape really reminds me of a typical scene in Northern Ontario (part of the Canadian Shield). 


It really reminds me of driving up north from TOronto to the cottage. I like the look and might try that myself. Any idea what kind of rocks those are?

Cheers, 
Detox


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## imported_baj (Aug 5, 2004)

Ontario!! and to think I was trying to replicate a mountainside with overhanging vegetation by sticking java moss and fern between the rocks.... 
I have no idea what those rocks are, I collected them on a hike here in utah, they were very flat and very lightweight when I picked them up, they didnt change the gh of the water after 3 weeks, so I think they are inert.
ps: its not scaped yet, right now I have just plonked in a bunch of plants and waiting for them to gorw out.


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## FISA (Feb 17, 2005)

It looks pretty good though baj....

When the plants fill in ..it will look even better!


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## AquaLung (Dec 8, 2004)

My tank has been going since December 10 (almost a month).








It's a 25 Gallon (24x12x21) with Florabase, pressurized CO2, and 2 65W Coralifes (5 WPG). I dose with KNO3, KH2PO4, and K2SO4 to 10ppm Nitrates, 1ppm Phosphates, and 10ppm Potassium. I add about 2 ml Flourish twice a week. I tried to plant as heavily as possible. Robert, you might recognize those wonderful plants, most of them are from you . When this picture was shot (a week ago), green water was starting. Now the green water is pretty thick, there is thread algae, cyanobacteria, and some kind of light-green hair-like algae on the glass. I would appreciate any suggestions.


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## Robert Hudson (Feb 5, 2004)

I like the Riccia rocks Aqualung. The lower half of the Alternanthera stems look kinda barren I would cut off the tops below all the leaf growth and replant them, and throw out the bottoms. The top growth should grow out keeping thicker leaf growth along the whole stem. The rest of your plants look good and just need time to grow out. Is that Glossostigma? It should grow in within a month or so.

I am not the best person to ask about algae control. I am always fighting with it myself. You know, I didn't realize you were a customer of mine by your screen name! I am glad you have made it here. Perhaps more people would respond to you if you started a new thread. People have a tendencey to stop reading a thread after a while. Keep the questions coming!

My other suggestion at this point is put a background on the tank, dark black or dark blue. You would be surprised how much it will make the plants stand out.


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