# Tank up and going



## ElectricHead (Sep 11, 2005)

I have my tank up now. Spent a week with just tap water for an equipment check and glad I did as I had a few very minor things to take care of. My tap water is way too hard so I am using 75% RO and 25% tap. I missed the Soilmaster bandwagon so I am using Eco-Complete capped with 3M black sand (thanks Matt). KH and GH is rising, but I expected that. KH started at 4.5° then has risen to 6.5°. GH at 8.5° now. Using the reactor I built I can only get my Ph down to 7.2 so I hooked up a wood air stone in the tank as an experiment and was able to get 7.0. Ph just “stuck”. I have Azoo diffuser and Lamotte CO2 test kit in mail along with a few of those Sweetwater air stones Barr has talked about. I put in some Anachris and some Ludwigia to start out with until I get what I want. 
Added these plants yesterday after work and after about 1.5 hours the Ludwigia was pearling. This FW planted stuff is going to be fun.


----------



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Sweet! Where are the pics???

If I remember correctly, the KH will stabilize after a few water changes. I don't remember my GH rising when I first started using the Eco so maybe that is temporary also.

Let me know how the Sweetwater airstones work for you. I wanted to order a couple but hate to pay $5 shipping on $3 worth of airstones  

Plant the tank heavily from the start to help avoid algae. Make sure to ask around since most of us have plenty of stuff we could donate to you to get the tank running. I know I am going to have some Water Sprite and H. difformis in the very near future. Very good plants for new tank setups...


----------



## ctmpwrdcamry (May 23, 2005)

Never even crossed my mind to see if my Kh was moving. Mine was really low, 2, after a few weeks of being set up. I guess i should check again.


----------



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

ctmpwrdcamry said:


> Never even crossed my mind to see if my Kh was moving. Mine was really low, 2, after a few weeks of being set up. I guess i should check again.


KH and pH are the two main things you need to check quite often, especially in a new setup. I usually check mine daily for the first week ro two I have a tank setup. Once I figure out that they are stable I may only check twice per week, once after the water change and once midweek.


----------



## ctmpwrdcamry (May 23, 2005)

Woops, I've checked it once. I saw the plants pearling and the fish looked fine, so i left it be. Guess that was a bad idea...


----------



## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

ctmpwrdcamry said:


> Guess that was a bad idea...


Probably not, however, it is easier to spend 5 minutes testing the KH and pH than it is to spend a couple of weeks getting rid of algae because your CO2 was too low! I tend to err on the side of caution when I set up a new tank. If you can keep algae from forming in the beginning, it will be easier to maintain the tank and keep the plants growing. Now that I have said that, I should probably check the pH and KH in my new tank 

Everything seems more difficult when you first start. If you develop good habits in the beginning, things just fall into place later on or at least they seem to.


----------



## ctmpwrdcamry (May 23, 2005)

Well i still have algae, but my co2 is (according to the calculator) almost 40 ppm.


----------

