Anyone Trying A Planted Tank This Year?

[mscichlid]

I have tried a 29 gal. Which seems to be one of the easiest and least expensive to go for. Although a low light 20 long seems to be the way to go if you are new to that particular facet of the hobby.

My 29 looked really good in the beginning, but now has fallen to hard times with the blue green algae.

WSSC must be adding more phosphates to the water or something.

 

[Laxison]

I have a 10 gal going which is doing really well. It's a low light and no CO2 which has been very nice but leaves me limited with plant choice. I'm toying with buying a brighter light and getting a CO2 system in order to really make it one heck of a planted tank! I have some java fern (picked more up at the meeting yesterday!) and cryps in there. I tried java moss but took a lot out since it looked to be "strangling" some plants.

 

[Crveballin]

I have started my 55 gallon planted tank about 2 months ago. So far so good. I have a quad of F1 A. stuartgranti Undu Points, 3 Zambian Compressiceps and a SAE in there currently.

All I have in there at the moment is some Vallisneria I got from scales. I have 25 anubias plants on order that should be hear this week to add to the tank. I have ~1.5 watts/gallon on the tank without CO2 or ferts. The Vals are doing quite well, shooting runner after runner in all directions. The SAE helps clear off the algae growing on the Vals, only cutting a leaf off every so often.

I am hoping I do not run into the blue green algae problem you ran into mscichlid. How long had yours been running until you got the algae bloom? I had a bad outbreak a few years ago. I swear the tank looked like the old HI-C drink ecto cooler! :angry:

 

[mscichlid]

My tank has been running for maybe six months. Haven't had any problems with any algae until this December. The fish and shrimp load is greater so that could attribute to it, too.

I plan on 'blackening out' the tank and see if that will do the trick.

Francine

 

[Laxison]

Definitely do a "black out" to clear the tank of algae blooms. I had a bad ecto cooler one a few months back and was worried that turning off the lights would hurt the plants' growth. It didn't hinder their growth one bit and after a week of minimal (if any!) light, the tanks' water turned as clear as crystal!

 

[Theresa_M]

I have a few planted tanks but I'm definitely 'low tech': no special lighting, no co2, dose Excel after water changes. They all have some Flourite in the substrate.

My 30g is a dark-looking tank; mostly black gravel and 6 pieces of driftwood. It's planted with assorted anubias, crypts, anacharis, and Java fern.

My 11yr old daughter aquascaped my 20l...lots of Java fern and some floating anacharis. I also have anacharis in my QT.

On the kitchen counter I have a planted 2.5g.

Had to go with artificial plants in the 75g due to the sev treating live plants as snacks lol There are some plants in the con tank (29g). Their tank was setup just a few weeks ago and I was surprised that they didn't bother the plants except for a few that were too close to their pit-digging.

Convict tank:

[attachmentid=192]

 

[daniel]

I have just gotten my 55 gallon planted tank up and running. I got an assortment of plants from a guy in GWAPA and they got a little coated in algae before I got my CO2 system working. However it is going now and they are rooted in fluorite gravel with 2 watts per gallon lighting on 12 hours a day, so hopefully the plants will start kicking #&^ soon. How is 1 bubble per second for a 55 gallon? I am contemplating what fish to put in this tank once it is stabilized. The options are:

a pair (hopefully they are a male and female) of 9-10" Crenicichla cincta

4 3-4" Vieja synspilum (I think these may eat my plants so this is a long shot)

a mixed community of 2" Victorian and Tanganyikan cichlids including Hap. sp. 44, rock kribensis, cyprichromis leptosoma, and Neolamprologus callipterus

4 5-9" bichirs

lots of random cichlid fry to grow out

Any suggestions?

 

[bigstick120]

Take the light down to about 10 hours, CO2 will vary on every tank. Seems like a good start. Test the PH and KH to get the levels that you want. Then you need to check that with a CO2 chart. Download Chucks calculator here http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/

You want your level around 30ppm of CO2. Are you dosing any ferts yet?

 

[daniel]

No I haven't dosed any fertilizers yet. What compounds need to be added and in what quantities?

The plants are growing some but the algae is definitely thriving more... I keep scraping it off the rocks and tossing it out of the tank, but it grows back in a few days.

 

[bigstick120]

The easiest to dose is the seachem line, you need nitrogen, phosphate and potassium and flourish. If you go on seachems site they have a dosing chart there. That will give you a good start. Not dosing will lead to algae, you are starving the plants for food and the algae is taking hold. Did you measure the CO2 in the tank?

 

[daniel]

Okay, so just now I dosed the 55 gallon with one capful of Seachem Flourish (container says dose one capful for 60 gallons once or twice per week), 3 capfuls of Kent Freshwater Plant Formula (container says that treats between 30 and 90 gallons and to dose once to 3 times per week), and about 2-3 mL of Seachem Flourish Nitrogen (container says that amount treats 40-60 gallons and to dose twice per week).

I appreciate the advice and hopefully this combination will give some plant growth moreso than algae... not the algae isn't pretty too. I think I've decided to go ahead with the 9-10" pike pair in that tank for now. They're metabolism will definitely produce a lot of nitrogen in addition to some more carbon compounds. Do you guys think this is a mistake? Anyone had pikes tear up plants?

 

[mscichlid]

how's your tank doing daniel? Got any pictures?

 

[marge618]

Hello,
I have a 75 gallon planted tank. The plants are thriving...taking over the tank. There is little or no algae. The tank has been set up for about 6 years.. with the plants added slowly over the last 2. I did have algae years ago. Felt like I was trying everything to get rid of it and the algae was winning. Then I turned off the lights. Got rid of all of the plants and started planting all over again. If I had algae now with lots of plants in the tank I don't know what I would do. Guess I would go to others for help. (First step would be to ask this forum. Then go to Aquarium Center in Randalstown and talk to Gloria.. I live in the Baltimore area and can get to A Center easily. Gloria has been very helpful with plant questions.)

Good luck with the plants!

 

[Laxison]

Well, I bought a new, very powerful light strip for my 20L and added some plants to it. I'm now in the bunch with those who are tortured by their cichlids ripping out the plants and chewing on them. Whether it is when I wake up in the morning or come home from work, you're sure to find me "yelling at my fish" and spending a good few minutes replanting these "hardy plants" that are to stand up to my cichlids. I knew it was a risk, but I'm going to keep trying!

 

[Charlutz]

There is a very good article in the cichlid-forum library that deals with protecting plants from cichlids. One way is to use plants that are tough and don't taste good like java fern and anubias and can be secured to rocks. Another way is to plant them in small pots that can be buried in the sand, then use small rocks piled up around the base of the plant to keep the cichlids from getting at the roots.

 

[Laxison]

I've tried putting heavy rocks around the plants to protect the roots but I think my plecos are nudging them away (strong lil' buggers!). I pulled some plants from another planted tank of mine (some crypts) and put them in my newest planted tank so that it didn't look like such a war zone with my battered Amazon Swords. This morning I awoke to see the my crypts are staying stong in there (no nibbling, not uprooted) so I'll keep my fingers crossed and see how that works!

 

[myselfdotcom]

I have a delta red or full red guppies...tank with a lot moss...with real low light

 

[daniel]

mscichlid,

Thanks for asking! I don't have any pictures of my planted tank yet but you have convinced me to take some. For awhile it wasn't picture worthy as the initial batch of plants went through some hard times before flourishing. I went through a cycle of algae outbreaks, starting with blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) and moving onto hair algae, which is now diminishing as a few of the plant species I started with thriving and a couple of the others just starting to grow back. I've been regularly adding four different plant

I also picked up a bag of corkscrew vals (which my Vieja synspilum promptly devoured like they were chocolate coated!, I saved one for another tank barely), two nice sized swords and a mystery plant. The swords are growing so I think I'm doing something right with them! The mystery plant is fine too.

I haven't been able to put the kind of time into the tank as I was hoping but it is starting to look better so pics are forthcoming after Easter!

 

[Pat Kelly]

Daniel, sounds like you are on your way. Keep asking the questions and Francine and others will
give you the benefit of their knowledge. Several of the members here also belong to the local
aquatic plant club. GWAPA.
I personally can kill any plant known to man. But then again the fish I keep will do that too.
I really love a nice planted tank. Maybe when I decide to switch back to New world I will start one again.

 

[mscichlid]

Daniel, sounds like you are on your way. Keep asking the questions and Francine and others will
give you the benefit of their knowledge. Several of the members here also belong to the local
aquatic plant club. GWAPA.
I personally can kill any plant known to man. But then again the fish I keep will do that too.
I really love a nice planted tank. Maybe when I decide to switch back to New world I will start one again.
[/b]

Naw...that would be Cristy who knows. I ask her all the time!