Any Planted Aquarium Expert in here?

organ

Need tips and suggestions on something. Looked around the net but can't find anything.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Pycroft

I've only tried one planted aquarium and it was a failure. Everything turned green even though I had two algae eaters in a 40 gallon tank, I had this crappy chemical to 'feed' the plants that made the fish crazy...PM vlam...he may have some suggestions. What kind of tank are you setting up? Fresh, salt, or brackish? What are the fish?

Big Dawg

organ wrote: »

Need tips and suggestions on something. Looked around the net but can't find anything.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I used to keep a nice discus tank about 20+ years ago. What would you like to know?

The main thing about all aquariums is that the closer they are to a true biosphere, the better they will be. So, larger is better than smaller, balance and small slow changes are better than quick "fixes," etc.

organ

Ok,
Tank is a 10gal. I turned it into a planted tank back in Sept. I started another planted tank about 3 weeks ago. There is a male betta and 6 neon tetras in there.

So far with my routine and fertilizer dosing, I'm able to grow anything I want and they're all thriving, BUT, I want the dwarf baby tears to propagate much faster because I'm trying to get the 'carpet effect' in the foreground. I want to know if there is any way to speed up the spread of dwarf baby tears? I know some plants like high nitrate, while others like higher iron, etc. Just wondering if there's a nutrient I should dose more of?

Specs:
10gal
28w light (6700K)
DIY yeast based Co2
I use an all in one micro fertilizer and macros are nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium



Pycroft,
What kind of fertilizer did you use? My fish don't even notice it when I add the ferts. The green water I believe is caused by a type of bacteria and not algae. I think your cycle may have gotten disrupted and caused a bacterial bloom. Is vlam a member on this forum? I don't think I've ever seen him. Will try pming him.

Big Dawg,
Wow Discus. I hope to have a big tank with 6 or 8 discus' one day. They're beautiful.

Pycroft

I can't remember what fertilizer it was. Green is normal in a planted tank. I think I may have had too many plans? Although, I've seen tanks that are just plants. To be honest, I didn't know anything about it. I was new to hobby back then, read about it, and bought a bunch, stuck them in, fertilized them, and it all went wrong. The tank was cycled, plenty of good bacteria, and the ammonia, pH, etc. was all under control. Somehow the pants threw it off (At least I suspect). Vlam is a member that doesn't check in much anymore. I was over his house a few weeks ago. He breeds discus. I saw tanks that were absolutely stunning. May want to PM him and ask away. He mentioned he was about to get into the plants, and is very knowledgeable about fish in general.

James

RuSsMaN

I never knew people did 'plant' tanks. I just throw zuccini in my african cichlid tank, and brocolli in my south american, and it disappears.

organ

Keiko,
LOL while reading your post, I was like wtf?

A friend of mine had a marine tank once. When everything is up and running it's beautiful. I like how the clown fish have cleaning stations where they go to have the shrimp clean their gills and body.

James,
If the parameters are right, the water should be crystal clear. The only tint you get would be from the light. 10000K is white while 6700 gives a slight yellow tint but is the best spectrum for photosynthesis.
If you ever decide to go planted again, just make sure you get both micro and macro nutrients. The plants can't take up iron if you don't dose phosphorus. So you maybe you had a build up of micros. I'm assuming the fert you used is micros because macros usually come in seperate bottles for each nutrient.

Nice to know a discus breeder. Are you keeping any at the moment? I will pm him. Thanks again.

These are the nature and dutch style that I'm trying to do. There are some really nice discus tank set ups in the vid as well.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uafmRtpK7T0


Russman,
Whoa! Is that really you? Haven't seen you in a while. Didn't know you had a chiclid tank. Very cool. You have any pics?

RuSsMaN

Yeah, I think about you every time I see an SEP-1 up for sale on audiogon.

I've got some around here somewhere, maybe we should have an aquarium pics thread? I have an African Cichlid tank in the living room, with a Sydonis Lace Cat, Pictus Cat, Electric Blue, Assorted Malawi, Venustus, Red Jewel, and a couple Tin Foil Barbs - I love putting the cans on and watching them work. The South American Tank is in the bedroom with a Red Belly Bacu, Black Tiger Oscar, Albino Channel Cat, Turquois Severum, Pink Gourami, and three Blood Parrots. Of course, there is the 'garage' pond, with large and small scale Koi, Shubunkin, Comets, a couple Fantails, Black Pleco, and a some Albino Channel Cats too - That's where I get away to 'smoke'.

I've tried live plants, they all get eaten WAY too fast, so they are lake bottom deco with stone and gravel only, and I supplement with fresh produce about once a week.

Cheers,
Russ

Pycroft

Russ -

My favorite tank EVER was my african cichlids. Those Malawi are the greatest! I was never able to get the breeding down. I think it's awesome that they're the only fish that protect the eggs in their mouth. Too bad the other fish killed the mom each time there were eggs. I even tried a seperate breeding tank, but nothing.

Man, I have a 40 gallon doing nothing, maybe I should get back into the hobby

RuSsMaN

Dude, mine are so aggressive its unreal. They don't mess with the cats or barbs, but my Electric Blue chases EVERYTHING else around the tank. Pisses me off a little. He's only about 4 inches long, and he chases the 8 inch Venustus.

People ask 'why African Cichlids', I always say 'Why not'. Unless you have the cash to do a proper marine tank, the Africans are the most colorful, most intelligent bunch out there for the home aquarium. I love to watch them build. I'll flatten out the gravel and move the large rocks around about once every two weeks - and the way they establish their territory and actually MOVE the gravel in their mouths is awesome. The Venustus can fit probably 20 or 30 'regular' gravel stones in it's mouth at time, and then spit them out on the other end of the tank.

No females here, and yeah, the mouth brooding is hella cool.

Pycroft

Through reading and experience, I found you have to have a ton of fish to ease the aggression. They are territorial, and create little territories that they defend. I had about 12 of them in a 55 gallon tank - going by the one inch of fish per gallon. If you go above that, it is better for them. After a big water change, I took out all rocks/shells/etc. added fish, turned out the lights, put in the rocks again. The next day, lights go on, they have no room to make new territories, and problem solved. Well...they still chased, but it didn't get violent. You're right, aggressive, but in a fun way...they're constantly active, beautiful fish that are perfect for the casual fish lover. They're hardy as well, and can take a lot of water issues.

I miss my Malawi.

RuSsMaN

Yeah, I've had up to 20 in a 55 - the Hybrids, Peacocks, and Electric Blue eventually kill everything they don't like. I'm familar with the 'over populate' benefit of the assorted Africans, but once they hit approx 3 inches, the wheels come off. I'm going to hell anyway I figure, but I actually trapped and flushed a perfectly good 5 inch hybrid Malawi after his 6th kill. I still feel **** about it, but that $7 Walmart fish ended up killing 3 other wally world cichlids and a couple nice big Venustus and a Peacock I prized. He was BRUTAL. (and yes, I monitor my water, I run brackish with a good amount of salt, and my biological filter is super stable).

About once a month, I take them all out and put them in a 15 gallon tub (with the old water), and rearrange everything before they go back in. It's calm for a week or so, then it's back to splash, pop, splash while I'm watching TV. I haven't added new fish during that process though - I'm itching for a BIG Hap and Frontosa though - so perhaps it's time.

I will say, the Sydonis Lace Catfish is AWESOME - they don't take **** from my most aggressive fish, and they are a cool fish to boot. Perfect mate with African Cichlids from what I've researched and first hand experience, but hard to find unless you hit specialty shops around here.

My biggest issue right now, is the Pacu in the South American tank, she is nearing 14 inches long, and I really need to either build a tank, or find a used 250~ gallon to throw her, the Tiger Oscar and Albino Channel Cat in. I knew it when I got them, but I didn't see the financial issues I've faced recently coming down the pike. I've actually considered an indoor pond in the second living room......

Cheers,
Russ

organ

Russ,
lol. The GTA has gone though some serious mods and sound killer.

I had no idea you were that hardcore with fishkeeping.

I finally got some fish for my 2nd planted tank 3 weeks ago and almost went with chiclids. I could not believe the color in Africans. Beautiful blue. I really wanted them but my water condition is not optimal for Africans. The South American chiclids would have worked out but probably not so well in a 20gal. I was looking at the German rams. They're dwarf and have great coloring but only 1male and 1female can be kept in a 20gal or else there will be death.
So I ended up getting 20 glowlight danios and a male giant betta (short finned variety).
I'm so glad I got the danios because they're the best schooling fish I've ever owned. I've tried neons, glowlight tetras, cardinal tetras and a few others but their behavior is more of a shoaling type fish in aquariums instead of schooling.

You mentioned you have cory's in your tank. Are you keeping them in a group? They're the coolest catfish and fun to watch because they always stick together and love eachother's company.

Hope you get your chiclid territorial issues setled. One of the mom and pops fish shop I used to go to had a great African display tank with very little aggression. They placed A LOT caves made out of rocks. There were more caves than fish and every one would have their own area.
Can't say if that would help but everytime I see the tank, there was very little territorial agression. I wanted to try this method but gave up before I had the chance to. My Jack Dempsey (south american) was killing anything that moved in his tank. So I gave up on agressive chiclids. I did raise angels and discus' later on though.

Can't believe you have a pacu. Those things are monsters. I had to give mine away because it got too big. I think they can reach 3ft+ in length. You might want to check out monsterfishkeepers.com on ideas of your custom tank or pond.

We're in the same boat here. I have a 10+yr old piranha that pretty much outgrew his 50 gal. I have to do major upgrades in about 6 months. I plan to get a tank that is 5 or 6 feet long and add 4 more piranhas. Gonna do an Amazon river theme.
I also have a black piranha that will outgrow his current 40gal in the next few years. You're right, the amount of work and $ involved is quite scary.

I'll get some pics taken tomorrow and start an aqurium thread.

[Deleted User]

RuSsMaN wrote: »

Yeah, I think about you every time I see an SEP-1 up for sale on audiogon.

I've got some around here somewhere, maybe we should have an aquarium pics thread? I have an African Cichlid tank in the living room, with a Sydonis Lace Cat, Pictus Cat, Electric Blue, Assorted Malawi, Venustus, Red Jewel, and a couple Tin Foil Barbs - I love putting the cans on and watching them work. The South American Tank is in the bedroom with a Red Belly Bacu, Black Tiger Oscar, Albino Channel Cat, Turquois Severum, Pink Gourami, and three Blood Parrots. Of course, there is the 'garage' pond, with large and small scale Koi, Shubunkin, Comets, a couple Fantails, Black Pleco, and a some Albino Channel Cats too - That's where I get away to 'smoke'.

I've tried live plants, they all get eaten WAY too fast, so they are lake bottom deco with stone and gravel only, and I supplement with fresh produce about once a week.

Cheers,
Russ

Russ, never would have known you are that into fish. The bad thing is there are not any good Koi fish dealers here in Dallas area. I am surprised that you could have that variety in your South American tank with the likes of Oscars and Parrots. Did you raise all the varieties together since they were young? I had no success of them in one tank. Today, I am a big time Koi person though. None of the traditional butterflies though, I mean real Koi.

Halen

organ

**update**

I did checked out my dwarf baby tears today and I think things are looking very good. They haven't spread much yet but when I lifted up a few, I was surprised at the amount of roots each tiny little stem has. They pretty much had no roots when I planted them a few weeks back. So if things keep going well, new growth is should be around the corner.


Helen,
You can buy all types of fish over the net if you're not able to find them at the pet shops. There's so many nice Japanese kois. I think aquabid.com is one of them.

vlam

organ wrote: »

Need tips and suggestions on something. Looked around the net but can't find anything.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Start here. http://www.rexgrigg.com/

Here is a good plant guide:

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide.php
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/myplants/

Here i good place to get some DIY light kit.
http://www.ahsupply.com/index.html

Helen,
You can buy all types of fish over the net if you're not able to find them at the pet shops. There's so many nice Japanese kois. I think aquabid.com is one of them.

BTW: Be careful with aquabid.com Only buy from reputable seller.