[Plants going wild.]

OMG, your plants look so healthy!

I'm stuck with a year-old (almost) 5 gallon, and it's a never-ending algae battle nightmare.

I envy you, LOL!!!!!!

[Tank is cycled, but waiting on fish...what to do?]

Bad day with the tank...

I probably should have done my water change this past Friday, exactly one week after the last one, but I let it go a couple more days. OMG, the algae that popped up today in the back of the tank. Long story short, I lost 3 of my big anubias today. I went to trim the yellow/brown leaves off the Congensis Minis, and as I was trimming, the leaves just started falling off. The rhizome was all brown, I yanked it from the tank, and when I started playing with the rhizome, it literally turned to goo and disintegrated in my hands. My other Congensis on the front of the large rock did the same thing. Luckily, the one Congensis between the rocks is still okay. My big Anubias Nana under my tree branch...well, I went to wipe his leaves free of algae and they too started falling off. The rhizome was all gray. This one was glued to a small rock, so I pulled it out, and it's rhzome was mush too. So 3 of my big Anubias are gone and the tank looks a bit emptier today.

[Tank is cycled, but waiting on fish...what to do?]

On 6/26/2023 at 6:01 PM, Galabar said:

I've also had luck just throwing a jumbo shrimp from the grocery store into the tank (for ammonia production).

I'm assuming it's dead?

[Tank is cycled, but waiting on fish...what to do?]

Lots of good advice here. I'm going to do a water change today. I'll try the ghost-feeding and see what that does.

[Tank is cycled, but waiting on fish...what to do?]

On 6/26/2023 at 3:16 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

What is your substrate you're using, is it an aquasoil or active substrate?

I'm using CaribSea Super Naturals Peace River substrate. It's a very fine inert gravel. The only plant I have in the gravel is a bit of Dwarf Sag with some root tabs underneath it. Other than that, all of my plants are epiphytes.

[Tank is cycled, but waiting on fish...what to do?]

Hey all,

I just wanted to double-check something. My tank finished cycling this past Thursday. It's a 5-gallon planted tank. I cycled it using ammonia, with plants in...dosing to 2ppm every night. I am waiting for a betta to be delivered hopefully this week. Meanwhile, I was told to keep dosing the ammonia every night up to 2ppm to keep the tank cycling along. Is that correct? I'm worried about my plants. All this ammonia being added after cycling. Having some algae issues and don't want things to get worse. I did finally add some Easy-Green at the end of the 3rd week. My Ammonia is 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 20-40ppm. My lighting is 7 hours, with peak 4 hours in the middle at 35% brightness.

Any advice?

[Noob - 5-gallon planted - Need lighting schedule advice]

Here's my schedule right now:

L1
2:00 p.m~3:00 p.m  (sunrise)

L2
3:00 p.m~4:00 p.m  (daylight-25%)

L3
4:00 p.m~8:00 p.m  (daylight-35%)

L4
8:00 p.m~9:00 p.m  (daylight-25%)

L5
9:00 p.m~10:00 p.m  (sunset)

L6
10:00 p.m~11:30 p.m  (moonlight-blue light)

L7
11:30 p.m~11:30 p.m  (brightness to "0")

L8
11:00 p.m~1:59 p.m  (L8 is off by default and cannot be set)

[Noob - 5-gallon planted - Need lighting schedule advice]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:44 AM, Jackson said:

Nice 5 gallon . 🤑 Glad to see this post for a few reasons . One is the hygger led light . I have been looking into that brand and type of light . Can mimic  morning and evening by a slow rise or decrease in the in the amount of light it will put out . Second is wanting to replant my ten, and seeing what you've done in the 5 gets me thinking ...lol

Thanks. Hygger's customer service is top notch. Make sure you buy directly from them though (not 3rd party). Less hassle if you have any problems. Once you understand how to program this little light, it's amazing what you can do with it. BTW, I bought my driftwood and rocks off Etsy. The driftwood seller had WYSIWYG with measurements and slate bottoms. Nice stuff.

On 6/5/2023 at 10:02 AM, sumplkrum said:

I like mine on all day – so my lights are set pretty low.

What brightness are set at?

[Noob - 5-gallon planted - Need lighting schedule advice]

This pic was taken with full 100% brightness. Just for the photo.

That's cool. I have to figure out the color settings for 25% daylight (????). The split between WRGB...the percentage of each that makes 25%. It doesn't allow me to split it 4 ways evenly. I can program in W=5, R=5, G=5, B=5. That gives me 20% daylight, but which one (or two) should I move up to make it 25%?

[Noob - 5-gallon planted - Need lighting schedule advice]

So I finally got my 5-gallon tank planted yesterday. This is my 2nd aquarium, first planted tank, and I need lots of coaching and advice. I have a nice Hygger LED rack light with programmable remote. I know how to work the light really well now, but I really don't know what's a good schedule for it. I have mostly all low light plants. How bright should things be and for how long for this new little tank?