tnnlynch Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Got all my plants in, did a Hydrogen Peroxide dip, let them rest in a bucket of water for a day, treated them to an alum soak and finished setting up the tank. Two bags of eco-complete topped with black gravel and some rinsed dragon stone. The base of the tank is eggcrate with some dense foam under the large rocks - partially to raise the stones and to keep plants from rooting under them if I want to redecorate. Planted Java Ferns, Amazon Sword, dwarf Sagittaria, Cryptocoryne lucens, Pogostemon stellatus octopus, Valisneria and various Anubias. The POS and Valisnaria looked a little worse for wear when they arrived compared to everything else. One of the POS stems melted and died the rest came back and is growing well. The Valisnaria died back to the gravel but there are a few green shoots so I am not giving up all hope. About half of the dwarf Sagittaria has melted the rest is still green. I will have to wait and see if any comes back. Added some American Frogbit at the one week mark. That doesn't seem to ship well as 1/2 were essentially DOA and did not recover. The survivors are shooting out roots and new leaves though. Started the fishless cycle off using Fritz Fish Fuel and bacteria. Started off by adding Easy Green (3ml), Easy Iron (3ml) and easy Carbon (3ml) once a week after water change. Ammonia went to zero but my NO3 (40) and NO2 (10) are rather high still. My KH dropped to 80 after the water change but my GH is extremely hard (300). My tap water GH is 150. Lighting is a Fluval 3.0. Total light is 10 hours. One hour sunrise, 7 hours at 50% (no blue), 2 hour sunset. Room has no natural sunlight but indirect lighting can be on for a few additional hours every now and then. Could GH be this high just from the fertilizers? Think my lighting is to high or too low? Thoughts or comments welcome, Tom 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrozenFins Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Looks great! Love the anubias on the dragon stone. I too have had problems with shipping amazon frogbit, they just turne brown and mushy in the tissue culture cup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudofish Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 Looks good to me. Sorry I can't help you with the GH issue. Nice tank though. I think the lighting should be ok. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnnlynch Posted June 8, 2021 Author Share Posted June 8, 2021 Thanks. Now I just have to keep it this nice. 😃 The American frogbit seems a bit smaller than the Amazon. I'm sure though it will be more than I need after a few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 thats a nice start. looks good, dont sweat the plants melting back, and growing back slow. its frustratingly slow, but we all go through it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARMYVET Posted June 8, 2021 Share Posted June 8, 2021 WOW...awesome job! That looks like a very solid start to a new tank. I have no doubts that it will get even better as it grows in. Your doing everything great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnnlynch Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 (edited) My last tank (way back in early 2000's) was an extremely high tech setup with lots of light, CO2 and hand mixed ferts - very fast growth. Maintenance though was too high after a few years given my work schedule. This is a restart for an 'easy' tank. I just need more patience I think. I should mention the american frogbit has exploded in growth. Adding new leaves, clusters and now was 6 inch roots. Edited June 12, 2021 by tnnlynch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Folk Posted June 12, 2021 Share Posted June 12, 2021 On 6/7/2021 at 9:40 PM, tnnlynch said: Got all my plants in, did a Hydrogen Peroxide dip, let them rest in a bucket of water for a day, treated them to an alum soak and finished setting up the tank. Two bags of eco-complete topped with black gravel and some rinsed dragon stone. The base of the tank is eggcrate with some dense foam under the large rocks - partially to raise the stones and to keep plants from rooting under them if I want to redecorate. Planted Java Ferns, Amazon Sword, dwarf Sagittaria, Cryptocoryne lucens, Pogostemon stellatus octopus, Valisneria and various Anubias. The POS and Valisnaria looked a little worse for wear when they arrived compared to everything else. One of the POS stems melted and died the rest came back and is growing well. The Valisnaria died back to the gravel but there are a few green shoots so I am not giving up all hope. About half of the dwarf Sagittaria has melted the rest is still green. I will have to wait and see if any comes back. Added some American Frogbit at the one week mark. That doesn't seem to ship well as 1/2 were essentially DOA and did not recover. The survivors are shooting out roots and new leaves though. Started the fishless cycle off using Fritz Fish Fuel and bacteria. Started off by adding Easy Green (3ml), Easy Iron (3ml) and easy Carbon (3ml) once a week after water change. Ammonia went to zero but my NO3 (40) and NO2 (10) are rather high still. My KH dropped to 80 after the water change but my GH is extremely hard (300). My tap water GH is 150. Lighting is a Fluval 3.0. Total light is 10 hours. One hour sunrise, 7 hours at 50% (no blue), 2 hour sunset. Room has no natural sunlight but indirect lighting can be on for a few additional hours every now and then. Could GH be this high just from the fertilizers? Think my lighting is to high or too low? Thoughts or comments welcome, Tom Nice! Lights will find balance over time. 10 hrs is reasonable. Because I run longer photo periods, I mute lights more. Looks like an Eheim heater maybe? How warm are you keeping this tank? Any particular fish stocking plans? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnnlynch Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 (edited) I am aiming for 75 degrees. From my temperature controller and digital thermostats, it is varying by about 2-3 degrees during the day. Plans for CPD, Leopard Danio, Cherry Barbs and Corys. Amano shrimp, nerite/mystery snails and possibly a hillstream loach as an algae crew. Cycle seems to be establishing well with ammonia ->N02 -> NO3 and being consumed. Leopard Danios and snails will probably be the first in. Extremely hard water from the tap so that might limit some choices. Edited June 12, 2021 by tnnlynch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren A Posted June 12, 2021 Share Posted June 12, 2021 Hi, @tnnlynch Your tank looks so pretty! I know that Dragon Stone can raise Gh levels. I’m not sure if this is the case with your setup. It also might just be a matter of your tank still establishing itself. Good luck! Looks great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnnlynch Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 On 6/12/2021 at 3:37 PM, Lauren A said: Hi, @tnnlynch Your tank looks so pretty! I know that Dragon Stone can raise Gh levels. I’m not sure if this is the case with your setup. It also might just be a matter of your tank still establishing itself. Good luck! Looks great! The dragon stone could be adding to the GH. Since it's on the edge of 150 moving to 300 from the tap it's hard to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren A Posted June 12, 2021 Share Posted June 12, 2021 @tnnlynchThat would be my guess but it is hard to say. I always experienced the opposite issue in my betta tanks because my tap water is soft and the substrate I use further softens the water. I did a little reading up on dragon stone since I’ve never used it and it definitely can raise Ph and Gh. Maybe someone else with more knowledge on dragon stone and hard tap water. They might offer help lowering these levels. Sorry I’m not more helpful! Good luck with this though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnnlynch Posted June 12, 2021 Author Share Posted June 12, 2021 Thanks for the input. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trish Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 On 6/12/2021 at 12:19 PM, tnnlynch said: I am aiming for 75 degrees. From my temperature controller and digital thermostats, it is varying by about 2-3 degrees during the day. Plans for CPD, Leopard Danio, Cherry Barbs and Corys. Amano shrimp, nerite/mystery snails and possibly a hillstream loach as an algae crew. Cycle seems to be establishing well with ammonia ->N02 -> NO3 and being consumed. Leopard Danios and snails will probably be the first in. Extremely hard water from the tap so that might limit some choices. @tnnlynchGreat choice of fish! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaRanchik Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 Looking good! May I ask why you want to lower your GH? From my experience so far it changes nothing, but maybe I am missing something. I also have hard water, right from the tap, about as hard as the water currently in your tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnnlynch Posted June 13, 2021 Author Share Posted June 13, 2021 Probably being too paranoid but I had some concerns regarding high GH stressing some shrimp or hillstream loaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
therealTruthSeeker Posted June 13, 2021 Share Posted June 13, 2021 My water gh is 437. I have three cherry shrimp in there that have been just fine. You may not need to worry about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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