First time aquarium owner! Need some help with brand new tank.

[Polarcard]

Hello!

I'm brand new to the hobby and just started cycling my first tank on 4/4! Its a 20 gallon high with dragon stones and plants.

I wanted to keep it fairly simple for my first tank and got plants that should be beginner level such as java fern, anubias, water sprite, amazon sword, and Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus. 

I believed I messed up somewhere and I'd appreciate any help. I believe I messed up by adding liquid fertilizer and root tabs too early and now my nitrites are off the charts where as Ammonia is at .5ppm and Nitrates are around 20ppm. Did I mess up my cycle?

Is this okay for the plants? If it's not should I do a water change? Will that reset my cycle?

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Polarcard

[freemoney]

Your scape looks really cool. No expert, but I think it takes a while for your bacteria to grow, like 4-6 weeks so I wouldn't worry about your numbers just yet.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Hi @Polarcard welcome to the forum, great start you have there, and you should be happy with those plants. I love easy care plants- they are the best. I wouldn't worry too much. Are you adding a beneficial bacteria supplement? The ammonia would be a problem IF there were fish/inverts in there. Plants should be fine. If you chose plant substrate it probably had enough initial nutrients so yeah ferts are probably a little overdosed but SHOULD have no negative effect on the the plant life. 

[Polarcard]

@xXInkedPhoenixX @freemoney

Thank you for the replies!

That's a relief to hear that the plants should be fine. I chose Eco complete substrate so that makes sense that I overdosed on the fertilizer 🤦‍♂️

I used API Quickstart to hopefully get the cycle going faster. 

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

Welll, the ammonia theoretically should help. So test the water maybe once a week or every few days, see if ammonia turns to nitrite readings- it's harder to tell when you already have nitrates in the water if you're all good. I think in this case I'd leave it and see if the ammonia transitions out on it's own and both ammonia/nitrite test 0. For inhabitants I'd probably aim for 40 or less on the Nitrates.

[CalmedByFish]

Welcome to the hobby.

[Polarcard]

On 4/10/2022 at 5:13 PM, CalmedByFish said:

Welcome to the hobby.

Thank you!

On 4/10/2022 at 4:28 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

Welll, the ammonia theoretically should help. So test the water maybe once a week or every few days, see if ammonia turns to nitrite readings- it's harder to tell when you already have nitrates in the water if you're all good. I think in this case I'd leave it and see if the ammonia transitions out on it's own and both ammonia/nitrite test 0. For inhabitants I'd probably aim for 40 or less on the Nitrates.

Okay I will keep that in mind. I've been testing daily and ammonia seems to be slowly going down. Not putting any animals in there until ammonia and nitrite are 0

[lefty o]

just plants in the tank, so its fine. sit back, relax, and do some reading, and co-op video watching.

[Jawjagrrl]

my understanding of plant nutrition is that they can actually process ammonia more easily than they can nitrates. But no so good if you want fish, etc. The eco complete has a lot of fert in it to start I believe (I use stratum which is less saturated from what I've researched), so the high numbers make sense for now. I think you're off to a great start!

[Minanora]

Super exciting! I really like your tank so far! Once the ammonia is close to zero I recommend giving it more ammonia to keep the bacteria alive. I use the "ghost feeding" method these days. Once they appear, nitrites go up really fast, stay (what I once thought was concerningly) high for a while, and then settle back down at a pretty quick rate once they start to drop. It'll be awesome to get it seasoned and full of life! Tanks without fish are very interesting. You will see tiny copepods and maybe even some tiny detritus worms before you have fish. Totally harmless and honestly very interesting critters. I look forward to reading about your adventure.

Welcome to the community!

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/10/2022 at 3:37 PM, Polarcard said:

I wanted to keep it fairly simple for my first tank and got plants that should be beginner level such as java fern, anubias, water sprite, amazon sword, and Pogostemon Stellatus Octopus. 

so you're the one that got the last Anubias coffeefolia as I was attempting to put my list together and check out! LOL

The tank looks awesome and I am extremely biased to the 29G setup. Nicely done.

I like the scape you have and for a first time setup (literally just meaning attempt 1) I think you did a really awesome job with plants and substrate and the rocks.

The general rule for me, I let the tank just run for a month and let things settle.  I didn't let the plants settle in on my last startup and I absolutely am still paying the price a few months later.  I would dial in your lighting, dosing, and work on stocking and research while you have the time.

The floating plant (I think water sprite) might end up causing you some issues with this size tank by blocking out all of the other ones. What light are you currently using?

On 4/10/2022 at 3:37 PM, Polarcard said:

I believed I messed up somewhere and I'd appreciate any help. I believe I messed up by adding liquid fertilizer and root tabs too early and now my nitrites are off the charts where as Ammonia is at .5ppm and Nitrates are around 20ppm. Did I mess up my cycle?

Is this okay for the plants? If it's not should I do a water change? Will that reset my cycle?

100% you are absolutely fine. you did not mess up the cycle. The goal for the cycle is to go from ammonia --> Nitrate. the ferts don't have ammonia, so you didn't do anything to the cycle. The plants won't mind. the range you're shooting for is 20-40 ppm nitrates. right on schedule. Do your weekly/biweekly water changes as normal (acclimate the plants to your water) and this will not mess up the cycle at all. You'll be feeding oxygenated water to the bacteria, help them grow, and your plants will get new minerals they need during each change.

Edited April 12, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Polarcard]

@Minanora I'll be sure to add some fish food once ammonia reads near zero. Thank you for the advice and that is neat about the copepods and worms!

@nabokovfan87 LOL! Thank you, this is my first time scaping and I'm happy with the way it turned out. I can't wait till the plants really fill in. The floating plant is in fact water sprite and I am using a Finnex Stingray 2 LED Light. Should I take out the water sprite or would trimming it regularly be enough? 

I was so worried I messed up somehow but everyone has put my mind at ease. I really want this tank to be successful so I'm doing as much research as I can. Thank you everyone!

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/11/2022 at 7:53 PM, Polarcard said:

The floating plant is in fact water sprite and I am using a Finnex Stingray 2 LED Light. Should I take out the water sprite or would trimming it regularly be enough? 

Not at all! I think you should just plant the roots and let it grow like a normal stem plant.  🙂  You'd want to place it towards the back of the tank, as your background on either side.

[Jawjagrrl]

On 4/11/2022 at 9:18 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

so you're the one that got the last Anubias coffeefolia as I was attempting to put my list together and check out! LOL

LOL... I was trying to get that one too! I did finally get a crinum, which I've been wanting since seeing Cory's older videos with the goldfish setup.

On 4/11/2022 at 10:53 PM, Polarcard said:

@nabokovfan87 LOL! Thank you, this is my first time scaping and I'm happy with the way it turned out. I can't wait till the plants really fill in. The floating plant is in fact water sprite and I am using a Finnex Stingray 2 LED Light. Should I take out the water sprite or would trimming it regularly be enough? 

I'm considering doing a bit of both in my 55 - I want a portion to be shaded and plan to split the water sprite into a floating bit that I'll hook on to hardscape that goes to the top in the desired area to hold somewhat in place (fish may have other ideas). Planting the rest in an area that is to appear like a sun break through the trees. Seems like a versatile plant!

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/12/2022 at 6:34 AM, Jawjagrrl said:

I'm considering doing a bit of both in my 55 - I want a portion to be shaded and plan to split the water sprite into a floating bit that I'll hook on to hardscape that goes to the top in the desired area to hold somewhat in place (fish may have other ideas). Planting the rest in an area that is to appear like a sun break through the trees. Seems like a versatile plant!

I did pogostemon stellatus octopus in my 55/75 setup. Works well and went from the ground and then grew so tall it overshadowed everything. Simple trim and you can keep that shade in control.  Floating, depending if you have HoB or not, you might not have the ability to control where it sits but either on of those are going to grow like crazy and do exactly what you're looking for 🙂

The nice thing, Cory is running each one of these in the tubs in his fish room so you can see all of them floating and what they will do.

Edited April 13, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Jawjagrrl]

On 4/12/2022 at 4:24 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I did pogostemon stellatus octopus in my 55/75 setup. Works well and went from the ground and then grew so tall is overshadowed thing. Simple trim and you can keep that shade in control.  Floating, depending if you have HoB or not, you might not have the ability to control where it sits but either on of those are going to grow like crazy and do exactly what you're looking for 🙂

The nice thing, Cory is running each one of these in the tubs in his fish room so you can see all of them floating and what they will do.

Also part of my plant order 🙂