Advice for balancing new planted tank

[Maeve]

I'm hoping to get a few pointers for what to titrate next towards balancing my tank. This is my first fish tank in probably 20 years and my first ever planted.  I have a 29 gallon tank, currently stocked with 1 scarlet temple, 2 crypt luteas, 1 crypt wendtii, 1 anubias barteri, 1 java Fern, 1 aponogeton crispus, 1 pogostemon stellata octopus, 1 dwarf lotus, 2 anubias nana petite. I had 2 anubias coffeefolia and 1 more anubias nana petite but they succumbed to anubias rot. I will replace eventually. 

Tank was initially cycled and planted 1/5. 6 otocinclus were added 1/20 after NH4&NO2 we're stable at 0. A week ago I added 8 celestial pearl danios, 6 julii corycats, 1 German blue ram, 5 cherry shrimp. Water parameters have been stable since adding. pH stable at 7.4. Doing 20-30% water changes weekly. 

Currently, I have my light running 3 hours in AM, siesta x4h, light on for 4 hours. It's the finned light recommended and sold by aquarium co-op.  Dosing easy green 3 pumps, 1x/week. I just picked up some seachem iron last night because the scarlet temple has been losing its color. I am having some algae growth, mostly held in check by my eaters but know I am not balanced yet. 

I am thinking I need to increase light before fertilizer. But wanting more experienced opinions. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Welcome! Your tank looks awesome!

Can’t tell by the photo but some pointers on the plants. Anubias and Java fern should not be put into the substrate; they have a rhizome and are water column feeders.

Anything with a bulb (aponogetons, lilies, etc) should not be buried. The bulb will sit on the substrate and as it starts to grow it will reach its roots down and anchor itself. If the bulb is buried it will eventually rot. The Aponogeton Crispus and Java fern are doing well in my 29g. I use Easy Green and, for the Aponogeton Crispus I use Easy Root Tabs.

In my 5.5g I have a lily like yours. It has begun to anchor itself. I will start it on the root tabs soon. Using a Hygger light on 24/7 cycle (which does not mean the light is on all the time- it just means it does a sunrise, daylight, moonlight, then shuts off. I did recently cut it back to 12hr to reduce algae. Waiting to see how it pans out)
 

 

Edited February 18 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Maeve]

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea Yes, this is how all of mine are planted. They are super glued or weighted to rocks and wood. The root feeders are planted into the substrate. The bulbs are on top.  Thank you. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 2/19/2023 at 12:23 AM, Maeve said:

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea Yes, this is how all of mine are planted. They are super glued or weighted to rocks and wood. The root feeders are planted into the substrate. The bulbs are on top.  Thank you. 

Awesome. I could not tell from the photo. 

[knee]

So you have 4 hours when the light is off? I’m trying to understand what the siesta period is for. 

Have you tried running your lights without a siesta period? 

[Maeve]

@knee It was recommended by some others on here when I initially set the tank up. It allows CO2 to build back up in the tank after it is initially used up in the AM because I'm not injecting it. 

 

[ccc24]

I personally would maximize my fertilizer before I’d maximize light. I’ve found that water can be nutrient dense but doesn’t grow too much algae until there is too much light, plus with your water change schedule - you can get rid of excess pretty easy. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/18/2023 at 11:37 AM, Maeve said:

One of the big things with anubias (and other slow growing plants) is placement.

Anubias likes shade and likes the off angle lighting.  It does best in the corners, sides of a tank and this helps prevent algae on the leaves.

I'd recommend moving any of those to the left side of the tank between the glass and the spider wood. Same thing with java ferns.

Edited February 23 by nabokovfan87
Dear google anubias != anubis

[Theplatymaster]

On 2/18/2023 at 5:40 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Anubias and Java fern should not be put into the substrate; they have a rhizome and are water column feeders.

not java fern, but despite what the internet  claims, ive had success with anubias in the ground, i just dont bury the rhizome.

[JoeQ]

One thing that helped me tremendously to fine tuning the balance in my tank was using a TDS meter. This helped me to visually see what was going with the nutrients in and added to my tank. Generally speaking if the TDS metter was steadily increasing (day after day) without ever decreasing, the plants were not taking up nutrients. Or I had a lot of dead organics floating around that needed to be cleaned up. The sweet spot for me was where there was a slight consist increse throughout the week without huge spikes or dips.  Along with the TDS meter, I also used Acoop test strips to track that my nitrates, GH and KH were consistent.

[Lennie]

I once tried siesta thingy for my 29g. I don't think it was any better from my experience. So I ended up setting my tank to 6 hours at the beginning, and increase it gradually to 7 or max 8. I find the most success at 7 hours personally. But I always start at 6 hours, until plants start adapting to your tank and start showing a good growth.

not related to the question above but, At what temp do you keep your tank at? 

Because danios, shrimp and juli corys like different temp than GBR, while GBR wants it hot hot, others prefer it on cooler to mid level.

I also believe 6 otos in a new tank is a bit too extra, they tend to starve a lot. They usually do much better in seasoned tanks, and I think 6 is too much for a 29g under any case. Do you see them accepting commercial foods?

Edited February 23 by Lennie

[Maeve]

On 2/22/2023 at 9:12 PM, ccc24 said:

I personally would maximize my fertilizer before I’d maximize light. I’ve found that water can be nutrient dense but doesn’t grow too much algae until there is too much light, plus with your water change schedule - you can get rid of excess pretty easy. 

@ccc24 I think I might be underdosing fert at 3pumps 1x/week. My NO3 are consistent at 5-10. 

On 2/23/2023 at 4:13 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

One of the big things with anubias (and other slow growing plants) is placement.

Anubias likes shade and likes the off angle lighting.  It does best in the corners, sides of a tank and this helps prevent algae on the leaves.

I'd recommend moving any of those to the left side of the tank between the glass and the spider wood. Same thing with java ferns.

@nabokovfan87 good to know thank you. I had an anubiad nana petite in the top fork of the dark spiderwood and it didn't seem as happy. That would make sense. Ill move them around some. My java fern I could move off to the side and move the scarlet temple but idk if it would appreciate being moved? Though it doesn't seem very happy. 

It's not very red and not many leaves. But I'd does have new growth. A lot of roots higher up. I just added this one a few weeks ago and I'm totally new to aquatic plants so I am learning as I go. 

[Maeve]

@JoeQ thank you. I'll look into getting a tds meter. I do have the api master kit and test my gh/kh with strips. They're always really high though due to our hard water. 

On 2/23/2023 at 11:56 AM, Lennie said:

I once tried siesta thingy for my 29g. I don't think it was any better from my experience. So I ended up setting my tank to 6 hours at the beginning, and increase it gradually to 7 or max 8. I find the most success at 7 hours personally. But I always start at 6 hours, until plants start adapting to your tank and start showing a good growth.

not related to the question above but, At what temp do you keep your tank at? 

Because danios, shrimp and juli corys like different temp than GBR, while GBR wants it hot hot, others prefer it on cooler to mid level.

I also believe 6 otos in a new tank is a bit too extra, they tend to starve a lot. They usually do much better in seasoned tanks, and I think 6 is too much for a 29g under any case. Do you see them accepting commercial foods?

Thanks. That's good experience to know. Maybe I'll drop the siesta. I am getting good growth right now it seems. 

 

Right now I am keeping my tank around 76 to 77°. I know the Ram would like it a little warmer and the Danios would like it a little cooler but they all seem fairly happy at that temp. The Otos I have six because the person at the fish store told me that they are schooling and I would need a minimum of six in my tank for them to be happy I am supplementing them with blanched zucchini and algae wafers. I do two slices of zucchini every other day and one algae wait for a day. They all have nice little fat bellies so they appear to be eating well. 

I also ordered Repashy Soilent Green but Amazon lost the package so I have to reorder that but I was also going to feed them that a couple times a week. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/24/2023 at 12:06 PM, Maeve said:

It's not very red and not many leaves. But I'd does have new growth. A lot of roots higher up. I just added this one a few weeks ago and I'm totally new to aquatic plants so I am learning as I go. 

Those are called aerial roots. It's a stem plant. The intial plant should have roots in the substrate but you can also trim and plant the stems in sections using those aerial roots. When floating, that plant will drop roots like that too looking for nutrients.

The scarlet temple would do better under the light more directly. You're seeing growth which is good. 🙂

Usually the base of the stem will encourage new growth, trim, then plant in the new growth to propagate healthy new growth.