Already put in my plants: I guess I failed at "patience. patience. patience"

[HelplessNewbie]

I was supposed to have 1-3 more weeks under dark start method for my 3 week old 20g long tank. I got excited (okay, impatient) by the 80ppm nitrates and .25ppm nitrites, even though I believe I am supposed to wait for zero nitrites. See screenshot. I went ahead with an 80% water change, then added the plants.

Question 1: Should I continue ammonia/ghost feeding, until next-day tests show ammonia and nitites zero? FYI water changes occurred on July 4, 10 and today 17.

I feel like I need to plant more heavily.

Question 2. I wonder if I should scramble to order more plants now, or hang tight until I can buy some at a swap meet in 3 weeks? Or, just wait to see which plants actually survive, then buy more of those? Here is a photo of the tank. I don't plan to stock until 6 to 8 weeks later.

Question 3. I wonder if I could have omitted the water change today. since the plants could use the nitrates?

Question 4. Should I relocate some of my plants? Did I pick good spots for them? I can't do much more this week, since my helper aka the hubby will be very busy. So, it will be a while before I can move things around.

Edited July 18 by HelplessNewbie

[Ken Burke]

1.  I think you are on the way to a great looking tank!

2. Nothing wrong with adding more plants, but if you give the plants you have some time you’ll be surprised at how full it looks in a few months. 

The first picture is from when I set up my75gal June 22.  The second the same tank from January 23. 
 

having never done the dark method or used ammonia I cannot comment on the rest

[nabokovfan87]

I would simply start treating the tank like a normal planted tank.

Does in your ferts and do your normal maintenance regardless of whatever the testing is telling you. By this I simply mean, ghost feeding, giving the tank time, yes it will add nitrate over time, but it will not be enough to get the plants going unless you're feeding way too much.

Keep doing the normal pinch every 2-3 days and follow all of your normal maintenance routines. That's how I'd handle it. Just give the plants time to grow and take hold, give the tank time to be a tank. You can add something like otocinclus (after QT) or amano shrimp to work on any algae issues and have some  very light bioload. The shrimp you won't have to QT.

On 7/17/2023 at 6:00 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

I went ahead with an 80% water change, then added the plants.

Only do 50% water changes given that you not have plants in the tank. Changing too much can do more harm than good. The plants can handle ammonia.

On 7/17/2023 at 6:00 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

Question 2. I wonder if I should scramble to order more plants now, or hang tight until I can buy some at a swap meet in 3 weeks? Or, just wait to see which plants actually survive, then buy more of those? Here is a photo of the tank. I don't plan to stock until 6 to 8 weeks later.

Question 3. I wonder if I could have omitted the water change today. since the plants could use the nitrates?

Question 4. Should I relocate some of my plants? Did I pick good spots for them? I can't do much more this week, since my helper aka the hubby will be very busy. So, it will be a while before I can move things around.

Water change is fine, just dose in your ferts tomorrow.

You should be fine to wait for the swap. No real rush to jam the tank full of plants. If you run into algae in two weeks and it's bad, you can do a blackout for the third week, then add more plants.

The only plant that looks out of place is the val on the left. Not that it's in a bad spot, but that it will overtake those stems around it. I think it's bacopa. I would move those to the right a little bit and use the rocks as a sort of wall against the val. It will take time for the val to propagate out, so no serious rush, but that's all I can see.

Edited July 18 by nabokovfan87
added details and photo.

[HelplessNewbie]

On 7/17/2023 at 10:31 PM, Ken Burke said:

The first picture is from when I set up my75gal June 22.  The second the same tank from January 23. 

Wow, thank you for sharing! I hope mine turns out like yours eventually.

On 7/18/2023 at 12:35 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

I would simply start treating the tank like a normal planted tank.

Does in your ferts and do your normal maintenance regardless of whatever the testing is telling you. By this I simply mean, ghost feeding, giving the tank time, yes it will add nitrate over time, but it will not be enough to get the plants going unless you're feeding way too much.

Keep doing the normal pinch every 2-3 days and follow all of your normal maintenance routines. That's how I'd handle it. Just give the plants time to grow and take hold, give the tank time to be a tank. You can add something like otocinclus (after QT) or amano shrimp to work on any algae issues and have some  very light bioload. The shrimp you won't have to QT.

Only do 50% water changes given that you not have plants in the tank. Changing too much can do more harm than good. The plants can handle ammonia.

Water change is fine, just dose in your ferts tomorrow.

You should be fine to wait for the swap. No real rush to jam the tank full of plants. If you run into algae in two weeks and it's bad, you can do a blackout for the third week, then add more plants.

The only plant that looks out of place is the val on the left. Not that it's in a bad spot, but that it will overtake those stems around it. I think it's bacopa. I would move those to the right a little bit and use the rocks as a sort of wall against the val. It will take time for the val to propagate out, so no serious rush, but that's all I can see.

Thank you for the detailed response and illustrated photo! The visual helps a lot.

[MattyM]

On 7/17/2023 at 8:00 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

wait to see which plants actually survive

This is also a good idea. I went through a few rounds of plants before I found the magic bunch that liked the soup I serve (and I figured out my lighting, fertz, etc). 

[HelplessNewbie]

There are tiny white critters swimming around in it. I can't get a good photo. I guess these will be fish food later on.

[MattyM]

On 7/18/2023 at 8:01 PM, HelplessNewbie said:

There are tiny white critters swimming around

Could be scuds, I had some in a cycling tank as well. They eventually went away as things balanced out, but yes - fish snacks! 

[HelplessNewbie]

I was thinking of getting a magnifying glass. Any suggestions on a specific kind for use in aquariums?

[nabokovfan87]

On 7/19/2023 at 7:48 AM, HelplessNewbie said:

I was thinking of getting a magnifying glass. Any suggestions on a specific kind for use in aquariums?

Macro lens of some type.