First time planted tank

[Mahi Selvamani]

Hello All,

This is the first time with planted tank. The tank is under cycle for 4weeks. I have 2 white skirt , 2 black skirt and couple neons. My tank has some algae issue. And most of the plants in the fore ground melted. Currently all my ferts are from seachem like ( flourish, flourish excel, iron ). 

Initial  setup which had some glossostigma and some dwarf hair grass almost all of them melted. 
 

week 1
After a week of cycling I did a water test and found out I have hight ph of 7.6 and ammonia. Unfortunately I had to go on a trip for three weeks.  So no water changes and ferts for three weeks. I have put the light fluval 3.0 in 7 hours schedule and auto feeder for one a day. 
 

week 4

 After the trip, below is the status of the tank. Kindly ignore the ph test I messed up. 


 

On Thursday October 26 I did 50% water change and the following Sunday i did the test again for ph and ammonia.  Also attached is the light intensity and during I am running. 

Below are some of my assumptions  and questions where I think I am not doing it correct or missing the steps

1) not planted the tank fully ( I have ordered some plants )

2)  may be the ferts I am using, is  not feeding the plants I choose. Do I need a root tab ? 

3) should I reduce the light intensity? 

4) should I add more fish ? 

I want to understand what are mistakes I did and how can I correct them to make this planted tank working. 

Appreciate your help in advance !!!
 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Mahi Selvamani

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/29/2023 at 8:37 PM, Mahi Selvamani said:

Below are some of my assumptions  and questions where I think I am not doing it correct or missing the steps

1) not planted the tank fully ( I have ordered some plants )

2)  may be the ferts I am using, is  not feeding the plants I choose. Do I need a root tab ? 

3) should I reduce the light intensity? 

4) should I add more fish ? 

I want to understand what are mistakes I did and how can I correct them to make this planted tank working. 

Hello @Mahi Selvamani! I wanted to pass this video along as it's always been extremely helpful for me whenever I hear a talk from Bentley regarding plants and their care.  Let's dive into your questions, but please check this out too whenever you have the time!
 

1.  Yes, the plant load in the tank is seemingly low.  It's not extremely low, but I would say it's a low amount of plants and that just leads towards a technique called lean dosing. (more on this later)

2.  Everything is a balance.  Let's say you have the right fertilizer and the right light, but not enough CO2... the plants struggle.  There's a lot that goes into getting everything going right and we should take a step back, verify everything, and then go ahead and decide if the whole formula is working.  (more on this in the advice at the end)

3.  Plants being relatively new, yeah you generally want to start with the lights being at a lower level, ramping up over a few weeks or months.  Given the amount of diatom algae that you're seeing I can recommend some changes.  The other thing that goes into play is your substrate (how easily can the plants feed from the roots), your water parameters+ferts (do the plants have the minerals they need?), tank height, and what intensity do the plants you're growing need.  All of the plants apart from the carpeting plant look to be pretty close to the light.  This also means that the plants may not be directly under the light and getting more of a reflected light (off-axis).  So... something like reviewing the placement of the light might be helpful too.

4.  No.  You can add something like otocinclus, amano shrimp, rubberlip pleco, or bristlenose pleco that will help to eat algae for you.  None of those are very necessary and it's always going to be a manual effort to remove excess algae and keep it in control.

I want to double check my own light settings just for comparison sake, but I think you can cut the light down to:

Red: 40%
Blue: 5%
Pure White: 50%
Cold White: 30%
Warm White: 35%

Your duration for the lights seems ok, but kill the blue night light to 0% on everything.  If you continue to see algae all over the glass, then you'd want to start limiting the duration of the light from 8 down to ~6 hours.  For now, cut the light down, keep things consistent, but in say.... 3-4 weeks, then potentially cut the duration down if need be.

On 10/29/2023 at 8:37 PM, Mahi Selvamani said:

Results seem ok.  It's tough though.  It's hard to see the color without the white/static background
I would ask, if possible, can you test your GH and KH?  Those two tests are relevant to plant care and can indicate some issues with plants struggling.

What fertilizer are you using, how much and how often?  As mentioned above, what is your substrate (the black stuff) and are you using root tabs?  What kind of root tabs, if so?

I would be sure to scrape the glass and use something like a toothbrush where you need to on the rocks.  Try to do this at minimum once a week.  Your prefilter on the tidal, unless it's modified it's not really doing a whole lot.  The way the tidal is put together you have the mid-level intake as well as the skimmer doing a lot of your intake.  There's a lot to say about the filter itself, but just note that it can lead to things like algae issues (specifically BBA) due to some of it's unique flow characteristics.  I've ran the tidals for years at this point on a variety of tanks and setups, different sizes, different plants, and it can work just fine.  The thing to note is that your filter is far to the left side of the tank, meaning that your circulation and water movement will be mostly focused in that area of the tank.  It's just something to keep an eye on if you're not getting enough circulation around the plants.... which can also lead to algae issues as well.

Also, welcome to the forums!!!

[JoeQ]

IMO your biggest mistake is you need more patience! You can not expect a new tank to cycle in a week and in that same week, add plants that need a moderate level of experience and expect them to thrive! The planted tank is slow, you need to grow a good foundation of beneficial bacteria and mulm that help your rooted plants to thrive. Part of the growth stage includes the awkward teenage years with algae (both brown and green), diatoms, rapidly changing & less then idea water conditions, ect. At this point I recommend growing your foundation, add snails, small fish, maybe shrimp to help with house keeping. Easy fast growing floaters, frog bit, hornwort to aid in helping improve water quality.  Patience grasshopper!

[JoeQ]

Also, as I'm scrolling your pictures im noticing the lack of substrate.  Its going to be awfully hard to get plants to root and stay rooted into 3/4 inche of substrate!

[Mahi Selvamani]

Hello @JoeQ - Thanks for the finding. I have ordered some more plants. while planting them i will add some more substrate and increase the height of the bed.  I understand your point things won't happen overnight.   Just that i wanted to make sure that i am taking the appropriate steps in archiving the goals. 

I will add some floating plants and some house keepers to maintain the tank. 

May be a Dum question?  should i increase the fish load as well? 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Mahi Selvamani
adding some more information

[Mahi Selvamani]

This is today's reading from fish tank water.  (Low PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate) 

 

Then i also tested the Tap water, surprising results. ( Low PH, High PH, Ammonia)

 

Should i use the Neutral PH during the water changes ?

[Mahi Selvamani]

Hi @nabokovfan87 Thanks for sharing your insight on various aspects of the tank. 

1) I have already copied your light intensity and scheduled it for 5 hours to start with 

2) Filter alignment - I am not sure if i can re position the filter now . if that is not possible i will try adding a wave maker to the other side of the tank and remove the pre filter in the Tidal

3) Fluorite Black is the substrate 

Flourish Excel daily before light 

Flourish Weekly twice

Seachem iron 

Seed by aquavirto - for live bacteria

seachem prime during water changes 

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/30/2023 at 7:59 PM, Mahi Selvamani said:

This is today's reading from fish tank water.  (Low PH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate) 

Looks like you're showing ammonia. So you'd want to do the appropriate water change, given that fish are in there.

On 10/30/2023 at 8:07 PM, Mahi Selvamani said:

Seed by aquavirto - for live bacteria

How long has this been used for? Has it been 7 days? Normally I would recommend dosing it following your water change to dilute the ammonia.

On 10/30/2023 at 8:07 PM, Mahi Selvamani said:

Flourish Excel daily before light 

Flourish Weekly twice

Flourish excel is an algaecide and not normally required. As for the other ones you're mentioning, flourish complete and flourish trace and flourish iron would be the general 3 bottles to use for that line to give you what other fertilizer, all-in-one fertilizers would offer.

I would suggest trying something that's easier if you wish, but if you're dedicated and you're detailed in your dosing you can do well with seachem's fert line.

On 10/30/2023 at 7:59 PM, Mahi Selvamani said:

Should i use the Neutral PH during the water changes ?

You can use that for top offs, yeah, but it's not required.

[JoeQ]

On 10/30/2023 at 9:32 PM, Mahi Selvamani said:

Hello @JoeQ - Thanks for the finding. I have ordered some more plants. while planting them i will add some more substrate and increase the height of the bed.  I understand your point things won't happen overnight.   Just that i wanted to make sure that i am taking the appropriate steps in archiving the goals. 

I will add some floating plants and some house keepers to maintain the tank. 

May be a Dum question?  should i increase the fish load as well? 

At this point (especially with ammonia and livestock in the system) Id do nothing but water changes, give it time, build a good strong cycle. In the meantime study, particularly water chemistry and plant nutrition. Having a good understanding of these topics will help you immensely in your planted tank journey.

 

[JoeQ]

Another good video, knowing your water and understanding that this whole hobby revolves around 1 main goal, "keeping healthy water" the game becomes much easier!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=iLuq5vX3sZU&pp=ygUTQmVudGx5IHBhc2NvZSB3YXRlcg%3D%3D