Short circuited brain

[Bethily777]

I had a 10 gallon tank 15 years ago and learned about the nitrogen cycle then.  I have a 38 gallon now and I’m all set cycle wise. 2 years established tank. 1 angel, 2 albino Corys, and 3 glofish tetras.  This post is not about my stock or my nitrogen cycle water parameters.  Information offered before I’m asked lol.

Problem is that my Asperger, OCD, seasonal affective disorder brain decided getting into plants was necessary. What.A.Nightmare.  I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m in too deep to stop, and now I find out there is no rule book.  My brain is short circuiting.
 

all of my plants Came from aquarium co-op.  They are beautiful now because I’ve only had some for a little over a month, some for a few days which probably wasn’t enough time to ruin them yet.  I have several anubias, 2 crypts, the octopus plant, a vallisneria, floating water sprite, 2 dwarf lily bulbs, Christmas moss bridge and 2 java moss mats I haven’t done anything with just yet. They are pretty and I don’t want to do something I’ll regret.   I pitched the java ferns I had because they looked horrible and I got sick of looking at them.

 

i dose with Easy green occasional but not regularly because I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. I had gravel I hated and wanted to change to eco complete.  No one answered my questions about whether I should take out old gravel or leave it.  So I shoved it all to one end of the tank and laid eco complete down.  Then I covered it all with big pebbles cuz why not.  I like the hill it made. Now I don’t know if that was wrong too.  Oh and I buried root Tabs in the substrate and in the individual easy planters I’m using.  Here’s to the guessing game as to whether the roots will smell the food I buried and grow towards that.  I like the idea of the easy planters so I bought 4.  I don’t like them. I feel like I’m using them wrong. Oh I bought flourish today too because someone said we need micronutrients too so here’s another thing I bought that I probably won’t know if I should use but I was responsible and it’s on my shelf.  How in the world do you people get beautiful tanks in the chia’s off information that may or may not apply to you.  

sorry I needed to get that all of my chest.  Carry on

[Frank]

Yep.

That's a lot going on.

I'm just starting with plants and fish, both. The fish are easier (so far...).

[Emika_B]

Bethily777 - the nice thing about plants is one generally doesn’t feel guilty about failure.  No, it’s not a nice feeling but at least we don’t feel like we took a sentient life.

My tank has valisneria, octopus, java fern wendelov, dwarf chain sword (I think), anubias nana, crypt wendtti (or something like that), java moss and moss balls.  For the most part, I just give 4-5 squirts of Easy Green a couple times a week.  I have added Easy root tabs to the Val, crypt and dwarf chain sword.  They’re just planted in the substrate.  The octopus is in an Easy planter; left it in the rock wool and tucked a root tab in, then plunked the whole thing down in the back of the tank.  So far so good.  If I notice the plants getting a bit brown or wimpy looking, I add more Easy Green or root tabs as appropriate.

I wouldn’t say my tank is beautiful and in fact I had to take a break from looking at everyone else’s tanks because I started to feel down about mine.  However, after a few days of just staring at my tank, I think it’s just fine.  The plants are growing, I see new leaves and they’re filling in nicely.  I know it’ll take time.  It’ll never be a show piece, but that’s not why I’m doing it the way I have it.

I guess this is a long winded way of saying take it slow and enjoy the process.

[darkG]

That's all right 👍

The best thing to do when unsure about fertilizer is use very little. No panic to learn everything. 

I think your substrate solution sounds good. Then I don't have a very pretty tank so yeah. 

Keep observing, don't change things too much, keep calm and learn bits and pieces along the way. You'll do great! 

[Maggie]

I've had the most trouble with plants also! Alot of them "melt back" and look like they're dying, but they're just shedding their leaves and getting new ones. Plants are much harder to understand than fish, to many of us on here, and certainly many of us have bought too much stuff thinking "that looks great" or "I need that", and then we regretted it later. 

I've learned not to compare my tank to what I see on the web. My tank is "ugly" but my fish are happy and thriving, and they make me happy, that's what counts! I hope you find happiness with yours. 

[Tanked]

14 hours ago, Bethily777 said:

Problem is that my Asperger, OCD, seasonal affective disorder brain decided getting into plants was necessary. What.A.Nightmare.  I have no idea what I’m doing, I’m in too deep to stop, and now I find out there is no rule book.  My brain is short circuiting.

 

15 hours ago, Bethily777 said:

 So I shoved it all to one end of the tank and laid eco complete down.  Then I covered it all with big pebbles cuz why not.  I like the hill it made. Now I don’t know if that was wrong too.

 

There is a rule book, but there is no owner's manual.  Each aquarium is different and your owner's manual only applies to your aquarium. It sounds like you are attempting to do too much too fast.  Planted aquariums are only fast on planting day.  Stop buying things until your plants begin to tell you what they need.  The people here will be glad to help with those problems if they arise.

As far as beauty is concerned, make the tank yours. watch the videos, write down what make you happy, and take it from there.  There is nothing wrong with your gravel mountain, you already said you like it. The Anubia will definitely like it, build from there.

Good Luck