Help with planted tank...newbie

[zombie_fish]

Hey,

Just looking for any advice to a few questions, been trying the planted tank but not having a lot of success.  Managed to even kill a few Java Ferns! So, giving it another shot.

Tank details:
38G running Ehiem ecco filter
T5 HO 39 watt lamps (1 6K, 1 Roseate)-just replaced the 6K, new roseate on the way...
6 Cherry Barbs, 3 Gold barbs
just added Koralia 550 for flow
Seachem (I think) red substrate

Water perms:
PH 7.6
Nitrate 0
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0

What's been happened so far...

I've tried to grow some plants with limited success.  Getting good at growing algae, in particular BGA (added Koralia to help with that...)  Just did two water changes a week apart, pulled out existing plants and cleaned all BGA off.  Added a amazon and annubus to go with two crypts and some unidentified long grass-like plant.

Just not sure what to do regarding fertilization, where to start.  Been doing some reading but still not sure.  Is my nitrates to be between 5-10ppm for a planted tank? 

Also up until this weekend I also had 2 beautiful Red Line Barbs in the tank, I just added 4 new Cherry barbs and in 24 hours both Red Lines went belly up.  Any idea what happened?  Stress??  Water was in great condition, just really suspect that both died.

Any help would be appreciated, down the road thinking of trying a DIY CO2 and then maybe something more hi-tech.

Thanks,
D

[bizfromqc]

Hey,

Just looking for any advice to a few questions, been trying the planted tank but not having a lot of success.  Managed to even kill a few Java Ferns! So, giving it another shot.

Tank details:
38G running Ehiem ecco filter
T5 HO 39 watt lamps (1 6K, 1 Roseate)-just replaced the 6K, new roseate on the way...
6 Cherry Barbs, 3 Gold barbs
just added Koralia 550 for flow
Seachem (I think) red substrate

Water perms:
PH 7.6
Nitrate 0
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0

What's been happened so far...

I've tried to grow some plants with limited success.  Getting good at growing algae, in particular BGA (added Koralia to help with that...)  Just did two water changes a week apart, pulled out existing plants and cleaned all BGA off.  Added a amazon and annubus to go with two crypts and some unidentified long grass-like plant.

Just not sure what to do regarding fertilization, where to start.  Been doing some reading but still not sure.  Is my nitrates to be between 5-10ppm for a planted tank? 

Also up until this weekend I also had 2 beautiful Red Line Barbs in the tank, I just added 4 new Cherry barbs and in 24 hours both Red Lines went belly up.  Any idea what happened?  Stress??  Water was in great condition, just really suspect that both died.

Any help would be appreciated, down the road thinking of trying a DIY CO2 and then maybe something more hi-tech.

Thanks,
D

What other plants are you keeping in there? What's your photo period like (hours)?

You mentioned anubias, crypts and swords and those are all slow-growing plants. Algae is probably out-competing your plants and slowly taking over the tank. I would add fast growing stem plants if you don't have any and probably root tabs for your crypts and swords and go from there.

Maybe also raising the light and or reducing the photo period would help with the algae.

More experienced plant keepers will chime in and give you extra advice.

Good luck

[zombie_fish]

Hey,

thanks for the help...

Lights are on for 7 hours, I'll see about some faster growing plants and tabs too.

Any ideas about the nitrate levels?  what should they be for a planted tank?

[charlie]

Water perms:
PH 7.6
Nitrate 0
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0

In relationton the fish death, & according to those parameters, it`s a good chance that tank is not cycled , should be @ least reading some Nitrates - that can be contributing to the deaths.
Regards

[bizfromqc]

Hey,

thanks for the help...

Lights are on for 7 hours, I'll see about some faster growing plants and tabs too.

Any ideas about the nitrate levels?  what should they be for a planted tank?

I can only comment on that part with my own experience. I keep a low-light, light to moderate planted tank with a mix of fast growing and slow growing plants that has a minimal bioload.

I've never seen my nitrates go higher than 10ppm. Now weather that's a good thing or a bad thing, I can't really say except that I've seem to hit a good balance between growth (slow) and algae (none). I do about a 1/3 WC weekly.

[zombie_fish]

Not possible on the un cycled tank...been running for over two years.  Didn't have many fish in there because over that time my 8 tiger barbs had died, just ended up keeping low numbers.

[exv152]

Just about anything could be killing your fish, it's hard to guess, water testing would most likely reveal something. But on the topic of BGA, one of the leading factors for this algae is LOW nitrates. There are other factors too, like poor flow, dirty filter, ammonia and too much light but in your case the low nitrates stick out like a soar thumb. For plants to thrive they'll need something above 10ppm, and for the fish's health, nitrates should be no higher than 20ppm. Buy some KNO3 and add some to your tank slowly, that will definitely help the plants and help keep the BGA at bay too. Also a lot of the plants you have are heavy root feeders, like the swords and crypts, some root tabs would help as well. Going forward I would only add a fish or two at a time. My 2 cents...

[charlie]

Not possible on the un cycled tank...been running for over two years.  Didn't have many fish in there because over that time my 8 tiger barbs had died, just ended up keeping low numbers.

Well if the cycle is alive & well , there is only 2 other options to explain your "0" Nitrate reading of course these will be outside of the test kit misleading you - plant uptake is so good it`s depleting your Nitrates or it`s been exported by some other effective means.
Regards

[exv152]

Well if the cycle is alive & well , there is only 2 other options to explain your "0" Nitrate reading of course these will be outside of the test kit misleading you - plant uptake is so good it`s depleting your Nitrates or it`s been exported by some other effective means.
Regards

My guess is not enough nitrates are surviving in that tank due to two things; i) low fish load and ii) regular water changes (too much water being removed and not being replaced given the nitrate source is low).

[zombie_fish]

Thanks for all the help!  I did have a full stocked tank but over the course of a year or so they slowly died off and I didn't really add to many more.  Just got used to having it under stocked, and the ones left seem to be growing fine and great colour. 

I've been pretty good with the weekly water changes, no more than two weeks max if I miss the odd one, but I guess it was really having too few fish.

I'll add some more slowly in the following weeks, and add some KNO3 as well.

Thanks again, it's been a big help.

[zombie_fish]

Any suggestions for some good faster growing plants, since I seem to have some slower growing ones?

[bizfromqc]

Any suggestions for some good faster growing plants, since I seem to have some slower growing ones?

Check this out here, you can search/filter by a bunch of criteria, its great.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/