too much of sun... not really sure how to deal with it as i dont have such issue before, maybe you need to change water more frequent and better filter system?

Hi all sifus~~~

This is my 1st post of tank, the tank is about 90 Days old, the HC is growing too slow, i was thinking to insert root fert to boost the growth of HC.
Any advice?

Current Dosing
JBL Ferropol - 10ml weekly
DIY NPK - 5ml daily
Seachem Iron - 5ml weekly



This post has been edited by DiVaio: Mar 4 2015, 01:35 AM

one of the reason why it's recommended to keep aquarium indoor
but you can also try using UV aquarium filter
found an articles that suggest several step can be taken to combat green water
do read it
http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/greenwater.html

have you try using much more intense lighting??
from the picture seem like they didn't get enough lighting

and what kind of substrate are you using???
if substrate that specially made for planted tank...
i doubt you need to add root fert just after 90 days of setup

Im using Wavepoint 30W 8000k Daylight LED, it should be enough just that i took this picture in daytime with very strong reflection.
Once thinking to use T5HO, but the temperature might be an issue, now using LED with 24/7 fan, the temp stable around 26-27.
Im using ADA Amazonia.

divaio :

is ur tank 2ft?

how far is the light away from the water surface? usually it should be about 5-6" away for maximum light penetration.

Hi bro
my tank is 3ft, the light is about 5" away from water surface.

mine 4ft with 100w led floodlights..... too much light edi... growing bba.. haha
i am waiting for a few parts to change them down to 2 x 20w led because nowadays growing anubias / ferns only. no big demand plants...

i would think that yours should be a bit on the lower end. any chance to add on some cfl to boost the light? maybe can put a 20w cfl at one end to see the effect...

Hi guys

Im planning to set up a low tech small planted tank (1ft+). Want to add some driftwood or stones inside.

Just wondering, is it safe to use the stones n wood found by the riverside? Do I need to boil the stones as well?

Thanks!

i'm also using same wave point,
HC is not very light demanding, but u need 2 make sure ur CO2 is strong for it

did anyone make a planted aquarium for tortoises/alligator snapping turtle?

where u get ur siamese algae eater, i'm looking 4 it
my 1 grow big ady, n the shop i went last time bankrupt liao

planted tank only??or
you plan to put any livestock(fish,shrimp,snail etc) inside??
for wood normally people boil it to get rid off the tannins and
for rock it doesn't need to be boil BUT
it might change your water PH(alkaline or acidic) which is depend
on what kind of livestock you plan to put inside the tank

This post has been edited by budakdegilz: Mar 5 2015, 02:43 AM

The livestock would just be guppies, perhaps an algae eater/otto in the future.

Rock im probably gonna get the ADA ryu stones. Just that this weekend gonna go to a waterfall, perhaps can find some nice ones as well. If the rock has algae/moss on it, would it be sufficient to just scrub them off with a sponge? or need to soak in something?

some people do suggest that you can kill the algae/moss by soaking it in chlorine mix water OR
you can also just let it dry under hot sunny day for couple of days OR
you can baked them in the oven
and i'm not sure which are more effective because i personally never tried it

Hi sifus, I just started a planted tank couple weeks ago but the water remains yellow till now. I have removed all the fishes and driftwood and changing water every couple of days but the water still yellow. Any idea?

Yellow's probably the tannin from the driftwood.

You can try repeatedly soaking and boiling the driftwood until the tanin's removed.

fall3n: i am with sniper on his thinking. yellowing of water is likely the tannin... it will take a few weeks to months depending on the wood size. my 2 pcs of medium size wood took 2 months to clear. fishes doesn't seem bothered with it. if its already in the tank, leave it as it is an keep your water change schedule once a week until its cleared.

unless ur fishes are showing signs of sickness, i wouldn't do anything more to the naturally occurring things.

danny: you need to know why we clean or soak the rocks in the first place. cleaning is to get rid of any foreign items that may pollute your tank.
soaking is to determine if the rock is suitable underwater. some rocks reacts to bleach. this means the rock will make your water with high GH/KH (very hard water) which is not so good for some plants/fishes. personally, my java ferns are growing better after i took out some rocks which are making water very hard (and throwing off my ph reading). with hard water, the leaves are smaller as i observed. i could be wrong because i did a few other things like light change to led etc.

hope above helps. cheers.

Alright, I removed the driftwood already anyway. Fish no sign of sickness but I almost killed all my cherry shrimps once when I tried to add a new plant into the tank. Not knowing why they keep twitching I removed all of them attempt to save them. Manage to save most of them though. Then I let my tank running with only plants for about a week now.

Now that I think back, when i add the new plant, some cloudy stuff came out from the substrate, could be the reason why the shrimps acting up.

cloudy stuff the beneficial bacteria in your substrate. it is normal when you disturb the substrate. your cheery shrimps are very sensitive to its conditions. try not to disturb the substrate or your tank

before you add new plants, make sure its free from pesticides or chlorine water. add anti chlorine and soak for a few hours to overnight best. make sure its washed nicely to remove any pests and also danger when you buy from the LFS.