First time keeping fish...even a carnival gold fish, so why not go with a planted tank!?
I wanted to start this journal for anybody that has no idea what they're doing to follow and find out what it's like to have no idea what you're doing but hopefully be successful in starting up their own planted tank.
After spending the first 3 weeks researching things, I've set my tank up with the following equipment:
75G tank
Penn Plax Cascade 1000 (Purigen, bio rings, coarse & fine sponges)
SunSun JVP-101 800 GPH Wavemaker
Koval 156 LED Aquarium Light (which I don't know if it's going to be good enough but we're going to find out)
Eco-Complete & Lava rock for substrate
Aqueon 300W Heater
On The Way:
GLA Regulator to go co2
Ferts:
Osmocote
Nilocg Liquid NPK+M
Water:
A little bit of RO
Softened Water and Hard Water
I tested my hard water and had a PH of 8, 9KH, and 17GH
I tested my soft water and the PH went to about 7, 8KH, and 3GH
I did a 50% water change when it was all hard water and put in about 3 gallons of RO (because that's how much my RO tank holds) and the rest soft water. When I retested it was at about 7.3 PH, 9KH, and 14GH.
I have no fish in the tank as I'm just starting and waiting for the cycle, but I'll tweak it a bit more down the road. I think I'll have to dial down the water softener to let a few grains of hardness through and go that way.
One area where I failed to research much in was plants. I just bought whatever wasn't too expensive:
Anacharis
Myrio Green
Cryptocoryne Wendtii
Ludwigia Pervensis
Ludwigia Repens
Java Fern
Hair Grass
Things that I've learned so far:
I saw that adding lava rock under the substrate would help with using massive amounts of the expensive stuff so I threw it in the bottom. The place that recommended this said to keep it in bags. I wanted to be a cheap ass and save $20 so I didn't do it. If you go this route, KEEP IT IN BAGS.
While trying to plant I keep hitting the rocks because they're spread out making it difficult to plant the plants.
I also went a bit crazy with the plant ordering (see the picture). Because I'm having difficulty planting, I've kind of just spread it out all over the place.
So there's that. Let's see if I manage to kill everything in the first week or two. Fingers crossed.
As of 6/1/2017:
As of 6/19/2017:
As of 7/19/2017:
I wanted to start this journal for anybody that has no idea what they're doing to follow and find out what it's like to have no idea what you're doing but hopefully be successful in starting up their own planted tank.
After spending the first 3 weeks researching things, I've set my tank up with the following equipment:
75G tank
Penn Plax Cascade 1000 (Purigen, bio rings, coarse & fine sponges)
SunSun JVP-101 800 GPH Wavemaker
Koval 156 LED Aquarium Light (which I don't know if it's going to be good enough but we're going to find out)
Eco-Complete & Lava rock for substrate
Aqueon 300W Heater
On The Way:
GLA Regulator to go co2
Ferts:
Osmocote
Nilocg Liquid NPK+M
Water:
A little bit of RO
Softened Water and Hard Water
I tested my hard water and had a PH of 8, 9KH, and 17GH
I tested my soft water and the PH went to about 7, 8KH, and 3GH
I did a 50% water change when it was all hard water and put in about 3 gallons of RO (because that's how much my RO tank holds) and the rest soft water. When I retested it was at about 7.3 PH, 9KH, and 14GH.
I have no fish in the tank as I'm just starting and waiting for the cycle, but I'll tweak it a bit more down the road. I think I'll have to dial down the water softener to let a few grains of hardness through and go that way.
One area where I failed to research much in was plants. I just bought whatever wasn't too expensive:
Anacharis
Myrio Green
Cryptocoryne Wendtii
Ludwigia Pervensis
Ludwigia Repens
Java Fern
Hair Grass
Things that I've learned so far:
I saw that adding lava rock under the substrate would help with using massive amounts of the expensive stuff so I threw it in the bottom. The place that recommended this said to keep it in bags. I wanted to be a cheap ass and save $20 so I didn't do it. If you go this route, KEEP IT IN BAGS.
While trying to plant I keep hitting the rocks because they're spread out making it difficult to plant the plants.
I also went a bit crazy with the plant ordering (see the picture). Because I'm having difficulty planting, I've kind of just spread it out all over the place.
So there's that. Let's see if I manage to kill everything in the first week or two. Fingers crossed.
As of 6/1/2017:
As of 6/19/2017:
As of 7/19/2017: