Critique My Plans!

AfricanCichlids · 02-02-2013, 05:22 AM

Hi! I'm AfricanCichlids and as my name suggests.... My main fish keeping experience is with African cichlids! However, I've never done a planted tank before. I'm setting up a 10gallon tank(20" long 12" wide 10" high). Just going to jump right into it and try to grow a lush carpet of Dwarf Hairgrass. I'm a noob at planted tanks, so please bare with me. Here are my plans:

Substrate: Caribsea Floramax + Caribsea Black Sand. Floramax for the main substrate because of the iron, magnesium, calcium and other elements that it contains that promote plant growth. Adding black sand to help keep the DHG in place and not float to the top.

C02: DIY system fed into the hang on back filter to diffuse bubbles. Aiming for 1 bubble per second.

Lighting: Two 13w CFLs. Will be kept on 9 hours a day; airpump + airstone will be set on a timer to run when lights are off.

Fertilizer: Weekly dosing of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive.

This is basically what I've come up with so far. How am I doing? Am I missing something? Is there a flaw that I need to improve? Perhaps I am including something that may not even be necessary?

The most important question I have is: Do you think I am well balanced between my lighting, nutrients, and c02?

2Shi · 02-02-2013, 11:42 AM

Flourish Comprehensive is a deceiving name. It is actually quite low on macro nutrients. Since you are going to have a co2 system, you will need more macros to balance the tank out.

If you look at the instructions on the Flourish bottle you will see that it actually mentions that you can go out and buy separate bottles of each macro nutrient. I think that is a waste of money. I dose dry salts from aquariumfertilizer.com into my tank using the Estimative Index method (Google for more info).

Also, will you be keeping cichlids? Those guys are known to tear apart and uproot plants :-(

xiaoxiy · 02-02-2013, 12:07 PM

Instead of using flourish, I would just buy some dry fertilizers (Nilocg on the forum actually sells full fert packs) and dose EI.

AfricanCichlids · 02-02-2013, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Shi

Also, will you be keeping cichlids? Those guys are known to tear apart and uproot plants :-(

Hahaha! Keeping african cichlids in a planted tank would be a disaster. I have a 55 gallon Mbuna tank set up in a different room

I'm thinking about keeping CPDs or a gourami or somethin.

AfricanCichlids · 02-02-2013, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2Shi

I dose dry salts from aquariumfertilizer.com into my tank using the Estimative Index method (Google for more info).

Quote:

Originally Posted by xiaoxiy

Instead of using flourish, I would just buy some dry fertilizers (Nilocg on the forum actually sells full fert packs) and dose EI.

Alright, I'll look into EI dosing. Anything else you guys have to add? Thanks for the help btw

AfricanCichlids · 02-02-2013, 09:45 PM

So here is my plan for EI dosing schedule:

Monday: 50% water change and 1/8 tsp KN03 (N), 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P)
Tuesday: 1/32 tsp Seachem Flourish Comprehensive
Wednesday: 1/8 tsp KN03 (N), 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P)
Thursday: 1/32 tsp Seachem Flourish Comprehensive
Friday: 1/8 tsp KN03 (N), 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P)
Saturday: Nothing
Sunday: Nothing

Sound about right?

02-02-2013, 05:22 AM	#1
AfricanCichlids Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Washington Posts: 21	Critique My Plans! Hi! I'm AfricanCichlids and as my name suggests.... My main fish keeping experience is with African cichlids! However, I've never done a planted tank before. I'm setting up a 10gallon tank(20" long 12" wide 10" high). Just going to jump right into it and try to grow a lush carpet of Dwarf Hairgrass. I'm a noob at planted tanks, so please bare with me. Here are my plans: Substrate: Caribsea Floramax + Caribsea Black Sand. Floramax for the main substrate because of the iron, magnesium, calcium and other elements that it contains that promote plant growth. Adding black sand to help keep the DHG in place and not float to the top. C02: DIY system fed into the hang on back filter to diffuse bubbles. Aiming for 1 bubble per second. Lighting: Two 13w CFLs. Will be kept on 9 hours a day; airpump + airstone will be set on a timer to run when lights are off. Fertilizer: Weekly dosing of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive. This is basically what I've come up with so far. How am I doing? Am I missing something? Is there a flaw that I need to improve? Perhaps I am including something that may not even be necessary? The most important question I have is: Do you think I am well balanced between my lighting, nutrients, and c02? Last edited by AfricanCichlids; 02-02-2013 at 05:37 AM.. Reason: Added more detail

02-02-2013, 11:42 AM	#2
2Shi Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: USA Posts: 83	Flourish Comprehensive is a deceiving name. It is actually quite low on macro nutrients. Since you are going to have a co2 system, you will need more macros to balance the tank out. If you look at the instructions on the Flourish bottle you will see that it actually mentions that you can go out and buy separate bottles of each macro nutrient. I think that is a waste of money. I dose dry salts from aquariumfertilizer.com into my tank using the Estimative Index method (Google for more info). Also, will you be keeping cichlids? Those guys are known to tear apart and uproot plants :-( Last edited by 2Shi; 02-02-2013 at 11:43 AM.. Reason: .

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02-02-2013, 12:07 PM	#3
xiaoxiy Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (3/100%) Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Iowa Posts: 113	Instead of using flourish, I would just buy some dry fertilizers (Nilocg on the forum actually sells full fert packs) and dose EI.

02-02-2013, 09:45 PM	#6
AfricanCichlids Algae Grower (View User Tanks) PTrader: (0/0%) Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Washington Posts: 21	So here is my plan for EI dosing schedule: Monday: 50% water change and 1/8 tsp KN03 (N), 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P) Tuesday: 1/32 tsp Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Wednesday: 1/8 tsp KN03 (N), 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P) Thursday: 1/32 tsp Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Friday: 1/8 tsp KN03 (N), 1/32 tsp KH2P04 (P) Saturday: Nothing Sunday: Nothing Sound about right?