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newly planted 20 g tank, need advise

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  adive 
#1 ·
Hi, i have been keeping fish for some time now, but i recently(i week ago) added plants to an already running 20 g tank.:bounce: i have 2 clown loach and 6 white skirt tetras. unfortunately i had ordinary gravel and cannot change it right now. plants i have are : Amazon sword, java fern and cobomba. i planted them by burying some fertilizer along side. where as java fern came with drift wood that i placed. the lights are 40 w flourosent t12 daylight in my tank. I am seriously not in favour of CO2 and want to run the tank as it is. i have an external filter (powerhead) and an airstone in place. fish seem happy for now. but i got spikes in the nitrite and nitrate. water ph is 7.6. i do 25 percent water change every week. the shop guy gave me a liquid plant food with trace of NPK to put daily. plz advise me am i doing things right? since other plants look ok but comboma is not staying straight and shedding leaves.
 
#2 ·
How long has the tank been set up? When the tank is cycling you can very easily have spikes in Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate. Once nitrites and ammonia are 0 and nitrate's are showing up, between 10-40 then your tank is cycled. This process (from the time you set up the aquarium) can take up to 6 weeks.

From what I've heard, the best way for these guys to answer a deficiency question is to take a picture of the plants with the problem.

Only thing I can see is that you're dosing nitrates .. it'd cause a spike if your plants aren't absorbing it. Maybe cut back on those a little?

I'm still new to the game. I'm sure someone who is more experienced will come along shortly and offer more information.

as for the light, it sounds ok to me. Do you think you can run a t8 instead of a t12? It'd save a bit in energy costs. The bubls run $8 for 2 at lowes/homedepot ..
 
#3 ·
the tank

Hi, thanks for the help. i could only find t 12 where i live. you are right i think i should cut on the NPK liquid plant food. i have started the tank almost a month ago with the fishes. they all survived and ammonia and nitrite , nitrate had been in range initially. i added the plants a week ago. i have attached the pic. i just dont want the plants to die. fish seem happy with them .
 

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#4 ·
Hi. Your clown loaches will get too big for that aquarium. I would find them a new home. The tetras are fine.

Cabomba sheds when it doesn't have enough light. This is probably your issue.

As you get more involved you will wish you had changed that rainbow gravel sooner. I would do it now before your plants grow in. Search on how to do it...it is quite simple. I would replace it with a single colour substrate of your choice.

Search for low-light plants like cryptocoryne, Anubias, java fern, mosses, etc and use your current light.
 
#5 ·
That looks like argentine sword which will grow long stalks with smaller leaves on top. It will grow until the leaves are too tall for your tank and keep growing. I suggest it for a riparium look, but not a tank this small because it will outgrow quickly.
 
#6 ·
fish love plants. they will color up because of the plants.

since you mention cabomba let me tell you whats working for me in my super lo tech setup: thats one plant thats flourishing in my tank. i have 1.5 WPG 6500K and lots of daylight (no direct sunlight). i infrequently dose liq ferts. my substrate is just 3-5mm gravel, 2 inch tall, so the plants are living off fish waste and the little ferts i give them. this has been going 2 months only so i am still tuning the system.

if this growth continues by christmas i will have a new cabomba farm in one area of my tank planted from the cuttings from existing plants.
 
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