Need help on planted tank!

[Cynie]

Hello,

I have read around on this forum for awhile now and find it really helpful. I am having a few problems of my own so I have decided to make an account and inquire some help.

I have a 55 gallon with diy co2. I use API Co2 booster/Aqueon plant food/FlorinMulti to dose my tank. I am wondering are these fine?

I currently run a circulation pump of 300 and 180 on the each side facing each other to create a current in my tank. I read around that this helps to distribute the co2/nutrients to the plants easier. I am trying for an Iwagumi setup but have had no luck. Prior to buying my new plants, the baby tears, I have bought dwarf hair grass and baby dwarf tears. To no luck they have grown or carpeted over the past 2-3 weeks(although they have developed root systems that are really healthy). I just recently started dosing my tank the past week, and do 40% water changes once a week.

Should I up my water changing to every 2 days? I also want to know your guy's opinion on what I should do with my rock that has algae. Should I remove them out of the tank and scrub them off or leave them in there? Some of them are a bit deep into the substrate. I have a 4-5 inch ada aqua soil substrate.

I recently changed over from just casual tropical fish taking to a planted tank so I am a bit new at this!

Currently in the tank there are 3 albino cory catfishes, 6 otocinclus, and 3 glowlight tetras.

Willing to take any advice you guys can give me! Down below I will include some pictures of my tank. The filter is also a marine land penguin 350. My temperature is also at a steady 78f.

I just received some baby tears yesterday locally and they have turned a bit brown today. I am thinking they are readjusting themselves to my tank. Should I break off the brown leaves or leave them be?

Some of my Baby tears with browning on them. I've tried rubbing it off to no affect.


Some of my Dwarf hair grass, not sure why they haven't spread out... been about 2-3 weeks. They all have a root system already.


Some of my dwarf baby tears, not sure why they aren't carpetting even though they have a root system and are green... there are some browning on them also.


Some greening of my ada aqua soil?... Not sure how to fix/get rid of.


Rocks




Full Tank, though not as I wanted it to look yet!


Sorry for the long post! I am just so excited about this hobby and hope in the future to have a well planted lovely tank. I am also running 2 led light fixtures which are:

• Dimensions - 47.75” x 5.00” x 1.00”
• Brackets add 0.65" in height
• Includes 174 LEDs
• 800 Lumen
• Super energy efficient .06 watt LEDs
• 162x 10000K LEDs
• 12x Actinic 460nm LEDs
• Uses 11 watts
• Slim and contemporary light design
• 2 mode on / off function for day and night use
• Extendable bracket - 48"-52" max extend
• Splash guard
• 110V - 220V

Should I reduce this down to one of the fixture? I also leave my light on for 10 hours a day. I also use one of the fixture's moonlight setting at night. Should I turn this off?

Any advice would be appreciated! As I am still learning. Sorry for so much questions !

I also will be getting a test strip soon to test my PH/nitrate/nitrites.

[lauraleellbp]

Welcome to TPT!

Did you cycle the ADA substrate before adding fish? This stuff throws off TONS of ammonia for about the first 4-8 weeks, so you need to get your water tested ASAP.

I suspect that this may be the underlying source of your algae issues.

Also, DIY CO2 may not cut it for a tank this size- VERY difficult to obtain and maintain the consistent levels you need.

[Cynie]

Originally Posted by lauraleellbp

Welcome to TPT!

Did you cycle the ADA substrate before adding fish? This stuff throws off TONS of ammonia for about the first 4-8 weeks, so you need to get your water tested ASAP.

I suspect that this may be the underlying source of your algae issues.

Also, DIY CO2 may not cut it for a tank this size- VERY difficult to obtain and maintain the consistent levels you need.

Thank you for your reply! I'll keep this in mind and might switch to pressurized one day.

This tank has already been in cycle for 1-2 months. Just no luck in plant growth.

[Django]

Hi and welcome,

The Dwarf Hair Grass looks to me like it wants more light. I may be totally wrong. Some plants need more light anyway. I guess my only advice is to bring your plant encyclopedia with you when you shop for plants and make sure your plants don't need major lights. That's just me, though.

If it's not too unsightly, I would leave the allgae-infested rock in because if the algae get's worse, you know something is out of wack, sort of like an indicator of how your water is.

"I use API Co2 booster/Aqueon plant food/FlorinMulti to dose my tank. I am wondering are these fine?"

I've heard that FlorinMulti is good, and that all Co2 boosters are bad because of the chemical they contain.

I can recommend Seachem Flourish Comprehensive as I use it and Flourish Root Tabs for those heavy root feeders. I hope things work out as well as possible for your tank.

[Cynie]

Originally Posted by Django

Hi and welcome,

The Dwarf Hair Grass looks to me like it wants more light. I may be totally wrong. Some plants need more light anyway. I guess my only advice is to bring your plant encyclopedia with you when you shop for plants and make sure your plants don't need major lights. That's just me, though.

If it's not too unsightly, I would leave the allgae-infested rock in because if the algae get's worse, you know something is out of wack, sort of like an indicator of how your water is.

"I use API Co2 booster/Aqueon plant food/FlorinMulti to dose my tank. I am wondering are these fine?"

I've heard that FlorinMulti is good, and that all Co2 boosters are bad because of the chemical they contain.

I can recommend Seachem Flourish Comprehensive as I use it and Flourish Root Tabs for those heavy root feeders. I hope things work out as well as possible for your tank.

Alright! Will be ordering a bottle of Seachem Flourish Comprehensive soon

[Dx3Bash]

How often do you do water changes? From the pictures it appears the water has a white haze, a good indicator of high ammonia. I would suggest you test for ammonia asap and change water accordingly. I would also encourage you you to invest in pressurized CO2. If that is not an option currently, I would recommend setting up a second DiY CO2 system.