My 55g Planted Tank Journal

[GeraldTheMouse]

I'n not sure, but it seems that you have planted the rhizome of A. barteri v. coffeefolia into the substrate. If I am right, it is going to rot.

[FreshwaterJeff]

I think that's just the slope of the substrate throwing you off - there's a little hill right in front of the anubias (you can sort of see the rhizome in the long tank shot). I did my best to keep the rhizome above the surface and only bury the root tendrils in the gravel.

Thanks for the tip though - there will be plenty of occasions when I didn't know something like that, I'm sure

[FreshwaterJeff]

I hope to do full tank parameters tonight, so I'm guessing my next question is better asked after I have those, but...

Any guesses why my crypt is melting? My suspicion is the Flourish Excel or the Kent ferts...

[GeraldTheMouse]

It was probably when you were taking it out of the pot, because they melt if you move em around a lot.

[FreshwaterJeff]

July 26, 2006
Day 3

Well, shoot. For one, my crypts look a little worse - but I'm just going to give them time and not mess with them and let them self-correct a bit.

More troubling, it appears the bacteria in my Eco-Complete were dead. Here are my readings from this evening, before I bumped the ammonia back up to 5 ppm:

Ammonia: 3.0 ppm
Nitrite: 0.0 ppm
Nitrate: 0.0 ppm
(I'm assuming the plants ate the ammonia, given the lack of Nitrites...or that they ate the nitrites)
pH: 7.8

The pH was a bit of a surprise - though not once I thought about the ammonia content (ammonia is basic, right?).

Well, looks like I'm in for a full cycle - I need to get some more plants in to help speed that along...and I'm bumping the temp up to 84 degrees.

[micah2012]

Now not ever having a planted tank before is there anything different that you need to test your water for with a planted tank?

[FreshwaterJeff]

Not as far as I know...

[FreshwaterJeff]

July 27, 2006
Day 4

I stopped by the store today and picked up some new goodies:

A piece of driftwood:


Some Rocks (see below)

Green Hygro:

...and Bio-Spira. The frustration of my Eco-Complete not cycling my tank as it should have got to me a little, so I couldn't help but pounce on the Bio-Spira when I saw it. It's currently in my fridge.

The driftwood came out of a tank at the LFS (and given the tank, I'm likely to have MTS soon - oh well - but I'm also likely to have snail-hunting zebra loaches soon), so there should be some seeding effect. Tonight's tests:

Ammonia - 2 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 0 ppm

With guidance from the board, I've decided to halt the fishless cycle and do a large water change before adding the Bio-Spira and fish. Ideally, I'd get the readings down to 0 ammonia before adding anything - between the seeded log, my plants, and the water change, I don't anticipate that being a problem between now and a few days from now when I pick up some fish.

I also found out that my crypts melting isn't unusual from the guy at the LFS. He said that they often do that to protect their roots/core when moved/stressed, and the leaves will probably grow back. I'll just let it be.

Here are the results of some redecorating:

Full Tank:


View in from the Right:


View in from the Left:


Left Third:


Middle Third:


Right Third:


Water Sprite (lost some of the big branches, but hopeful it will grow up from this little bit that seems to be healthy):

[Pure]

Sorry I missed your update last night. Yes the melting is perfectly normal for crypts.

The tank is looking good. I do really like that piece of wood. The one rock has me a little concerned. The white one on the right looks very limstoneish (made up a new word ). Did you vinegar test it? You want to make sure it isn't going to leach calcium into the tank.

If not and you don't know what that is: Pull the rock from the tank and dry it off. Use a nail and scratch it. Then poor a little bit of vinegar where you scratched the rock. If it fizzes don't put it in your tank. If it doesn't it should be cool.

As you don't have fish yet it may not matter much, but...For future reference always boil or bake any new wood you are adding to the tank. Especially if it came from a LFS tank.

Keep up the good work!

[FreshwaterJeff]

Cool. I'll definitely do that in the future with the wood. Also, I'm fairly certain it's a piece of quartz, but I'll test it anyway just to be 100% sure.

Thanks for the comments and guidance I think I should start changing the thread title to reflect the most recent updates...