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Hello Yall

I have decided to do my first planted tank. I was reading

lysaers, & Little Fish's blogs and thought I would try it. So i

decided to take my 10 Gallon Tank and change it to a Planted

tank. Currently the tank is getting over grown with algae and it

needs a good cleaning. I have 6 barbs in there but with it being

positioned where it is the algae keeps growing. I have

background on the tank but it aint working right now.

As You can see the tank is next to a window.



The right side is covered in algae





There is a huge Amazon sword in there covered in hair algae im going to have to clean some how.



So here is the tank everything taken out and put in my sink.





So i cleaned the tank throughly and then I cleaned my Flora Max

Gravel. I Then cleaned my new Onyx Sand im going to add to the

mix. It was this color after 7 Washes.




So After 15 or so sand washes I mixed the gravel together and

then added it to the tank. I then added the water and there was

still sand floating in the water.



As you can see i have my new plants and my cleaned wood and

Amazon Swords in my 30 Gal tank while i cleaned my 10 Gal Tank



So after all that I added the plants to the tank and it now looks

like this :





So i have two swords from one plant, 2 Vals, a juvinile Java fern

and a baby java fern (Which I attached to my wood), Also a Anubis

Nana in the corner and then Some ludwiga.

Now A couple of strands either broke off or fell out of the group

so i put them in the gravel in the corner with the nana. Let me

know what you think.......




Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Fishmonster,

I see that you planted the anubias down into the gravel. The rhiozome should not be planted underneath the gravel or it will rot away. This plant does alot better attached to wood even a rock.

You are planning on adding more plants right?
What is your current lighting status. I am guessing it is atleast 2 wpg of flourescnet light since you have ludwiga in there.
Are you planning on starting a ferting schedule?
Also I think a plain blue backgournd would look best on your tank.

Also what is up with the tags on the plants? I would take them off.
The vals would look better planted in the back as they are more than often used as background plants.

I think the two ludwiga strand that you placed behind the anubias would look alot better if planted with the rest of the ludwiga.

I think once more plants are added (fast and slow grower alike) this tank will have some potential. But until you get more fast growers, you may run into algae problems.

i think it looks better other than that the rhizome is buried in the gravel with the anubias. So you dumped all the water and cleaned the gravel. You do realize that the tank is going to recycle right?

-Vincent

I'm a bit confused... either that or stupid from just having woken up... what amazon? Are you talking about the two larger ones to the right of the newly redecorated tank? Aren't those aponogeton?

In any case, nice start to this tank, it will be nice to see what you do with it. By the way, I did exactly the same thing with my five gallon tank when I had early morning sun beating on the left side of the tank... wrapping the background around the side is a good idea when you can't avoid sunlight on the tank. Maybe cut a bigger piece so that it covers the full side of the tank if you're still having problems.

You say you have barbs in the tank... what kind?

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Kitten,

Thats what I was thinking about the "amazon sword"

Fishmonster,

To second what Bud said, the new gravel and what not will definately have a HUGE affect on your bacteria and you will most likely see a bacteria bloom here. Wait a few weeks before you add fish

Ok im going to answer some of the questions on here to give you guys a better idea. Thanks for the posts btw.

You are planning on adding more plants right?
What is your current lighting status. I am guessing it is atleast 2 wpg of flourescnet light since you have ludwiga in there.

I am planning on adding more plants but not sure what i wanted to add, I was thinking cabomba and anachris for fast growers. I actually have 1.5 Watt per gallon, but its only 12" high and i have been reading that if you have a 12" high tank you only need 1/4 of the light.

i think it looks better other than that the rhizome is buried in the gravel with the anubias. So you dumped all the water and cleaned the gravel. You do realize that the tank is going to recycle right?

I have the filter media currently in my30 gallon tank so i didnt loose the bacteria in the filter as i knew I would loose it in the gravel. I wanted a fresh start on my tank.

I'm a bit confused... either that or stupid from just having woken up... what amazon? Are you talking about the two larger ones to the right of the newly redecorated tank? Aren't those aponogeton?

In any case, nice start to this tank, it will be nice to see what you do with it. By the way, I did exactly the same thing with my five gallon tank when I had early morning sun beating on the left side of the tank... wrapping the background around the side is a good idea when you can't avoid sunlight on the tank. Maybe cut a bigger piece so that it covers the full side of the tank if you're still having problems.

You say you have barbs in the tank... what kind?

Not sure what you mean by aponogeton....However i was under the impression the plants on the right are amazon sword plants. Currently i do not have any fish in the tank. I wasnt going to add them just yet. Should i add them to get some bacteria growing?

Also i have covered all three sides now as you were right and that partial covering was not working.

I hope this answers some questions you guys have. I will move the Vals to the rear of the tank and I will add a rock to attach the Anubis Nana to also. Any other ideas? What other plants do you guys suggest?


Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Nah, those are definitely sword plants, though they sure aren't the run of the mill amazon swordplants. They look like a thin leaved variant. Whichever plant it may be if it does well for you it will most definitely outgrow that tank, so will the anubias barteri. I'd stick with smaller plants and stems. Hygros, crypt wendtiis, anubias nanas, and things like that should grow ok in your tank.

---

Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

I'm pretty sure the plants you have are a variety of aponogeton (but then, I'm not good at identifying plants)... possibly aponogeton crispus. Did you get these as bulbs from the store or did you buy them as a plant? Can you get a close-up picture of them?

With the anubias, you can keep it in the gravel if you like, just lift it a bit so the rhizome isn't buried. Mine grow happily with roots buried in substrate or attached to driftwood. I think anubias would attach more readily to wood than rock, but you can try it... wood is softer and the roots of anubias are pretty thick. I have one anubias attached to driftwood, but I don't see it attaching to a rock as readily.

Also, this is a ten gallon... you're going to have issues, because my anubias nana is happily trying to out grow my 20 gallon long. It may take a year to get to that point, but the leaves of mine are constantly growing up and out of the water. I think it will be SO much happier when I finally get the 55 gallon set up.

Hmm... okay, I've found some swords that look an awful lot like aponogeton, so hey, I could be wrong. Take a look at plantgeek ... here's my search results for "sword".

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Matty,
His anubias is a nana

Here are some plants I would go with for this tank:
-crypts
-ancharis
-java moss
-more java fern

I think with those you could fill up your tank pretty fast.

Well after the discussion i had in chat tonight I have decided to add some more plants to my tank. I have added some Java Moss to my tank on some wood at the opposite end of my java fern. I am going to be purchasing 2 Bunches of Cryptocoryne wendtii , Hydrophila Difformis, Bolbitis heudelotti & Hornwort.

Hopefully this will be a good addition to my tank, some fast growers in the back with low plants up front and im also going to be adding 9 tetras & 2 ottos to the tank eventually.


Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Sounds good, The only problem I see you will run into is that your stem plants will most likely grow more leggy than bushy with only 1.5 wpg. But I am sure the larger plants will look good.

fishmonster,

I am jumping in here with a comment in regards to what you said about your lighting:

"I actually have 1.5 Watt per gallon, but its only 12" high and i have been reading that if you have a 12" high tank you only need 1/4 of the light."

IMHO, this is way off. I don't know who told you that, but it definitely mixes things up to the point of uttermost confusion. To clear it up, here is my breakdown (and take it as "my opinion", albeit it is well known in general):

- Yes, shallow tanks need less light (and let us forget that watts is a weak measurement to identify more or less light, but good enough for now) to grow plants as the light source is closer to the bottom of the tank, aka low growing foreground plants and lower parts of taller plants.
- No, the theory that you would need 1/4 of the light of a taller tank is irrelevant here. Your concern is the overall tank size. By the 1/4 rule, 1.5wpg would mean that you have the same light as a 24" tall (just to throw out a number with a taller tank) tank with 6wpg. Well, that ain't so. As a matter of fact, the wpg rule that groups tanks into being able to grow low/medium/high/very high light requiring plants depends on quite a few factors, but let us focus on the light: the wpg rule has some merit to the "average" tank size, which would be around 30 to 40 gallons. Below and above that range, things start to be a little different. A large tank needs less wpg for the same results, and a small one needs more. A good example is a high tech setup, like Takashi Amano's tanks. Here, he has about 2.5 wpg on his large tanks (or even less) and over 10 wpg on his small ones (as in nano, 2 to 5 G).

Having said this, your tank with 1.5wpg and only a total size of 10G is on the low end of the lighting scale. That doesn't mean you cannot grow anything in there, anubias and ferns, as well as moss and a few other plants will be just fine.

Well, I rambled enough, hope I didn't bore everybody to death,

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ingo

Well maybe you can help me understand what the person was talking about on that site.

I went to http://www.floridadriftwood.com/aquarium_plants_amanostyle.htmand read that point on that site. If you wouldnt mind helping me understand what they were talking about i would appreciate it.

Currently I am still waiting on my new plants to add to my tank. As soon as i get them I will post new pics.

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Sure thing

It took me a little to find the spot you were referring to (in your link), but then I did. I will quote the paragraph from the site:

"2. Start with a small-mid size shallow tank.

In my humble opinion, a tank that is 12 inches deep takes only 1/4 the light intensity to create a high light intensity at gravel level than a tank that is 24 inches deep. Unfortunately, most American made aquariums tend to be TALL and THIN "fish-tanks" in order to facilitate viewing fish. Amano's tanks are more SHALLOW and WIDE "Aquascape-tanks" to facilitate greater light penetration to grow light demanding plants and enlarge depth perception of foreground, midground and background plantings. Aquarist Jordan K. uses inexpensive shoplights and an elongated shallow tank to maximize light penetration to light demanding ground covers. His beautiful Amano-style tanks attest to this success."

Well, that makes perfect sense to me, but I can see how this can be interpreted differently (I would say misinterpreted).

The text does not mention tank size in gallons but only refers to the feature of tank height. A great example of a specific tank size to illustrate the above explanation it the 20G.

This Tank comes in two shapes (at least, ), the 20G Long and the 20G High, both having the same volume. The Long has an overall height of 12 3/4 inches and the High has a height of 16 3/4 inches (all data from the All-Glass Aquarium tech data site).

What the text means, and to which I completely agree, is that the High tank needs more light (to keep it simple, a higher wpg) than the Long to achieve the same plant results.

This is the case for any tank size in gallons, when compared to another tank with the same volume but different in height. But, it does not lean itself to compare tanks with greatly different volumes, like a 5G to a 40G to a 125G. There, quite a few other factors come into play, for example the loss of light through the side glass panels (or the absorbing of the light by the glass when dirty).

Makes sense?

Ingo

---

Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Week 2

Well I have gone ahead and taken everything that has been said to me in consideration. So here is the update.

Here is the tank as a whole:


I have moved the vals to the back and lifted the anubias out of the substrate. I have also added more driftwood to attach the java ferns to. I have also added some java moss on the left side to have some more fast growers in there.

Here is the leftside of the tank and closeup of the nana. I promise i have lifted him out of the substrate it just doesnt look that way as the gravel is hiding it. you can see the moss in the background and some of the ferns. I have wrapped some wire around some of the ferns to help them attach.



This is a pic of the right side with a closer view of my main java fern, my apongetons and my ludwiga. Im worried my ludwiga is browning but im not sure



Then as you can see a close up of my apongetons. They are growing hair algae again with nothing in the tank but the plants. Im worried the light is coming right through the actual lighting itself as i cover my hand over the vents and the sunlight goes away. These pics were taken at night



Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Fishmonster,

everything looks great and I am sure it will turn into a really nice planted tank - except for the heater that is THE central focus in all shots. Isn't it possible to stick it on one of the side plates or something?

Yeah i think so, not sure because the substrate is so deep i might have to take some of the substrate out. Plus i have a nice piece of Driftwood i want to add to the tank and i might have to lower the substrate anyways. By next posting I will have changed it.

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Week 3

Well this has been a hecktic week, we have seem some major changes in the tank. I have added fish and a nice piece of driftwood to the tank. I have also got my hands on some cute Otto's.

Here is a picture of my tank before i got my plants in there today.


So i was finally able to get the plants i ordered from FloridaDriftwood. They are awesome plants and well worth the wait.



I believe this is my Cryptocoryne wendtii


This is my Bolbitis heudelotti


This is my other Anubias Nana


Look at the size of this Hornwort


My Crystal Vals I ordered are 2 Ft long.


Now I ordered some Hydrophila Difformis but im not sure i got the right plant. Let me know what this is


So here are some pics of my otto pals and my tetra's





So here are the two side's of my tank. On the left side we have at the front ludwiga, behind that we have Corkscrew Vals then behind that we have our Apongeton.



In the center area we have the Bolbitis heudelotti attached to some driftwood by a rubber band and behind that we have the other driftwood with Java moss and a small java fern to the right of the picture.

On the right side we have a better view of the small java fern. we have the two Cryptocoryne wendtii up front with the Anubias nana's behind them on a piece of driftwood. All the java ferns you see are just laying on the driftwood with the plant wieghts as they are too small to be attached with wire or rubber bands.


I ended up putting the Difformis, Crystal Vals & Hornwort in my 35 Gallon Tank. It looks pretty good.

What do you guys think. I need some help with correct placement of the plants I think. A little help would be great. Thanks

Thanks for your input as always, Shane
http://thetanklog.blogspot.com/ - [ Thanks to ScottF ]
http://www.natureaquariumclubofutah.com/main.html

Fishmonster, Wow the tank looks so much better now with the addition of the extra Driftwood and more plants . Well done .

Couple of suggestions , I would bulk up the plants on the left side of the tank and move the Driftwood piece on the right to centre left .
This would give you a beach type area on the right which you might like to try some smaller plants .

Just a thought , Check out Tetratech's nano tank in one of his threads . Might give you some ideas .

Good luck

Garry

Looks good Monster, glad you finally got all your plants.

The difformis, is difformis, I belive that is just what it looks like grown emersed.

Keep us posted.