First setup of a planted tank

JamesNorris

New Member
Hello Everyone,

Ok, so I am a layman when it comes to planted tanks. I setup my tank by first putting a layer of aquatic compost, and then topped with substrate. I then placed my very large piece of bogwood into the tank. Then I put a couple of inches of water in to plant the grass type plants, and also put in a few selections of other plants. I have my filter and heater in the tank (switched on) also.

The water level was about 80% full, and as I tried to top it off, I noticed the large bog wood kind of floated (only when water is filled), so I assume it is almost fully saturated. So currently, the water is 80% full, the water is tinted with the wood colour (as expected), and I still need to do my first water change.

I am wondering a few things.....Should I have the light on as though its a normal setup? I read somewhere that unless a planted tank is completely fully planted (I currently just have the whole front of the 200L tank with grass type plants, and then a couple of different variations of potted plants either side (will fully plant when roots come out), that if you dont put lots and lots of plants in the tank from the start, there is a risk of algae building up with high light tanks?

I haven't put any ammonia source in the tank yet (not had chance to buy any yet), and my tank has only been set up for 3 days. Do I need an ammonia source for purely the plant growth? Also, when should I do the first water change? As stated before, i can't fill the tank otherwise the wood become less stable.

Again, I'm new to planted tanks, and the first thing I should have done is saturate the wood (or at least test it) so my fault.

Can you get treatment for water thats tinted from the wood? I know water changes will help, but I also know that with some woods, you cannot get rid of the tint.

Looking to get a co2 kit on payday (2 weeks away).

Any thoughts?
Thanks!
 

nanoreefing4fun

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Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Grear to have you here and we have a number of members (most notably @DaveK ) who are experts at planted tanks.

I’d love to follow along with your tank!

However, most of us are reefers. You may want to check out http://www.plantedtank.net/.

They were very nice and helped me with my planted tank.
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
You have set up what is commonly referred to as a dirted tank. There is nothing wrong with this and it's often a choice of some very advanced planted tank people. However, this can be tricky for some one new to this aspect of the aquarium hobby. For example, you don't want to add fish that will dig or stir up the substrata.

With a few exceptions, most wood in the tank will tend to float for months. Usually the best choice is to get some rocks and attach them to the wood so that it sinks. Slate rocks can be drilled with a masonry drill and then nylon string or plastic cable ties can be used to attach the rocks.

You can expect most new wood to stain the water with tannin. Keep up the water changes and filter the water with Purigen or a good carbon.

Plants need light, so once you add them you need to run your lighting. If you potted plants are the type that come in the plastic basked stuffed with rock wool you should remove the basket and rock wool and plant the plant normally. If it's in a traditional terracotta flower pot you can keep it in the pot until it outgrows the pot.

Yes, you may get some algae in a new tank. The best thing to do is to dense plant the tank with various stem plants and let them grow absorbing the excess nutrients.

CO2 will do wonders for high light planted tanks. I highly recommend you get a fairly high end CO2 system that uses something like a 5lb or larger tank, regulator, solenoid, needle valve and bubble counter and so on. I also highly recommend a CO2 reactor over a diffuser. Avoid the DIY CO2 setups using yeast to generate CO2. Your tank is too large for this. I recommend you avoid the "toy" CO2 systems that use a small cartridge.
 

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Drilling the holes in slate to tie wood down worked great for me.

Except it ended up kinda looking like it was staring at me...

34FA308F-801D-41F8-AAFA-B454D5797128.jpeg
 
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JamesNorris

New Member
Hi all, ok I've attempted to add media, but it says my 4mb images are to large for the server to process....and the limit is 10mb as you stated. Any ideas? I'm actually quite technical, so this seems overly difficult! lol
 

JamesNorris

New Member
Thanks guys, still surely an issue the limit is 10mb and the file size is 4mb?! lol. I sent it to myself in an email, and opened the image in the email and tried to use that as the URL link option, just posted to word image.... lol. I'll try resizing
 

nanoreefing4fun

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RS STAFF
pretty - nice start ! once you get an image loaded, you can right click on it, copy image address, click on the little picture frame icon, add it there & it will show up BIG :)
sidebar - Travis owns RS and maybe he can figure out what is going on with the size limit.

index.php
 
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SPR

Well-Known Member
Hi all, ok I've attempted to add media, but it says my 4mb images are to large for the server to process....and the limit is 10mb as you stated. Any ideas? I'm actually quite technical, so this seems overly difficult! lol
I use Tapatalk to upload on here. It’s very simple.
 
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