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Plants Update

Here is the week-and-a-half-later update on the plants that I got on 12/11/12. Since it is winter I decreased the photo period to 10 hours per day and will turn it down to 9 soon. The Ottos are doing a great job keeping the algae down and I think that I’ll get 2 more to make a school of 5.

1 Anubias Nana - not much of a change except the roots turned from white to green; i’m assuming that they were in a substrate or the plant was grown emmersed.

1 Anubias petite - no roots or leaves growth.

2 Red Tiger Lotus - both bulbs have half an inch shoots coming out, verry exciting.

5 Dwarf Sag - only one survived.

5 Contortion Val - all 5 died; the leaves melted completely.

5 Maroon/Dark Red Jungle Val - it looks like all 5 surived but no new leaves yet, i had to trim off most of the leaves.

1 Subwassertang - I tied it down wih a string to a samll rock. It’s stayng together and it looks healthy.

The small amount of Java Moss I wrapped around a tiny rock and it’s greening up.

3 Banana Plants - all three developed a dollar sized leaves and long leaves out of the bananas. They are adapting very well.

LED Aquarium Lighting & Plants

I received the Marineland Double Bright LED Lighting System on last Wednesday 01/04/12 and installed it that day. I replaced the original canopy with Marineland Perfecto Glass Canopy and kept the 2 15W T8 lights and place them in front of the LED strip. This way the aquarium gets better lighting in front and the front lights are blocking the glare from the LED.

I have set up the photo period for 12 hours (10am to 10pm) and turn the front lights off when I get home which has them on for about 8 to 10 hours a day.

I joined a group order of plants through the Planted Tank Form and received them today. I got the following:

1 Anubias Nana - a small 1″ Rhizome with long roots and in good shape
1 Anubias petite - a tiny 0.5 Rhizome with long roots and in good shape
2 Red Tiger Lotus - 2 bulbs
5 Dwarf Sag - in extremely poor condition, very pale almost white (probably all dead), with weak roots
5 Contortion Val - in extremely poor condition, translucent (probably all dead), with OK roots
5 Maroon/Dark Red Jungle Val - in decent condition, with many dead leaves, with good roots
1 Subwassertang - a golf ball size, in good condition, mixed with a small amount of Java Moss
3 Banana Plants - in very poor condition with 2 tiny (penny sized) leaves each

I’m hoping that the plants will survive in my aquarium. I’ll post pictures after the plume from planting settles.

Algae Eaters & Java Fern

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have some brown algae and today I picked up 3 Otos (Otocinclus Vittatus). I also got 3 Black Mollies (Poecilia Sphenops) and a sorry looking Java Fern (Microsorum Pteropus) that had only 4 leaves. I tied it to a small stone from Machu Picchu and hopefully it will get better with time.

Bacopa Caroliniana

Today I added about 20 stems of Bacopa Caroliniana. I got it from the Petland Discount store on 9th Ave & 50th St and it looks great. I hope it’ll holdup for a week at my current ultra low light (2×15W T8’s) till I get my Marineland LED Double Bright Light in the mail.

I’m currently seeing some brown algae developing, which I hope to go away with introducing more light to the aquarium.

The Cryptocorynes that I introduced about a week and a half ago are doing well. A few of the plants displayed a crypt melt the second day but as of now they all have new leaves.

The Green Hedge is probabaly struggling for light, it’s covered in tiny brown algae and it’s growing extremely slowly.

The Echinodorus Red Flame keep on floating to the surface, so I have to replant them. They are puting out new leaves but are growing roots very slowly.

The Echinodorus Bleheri doesnt have much algae and it’s putting out new leaves but they are translucent rather than nice and green.

The Rotala Rotundifolia which came in a very bad condition is holding up but only the tallest stems are developing normal size leaves.

All in all, the aquarium desperately needs more light.

I got the Bacopa in lieu of fish credit for some guppies that I got but died. I’m not sure exactly why but I got guppies from the same Petland Discount store twice and both times half of them died within a couple of days. I suspect that the breeder keeps them in water with a much higher pH and dH and when they are transferred in my NYC, soft and “acidic”, water they get stressed and die. That probably also explains the relative high price for such a prolific specie. I’m currently left with 2 healthy females & a male as well as a female that looks like she is fighting for her life.

Cryptocorynes

I got another R.A.O.K today - a few Cryptocorynes Wendtii and a few very small Cryptocoryne Balansea, as well as another plant that I’m not sure what it is.

I gave in to my initial desire to set up my aquarium as a live-bearers community aquarium.
I stop by Petland Discount and I picked up some Guppies - 1 Gold Cobra male, A pair of Red Cobras and 2 female Jade Heads. So now I have Sword-tales, Platies, Guppies and would like to add some Black Lyretail Mollies.

I also measured my water:

pH: 6.4
Ammonia: 0.50ppm
Nitrite: 0.00 ppm
Nitrate: 5.00 ppm

Rotala Rotundifolia

The Planted Tank Forum has been invaluable source of information, support, and inspiration during the research and initial setup of my planted aquarium.

Today I received about 15 stems of Rotala Rotundifolia from a member on the forum. It was listed as a Random Act Of Kindness (R.A.O.K) in the Swap n Shop section of the forum. I only paid for the shipping. Grant it, the plants are a bit lanky but I hope they will improve over time.

Blue Mickey Mouse Platy

There is a Petland Discount store 2 blocks from my house and despite the discounted quality, I always find something to buy. Today, I went in just to look around and walked out with some tubifex, black worms and a trio Blue Mickey Mouse Platy (Xiphophorus maculatus), 2 female and a male.

On a different note, 10 days in, the Red Flame Echinodorus are doing well, both plants a starting a new leaf.

Second Additions

Today I added:

2 Corydoras Agassizi
2 Blue Mystery Snails (Ampullariidae)
2 Echinodorus Red Flame

The Echinodorus have beautiful red spots, the Corys are very lively and the Blue Mystery snails drive me crazy because they uproot my stem plants.

A Good Omen For a Good Start

The day after I added the first fish and plants my Swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri) had 12 babies.

I initially left them in the aquarium but a fiend compelled me to protect them so I scooped them in a large net where they are safe from the Angel fish. I was able to safe 6 of them. Now its a week later and they are alive and healthy. I’m feeding them just crushed regular food.

First Additions to Help the Nitrogen Cycle

My initial set up consists of:

Aquarium - 55 US gallons
Lighting - 2 Aqueon Full daylight spectrum 18″, 15w, T8 lights built in 24″ hood without a reflector
Filter - Aqueon Quietflow 400 gph
Turface all sport and rocks

To help the nitrogen cycle I added a few fish and plants:

Fish:
2 Angel Fish (Pterophyllum scalare)
3 Swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri) 1 male and 2 females

Plants:
1 Marimo ball (Aegagropila linnaei)
2 Amazon swords (Echinodorus bleheri)
3 Stems of Green hedge (Alternantbera ficoidea)