New Tank Stange Nitrite reading

[angel12]

From my point of view Im fairly happy things are going on ok seeing as this is the first planted Tank I have set up (thanks to this fantastic board I have gained so much information and help)...

However just a couple of points I would like to ask your advice/input on

having just measured my Ammonia Nitrite and Nitrate levels last night .. the tank is stocked lightly with 10 Cardinal tetras... I got a strange reading

Ammonia 0 nitite 0.25 and Nitrate 0 ppm ... 90% of the plants seem to be doing fine and in some cases are growing fantasticaly.. others are showing a few leavs with the Yellow eye or tip ... these are just leaves not the whole plant....

I am at the moment just adding a liquid fertilizer and have water changed only 2 times each week ....mainly cause I wanted the tank to settle ......


Question I need answered is How do you Judge if things are going well If you planted with quatily plants most have come from Tropica.dk how long would it be before you started to see problems occur in your setup ..... One of the plants which i dont know the name of has grown over 2.5" in the 3 weeks and is now just under the surface ..what I mean is many people take photos of there setup only after x amount of time and everything looks great .. But when do the potential problems come along is there a time frame for ex say after 4 weeks any of the plants original nutirients are used up and then they start to rely on what they can sustain from the tank....

At the moment the only modifications I have made to the tank besides adding the liquid fert is to put reflectors on the Flourescent tubes 2x 30 w wich has made a bit of diff in that the light is being reflc straight down on to the plants
Light is 2 w per galll as it is a 40 Gallon tank but minus sub gives 2 w per galllon The liquid addative is Ferropol link is here
http://www.jbl.de/index_uk.html and I add as per recommended dose only when W/C are done
there is no co2 but the readings are as above there is Nitrite of 0.25 ppm have also just done the nitrate again and it reads 1.5 ppm


to my eyes it looks Fantastic (but im no expert) but I just want to reasure myself that I have got over the initail difficulties because if I have i wil be well chuffed

what about Malaysian Trumpets do u think these would be of benefit to my Tank ... its going be a discus tank in the future ... but i dont want to rush things until Im cofident that things are on the right line

if anyone could provide some advice input I would be extremly gratefull..




One last thing There is no sign of algea and I feed the fish once a day giving them just enough for them to eat is so very little sinks to the bottom it is truely a wonderfull sight seeing the shoal of cardinal swimming along the tank .. they have a game where they go the the swim to the output of the filter and freefall and then swimback


can someone explain how i identify and remove possible issues .....

kind of strange isnt it that just 2 plants are showing these small eyes nothing major but Ijust want to pre empt any problems or to reslove any issues that may arise before they come all at once ...

like people have mentioned everything looks fine but it is not till later that you find that out that problems have been there all along .. as a matter of intrest what should the nitrite reading be ? I mean I know it should be 0 but what gets me is there is 0 amonia the plants are taking that and very little nitrate again prob the plants but where is the nitrite coming from ...

[Ralph]

Hi Angel,
It sounds like you are in good shape and doing the right things. I like that you are being patient about introducing discus to the tank and it's great that you are monitoring your tank so closely, I think that it does more than anything to ward off potential disasters.

The nitrite reading is probably just your tank finishing cycling, though you didn't say how long it's been going. It should be down to zero in a couple days. There is a lot of debate about which nitrogen source plants prefer.

Tank stages: Just some generalizations based on experience, but it probably varies quite a bit based on the individual. The first three months, you are waiting to add fish and for the plants to fillout, then there is about six months where the tank looks a little like you had imagined it would, though not quite, and then it starts looking overgrown in parts and you are thinking about new setups. With good maintenance though, you could keep a setup for a long time, but I always get tired of them before that happens.

The trumpet snails probably won't make a dramatic difference in your tank, I like having snails though (some people think they import diseases).

I'm not sure you are going to get to a place where you won't have any nongreen leaves, I never have anyways. Those perfect tanks that you see pictures of, have had a thorough working over before the photo, I'm sure.

I hope I answered most of your questions, there will probably be more imput from others. What kind of plants do you have, any driftwood?

[ChloroPhil]

Angel,

Most plants grown in the quality nurseries, of which Tropica is King, have nutrients enough to support life and growth for approx. three to four weeks given sufficient light and some source of Carbon. Here's a timeline I try to follow when starting a new planted aquarium. It's not at all an original idea, I got it off APD, but can't remember who to credit. For some reason I think it's a modified version of the method Amano uses.

Initial Planting:
A: If planning on a heavily planted aquarium plant the species which will be the anchor for your aquascape and fill in the rest of the tank, to a minimum of 75% of the area, with fast growing species such as Rotala indica and Hygrophila polysperma. You can replace the fast growers over time with the long term species intended originally after the tank has been established.

B: If planning on a sparse aquascape or one composed mostly of slow growing species create your intended design and then fill in with fast growing species as above.

wk 1:
After the initial planting let the plants settle for a week with light and CO2. This week will allow the plants to start growing roots and establish themselves. They won't be growing much above the substrate and are using stored food making supplimentation of Phosphate and Nitrogen an algae risk. Adding a trace element mix like Tropica Master Grow can be beneficial by adding trace elements which the plants may not have stored up and the new substrate lacks.

wk2:
Add algae eaters and continue with non-Nitrogen and Phosphate supplimentation.

wk3:
Start adding fish and NO3/PO4 supplimentation at a lower level.

wk4:
Bring all supplimentation up to long-term maintenance levels.


Ok, to answer your other questions....
Plants prefer to use both Ammonia/Ammonium -and- Nitrate. It would make sense that there would be some initial ammonia floating around from when the fish and plants were added initially as the plants didn't start uptaking ammonia for a week or so. The nitrite in your tank is likely the remnants of that initial ammonia. Any NO3 and NH3/NH4 in the tank now is probably being used by the plants at this point, giving you that strange reading.

If you're only adding liquid ferts at this point you're going to want to start adding CO2 as soon as possible. Your plants are going to start running out of carbon and will stop growing soon then die.

How do I judge if my tanks are doing fine? Plant health. If I don't see any sign of deficiency such as yellowing, pinholes, and disintigration I take it my plants are getting enough to survive. If I see pearling, visible growth in fast growers, and little algae, I know the tank is doing really well.

Yes, MTS are of benefit to any aquarium. They do a great job of breaking down any food and dead leaves that make it to the floor of the aquarium. Just like earthworms in a terrestrial garden an aquatic garden needs MTS.

Hope this helped some,
Phil

[angel12]

Brill so im on the right lines ;)
all i need advice on now is a sutiable co2 system and how i judge how much co2 to put in this a low light tank 2 w per gall also Corect me if im wrong but i dont want to be adding to much C02 do i also the water is very very soft and wont that cause problems with my Ph of 7.2

Thanks Phil u have been of great asistance already nearly there now... I have also added a Golden Plec just to increase the bio load on the filter as all my readings where 0 across the board this morning Good news I think ... now just need a CO2 system and im on my way (but at the same time need to know how to use this effectivly without causing myself more problems)



;)

[ChloroPhil]

Add enough Sodium Bicarbonate (Baking Soda here in the US) to bring your KH to 3 degrees. Then add enough CO2 to get the pH down to 6.8 and you're set.