10G high-tech planted tank - pet project

[For100]

I said I was going to try to build a planted tank after watching some amazing Dutch style tanks on the internet.

It is a 10G frameless tank, CO2 injection and high tech lighting (Chihiros). I thought I had overstocked the tank with about 20 nano fish: CPD, danios and pigmy cories. Surprisingly, I don’t see any NO3 built up. In fact, I have to supplement it with water column fertilizer twice per week.

It is about 30 days old setup, pretty young tank. I was fortunate I did not deal with much of plant melting or algae. I still see some diatom growth in the tank but I am mainly dealing with Cyanobacteria in the hardscape. After some reading, I am pretty sure it is because I am running my NO3 close to zero. I am oppose to use antibiotics to deal with it, I will manually scrape it and manage NO3 a bit higher to see what happens.

On the general maintenance, not too bad with water changes. 20% once per week, nothing close to my display tank. BUT this planted tanks requires weekly trimmings and every other days fertilization.

I hope it turns out as I planned, couple of months will tell. Sneak peek

http://youtu.be/-2dDl23w-G4

[AquaticNerd]

Looks great so far Fred! I can definitely tell the plants are happy with all that pearling going on. Can't wait to see how the scape develops over time.

Any particular Dutch scapes give you inspiration for your current scape? Back when I had a high-tech planted tank, I followed the EI method for ferts. What fertilizer regimen do you follow?

[brewmaster15]

I said I was going to try to build a planted tank after watching some amazing Dutch style tanks on the internet.

It is a 10G frameless tank, CO2 injection and high tech lighting (Chihiros). I thought I had overstocked the tank with about 20 nano fish: CPD, danios and pigmy cories. Surprisingly, I don’t see any NO3 built up. In fact, I have to supplement it with water column fertilizer twice per week.

It is about 30 days old setup, pretty young tank. I was fortunate I did not deal with much of plant melting or algae. I still see some diatom growth in the tank but I am mainly dealing with Cyanobacteria in the hardscape. After some reading, I am pretty sure it is because I am running my NO3 close to zero. I am oppose to use antibiotics to deal with it, I will manually scrape it and manage NO3 a bit higher to see what happens.

On the general maintenance, not too bad with water changes. 20% once per week, nothing close to my display tank. BUT this planted tanks requires weekly trimmings and every other days fertilization.

I hope it turns out as I planned, couple of months will tell. Sneak peek

http://youtu.be/-2dDl23w-G4

Looks great so far! Whats the temp at Fred? I didn't see any clean up crew in there? anyplans to add some?

[mwhite123]

Awesome start! Are you planning on fertilizing using Estimate Index technique or lean fertilizing?

[For100]

jake and Mitch,

About fertilization schedule, I am using lean water column fertilization same as in the 2hr Aquarist method. You might want to check it out, it is a great place for info on aquarium chemistry (https://www.2hraquarist.com) even if you don’t have a planted tank. Very methodical and scientific explanations.

I am relying on substrate nutrients, the bottom layer is fluorite from SeaChem (found a 10 year old bag in my garage). SUPPOSEDLY, NO3 depletion helps getting deeper red in red plants, 2hrs aquarist has the brighter red plants I have even seen. It is just a difficult balance to find the right amount of fertilizer to add every other day to make sure NO3 is close to zero after one day but you don’t starve your stem plants.

@Al,

Tank does not have a heater, it is around 74/75F (room temperature). I am going to add two nerite snails, they should take care of any brown algae showing up. Cyanobacteria is a different story, need to figure this one out as we go.

Also, I figured out most of the Pygmy Corys jumped out of the tank over time. Found one dead on the floor last night and I only have 3 left out of 8 fish after counting them. They are super playful fish, love to see them swim against the lily pipe water flow.

[mwhite123]

jake and Mitch,

About fertilization schedule, I am using lean water column fertilization same as in the 2hr Aquarist method. You might want to check it out, it is a great place for info on aquarium chemistry (https://www.2hraquarist.com) even if you don’t have a planted tank. Very methodical and scientific explanations.

I am relying on substrate nutrients, the bottom layer is fluorite from SeaChem (found a 10 year old bag in my garage). SUPPOSEDLY, NO3 depletion helps getting deeper red in red plants, 2hrs aquarist has the brighter red plants I have even seen. It is just a difficult balance to find the right amount of fertilizer to add every other day to make sure NO3 is close to zero after one day but you don’t starve your stem plants.

I am familiar with 2hr Aquarist and have had a couple very successful planted tanks using his All-in-one fertilizer for EI style dosing. His information is fantastic and helped me tremendously when I first got into high tech tanks.

Lean fertilizing is amazing when it is dialed in, it just takes some trial and error. Also, lean dosing is really good for a tank with stem plants because the reduced growth rate reduces the amount of trimming needed. The guys at Green Aqua use this method too and their tanks are also incredible.

Good luck with the tank keep us posted!

[brewmaster15]

jake and Mitch,

About fertilization schedule, I am using lean water column fertilization same as in the 2hr Aquarist method. You might want to check it out, it is a great place for info on aquarium chemistry (https://www.2hraquarist.com) even if you don’t have a planted tank. Very methodical and scientific explanations.

I am relying on substrate nutrients, the bottom layer is fluorite from SeaChem (found a 10 year old bag in my garage). SUPPOSEDLY, NO3 depletion helps getting deeper red in red plants, 2hrs aquarist has the brighter red plants I have even seen. It is just a difficult balance to find the right amount of fertilizer to add every other day to make sure NO3 is close to zero after one day but you don’t starve your stem plants.

@Al,

Tank does not have a heater, it is around 74/75F (room temperature). I am going to add two nerite snails, they should take care of any brown algae showing up. Cyanobacteria is a different story, need to figure this one out as we go.

Also, I figured out most of the Pygmy Corys jumped out of the tank over time. Found one dead on the floor last night and I only have 3 left out of 8 fish after counting them. They are super playful fish, love to see them swim against the lily pipe water flow.

1-2 Mystery snails will help too.

[mwhite123]

1-2 Mystery snails will help too.

+1. Also can add a couple amano shrimp and otocinclus. Those with the snails make a very strong crew

[For100]

Thanks Mitch,

I am also a big fan of Green Aqua, I have seen most of their YouTube videos. In fact, my display tank design is a copycat of their Discus tank design from 2023.

You are absolutely right about trial and error when dealing with nutrients. I am dosing every other day and still goes to zero NO3 in the water column. I have not found the right amount yet, it is definitely not the amount in the instructions. (Too little). Consumption is through the roof, which is a good thing. I might use the same dose for awhile unless I see plants stop growing to see if red plants really become a deeper red.

I forgot to mention I am using the LED lights at 40% now, increments of 10% every week. So, I am sort of catching up to what the plants can process. But I won’t get greedy, it will probably stop increasing lighting to 60%. It will be too tedious to trim every week, but I hope to see good red plants too. Let’s wait and see.

[mwhite123]

Thanks Mitch,

I forgot to mention I am using the LED lights at 40% now, increments of 10% every week. So, I am sort of catching up to what the plants can process. But I won’t get greedy, it will probably stop increasing lighting to 60%. It will be too tedious to trim every week, but I hope to see good red plants too. Let’s wait and see.

It sounds like you got a good plan. Just gotta adjust your dosing to properly to match the 60% lighting intensity and you should be golden. The only tanks I ever went up to 100% lighting was when I was using the UNS Titan1 light which cant be adjusted. I had it hanging around 2 feet above the water on two different iwagumi layouts I had to reduce the intensity. How are you diffusing and measuring co2? In tank diffuser with drop checker? Couldn't tell from the video

[For100]

1-2 Mystery snails will help too.

Thanks Al,

I had mystery snails and they ate my carpet plant (monte Carlo), It disappeared in 2 days, I could not believe it.
But I know they do wonders on tanks with hardy plants (Anubia, ferns, swords).

[For100]

It sounds like you got a good plan. Just gotta adjust your dosing to properly to match the 60% lighting intensity and you should be golden. The only tanks I ever went up to 100% lighting was when I was using the UNS Titan1 light which cant be adjusted. I had it hanging around 2 feet above the water on two different iwagumi layouts I had to reduce the intensity. How are you diffusing and measuring co2? In tank diffuser with drop checker? Couldn't tell from the video

If you have pictures or video, I would love to see your setups. I was debating what to do: Iwagumi or Dutch. Ended with Dutch after watching some Green Aqua videos for nano tanks.

For CO2, I went all in….

In-line diffuser from CO2Art. It works much better than in-tank diffusers.

Forget about drop checkers, it is the most unreliable source of information. I am using the 1d pH drop method to make sure I have enough CO2.

CO2 injection is about 1 to 2 bubbles per second, paintball CO2 tank with Fzone solenoid valve. It turns on about 1hr before photo period starts and 1hr before sunset lights.

”It sounds like you got a good plan. Just gotta adjust your dosing to properly to match the 60% lighting intensity and you should be golden”. I hope I can do that without screwing it up along the way.

[brewmaster15]

Thanks Al,

I had mystery snails and they ate my carpet plant (monte Carlo), It disappeared in 2 days, I could not believe it.
But I know they do wonders on tanks with hardy plants (Anubia, ferns, swords).

Thats odd ... I know apple snails will but the only plants I ever had mystery snails eat is duck weed... I will have to file away your experience with carpet plant for the future!

[For100]

Thats odd ... I know apple snails will but the only plants I ever had mystery snails eat is duck weed... I will have to file away your experience with carpet plant for the future!

I did not know either, otherwise I would not have them in the tank.

[mwhite123]

For CO2, I went all in….

In-line diffuser from CO2Art. It works much better than in-tank diffusers.

Forget about drop checkers, it is the most unreliable source of information. I am using the 1d pH drop method to make sure I have enough CO2.

CO2 injection is about 1 to 2 bubbles per second, paintball CO2 tank with Fzone solenoid valve. It turns on about 1hr before photo period starts and 1hr before sunset lights.

”It sounds like you got a good plan. Just gotta adjust your dosing to properly to match the 60% lighting intensity and you should be golden”. I hope I can do that without screwing it up along the way.

Very Nice! I have only used in tank diffusors with drop checkers myself but Ill have to look into that method to track my co2 levels for the next tank I set up.

If you have pictures or video, I would love to see your setups.

Sure!

This is my last iwagumi layout with dwarf hairgrass.









This was a iwagumi with monte carlo (only 6 weeks old)



This was my first ever planted tank. It also house a dwarf caiman (sorry for terrible quality)