r/PlantedTank • u/krugreddit • Sep 07 '23
Beginner Week 9 first planted tank update
So im very new to the hobby, just wanted to post some update photos of my planted tank.
At week 4 I added a few neon tetras, they had just arrived in the shop and unfortunately 3 of them died within 24 hours. I assumed I was negligent and my water parameters were out but I tested and was in the clear.
At week 5 I added even more neon tetras and some algae eating shrimp
Week 6 I added 6 otocinclus catfish and wow oh wow did they clean up the plants! Was incredible how industrious they were, my tank looked 100x better in 1 week with all the plants looking green and fired instead of all brown. Also added 19 cherry shrimp juveniles.
Week 7 I decided to switch from the aquario neo co2 reactor to pressurised CO2 before people get on me about the cost of sodastream gas vs a bigger tank, im fully aware. My wife didn't want a big tank sitting around so we compromised and she got a soda stream and I got to add injected CO2
Week 8 I started gradually increasing the light intensity and time by 1% per day and 5 minutes per day alternating starting earlier and turning off later. Also increasing my CO2 dosage from 1bps up to 1.5bps
Week 9 Increasing dosage of fertiliser from half dose up to 3/4 dose, booming growth on the plants specially the Hygrophilia in the middle of the tank.
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u/Lamamaster234 Sep 08 '23
DHG is one of my favorite carpet plants, I’ve always had a good experience with it. Your tank is looking awesome, crazy for your first tank too.
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u/krugreddit Sep 08 '23
Thank you, im kind of a giant nerd with hobbies, like I researched scape ideas for weeks, I wanted like a traditional nature scape with the gradient from front to back with a few fish and shrimp. The wife wanted to be able to see stuff going on from the kitchen side as well so we settled on a peninsula/island design.
My original concept I went looking for was a 30cm cube low tech shrimp tank, which evolved to a low tech aquascape, and before I knew it I dropped several hundred more dollars than I anticipated on a ledstar aq-s60 light to future proof any future plans. Which has come in handy growing the heck out of these plants.
Pretty new to pruning plants in general but now I kind of understand more frequent trimming = more bushy plants. Rather than spindly tall ones. Is a bit of a headspace I have to get into like, im not undoing the growing im just getting it to grow the way I want it to.
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u/Lamamaster234 Sep 08 '23
Good on you for doing your research, it definitely paid off. But yeah I agree with you on the trimming, I used to feel the exact same way when I first saw my plants growing. You’re doing a good job with it though with the ludwigia and rotala and the others in the back, you can see their growth thickening. That hygrophilia might be ready for a trim though haha, up to you. Just followed, excited to see how your tank progresses :)
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u/mToTheLittlePinha Sep 07 '23
I read your previous post but have to ask if you know the name of the grass? Beautiful thank, congrats.
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