Advice for a newbie

G

ggrowney

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Apr 8, 2006
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So I have sort of built up a heavily planted tank without the proper research, but based on some probably OK advice. I have a 12 gallon nano cube (bow front) with a medium gravel substrate, nutrient content unknown - it came from Wal Mart. pH is 8.0-8.4 depending on the day. 2 corys and 6 neon tetra. Fully cycled, 0 everything. Water has been really cloudy forever - this is week 5 of the tank.

I have 4w/g of compact flourescent light.

I have planted the following and have been putting in small doses (about 1/2 of what is recommended of Tetra Flora Pride - dosing less because of cloudiness):

Echinodorus tenellus (2)
Cryptocoryne wendtii (2 - 1 red 1 green)
Java fern (1) - just a sprouting bulb
Egeria densa (2)
Cabomba caroliniana (2)

So far the plants look good. The crypts are definitely doing the best.

The more I get into this, the more I like aquatic gardening. I realize my pH is high for these plants. Any ideas on how to make this work. Have I created a working arrangement, or do I need to adjust something.

Any advice is appreciated.
 
your Ph is high for the neons also, i think they like 6.5-7.0 if I recall.
How many lights and whats the wattage on that?
 
Did you test your water for No3, and P? If you haven't, you should.

If your tank is fully cycled, just wait it out and see if the cloudiness goes away. Perhaps it's your substrate. Have you been moving or pruning your plants? Remember, when you do this, you should always give your tank a water change, otherwise, you'll end up with cloudy water.

You can use this: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php
to dose accordingly.

Do regular water changes at least once a week to reset your tank and then dose macros as needed.

HTH
 
Zeromason577 said:
your Ph is high for the neons also, i think they like 6.5-7.0 if I recall.
How many lights and whats the wattage on that?
Click to expand...
The lights are 2 x 24 W 6400k compact flourescents.

As far as the pH goes, I have gotten over a dozen pieces of advice along the lines that as long as you are not breeding pH for the fish is irrelevant and it seems to be holding up. My fish look and act great even though corys and tetras are inclined to soft water.

My concern is that with plants there is some sort of correlation with CO2 (not a chemist but I have read adding CO2 lowers pH). Do I need to add CO2. I saw a cheap product on-line that uses dissolved tablets. Is that advisable?
 
Regarding your plants & PH--I've been growing cryptocoryne wendtii, java ferns and egeria densa in high PH water (8.2) with no problems whatsoever.

You can lower your PH a bit by adding some (soaked) driftwood. The tannins that leach out can help to lower PH levels by a few points. I wouldn't advise messing too much with your PH with chemicals though. From what I understand, a STABLE, but imperfect PH level is better that a perfect PH that goes through ups and downs, and that is what may happen if you're constantly having to adjust it artificially.

4 watts per gallon is pretty high lighting without CO2 & fertilizer to supplement growth. My fear is that you might encounter algae problems with such high lighting...
 
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