Hey, I just signed up on this site and I am new to trying planted aquariums.
I got a 30 gallon tall aquarium that someone abandoned and decided to set it up. Started looking at plants and went into a pet store that was selling aquariums for $1.00 per gallon. Before I knew it I made an impulse purchase of two more aquariums. I got a 20 Gallon tall and a 40 gallon long. I have all 3 tanks set up but I don't have anything in the last two other than substrate, water and an operating filter. Good grief is this suppose to be this addicting?
Anyway, I set up the first tank about 2 weeks ago and have a few plants in it. I saw a shop that was selling something called Water Onion for 3 small unsprouted bulbs for $6.98. The label identified the plant as Zephyranthes candidum. Well I have that plant growing a pot with maybe 150 bulbs but I know the plant as rain lily. I pulled out about 15 plants and spaced them out in the aquarium. they look like a miniature forest.
I also bought a moss ball, a Jungle Red Valisneria, an Anubias nana, an Anubias hastifolia, a banana plant, a bunch of Bocopa and something that looks like a type of Acoris. That last one was not labelled so I am unsure what that thing is.
A few days ago I set up a makeshift CO2 generator using a 2 liter pop bottle and sugar water with yeast. It took me a couple of days fighting with it to get the pop bottle completely sealed. Today the CO2 line is putting 3-5 bubbles of CO2 per second. I am wondering if that is enough to help. The CO2 bubbles go up the intake to the filter pump.
Unfortunately I also tried to put fish in this tank too quickly. I purchased several small shrimp (Algae eating shrimp and Dark Green shrimp) and about a dozen swordtails. The swordtails ate the green shrimp and proceeded to die. One swordtail is still kicking and if it ever dies I will buy more shrimp.
In the two weeks I've had the tank set up the algae has flourished. It looks like I will be doing a lot of glass scraping to keep it at bay.
I got a 30 gallon tall aquarium that someone abandoned and decided to set it up. Started looking at plants and went into a pet store that was selling aquariums for $1.00 per gallon. Before I knew it I made an impulse purchase of two more aquariums. I got a 20 Gallon tall and a 40 gallon long. I have all 3 tanks set up but I don't have anything in the last two other than substrate, water and an operating filter. Good grief is this suppose to be this addicting?
Anyway, I set up the first tank about 2 weeks ago and have a few plants in it. I saw a shop that was selling something called Water Onion for 3 small unsprouted bulbs for $6.98. The label identified the plant as Zephyranthes candidum. Well I have that plant growing a pot with maybe 150 bulbs but I know the plant as rain lily. I pulled out about 15 plants and spaced them out in the aquarium. they look like a miniature forest.
I also bought a moss ball, a Jungle Red Valisneria, an Anubias nana, an Anubias hastifolia, a banana plant, a bunch of Bocopa and something that looks like a type of Acoris. That last one was not labelled so I am unsure what that thing is.
A few days ago I set up a makeshift CO2 generator using a 2 liter pop bottle and sugar water with yeast. It took me a couple of days fighting with it to get the pop bottle completely sealed. Today the CO2 line is putting 3-5 bubbles of CO2 per second. I am wondering if that is enough to help. The CO2 bubbles go up the intake to the filter pump.
Unfortunately I also tried to put fish in this tank too quickly. I purchased several small shrimp (Algae eating shrimp and Dark Green shrimp) and about a dozen swordtails. The swordtails ate the green shrimp and proceeded to die. One swordtail is still kicking and if it ever dies I will buy more shrimp.
In the two weeks I've had the tank set up the algae has flourished. It looks like I will be doing a lot of glass scraping to keep it at bay.
