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Planted aquarium learnings

Been 7 years since I’ve set up an aquarium. I had to leave my last aquarium at Hyderabad. Below shown is my old aquarium setup from 2013. A lot of things have changed and have been made easy nowadays to build a good scape but still a lot of scope for innovation.

2013 tank

After many weeks, I’ve my new aquarium. The new tank is getting ready & will update this post once fully setup. I thought of capturing these for future references & also might be a great way to learn. Some of these are basics but still, I kind of forgot due to the time. 

The mindset of the setup is that what you’re setting up is really fragile. A small mistake (not just because of you but due to external factors) result in losing a decent amount of money. So always start with a small one, I eventually settled on 60x45x45cms with 10mm thickness which I regret now. I feel 30x30x30cm is a great start!

New tank after 2-months:


Invest in basics. 

  1. Always go for clear or extra clear glass, the aquascape can be enjoyed for a long time with utmost clarity. 
  2. Clean water & having a mechanism to directly make the correction without any external dependencies. I bought ADA NA Water filter using which I can directly add water from tap connection. 
  3. I’d an old canister filter from SunSun HW302 & I continued with that. But if you can get a good filter, invest in that. Don’t go by the specification which filter companies advertise you’ll only get ½ of what they market. This is because filter companies publish the flow rate without media. When you add media, debris accumulate, & over age filter flow will come down. It is key to have good flow esp. those tanks with depth, else aquarium will have isolated areas with no water movements & fishes doesn't enjoy low flow water. I wish if there was a good brand which makes a canister filter with UV, temperature control & easy water change. Fluval FX series has water change options but doesn’t help with UV & temperature. 
  4. Get good filter media. ADA has one which is Bio-Rio. Bio Rio is the basic of biological filtration for beneficial bacteria to colonize. If needed NA Carbon can be added during initial few months. In unplanted tanks, biological filtration is essential for protecting fish from ammonium! However, it is not essential in planted tanks!
  5. I’d broken more than 3 glass lily-pipes. Hence I didn’t go with glass lily-pipe instead bought stainless steel. Stainless steel is easy to clean & maintain. 
  6. Don't rush in closing lights. Understand watt requirement based on the plants & pick one which can last long. I chose SunSun 500C ADS but later I felt i could have gone for a better Chihiros options.
  7. Use timers as much as possible. After searching online & unable to find a good solution, i got one custom made from a nearby electrical shop. I'd 2 plug points for direct power line & 2 plug points for one with timer.
  8. CO2 cylinders will need occasional refill, hence get easy to install solenoid & gauge. 
  9. I plan to get a good chiller sometime in future. This helps to maintain a steady temperature & ease out the stress caused due to temperature fluctuations.
  10. Every aspect is important but fishes & shrimp selection need utmost attention. I have a situation now where there is a cotton mouth fungus attack affecting the cardinal tetras. Strongly recommend using a UV sterilizing filter in any tank that contains new fish because it gives 2-weeks to develop antibodies & protective immunity!  
    1. Some diseases spread to the hobbyist when cleaning by getting into the bloodstream via a skin crack or wound. So I prefer to avoid kids during the cleaning but let them watch the process & help with some light weight tasks. Use 70% Isopropyl alcohol or hand sanitizers to clean up hands & maintenance tools like scissors etc.
    2. See if it is a delicate fish by looking at the temperature & ph range. Ensure that the ph/temp range for all the fishes & shrimps can be maintained in the tank. It is still a nightmare to measure the water parameters!!! Mi Water TDS Tester is one device I use.
    3. In most cases, males have better colors but ensure that you check the desired male to female ratio. 
    4. Mention the desired size to the shop keeper so that you don't end up with all fries. But note that you don't end up getting older ones either. Immunity slowly weakens with age, older fish to become increasingly vulnerable!
    5. You can raise healthy young from newly purchased infected fish which will die soon. But I would suggest not getting the females that are about to spawn because the males get aggressive during those times & bully other fishes in the tank. Though this is inevitable for fishes to spawn during the first few days isn't desirable. 
    6. New fishes have gone through a lot of trauma because of travel from breeder to the re-seller to shop keeper to hobbyist tank. So fishes/shrimps will be at a low immune level. Those with low immunity levels are prone to Mycobacteriosis. 
    7. Note that though UV sterilising filters are suggested, UV light only kills microorganisms that are suspended in the water. It will not kill the ones in tank debris, biofilms, or in infected fish.

 Design aesthetics with a peaceful ecosystem. 

  1. Get enough or more rocks before closing on aquascape. Have 5-6 more stones handy along with lot of small options. 
  2. Get more plants & learn about each plant growth. Esp. choosing foreground plants needs utmost care. Give equal consideration to foreground, middle & background plants. Each layer adds depth & dimension to the aquarium.
  3. Figure out the kind of fishes you’re planning. Ensure that you’ve enough plants so that shy fishes have enough hiding places.

Initial setup learning: 

  1. Avoid placing the aquarium near places where there is excess sunlight. The placement location will impact the algae growth & further result in limiting the aquarium light duration etc. Reducing aquarium light duration limit the # of hours you can enjoy the tank. 
  2. Place garden mat underneath the aquarium to protect the glass of aquarium and the surface the aquarium is sitting on. Mat helps increase the longevity of the aquarium by protecting the glass underneath the aquarium. The mat grips the bottom surface of the cube garden and helps prevent slippage from accidental bumping from people.
  3. Use color gradation in the backdrop films rather than regular white or black. 
  4. Go for good aquasoil like ADA etc. Use minimal aquasoil as much as possible without compromising the aquascape. Overuse of aquasoil costs money & will result in excess nutrients in the tank causing algae. 
  5. While mixing gravel and aqua soil you need some barriers to prevent mix-up. I couldn’t find any good solution locally & online. So, had to go without any barriers. 
  6. Use small rocks at the bottom of the tank if you have a slop with significant height towards the backside. This will help rocks & soil from drifting to front resulting in awkward height & scape. 
  7. Use more plants to avoid ammonia & algae shoots in the beginning. Esp. have some background stem plants initially as they will consume the fertilizers. 
  8. Use dry start if you have carpet plants as it is the hardest to plane and lifts off. 
  9. During the initial few weeks there will be algae attacks esp. diatoms. To control that do daily water changes, I used to do at time full water changes. Later after few weeks add Amano & Otto fish as they are the best algae eaters. 
  10. I used ADA Super 4, ADA Power sand basic, ADA Aqua soil Normal & then topped with ADA Aqua  soil Powder. Instead of using ADA Super 4 + ADA Power stand basic, I would strongly recommend using ADA Power stand advance as it contains more nutrients, Bacter 100, Clear super, & BC (Bamboo charcoal) powder.
  11. I'm using Green Brighty K for supplying potassium, Green Brighty Mineral supplying trace elements. Green Brighty Mineral contains a balanced blend of trace elements essential for healthy plant growth, such as iron (Fe), sulfur (S) and manganese (Mn). Supply trace elements at a very low concentration. The trace elements supplied to aquarium water are swiftly taken up through the surface of plant leaves. But if plenty of trace elements are supplied at a time, they are usually bonded to other substances or absorbed by filter media and eventually go to waste. Hence, it is effective to supply an appropriate amount of trace elements every day. After two months from the initial set-up, add Green Brighty Iron. It can deliver better effectiveness if it is applied together with Green Brighty Mineral.
  12. I got most of the plants from ADA stores & Sreepadma. I prefer ADA plants as it is small & tissue culture. Sreepadma plants will be larger ones & won't look good with other set of plants initially. Also ADA packaging is better!

Maintenance tips 

  1. Use plastic cups, while take water or pouring water into the tank. I’ve an instance where I used steel cup & accidentally hit the corner of a new aquarium which resulted in chipping of the glass! 
  2. Always maintain clear water. One of the major deterrents to water clarity is excess algae. Algae is necessary as some fishes lives on them but if it in excess will result in issues. So, we’re going to look at balance of algae rather than elimination or stopping algae growth. Water change, scraping of the algae from glass, leaves, rocks & adding algae eaters is the 1st step. Temperature, salinity, inorganic nutrients (e.g., phosphorus, nitrogen, and magnesium), or light are some of the criteria for algae growth. If nutrients are high & you can’t reduce it because for various reasons, add more plants to absorb nitrates/phosphorus. Also reduce the amount of fish food. Reduce the lighting hours if the tank is kept closer to places where there is enough of sunlight. You can also use for limited period the Immersible UV filters like SunSun JUP-23 for green algae bloom or its early signs. Hair & Black brush algae can at-times be controlled by slight increase in CO2. 
  3. To make weekly water changes easy I bought a pump (SUNSUN HQB-2000) which I keep outside in a bucket. After setting the outlet pump to drainage, I siphon the water from tank, connect the inlet to the pump & switch on the pump. It takes me 7-mins to take out 50% of the water. There-after I pour the water in using the ADA NA Water filter. While pouring the water I ensure that I pour into my hand before water hitting the tank this helps me to gauge the temperature of the tank & water getting added to the tank. If the water is warm, I generally wait till evening to do the water change. Totally taking up to 30-mins include the regular cleaning or trimming. I would like to bring this time even further.
  4. Switching off lights in the middle of day helps to generate CO2. If you then switch on the lights, plants generate more CO2 during the switch-off period. This also helps control the temperature & algae.
  5. Often people recommended to add nitrates to the tank for plant deficiencies. But you should learn the basics before you do so. Aquatic plants prefers liquid fertilizers for Nitrogen. Nitrogen is already there in Power Sand & Aqua soil. If needed, ADA Green Brighty Nitrogen or any liquid nitrogen is the best bet! Diana Walstad's book is also highly recommended! Refer her article here & below are key points from the article.
    1. Aquatic plants produces oxygen, purify the substrate, consume CO2, stabilize the pH & rapidly remove ammonium without nitrification’s deleterious side effects! Aquatic plants seem to prefer leaf uptake of ammonium as opposed to sediment uptake. This protects our aquarium fish! When Elodea nuttallii was placed in a mixture of equal parts ammonium & nitrates, the plant removed 75% of the ammonium within 16 hours while leaving the nitrates virtually untouched. Only when the ammonium was gone, did the plant begin to take up nitrates.  
    2. Light had no effect on ammonium uptake; plants took up ammonium at the same rate with or without light. Nitrate uptake requires light energy. For example, Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) took up nitrates in the dark at 1/3 the rate than it did in the light. 
    3. Any nitrogen added to substrates, such as in fertilizer tablets, can have bad & unintended consequences. For example, when nitrate containing fertilizers was added to a fresh soil substrate, the fish became sick from nitrite toxicity. Soil bacteria had converted the nitrates to toxic nitrites, which then entered the overlying water.
    4. Most hobbyists rely on filters for biological filtration via nitrification reaction to remove toxins from water. Nitrification reaction generates acidity & consumes oxygen. Every ammonium converted to nitrate automatically consumes two oxygen molecules (O2) & generates two acids (H+). The nitrifying microorganisms (bacteria & archaea) of biological filters gain the energy they need for their life processes solely from oxidizing ammonium to nitrates. Bacteria gain -84 Kcal/mol of energy from the two steps of nitrification.
    5. If nitrifying bacteria convert all available ammonium to nitrates, plants will be forced—at an energy cost—to convert all the nitrates back to ammonium. Plants will only take up nitrates when they are forced to. Thus, nitrates may accumulate in aquariums, even those with good plant growth. Ammonium actually inhibits nitrate uptake in a variety of organisms such as plants, algae, and fungi. For example, algae does not take up nitrates if the ammonium concentration is more than about 0.02 mg/l (milligrams per liter).
    6. All plants use the N from ammonium—not nitrates—to produce their amino acids & proteins. If a plant takes up nitrate, it must convert the nitrate to ammonium in an energy-requiring process called ‘nitrate reduction.’ Plants must expend essentially the same amount of energy (83 Kcal/mol) that the nitrifying bacteria gained in order to convert nitrates back to ammonium.
  6.  I would never recommend changing or doing any maintenance in the night as any issue happen it will be hard to find any open shops or help for fixing the issue.
I'll keep updating this as I learn more! Please share your learning, observation & feedbacks as comments.

Some videos from my new tank: