HELP ME! What have I done wrong?

[Liz Sagara]

Okay... so I set up my 20 gallon long tank for a planted tank and it's cycled... HOWEVER... now that I have my plants everything seems to be going wrong. I rinsed the substrate when I got it with dechlorinated water (the bag said that it contained live bacteria which is why it's packed in water) and yet... when you touch or disturb the substrate in any way it sends up a cloud of what seems to be dirt. This makes my filter make crazy buzzing noises and the fish none too happy I have one Female Betta fish and 2 Zebra danios in there (Yes I know they're schooling fish. They have a school but I thought it a bad idea to add 6 two inch fish to that tank all at once. It's cycled but only for one Betta fish). Now I got a shipment of plants in and the Balansae was rotting and the leaves weren't on it (something about them melting in my tank). BUT NOW THE ANUBIAS HAVE STARTED MELTING. The leaves are turning mushy (still green) but mushy. If you touch them... they fall off.

I got some Driftwood today and put it in there and currently ... can't see to the back of the aquarium for all the dust. I also got a couple bunches of lovely bushy Cobanba. Are they going to melt too? What causes melting of the leaves? How do I get the cloudiness out of my tank without killing the cycle?

Oh and (down the road) how do I sex German Blue rams? I want a pair and my LFS carries both males and females. I checked out thier stock today for future reference and want to know how to sex them. I've read that females have black in the pectoral fins and no blue in the patch on thier sides while males have elongated "mohawks", blue in the patch and less black on the pectoral fins? Yes?

 

[bbortko]

A lot of plants that I've owned melt at first and right about when I'm about to give up hope on then they come back. I remember reading somewhere that some plants need a little time adjusting to your water, but then again my memory sucks. As for the cloudiness, just keep up with your water changes and it will work itself out

 

[kdrun76]

Water changes do not hurt, slow down, impede or in other ways cause problems with a cycling tank.

Change your water!!!!

 

[drlower]

i usually rinse the crap out of plant substrates. even after heavy rinsing if you dig around alot you will stir up dust, but it does get better. melting of plants at first is pretty common. plants that are in bad shape can come back. trim dead stems and leaves with sharp scissors. if a root plant is really bad, you can cut them off completely and many will regrow. the best way to start a plant tank is to load it with inexpensive floating stem plants then thin them down later. if you throw in enough plants right at the start the nitrogen cycle in not so important. the real trick to these tanks is a balance between light, nutrients, fertilizers, co2. what is your lighting? any co2 or excell? any ferts?

 

[Liz Sagara]

I am using Eco complete substrate T5 RO lighting 36 wats 2 18 watt bulbs Flourish by Seachem no CO2

 

[Liz Sagara]

ALright so I shouldn't do more than my standard 25% water changes? Stir up the substrate a little before I do it to get the loose stuff out?

 

[kdrun76]

Who said 25% water changes were standard?

50% once a week on a properly stocked, cycled healthy tank. Change even more for over stocked, unhealthy or cycling tanks.

Understocked tanks that are fully cycled can have less changed. There is no "standard".

EX my 125 planted tank is understocked, I change 40% every 10 days or so. My 450 is heavily stocked and gets 60% changed every 5 days.

 

[wmpaul]

like said there is no standard.

when i started out i was also under the impression 25 - 30% was what you did but i later found out it all depends on the tank.

my 100 gets 50% every 7-10days and its understocked (just) but the stock is slowly creeping up.

my shrimp tank is massivly understocked and i change 30%

 

[Liz Sagara]

That's why I said MY standard. In my experience, with my understocked tanks (I.E. my ten gallon Betta tanks with nothing more than a Betta in them) if I change more than 25% at a time I get a slight ammonia spike of about .25 ppm. I document rigorously so I know that it happens EVERY time I take more than 25%. So does my understocked 20 long. I took 50% the last time I did a water change and I got a spike of 1 ppm of ammonia so I don't want to take more than 25% and risk a mini cycle especially when I'm adding more fish and trying to mature the tank. If it goes through a re-cycle then I have to start all over.