Unlabelled Planted Aquarium - /r/plantedtank's Weekly Random Acts of Kindness!

March 09, 2019
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Planted Aquarium - /r/plantedtank's Weekly Random Acts of Kindness!

/r/plantedtank's Weekly Random Acts of Kindness!

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 02:04 PM PST

The Purpose:

We all perform tank maintenance. Sometimes, perfectly good plants end up in the trash because they simply outgrow their limited environment. Why not share these plants with another hobbyist? This monthly thread offers a space where buyers and traders can congregate, promote biodiversity, and make the world better.

Offering other aquarium-related items for sale or trade is also acceptable, but keep in mind this is a "Random Acts of Kindness" thread. All equipment and plant-life should be offered in either trade or for as cheap as is possible.

If you'd like to offer your homemade ferts, foods, or other equipment for retail sale, please visit the plantedtank.net's forums. Posting retail items for sale is not appropriate in this thread and those comments will be removed with a polite warning.

The Rules:

1. If you would like to post a "WTB" (want to buy) or ISO (in search of), you must also offer items for RAOK or trade in the same comment. "WTB/ISO" posts that do not offer anything in return will be removed to keep this thread in line with its intended purpose.

  1. Sellers: prices are encouraged to be as low as possible. These are plants you were willing to throw out, after all. Making a profit is not what this thread is about, and posts selling items will be removed. For clarification, "selling" is defined as asking for monetary compensation above and beyond the cost of shipping and packaging.

  2. Buyers: you will be responsible in covering the cost of shipping, at least. If a buyer is happy with the sale, please consider offering the seller more for their time spent packing and shipping.

  3. Please use a third-party payment organization like Paypal to conduct transactions if it can't be done in person. This ensures the security of the buyer.

  4. Always be wary of online scams. /r/PlantedTank, the mods, and Reddit hold no responsibility for your private transactions. You are liable. By participating in this thread, you agree to this.

  5. The transaction details should be conducted via PM as reasonably as possible. DO NOT POST ANY PERSONAL INFO. Posting even your own personal info will result in a warning, and then a ban.

  6. Sellers are welcome to use creativity and fun when offering their stuff. Pick a number, favourite colour, most unusual story, etc.

  7. Don't forget about /r/AquaSwap! Feel free to cross post between their sub and ours to maximize your advertising power.

Buyer/Seller Feedback:

Did you have a remarkable experience with a seller or a buyer? Please message the mods and let us know, whether your feedback be good or bad.

Shipping Instructions:

  • Please review this thread for some insight on how to properly ship plants.

Are you looking for the most recent RAOK posts? Click here.

Please let the mods know if you have any suggestions to make this better!

Disclaimer: Some plants are illegal in certain areas. It is up to the buyer to determine whether or not importing a specific species of plant is acceptable in their state or country. The moderators of this subreddit assume no responsibility in the importing or exporting of illegal plant life.

submitted by /u/AutoModerator
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[FTS] I really miss this setup :(

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 06:54 PM PST

I've let my java fern do their thing for a few months and now I have a jungle with plenty of hidey holes ��

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 07:14 AM PST

A new Wabi Kusa.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 03:16 PM PST

Betta Boi enjoying his new tank.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 06:48 PM PST

Our store pet, Bernie, excited after trimming his lawn

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 10:15 AM PST

Growing out nicely!

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 08:15 PM PST

Day 108. UNS 45s.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 08:41 PM PST

UNS 30C @ ~7 Months

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 07:20 PM PST

My favorite day of the week. Fts Friday. 29 gallon with “mangrove” pathos plants

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 05:58 PM PST

My crazy 55gallon tank.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 04:29 AM PST

Almost two weeks into DSM... an experiment in patience.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 02:22 PM PST

Dwayne Johnson 4.1g UNS Featuring Rotala Sp. Manipora / Sp. Indica . Thank you Aquaria! (Bellevue, Wa)

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 02:59 PM PST

Day two

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 10:25 AM PST

Small teaser of my nano aquarium

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 05:02 AM PST

Two weeks in. Will probably move some plants next water change.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 12:22 PM PST

Tank update

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 01:31 PM PST

Plant ID? Grabbed at a LFS

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 09:33 PM PST

FTS 75 gallon

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 10:57 AM PST

Friday water change

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 11:31 AM PST

Any way to rescue melted hornwort?

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 11:26 PM PST

I had a large shrimp and then snail die off; I suspect due to my city suddenly increasing the chlorine in our tap water I didn't dose with stress coat well enough and should have let the water age a bit as well. It's also possible that my shrimp, which were all about 1 year old, just... died naturally, and then that caused an ammonia spike, which killed my very sensitive mystery snail, and I didn't notice her rotting because she was in the back and I've had a busy week--- killing my nerite snail, and rotting out my hornwort. Either way it is due to my irresponsibility. My ammonia is at about 1.5 ppm and my nitrate is at 0, nitrite at 0. I'm doing a big water change as soon as I can run to the store and pick up some water (I don't trust the tap atm).

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My hornwort is pale green-white and the strands aren't connected, just all dispersed hairs floating in the top of the tank. Has anyone had it recover from such a sorry state? I'd hate to lose what is about 1/4 of the greenery in my tank while also mourning the loss of my entire cleanup crew, some of whom (the snails) I was fairly attached to.

submitted by /u/throwafuckfuck
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Brown diatom algae in newly set up tanks - a beginners trap!

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 05:44 AM PST

Brown diatom algae in newly set up tanks - a beginners trap!

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https://i.redd.it/8gc38muifwk21.jpg

Background

So I've recently set up a 350 litre (75 Gallon approx) high tech planted tank (see above), and I wanted to share my experience in the hopes I can help people out a bit with brown diatom algae.

about 2 weeks after I set up this tank, I started to get algae issues quite badly. I was seeing brown diatom algae in its stringy, cotton wool like form, and its dusty covering form. It started on the rocks, and spread to the substrate and plants quite quickly, alarmingly so! However, DON'T PANIC!

The Trap

When this happens, it's easy to panic, and make some basic mistakes, like adding all sorts of chemical additives to try and clean the problem up, and jamming lots of algae eating livestock in to counter it. This is only treating the symptoms, but not the cause. You may even consider a full teardown and re-scape, which is overkill!

First we need to ID what the problem is, and start eliminating variable.

The easy to eliminate variables

You'll also hear people saying it's down to too much lighting, not enough light, not enough fertz, not enough CO2 and poor circulation etc etc. So the tendency is to go ahead and start fiddling with all these, and this often makes things much worse. Stability it always key in a planted tank! These are things you should get in shape as part of setting up the tank and getting it dialled in, and then try not to fiddle with them too much unless absolutely necessary!

- CO2 - add a drop checker to your tank and make sure it's showing as lime green. Set it to come on 2 hours before your lights come on, and set it to turn off 2 hours before you lights turn off. then leave it

- Circulation - remember we are talking circulation here, not flow (so forget those power heads and invest in a bigger filter!). Your filter should be turning over the entire aquarium volume, 10 times an hour. Get suitable filters, keep them clean and leave them.

- Fertiliser - Dose the correct amount as shown on the bottle, do it daily and keep it consistent.

Once you have all these things dialled in, then we can have a look at a guide for what is probably the more realistic cause of your brown algae problem.

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Brown Diatoms - a guide

ID

This is very common in newly set up tanks, from the first few weeks or months. It can appear as a brown dusty covering on flat surfaces like tanks sides, substrate and decor, but it can also appear as a brown fluffy cotton candy like mass. When removed from the tank it is a slimy brown mess (unlike green hair algae which retains its hair like structure out of water).

here's some pictures.

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on the substrate

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on the glass and plants

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Cotton candy form on the plants

The Root Causes

This algae is normally down to 3 main factors in newly set up planted tanks.

  1. Ammonia and silicates - This can be down to tank cycling not being completed, or it could be down to ammonia leeching from your aqua soil substrate. Also, all those lovely plants you have bought were grown in the open air with just their roots in water. Now you have completely covered them in water, they will need to grow a new type of leaf adapted to being submersed. This means that the leaves you have on them when purchased, will inevitably die off, and in some cases (like with crypts) they will literally melt away. All this rotting plant matter causes a lot of ammonia. The Fix - Remove any leaves that don't look healthy, be brutal and cut them back as far as you can, and of course remove the trimmed leaves from the tank. Then do large water changes (50%) at least 3 times a week to remove the dissolved organics. The water changes will help remove the excess nutrients your aqua soil is leeching, any ammonia from dead vegetation and the extra silicates that can leech from gravel, sand and stone decor. NOTE: There is some debate about wether silicates play that big a role with brown diatoms, but either way, water changes will get rid of them so it's a safe bet. Also try to avoid stirring the substrate up with constant replanting and fiddling!
  2. Too much Light - Too much light will cause the algae to grow out of control, especially as nothing is really competing with it at this early stage (see 3 below). The Fix - Simply shorten your photo period to 4-6 hours, not the 8 hours you have probably set it at. When the plants are rocking, you can extend it again. If the problem isn't too bad, you could consider having a break in the photo period (e.g. 4 hours on, 2 hours off, then 4 hours on again), but I'd advise just one shorter period in most cases. You can also add some surface floating plants to the mix to add shade if you like.
  3. Lack of Competition - Your plants are currently transitioning to their aquatic leaves, and putting down new roots. During this period of adapting to their new environment, the plants are not competing with the algae efficiently. There also wont be any green algae species in the tank to compete with the brown algae yet. The Fix - Patience and hard work. Remove the algae as best you can using a syphon to suck it up, cut back any unhealthy leaves from transitioning plants, and do frequent large water changes (I did 50%, 3 times a week). Now wait... give the plants time to transition, and time for the green algae to colonise. The brown algae will go away by itself in time. Just don't freak out and make the problem worse! You can also add some easy stem plants that grow like crazy and compete with the algae right away - e.g. Vallis, Myriophyllum, ludwigia etc

Summary

Don't freak out! instead, keep your tank clean, do your water changes, and have patience. the brown algae will go away by doing the basic hard work and waiting, and your plants will bounce back in force eventually!

Hope this helps someone!

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Here are some examples of plants as you buy them, and what they look like when they have transitioned for reference.

Crypts

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When Purchased (notice the paddle shaped leaves)

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When transitioned (notice the spear shaped leaves)

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Swords

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When purchased (again paddle shaped leaves)

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When transitioned (Spear shaped leaves)

submitted by /u/Kyp_15
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Need help/ideas

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 10:27 PM PST

I have a 10 gallon tank that holds 2 bettas and I've decided to turn it into a planted tank but idk where to start I also have a rgb stone bubbler I would like to incorporate

submitted by /u/baked_beanzz
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All bba must die.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 01:59 PM PST

Fresh scape last night, any low tech ideas for the foreground? Thinking S. repens?? Still looks a lil bare for my liking.

Posted: 08 Mar 2019 03:14 PM PST

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