Next, I drain most of the water back out (luckily I have several buckets - you'll see why I don't immediately throw the water out, just wait). Because this is going to be a planted aquarium tank, I want to have some rich fertilizer beneath the gravel substrate for the roots of the plants. In my case, I'm using Seachem's Flourite. It's a clay rich with iron, magnesium, potassium and other nutrients. Another good product is Dupla's Duplarit G. I've had a bad experience with Tetra's Initial D product and I don't recommend it (it doesn't list iron as being one of the ingredients anyway). Just follow the directions on the box and make sure you have a sufficient layer of gravel on top of the fertilzer (Flourite is an exception in that it won't leach into the water after it settles and you could actually use it in place of any gravel). I use the water that I've drained out to rinse off the Flourite - believe me, there's a LOT of dust that gets rinsed off. The gravel that I'm using is Este's "bits of walnut" - it's only 2-3mm in size and epoxy coated. This works fine for me and it's easier on both the roots of the plants (just push your hand through both large size and small size gravel rocks - which is easier?) and on the whiskers/ barbels of bottom feeders. Rinse this off too and then place it on top of the fertilzer layer.
The next step I do is fill the tank back up again. I attach a powerhead (in this case the Hagen Powerhead 201 with a Quickfilter attachment) to keep the water circulating. At this point, I also add some dechlorinator (Seachem's Prime) and I attach the heater (a Hagen compact preset 200 watt). This is a good time to get the heater set to the temperature that you want - since there aren't any fish in the tank, there's no chance of cooking them. I let the water sit with some Hagen's Cycle product for about 5 days. This is a liquid which contains nitrifying bacteria to speed up the "cycling" process. On the 5th day, I add on an external powerfilter (an Hagen AquaClear 200) from an established tank. This further speeds up the "cycling" process. If you are unfamiliar with the Nitrogen cycle, please read this article on the Krib.
After running the tank for 2 weeks, I'm
ready to add carbon dioxide, plants, and decorations into the tank.
(I would have actually have started this a few days sooner, however I had
to wait for my order of an additional Perfecto
double lighted hood). Carefully draw out a diagram of how the tank
should look when completed, and place the driftwood, plants, and rockwork
into the tank. I like to add these items with some water in the tank -
just be sure the consider how much displacement the rocks and driftwood
have and drain accordingly. I think
this is easier than planting first and filling the entire tank with water
afterward.
First, I plant a two anubias coffeefolia plants along the center rear and then add two anubias barteri into the corner. Next, I place the pieces of driftwood (which I've already tied java fern onto). The Wellaby wood is heavy enough to sink naturally after boiling. I plant some anubia lancelota next to the driftwood, and I plant some more anubias barteri along with some anubias nana around the sides and from of the driftwood. Planting anubias is simple - don't bury the rhizome. The last few plants I want positioned near the driftwood are some more java ferns and an african water fern - as with the anubias, don't bury the rhizome. I simply place several rocks on the roots of the african water fern. In my experience, bright lights are not good for the african water fern, so I position it in the front corner of the tank, where there is less lighting.
Many people believe that java fern grows better when it's tied down onto either wood or rocks, so with the remaining loose java fern plants that I have, I tie them to some rocks using regular cotton thread and place these into the tank. To cover up the thread and the rhizomes, I use small pieces of java moss.
I plant the water sprites in the left corner next. This plant grows very rapidly and is in my opinon the easiest aquatic plant to keep. You can let it float or plant in fully submerged - I've even grown it emersed, with only the water from the outflow of a filter splashing over it. It still lives if you have lower amounts of light and grows like crazy when you have bright lights. Young plantlets grow right on the older leaves.
I top the tank off with dechlorinated water,
add some liquid fertilzer (Seachem Flourish),
some calcium carbonate, potassium chloride, and some magnesium sulfate;
then I add in the "companion" fish. Keeping the lights off for an hour
when placing fish into a tank usually helps reduce the stress on them.
Usually I like to add a black background, but I had this aquatic scene
laying around, so I'll use it. I place the lights on top of the tank. The
lights are set on a timer. I will wait another few days and place the discus
fish into the tank.
Thanks for your interest! (No, I don't work for either Hagen or Seachem, but their products work for me).
