Forgotten Path

Yes, this is very important... If you decide to go with aragonite or similar product, make sure you watch your pH/KH/GH closely. It took my 5 gallon only two days to reach levels I wanted.

You shouldn't need Excel. Since you have "low" light (as opposed to 3+ wpg found in high tech tanks), your plants won't be preforming enough photosynthesis to need elevated CO2 levels. And the bacteria breaking down organic material in the topsoil will also provide CO2, even before you add fish. I would try it without Excel.

Alex123

Dwarf sag I heard does fine at lower light however, they can grow tall as some have informed me. Maybe consider having the lower growing plants near the window to get the sunlight. Or have 1/4 area on both side of the tank have tall plants and the middle have low growing/grassy plants so that the sunlight don't get blocked by the tall plants. That 3-4 hour morning sunlight should be good enough for the plants that need more light, depending on how you setup the position of the tank it might work. Adding plant should not be too bad. It's not good to disturb the substrate but if you trim the roots before planting, it should not disturb that much. Now moving plants around when they are well rooted is a problem. If you must, it's probably better to trim around the roots so you don't pull up a large chunk of substrate in the tank.

Forgotten Path

How's it coming??

melauriga

[quote=Forgotten Path;468942]How's it coming??[/QUOTE

Some of the plants haven't arrived yet, so I actually haven't set it up yet. I'm planning on this weekend. Also, I bought some Miracle Gro Organic Choice potting soil to use instead of the topsoil. I think I read on another thread that Ms. Walstad and others have gotten pretty consistent results with it, and that makes me feel more comfortable.

Forgotten Path

Yeah, it seems pretty easy to find, and has worked great for me. Eyeball your ammonia if you plan to add fish right away, but otherwise you should have no problems. My ammonia was at 1 ppm for a while, but if there are no fish, this is just food for your new plants. And if they don't take care of it all your tank will begin to cycle (without fish, ain't it great?) and take care of the rest.
Let us know how setup goes! Looking forward to it.

melauriga

Ok, I set the tank up last night! I ended up using Miracle Grow Organic Choice potting soil. Picked out the larger pieces of bark, then read after I had filled the tank that I probably should have sifted it through a screen to get more out. So, as expected, tannins leaching out by this morning. Added charcoal to the HOB filter. I capped it with my plain gravel instead of fluorite (was concerned about the acidic soil plus iron-rich fluorite combination). I also added a piece of cuttlebone and some baking soda and epsom salts to increase hardness.

Plants include Echinodorus angustifolia, crypt lutea, crypt Wendtii 'Red', Hygro 'Compact', Valisneria nana, dwarf sag, Hygro difformis, java moss, ludwigia, and pennywort. The Hygro 'Tiger' I bought ended up looking not so good after all, mostly stems with few leaves, so I trimmed my other tank and got some rotala rotundifolia and rotala sp. green to replace the hygro. Also some water lettuce and what was sold to me as frogbit, but I think it is actually duckweed. I'm excited to be able to try the valisneria, as I can't grow it in my other tank with Seachem Excel added. I hope I have enough plants.

I found out my strip light doesn't work, the power button broke off and fell inside the fixture. Will have to run out on my lunch break and get a new one. Too bad, I was hoping to mostly use stuff I had laying around for this tank. I hope it will be ok with just window light for today.

No fish yet, I'm waiting to see how things go in the next week or so. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping the plants grow and I don't have any major algae breakouts.