[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

My aquasoil is as old as my aquarium, it is from Jan 2019. I recently removed the top layer thinking it might have weathered with age and was clouding the water. Please suggest if it is due for a complete change

I was keeping away from Mollies and platies thinking that may affect the current healthy breeding population of guppies and shrimps. Do you think I can introduce them safely to the mix?

I will start planting based on your suggestion after replacing the aquasoil if that is needed

Your aquasoil is more than 4 years old and though your setup is very sparsely planted but still that is a lot of time. You should consider adding new soil specially at the back to give some height as well. All 3 stems plants suggested earlier root heavily so have atleast 2.5 to 3 inch substrate height at back. 2 other plants that work great in new setups is Elodea and Hornwort. They both grow like crazy. You can add them too at the back. I mean, anything that gives you a good lush green growth during the first few weeks would be your arsenal to fight any type of algae. Once everything is established and lush then you can figure out if you need to trim or remove the ones you don't like. By that time you would be in control!!

I have mollies, platies, danios and shrimps in my tank and platies are on a breeding spree. Do not have guppy females but I would say platies are peaceful enough to spare a few guppy fries in case they breed. You can add in dwarf platies once your plants establish so that shrimplets and fries have good hiding places. Then maybe add in mollies later. Livebearers are fun!!

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

Your aquasoil is more than 4 years old and though your setup is very sparsely planted but still that is a lot of time. You should consider adding new soil specially at the back to give some height as well

Thanks again... I will get moving on this, planning to add 3 liters of aquasoil as first step and then introduce the new plants, followed by platies and then molies

Do you recommend using this addictive along with other steps https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B09...PERJKUVX&psc=1

Please share if you have suggestions of the aquasoil, my plan is to pick this https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B01...WKHQZ3HN&psc=1

[iamswift]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

My aquasoil is as old as my aquarium, it is from Jan 2019. I recently removed the top layer thinking it might have weathered with age and was clouding the water. Please suggest if it is due for a complete change

Have you tried root tabs? Instead of chaging the whole substrate, root tabs add nutrition to the existing soil which the plants can taper.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by iamswift

Have you tried root tabs? Instead of chaging the whole substrate, root tabs add nutrition to the existing soil which the plants can taper.

Let me check this, I have not explored this option. On the other side, wondering whether the tabs will boost the algae growth as well

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Let me check this, I have not explored this option. On the other side, wondering whether the tabs will boost the algae growth as well

Any nutrient is food for algae. If plants are not absorbing them adequately then algae will. Roots tabs are also a good option if you feel plants are having nutrient deficiencies. The soil will provide some height to substrate for plants to root in as well since you mentioned that some soil was removed lately.

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Thanks again... I will get moving on this, planning to add 3 liters of aquasoil as first step and then introduce the new plants, followed by platies and then molies

Do you recommend using this addictive along with other steps https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B09...PERJKUVX&psc=1

Please share if you have suggestions of the aquasoil, my plan is to pick this https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B01...WKHQZ3HN&psc=1

I have stayed away from liquid carbon or any other chemical for algae control for now. They might do more harm than good if not used properly. You can avoid. Just get in enough plants and focus on making them grow. Believe me you won't need any other chemical algae control. I personally use Bunnycart and Finsnflora for ordering my plants and both of them do a good job of delivering them from Kochi to Delhi promptly and safely packed. Bunnycart has good delivery speed and customer service while Finsnflora has better plant quality and quantity.

ADA Amazonia, Tropica, Aquario Neo and Platinum are good soils. I have used Aquario Neo personally and am satisfied. You have chosen Platinum and can go ahead with it.

[audioholic]

I moved my two year old oscar to my farm pond and started off with a planted setup for the second time. The last time I had a planted setup it got heavily infested with algae when I was abroad. This time I started in November with this setup:


And this is the current situation. Good thing is I have somehow managed to keep algae at bay with some plecos even with 12hr lighting with an ADA Lighting setup.


Right now I am having serious trouble with snails after I got some plants from bunnycart and that seem to have contained snail eggs.

I initially wanted to have those low height plants for foreground, but decided to go with carpet plants of Monte Carlo type. Initially the spread of carpet plants was bad and they hardly showed progress. But I realised that they grow under the soil and I had to regularly move some of the soil to expose them. I want to get full foreground coverage with it to make the aquarium look less cluttered.

[badboyscad]

That is a nice planted setup.

Originally Posted by audioholic

Right now I am having serious trouble with snails after I got some plants from bunnycart and that seem to have contained snail eggs.

For snail control, you can introduce a couple of assassin snails or a couple of pea puffers, if you want more aggressive approach.

[Maverick Avi]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Right now I am having serious trouble with snails after I got some plants from bunnycart and that seem to have contained snail eggs.

I initially wanted to have those low height plants for foreground, but decided to go with carpet plants of Monte Carlo type. Initially the spread of carpet plants was bad and they hardly showed progress. But I realised that they grow under the soil and I had to regularly move some of the soil to expose them. I want to get full foreground coverage with it to make the aquarium look less cluttered.

That's a good setup and the plant growth you achieved in 4 months is encouraging!

Regarding snails, you can manually remove the ones you see. And feed less amount of food to the fishes so that little is left for these scavengers. Eventually their population will decrease to acceptable levels to not bother you. For future dip your new plants in potassium permangnate solution for around 10 to 15 mins before planting. That should take care of snail eggs and other pests.

It looks like you are not injecting CO2 and hence growing well known carpet plants would be tricky. Monte Carlo requires CO2 to flourish. I have had good success with Echinodorous Tenellus. It sends out runners in no time and creates a grass like carpet. Second suggestion would be my favourite plant pearlweed. It's not a carpet plant per say but once it starts growing it can be cut and planted across the entire foreground to form a great light green carpet. It grows tall so would require trimming but works well as foreground or midground plant. Last recommendation would be saggitaria subulata. Get good numbers and plant closely all across the foreground. It takes time to settle in but once it does its a no nonsense plant. I saw you had a few of these early on in your setup but don't see them in your final setup.

You would need to experiment with plants to see which ones thrive in your setup and then use them to your advantage.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by badboyscad

For snail control, you can introduce a couple of assassin snails or a couple of pea puffers, if you want more aggressive approach.

Thanks, I already have four Asassin snails but looks like they are not able to tackle the 100 snails that have sprung up and are multiplying However I always remove the snails that come up for air 10-20 at a time and that has some what controlled the numbers. The only issue with these snails is that they spoil the dark contrast of the foreground soil and increase the clutter. And the assassins are hardly seen doing their intended job except that I have seen a few empty snail shells.

Originally Posted by Maverick Avi

It looks like you are not injecting CO2 and hence growing well known carpet plants would be tricky. Monte Carlo requires CO2 to flourish. I have had good success with Echinodorous Tenellus. ...I saw you had a few of these early on in your setup but don't see them in your final setup.

You would need to experiment with plants to see which ones thrive in your setup and then use them to your advantage.

Thank you! CO2 was not in my consideration since I keep travelling and I might not be able to continuously maintain it. Hence I only wanted a natural setup with external filtration. Light is automatically timed for 12hrs a day and that has really made the plants flourish. Its only the monte Carlo that's really taking a while to grow. It does send runners but they aren't spreading so soon. But it's much better than my last attempt with tissue cultured plants since I have achieved more than 400% spread compared to the initial spots I planted. The other reason I prefer monte Carlo is that I wanted them to also climb onto the driftwood and give it a rustique and natural look. I hope that's doable. That along with the top of the small building I have.

In my last setup I had Sagittaria Subulata which grew and spread pretty well, but they don't pop-up as dense as I want it to be. Hence I moved the plants I had to the rear in the center of the tank along with some ferns. I am also not sure how to organise the ferns for an aesthetic setup so I have left them at the back to grow to good numbers and later I would do something with it.

I also had this other plant in the beginning whose name I forgot
(the one with flowery leaves that springs up every inch) and they grew so fast that I had to throw away a lot of excess growth. Hence I removed it completely.

[gadadhar]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Thanks, I already have four Assassin snails but looks like they are not able to tackle the 100 snails that have sprung up and are multiplying

Assassins did the trick for me, but the shrimp population dropped after introducing the assassin snails. I guess they were polishing the shrimp eggs, So I removed them once the snail population came to an acceptable limit

[badboyscad]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Thanks, I already have four Asassin snails but looks like they are not able to tackle the 100 snails that have sprung up and are multiplying

If you have hundreds of snails, then pea puffers are your solution. It ll take only a few days for them to get all the snails.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by badboyscad

If you have hundreds of snails, then pea puffers are your solution. It ll take only a few days for them to get all the snails.

But I have a collection of exotic guppies which might be harmed by the puffers?

[badboyscad]

Originally Posted by audioholic

But I have a collection of exotic guppies which might be harmed by the puffers?

IMHO, pea puffers wont harm other fishes as long as they are well fed. Once they are done with snails, you would have to feed them frozen or live blood worms.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by badboyscad

IMHO, pea puffers wont harm other fishes as long as they are well fed. Once they are done with snails, you would have to feed them frozen or live blood worms.

I have a lot of guppy fry which might be consumed by them as well. And I also read that the pea puffers are listed as an endangered species. Are they sold in Aquarist shops? I need to check with mine since I have hardly seen these fish sold anywhere.

[badboyscad]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Are they sold in Aquarist shops? I need to check with mine since I have hardly seen these fish sold anywhere.

Dont know about shops, but you might find them with some sellers on fb.