WHEN Should You Add Plants To A New Fish Tank? + Cycling Your Planted Aquarium: Tips & Tricks. 

Just started a new tank last week. Had plants put in from day 1. So far a lot of the leaves have begun melting. I've added liquid fertilizer and root tabs even from the beginning, along with aqua soil mixed into a sandy substrate. I'll see if the plants survive. Right now, it's too early to tell. There is no fish in the tank just yet.

@@logankue9627 "melting" is very common in a lot of plant species, and most of the time the plant makes a full recovery, crypts are especially prone to this

​@@logankue9627go and watch father fish👍

I had my crypts melt the first time i tried them. The ones in my 20 took right away no problem and are still doing great. But the ones in my 5gal.....It took a few weeks so i was surprised as i thought itd be a little sooner if they were gonna melt, but oh boy did they. I did as youre supposed to and trimmed any dead leaves, but left the root system buried. I wouldve bet any amount of money they were done. It was literally a tiny nub of stem for some. About a week or so later i saw a couple teenie tiny sprouts. Ok. Thats cool but still i thought theres no way right? About a month later beautiful lish green crypt wenditi. 2 yrs later still going strong.

Also some of the melting may actually be due to the ferts. Too many nutrients can burn the root systems out before they have a chance to really take. Especially since you have soil, root tabs probably arent even needed yet. It could be nutrient overload for them. But hang in, theyll come back bigger badder and more beautiful than ever!

24/7 lol

Thank you. And right on! Ecosystems not just fish and plastic plants, baby!

So true! I think we all feel that way though... and its why i still get excited every day

Glad I could help! Welcome 🙏 and please feel free to ask questions or share cool stuff you learn around here 😀

Glad you enjoy it! My pleasure and honor 🙏

@tree You took the words out my mouth he explains in a way we could understand

Glad you guys like my brain words lol... or word brain? 🤔 ...okay here,... im glad we all think alike! Cheers

Glad it was helpful!

Glad you like them! Thank you

Amen

Glad you liked it!

I appreciate that! thanks

I appreciate that so much. 🙏 thank you

Awww thanks. I appreciate it

Oh wonderful! So glad to hear it! Thanks for the update. Have a wondeful Sunday!

My pleasure!

So that is a nano pencil fish...new species so far just called the Guyanan Red fin pencil or Guyanan Dwarf Pencilfish.... i should have had polish on last night lol.... dirty nails...ew

Lovely plant.... looks best in low nitrates and with higher light and ideally co2...but even just low nitrates will help that one show off its golden and green veins and nice round little leaves

Agreed. I pretty much always suggest plants right away... and nutrients in some form. But for those folks who dont want plants, or have a rift lake/hard water tank, i figured id give my long answer, while also secretly trying to hint at the fact that they should just start with plants lol

Heyo!! Good to see you sir!

Yes sir ...I'll be back around again for sure!!!✌️💯

Good idea

That works great

Im going to answer this in a video if " common aquarist question"

Glad to hear it. Best of luck...tomorrow (fri) around 430 or 5 pm is the livestream pacific time, if you have more questions

Thats awesome! I bet there's some interesting ones. Different species have all sorts of different shapes too!

Fair enough! Thanks for watching. I usually say..."cram all the plants you can in...and toss in a few tiny but sturdy fish" ... this was my plan B.

Ive actually done this as well...(also just carefully reused some aquasoils too) but yeah, its basically the same as a root rab or adding substrate plus a liquid fertilizer...so if youve got access to the material and can spare it... GREAT IDEA! 👍

Well that is an idea new to me that I think I'll try:) Thanks for sharing.

So i dont know all the variants but any that lack chlorophyll....like pinto or albino, those need extreme co2 and liquid fertz to a point that its going to negatively impact fish and shrimp... but emersed they can get root/well rhizome technically...energy. but the darker colors and sparkling ones should be okay submerged, you just may loose some of the cool looks and end up with a plant that looks like plain anubias in say...6 months or so

@@Fishtory that makes lots of sense! I was contemplating having it right about the water line so it can kind of choose it’s own immerse/submerse journey lol. Thanks so much!

You won’t get an infestation of nerite snails. They only breed if you have both a male and female and the water has to be perfect for them to breed. And that takes brackish water. Kinda hard to breed nerite snails really.

So i do like to cap my active substrates...to lock that nutrient content in longer. But you can also just let it saturate the water column over a few weeks...by not capping...and especially if job have good lighting and or co2, youll have an isnsanely strong month or so of growing...especially if you plan it with co2 and light... you can carpet things very easily

I'm new. Just added 1/4 inch. It brightened up the tank over the dark soil or Amazonia soil. I like it better.

@wakingforbacon6439 perhaps I wasn't clear.. I'm aware that nerites won't breed in freshwater, as I said they're not really available and i won't be spending $30 on ONE, I'm concerned that if I get ramshorns there will be an explosion, (i can get ramshorns here 30 for $10)

If your doing weekly water changes and have high light...i would recommend it, for colors in plants and faster nitrate absorbtion. However medium or low light.. then no... its not necessary unless the majority of your plants dont have planted roots ( a tank thats just java fern, and anubias...then, yes id add something once a week or so still). So with high light and co2, if you have a high tech tank running co2... id honestly recommend that 90% chance - you are skilled and knowledgeable enough to E.I. dose or spot dose for deficiencies... most plants will show warnings like the nutrient deficiency posters online...and you can go get potassium...or nitrates ..or turn co2 down.. add iron or whatnot... and thats why i like ADAs line of micros...since youll never sort out what is missing from trace elements without expensive water testing. So its not a bad idea to dose those once every week or two...then potassium, nitrogen, iron, co2(carbon), magnessium, calcium or phosphates you can either add and water change weekly each time...or just look for the signs of deficiencies on leaves and in color.... maybe i should mention all this for a video. Thanks for asking.

@@Fishtory a deeper dive would be interesting and probably a popular topic. I don’t use many stem plants so I don’t think I necessarily need it on my medium light tank. I appreciate the thorough response! ❤️

Sounds like a good plan, good light is important. How about get some Creeping Jenny? You can get it as a ground cover at the garden shop so it should be cheap, and of course it will emerse I think. Alex just told me about it and I have a lot and put it in my tanks and it is doing great, melting a little, but doing solid.

And I would say in my opinion if you can take the potful of soil and root and just grab it up and stuff it down and cover it up with the sand so that not too much dirt is floating around, that would be best would be to keep the soil from the garden center, but if you want to work off or brush off all the dirt and just plant the roots that will work too, but it won’t feed your substrate. The other side is can you deal with your tank being muddy, or more like stirred up. If you put a soil and root ball in the fish should really be okay with the soil in the water. If it doesn’t clear up in a day or so it means you either don’t have enough filtration OR you don’t have enough settling - your tank should always be settling, if it isn’t then it is misbalanced or you don’t have enough filtration, but you will be better served IMO with light energy to feed the settlement of your system. What I am saying is put dirt in your tank and let it grow over it, give it Time.

Great questions... both probably merit a video i should cover both this week, since its complex and there are like 5 ways you could reset ...everyone will tell you "the right way" lol.... but bottom line, if you can move fish and shrimp for a few days, its ideal...if not, dechlorinator, working quickly in a mostly drained tank...replace substrates....or root tabs ...then cap substrate with an inch or two of sand or silt...fill tank using a strainer or something to reduce splashing... let sit a few hours...then do an 80% water change again to remove whatever leached up during all the muddy digging around. Thats my method lately.

Add some ottos

Air trapped in the wood...algae making oxygen and co2 anddddd probably bacteria, mold or yeast creating gases tll

Koi pearl scale :)

That’s why I’m always buying plants. Eventually I find one that won’t die on me and it becomes my bestie lol!

Have you tried duckweed? DON'T!!!! lol one somehow got into my tank and it spreads way too fast. I've had good luck with pearlweed as an easy plant.

@@VASHtheSTAMPEDE_ I am still fighting a (winning) battle against duckweed I bought a few fish and my fish shop had a few in the plastic bag. I was busy hunting every bit down for weeks. I had to remove all my floating plants and used a wave maker to stir the surface water after that. It was clear, came back and i never added floating plants again. The floating plants are now in a pond and i still see bits of duckweed zzzzzzz

@@Bramblerose21 For me it was sword plants and all types of dwarf variaties of it. They are very hardy and the grass types even send out runners. Everything else dies or does not thrive! 😔😭

@@EuroGupper meanwhile every sword I’ve ever looked at becomes a pile of jelly lol! Ngl I’m a little jealous!

Yes fish poop and debris aka mulm... will turn sand or gravel into a matrix of active substrate...however the sand or gravel will not contribute minerals or anything unless it is limestone or crushed coral/shells in it's makeup. Excellent question

@@Fishtory thank you for your reply.

Sometimes. If you live in a place that freezes in winter...its unlikely that it is an aquatic adjusted moss. But there are lots thatll work in tropical regions

Sorry youtube is awfull

I've never had it happen in 4 years of several groups together... but i have not read of any reason they couldnt cross anatomically...perhaps theres a genetic reason? Or perhaps it occurs but only very rarely. But the point is.... no its not an issue to keep them together, other than malawa often out reproducing the tangerines like 5 to 1 and then stealing food

@@Fishtory okay thanks 👍. Some baby tangerine tigers were on a plant I put in the tank, I didn't notice them till the next day.

Welcome to the community my friend!

Some species are "emersed" growers... meaning they can grow with roots in a tank. But it's different for every species. Research them and look for thr words emersed or emerged in the description... there are also true aquatic orchids .... but I believe they're fairly rare

Dwarf lily? You may just have a rotten bulb if its floating due to an air pocket. Or do you mean red root floaters? Those shouldnt be planted...and need very still water and strong light... low nitrates bring out the red colors most

@@Fishtory dwarf Lilly! That's it. It has a bulb which sits on the top of my substrate. Doesn't float. It shoots out little plants that seem to break off and float. Almost have little roots on it when it does. I would like to propagate. I kept them floating to see if roots get longer. Nope they die. Also, tried planting them and no success.

Great Question. I can logically think of an answer...but I don't know for sure... let me get back to you haha

So I think the 3.0 by fluval is top notch for most hobby needs... it's 180- 220 or so for the 24 or 36 inch I believe , the next up would be aquarium coop and or hygger with hygger being more controlled in settings, and a bit less warm looking...more blue sky tone...while aquarium coop has warmer light and both run more in the 120 range...beyond that...get 6500k LED flood lights for outdoors at home depot or lowes... they're strong and have no settings, but will grow plants , they don't cast as wide so you need one for each 12 inches of tank basically....but that'll be high light if you do. They are 20 bucks a piece. Cheers

Likely you are running on on phosphates and or potassium. Look for a supplement or buy those 2 fertz... hopefully itll recharge their growth

Same here

What light do you use? Having a fluval 3.0. Twinstar or kessil is my main recommendation if you can afford it... it ratchets up your possibilities of growth and colors by 2 fold basically. But you do need to introduce the microscopic critters... check out my microfauna diversity balanced ecosystem video for more on that, or any of my other live culture videos...otherwise this process takes years.

@Fishtory I use 2x Oase Highline 400/600 premium led (red, blue, warm white, cold white). I suspect that the algae growth indicates that the lights work. I cut the hours down a bit recently and dimmed the lights by 20% to get the algae growth under control. My swordplants and their dwarf vairants and grass type that sends out runners like no tomorrow and hydrocotyle verti seem to do just fine. Everything else such dies after a while. I don't get it. Cambomba types, Alternathera types. They all last a few weeks and than lose their leaves and than theh stems follow) I have hardwater, 28°C 82.4°F (i keep Discus fish) I tried to introduce daphnia, bloodworms in the substrate etc but because my plants tend to die they lose the cover needed to survive. Also I already added pond water from the canal behind my house. Dirted substrate capped with sand (about 3 inches total) Maybe i just need to hold out and wait till the plants that do manage to grow fil up the tank more to provide cover for the fauna

Doesnt matter. Its preferences.... but look up " dry start method"... itll save you some headaches

@@Fishtory thank you

They will root looking for nutrients... but there need to be nutrients for some types of plants. Pothos is a vine that lives off moisture in the air if need be. Many aquarium plants need fertilizers or months of fish poo and debris to feed the nitrates and nutrients. The water column won't harm the plants. But they may slowly starve if it's a plant that wants lots of " food" .

Yeah i personally have enjoyed just using earth from my yard or local parks etc. That being said, if its rich soil in decompositional matter it could take a procedure of 2 to 4 weeks up to 8 or 9 until all the ammonia is gone

@@Fishtory Most of it is actually ammonium and not ammonia. It reads the same on the test kit. When using potting soil, you "seed" filtration bacteria and then watch for the nitrite and nitrate spikes.

I do not currently. I have it set up, but have not run it for about a year due to traveling and the speed at which things grow already...the fish get crowded too fast. But if i start a new aquascape, ill often use co2 to get a carpet going or bright colors in the plants

​@Fishtory thank you for your quick answer. Waaaaaaoooo I hope I can get my thanks that loaded some day. I love how it looks full of plants that you can't see the back of the aquarium and the fish are in the front. Thank you from a Venzuelan living in Chile inspired by you to fight addiction.

Lagenandra meeboldii silver powder or barclaya longifolia

True. But i just take my chances beyond a dip and some time in QT

Mulm :)

Probably true

Hmm do you have hard water or soft?

I wouldn't stop feeding but the other stuff sounds good. Ive sucessfully kept 5 fish in a 5 gallon only feeding them microorganisms i cycled the tank with...scuds, algae, protazos and daphnia, nematodes, planaria etc. That being said they were platties and eat algae....and little micro fauna, so it worked...for angel fish or plecos, it would have failed miserably