It has been four weeks since the tank was setup. Plants have grown very well with lush green all the time. There was very minimal algae issue happened in the tank. Since the tank has no fauna yet, I increased the CO2 injection rate to 2bps for 8 hours a day. Lighting time also increased to 8 hours a day, started one hour after CO2 injection and ended one hour after CO2 stops.
First trimming for the right background of Heteranthera zosterifolia (aka Star Grass) was done since the branches grew very fast and even touched the surface water. I trimmed them until quite short to make them become busier.
Heteranthera zosterifolia before trimming.
Heteranthera zosterifolia after trimming
Star Grass leaves were very soft and gentle, yet the colour was lush green. Star Grass is one of the fast-growing plants recommended for planted tank at initial stage since it would be able to absorb and consume excessive nutrient in the tank, thus prevent algae outbreak.
Heteranthera zosterifolia (Star Grass) leaves
Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' has been growing beautifully, too. Their roots started to spread in wider area and slowly covered more space on the foreground. I used 2 tubs of 1-2 Grows! Eleocharis sp. 'Mini' for my 2ft tank at the beginning, so the covering speed was also faster.
Eleocharis sp. 'Mini' started spreading roots to bare area on the tank
By end of Week 4, the tank was quite close to be fully cycled where Nitrite level is 0ppm, Ammonia is 0.5ppm and Nitrate is quite high at 80ppm. It can be seen that beneficial bacteria have been working hard to transfer all Ammonia to Nitrite and Nitrite to Nitrate. Once the tank is fully cycled, I will jot down my experience on "fishless" cycling method with ADA Amazonia soil. For now, stay tuned and enjoy watching the plants grow. :)
It has been three weeks since the tank was setup. I decided to name my first planted tank "Passionately Curious". I hope to keep my curiosity remains for the whole journey of the planted tank and keep learning new interesting things.
It is the time to share the tank overall information as of now.
Tank Size:
60cm x 30cm x 36cm (High Clarity / Low Iron Glass: GUSH Crystal
Garden 60M)
The plants so far have been growing very well under the routine mentioned above on lighting, CO2 and fertilizer given. No signs of any algae or snails, touch wood. I believe that all of the careful preparation steps really help. From boiling driftwood, rocks to choosing plants which were algae/snail free (i.e. Tropica 1-2 Grow!), all these works really made the difference and it is worth the time investment. I bet no beginner would want to see algae and unwanted snails in their very first planted tank. :)
Some of the photos update on Day 18 that I captured here:-
Carpet Eleocharis acicularis 'Mini' has grown quite well and filling the foreground progressively
Side view from the right
Side view from the left. I am waiting for the inlet glass lily pipe to come to replace Eheim inlet pipe. It works well so far but I think the tank will look much better with both inflow and outflow glass lily pipes. :)
Heteranthera zosterifolia has grown so fast and touched water surface. Soon, trimming session will be done so that it can look bushier
and denser. :)
The tank from a side view
Front view of the tank. Behind background look a bit messy now, but I believe it will be better after few trimming sessions.
Some videos recorded during the beginning period are posted below.
Day 1 to Day 7 Progress:-
Day 17 Progress:-
Overall, I am quite satisfied with the plants's growing progress so far. The tank, however is not cycled yet at this point of time. I will mention about cycling process in another post when the tank is fully cycled. Can't wait to see the first fauna introduced to the tank. Nevertheless, I really enjoy seeing the plants growing everyday. Cheers! :)
This time the work was done very fast, in about half an hour in total. My tank looked more complete now with background and mid-ground plants.
Echidonorus tenellus 'Green' was planted at the top left corner. There were only a few plants in the tub, so they looked so little there. Pogostemon erectus was planted at the centre background.
Staurogyne repens was planted at the right mid-ground and also some under the driftwood. Hopefully it would grow well under the shade since it is a hardy plant that can thrive under low light condition.
Staurogyne repens under the shade. :)
The tank's water was not clear and quite cloudy with whitish-gray hue colour from day 2. Hopefully, it would be clearer after the first week with a few more water changes. For now, planting stage has been completed. I had setup the schedule for lighting, CO2 and fertilizer dosing and will follow up according to the plan. Let's enjoy the journey! :)
