Gravel and Live Plants

Okay guys so my tank has been cycling for about a week, with some neons and an African Brown Knife and I went to my local fish store and he told me adding some live plants would help the tank get balanced so now I've got a couple of little plants such as water wisteria (only as of now is it small), some java ferns, some Anubias and some rotala not all of it is small I guess but what I was curious about is how much light I should have the tank is 29 gallons 20" high? What I didn't consider before buying plants was substrate plant nutrition so any tips on getting started would be helpful.

On another note I'm still suffering with new tank syndrome (probably common only after a week) and I have this clear, whitish hairy nonsense all over my decorations and filter. I tried to do some reading on it but couldn't find much info so thinking it was some sort of algae, I bought some algae eaters as well. Which promptly cleaned the algae off my plants but won't touch the white nastiness.

P.S. I know that Knife fish can be aggressive but as of yet there have been no neon fatalities and or aggression of any sort really.

So I included a picture of my filter wondering if this was normal...

My tank as of right now. If the java fern doesn't work out in the gravel I'm thinking dwarf sag and maybe a jungle val for the rear of the tank. Thoughts comments much appreciated!

I hope you will be able to zoom this in because this is the whitish clear terror I've been griping about.

ANY tips at all would be very welcome

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Comment by Zachary P on June 6, 2013 at 3:14am: Many tips.

First - You should have added any of those fish until your tank was cycled. They will prob die.

Second - Ottos, Rosey barbs, Snails, shrimp would prob eat the white crap....most likely a type of algae. If your have driftwood its prob the fungus that grows from it (its not toxic or anything, just grows).

Third your java fern east nurtients from the water not its roots. It should not have the stem inside the gravel rather resting on top of it. Getting Seachem Flourish would help with the Java Fern or Java moss as its a water based fertilizer. Im not sure about the Anubis, I think it eats from the water and not the roots but not positive.

In my tank I buy Seachem fertilizer taps which go under the gravel for plants that eat from the roots. The pellets last 3-6 months and feed plants within 6 inches of the tab. The tabs are 7.00 or so from dr foster smith. If you dont have a C02 system I would recommend Seachem Exel which is a liquid base CO2 fert.

Comment by Cole Russell on June 6, 2013 at 3:21am: Damn, well I really hope that doesn't end up being the case I'll be be pretty upset at the PetSmart lady (not my LFS) just where I happened to buy the tank and hardware. I'll make sure to move the java fern ASAP as well. Pretty sure (judging by the roots) that the anubias feeds from roots and leaves.

Comment by Zachary P on June 6, 2013 at 3:45am: Is the tank in direct sunlight. Algae will thrive if the tank is in sunlight. That could be causing the algae. The Java ferns roots will attack to the gravel. Just put a few of the roots under the gravel and they will cling to the rocks.

Comment by Cole Russell on June 6, 2013 at 4:02am: The room the tank is in has a window which up until I noticed earlier today, realizing this would most likely end up an issue, I closed them as far as they will close.

Comment by Peter on June 6, 2013 at 4:29pm: Don't worry adding fish to a none cycle tank isn't a big deal just do daily or bi-daily waterchanges till its sorta cycled. The white stuff is usually bacteria algae is greenish. Also java fern and anubias shouldn't have their rhizomes buried or they will die. I the rhisOme is getting air it will be fine a bit under some gravel. All plants take up nutrients tru teir roots some more than other anubias and java fern take up less. Cus they grow super slow. And it would help to know wat lights ur running. Cus I ur running low tech tank excel won't do muh for u

Comment by Cole Russell on June 6, 2013 at 4:31pm: yeah its low tech only about .66 WPG I wanted to get a new light but I'm on a budget now and cant really afford one unless I really need one

Comment by Peter on June 6, 2013 at 4:55pm: Yea dont dose ferts ull have algae on ur hands from excess ferts. Low tech tanks are great u just set it and forget it. If u want tons of Info on low tech tank look up ecology of a planted aquarium by Diana walstad Dustin looks upto her and gets all his info from her book. She's the "founder" of low teh tanks or at least 1 of the pioneers

Comment by Cole Russell on June 6, 2013 at 5:02pm: alrighty tyvm

Comment by Juanarium on June 6, 2013 at 9:16pm: Would the decor have something to do with the buildup?

Comment by Cole Russell on June 7, 2013 at 12:45am: I just added some snails to take care of the white shit now growing on my plants, and root tabs to get some nutrition to the roots.

The snails are just generic "mystery snails" from petsmart nothing overly fancy although i would have rather had whelks of some sort like the assassin snail although I don't know how much algae and bacteria they would help clean up.

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