# Newly Setup NPT



## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

I've been discouraged for alot of times now for having to redo my NPT tank since I always fail and this time I hope my effort will be paid off, also the money that I spent towards these plants are just ridiculous.

Here's 3 of my NPT. The first one I just finished doing. The 2nd one has been up for about 3 weeks now and the last one has been up since last year of dec. 

Dunno what's wrong with the last one cause it seems like the plant has been suffering a stunted growth. I kept changing the bulbs to get the right amount. Right now it has 75w with 3200k and the package says its cool light. it looks like it's soft light though.


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## laoshun (Apr 3, 2012)

with 75W you can reach 6500k with that first one. I want to see that first tank when it's grown.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

The 1st and 2nd one is sharing a T8 flourescent with 6500k. The 3rd one is the one that I'm having troubles right now. And for the 1st and 2nd one, I'll be installing DIY CO2 by tomorrow.


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## laoshun (Apr 3, 2012)

odd, there seems to be no shade either (well from that picture).


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

What do you mean by "no shade?"


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## laoshun (Apr 3, 2012)

usually when there are floating plants, sometimes it casts a shadow on plants and the plant doesnt receive enough light, but that does not seem to be the case from that picture.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

Oh, I guess that's a good thing. Well I'm using 2 T8 flourescent bulbs. I guess that helps?


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## laoshun (Apr 3, 2012)

hope all goes well! 2nd tank could use a different compositional arrangement.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

LOL! I know right, I was just throwing things here and there for now on that one. I'm waiting for the plants to outgrow the tank and start from there.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

I love the scap on the first one! Looks almost like a traditional aquascape.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

Scap? Scape? Thanks kfryman!


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

Oh, I guess my phone either autocorrected it or I misspelled it on my phone. Yes I meant scape.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

So I added DIY CO2 on my tanks. Here's what they look like.


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## kfryman (Nov 7, 2011)

You should use an actual diffuser, you will get more CO2 dissolved as it will give off smaller bubbles, meaning it takes more time to reach the surface.

Looks good though. What recipe for the CO2 did you use.


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## VictorP (Jun 5, 2012)

Wow this is amazing! I would never be capable of doing npt's!


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

@Kfryman: I could use a real diffuser but I'm low on budget right now lol. I could make one but I'm being lazy lol.

@VictorP: Sure you can, I'm not even great at doing NPT's yet, practice makes perfect. Do alot of research about the plants and lighting and such. Even I don't know much about it yet, I'm just giving it a go.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

So it's been 6 days since I setup my aquarium and here's a lil bit of updates, photos included.

There's some diatom spots here and there but the otos are taking good care of it. I also changed my diffuser and used my old fluval CO2 diffuser. There's some dwarf hairgrass runners but not good enough to carpet the whole thing yet. As for my needle leaf ludwigia, they're doing great and growing fast too.


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## aqua001 (Jan 13, 2012)

A quick question: where did you get those rocks? I'm starting an NPT soon and thought those rocks looked really nice in your tank.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

Just look around the parks or go to a lake or something, there should be tons of rocks there that you could use. The ones that I have I got them at a local park.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

So it's been 13 days and I could really see some progress on my carpetting (dwarf hairgrass), water wisteria, needle leaf ludwigia and hornwort. My problem is, the tank is getting alot of spot algae and I'm stuck as to how I can get rid of them. I also have some brush algae on the side *I think that's what it is*. Anyone know how to get rid of them? I also have about 5 otos in there but they're not doing a great job to maintain the tank.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

I guess no one can help me =(


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## ZergyMonster (Feb 20, 2012)

The only way I that I know of getting rid that kind of algae is to manually remove it or reduce the amount of the light in the tank an hour or 2 less each day until it become more manageable. It shouldn't take long because the plants will start competing again for the nutrients over the algae.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

I'll do that. Also, my green killing machine from petco just arrived today and I'll be adding that to the tank aswell. The only problem is the sterilizer is just big. Hopefully the plant won't look bent and all that after I'm done using it.


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## Goldie2nd (Apr 16, 2012)

Wow that looks neat and what is an NPT? I've seen this hundreds of times but don;t know what it stands for. Forgive my stupidness.


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## ZergyMonster (Feb 20, 2012)

NPT stands for Natural Planted Tank. It usually means that a fish tank is set up with some type of soil and filled with all sorts of plants. This type of tank requires a little planning because once you set up the tank nothing should be moved or it will make a mess and you will most likely have to start over.


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## Goldie2nd (Apr 16, 2012)

Ahh I see no proeblem there all my planst are fake so i can change and do what i want with it less work for me in that sense.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

Planted tanks are nice to look at though. Also, Once established, your water changes are drop to minimum.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

Just in case if anyone is stalking my thread. Here's how it looks like now.

The thing over to the left is the green killing machine that I got online from petco. It was on sale with free shipping so might aswell take that opportunity. 

I also bought some seachem flourish products such as excel, phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium. By around a week or so I hope to see changes on how my algae problem gets better.


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## Goldie2nd (Apr 16, 2012)

aww cute fish!


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

You made me LoL literally. I was hoping to get comments about the tank but, thanks! xD


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## Goldie2nd (Apr 16, 2012)

The tank looks goods also just couldn;t resist  Picture of my tank is here is the thread called 10g divided tank or something like that.


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## Fasht (Oct 26, 2011)

I checked on it, but the thread isn't on this category =p


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## Goldie2nd (Apr 16, 2012)

Oh yep sorry there not live pants


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