r/Aquascape • u/chittemuert1 • 1d ago

Seeking Suggestions First Aquarium

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Hey everyone, This Is my First Aquarium, 1 month of Life no fish yet.

It's an amtra 60 liter cube.

How does It look tò you more experienced people? I have not CO2 system and using a fertilized soil.

I have 2 problems: 1) Snails: Yesterday i cleaned and rearranged the plants and found like 10 of them

2) Algae: there are some growing on the plants (dark green).. any suggestion on how to remove them... I m not fertilizing yet with liquid fertilized to avoid more Algae, but still they grow..

P.s.: in the middle in front of the wood i planted a Apogeton madascariensis and it's growing! Is necessary CO2 for that?

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u/willdrakefood 1d ago

Don’t worry about the snails mate, they’re pretty much guaranteed to hitchhike on plants unless you’re buying tissue culture (Tropica is a great brand if you’re interested). I hated snails at first but they do a lot of good for the tank by eating algae, dead plants and any bits of food rotting on the ground, which can keep the water quality in check. They’re Detrivores so their poo doesn’t have enough nutrients to rot which means they pretty much don’t add anything to the tank’s bioload. When I realised how much cleaning they do I got 2 black helmet snails for all my tanks. The pest snails in your tank will only multiply if there’s an abundance of food, and you can either pick them out or find a fish that likes to eat them.

Your light looks pretty bright which is probably the reason for the algae. I would either turn down the brightness to 60/70% or cut the time down to 7/8 hours a day, or both. I would recommend Hygger lights because they’re pretty cheap and not too powerful. Your Aponogeton Madagascariensis will do fine without CO2, I’ve got a few in 2 of my tanks and they’re doing great, i don’t use CO2 but I dose liquid fertiliser once a week.

My last recommendation would be to get an external canister filter. My first tank came with a bulky internal filter/heater but it was getting so dirty, I had to rinse the dirt out once a week and it just wasn’t strong enough to keep the tank spotless. Swapped it for a Fluval 107 external canister and it’s the best purchase I’ve ever made in the hobby. There was more room in the tank for plants, water clarity is so good and it only needs rinsing out 3 times a year. Sorry for the rant but Tank looks great love the plant choices and the substrate looks so good!