Virgil Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Hi, got the new tank up and running and have planted a few small plants already. I have pics in the Freshwater forum. Just wondering if i should be adding something to the water to help them along? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 What sort of lighting do you have. Unless there is enough light, adding extra nutrients will not male a difference as plants require three things to thrive. LIGHT, CO2, NUTRIENTS. For the average tank, co2 is produced by the fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Also, after browsing the pics in the freshwater forum, I see the plants you have have been grown emersed.Meaning they have been grown above the water line. This is common for most LSF bought plants and although not necesesarly a bad thing, can reult in plants dieing off after a short time.Dont let it bother you as the lower leaves may turn brown and then fall off, just keep removing them as they do so and the plants will start to to produce submerced forms. does that make sense? The plants are grown commercially emersed as they grow faster for the producer. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Cheers, dont know the specs off hand bu the light is quite bright. Twin tubed, certainly lights up the tank very well! Brought the first lot of plants, the leafy ones, green and purple/red a week ago. The smaller ones over the weekend. Get the odd leaf floating around which i pull out, dont seem to be dying as yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaffen Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 What sort of substrate are you using? I'm using Seachem Flourish and Excel, and fert tabs occasionally for the root feeders. I also add Sera Mineral Salt at water changes. Although it's for the soft, acidic Ham water, the plants consume the minerals too so I guess it's kinda a fert as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 What sort of substrate are you using? I'm using Seachem Flourish and Excel, and fert tabs occasionally for the root feeders. I also add Sera Mineral Salt at water changes. Although it's for the soft, acidic Ham water, the plants consume the minerals too so I guess it's kinda a fert as well. Sub what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zabman Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Substrate - What the plants are growing in ie sand, gravel etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 I'm using flourite black (very fine gravel - almost sand) as my substrate and have never had plants grow so well as what I have now. So much better than anything I have used in the past. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Why are you adding salt? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Substrate - What the plants are growing in ie sand, gravel etc. got you Just standard peebles/gravel. Trouble is when we bought the set up and peebles etc we were planning on just moving our goldfish into it. But last minute after it was all set up decided to try tropical's, would like to use a different colour/type of gravel at the bottom now...guess thats too late! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Virgil, I would leave the tank for a while before adding anything extra for the plants. They will need to get settled, get sorted out into their submersed (under-the water) form, and grow a few roots. If you start adding nutrients and the plants die back a bit, you might end up with too much nutrient in the water and you'll get all kinds of algae and stuff. The exception would be slow-release fertiliser tabs that you put under the substrate at the same time as you plant your plants. If you're going to use those, then you can put them in early. Everything else that's going into the water (eg liquid ferts, CO2, etc.) is better to wait until your plants are ready to use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Virgil, I would leave the tank for a while before adding anything extra for the plants. They will need to get settled, get sorted out into their submersed (under-the water) form, and grow a few roots. If you start adding nutrients and the plants die back a bit, you might end up with too much nutrient in the water and you'll get all kinds of algae and stuff. The exception would be slow-release fertiliser tabs that you put under the substrate at the same time as you plant your plants. If you're going to use those, then you can put them in early. Everything else that's going into the water (eg liquid ferts, CO2, etc.) is better to wait until your plants are ready to use them. Cheers , so best to leave them to it for now They look fine so far.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whetu Posted August 3, 2008 Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Just looking at your pics again, lighting is definitely going to be essential to your success with plants. It looks like your tank is quite deep, so less light will be getting to the bottom of the tank and the plants there may suffer. Also plants with red leaves need way more light than green ones so you may find the red plant won't survive. When you get a chance, can you take a look at the tubes you have, and post here all the printing that is on them? That will tell us the wattage and the spectrum of the tubes and we will be better able to advise what kinds of plants will grow best in your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 3, 2008 Just looking at your pics again, lighting is definitely going to be essential to your success with plants. It looks like your tank is quite deep, so less light will be getting to the bottom of the tank and the plants there may suffer. Also plants with red leaves need way more light than green ones so you may find the red plant won't survive. When you get a chance, can you take a look at the tubes you have, and post here all the printing that is on them? That will tell us the wattage and the spectrum of the tubes and we will be better able to advise what kinds of plants will grow best in your tank. Could be wrong but i think they are 300W..does that sound about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Straight up. NO If you have two flouro tubes you are more likely to have 2X 18 watts or 2x 36 watts. look on the tube it will say.If not let us know the length of the tubes as its easy to tell. With a tank of that depth , that is low lighting. Plants that would grow good in that lighting would be Java moss, Anubias sp' and java ferns, and some crypt species. If you increase light intensity you should find it easier to grow more plants. You mentioned that the tank seems well lit, but if you consider your tanks brightness compared to the sun, you will realise it is very dim. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Just gonna post the pics from freshwater thread here so people arent having to trawl back to look, hope you dont mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cichlid7 Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Looks Good Looks like a 3FTer so id say 72watts of light in total Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 The main plants look like Hygrophila corymbosa stricta (grown emersed)---should convert OK, and Alternanthera reineckii roseafolia (grown emersed)--- should convert OK. The colour looks like you have a growlux type light (10000k) so what would be good with that would be cool white (4000k). The depth of the water, the length and type of the light tubes would help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Dont let it deter you though. In slight contradiction to my previous post, here is a pic of my tank with 2X18w t8 tubes and 1X 8w t5 tube both the 18w tube are 6400k bright daylight osram tubes(cheap as chips at bunnings or mitre 10 mega) That pic was taken shortly after setup, but i have succesful growth of the sword with red leaves and the crypts are starting to become a forest. will post updated pic tonight once lights back on. Keep going, Plants become addictive in my opinion, I have more plants than fish at my house and always looking for more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Just gonna post the pics from freshwater thread here so people arent having to trawl back to look, hope you dont mind Not at all, good thinking Looks Good Looks like a 3FTer so id say 72watts of light in total Cheers Feels like its more than bright enough for the tank, in the morning im scared of shocking the fish so i turn the lounge lights in the room on first, wait a few minutes then turn on theirs 1 light at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Dont let it deter you though. In slight contradiction to my Keep going, Plants become addictive in my opinion, I have more plants than fish at my house and always looking for more. Agree, will be adding more plants now. Happy to see how the neons and tigers go for now before i start adding more expensive type fish. We originally had fake things in the tank, half log and plants...ditched them for the real stuff Love to have a big Amazon sword too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supasi Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Alright, Im impatient and turned the light on. This is my tank today, So it proves you can successfully grow plants under lower light, keeping in mind that other than the sword, all other plans are low light requirement plants Xmas Moss on stone on left, Anubias nana on wood right of sword and Anubias nana "petite" on stone to left of sword. Various crypts and a small java sword. The crypts and the sword have a few JBL 7Balls under them as they are heavy root feeders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virgil Posted August 4, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Great looking set up there supasi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skaffen Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 It's not sodium chloride - salt, it's this stuff: http://www.aquaristikshop.com/e_Produkt ... l-salt.htm cos the water here is so soft. Why are you adding salt? Wow, nice tank - you must be happy how it's worked out Alright, Im impatient and turned the light on. This is my tank today, So it proves you can successfully grow plants under lower light, keeping in mind that other than the sword, all other plans are low light requirement plants Xmas Moss on stone on left, Anubias nana on wood right of sword and Anubias nana "petite" on stone to left of sword. Various crypts and a small java sword. The crypts and the sword have a few JBL 7Balls under them as they are heavy root feeders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted August 4, 2008 Report Share Posted August 4, 2008 Supasi---what sword is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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