General Questions re Plants

[breakaway]

Hello,

I've just dismantled my smaller tank and put everything into my 200L tank (1020L x 374W x 540H mm).

The tank has a Glo T5HO unit on it, with 2 x Daylight tubes (39W each). The substrate is about an inch thick in places, probably a bit more. It's "charcoal grit" from Hollywood Fish Farm. I have a Fluval 203 and a Blue Planet 24w UV Sterilizer for filtration.

Plants include:

- Dwarf Sag

- Twisted Val

- Ambulia

- Cabomba

- Rotala Rotundifolia

- Rotala Macranda

- Hair Grass

And some others I can't identify / forgotten what they are

Here's a photo to give an idea of how many plants there are:

My questions are:

- Should I be dosing fertilizer? I have some Flourish Comprehensive but I haven't used it as I'm afraid I'll cause an algal bloom (Already having some issues with hair algae)

- Is the lighting adequate? There's 78W of T5HO. Currently thinking about buying another just like the one I got - would this be worth it or unnecessary?

- Should I invest in a CO2 system? Like, without CO2 will my plants still grow but just more slowly? Or will some of them melt away etc?

- What do I need to do to keep algae away, and plants looking great?

[phoenix44]

I LOVE your selection of plants. IF only I could show as much restraint as you and stick to long thin plants :lol:

The lighting is sufficient, but if you want the red plants to actually go red - like the rotundifolia i would recommend investing in powerglo tubes. if your macrandra is happy, then the lighting is sufficient.

how old are the plants? - particularly the subulata and that looks like microfolia in the front....

[SamH]

- Should I be dosing fertilizer? I have some Flourish Comprehensive but I haven't used it as I'm afraid I'll cause an algal bloom (Already having some issues with hair algae)

Personally I'd wait 3-4weeks before dosing any ferts, wait until the plants get established. EDIT: I have recently learned that the plants may already have established roots therefore ferts can be dosed immediately.

- Is the lighting adequate? There's 78W of T5HO. Currently thinking about buying another just like the one I got - would this be worth it or unnecessary?

It seems like plenty of lighting to me.

- Should I invest in a CO2 system? Like, without CO2 will my plants still grow but just more slowly? Or will some of them melt away etc?

Try DIY CO2 first, you should be able to get enough from DIY in a 200L tank with correct diffusion (close to 100%). EDIT: WARNING, PH CRAHSES MAY OCCUR. USE AT OWN RISK

- What do I need to do to keep algae away, and plants looking great?

Frequent water changes and balance.

HTH

EDIT: Sorry for any misleading advise and/or inconvenience :oops:

[phoenix44]

Personally I'd wait 3-4weeks before dosing any ferts, wait until the plants get established

Those plants are fully established! :-?

even the subulata is on its way to growing at its potential.

if those are how the plants are, you dont need to add ferts, but using normal flourish will show a marked improvement. just remove the carbon when you use ferts - if you use carbon that is.

[breakaway]

I used DIY CO2, but it always seems to fizzle out after about a week, tried many different combinations of yeast / sugar / water. I diffused it using my power head.

Also, the thing I noticed when using DIY CO2 is the ambulia grows all retarded, like between the 'tiers' of leaves, there's like 3-4cm of gaps. Without CO2 ambulia grows a lot slower but a lot more 'bushier'. After experiencing this problem I decided to stop the CO2.

The plants are several months old, But I've moved them around (Uprooted) them a fair amount today due to the re-scape. So I guess this means they have to re-establish themselves?

[Jennifer]

All good advice.

I would personally add a little more depth to the substrate so you can allow for more root development and eventually facilitate the addition of gross nutrients via root tablets for those plants that require root feeding for good growth. If you begin dosing trace nutrients, you will see a marked improvement in the amount of growth and the iron will make the red plants really develop good color. It will also keep the algae away since the plants will outcompete the algae. You will need to dose in small amounts daily or every other day to achieve the best results though.

The UV filter will degrade liquid carbon and many trace nutrients (including the ones you add) so the plants will not be able to thrive quite as much as they might otherwise and fertilisers will be a waste of money. My advice is use the UV when you need it and turn it off the rest of the time.

If you do add CO2, that will also help to fight algae but only if the CO2 levels are not fluctuating. Also, fluctuating CO2 will cause pH changes so proceed slowly and carefully. For a tank that size, I would recommend building up to two bottles of DIY CO2, one that you start one week, and the next that you start the next week so that there is always a steady stream going into the tank.

[Jennifer]

I used DIY CO2, but it always seems to fizzle out after about a week, tried many different combinations of yeast / sugar / water. I diffused it using my power head.

Also, the thing I noticed when using DIY CO2 is the ambulia grows all retarded, like between the 'tiers' of leaves, there's like 3-4cm of gaps. Without CO2 ambulia grows a lot slower but a lot more 'bushier'. After experiencing this problem I decided to stop the CO2.

The plants are several months old, But I've moved them around (Uprooted) them a fair amount today due to the re-scape. So I guess this means they have to re-establish themselves?

For DIY CO2 I have used a successful combination of 2 cups sugar, 1 tsp baker's yeast a pinch of basking soda and a bit or Marmite. It lasts 3 weeks. Everyone has a different combination though, it is just a matter of experimenting.

The ambulia will have longer internodal segments when the light is good or when it is growing quickly. It will be bushier if you feed it with trace nutrients but the internodes will still be longer if it is growing well. It will have short internodes and bushy growth if the light is low or if the nutrients are poor.

If you upset the root systems of the plants when rearranging, the plants will pause in growth but it shouldn't make a huge bit of difference. If you are worried that they have been disturbed too much you can cut back the photoperiod for a couple of days so the algae doesn't take off if the plants are not usisng up the nutrients like they used to.

[phoenix44]

The plants are several months old, But I've moved them around (Uprooted) them a fair amount today due to the re-scape. So I guess this means they have to re-establish themselves?

Naah not really. they will need to root them selves in the gravel again, nut that's just normal growth... once the roots have developed your plants have more or less "established" as they can maximise the use of available nutrients.

It also has to do with auxin-cytokynin ratios, but that's more technicality than is needed in this case.

[A-town...]

where did you buy your t5 tubes from?

[breakaway]

http://www.lampsx.co.nz/Lamps-Ex-Company-Profile.htm

Got them for about $12-14 each.