How often to dose this tank?

[pjnec]

Hi,

I have a 2 ft tank with the following amount of plants http://min.us/mXgE75sKs#6.

How often do you think i should dose Fluorish Excel? My lighting regime is on 4 hours for 2 times within 24 hours - from 6am to 10am and 6pm to 10pm.

Light is 2ft 18W PL light.

Appreciate any comments!

[marimo]

I remember dosage is 5 ml for 200 l
So you have to L x W x H of water amount in tank and divide accordingly. and underdose by a bit.

its better to dose in the morning when light is on and plants start to take in CO2 produce the previous night

I think alternate days is alright as your tank not heavily planted.

anyway your stem plants looks alright .. a need to supplement with carbon?

[|squee|]

Direct-linked for convenience.

I'd suggest following the instructions on the bottle and adjust if necessary according to plant health.

Note that your lighting period is rather unorthodox; I doubt the plants like just having 4 hours of light each time. It will be better if you just turned it on from 2pm to 10pm if you're aiming for 8 hours of lighting.

[pjnec]

Note that your lighting period is rather unorthodox; I doubt the plants like just having 4 hours of light each time. It will be better if you just turned it on from 2pm to 10pm if you're aiming for 8 hours of lighting.

Ok, I didn't know that was unorthodox. Will change it to 8 hours straight. Anyway, do you think 8 hours is sufficient for the plants I have?

anyway your stem plants looks alright .. a need to supplement with carbon?

This pic was taken sometime back. As of now, the sword-like plants are starting to yellow. Yet I am afraid to dose too much. Would overdosing affect the fishes?

Thanks for all the comments! AQ is by far the most responsive forum I have joined in!

[Shadow]

your plant is anubias and fern species, it should not be buried on gravel. It should be tie to rocks or wood

[|squee|]

Shadow is right, that's why your plants are yellowing now.

Your plants are not stemmed plants, they're anubias (the ones on the ride hand side) and ferns (the ones in the centre). Their common names are Anubias nana and Java fern. They have many varieties, but all should not have their rhizome (the thick horizontal stem) buried in gravel. They do not require much attention, but you're right in that the addition of CO2 can supplement their growth to a certain extent.

8 hours should be fine for your tank since it's a non-CO2 non-fertilised tank.

You should read up more on planted tanks if you are serious about having plants in your tank

[edw7636]

Your tank size should be 2ft by 1.5 by 1.5 if im not wrong.

Litres = 114.68
Gallon = 30.34 ( 90% water )

Dose accordingly and try it out

[pjnec]

your plant is anubias and fern species, it should not be buried on gravel. It should be tie to rocks or wood

Oh my goodness... didn't know that. Ok, so I shall tie them to the driftwood. Thanks for bringing up!

[pjnec]

Shadow is right, that's why your plants are yellowing now.

Your plants are not stemmed plants, they're anubias (the ones on the ride hand side) and ferns (the ones in the centre). Their common names are Anubias nana and Java fern. They have many varieties, but all should not have their rhizome (the thick horizontal stem) buried in gravel. They do not require much attention, but you're right in that the addition of CO2 can supplement their growth to a certain extent.

8 hours should be fine for your tank since it's a non-CO2 non-fertilised tank.

You should read up more on planted tanks if you are serious about having plants in your tank

Err ... ok. Will read up! I thought having a planted tank with a low-light requirement plants is as simple as dosing ferts and giving it light!

[pjnec]

Hi Guys, I tied the anubias nanas to driftwood. Apparently they are doing not bad. However I have another problem - the hornwarts I have are yellowing, As far as I understand, Hornwarts are sponge nitrates - however, I find through water testing that mi nitrates are about 40ppm and I am beginning to see a little tiny bit of algae forming on the front panel of my tank. That led me to draw a conclusion that somehow, the hornwarts were not photosynthesizing. I dose Excel fluorish quite regularly. I do not overfeed my fishes (only once a day and not too much also). I actually checked nitrates over a period of 2 days without feeding. The nitrates at the start and end of the 2 days are about 40ppm! My livestock are: 2 platys, 2 tetras, 3 Harlequin rasboras and about18 baby platys!

That led me to think:
How do I know that the plants are photosynthesizing? (it seems like they are not photosynthesizing in my situation, or doing so in a super slow rate)
How do I know if there is too much surface agitation that it affects the dissolved CO2 in water? My tank has a top filter and the water that flows down through gravity at the side of the tank actuallly creates quite a lot of bubbles.

Any comments on this?

[edw7636]

Whats your lighting wpg?

For your top filter that rush down directly to the substrate. Find a black rubber hose and connect a elbow pipe to it so it can circulate the tank in way rather then rushing downwards.

Water flow is important as the plants will absorb the co2 more efficiently.

[pjnec]

My lighting is 18W and tank is about 50litres (60x30x30cm) = 13 US Gallons. WPG is 18/13 = 1.38.

If I connect the elbow - does the elbow extend directly into the water such that there is no bubbles created at all? Or the elbow is slightly above the surface of the water so that there is some bubbles created?

[edw7636]

It's up to u to decide the placement. I would prefer waterflow then to agitation as agitation can be achieve by adding a air-stone connected to a air pump.

[|squee|]

You're dosing Excel, but you're not providing other nutrients!

As long as one nutrient is limited, plant growth will be limited. I suggest you start looking to water fertilisation. Lushgro products are a good starting point.

[edw7636]

Agree with bro squee. There is alot of thread on fertilization. You might wanna take a look over there.

[pjnec]

I checked the lusgro range of products and found it very familiar - only did i realise that what I had was Fluorish instead of Fluorish Excel! My bad everyone ... so I have micro nutrients but do not have enough macro nutrients or carbon? What should i get now to help my problem? Fluorish Excel or products that add NPK like Fluorish Nitrogen?

[edw7636]

What Im using now is lushgro aqua, lushgro micro and seachem excel. So far doing good.

[wongce]

Seachem Flourish:- A general comprehensive fertilizer(without Carbon)...
Seachem Flourish Excel:-Organic Carbon...

if you have both, should be alright for normal plants...

IMHO,the problem might be your PL light... i personally find PL less effective as my Java fern,Java moss melted when i use PL.... buy a T5HO, it works great.. look around the forum for good deals.

[|squee|]

You could try the whole range of Seachem products: Nitrogen, Potassium, Flourish, Flourish Excel.

But IMHO it's too expensive. I rather you invest in Lushgro Aqua, Micros and Excel. Dose according to the instructions and increase/decrease as you see fit. Remember to do your water changes, say 50% weekly.

[pjnec]

You could try the whole range of Seachem products: Nitrogen, Potassium, Flourish, Flourish Excel.

But IMHO it's too expensive. I rather you invest in Lushgro Aqua, Micros and Excel. Dose according to the instructions and increase/decrease as you see fit. Remember to do your water changes, say 50% weekly.

I was actually intending to use plants to make the eco-system self sustaining and without the need for water changes. Any particular reason why I have to do 50% WC weekly? Lets say I have gotten the plants to grow well and occasional checks on Nitrates show that they are at an acceptable level (say below 10ppm), is there still need for WC?

This fish hobby is really fishing $ out of my pockets!