How to get my plants bubble and be healthy?

[thomaspkc]

Hello,

I have a 1.5x1x1 tank with the following stuff:



26W 10000k light
CO2 through diffuser at 1 bubble per second
ADA Amazonia I
3 days once dosing of Aquapharm Flora N-Nutrient Performance Up and Flora N-Nutrient Growth Up with two capfuls each - http://www.aquapharmlabs.com/

Recently planted HC (about 1+week ago)
Blyxa Japonica
Mini Moss and a bit of Java Moss
Some tape grass like plant.

My question is: how do I make my plants bubble? My rainbar is below the water surface so definitely there is no loss of CO2. The ferts were introduced by the LFS owner for its efficiency but told me to dose accordingly to the look of the plants. But I still can't get the tank to look good. Hope you guys can help me out with this mystery that I have been trying to solve since the beginning of last year.

Also, is it normal that the Blyxa Japonica is yellow? Is it a nutrient deficiency? They were once green but became yellow after a while

Hee, one last question. How effective are those CO2 reactor from NA that are being offered up here lately? Diffusers are a pain to maintain since they clog up easily from the algae buildup.

Thanks a lot guys!

[sonique]

i think the light and co2 is a little too low for plants like HC and Blyxa Japonica to grow and your grass tape like plant, looks like Vallisneria Nana or Cyperus Helferi, and this over time, will grow so tall that it will cast a shadow or block the light from reaching HC and Blyxa Japonica. Lack of light and CO2 can't get the plants to bubble or even grow healthily..?
try to source for the plants requirements to understand their needs first before the plant understand your needs..
you may want to look at www.plantgeek.com or www.tropica.com to further study your plants basic needs.

[Shadow]

Tape like plant is probably C. helferi and sonique is right it will grow very long until it curl and block you fron glass, that what happen with mine in 1ft height tank

Bubble is due to excess O2 produce when the plant photosinthesis (the rate of O2 produce by the plant is greater than the rate CO2 disolve into the water ), unfortunately it does not tell you that your plant is healthy. For example low tech tank can have healthy plants eventhough it never bubble. To make bubble, you need to provide them with enough CO2, Light, and nutrient. My 2 cents opinion

Those NA CO2 reactor type is very efective

[thomaspkc]

So whether the plants bubble or not is no indicator that the plants are healthy? At least now I'm more relieved. But still kinda jealous at how other people's tank bubble like mad. I also checked my light requirements and thought that 36w would be sufficient. Read it somewhere that plants would need 2.8w per US gallons and I got nearing 3.2w. Is it enough? Or else I will go look for something of higher wattage.

I'm also aware that the C. Helferi is going to be long enough to shade my tank so I am constantly checking and trimming stalks to keep that in control. I felt that I need something that has height in the tank.

Just one question that is yet to be answered: Is it normal that the Blyxa Japonica is yellow? Is it a nutrient deficiency? I also saw in someone else's tank that had yellow but healthy leaves as well. Should I get root tabs for them?

Anyway thanks Sonique and Shadow for your help. And also thanks to Shadow for your opinion on the reactor. I'm going to source out for one now in the marketplace forum for one!

[illumnae]

healthy blyxa japonica should have bronze-gold highlights on the leaves i think, but i've read that the colour of the leaf depends on the amount of light available.

[thomaspkc]

illumnae, do you still remember where you read such information on Blyxa Japonica? Can't seem to find it anywhere online.

[illumnae]

got it from Aquatic Plant Central's plant finder page here:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...nus&spec=Blyxa

it's stated there that: "If conditions are to its liking and lighting is intense, the leaves of B. japonica will develop golden and reddish hues and the plants will exhibit more compact growth. If it does not receive enough lighting, however, B. japonica will become taller, lankier, and greener."

My personal experience is the same as well, as when i bought the blyxa japonica from the store it was tall, green and lanky, but now mine is shorter, bushier, has gold/bronze highlights and propagates like crazy...from 5 parent plants i now have probably 30+ in my tank

[thomaspkc]

Thanks illumnae! I didn't Aquatic Plant Central had a plant finder. Looks so much better than plantgeek.net. Another aquatic resource for me!

[kiasu]

my blyxa japonica dont have bronze-gold on the edge... I think healthy blyxa japonica should be all green...

[illumnae]

healthy blyxa that has adapted to lower lighting should be all green, while healthy blyxa that has adapted to higher lighting will have the coppery overtones. That's what i understand from the Aquatic Plant Central plant finder entry, as well as from my own personal experience with blyxa in a 3+wpg environment

[FishSoup]

The Blyxa that bro illuminae kindly gave me are developing copper highlights on their new leaves too!! are the highlights only present on new leaves, or will all the leaves eventually have them?

[illumnae]

i don't know sorry =( they propagated too fast for me to differentiate which were the original leaves and which were the new ones. glad the blyxa is doing well for you

[pandaxiong]

To answer about bubbles part, you can try after turning on your lights for lets say 3 hrs..then you try peeling abit(only abit i mean) of those tall plants..any leave (1 can liao)...then you will understand that they are doing fine. But what was mentioned earlier on "
Bubble is due to excess O2 produce when the plant photosinthesis (the rate of O2 produce by the plant is greater than the rate CO2 disolve into the water ), unfortunately it does not tell you that your plant is healthy. For example low tech tank can have healthy plants eventhough it never bubble. To make bubble, you need to provide them with enough CO2, Light, and nutrient. My 2 cents opinion" it is true that some plants do not show bubbles...

Another less painful way is to uprade your lights to stronger watts and pump more CO2...I experimented and works for my moss... my 3 cents

[PeterGwee]

Not CO2 but O2. CO2 and O2 are independent of itself.

Regards,
Peter Gwee