all in one solution for plant: walkthrough for dummies

[markus92]

Looks Black wool or strings right? It's algae.. no problem just use ur hand to pluck them off. One of the causes is excess nutrients in the water I've got that too

[Urban Aquaria]

thank you guru, so based on your expertise. could you introduce some goodies for my plants to make sure they are well and green?
something simpler for me..

For low tech tanks, you just have to allow more time for the plants to develop new healthy growth (it'll be alot slower than compared to high-tech tanks)... in the meantime, they need sufficient nutrients to avoid deficiencies (but not too much, due to lack of Co2 and low light) and consistent parameters to avoid algae issues which interfere with their growth.

If you have livestock in the tank and feed them regularly, the food and waste will usually generate sufficient nitrogen and phosphates for the plants (especially if the plant density is still relatively low in the beginning). Just dose trace/micro and potassium fertilizers to make sure the plants get a sufficient range of nutrients.

Only if you start spotting macro nutrient deficiencies in the plants, then dose those specific nutrients in controlled amounts and observe the effects, while adjusting the dosages accordingly.

Other than that, just have to wait for the plants to grow out... alot more patience is needed for low-tech tanks.

Or It's my lighting?

In the case of your tanks, the carbon supply needs to be increased first (ie. Co2 injection), then the lights and nutrients can be increased accordingly to match it and achieve a balance for enhanced plant growth... otherwise if you only increase the lights, the plants may not be able to utilize it effectively due to carbon limitation and all the excess light and nutrients will just feed algae instead.

[Goalkeeper]

Like that big piece of DW. Very natural.

bro zerofighterx101, thanks for clarifying the purigen question. I feel better after reading it!

[Shadow]

thank you guru, so based on your expertise. could you introduce some goodies for my plants to make sure they are well and green?
something simpler for me..

Or It's my lighting?

If you are using CO2 injection, just increase the CO2 and the plant grow rate will increase considerably even with your low tech. However since you are using excel that would be out of the question

[Phillipians]

Eh just some thoughts. The thread starter is looking for quick fixes... In my time as an aquascaper... To be honest, there are no quick fixes. Even low tech tanks you need to do some read up and also be patient. In your case, the best scenario is to tear up and redo so you don't have to fight fire.

I have one high tech and one low tech tank. The low tech one I use ada substrate and sand. I plant densely and add excel every week. My lights are pretty high for a low tech tank 18w evo for 36 x24x22cm. So far no algae. Every week change 30%water. 1 drop of micros added. No foreground only h.tripartita, moss, ferns, staurogyne, buceps and nanas.

Think you can consider redoing. Not because your scape is bad, in fact it is pretty nice. But because you can save yourself the hassle of fire fighting every few days. Find a day and do everything. I tore down my scape because blue green algae creeping in and I was fire fighting too. Too tiring. Every week must remove. So restart. So far so good. Still a little bit but Im containing it.

[Phillipians]

Alternatively, you can try the AlgExit solution recommended for algae removal.
In short: best cure is prevention heh. Sorry if I sound harsh but it's good to start right. Save yourself the hassle.

Meanwhile if you really just want to do something for dummies:
Ada soil
Good LED lights
Co2
Plant like mad and remove later. I like to put water sprite floating to suck up excess nutrients. Finish take and give away or throw
Lushgrow micros for low tech
Macros if you have co2
Lushgrow best for value. Buy one set can last you one year even if high tech dosing. Mine almost one year and just about to finish.
Water change every week . Minimum 30%

[kurty]

For low tech tanks, you just have to allow more time for the plants to develop new healthy growth (it'll be alot slower than compared to high-tech tanks)... in the meantime, they need sufficient nutrients to avoid deficiencies (but not too much, due to lack of Co2 and low light) and consistent parameters to avoid algae issues which interfere with their growth.

If you have livestock in the tank and feed them regularly, the food and waste will usually generate sufficient nitrogen and phosphates for the plants (especially if the plant density is still relatively low in the beginning). Just dose trace/micro and potassium fertilizers to make sure the plants get a sufficient range of nutrients.

Only if you start spotting macro nutrient deficiencies in the plants, then dose those specific nutrients in controlled amounts and observe the effects, while adjusting the dosages accordingly.

Other than that, just have to wait for the plants to grow out... alot more patience is needed for low-tech tanks.


In the case of your tanks, the carbon supply needs to be increased first (ie. Co2 injection), then the lights and nutrients can be increased accordingly to match it and achieve a balance for enhanced plant growth... otherwise if you only increase the lights, the plants may not be able to utilize it effectively due to carbon limitation and all the excess light and nutrients will just feed algae instead.

yeah, now then i realized keeping fish or planted tank, it really required skilled, knowledge and patience..

pardon me, as i lack all of them..

any good brands for this trace/micro and potassium fertilizer? i'm thinking of lushgro aqua.

Eh just some thoughts. The thread starter is looking for quick fixes... In my time as an aquascaper... To be honest, there are no quick fixes. Even low tech tanks you need to do some read up and also be patient. In your case, the best scenario is to tear up and redo so you don't have to fight fire.

I have one high tech and one low tech tank. The low tech one I use ada substrate and sand. I plant densely and add excel every week. My lights are pretty high for a low tech tank 18w evo for 36 x24x22cm. So far no algae. Every week change 30%water. 1 drop of micros added. No foreground only h.tripartita, moss, ferns, staurogyne, buceps and nanas.

Think you can consider redoing. Not because your scape is bad, in fact it is pretty nice. But because you can save yourself the hassle of fire fighting every few days. Find a day and do everything. I tore down my scape because blue green algae creeping in and I was fire fighting too. Too tiring. Every week must remove. So restart. So far so good. Still a little bit but Im containing it.

Alternatively, you can try the AlgExit solution recommended for algae removal.
In short: best cure is prevention heh. Sorry if I sound harsh but it's good to start right. Save yourself the hassle.

Meanwhile if you really just want to do something for dummies:
Ada soil
Good LED lights
Co2
Plant like mad and remove later. I like to put water sprite floating to suck up excess nutrients. Finish take and give away or throw
Lushgrow micros for low tech
Macros if you have co2
Lushgrow best for value. Buy one set can last you one year even if high tech dosing. Mine almost one year and just about to finish.
Water change every week . Minimum 30%

i regularly dose 1mg of excel daily, add in OF liquid fertilizer once or twice a week.
i don't have algae problems..

may i ask for lushgro, which one is the micros and macros?

are you guys referring to:

LUSHGro-AQUA Liquid & LUSHGro-MICROS Liquid??

[kurty]

sharing some pictures on the plants:

tank 1, left

Attachment 43873

right side:
Attachment 43874

tank 2: left

Attachment 43875

right:
Attachment 43876

my concern:
tank 1, hairgrass, some of them are turning brown..
tank 2, hc if i got it correctly, are turning brown too, losing their green.

[Shadow]

I saw Yamato, I'm pretty sure your yamato will un-root your HC

[vinz]

Hi,

Managed to set-up a pretty easy low tech tank at my in-laws place before. I think pretty dummy-proof, as long said dummy is consistent with feeding and fertilising. The advice below is based mostly on that tank: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...anted-low-tech

I did a quick glance through your thread, so may have missed a few things mentioned, please bare with me if I repeat some question or advice.

If you want low tech, low light with excel, then there the trade offis plant choices. In such a tank, most high-light plants will not grow as fast or as healthy as you see in high tech tanks. Some will, but will take a long time. I believe hairgrass is one of those that do not do well in a low tech tank. My recommendations for low tech tank with Excel: Anubias, Hygrophila, Cryptocoryne, Moss, Red Tiger Lotus, Blyxa, normal Java fern. Maybe some Amazon swords. I think most rosette plants in general should be ok. Low tech stem plants, my personal good experience is with Hygrophila polysperma, but I think H. difformis should also do well.

I'm do not know if your LED light is bright enough. There is a discussion about that light here: http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...s-LED-Lightset. At first glance of that thread, seems like a decent set.

As for fertiliser and other additives:
- You do NOT need baking soda to stabilise pH as you are not injecting CO2 gas.
- I recommend using Seachem equilibrium for Mg Ca and K. Measure your tank water GH and then add enough to raise it to maximum of 6dGH, thereafter add equilibrium during water change. Just add enough for the amount of water changed.
- For a small tank, ADA Brighty Shades (for low light tank) is affordable. I have had good experience with this for the above mentioned tank. Dose as instructed.
- Excel for Carbon. Dose as instructed.

Do not over feed the fish. And keep the fish load low.

There you go, simple routine.

Just keep the that hang on filter clean and consider upgrading to a mini canister. When cleaning the filter, remember not to use tap water to wash the filter media. Just rinse them in the tank water that you just siphoned out for water change. If not enough siphoned tank water, then filter wool and coarse pad can be washed in tap water, provide you have good bio-media.

What soil are you using? ADA Aquasoil is good. There are some good lookalikes too. But there are some lookalikes that are pretty much rubbish.

What is the glass tube on the right side of the tank?

[Urban Aquaria]

yeah, now then i realized keeping fish or planted tank, it really required skilled, knowledge and patience..

pardon me, as i lack all of them..

No worries, we all also started off reading tons of forum threads for tips and getting overloaded with information too... but once you try stuff out and experience what works and what doesn't work for your planted tank setups (and fight a few algae battles), you will eventually become expert at it.

any good brands for this trace/micro and potassium fertilizer? i'm thinking of lushgro aqua.

I've used the LushGro aqua fertilizer for a brief period of time before when i started in the hobby (was a leftover bottle given by a friend), used it for a few months until the bottle finished and it seemed to worked well. Maybe other LushGro fertilizer users can chime in on their longer term experiences with this fertilizer.

Looking back at the nutrient list at their website, the "aqua" version contains nitrogen and phosphorus along with various trace/micros (although the site also mentioned nitrogen is kept at low concentrations in this formulation)... i guess you can try and see if it works well for your setup. The LushGro micros is only micro/trace nutrients.

Oddly, i don't seem to see any mention of potassium in their formulations, which is usually one of the important macro nutrients that fertilizer brands tend to highlight. Perhaps LushGro has a different way of combining the nutrient mix.

I currently use Tropica Premium (Potassium + Micro/Trace, no nitrogen or phosphate) and Tropica Specialized (contains all nutrients including nitrogen and phosphate). I basically use Premium for tanks with active bio-load and regular feeding, while using Specialized for tanks with plants only and no (or very low) bio-load. Maybe you could also check out and try the Tropica fertilizers too.

[Urban Aquaria]

sharing some pictures on the plants:

tank 1, left

Attachment 43873

right side:
Attachment 43874

tank 2: left

Attachment 43875

right:
Attachment 43876

my concern:
tank 1, hairgrass, some of them are turning brown..
tank 2, hc if i got it correctly, are turning brown too, losing their green.

Looks like the plants are still in transition stage... most plants from LFS are grown emersed, so the old emersed form will usually melt before the new healthy submersed leaves grow out. It will take a longer time to see this transition in low-tech tanks though, especially for plants like hairgrass and HC.

Btw, it seems you have M. monte carlo in your Tank 2, the leaves are noticeably larger than HC... or you may just have a mix of both.

[Phillipians]

Lushgrow aqua is the same as lushgrow macros

Micros is micros.

[kurty]

really found an all in one application: http://bigfish.en.alibaba.com/produc...ertilizer.html

even have co2..
but too bad, didn't give more details about the product and content

[Urban Aquaria]

really found an all in one application: http://bigfish.en.alibaba.com/produc...ertilizer.html

even have co2..
but too bad, didn't give more details about the product and content

Its a magical solution! haha...

These 3rd-party products from china makers really know how to print the words "Depont" and "Germany" to increase the credibility of the product... try to resemble the original Dennerle brand DeponitMix fertilizer products from Germany.

I guess they probably include glutaraldehyde chemicals in with the fertilizer mix, so announce have "free Co2", kinda like mixing ferts with Excel in the same bottle.

[kurty]

Its a magical solution! haha...

These 3rd-party products from china makers really know how to print the words "Depont" and "Germany" to increase the credibility of the product... try to resemble the original Dennerle brand DeponitMix fertilizer products from Germany.

I guess they probably include glutaraldehyde chemicals in with the fertilizer mix, so announce have "free Co2", kinda like mixing ferts with Excel in the same bottle.

sound promising but i just got no confidence with them..
later risk my fishes..

just continue my regular OF all in one fertilizer and iron..
or browse the sale thread to see if anyone selling lushgro aqua..

love and patience for now..

answering to your question: left is HC while right is MC.
seems that MC is easier to grow than HC

[Phillipians]

Just order from ecocity hydroponics. They do delivery also even on Saturday

[kurty]

Just order from ecocity hydroponics. They do delivery also even on Saturday

Yeah, but quite a huge bottle. I'm looking at one liter, more worthy.

Anyone wanna share langro Aqua with me?
500ml each.

As for the micro portion, I probably will pay a visit to seaview During weekend and get a potassium drop.

[kurty]

Wanna ask if I'm doing the right thing:

Weekly 20% water change
Photoperiod: 5 hour daily.
5ml of iron added During water change in pail
2 dose of OF liquid fertilizer twice a week.

Tank 1, 40cm
Added excel 1ml daily

Tank 2, 50cm long
Excel 2ml daily
Tank located beside window.

Just started today,
1ml of trace elements, intend to do twice a week.
Seachem potassium, 1ml, same as above.
I also added some organic dry fertilizer that I had, into both tanks soil.


I notice tank 2 started to grow green spot algae again.
Isn't excel supposed to eliminate algae??

Advice and comments please.

[Shadow]

green spot because you put the tank beside the window. excel only kill algae or other plant in high concentration.