Reply With QuotePhoto period seem a bit long? What's the water temperature. What are you using for substrate? Any base fertilizers? The plecos might eat your plants.The crab might dig stuff up.
I have a newly planted tank, 4 ft (60 gal)
5 guppies + babies
2 pelco 1 lg 1 sm
1 crab
5 red tetra
1 betta
various plants not sure what they are (Lps no names on the plants)
2 crypt, 4 baby tears, java moss
about 30 plants total
Co2 1bb every 2 sec.
2 38 watt helios T5 bulbs
2 Coralife 10,000K High-Intensity Purified Super Daylight Lamp
48" Length X 1.5" Diameter - T12 - 40 Watts
for a total of 156 watts @ 2.6 watts per gal.
lights and Co2 on for 13 hrs.
bubbles on at night
2 aqua clear 70 filters
I'm going to do a %25 water change and adding leaf zone fert.
Next week i'm going to add my mayalsian driftwood w/ java moss
I know the new plants (3 days old) i won't see any growth for a few weeks but the other plants ( 2 weeks old ) don't show very much growth at all.
Am I doing something wrong or do I just need to wait longer?
Last edited by firemanchris05; 3rd Mar 2007 at 10:02.
Photo period seem a bit long? What's the water temperature. What are you using for substrate? Any base fertilizers? The plecos might eat your plants.The crab might dig stuff up.
The water temp is around 70, eco complete for sudstrate, no base fertilizer. The crab and the plecos haven't bothered the plants yet.
@ aquastuff.org
40watts is a bit low for a 4 footer tank. Are the plants that you purchased still in its emersed form? If it is, it will take time for it to convert to its sumbersed form.
It would be good if you could capture a photo of your tank and plants so that we can better advise on the steps that you might need to take.
visit my photo albums @ flickr!
What are the 2 week old plants?
You might need to look into fertilisation since you are using CO2 in your tank. Have you read about the Estimative Index by Tom Barr and perhaps http://rexgrigg.com/ ?
I just planted them 2 weeks agoOriginally Posted by |squee|
Here are a few pictures, some of the taller plants are showing some growth.
Just added 2 38 watt helios T5 bulbs for a total of 156 watts @ 2.6 watts per gal.
It's really bright in there now.
Last edited by firemanchris05; 3rd Mar 2007 at 08:45.
Firemanchris,
Are you a firefighter?
The Windlov Fern(First picture on top row). It should be tied to a piece of driftwood. The roots can't be buried or they die.
The 2nd row , first picture. The 2 plants on the top rght corner. The white/green one and the fern that looks like a christmas tree should be out of there. They are not water plants and will die eventually. Re-pot them as house plants instead and go smack the guy who sold them to you(kidding on the last part)
you can't burried fern rizome, otherwise they will die. If you don't want to use driftwood, you can tied it on the rock. As long as the rizone not burried they will survive
You can give a ton of light, but nothing will happen if you don't provide it with the same high levels of fertilisation and CO2.
High light = higher growth rate = more need for CO2 and ferts. If these aren't provided in ample amounts (balancing is the key) light will be simply = algae since your plants aren't growing.
I had a feeling some of the plants were not ment for water, I just put some drift wood in last night so i'll do some transplanting tonight.
Since we're at it.Is your setup temporary? Would you be considering setting up a proper substrate for the tank instead of stuffing your plants in containers?
Eventually when i get enough money and I see that they are growing I do plan on getting the proper substrate. Untill then i'm just going to have to do more reading and make sure i'm getting water plants instead of house plants. I have had to learn the hard way that just because you buy them in water doesn't mean they will grow in water. No thanks to the Lps.
I should be working not posting
The temperature 21C is too low I think. You should get it up to 73.4F/23C at least. most of our tanks are set ideally at 25-27C.[77-80.6F].
You can if you dare to fail - Stan Chung
I have replanted the java fern on some drift wood and its doing great. I think i have the right amount of light - fertlizer - cO2 because everything is growing great and I don't have any alge yet. Some of the plants are growing so fast I have to trim them every few days and replant the clippings for more back ground decor. I'm just trying to get my micro sword plants to grow alittle better.
echis do get hungry in the roots so I would recomend base fertilizers or those root inserts.
I've got a quite established fish shop here that sells rather expensive and branded plants once told me that the KH of the water must be at least 1-2 for the plants to grow. Not sure how's the hardness of the water in US, but here in Singapore, I get KH of zero from the tap. And from personal experience, after adding macro fertilizers, my plants do grow much faster. Hope this helps...Btw, that green white plant in your first and second picture should be a non water plant. It will remain the same for some time(no growth) and then eventually rot.
I finally got enough $ to get the right substrate and I tossed out the plants that were not ment for the tank. I gave up useing the tap water here because it was killing my fish even after treating the water, I use bottled water now and everything is doing great. Although I did notice some hair alge on my Jave Fernsthat are near the top of the tank...closer to the light.
What kind of macro ferts are you useing?
I'm useing API Leaf Zone, Flourish, and Kent Freshwater.
Remove the algae asap.
Get something that gives you nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. Make sure CO2 is good too. A easy way to check is for bubbles forming under the leaves of plants, especially the fast growers.
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