Spring Resolution: Get Serious About my Plants

I suggest Jasmine Brough's article at
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fres...ntProfile1.htm
A lot of sound info there.

The number one reason for poor plant growth is inadequate light -
most need a lot of it, like 100 lumens per litre of tank
capacity.

The next common problem is the planting medium - epoxy-coated
pebbles are of no use to plants. Many plants don't like
undergravel filters either.

Additional CO2 is useful only when plants are growing vigorously
enough to use up what is naturally there. Except for unusually
soft water which lacks micronutrients, the same is true of
fertilisers.

Good luck!

Bottom Posted - Wayyy down below. The original was just too good to
delete.

On 30 Mar 2006 11:10:31 -0800, "default"
wrote:

It never ceases to amaze me, the different opinions that pop up out
here on the net. I tend to agree entirely with Bill, and haven't
experienced any of the phenomena that John speaks of.

I started about a year ago right where you are, Christie. I saw some
pictures of planted tanks and thought, "wow!" that looks so cool. So,
I started with some real lights, about 2 wpg on my 55 gallon tank and
bought a few bunches of real plants. I had some web pages with the
journey chronicled but it looks like they aren't up anymore. In short,
I did okay but had a few bouts with green water, blue green algae and
then a massive carpet of green furry algae. When I got it right, it
was a thing of beauty. "Right", ended up to be like this:

3.2 watts per gallon
CO2 injection system with a tank. power head for distribution
regular 'ole aquarium gravel (after all, it's only there to hold the
plants down)
NO undergravel fert tabs
alternate daily dosing of a potion of KCI, KNO3 and a touch of KH2PO4
and the other day micro nutrients (traces) from Greg.

I was able to grow a veritable tarzanian jungle of Ludwigia, Bacopa,
Hygro Polysperma, Rotalla, Wisteria, crypts and java ferns. I still
have the tank up and running now after a total tear down during the
move. I have had an ongoing battle with the dreaded black beard algae
but I have the upper hand now. At first, it was only on one log and it
looked really cool waving in the current. Then, slowly, it began to
spread to other objects and then onto the plant leaves. I killed it on
the objects with bleach dips and pruned the infected leaves. Then I
made sure my CO2 was sufficient (30-35 ppm) and have begun to tailor my
dosing regiem while watching the plants.

How's that for long winded, eh?

Advice? Sure. If you really wanna have fun with plants, more so than
some slow growers (I've got two of those tanks too) then try this:

-3 or so watts per gallon
-a variety of easy to grow stem plants
-mix up a potion of ferts from Greg using Chuck Gadds online calculator
-40% water changes weekly for starters, less if/as you acheive a
balance
-test kits to start with to keep you in the ballpark
-$100 for a CO2 tank, regulator and powerhead. I balked at this idea
at first. In fact my very words to my son were; "I've been reading
about this C02 deal, and I'm definitly NOT going to go that crazy."


I'll post some pictures later today on my yahoo site. The 55 is going
strong at my new house. The 20 is about the same at a friends place.
It's got a 36 watt JBJ fixture sitting on it and the sword forest is
doing very well, albiet slow growth. The little 3 gallon Eclipse here
on my desk is nearly perfect. It's got a huge anubia, a sprig of water
sprite, a huge java fern and a stem of Ludwigia. Nothing grows very
fast although I"ve had to prune twice in a year. This one has never
had an algae problem and the water is always crystal clear. Four red
shrimp scurry around in it like the own the place.

Good luck, stay tuned for some pictures,
steve

Hey, I found a few:

regular 'ole gravel and some starter plants.
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/plantsJan14.jpg

getting established...
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/plantsFeb13.jpg

my desktop...
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/CubicleFeb10c.jpg

tarzanian jungle!
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/Apr23.html

Nice pics - love your little desktop tank. I'm just beginning to learn
enough to get me in trouble - been reading gregwatson tom barr and the
Krib fertilizer papers and today I located Stump Away, the label
clearly stating that the only ingredient is potassium nitrate. I have
no idea of the dilution or strength of this stuff, hoping to find more
on line to help me with this. I'm presently dosing daily with flourish
excel and flourish - plain vanilla flourish. I want to try the
addition of KNO3, but haven't a clue where to begin with dosing. I'm
always home, so extra water changes can happen as soon as I spot
trouble. If I spot trouble. If you have any pointers, feel free to
send me that direction. The response to the daily two flourish
products is already quite visible. 55 G, mostly swords, vals and
crypts. Soft and acid.

-- Mister Gardener

Great photos Default. Thank you. I like whatever mossy stuff was
growing on the rock in the first photo and also the large jagged plant
in the middle/background in the tarzanian jungle tank.

"default" wrote in message
oups.com...

my desktop...
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/CubicleFeb10c.jpg
================
Your tanks are beautiful. What is the plant with the large leaves in this
tank?
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Koi-Lo wrote:
"default" wrote in message
oups.com...

my desktop...
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/CubicleFeb10c.jpg
================
Your tanks are beautiful. What is the plant with the large leaves in this
tank?

Thanks!

That's an anubia. Slow steady grower. It's put out about 8 leaves in
the year I've had it. It is a low light plant that is doing great
under what, a five watt bulb? I add a few mls of Barr potion and a few
drops of traces once a week, along with about 1/3 capful of fourish
excel.

steve

IDzine01 wrote:
Great photos Default. Thank you. I like whatever mossy stuff was
growing on the rock in the first photo and also the large jagged plant
in the middle/background in the tarzanian jungle tank.

Thank you. The mossy stuff was the precurser to the green plague that
covered the earth! I'd added all the light and hadn't figured out the
fert thing yet. The algae sure knew what to do...

steve

IDzine01 wrote:
Great photos Default. Thank you. I like whatever mossy stuff was
growing on the rock in the first photo and also the large jagged plant
in the middle/background in the tarzanian jungle tank.


Thank you. The mossy stuff was the precurser to the green plague that
covered the earth! I'd added all the light and hadn't figured out the
fert thing yet. The algae sure knew what to do...

I -think- that stuff is water sprite. I get that and water wisteria
mixed up. I really liked it too but it all died off when I got outta
wack learning how to fertilize. The hardiest plants took all the
nutrients out of the water and the wimps died off. The hygro seems to
be the one that goes great in all conditions. Probably why it's listed
as a noxious weed, eh?

steve

On 30 Mar 2006 19:05:59 -0800, "default"
wrote:


Mister Gardener wrote:
snip...

If you have any pointers, feel free to
send me that direction. The response to the daily two flourish
products is already quite visible. 55 G, mostly swords, vals and
crypts. Soft and acid.

-- Mister Gardener

Glad to help if I can. By far, I'm no botanologist (that's a word
-now-) but I have had some success in between the challenging periods.
Balance is the key. When you have X amount of light, you'll then do
best when you supply enough carbon, potassium, nitrogen, and traces
(amounts in that order roughly) so none of them are limited.

My goal was to "prune pails of weeds" on a weekly basis like I'd read
some posters did. I got to that point and it was very satisfying. One
day I'm going to branch out and try some specific species for certain
aquascape ideas I'd like to try. But today, I'm still happy seeing how
fast I can grow a tankfull. The fish love it.

steve

I read labels a lot. I'm fooling with the Flourish line right now, and
I can see what the Excel and the everyday blends are doing, and I'd
like a little more potassium, but am balking at buying yet another
Flourish solution just to get potassium. I've been to the beard algae
and back, about a month ago. I found it was growing on my plants in a
perfectly straight line across the upper third of the tank. I
discovered that in the late afternoon, the sun was shining through a
window across the room directly along that line of algae. I snipped
and cut and did some heavy pruning, and curtained the window, and
there has been no return of algae. Whew, just in time. It was after
that when I began dosing heavily with the flourish ferts, and some of
the swords that I pruned all the way back to just 2 inches tall are
producing new leaves daily. A stand of Ludwigia which usually gets
bare at the bottom few inches and needs to be topped off and the tops
replanted every couple of months is sending out new leaves right at
gravel level - the leaves appear to be coming from the nodes where I
usually just see new roots waving in the water. So I am at a point of,
how much further can I take this, should I hold tight with what I'm
doing for a couple of months and re-evaluate then, or do I continue to
flirt with algae and pollution. I wish I could get a percentage or
some measurement on the amount of potassium nitrate in this stump away
stuff - it's in powder form - so tempting to try a little . . . then a
little more . . . I use liquid seaweed extensively in my outdoor
garden, as well as adding dead seaweed to my compost piles. I know
that seaweed is high in potassium and traces, but I know there is also
a little nitrogen and phosphorus in there as well. Not ready to try
it. Yet. Maybe in a small experimental plant tank one of these days.

-- Mister Gardener

"default" wrote in message
oups.com...

Koi-Lo wrote:
"default" wrote in message
oups.com...

my desktop...
http://www.geocities.com/erviservy/CubicleFeb10c.jpg
================
Your tanks are beautiful. What is the plant with the large leaves in
this
tank?

Thanks!

That's an anubia. Slow steady grower. It's put out about 8 leaves in
the year I've had it. It is a low light plant that is doing great
under what, a five watt bulb? I add a few mls of Barr potion and a few
drops of traces once a week, along with about 1/3 capful of fourish
excel.
=====================
Thanks. And again, your tanks are beautiful to look at. :-)
--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58

~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Additional carbon dioxide is useful only when the plant growth strongly Enough with what is naturally present. In addition to abnormal Soft water, the lack of micro nutrients, the same is true fertilizer.