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hi all im looking for help with regards to a reduced growth rate im my planted tank. its low tech with a round 2.6 wpg and the plants are fairly low maintenance- mostly small swords and wisteria. the tank is about a year old and doing well, however recently i have been having trouble keeping hornwart in the tank- it used to grow out of control but now it doesnt grow at all. as a result i have had and ongoing battle with algae (hornwart was my main fast grower over than the wisteria)- it doesnt take over the whole tank but lines the older sword leaves causing them to die- which isnt to much of a problem but can be a wee bit unsightly.

i suspect there is some macro nutrient missing which explains the horn wart going from un beatable to almost un findable. an other factor could be that i have started aerating the tank and agitating the surface- so it may be a co2 issue. does flourish excel dissipate like co2 due to agitated surface?

so there are my areas i am looking for help with- firstly macro nutrients- where can you buy them in oz? i have this site: www.litemanu.com which is an american site- im just worried customs might think im making a bomb or something and destroy it! and secondly whether flourish excel would dissipate with increased surface agitation- as from what i understand it is already fixed co2 so shouldnt?

also i am looking at sowing a few more plants so if anybody has a few suggestions for a medium light low maintainence plant that you recommend please let me know!

thanks very much
dan

Will the first thing you should look at before you start adding more ferts and chems to the tank,,,, Is your light bulbs, I have to assume with 2.6wpg you have Compact Flor. bulbs.... and you seid the tank has been running great for a year now.... will CF lights will only provide the proper light waves for plant growth for about 1 year, some of the more expensive bulbs will give you 15 months. Even though the are lighting up the tank they go bad. Even if they are sitting on the self they still are only good for one year. As I rule of thumb for myself I replace the bulb that comes with the fixture.. as I have no ideal how old it is. You can find a good selection of bulb online just watch the shipping charges, and look at the pin config on the bulb, they are all 4 pins but weather they are square or straight is the question. Next look at the wattage on the bulb. With a plant tank I have great luck with 6700K to 8700k depending how deep that tank is.

As far as recommending plants, I find it best to pick them out my self. there are alot of sites out there that give acc. light requirements, so have a fun go look and see what you like......

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

Hi,
First, to better be able to help, one should always
give the parameters of the tank, light (wpg, duration,
K rating, etc) as well as the water chemistries such as
the pH, GH, KH, any ammonia, nitrite? and the Nitrate
reading.

If you don't break or rile the surface then you can have
a slightly increased CO2 saturation. Ambient CO2
saturation is around 5mg/l. Without riling the surface
you might be able to get it slightly higher.
The Flourish Excel product introduces carbon in a different
form, and it cannot be driven off through aeration.

Generally speaking the plant Hornwart does best in cool
water tanks. It will grow and thrive in warm tanks but
it prefers water in the mid 60s. About 1.5 to 2 wpg.
Hardness should be between 6 and 11 degrees or
100-200ppm.
When placed in warm water tanks, at first the plant takes
off and grows like a weed. Over time it will die back
and should be transplanted to a cool water tank or replaced
with fresh plants. When pruning, always remove the old
growth and keep the new growths.
Kasselmann, in the PLANTED AQUARIUMS also notes that the
plant has adverse reactions to chemicals. Possibly the
addition of the Flourish Excel is the cause of your die
back?

As far as Nitrate, your tank should not "read" any higher
than 10. If it is 40 or more then it is in need of a
through cleaning as the waste products have built up too
high. A large water change along with gravel vacuuming is
a must and once done, it should continue to be done on a
weekly basis. Mentally divide the non planted sections
of the tank into 4 section and with each weekly water
change, clean a different section. The gravel cleaning
combined with the water changes will reduce the Nitrate
readings to where they should be (0-10).

Many of our members, such as Keith, Country Fish, and
Gone Troppo, all have beautiful planted tanks and are
your countrymen. Contact them for outlets as far as
the plant fertilizers and availability.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

cheers guys.

yeah sorry heres the parameters=> its a 190L with probably about 160L of water due to all the substrate which is about 2 inches of jbl plus capped with an inch of fairly fine gravel (not as fine as i would like in hind sight!). its kept at 25.5 degrees C. i change about 50 to 60L a week as it is well stocked with 2 angels (whom have luckily become a mating pair and every so often lay a bunch of eggs on the leaves!)a bristlenose pleco (who eats the eggs!) a clown pleco, 4 bolivian rams and a small school of rummy nose tetra. i keep a log book and the ammonia levels and nitrite levels dont register. nitrates are usually around 5. the ph is usually slightly acidic 6.8 ish tho can be upto 7.2 as i use baking soda to buffer my Kh. usually around 7. oh yeah theres 2 pepper corys in there too. lights are on for 9 hours a day- tho of late i havent been using the timers so that too could be an issue i hadnt considered.

the lights are compact flurescent and theres 2x55W - i havent ever changed them yet so that could be something to look at.

as for the hornwart that sounds exactly like the issue in my tank- it went nuts then died back. i transplanted bits to my betta tank and they went nuts! interestingly i transplanted a large sword into my betta tank and that has gone right off too! which is strange as its not well lit at all.

hmm so in conclusion i think contacting a fellow ozzy dweller is a good plan and maybe introducing another fast grower, other than hornwart to mop up those nutrients and hopefully iradicate the problematic algae!

cheers frank and richie you been of great help.

***edit:
i have also just had a major clean out and discovered that my filter has been partially blocked which created a dead spot under neath the jet (which was agitating the surface). also i had scraped alot of the algae of a peice of driftwood during last weeks clean out and this had accumulated in the dead spot (maybe this scraping and hence spreading has led to the bloom). also i changed one light for a spare i have and it is visiably brighter- thanks for that richie i never would have thought of that! so i need one more tube (which is a mission here in albury as they are always brokern in the post!).
so far i feel very positive in the algae battle!

cheers again

Fandan... G'day mate ... you can get all the Seachem Ferts you need at the following website ...
http://www.aquariumproductswholesale.com/index.php.

From what you've already said I'd say all you need is the Excel you already use and some Flourish and maybe Pottassium ... everything else will be provided by your fish .

Garry

G'day country fish! thanks mate i've actually used that web site for other products already so will be happy to do so again.

as for the flourish excel- i dont actually use that product- i have trialled with one of the sample bottles in the past. i have just been considering using it since i started to airate the tank as i am probably reducing what little co2 i have in the water in doing so. so that will be something i will definatly invest in. maybe i will pick up a nutrient test kit while im at it and maybe that will give a better idea of what i need.

thanks very much mate, have a good one!