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Hope nobody minds another one.

I am needing some help with my planted tank and i have quite a few questions and stuff i'd like to know.

so anyway here is what i got:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/aquapickle27/IMG_5458.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/aquapickle27/IMG_5457.jpg

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/aquapickle27/IMG_5456.jpg

†Aquapickle†

some equipment info>...

I have 2 aquaclear filters a 50 and a 30.

A diy co2 with bubble stone and power head diffuse method.

a 96watt coralife compact flourescent 6,700k.

Flourish products:

i have 650 ml of excel

250ml phosphorus

700 ml potassium

450 ml nitrogen

250 ml flourish

250 ml iron


I don't know what a good fert schedule would be for this tank, so i am just following a little less than the bottle says.

Plants;>

I have a huge watersprite plant and some plantlets on the left

two java fern coming out of the rocks

some pearl weed around the front of the rocks

wisteria snips on the right

3 crypts to left of rocks

some ludwigia repens (really small snips)

and three rotala stems

Fish:/

one rubbernose
2 ottos
8 harlequins
1 neon
one male ram
3 corys


†Aquapickle†

Hi,
It's a nice beginning tank. As it grows in (matures) it
could really look nice.

In my mind you have specialized too much in the fertilizer
side of things. Sea Chem makes a good, general, all round
fertilizer called "Flourish." It contains just about
everything you would need in one bottle.

As far as the CO2 is concerned, you can either use the
DIY system you have, or you can use Sea Chem's Flourish
Excel which is a liquid source of Carbon.

To determine how well your DIY system is working simply
measure your pH, and your KH and then locate the points
of intersection on the CO2 graph:
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm
You should strive for a minimum of 15mg/l and preferably
you should have it around 30mg/l.

Frank


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

Personally I think you do need ALL the ferts you have listed. With good light, co2, the fish will not provide enough macros to give the plants what they need. Flourish really only provides micros and other trace elements. You don't have alot of plant mass so I would go easy on the amounts. I think 1/3 to 1/2 is good until you get more plant mass in there. You could provide the NPK for example M-W-F and the micros (flourish/Iron) on Tue-Thurs.

Make sure you change about 50% of the water once a week especially in the beginning and don't run you lights more than 7 hours a day, until you get more mass in there.

well i am not sure what you are asking...

are you asking for more help with the plant growth, or more on the aquascape?

but here are a few answers to give you on both subjects.

plants:
you have plenty if light and your dosing schedule should go like greengod says.
if you want more plant growth you should invest in a pressurized gas CO2 system, but your DIY should be sufficient.
but you really need more plants in that tank. some vals, abubias, some dwarf lilies, aponogeton, hygro, java/christmas/tiawan/etc mosses, riccia fluitans, glosso, and maybe even hornwort. all of these are good hearty plants that will grow well in your lighting. you are probably hurting your java fern with the high light. but with floating hornwort, you could break up a bit of the light.

Aquascape:
i think you need to move the water sprite from the side wall to the back in the middle or off to one side. you should also invest in some tall growers (vals or hygro?) to place in the back, and some medium growers (dwarf lilies, aponogetons?) for the middle, and some othe foreground plants to help your pearl weed.

you should also add some drift wood or some taller rocks t break up a bit of the territories for more of an interesting scape and help with the fish.

Fish:
you need a few more corries for optiimum comfort
your neon is lonely, get it some friends
and the harlies will do great!
you ram might want a mate in the future...(maybe future spawners?)
also keep in mind the health of the fish when you are focusing on the plants (ie too much disolved carbon can hurt them, and too much trace elemnts can also hurt them... research the fishs' sensitivity)


\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

i have been having quite a few fish fatalities. I had only one aqua clear on and too many fish the ammonia went up to .6ppm and several fish died. i got it back down to 0 ppm and the water is looking really clear with the extra filtration.

I dont have a GH test kit so i don't know how much dissolved co2 there is. However i dont think it's too high.

I read somewhere that a combo of co2 and Flourish excel can be a good way to provide plants with carbon. Is it true?

I had a piece of drift wood but a bunch of black fungus stuff grew all over it. (Because of lack of current?)

I got some free substrate pellet fertilizers with my order from aquariumplants.com ( any experience with these ?)

Thanks for the help!

†Aquapickle†

Black stuff probably wasn't fungus, it sounds like algae. I've got some of dark green fuzzy algae on my wood and only on my wood, not on anything else.

CO2 is often used on planted tanks in combination with fertilizers. My tank is low-tech so I don't use CO2 or even extremely good lighting.

I have SeaChem gravel ferts. You push them into the gravel near a plant and they fertilize a 6" radius. If I disturb one a bunch of bubbles come up, so I assume they're doing something.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

shini i have similar root ferts... the bubbles a CO2 release that the tabs have to not only fert the roots but also the leaves and stems... mine do the same thing when disturbed...

the substrate pellets will be great for you pickle as long as you follow the directions properly!

GOOD LUCK!

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

Couple more questions and pictures:

What are the suggested nitrate levels on a planted tank?
Mine are about 10-15ppm.

Is Java Fern supposed to do this?

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/aquapickle27/IMG_5461.jpg

MY ram!:

http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f250/aquapickle27/IMG_5464.jpg



†Aquapickle†

That's not a bad looking ram...

Yeah, java fern does that. Wait a few weeks, they'll start growing leaves too. That's one way that java fern can propagate. One of my ferns has tons of baby plants hanging off the back of it. I think I might have a pic of that in a topic in the Photo Botth.

--------------------------------------------
The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.

beautiful ram and good luck with those plantlets....

does anyone know hoe long it takes a plantlet to grow into a plant and repropagate again?
and do java ferns need a special enviroment to form plantlets?

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

is that a longfinned ram? he is really nice looking i got 2 in my tank...regular fins though still i love the lil guys. you will eventually have every leaf do that...but look at it this way...your getting another plant every time to add to the tank or another one

how are the plants doing? they growing in nice?

I dont think he is long finned. Correct me if i am wrong, but I think that's just the way males are.

†Aquapickle†

Tomorrow will be the first day i will start my fert schedule and stick with it.

Here's what i plan to do:

Monday
2ml Excel
2ml Nitrogen
4.5ml Phosphorus
5ml Potassium

Tuesday
3ml Flourish
1ml iron

Wednesday
2ml Excel
2ml Nitrogen
4.5ml Phosphorus
5ml Potassium

Thursday
3ml Flourish
1ml iron

Friday
2ml Excel
2ml Nitrogen
4.5ml Phosphorus
5ml Potassium

Saturday
Nothing

Sunday
Water change - 30-40%

How's that look. I reduced all of the doses because of the low plant mass.


I also have 2 new leaves (about 1 inch long) on one of my java fern and half of the leaf is semi transparent, and the other half is normal.
(is this just part of the leaf development or are they lacking some nutrient?)

Thanks!

†Aquapickle†

that means there is too much light on that fern... put a floating plant above it. java ferns are low light plants and too much light makes them "melt".

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I just trimmed my watersprite and a bunch of snippings are floating around the surface. That should help.

Any comments on the fert schedule?


†Aquapickle†

Actually i just checked my dad's tank and his fern has the same thing. The top half of the leaf is transparent.

His lighting is 2/3 wpg. (low).


†Aquapickle†

DOES HE HAVE HIH LIGHT? also it could be the over abundance of ferts in there causing the melt...i have fairly low light in my tank with windelov ferns (a fancy java fern) and they are doing fine (although they have only been in a day )

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I like that pile of rocks for a focal point. So simple, yet kind of different.

any new pics?