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Hey everybody, i made a trip to my favorite fishstore"that fish place" in centerville pa yesterday and got some new plants. Ihave 2 questions-
1-I got these 3 plants new yesterday-1-red wendtii,2-green wendtii and-3-microsword. based on my tank enviroment, will they survive and grow? 30 gallon tank-30watts of plant lights, i add 1ml of iron daily, 1 add 1ml of comprehensive plant supplement 2x's a week, 50lbs. of regular gravel, the light is on 9hrs. a day, ph 7.0, gh 8ppm, kh 4, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrates 20-40ppm depending on how long its been since last water change(20 after water change and 40 right before).I think thats all you should Know.
2- When i was looking at there plants, 2 plants struck me with mystery, lace java fern and spatterdock. Does lace java fern require the same thing s as the regular java fern because i have much sucess with it?

I just was there a couple of weeks ago actually. If you look on their web site they tell you about the plants that you just bought. I actually have downloaded the plant descriptions and use them on a day to day basis. Great info.

If you post the link us 'crypt-keepers' could check it out also...

The Amazon Nut...

Most scources i've seen said crypts are heavy root feeders. they are typically low light plants, but they may not fair too well in your gravel. Why do you dose iron and ferts so often? Do you get brown spots on your plants (signs of iron toxicity)? Also, your crypts will probably melt within a couple of days. DO NOT THROW THEM OUT. Crypts have this habit of melting when water conditions change suddenly. They will grow back. I've read that its probably a defense against sudden floods. I think thats speculation as I haven't seen any 'proof'.

Spatterdock? Isn't that some weed on the East coast?
edit: Oh yeah, check out tropica for good plant info. Look up the scientific name of your plants for the ID. You can google for it if you aren't sure.


[span class="edited"][Edited by hazywater 2004-08-27 00:40][/span]

With your light, the crypts will be no problem. The microsword is a different story and needs a lot of light as it's a low ground plant and it's more difficult for the light to get down there.

The lace fern has exactly the same requirements as normal Java Fern and is just as easy.

No idea what spatterdock is.

Agree with Hazy, in your circumstances you should have no need for fertilizers. Without intense light the ferts will be wasted or at worst just used by algae. You should really only use them if your plants tell you they need them, ie they grow yellow leaves instead of green. If your plants are not growing and turning brown and dying they are telling you they need more light not more ferts. Either way liquid fert would be of little use to crypts and micro as they are root feeders.Be careful with the iron, plants only need small amounts the rest could lead to thread algae.

---

Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

In response to that too much iron causes brown spots on leaves, i do not have this problem. The only problem i have is that my java fern leaves have holes in them. Is this the same thing. I originally thought it was my fish eating them but could not convince myself this because i know java fern has fish repelent chemicals in their leaves. How about i cut the doses down to 1/2ml a day. I was only following the directions on the bottle though. About the crypts melting. Only the smaller new leaves seemed to have melted. The bigger ones are still very good.
Thanks for all the replies.

The company that told you to dose that much iron is lying to you. They are liars telling lies. It?s what they do to sell you that stuff. Dosing unnecessary additional amounts of iron will prove detrimental to your aquarium.

see the skeptical aquarist]http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/[/link] or [link=the krib for more information.

edit: Chelated iron is useful to both bacteria, algae, and plants. They have their own methods for retrieving it from humic substances which are the natural equivalent for our EDTA. Also iron will precipitate out where it becomes available to the roots eventually.

[span class="edited"][Edited by hazywater 2004-08-27 19:19][/span]

Wow, thanks Hazywater, i have just started reading on the skeptical aquarist website and am surprised at the amount of stuff i learned just by reading the section in plants about fertilizer. So, this fertillizer article is telling me that the fertilizer companies have probally been fooling people like me for many years. Do you add any fetilizer at all? I think i will try the method where you add fertillizer only when you replace the water from water changes. It also said that the fishs wastes should provide enoupgh feritlizer alone. I will let you all know how the plants are doing in a couiple of months
THANKS AGAIN

Yea the skeptical aqua. is an execellent place for indepth info. its my fish bible. lol
peace.

Ironic, don't you think? Here we see the importance of skepticism.

yes, skepticism is important when it comes to things like aquariums. thanks again.