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Some months ago, I tore down my 30 gal. planted tank because it just didn't look good, most of the plants had algae, and it was a pain to take care of. This is what it looked like back then: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~illustrae/Aquaria/pictures/pict0004_14.jpg
Actually, that is from when I first set the tank up about a year ago. It did fill in after that, before going downhill. I was using DIY CO2 diffused through a Hagen ladder, and there is 120 watts of compact fluorescent light that was on for about 12+ hours per day. I was dosing with regular Flourish and I started using FLourish Excel on a fairly regular basis. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the mess that tank became. First there was the green water problem that I believe was due to the fluctuations in my CO2 levels. Than I had an outbreak of staghorn algae that was absolutely disgusting. That's when I started using the excel, which worked to a point. Then black brush/blue green algae moved in and it was at this point that I decided the tank as it was was a lost cause. My fish were also starting to suffer and some of the died. I think this was due to me having difficulty cleaning under and around the huge piece of driftwood, and the java ferns had created a rotting tangle of their roots all over it which I think was creating pockets of ammonia as the lower levels rotted. All I know for sure is how that wood STUNK when I took it out.

Thanks to help from Little_Fish and bensaf and a few others, I'm off to a much better start. I chose slower growing plants that are less demanding, got my ferts in better order, discarded the DIY CO2 altogether, and cut up the big piece of driftwood into smaller pieces. I'm using the full line of Flourish fertilizers: dosing Excel every day, and twice a week adding a cocktail of regular Flourish, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Iron. I've also changed the lighting so that 60 watts are on for 4 hours, then 120 for 4 hours, then back to 60 for 4 hours.
So here's what it looks like now: http://www.dartmouth.edu/~illustrae/Aquaria/pictures/pict0009_30.jpg
It's definitely better, but there is also a lot of room for improvement. My biggest problems are with my ludwigia, which you can sort of see to the right of the crypt. spiralis. It's slowly losing most of it's old leaves, and the new shoots on it are very pale bright green in comparison. I also have some alteranthera that I tried to salvage from the old setup, but it has curled in on itself and refuses to grow at all. Is there perhaps something about these plants that they have a harder time getting their carbon form the Excel and they really need diffused CO2? What sort of plants should I replace them with?
I've about had it with vals. I have regular corcscrew vals next to the rotala that I thought would look good as a transition into the darker c. balansae, but they are too damn short. You can't even see them behind the java fern. They appear healthy, but none of them are taller than 4 inches. Are they under too much light?
The c. spiralis is clearly doing quite well, but the c. balansae isn't getting as tall as I would like. Maybe it just needs more time. I'm also hoping to get some height from the anubias plants (I believe they are a. frazeri), but the ones I was able to get are very tiny and will take a lot of time to become the towering, space-eating plants I want them to be. The little c. wendtiis and c. petchis in the foreground are doing well and will gradually fill in. There's an amazon sword in there that I know is too big for this tank, but it was one of the few plants that survived its bout of BB algae still looking good and healthy. THere's also an ozelot sword in front of the c. spiralis that appears stunted. It otherwise appears healthy and puts out new leaves; it's just not growing in a very vertical fashion. The substrate is sloped to about 3+ inches on the sides and in the back, with 1.5+ inches in the very front.

So, what's next? How can I get my c. balansae growing more vertically? What plants can I add that will break up the grassy texture and still survive in this tank? I suppose I could create an aquascape of just the crypts and rotala, but I'd like a little more variety. What do you guys think?

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Hi,

Glad it's working out beeter this time It's looking good so far.

Be careful what you wish for.The Vals and Balansae will get tall in time. They will gradually start putting out longer and longer leaves.

Balansae love calcium , maybe a little bit of crushed coral (just one small piece) buried close to the roots can help.

With regard to your stunting. What's your GH ? Also a reading on Nitrate would help.

With the GH if you can get a breakdown on how much Calcium and how much Magnesium.

Chances are adding abit of CA or Mg will help, maybe both.

With regard to the 'scape - more hardscape, rocks and wood to create a solid anchor you can work around. Wisteria is a great plant for filling out space and will work well with the plants you currently have.

Nice Spialis, you're the only person on here apart from me that uses that plant. I like it a lot.

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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.

Okay, I did a Gh/Kh test, and Gh was about 40 ppm, and the test kit didn't even register Kh, so that's somewhere under 10 ppm. My water is quite soft. I like the idea of adding calcium. I plan on starting a shellie tank soon, so I'll have crushed coral on hand for that and can stick some near the c. balansae.
My Nitrate tends to fluctuate between 20-60 throughout the week as I add ferts and do water changes.
The vals seem to have stabilized at only 5 inches... I'll take your word for it that they'll eventually grow taller.
I'm not sure what to add for hardscape. There's not a lot of tank width to work with so any rock or wood would need to have a fairly small footprint with a bit of vertical impact. I'll have to keep looking for something suitable. I have two anubias in front of the filter, but they are tiny at this point, so it's probably going to be 6 months or more before they fill in the left hand side of the tank. I think i'm going to get more c. spiralis for the right hand side, and I'll make a little forest of crypts in that low-light corner. I'm also thinking of putting in some Sunset Hygro back into this tank. I saved what I could when I tore it down, and now I have a bunch of nice, algae free, compact-leaved stems. I'm sure if I do plant the hygro with all of the additional ferts it will have access to, I'll probably have to trim it every week, but I need some successful stem plants in there to add texture, and the ludwigia just isn't doing well. I've tried to lower the nitrates I add and added more Iron, and this poor plant is barely surviving.

I'll add more pictures soon and you can see how it's coming along...

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Okay, I did a Gh/Kh test, and Gh was about 40 ppm, and the test kit didn't even register Kh, so that's somewhere under 10 ppm.

Yep that's your problem right there. GH is basically made up of calcium and magnesium salts. The calcium is a macro nutrients and must be present at all time in good quanities.

Stunting is a sure sign of calcium deficiency which is why I asked for the GH. This can happen if the water is too soft or something is blocking the plants uptake of Ca. In your case it's soft water. Really needs to be 60ppm minimum.

Crushed coral will increase Ca and KH but may not add much Mg. The Mg is also vital not enough can reduce the plants ability to take up calcium even if you provide extra.

Crushed coral will release slowly and it's unpredictable. For more control and accurate dosing I would add both Ca and Mg. You can still use the coral, a little extra Ca and KH won't hurt. Although as you no longer inject Co2 the KH is unimportant.

You can do both easily by dosing Seachem Equilibrium. This will give both Ca and Mg in balanced quantities. Or you can dose Calcium Chloride and Maganesium Sulfate (Epsom salts) individually . You want about 20-30ppm of Ca and about 4ppm of Mg.

A good option also if you can find it is a calcium/magnesium supplement for reef tanks.

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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.

illustrae,

I am glad to read that you seem to be happy with your tank now (almost). Bensaf gave you good advice on the Calcium, as you may know I add Seachem Equilibrium to my tank as well as my natural GH is really low (maybe 1 to 2 dH).

BTW, Bensaf - any idea of where I can find a table that would list how much Equilibrium is needed to raise a certain amount of water by a certain degree?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Bensaf - any idea of where I can find a table that would list how much Equilibrium is needed to raise a certain amount of water by a certain degree?

The label ! Mine says 1 tablesponn per 20 gals will raise the hardness by 3 dgh. Should be able to do the math from there !

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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.

Thanks Bensaf

1 tablespoon per 20 gals will raise the hardness by 3 dgh

So, 3 tsp per 20G for 3dH, or 1tsp per 20G = raise 1dH. I use 0.5tsp on 120G, that means I raise my GH by about 0.08333 dH

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

So, 3 tsp per 20G for 3dH, or 1tsp per 20G = raise 1dH.

Huh ???

Is tsp teaspoon or tablespoon ?

I don't know the conversion from tea to table.

Anyhow I tablespoon will increase 20gals of water by 3 dgh.

So in your case 6 tablespoons will increase your Gh by 3 dgh.
2 tablespoons will increase Gh by 1 dgh.

This should only apply to water change volumes though to prevent build up. Assuming each water change is 50% then 1 tablespoon will maintain 1 dgh.

This product is designed for people who use RO/DI water which is probably why Seachem use doses of 3 dgh as this is really the minimum for maintaining plant growth.

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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.

Wow

illustrae - sorry to sidetrack your thread a little

Bensaf - So I come home last night and read the bottle instructions. Man, I must have used way to little of this stuff from the get-go of the tank.

1 tablespoon = 3 teaspoons (tsp)
3 tsp on 20G = 3 dGH
3 tsp on 60G = 1 dGH

I use 1/2tsp on my 60G water change, means I raised my GH by 0.167 dGH

That seems rather insignificant. I never put more thought in the dosing amount as I did not understand (or maybe I am off anyway) that my goal is virtually to raise GH, I thought the suggested amount was only to provide some goodies for the plants. Could you clarify this?

Thanks in advance,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

As I said the point of equilibrium is to use on RO water which is 0 dgh and bring it to a hardness suitable for plants i.e. 3 dgh. Hence the dosing I assume.

What you need to do is bring your soft water up to 3 dgh and keep it there.

You need to measure your GH and then dose enough to bring the entire tank up to 3 dgh. So if your current GH is 1 dgh dose enough to get to 3 dgh.Thereafter just dose the water change amount to maintain.

Another way to do it is to add the ingredients separately yourself. Add 20ppm of Ca thru Calcium Chloride or Calcium Carbonate (the CaCl2 dissolves easily, the CaCO3 is very hard to dissolve, as I'm sure you notice if using Equilibrium, but will also raise KH) and add 4-5ppm of Mg thru MgSO4 (Epsom salts). This should be done each week after water change. This will grow plants just fine.

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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.

I just wanted to give a little update... It's been about two months, and I have to say, Bensaf, you were right... my crypts finally grew up tall, and my ludwigia is finally growing well, too. I had to take out the vals, as they just weren't doing much of anything, but I added some hygrophilia "tropic sunset" a week or so ago to fill in more of the background. I have all kinds of small crypts in the foreground that are very slowly filling in, and some anubias on the left side that will slowly take over the darker corners over there.
My fert regimen is working better than I had hoped, and I have to say I am so pleased with this tank now. I have no algae at all, though I did find that if I get lazy with my ferts, I get green water that is very thick, very green, and just nasty, but in a week of dosing regularly and correctly, it goes away and the tank is clear.
I also have to give a nod to Little_Fish and his espei rasboras. They look so great against all that green in your tank, that when I saw some hengli rasboras in my LFS, I had to get a bunch of them. They're slightly smaller than espeis, about the size of large cardinal tetras. They look fantastic with the blue tetras and gertrudes blue-eye rainbowfish as well. Another great fish development in my tank is that my trio of pearl gouramis (1M/2F) are finally socializing with each other. It used to be that the Male would patrol the tank and chase the females into hiding constantly, but now the females are out and about all the time, and the male doesn't chase them as aggressively. It only took a year, but I finally have a happy tank! I think in another month or two the ludwigia will be tall enough to match the rotala and hygro, and the crypts will have filled in even more. I know I still don't have any prominent hardscape, and I'm not sure I'll end up doing anything about that.
Here's a peek!

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~illustrae/Aquaria/pictures/p1010015.html

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~illustrae/Aquaria/pictures/p1010020.html

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~illustrae/Aquaria/pictures/p1010018.html

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

Hi,
As an asside, after the fact, Crushed Coral is Calcium
Carbonate. Crushed Limestone, however contains Calcium
and Magnesium.

Frank


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