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My first real contribution since my skiing incident/great internet failure of '05 will hopefully be a great group effort. I was hoping to get an idea of what people have in their tanks(plants/lighting/CO2) and what kind of fert schedule they follow. I think this could be very helpful to people starting out with plant tanks who might be overdosing/underdosing ferts and might save with the algea headache, or facilitate lush green growth(when green is the desired color). Hopefully it will help me too. Now I know everyone's tank is different, but I'll try to see if I can give some guidelines. It would be great to get info from anyone who has live plants in their tanks. Mostly I just would like to know what does and does not work for different people. I'll give my info as an example. If I forgot anything worthwhile, or you wish to add anything, please feel free!

Tank size:
40 USGal

Current tank/setup age:
3.5 months

Fish Stock:
2 grown angels
8 Cardinal tetras
1 bn pleco
1 blue ram

Plant Stock:
red rubin sword
pygmy chain swords
green crypt wendtii
anubias nana
green hygro
rotala indica

On a 1-10 scale, how stocked is your tank?
1 being one small anubias nana, 10 being 10% water 90% fast growing stem plants bursting out of the top of your tank.

Mine would be about 6.

Lighting:
2 WPG

Substarate:
50/50 Pea gravel/Flourite

Carbon Supplementation:
DIY yeast CO2 with powerhead reactor @ 15-24ppm.

pH-6.8
KH-6
Nitrate- ~10ppm <--my target
Phosphate - .5-1ppm <---my target

Fert dosing schedule:
3ml Kent freshwater plant supplement once weekly with water change.
2ml Flourish potassium once weekly with water change.
Potassium Nitrate when needed(not even once a month).

Water change/cleaning:
40% Water change weekly, gravel vac any open gravel.

Successful/unsuccessful? Does this work well for you?

Mildly successful(room for improvement)-Fast plant growth though thin, some green spot algea mostly on the glass, some on the leaves of plants. If anything I would think that with the growth rate of the plants, I must be underfertilising with the trace nutrients. Also, more light might be appreciated by the stem plants.


Last edited by mattyboombatty at 29-Apr-2005 11:32

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Well here goes,

Tank size:

Approx 65gals (odd shaped tank, "show size" wide and tall)

Current tank/setup age:

Just over 1 year

Fish Stock:

1 Angelfish
1 Pearl Gourami
2 blue ram
3 Dwarf Gourami
2 Thick Lipped Gouarami "Sunset"
6 Ottos
16 ? Beckford Pencilfish
6 Hengali Rasbora
9 Rummy Nosed Tetras
5 Neon Dwarf Rainbows
2 Boesmanii Rainbows
Fish stock is too much of a "Noah's Ark". Will sort it out as time goes on, but fish keep hanging in there, most are over 1 year old, so will probably take some time before I can sort out the stock.

Plant Stock:

Aponogeton Crispus
Red Tiger Lotus
Hygrophilia Austifolia
Ammannia Gracillis
Brazillian Pennywort
Anubias Barteri var. Nana
Anubias Nana Pettite
Anubias Coffeefolia
Tennellus Sword
Microsword.
Sagitarria Phlatylla (sp?)
Blyxa Japonica
Wendelov Fern
Java Fern "Phillipines"
Rotala Indica
Cryptocorene Retrospiralis
Wisteria
Altherena Reineckii
Ludwigia Repens
Hygro. Polysperma
Amazon Sword
Riccia Fluitans
Cryptocorene Wendtii
Cryptocorene Becketti
Cryptocorene Willisii
Cryptocorene Lutea
Cryptocorene Balansae

On a 1-10 scale, how stocked is your tank?
1 being one small anubias nana, 10 being 10% water 90% fast growing stem plants bursting out of the top of your tank.

10 !!!!

Lighting:

144 watts. 4 X 36 watt PC bulbs with reflectors. 50% 6700K, 50% 10000K.

Substrate:

50/50 Pea gravel/Local Indonesian tropical clay

Carbon Supplementation:

Pressurized Co2 with powerhead driven reactor. On 24/7 20-30ppm Co2.

pH-6.7 - 6.8
KH-5
Nitrate- 5~10ppm

Fert dosing schedule:

1/3 tspn KNO3 3 times a week, 20ml Tropica Master Grow 3/week (alternating days). 1/2 tspn of Potassium Chloride once a week (I like a lot of potassium !).
This tank seems to consume micro nutrients very very quickly, to overcome Iron deficiency in Ludwigia and Boron deficiency in Rotala, I have had to increase dosing to the point where am I am dosing twice the Tropica reccomendation of Master Grow No algae, Ludwiga and Rotala fine now, improved color on red plants especially the Ammania.

Water change/cleaning:

50% Water change weekly, no gravel vac (should read no gravel to vac !). Mulm is good !

Successful/unsuccessful?

Extremely successful. As I've now got a good handle on how to use and control nutrients I find I've been able to control growth speed and promote more lush better looking growth rather then faster growth.Algae not an issue, haven't seen any new growth in months. Used to get some spots on the glass, but I've noticed as I increased the Micro dosing even that has pretty much disappeared (word of caution here: I don't advocate just dumping in more liquid ferts I did this based on observation of the plants and to counteract an obvious shortage, once I reached the point where plant growth normalised that was my dosage level set).
If I've learned anything it's that the key to sucess is balance. Balance of nutrients (I include light and Co2 as a nutrient) that's appropiate for a well balanced plant stock.I've also learned it's deceptively simple to maintain an attractive and successful planted tank.
I've said before and I'll say it again, 95% of the problems I see on this forum are to do with plant selection - either not enough plants or inappropiate choice of plants.
Know your set up ! Know it's limitations and boundaries and plant and maintain accordingly.
Trying to grow Rotala Macandra under 1 wpg and trying to compensate for the lack of light with ferts is a recipe for failure. Growing a handful of crypts under 3 wpg is a recipe for failure.
I keep hearing the chant "I want a heavily planted tank" well it's simple - if you want a heavily planted tank plant heavily

Last edited by bensaf at 29-Apr-2005 22:49

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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.

Tank size:
10 gallons

Current tank/setup age:
9-10 months

Fish Stock:
2 Otocinclus
3 L-46
Yeah, yeah, zebras need a larger tank. As my twenty long had cracked several weeks prior, the initial inhabitants (namely, these five) were moved to a spare ten gallon hospital. I’ve decided to keep the inhabitants there for now, and have spruced things up a bit. This tank has gone through countless re-doings.

Plant Stock:
Anubias barteri nana “wrinkle”
Hemianthus micranthemoides
Java Fern
Eleocharis acicularis
Stargrass/Rotala Indica/glossostigma *to come*


On a 1-10 scale, how stocked is your tank?
Six, probably. I still have quite a bit of room for the fish to swim (as they are primarily bottom feeding). Plants are arranged in such a fashion that the aquascape appears more filled in than it actually is.


Lighting:
<52 watts. x2 26 watt compact fluorescent screw in bulbs; one held ~seven inches above the top of the water, the second directly above the surface. 6700K.

Substrate:
Pea gravel and ichthyoidal fecal matter .

Carbon Supplementation:
None. DIY CO2 was administered at an earlier date, prior to tank restructuring.

pH-7.0-7.8
KH-5
Nitrate- 10ppm

Fert dosing schedule:
I use a random fertilizer (more specifically, the cheapest one available) from Hagen; Plant Grow, or something to that effect. Ferts are dosed when the plants look a bit thin.

Water change/cleaning:
Gravel vaccing to the extent of hovering above the ground cover with the python intake. I occasionally take the anubias flower out for algae scrubbing, and then some. The tank gets a 25 percent water change after the water level reaches ¾ of the height of the tank, effectively emptying half the tank following the water change. Fresh tap water will be replaced with RO water with the onset of heavy rainfall.

Successful/unsuccessful?
Moderately successful. I’ve had good and bad experiences with this tank. Initially, it started off as a terrarium with a mane of dragon flame. These accommodations worked out well until I was off for the summer, whereby I tore down the tank (or rather, filled it up, as it was to be under new management; a small school of cardinals) and begun anew---this time with val, anubias, wisteria, and chain swords. I lost interest in the tank after a surprise cardinal spawning, and took out the plants, replacing them instead with bacopa, hornwort, and sag subulata, just to keep the nutrients in line. After the removal of the cardinals and a long struggle in the aquascaping department, I settled on a final stocking; glosso, nana petite, sag subulata, hairgrass, ludwigia narrow, and rotala indica. The said tank became my pride and joy until BGA made its appearance. I lost the battle, and consequently redid the entire tank. I no longer have BGA (well, a tiny trace of it, as it’s nearly impossible to get rid of entirely), but the memory of the last BGA fiasco is still engraved in my mind.

My turn:

Tank size: 26 gallons/96 litres

Age: Almost a year

Fish Stock:
2 Blue Rams
2 Apistogramma cacatuoides
2 Siamese algae eaters
3 Guppies (going soon, though)
7 Corydoras trilineatus

Plant Stock:
Aponogeton madagascariensis (might be going soon)
Didiplis diandra
Echinodorus osiris rubra
Eriocaulon sp type 1
Eusteralis stellata
Glosstigma elatinoides
Heteranthera zosterifolia
Limnophilla aromatica
Ludwigia inclinata var. verticillata ("Cuba"
Ludwigia sp Pantanal
Rotala sp from Vietnam
Tonina sp. Belem
Tonina sp. Manaus
And an unknown type of moss found growing on a river bank in Cornwall. An experiment, basically, to see if it will continue growing underwater. So far so good, but don't have high expectations.

1-10 Scale: 6

Lighting: Approx 3WGP (2x5000K, 1x6700K)

Substrate: 100% pea gravel

Carbon supplement:
Pressurised CO2 ~25ppm

pH: 6.6
KH: 60ppm (3.64 dKH)
Nitrate: 10ppm
Phosphate: Never tested

Fert dosing:
KNO3 once a week
Tropica Master Grow (5ml after water change, 1ml every day or every other day, depends if I remember)
JBL 7 Balls as substrate fertiliser.

Water change:
About 50% weekly
I don't vacuum the gravel, but I use a gravel vacuum to clean the surface from unsightly fish waste and leaves.

Successful/Unsucessful:
Quite, but not exactly there. Although I have no algae on plants, I do have a lot growing on my driftwood which annoys me. Will start experimenting with K and P next week to see if that helps.
I agree with Bensaf about the TMG and spot algae. Haven't got a problem usually, but after spending 4 days away and not dosing it, I came back and the glass was covered in spot algae.
Tap water here in London are hard and full of chemicals and since moving to R/O water the plants are much more successful in both of my tanks.
My other tank has low-medium lights, no CO2 and for this tank the addition of Flourish Excel has helped a lot with the plants.

Last edited by untitled at 30-Apr-2005 02:26

This is great so far thanks. One thing I'd like to add is that I'd hoped everyone would join in, even(especially) people who don't think they are doing well, or have just started out with plants. *ahem kitten and heidi ahem*

And one thing that could maybe be added is if you have 1 or 2 plants that seem to thrive above and beyond the other plants please add that as well.

For me the rubin sword and the anubias nana are REALLY taking off. The rubin sword has has put up about 15 new leaves in the last couple months and has just exploded from where it was at the start. Also, I've never seen an anubias sprout soo many new leaves in the same time period.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

Tank size:
125 USG

Current tank/setup age:
5 years or so?

Fish Stock:
Pair, ~20 fry N. similis
11 Cyprichromis leptosoma
4 Chalinochromis sp. Ndobhoi
(3 "N. caudopunctatus" - being taken out
1 Cherry Shrimp and a few Amanos

Plant Stock:
V. spiralis, L. indica, B. monnieri, "Cherry Temple," C. wendtii, C. lutea, C. something larger, A. nana, A. barteri, A. coffefolia, A. hastifolia, E. amazonicus, S. sublata, V. dubyana, M. pteropus reg and Windelov, H. difformis, H. corymbosa, possibly a few others.

Most notably thriving:
The vals, the sag once it was established, the crypts.

On a 1-10 scale, how stocked is your tank?
1 being one small anubias nana, 10 being 10% water 90% fast growing stem plants bursting out of the top of your tank.

I'd say 5-6. I'm not using much of any fast-growers at this point except some floating hornwort and a bit of duckweed.

Lighting:
2.56WPG (two 180 watt 6' VHO bulbs)

Substarate:
Fluorite (I attribute 90% of my sucess to this stuff and the other 10% to the length of time it's been set up).

Carbon Supplementation:
None

pH-7.8
KH-15+
Nitrate- 10-15ppm
Phosphate - No idea, sorry. I have a Phos test kit but I never use it.

Fert dosing schedule:
Root tabs (a pond brand) when the swords get yellowish.

Water change/cleaning:
40% Water change weekly or slightly less often.

Successful/unsuccessful? Does this work well for you?
Very sucessful (photo). I get a touch of hair algae around the tops of the vals sometimes, and a little around the dwarf sag, but generally it's easy to remove and no kind of worry. A bit of the nice soft fur algae on rocks or driftwood, when/if there's driftwood in the tank.


Last edited by LittleMousling at 30-Apr-2005 20:36

-Molly
Visit shelldwellers.com!

Tank size:
55g

Current tank/setup age:
1.5years

Fish Stock:
Well after the mystery bacteria illness killed the tetras off overnight I have
4congo tetras
1 emperor
1 blue gourami
4 threadfins
1 royal pleco
otos(who knows how many)
1 farlowella
~50 half grown applesnails
~20 golden asian clams
7 rainbow shrimp
6 panda cory
Temporary fish this week:
4 1" leopard plecos
7 sparkling gouramis

Plant Stock:
amazon sword
aponogeton
green, red, and brown wendtii
4 leaf clover
vallisneria spiralis
onion plants
unknown lilies with red and dark green leaves
anubias nana
anubias angustifolia
anacharis
wisteria

On a 1-10 scale, how stocked is your tank?
7, many of the plants are new this month

Lighting:
4wpg of 50/50

Substrate:
1" eco complete but I think the snail fertilizer helps alot more

Carbon Supplementation:
Carbo plus with carbon blocks

PH- 7.8
KH- 12
Nitrate- 5-15

Fert dosing schedule:
schedule? I throw in a capful or 2 of flourish if the sword plant doesn't look good and 5-10ml of leaf zone every week or 2 when I remember Sometimes I add flourish excel just because I feel like it. Deficiencies always show up most noticeably on my biggest sword plant first.

Water change/cleaning:
~30% 1-2 times a week and suck the pile of pleco poo out of the royal's cave

Successful/unsuccessful? Does this work well for you?

Everything is growing alot and algae is almost unnoticeable. The plants I have now are great but I killed off alot finding what works including banana plants, hairgrass, dwarf hairgrass, microswords, java moss, java fern. I absolutely cannot get java moss or java fern to grow in this tank but they love my river tank.

Here goes......

Tank Size: 2 x 10g

Setup Age: Tank 1- About 1 1/2 yrs, Tank 2 about 2 months

Fish Stock:
Tank 1:
6 Blood Heart Tetras (3 new this week)
1 Rubbernose Pleco
1+ (?) Ottos -- hope they're still hiding
Tank 2:
1 Common Pleco (Don't yell... he's just growing to cichlid size and then will be placed in my 55g)

Plant Stock:
Tank 1:
Java Fern
Bronze Crypt Wendtii
Bit of Water Sprite
Tank 2:
Water Sprite
Green Crypt Wendtii
Crypt Becketti
Aquatic Clover
{Duckweed... I think, not at all by choice}
One lonely baby Java Fern

1-10 Scale:
Tank 1: 7 Tank 2: 9.5 -Water Sprite Everywhere

Lighting:
Tank 1: 1.5 wpg, normal 15w Plant flourescent
Tank 2: about 2 wpg with double screw in comact flourescents

Substrate:
Tank 1: 70/30 mix of sand/Pea gravel
Tank 2: 100% Flourite

Carbon: No to both

pH: 7.2 both
KH: 5 both
Nitrate: Ran out of test solution
Potassium: Never Tested

Ferts: Both dosed with Hagen Plant Grow whenever I add water (or remember)

Water Change/Cleaning: Whenever tank 1 gets down about 15%, will vac and top off; have yet to vac tank 2, top off at same time.

Successful?:
Somewhat. Tank 1 has had BGA problems, seems to be cured by pleco, and also seems to be my "experiment" tank. Finally got Water Sprite not to die after remembering to dose with ferts. Tank 2 has a serious duckweed problem, and somewhat affects the Water Sprite. Also has snail problem, which got transferred to tank 1 with Water Sprite. Crypts doing well, but clover is suffering from lack of light from the duckweed. Water Sprite almost overgrowing (OK, is overgrowing) even through Duckweed.

Great idea


Tank size:
46 USGal

Current tank/setup age:
10 months

Fish Stock:
15 harlequin rasboras
4 yo-yo loaches
1 BN
1 betta
(probably soon adding 3-4 SAEs... not sur eif that's overstocked, but I think it'll be ok )

Plant Stock:
ozelot sword
melon sword
crypt wendtii
crypt balansae
anubias nana
anubias barteri
anubias congenis
anubias gigantae
asian ambulia (soon to be gone)
hygro polysperma

On a 1-10 scale, how stocked is your tank?
1 being one small anubias nana, 10 being 10% water 90% fast growing stem plants bursting out of the top of your tank.

6-7 I think... for now anyway.

Lighting:
2.4 WPG

Substarate:
regular gravel

Carbon Supplementation:
pressurized CO2

pH-6.8
KH-4
Nitrate- 10-15 (target is 15-20)
Phosphate - haven't measured


Fert dosing schedule:

KNO3 twice a week, about 1/2 teaspoon each time... but after removing a lot of hygro and ambulia, I have a feeling this is going to come down.

Root tabs for the swords and in the crypt regions.

Dose micros when the plants show they need it.

Water change/cleaning:
20-25% weekly water changes, no gravel vac, just suck up all the pleco/ yo-yo loach poop

Successful/unsuccessful? Does this work well for you?

Fairly successful. I'm still fighting hair algae and I can't seem to lick it. But I have fine growth from everything else, so I'd say I'm doing well.

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Back in the saddle!

For me the two plants that are thriving more than the others are the Limnophilla aromatica and the star grass. The Star grass is growing so fast that it needs trimming more often than the others (doesn't mean I do it, though). I've ended up with so much cuttings of star grass and have put some in my other tank and some in the pond outside. It does well in both and it has an amazing green colour, almost fluorescent green.

for me the only true plants that survive are anarcharis, and duckweed There are a couple of other plants I've bought, tried, had success with for uh a weekand then died one had redish leaves, leaves fell off, plant floated, I pulled out aggrivated, and pitched it. I have also tried that one Hornwort I thinkthat looks like small pinetrees and well they died]:| Oh there is this grassy thing I haven't killed yet...don't know what kind it is, tall grass like blades is my best description (still waiting on my book on plants)

Now I will admit most of my anarcharis right now is floating, I don't know who dug it up, but it is definately no longer planted

heidi michelle


_____________________________________________
So it was no surprise the day she learned
That her Texas man would not return

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle

Alot of plants will seem to die when you buy them. Many are grown only partially in water and have to lose all their original leaves and grow different ones. Given a few weeks they will adapt. My amazon sword lost all it's original leaves and had 1 sad looking half brown leaf left. Now it has taken over 1/4th of my tank. The 4leaf clover I just added lost all it's old leaves until I just had a mass of stems. 1 week later it has little shoots of slightly different leaves and is spreading. Don't even mention hornwort that stuff completely fell apart and clogged my filter for weeks. I tossed it all in my rivertank and cleaned the powerhead daily until it finally stopped dying and started growing. If a plant has got anything green or any healthy roots left I leave it alone. 9 times out of 10 it will come back.

Last edited by sham at 30-Apr-2005 21:01

Heres my "planted" tank...it's still in the WIP stage though .

20 gallon
2+ years old

Stock:
6WCMM's
6 white skirt tetra
3 Zebra Danios.
MTS & ]ramshonr]

Plants:
Java fern
Lace java fern
rotala indica
water wisteria
Green Crypt wendtii

Substrate:
Mainly pea gravel from home depot
Some Shultz's Aquatic Plant Soil

Lighting:
Dual bulb fixture from home depot
2 20W 6500K

Additives:
KNO3 added daily
DIY CO2 (soda bottle, barb adapter, powerhead)
Was injecting florish under the substrate, suspected it of worsening cyano issues and since stopped.


Semi successful. I'd like to get a glass canopy for the tank, I have a feeling that'll help me get the max from the lights I have currently. Adding the CO2 I would have to say did the most to help the tank.

^_^ [hr width='40%']"Put your soul in the water,
And join me for a swim tonight"