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I need more plants in my 55g. It looks very bare. I've given up on trying to aquascape it, atm. I'm eventually going to replace the substrate with Eco-Complete, but that's months away. Right now, I just want some fast growing plants that will do well.

I have ~2.4wpg. Right now the plants I have are:
*Bacopa caroliniana-growing very nicely
*Ambulia-looks crappy
*Myriophyllum-looks better than the ambulia, but still pretty bad
*E. tennellus-doing good
*Crypt wendtiis, red and green-growing nicely
*Rotala rotundifolia-growing good, I'm tired of it though
*Java fern-doing great
*Crypt lutea-great
*Crypt retrospiralis-slow, but doing good
*Anubias barteri (i think)-good
*Taiwon moss-grows like a weed
*Anacharis-doing better now...grows fast, gets a little leggy, but looks better

I'm ready to pull out the Ambulia. The Myrio might stay, depending on how it does. I did some rearranging lately and the Myrio isn't getting as much light, so its looking worse. I may move it to my 29g.
I tried Giant Hygro and the leaves just fell off...so not going there again.

I try to fertilize once a week. I'm sure thats not enough. I use: Excel, Tropica Master Grow, Flourish Iron, and Flourish Potassium. I do weekly water changes of 40%.

My fish are:
8 head and tailights
3 angels
9 flame tetras
4 rummynose tetras
4 yoyo loaches
5 corydoras sodalis
4 corydoras trilineatus
2 ottos
1 bristlenose
1 bolivian ram

A little much, maybe...but my nitrates stay around 15ppm.

I don't have CO2 so I have some algae going on. I have some hair algae and the fuzzy beard algae type (not sure on the ID of it...same stuff I've had for awhile). I guess the algae is from not fertilizing enough and not having enough plants to suck up the extra goodies. I'm thinking of trying DIY on this tank....just for the heck of it. I think 2 2L bottles is better than no CO2 at all...

I have my lights on a timer...10 hours a day.

Crazyred (Melissa) is sending me some of her Hygro Polysperma. I will be putting it in the 55g.

What are some other fast growers, that should do well in the tank? My light is pretty high, IMO...or atleast medium, but most of the plants I try don't do well.

Here is a recent picture...keep in mind I've given up on aquascaping this one:


(sorry about the bad picture quality) I'll try to get a clearer picture when I get home this evening.

*Kristin*

Well, I like the rummynose, what happend to your other 2 rummynose, you only have 4? well that doesnt matter, Im not good... AT ALL with sientific (sp) names, but what about red ludwiga (if thats not in their...) I dont know scienctific names AT ALL, sorry wish I could help but I cant

Thanks for the suggestion Blazey. I actually have tried Ludwigia repens and the bottom leaves just fell off and it never grew so I took it out. It grows beautifully in my 29g with less light. Weird. I don't think it was getting enough light. I forgot to list it in my first post.

This tank has really frustrated me. I would love to just redo the whole thing, but I don't have the money or time.

I have had 4 rummies for awhile now. I originally bought 6 and lost 2. Then a few months later I bought 6 more and lost them all, so now I'm left with the same 4. They school together and hang out with the other tetras. I hope to get a couple more if I can find them.

Any more fast growing suggestions??

*Kristin*

Green hygro grows really fast. Most other hygro as well. It should remain pretty full with that much light too.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients

ummm, do you have any pygmy sword, or someting like that? or java moss, or, .....their are some plant bulbs you can get at walmart (in DRY packs,,.. they are like $3 or someting for like 4 bulbs) (at least here anyways) and one grows a lotus very pretty, big, red and green leavs, and the other grows a sword, of a sort and it to.. is very pretty...

oh .... also, do you have water wysteria (sp) ?????

I've got the Pygmy chain sword (E. tennullus). It grows really good.

I have Taiwon moss, so I'm not really looking for any more moss. Mine grows like crazy!

I have tried the plant bulbs in my 10g...they didn't grow anything. They started getting some fungus and smelled really nasty....I quickly threw them away.

I've had wisteria before. It grew pretty good, but started looking bad, eventually. I think I cut it and replanted it too many times and it just turned on me. I'm not really willing to try it again atm.

*Kristin*

Pretty much any Hygro will grow fast, Ludwigia Repens also, if you're not too keen on that Myrio , try Myriophyllium Mattogrosense, just as fast and easy but a more attractive compact plant.

You keep mentioning bottom leaves dropping off. That shouldn't be happening with that much light.....unless you are really low in nitrates. That would cause the older leaves to die off sonner they should should - the plant moves what little nitrate their is to the new growth so the older bottom leaves rot and drop off.

Low nitrates would also explain the algae. With all the other stuff you are adding macro supplementation would be a good idea.

The tank has a nice basic shape to the layout.You've created some depth too.The plants are layed out well. You just need to fill it out and keep the plants trimmed and tidy. You'll then have a really nice tank

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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.

The tank has a nice basic shape to the layout.You've created some depth too. You'll then have a really nice tank

Thanks! Wow, that means alot coming from you Bensaf. I will try some of the different types of Hygro. I plan on getting some ferts from Greg Watson, maybe some KNO3. My nitrates stay around 15-20ppm, but that's usually right before a water change, so maybe they are lower than I thought. I have some Flourish nitrogen now, so I'll start dosing that.

Can you give me an idea on how often I should be dosing? Right now I'm only dosing once a week. Should I be doing it more often?

*Kristin*

Your tank looks really nice actually. I wish i could find some good moss like Taiwan. Guess i will just have to stick with java and willow.
-You said that you had giant Hygro(Hygrophila corymbosa) and the leaves fell off. It was probably grown emersed. The plant would of sorted itself out after a while under water growing submerged.

I got my moss off Aquabid...from a dealer in Malaysia. It grows super fast. I need to get more DW for my new tank so I can put some moss on it. I'm running out of stuff to attach it to!

Thanks for the tip on the Hygro. Yes, the leaves are falling off one by one. There is only a few left. Also, some of the stems are rotting. I have them planted singly. I'm not really sure what's going on.

*Kristin*

Just for the heck of it...here are some closer and clearer pictures.

whole tank:


right:


left:


The left side looks better than the right. I need to take out all the Ambulia and try another type of Hygro. I put a stem of Stargrass from my 29g tank in the middle to see how it does. If it does well, I'll add more.

Thanks for all the help!

*Kristin*

DIY CO2: I would run three 2L of brew. Change out one every week thus to keep things steady(non-steady CO2 means algea but excel seems to help this). I did this for a few months before breaking down and getting the real deal. I was using a bubble ladder and a Coralife Limewood Airstone(2-ladder, 1-stone.

Nitrates: In my tank with 3.25WPG and CO2 I am adding in 11ppm of nitrates 3x a week. Right before the water change I am at around 10-20ppm. With your tank I would add probably a little less than what I am doing because you have less driving forces of light and CO2.

Hope this helps a little.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well what are you dosing weekly ?

The Excel should be dosed every day as per instructions on bottle.

The TMG can be dosed about 5ml 2 or 3 times a week.

To be honest with your set up the Flourish Iron and Potassium is pretty unnecessary, the TMG has both already in there. Certainly with the KNO3 you will also have enough Potassium.

Never used flourish Nitrogen so not sure of the dosage. With the KNO3 a 1/8 of a teaspoon about 2 times a week will do it.

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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.