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Ok folks I need help once again! I've decided to kit out my 20g tank with more plants and to get the full effect i'm switching from a Fluval Biolife 35 (wet/dry) to a Eheim Ecco 2232 as I've heard good things and want the extra space in the tank.

Since I'm splashing out anyway and the cheapest e-tailers in the UK charge p&p per-order rather than per-item, I've decided to invest in a Nutrafin CO2 unit (pending your thoughts on the subject).

The thing is, I've never had much luck with plants. My current parameters are as follows, and have remained pretty constant since i started a year and a half ago.

Tank: Tropiquarium 68: 19g (72l), Substrate: small rounded gravel about 1/8 of an inch; Lighting: 1x 15w 18" 18,000K Power-Glo and 1x 15w 18" 4,200K Sun-Glo for 10.5hrs/day; Regular fertilizer: Leaf Zone/Flora Boost.

I've always had hair algae around the edge of leaves although nitrate has always been below 10ppm. I use polyfilter and green-ex to keep chemicals down but take the polyfilter out to fertilize. I tend to do 2 half doses during the week instead of one full dose.

I've tried numerous species of plants and they all seem to fail eventually, except for the anubius nana and the salvinia natans. The most successful plant I had was ophiopogon kyoto which I now hear isn't even meant for aquariums! :%)

Also FYI, I've ordered a "Life-Glo 2" to replace the Power-Glo.

All thoughts and advice are greatly appreciated, as ever.

Last edited by bigchris at 06-Apr-2005 19:00

Crypts. Plant them and leave them alone. They do like a richer substrate (mine LOVED the florite, then decided it hated me when I switched to regular gravel), but still look lovely with normal gravel. My wendtii recently become a mother plant.

Java fern... if you can kill this one, you're talented. Same goes for anubias. Try other types of anubias if you're successful with one.

Those are pretty much the plants I've found that are near impossible to kill. Water sprite and wisteria are good, but can get easily choked by algae.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Well the first step would be to remove the 18000k light which you have done.

The Nutrafin is basically a DIY system and should do ok in a 19G.

To be honest you won't get the full benefit of the Co2 without increasing light further. Another bulb would do nicely.

Your previous algae problems were probably caused by the fertilizer. At your current light with no Co2 no fertilizer should be needed and the algae was probably getting the benefit from it (fertilizer is not a replacement for light and co2 and should only be used when the levels of those 2 items warrant it).

With your present lighting you are pretty limited in the amount of plants you can sucessfully grow. Anubias, Ferns, Crypts, swords might survive as should Hygros like Polysperma or Wisteria.

Plant heavily.

One more bulb and Co2 will increase your plant options considerably.

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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 would also suggest adding some gravel to make your substrate thicker as rooted plants need more than 1/8 inch layer.

Have a look on ebay.co.uk for CO2 systems. I bought mine, a new JBL Proflora 2 on ebay for £75, which is half of what a shop would sell it for and although it's more expensive than a DIY/Nutrafin CO2 sets, it's worth every pound paid for it.

Thanks folks. Need to clear a couple of things up though:
a) My gravel is about 1.5" thick at the front and 2.5" thick at the back. 1/8 of an inch is the rough diameter of the pebbles! There's also a little sand in places.
b) I use a 30cm air-stone throughout the day and for a while after lights-out. I figure this must put some Co2 in the water, right?
c) There is no space for an extra bulb in this setup and I don't think I can get 18" flourescent tubes higher than 15W. Remember I have 2 bulbs.
d) I currently have several plants in various states of life:

Anubias nana, which is attached to a log (i recently took a cutting which is doing well);

Java Fern, in the substrate. To my shame it's not in good shape at all: when I got it I thought it was too dense and split it into 2 clumps. There is SOME growth but the new leaves are pale and weak. I've now taken off most of the dying leaves and saved the leaves which had new plants and put 1 in the tank and the other two in a bag with water on a sunny windowsil.

Salvinia Natans: Floating plant which does OK, perhaps cos it gets all the light. Recently, after treating for Ich, it had a bad patch where most plants stopped floating, but seems to be recovering.

There are 3 other plants which seem to be doing ok: I've identified one on the internet as a type of Valisneria, i see it in most LFS. This is the only plant I've had which I would say has 'thrived', I've had to reduce it and remove new plants several times.

According to the tags I've kept (all aquafleur), I once had a Ophiopogon Kyoto which did OK and was producing large bubbles until it was overcome with algae and my brief possession of a blue lobster when it was totally eaten, and I mean totally.
Apparently I've also had Hygrophilia Guanensis which did very badly, not enough night I thought, and Cryptocoryne Amicorum which may be the 2nd of the unidentified, tiny thing (since i stripped the algae-ridden leaves) at the front of my tank which is growing slowly with dark long leaves on long stalks.
The newest plant had no tag and seems to be doing well except for algae around the edge of the leaves. The leaves which it had when I bought it are light green, eliptical, on long red stalks, but the new leaves are the same redish colour as the stalks and not green like the old leaves. I would guess after seeing pictures that it's another kind of "Crypt".

Thanks for your help guys.

Last edited by bigchris at 07-Apr-2005 05:42

The airstone actually drives CO2 out of the water due to surface agitation. At the moment you need the stone to supply oxygen to the tank, but once you start adding CO2 you can stop the stone as the plants will convert the CO2 to oxygen.
With your current lights you're at 1.8WPG, but you can add reflectors for the tubes if you can't install a new one, and it will push your lights over the 2WPG mark. But, with that much light, you will need to seriously think of CO2. The floating plant doesn't really help as it blocks some of the light for the plants at the bottom. If it's not a lot than I guess it's fine, but if it covers a lot of the surface than you'd do better without it.

Oh right, so I should stop the air tube during the day?

Any recommendations for reflectors? there's not much room in the hood for the ready-made ones but what can i use to make my own?

Thanks again.

Should you stop the air stone during the day? Well, I don't suppose it will do a lot to your CO2 levels, and as the CO2 levels won't be high, there won't be much oxygen produced for the fish, depending on how heavily stocked you are. You can give it a try and keep an eye on your fish, if they start gasping, run the airstone immediately. You can actually calculate the levels of you CO2 if you have your pH and KH readings. You can find a calculator here.

All reflectors are more or less the same. They don't need a lot of space and usually fit in between your fluorescent tube and the hood. I use Arcadia and Juwel reflectors, because that was what they had in the shop when I bought them. Don't see much difference between them.

OK i've bought a load of plants which I'll detail as soon as i find out what they are... Some of them don't have roots. Are there any steps I can take now to help them settle in?

I've also bought an Arcadia reflector which I've put on the sun-glo while I wait for the life-glo 2 (which will replace the power-glo). Just to check, the clips actually go on the Glass right? Cos it's definately the right reflector. Is that safe?

Tried to do this earlier. Here's a picture of my tank with all the new plants. I'd appreciate it if anyone could tell me what they are exactly and how to care for them.
http://www.jjones43.freeserve.co.uk/images/fishtank.jpg

OK i've bought a load of plants which I'll detail as soon as i find out what they are...

This can be a fatal mistake

The long grassy one is a type of Vallisnera.

The plant on the left is Cryptocorene Wendtii.

The copperish colored stem plant is Bacopa Caroliliana.

The smaller brighter green is Creeping Jenny.Lysimachia nummularia .

Last edited by bensaf at 10-Apr-2005 21:14

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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.