PLANT UPDATE - I have a few Questions/Concerns

[AquariumFreak]

Hey Gang,

Well last night I took some more pics of the plants to share with you all and in the process I came up with a few questions/concerns:

My Alternanthera Reineckii has a root system coming from the entire length of the stem:
http://www.jeffandami.com/plant_update/pages/Alternanthera_Reineckii.html

My Anubias Barteri var Nana has a small patch of brown on the lower leaf, is this just algae? Do I need to get some algae eaters?
http://www.jeffandami.com/plant_update/pages/Anubias_Barteri_var_Nana.html

My Echinodorus Latifolius is also showing a lot of brown spots?
http://www.jeffandami.com/plant_update/pages/Echinodorus_Latifolius_and_Alternanthera_Reineckii.html

Looks like my Glossostigma Elatinoides is growing in
http://www.jeffandami.com/plant_update/pages/Glossostigma_Elatinoides.html

My Hygrophila Polysperma is growing sideways instead of upwards, why?
http://www.jeffandami.com/plant_update/pages/Hygrophila_Polysperma.html

http://www.jeffandami.com/plant_upd...a_Polysperma_Rosa_Nervis_Ludwigia_Repens.html

Again some brown spots on my Sagittaria Subulata, what causes this?:
http://www.jeffandami.com/plant_update/pages/Sagittaria_Subulata_and_Sagitaria Dwarf.html

Sorry for all the questions, hope you enjoy the pics.

Jeff

 

[medge00]

1. root systems from the stem is normal. After a while it will establish a good real system under the substrate and you'll be able to cut that one above ground. they're freaky aren't they?

2. is the nana brown on the leaf or part of the leaf? either way, its probably just a little die back from getting replanted. It will be fine.

3. Echinodorus brown spots are probably just from the stress the plant has gone through.... remember they had to be uprooted, shipped, sat around for a little bit, planted. Its normal. Give it a little time. The new leaves on that baby should be awesome.

4. I wouldn't be concerned about glosso actually growin.... unless you're worried about us other planted tank keepers getting jealous!!

5. The hygro is still getting established. is something blocking its light?

6. Final brown spots.... plants are still adjusting... give em a little time to get over the shock.

Lookin good though! How many days have you been planted? Do you know how you're going to fertilize when the time comes? Have you seen any algae or are the stem plants helping with that?

 

[Mr Burns]

1. water roots are nothing to be afraid of. my egaria has many long water roots that i thought were going to be side shoots at first. when no leaves were budding off of it, i put two and two together and came up with water roots. yea, my math is screwy....

2. mine has that. i haven't had them too long, so i can't really give you a great answer. it's probably adjusting to new water conditions... if it was algae, you'd be able to rub it off or scrape it with your fingernail.

3. ditto #2, except i don't have any echinodorus species...

4. YAY! i can't wait to get my tank completed so i can start growing my glosso. i'm at a standstill right now b/c i'm waiting on my cherry/birch facing to be cut for the tank, stand, and canopy. once i'm about done with that, i'll order my black epoxy paint and head into the homestretch!

5. hygro will have a lot of horizontal growth if there is lots of light. that's not a bad thing.

you're going to have a beautiful tank once it adjusts and grows in...it just takes time. lots of time.

 

[AquariumFreak]

Well after reading both of your posts I feel a lot better medge00 and Mr Burns.

Let me answer your questions now

Medge00:

1. root systems from the stem is normal. After a while it will establish a good real system under the substrate and you'll be able to cut that one above ground. they're freaky aren't they?

They are really freaky... my wife to be called me at work yesterday because they freaked her out so bad LOL

5. The hygro is still getting established. is something blocking its light?

Nothing is blocking the light from it, the only thing I can think of is that for the first 1 1/2 hours in the morning and the last 1 1/2 hours at night only the front lights are on... maybe they are using those three hours and growing to it. My big concern is that they will start choking out the other plants.

How many days have you been planted? Do you know how you're going to fertilize when the time comes? Have you seen any algae or are the stem plants helping with that?

I've been planted for 5 days now. Still not sure on the fertilize but I am open for ideas? Just noticed some algae hair on the front of the tank this morning, how should I handle that?

Thanks for the feedback medge00

Your turn Mr Burns

Thank you as well for the feedback, I'll keep you all posted.

Jeff

 

[Mr Burns]

a lot of people will suggest not to use ferts during the first, maybe even the second week of a new planted tank. this helps the plants use up all the nutrients that the algae would otherwise use....

this link explains it better than i can http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_newtank.htm

 

[AquariumFreak]

Only ferts I have used are the tablets... no liquids yet, was planning on waiting a couple of weeks

 

[Mr Burns]

good deal. you could even float some egaria or hornwort at the top of the tank, that should take care of some excess nutrients. i have quite a bit of both plants covering the surface on the right side of my tank, almost all of the algae has died off.... even on the left side wall of the tank where i was having a big problem with the green spot stuff.

 

[AquariumFreak]

If I can find some hornwort or egaria at a lfs I'll get some... don't think I want to pay the shipping for just that though

Now do you guys think I should trim back the hygro so it doesn't choke the other plants out?

 

[medge00]

Leave the hygro for now. Its a stem plant, so its sucking up nutrients and helping combat algae in your tanks early stages. In a couple of weeks/months when your tank is more established, you can put something else in.

Aaahhh hair algae. the Bain of every planted tank keeper. The best way, of course, is to figure out whats causing it. I have yet to figure out exactly whats causing mine. I've tinkered and tinkered, no success. But I do have a true flying fox. And I must say, the fox has eliminated all of my hair algae. I've heard siamese algae eaters do the same thing. Look locally for one. Maybe a lfs will order a few for you? I prefer flying foxes and SAE's over the CAE. No planted tank is complete with out a few.

Fertilizers? Well, you'll need something basic for starters. I use flourish. Pricey, but i'm happy with it. I know you've probably seen this a thousand times, but check out Rex's FAQ. www.rexgrigg.com He knows his stuff. Bewotess also knows quite a bit about ferts. Look up some of his posts or pm him for advice. There is some more info here: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/articles.htm, here (if pmdd interests you): http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/pmdd-tim.html and here http://www.plantedtank.net/fertilizers.html

Here's what I use. Its just what I have experience with. There are other options.
flourish 2x week
flourish iron 1x week
nu-salt 1x week (potassium)
diy co2 with occasional flourish exel (your tank is much bigger than mine)

I have thus far gotten away without adding nitrates. my fish population does that for me, and I don't have my co2 high enough that the plants use it up very quickly. My nitrates stay at about 0 when I test, so I figure the plants use it just as it becomes available. I'm planning to up my co2, so this could change.

Does this help?

 

[AquariumFreak]

I'll leave the hygro for now, but do you think I should trim it back?

 

[Mr Burns]

let the hygro go...or grow, as the case may be. it's helping use up the nutrients that algae would otherwise be using. the more hygro you have in there in these early stages, the better. you can cut it back or replace it in a couple months if you wish.

 

[AquariumFreak]

I get it... my only concern is that the hygro will block the light from the other plants.

If you look at this pic:
http://jeffandami.com/plant_update/...a_Polysperma_Rosa_Nervis_Ludwigia_Repens.html

You can see it's starting to cover the Micranthemum Micranthemoides and somewhere in that bunch there is a Hygrophila Polysperma Rosa Nervis... would hate for those to die.

 

[medge00]

Right now its ok... if you're really worried, trim in a few days. Try to replant the tops. This will start new plants, and will help with algae. They're easy to rip out in a month when you don't need em.

 

[Mr Burns]

quick question jeff - how long did it take you to plant the glosso and how exactly did you go about doing it? i've heard it's easiest to fill the tank until it's just above the gravel then insert the individual plantlets, but i'd like to hear how you did it.

 

[AquariumFreak]

Well I came home tonight and found 2 dead platys
I checked my water and here are the results:

17 dKH
15 dGH
7.3 pH (read from pH monitor)
0 Nitrite
0 Ammonia

I also noticed that my CO2 tank has used 2/3 of it's pressure so I am guessing it's running a lot.

Check the temp of the tank and it was at 84, figure this might be the cause of why the fish died so I unplugged the undergravel heater and unplugged one of the light kits. Now I am running 2x55watt at 5500k and 1x96watt at 6700k

Last but not least I noticed a bunch of new green algae growth in the tank, I've wiped the front of the tank and orders some shrimp and SAE's.

Does anything I am doing seem off? want to make sure I am doing things correctly.

Now back to the glosso. I had already set up my tank and filled it with water when my plants came in. I ordered 10 bunches of it so I had a lot of fun carefully separating each strand and looking at each pair of leaves looking for some root growth. I cut each pair of leafs with a root system and placed them on a shallow tray. After going through all the bunches and discarding 2/3 of the leafs that didn't have roots I got down to business.

I took my tweezers in hand and started planting all the pairs very close to each other by grasping them right above the roots and pushing them into the gravel. Once I knew they were secure I gently pulled the leafs up so the leafs where just showing.

This took about 4 1/2 hours to complete and a couple of bruises under my arms from reaching down into the tank

I'm guessing I did it courrectly because they all seem to be showing growth.

Let me know if you have any more questions and I hope to hear back from some of you on my test results and my actions I did tonight.

Jeff

 

[medge00]

Did you buy them from a LFS or were they platys you already had? If you bought them, were they QT'd first? If you bought them, and they're fairly new, it could be that they were already ill. If you had them, what was the ph of the old tank? How long have they been in the new tank?

Measure your kh and ph so we can find your co2 ppm. I doubt its the co2 that killed them, but worth looking into

hehe sorry for all the questions!

Oh, I'd leave all your lights plugged in. Your plants need the light, especially as they get established. Do you have another heater other than the underground one?

 

[medge00]

I appologize. I'm super tired and I have a huge photo critique tomorrow.

Now seeing that you did include your kh, Your co2 is about 25 ppm per chuck's calculator. 25 Is about where things start to get toxic for your fish. http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_co2chart.htm nice little calculator. At this point, I'm a little too bleary eyed to figure out how to solve this...

I'll tackle it tomorrow. Maybe some one else can jump in here

 

[AquariumFreak]

Well I changed the pH montor to be set at 7.4 which gives me about 20 ppm for my CO2.

I guess my question is what is healthy for fish?

 

[AquariumFreak]

Also should I be having my lights come on at different times? seeing that much algae yeasterday on the front kind of freaked me out

 

[medge00]

you could try the siesta at mid day that bewotess recommends. I've never tried it. Did you find any hornwort or anachris? that would help. I know its frustrating, just remember that all us planted people deal with this. You're still in the beginning it will clear.

20 ppm co2 I think is better for fish than 25 ppm. JMO