plants are very healthy, but not spreading or growing

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

MyCatsDrool

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Sep 13, 2006
Messages
901
Hola

My plants don't seem to be growing all that fast. I have a pretty good variety, but even my java ferns only have one or two sproutlings and have been in the tank for about 6 months. I was expecting faster growth.

I am growing under 4 x Dual t5 strips in a 55 gal (total wattage t-5 = 112W, but this is far higher quality light than 112 regular HO florescent), injecting DIY co2, dosing flourish ferts and flourish excel.

Anything I can do to help them out? I'd like to see a jungle.

Thanks
 
Java Ferns tend to grow slowly. What other plants do you have? Can you post a pic?

I will say, I honestly wish my plants would only grow a little bit every six months. Trimming can become a serious pain...
 
sure. here are a few. tank is a mess, needs cleaning.

img0160xp8.jpg


img0161eq7.jpg


img0162pg5.jpg



also i am a very terrible photog.
 
injecting DIY co2, dosing flourish ferts and flourish excel.

Dump the flourish ferts and get the Greg Watson stuff. Then run 20n-20k-2p. Be sure to keep up with trace dosing and excel. That's only if you're ready for a jungle though. It won't hurt to run lower levels on the ferts than 20-20-2 but you have less "down time" from inaccurete hobby level test kits and don't have to check as often. You'll still have to do the 50% water changes weekly though.
 
DIY is not good on large tanks, you need a lot of bottles. How many bottles are you running?

Also, if you are using a bubbler, it's gasing off the CO2 from the water. The only effective way to do DIY, IMO, is to mist the CO2 using an airstone and powerhead. But you need to have a lot of CO2. Your growth will increase with an increase in CO2. Also, with an increase in CO2, you will also need to increase dosing ferts if you see any signs of algae or deficiencies.
 
You also need to raise your water level.

What is that white tube at the top of the tank on the left side? The one surrounded by bubbles.
 
rkilling1,

It looks like a PH to me with an airtube setup. I'm assuming this is where OP is injecting the CO2. I'd highly recommend LOWERING the PH to near the substrate level. That will allow the bubbles to stay in the water column longer and dissolve better. It still might be a good idea to find a way to trap the bubbles better (something like aiming the PH into that large piece of driftwood and plants. In my setup I try to maximize the bubble time in the water, some people use reactors, I have a small tank, and so use natural objects to slow the bubbles down (I have mine blowing against anubias and stargrass).


The HOB filter will outgas, the bubble wall will outgas, so raise the water level for the former, and nix the latter. While the bubble wall looks nice, it is affecting your levels in a major way. You can put it on a timer to come on at night but in your tanks current level I don't think its needed (due to being lightly planted).

Nice looking tank BTW.
 
ok if you plant to run DIY on your tank i would suggest 4-6 2L bottles. diffuse as a mist as Lonewolf mentioned, remove the Airstone (you can run it after lights out if you are worried about the fish not having air) and replace the HOB filter with a canister.

all in all listen to the great advise everyone is giving you :D


you CAN run DIY on a larger tank (i have it on my 75) but it can be a pain in the back side and you to produce A LOT of CO2 and Diffuse darn near 100% of it. that is why i think i will go pressurized soon :?

as aked before...can you post your ph and kh? :D
 
I'll test for kH tomorrow, PH is about 7.8

Turned off the bubbler, upped the water level. Can't afford a canister right now, but i will put it on the list.

The tube runs the CO2 into the tank. I'll lower it. Only other thing i can do is maybe try to find a cheap CO2 setup with a tank.

Money is definately an issue here. I am trying hard, and love the tank (thanks for the compliment, that driftwood is incredible. the pics don't do it justice),and want it to jungle up.
 
I like that wood, that would look good covered in Anubias nana, Java fern narrow leaf and windlov.

Add some Crypts along the bottom, you could have a really nice tank that's easy to deal with and packed.

But....you need to address the CO2, then the ferts, then keep up on it and things will settle in.

Regards,.
Tom Barr
 
MyCatsDrool said:
The tube runs the CO2 into the tank. I'll lower it. Only other thing i can do is maybe try to find a cheap CO2 setup with a tank.

Is it just a tube with nothing on the end of it?

It looks like a plain air line on the outlet of one of your HOB's.

7Enigma said:
rkilling1,

It looks like a PH to me with an airtube setup.

But if you look close, you will see an inlet to a HOB filter to the left of the tube. So it's not a PH. You can also tell that the outlet of said filter is adding a ton of surface agitation by the amount of bubbles it is injecting into the tank.
 
I see what your saying. I quickly glanced and assumed it was a small PH essentially misting the CO2 into the water. OP did mention he could move it down, I don't know how you could do that with a HOB. We'll just have to wait and see, as that picture is difficult to tell exactly what it is.
 
From what I can see, the advice here is perfect.

1. Raise the water level. Your output from the HOB filters is creating too much surface agitation which is outgassing your CO2, thus wasting it, and you work hard for it (DIY)

2. Putting the CO2 tube in the tank the way you have is about the least effective method of CO2 injection. At a minimum, move that tube all the way to the bottom and add an airstone. This still is not really sufficient in a setup that requires maximum CO2 diffusion (DIY on a large tank, dont want ANY waste). I would add a powerhead, and have the CO2 line with airstone bubble up towards the inlet of the powerhead. This will send the CO2 bubbles shooting through the powerhead, breaking them up even finer, and dispersing them through the tank.

Good luck!!

IMG_1494.jpg
 
All good advice!

FWIW, and I don't know why this works for me, but I have 2-1L bottles on my 55 hooked up to a PH with a diffuser that chews the bubbles up into little bits and it works great despite all the advice that I should have way more bottles on a tank that size....and I have 192 watts PC as well. I'd say try all the other fixes first before you go adding a zillion bottles to your CO2 system! I don't get the crazy pearling that the folks with pressurized get but otherwise all is well...and I agree with dapellegrini, I wish my plants didn't grow so fast!
 
newfound77951 said:
All good advice!

FWIW, and I don't know why this works for me, but I have 2-1L bottles on my 55 hooked up to a PH with a diffuser that chews the bubbles up into little bits and it works great despite all the advice that I should have way more bottles on a tank that size....and I have 192 watts PC as well. I'd say try all the other fixes first before you go adding a zillion bottles to your CO2 system! I don't get the crazy pearling that the folks with pressurized get but otherwise all is well...and I agree with dapellegrini, I wish my plants didn't grow so fast!

You've got a 1 in a million tank then. Heck I have 2 2L bottles on my 20gallon (65w CF) with a PH mist setup and still run into trouble when its time to change one out.
 
Back
Top Bottom