Planted Tank Advice

[Darkseid76]

Dark, dry ferts (from what I'm told) are great for your rooted plants. Your wisteria won't gain anything from the tabs though. They need liquid ferts as they are not imbedded into the substrate. I have a 10 gallon planted with Moneywort, Red Wendtii, and Dwarf Amazon Sword Grass. I and currently using up my liquid ferts and then moving to dry. I wouldn't worry about iron as much as you think. Any kinda of plant that gives a red coloring will need Fe ferts. For plants without coloring, the iron in tap water from most WTP's use Feric Chloride to clean the water and your water will have a good amount of iron with just trace dosings. Just trying to give you more info so you don't spend too much money of ferts as they do get costly.
Oh, as I'm using the liquid, I found that injecting them directly into the substrate is working wonders for me. I dose trace and iron once a week and CO2 5 out of 7 days (actually I double dose the beneficial CO2)

The only plants that aren't thriving are my dwarf sag, corkscrew vals and a tiny piece of Cabomba furcata. I don't have any wisteria. You must be referring to my water sprite which I'm most definitely not having a problem with lol

 

[Tetra1990]

The only plants that aren't thriving are my dwarf sag, corkscrew vals and a tiny piece of Cabomba furcata. I don't have any wisteria. You must be referring to my water sprite which I'm most definitely not having a problem with lol

How long have you had the corkscrew vals? When I first got mine, they kind of melted(typical for new plants), then I had a quick growth spurt and now it's slowed down. I use root tabs and liquid ferts.

 

[Ilminded]

The only plants that aren't thriving are my dwarf sag, corkscrew vals and a tiny piece of Cabomba furcata. I don't have any wisteria. You must be referring to my water sprite which I'm most definitely not having a problem with lol

Sorry, I think I wrote the reply when after I got home from drinking last night.
Typically when you move rooted plants, they decay (melt it welt depending on who you talk too) and depending on species, might take a few days to a few months until everything is normal. But again, if you chose to go dry ferts, keep liquid for your water sprite.

 

[Darkseid76]

How long have you had the corkscrew vals? When I first got mine, they kind of melted(typical for new plants), then I had a quick growth spurt and now it's slowed down. I use root tabs and liquid ferts.

I haven't had the vals long. I think they're done with the melting phase, so its just a waiting game too see if they take off on their own or need a boost.

 

[Zimmanski]

Sorry, I think I wrote the reply when after I got home from drinking last night.
Typically when you move rooted plants, they decay (melt it welt depending on who you talk too) and depending on species, might take a few days to a few months until everything is normal. But again, if you chose to go dry ferts, keep liquid for your water sprite.

Just throwing it out here, when you dose "dry ferts" you mix them into your own liquid fert, there's no need to keep a separate liquid fert for water sprite, in fact if you did this you'd most likely be dosing more than you need

 

[Ilminded]

Just throwing it out here, when you dose "dry ferts" you mix them into your own liquid fert, there's no need to keep a separate liquid fert for water sprite, in fact if you did this you'd most likely be dosing more than you need

I was thinking of tabs. Sorry for whatever reason, when I hear dry ferts I automatically think root tabs.

 

[Darkseid76]

I already use root tabs. I bought a couple of packs on sale from PetMountain.

They're the Seachem Root Tabs. Comes ten per pack. I posted a pic on the OP of the contents. They're probably why the swords are doing well.

 

[Tetra1990]

I already use root tabs. I bought a couple of packs on sale from PetMountain.

They're the Seachem Root Tabs. Comes ten per pack. I posted a pic on the OP of the contents. They're probably why the swords are doing well.

Yeah, all swords are heavy root feeders.

 

[Darkseid76]

This weeks results:

HRpH: 7.4
Ammo: 0ppm*
NO2: 0ppm
NO3: 10ppm
kH: 53.7ppm ( 3 degrees )
GH: 107.4ppm ( 6 degrees )

My anubias nana sprouted more leaves and their roots are creeping nicely over the rock decor.

Rangeri sprouted another leaf also.

Pennywort showing some growth.

Corkscrew vals showing signs of rebounding. Guess they're finally settling.

Moss is blooming. Gonna need a trim in another month or two.

L. Repens lost red color but that's ok for now.

Can't wait until I get a chance to upgrade my lighting and fert dosing regimen. Pet mountain is having a great sale. So my question after some minor research is I think I'm going to pass on an LED fixture and go with a HO T5 fixture. But should I do a 4 bulb or 2 bulb fixture? Most of my plants aren't very high demanding but I still want to improve the lighting to bring out the best in them.

Any suggestions on lighting fixtures guys/gals???

* the ammonia test had a slight greenish tint, barely noticeable, but in hindsight I had started my pwc and maintenance before taking my water sample so that might have affected the result somewhat.

 

[Darkseid76]

6-1-13

HRpH 7.4
Ammo 0ppm
NO2 0ppm
NO3 10ppm

kH 3 degrees
GH 5 degrees

Added: Crypt Wendtii Bronze, RCS, Ramshorns

Subtracted: RCS, Sword juvies(10)

I guess this thread has turned into a journal lol

I still need to grab a phosphate kit. Petco has one for ten bucks so I can get it there. All plants are doing well. Cork Val's are showing some progress and so are the dwarf sag. One of my cories has been uprooting a lot of my new plantings so it's a pain to have to back in and replace things.

 

[Darkseid76]

Man I've been super busy and I haven't updated this thread in a while.

Did a big 40% pwc yesterday, rinsed filter media, and did some pruning. I actually went about almost 3 weeks without doing a pwc!
Anyways I added about 12 month old fry from the QT into the display also. No new fish lately because I haven't found what I want. Water was cloudy after pwc but is clear this morning. Unfortunately I found 2 dead RCS including a berried female. I was going to attempt to remove the eggs and try to hatch them separately but I made the mistake of moving the dw before I was ready and by the time I turned around my greedy swords and bronzes made short work of the remains.

Flora is looking great. Dwarf sag has settled in and I see runners and growth. R. swords doing well. Greedy as hell they are. Since I added crypts I'm going to have more tabs ready. Been thinking about trying DIY Osmocote. ( which reminds me I have to water my cucumber and tomato today lol ) A. Nana sprouted a new leaf. L Repens will need a trimming soon, almost to the top of the tank! Leaves showing a nice red undertone, not bright but noticeable.

New purchases: used 20L for $10 on Craigslist, 4 foam filters for $10 on eBay, API phosphate test kit from PetCo $10


These are the filters, I think they should be great for a Shrimp/planted tank I'm planning.



7-8-13

Water params

pH 7.4
ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm
kH 2 degrees
gH 7 degrees

My gH came in a little higher than my past readings but I just attributed this to going a few weeks without a pwc.

My other projects are plant rescues. An unidentified sword plant and what I think may be wisteria. The sword is struggling but I'm doing my ****edest to get it going. It was absolutely shredded when I got it but roots were some what intact. It's sprouted some token leaves but it still looks fragile. The other 2 pieces of wisteria ( I guess ) one has took off and the other hasn't. It took quite a bit of coaxing so just gotta keep fingers crossed. FYI these rescues came from my brothers turtle tank lol