SwampeastMike
Aquarium Advice Activist
Received a large order of plants from liveaquaria.com in early February. All chosen to work with local water conditions even though I intend to bring down the ph and hardness using a rainwater collection system I scored on closeout sale.
All planted in 2" plastic trays of various size using a varied and layered mix of high clay pond soil, coarse sand and smooth gravel. All currently in 75-gallon tank filled with fully conditioned water from the 160-gallon where they will be "planted". Only bio load is three juvenile Chinese algae eaters.
I trimmed the root of everything received bare root and carefully unpotted those received in pots with their filter floss "substrate".
Above is how they look now.
The Amazon and Oriental swords at the left seem excellent with new growth and new runners. Note the weights around the Oriental swords at the front as they were bare root with extremely little root structure and refused to stay planted.
The Anubias nana at left center [seem] good and better than received but I'm seeing very little new growth.
The 4-leaf clovers at front center came looking rather poor and while the original growth has nearly melted away there is substantial and spreading root growth.
The wisteria looks pretty good and again healthier looking than when received but little if any real growth.
The microswords at the front-right are putting out runners with some new sprouts from the roots.
The plants at the rear are not doing well. Two are "red pearl" one of which has almost complete dissolved with the other not far behind. There might be some new growth from the roots but I'm not sure.
The other three sword looking plants with big black spots on the leaves were received incorrectly. They were supposed to be water sprite and I've asked for but not yet received replacements. They actually look a bit better than when received but I really don't know what they are and don't see any sign of true growth.
Water chemistry is fine with ph of 7.5 which I know is at the top end of the "best" range for the plants. Rather hard water but again reasonable for the chosen plants.
Am using home-made PMDD using the original formula with HCL and added some root tabs to some of the plants a few days ago.
Higher full-spectrum light at the right front for the light-loving plants with a good old grow-lux fluorescent for general light.
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Finally the questions:
How long should I keep the plants in this tank before putting into the large tank with a substantial bio load of adult fish? This will be a big-time reaquascaping of an established tank and I don't want to overstress the adult red parrots and other inhabitants. BTW the substrate in the big tank is pea gravel with lots of plastic plants that they have never uprooted.
Is the condition of the plants as you see and I describe reasonable for about one month?
Any comments and advice are greatly appreciated as I pretty much left the hobby for decades and the big tank is by far the largest I've ever had.
Can I "mow" the microswords? I actually want them a bit shorter.
All planted in 2" plastic trays of various size using a varied and layered mix of high clay pond soil, coarse sand and smooth gravel. All currently in 75-gallon tank filled with fully conditioned water from the 160-gallon where they will be "planted". Only bio load is three juvenile Chinese algae eaters.
I trimmed the root of everything received bare root and carefully unpotted those received in pots with their filter floss "substrate".
Above is how they look now.
The Amazon and Oriental swords at the left seem excellent with new growth and new runners. Note the weights around the Oriental swords at the front as they were bare root with extremely little root structure and refused to stay planted.
The Anubias nana at left center [seem] good and better than received but I'm seeing very little new growth.
The 4-leaf clovers at front center came looking rather poor and while the original growth has nearly melted away there is substantial and spreading root growth.
The wisteria looks pretty good and again healthier looking than when received but little if any real growth.
The microswords at the front-right are putting out runners with some new sprouts from the roots.
The plants at the rear are not doing well. Two are "red pearl" one of which has almost complete dissolved with the other not far behind. There might be some new growth from the roots but I'm not sure.
The other three sword looking plants with big black spots on the leaves were received incorrectly. They were supposed to be water sprite and I've asked for but not yet received replacements. They actually look a bit better than when received but I really don't know what they are and don't see any sign of true growth.
Water chemistry is fine with ph of 7.5 which I know is at the top end of the "best" range for the plants. Rather hard water but again reasonable for the chosen plants.
Am using home-made PMDD using the original formula with HCL and added some root tabs to some of the plants a few days ago.
Higher full-spectrum light at the right front for the light-loving plants with a good old grow-lux fluorescent for general light.
---------------------------
Finally the questions:
How long should I keep the plants in this tank before putting into the large tank with a substantial bio load of adult fish? This will be a big-time reaquascaping of an established tank and I don't want to overstress the adult red parrots and other inhabitants. BTW the substrate in the big tank is pea gravel with lots of plastic plants that they have never uprooted.
Is the condition of the plants as you see and I describe reasonable for about one month?
Any comments and advice are greatly appreciated as I pretty much left the hobby for decades and the big tank is by far the largest I've ever had.
Can I "mow" the microswords? I actually want them a bit shorter.