Can someone talk to me about how to grow plants in a aquarium

[AwesomesHome]

Hello,



Can someone talk to me about how to grow plants in a aquarium and
what things I need for the plants to be in good health and consistently growing?

 

[Aiken Drum]

First episode on a great low tech planted tank series. Watch the whole series, covers the tank build, all the equipment, aquascape, plants and planting etc.

https://youtu.be/66Xt4qglbNc

 

[Fizzler]

All the plants in my tank are ferns. They are easy to grow plants for beginners and they thrive. You don’t need to add any fertilizer for them all you will need is a good light. I bought mine off amazon and my plants have been doing great for about 6 months!

 

[AwesomesHome]

I watched the video. Thank you for letting me know about it. I have led lights. I am having problems with the plants. My plants when I bought where dark green and now they are light green and have white on the plant (Maybe algae). I have been trying to make some adjustments to the lights by light distance from the top of the tank and dimming and brightening the lights, I can't find the right amount of light.



I have a par meter and I can use lux on my phone, but for some reason with the lights white my par meter is not working good with white lights.



I don't think I am going to use par. Does someone know what the lux for my plants should be.


I can post pictures if needed, and tank parameters.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I think you are possibly overcomplicating things with par and lux readings.

Im assuming you are using low demand plants. If so you should be using a light fixture that produces 10 to 20 lumens per litre of water. Colour spectrum is also important although its sometimes difficult to obtain this, so a colour temperature of 5500 to 6500 kelvin will usually give a good colour spectrum for growing plants. 6 to 8 hours a day under lights that meet these criteria will be fine for low light demanding plants. Ive had LED fittings that arent good for growing plants before.

If you are using higher demand plants you are getting into specialist light, substrates, injected CO2 etc.

Also how long have you had plants in the tank? Commercially grown plants are usually grown immersed rather than submerged and wont be used to being underwater and take some time to get accustomed.

Are you using ferts? I use a liquid fertiser, root tabs, and seachem flourish excel.

 

[AwesomesHome]

It is a 55 gallon aquarium so 3.75 liters per gallon here is the math 3 x 55= 165 liters x 10 so a lux of 1650 where would I measure the lux from I have a lux meter on my phone and its waterproof my lights are 28 1/2 inches from the lights to the bottom of the fish tank. I don't know how to find the lumens on the led light. I know house light bulbs have lumens on the light bulb, but I don't know how to tell on my led lights that's why I want to measure with my phone. Do you think 1650 is good? I have no idea how to find out if my lights are what kelvin?

 

[Aiken Drum]

I really dont understand your maths. Are you converting gallons to litres then multiplying by 10 because of the 10 to 20 lumens per litre to give 1650 lumens and then saying that 1 lumen is 1 lux?

If so you multiplied your gallons by 3 rather than 3.75. Also lux and lumens don't convert like that.

Lux isnt really a good way to measure light for aquatic plant growth. It is a measure of how bright a light is to a human eye, and wont tell you much about its usefulness to growing plants, while PAR measures the light available for photosynthesis. The best way is PAR (but prohibitively expensive for most), then lumens per litre alongside colour temperature (kelvins).

If you really want to try and use lux as an alternative to PAR, its usual to measure at the depth that plants are, so say 450mm depth, and an approximate conversion is 45 lux to 1 par. Low light requiring plants are 10 to 30 PAR, so the lux would be in the range 450 to 1350 lux at 450mm depth. This doesnt really tell you whether the light is suitable for plant growth though, as the light could be at the wrong colour spectrum for photosynthesis.

I would still recommend 10 to 20 lumens/litre and a colour temperature of 5500 to 6500 kelvin. You should be able to find this online if you look up the manufacturers specs. What is your light fitting? If its the standard light fitting that comes with most aquarium kits, it probably wont meet these standards, but low light demanding plants will still survive, but to get them to thrive you might want an upgrade.

 

[Caliban07]

On top of all this, in reality you only really need enough light to exceed the plants light compensation point which is pretty low for most plants.

When you are happy you have enough light to exceed the plants light compensation point (which is practically guaranteed in our case) increasing PAR only serves to increase plant growth rate. The plants will then be limited by carbon dioxide. If you are not using carbon dioxide injection then extra light energy is wasted and you run the risk of algae.

 

[AwesomesHome]

I think I saw in a video that lumans was the measure of lux, maybe it was not.



I was trying to get a close to it number with the math, but I guess that calculation was way off so 3.75x55=206.25x 10 2062.5 so 2062.5 1 luman per lux is what I thought it was.


Here is the light.
https://www.amazon.com/HIPARGERO-LED-Aquarium-Light-Saltwater/dp/B0727V8C5Q


I had to bend the light stand on it because I wanted the lights to be more distant from the top of the aquarium so now the lights are higher, but I don't see anything about the

kelvin or lumans of the light. I have a par meter and it doesn't measure the white light good so that is why I was trying to measure lux. I am not using the blue and purple lights I can turn those lights on and off and the white lights on and off. I am using the white lights.


All the other plants are staying alive in my fish tank now but this one plant is having problems, so I think maybe I got it at a good place and some plants are growing on the leaves, but I don't see alot of growth with the leaves getting bigger.


Here are some pictures of my 55 gallon and the plant that is having problems.
https://ibb.co/zn0jGRc


Here is the plant that is not looking good.
https://ibb.co/MVvzM7fhttps://ibb.co/tPBX68J


The other plants look green but are they supposed to be darker green? The plants are staying alive, but I have not seen a lot of growth. What can I do for that light green plant for the color to be better in pictures that I posted?


I don't know if this makes a difference or not, but my temperature has been staying at 70.2 - 72.1 degrees, should it be at a higher temperature? I have to get a new heater soon that is why it is at this temperature.

 

[AwesomesHome]

I think I have it now at the lights compensation point, all the other plants are staying alive and green, but I said in the post reply above that one plant is not going back to dark green like it was when I bought it.



One of the plants has a lot of new plants growing on the leaves now so I don't think this would be happening if the light wasn't where it is supposed to be would it?



I am not really sure how fast the plants are supposed to grow. I am new to this.

 

[AwesomesHome]

i did the math wrong but here is the light fixture I recalculated and got the correct number if I was doing 1 luman per lux at 3.75x55= then that number.



Here is the light it doesn't tell me lumans or kelvins. https://www.amazon.com/HIPARGERO-LED-Aquarium-Light-Saltwater/dp/B0727V8C5Q


I have a par meter but it won't measure the white lights good, this is why I was using lux.


The light has blue and a purple light that can be turned on or off and white lights that can be turned on and off. I use the white lights and not the blue and purple.



I think I have it at a good place but this plant is not turning back to dark green but the other plants are all staying alive and some new growth is happening on the leaves of one of the plants. There is new plants growing on the leaves of the plants.


Here are some pictures of my 55 gallon plant fish tank and the plant that is light green.
The 55 gallon

https://ibb.co/zn0jGRc


The light green plant
https://ibb.co/MVvzM7f
https://ibb.co/tPBX68J

 

[Caliban07]

I think I have it now at the lights compensation point, all the other plants are staying alive and green, but I said in the post reply above that one plant is not going back to dark green like it was when I bought it.



One of the plants has a lot of new plants growing on the leaves now so I don't think this would be happening if the light wasn't where it is supposed to be would it?



I am not really sure how fast the plants are supposed to grow. I am new to this.

The plant that has new plants growing on their leaves is most likely Java Fern and this is normal. Pick them off and replant them.

If 90% of plants are happy and 10% are sad, ditch the 10% and plant more of the 90%. Plants come from all over and are found in vastly different waters. You are not expected to be able to cater to every plants need. It doesn’t work that way. Especially in a low tech tank.

As long as new growth is green and healthy thats all that matters. Speed is irrelevant.

 

[AwesomesHome]

My plants most of the plants are staying alive some have small little plants growing on the leaves most of the other plants are staying the same and not alot of growth. One of the plants has black on the leaves and some yellow. I have been dosing some miracle grow plant food.



What could be the problem with the plants staying the same?

 

[Aiken Drum]

Plants grow at different rates. For example Java fern (the plant that is developing plantlets on the leaves) is quite a fast growing plant. Anubias is a very slow growing plant and you probably wont notice any growth until you are comparing over several months. Do you know what type of plants you have apart from your java fern?

My plants most of the plants are staying alive some have small little plants growing on the leaves most of the other plants are staying the same and not alot of growth. One of the plants has black on the leaves and some yellow. I have been dosing some miracle grow plant food.



What could be the problem with the plants staying the same?

 

[AwesomesHome]

I don’t know the plants names I threw the papers away from the plants. Do you know how I can post a picture on the forum and I will take some pictures?

 

[Aiken Drum]

I never have any problems posting photos on the android app or tapatalk, i just use the add photo/file button. I know other people have had issues, hopefully someone who resolved their issues can help.

I don’t know the plants names I threw the papers away from the plants. Do you know how I can post a picture on the forum and I will take some pictures?

 

[AwesomesHome]

I will try tapatalk on my iPhone. I would like to post some picture and y’all if possible could tell me what I am doing wrong and what I need to buy for the plants and I can do that and maybe help me understand what is happening. I would like to someday have a doser for my aquarium, but without the correct understanding I won’t know what’s happening with that.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I really dont think you are doing anything wrong. Its difficult to cover everything that in a forum post. That planted tank series i directed you to covers a lot. But here are a few bullet points.

Start with "easy" low demand plants. Java fern is a great easy plant. Ive just seen your instragram photo. There looks to be some anubias and hornwort in there as well, more good easy plants. Im not great at plant ID unless i personally keep them though.

Easy plants wont require specialist lighting, substrate, ferts or CO2. But will obviously benefit if you do provide them.

Take the plants from their containers and remove any rockwool packing. Rooted plants should be planted in the substrate. Rhyzome plants (eg. java fern, anubias) should be tied or glued to driftwood or rock to weight them down. Dont plant these in the substrate. Similarly mosses should be tied or glued to your aquascape.

I use 2 different liquid ferts. Tropica Premium Growth Fertilizer is a source of nutrients. I also use Seachem Flourish Excel. The claim on this is that it is a substitute for CO2. It also acts as a mild algaecide. I certainly find my plants grow much quicker with better growth if i use this, but that could be put down to its algaecide properties rather than it actually acting as a CO2 substitute.

If you dont have a specialised substrate your rooted plants will benefit from root tabs.

6 to 8 hours a day is typical for lighting. You need to find a balance between lighting sufficiently for plant growth and limiting algae growth. That will come down to trial and error. Just noticed your light is a saltwater light. The light spectrum is basically all blue, this will promote leafy, bushy growth. It has very little red, which would promote long growth. The blue light will make everything look a bit weird too.

And as has been said, not every plant will grow in every aquarium. Keep the ones that do well and use those. Remove the ones that dont do so well.

 

[AwesomesHome]

Awesome! My pictures that I uploaded to free hosting worked so you could see my fish tank it wasn't working before, but now it is. I have been using miracle grow all purpose plant food. Not sure if this is going to work correctly. I will try tropica, and seachem excel someday! I guess I will give it more time. I think I have tried every kind more light and less light possible with the lighting and the only place I could get it to grow the little plants off the leaves is where I will leave the lighting, but the plants are growing slow. Some growth is better than no growth, maybe trying the other fertilizers will help with growth. I am trying different parameters of nitrates and phosphates at this time and will be testing the water weekly.



Here is last weeks water tests.
Ammonia
4.0 ppm
Nitrite
0 ppm
Nitrate
20 ppm
Phosphate
0.25 ppm
DKH
1.6 dKH
GH
6.7
pH
6.8
Temperature
70.8

 

[AwesomesHome]

What do you think about the miracle grow all purpose plant food as fertilizer, and what do you think about the water parameters?