Looking for input about plant issues.

[Tellurye]

https://imgur.com/a/Uj0Dk

Hi all!

Let me preface this by saying I'm totally new to the planted tank game. I have 6 other various tanks, ranging from 2.5 gallon to 75 gallons. Everything is cycled and well.

My dive into plants is with my 20 gallon long. I'm having issues with my red ludwigia in particular. Not sure if it's repens or not- bought it from Amazon listed as "deep red ludwigia." (?)

I have a Finnex Planted+ 30" on it, glass top, no CO2. I dose API Leaf Zone twice a week, Flourish Excel every morning. There's Flourish tabs, probably 8-9 of them, placed around plants in the gravel. Lights on 12 hours a day. Not much algae, but a little. I have Flourish Comprehensive, Iron, Potassium, and Phosphorus coming in the mail tomorrow.

I have 8 guppies, 3 cory cats, 9 cherry shrimp, and a mystery snail in there. A couple guppies came down with ich (I think I stressed the hell out of them replanting basically the entire tank) and I'm dosing 1/2 dose of Seachem Paraguard at the moment, right at lights out. I raised the temp from 76 to 80 on Wednesday.

I got the red Ludwigia ~2 weeks ago. It dropped quite a few leaves the first couple of days. It was about 12" tall, leggy, and green. No red really to speak of. I cut them all, cleaned them up a bit, and replanted them on Tuesday.

They're getting pretty dark and growing bushier. Great. But, one floated to the top tonight. When I grabbed it to place it back into the gravel, almost all the bottom leaves fell off and a few of the new little ones! I cut the stem and replanted what was left (first 2 pictures). I haven't noticed much leaf loss on the others, but God forbid I touch them to find out lol. Concerning.

Any input on ferts, or what I can do to remedy this would be greatly appreciated. Is it maybe the paraguard? Not enough light? Or maybe just still acclimating? The one that floated up had not rooted yet... but I think it also MAY have snapped off half way up the stem and floated off... I'm not sure really. Is it a good color red on the new growth??

Also, my cyperus helferi seems to be cracking on some leaves. Got it about a week ago. It was grown emmersed. Any thoughts?

Java fern looking kinda boo as well. It shipped a little ratty, but the brown tip is new.

Do I have at least medium light? I have no idea. I can't find PAR info on the 30" Planted+, and it's going through a glass top. Any ideas? It seems bright as hell... but I'm a total noob.

Like I said I'm getting in a bunch of ferts tomorrow. Any deficiencies I can most likely remedy. My Bacopa Caroliniana, Wistetia and Java Moss are growing like gangbusters.

Thanks for reading... this planted tank stuff is complicated! My boyfriend rolls his eyes at me all the time fussing over the tanks!

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[Bert2oo1]

Should be plenty of light. They will take about 3-4 weeks to really settle in. Reds love co2 so I'd even consider dosing higher than recommended on the excel if your heavily planted.

If u have some spare money I'd consider going pressurised co2. The benefits are amazing and plant grow is very exciting.

 

[Tellurye]

I wish I had some money for pressurized CO2! I probably will somewhere down the road.. but not anytime soon. The DIY stuff isn't really for me either, too much trial and error on that front for my tastes. Good to know it's enough light. I guess I'll just have to wait and see after a couple more weeks of acclimating.

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[Bert2oo1]

Yea I started with DIY co2. I did citric acid and bicarb soda. They variation of the co2 levels was terrible and caused me nothing but algae issues.

Once u find a balance in ferts and light everything becomes super easy. I'd say u could go back to 8-10 hours of light if u end up with algae issues.

If u ever do go to pressurised co2 then change your ferts to EI dry fert dosing. Then u will never have any chance of deficiencies. Google EI fertilizer dosing to read more info about this.

 

[Tellurye]

Yes, I have looked into EI fert dosing, only briefly though. Cutting back the light will definitely be my first go to if algae gets out of control. So far so good though.

Pressurized co2 is definitely in my future.. just not yet! It's all a bit over my head and expensive at the moment, but I'm sure down the road I will. Just trying to walk before I run, you know what I mean, lol.

Thanks for your input, much appreciated!

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[Bert2oo1]

Sounds like u have done your research and have most bases covered .

 

[Fresh2o]

The 20 long is a nice selection for a planted tank. Decent footprint per volume and shallow depth for light penetration.
The PAR for the Planted+ @ 12" is around 61. That is medium assuming 10-30 is low, 30-80 is medium, and 80+ is high.
I did the combo of API leaf zone and flourish comp for almost a year before switching to PPS-Pro. I like PPS-Pro because you are only measuring and mixing the dry salts about every 250 days in a tank this size (I am lazy). I was running a less powerful light (Finnex FugeRay) at the time.
The biggest difference in plant growth was when I started using DIY CO2. It took a few weeks for it to kick in. This was the yeast method. If I were to do DIY again, I would definitely try the citric acid method. Appears to be cleaner and controllable.
Once your Excel runs out, I would order a gallon of Metricide 14 (not the 28) on amazon. It's twice as strong as Excel and per volume it is substantially cheaper. It is great for short term BBA outbreaks and okay as a carbon source.
Plants can be a pain at first when it comes to uprooting. The Cyperus helferi (Downoi) will go through a transition as most emersed plants will. You should soon see new growth with a more "pineapple top" shape as opposed to the leggy form that it is usually shipped in. Lime green, crinkly fresh growth at the center is a good sign. I've had some melt for unknown reasons as well. Makes a nice ground cover.
Good luck with this and I look forward to your updates. I find planted tanks rewarding. I feel "less responsible" in case a plant does not do well (versus a fish dying).
BTW - I was cruising Imgur user sub (guilty pleasure) and stumbled upon a catfish pic that looked familiar to something I saw on AA. Turns out it was the same pic. Hope you get that fish identified.

 

[Tellurye]

Thanks for your input!

The PAR for the Planted+ @ 12" is around 61. That is medium assuming 10-30 is low, 30-80 is medium, and 80+ is high.

Let me say, THANK YOU FOR THIS. I've been looking everywhere for this info. Does the glass top lower this significantly? It's just good to know it's medium light. Right where I want to be right now.

I did the combo of API leaf zone and flourish comp for almost a year before switching to PPS-Pro. I like PPS-Pro because you are only measuring and mixing the dry salts about every 250 days in a tank this size (I am lazy). I was running a less powerful light (Finnex FugeRay) at the time.

I'll look into this - but if you're measuring for 250 days, wouldn't you have to increase the amount over that time to account for plant growth, hence more plant volume? Just a thought.

Once your Excel runs out, I would order a gallon of Metricide 14 (not the 28) on amazon. It's twice as strong as Excel and per volume it is substantially cheaper. It is great for short term BBA outbreaks and okay as a carbon source.

Again, I'll look into this! Never heard of it. Thanks!

Plants can be a pain at first when it comes to uprooting. The Cyperus helferi (Downoi) will go through a transition as most emersed plants will. You should soon see new growth with a more "pineapple top" shape as opposed to the leggy form that it is usually shipped in. Lime green, crinkly fresh growth at the center is a good sign. I've had some melt for unknown reasons as well. Makes a nice ground cover.

I'll update with pictures in a few weeks, let's see how it shakes out! I was under the impression it's similar in length to a jungle val... no? Good to know.

Good luck with this and I look forward to your updates. I find planted tanks rewarding. I feel "less responsible" in case a plant does not do well (versus a fish dying).
BTW - I was cruising Imgur user sub (guilty pleasure) and stumbled upon a catfish pic that looked familiar to something I saw on AA. Turns out it was the same pic. Hope you get that fish identified.

I did get the catfish identified! It's a Zamora Woodcat! I rarely see him, but when I do, he seems great! I've had him for 3 years, have seen him maybe 4-5 times. He's elusive!

Thanks for all the great info, really. Much appreciated. I'll definitely update with progress as I go, and whole tank shots to come! everything is a little boring at the moment, but once everything is settled, I look forward to the fun!