Plant Ferts?

[Psylk87]

I have two small planted tanks. They are my first planted tanks. One is a 5 gallon shrimp tank and the toher is a ten gallon tank. I am looking for something to give my plants a little boost. What would be a good choice? I was thinking of getting some root tabs of some sort and maybe some Seachem Excel? Anyone have any experience, opinions, or advice? Thanks!

Oh it needs to be Shrimp and snail safe.

 

[Berylla]

I don't dose my tanks since I only have moss and an anubias. I found a great link from a shrimp breeder/seller. I hope you find it useful.

Dosing Fertilizers with Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp .:. Information on dosing fertilizers in a planted Aquarium with Shrimp

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

What plants do you have and what lighting on each tank?

 

[Berylla]

What plants do you have and what lighting on each tank?

I have a 28G with red cherry shrimp (a ton of them) with java moss and xmas moss. I also have an anubias growing in the tank. I'm using a 36" double bright marineland and also a weak fluorescent. I'm going to buy another LED, probably a Finnex to replace the fluorescent.

Right now I'm battling hair moss because I let the tank go a bit and didn't do a water change every week. I've read some threads here and other places to use H202, then excel, but they've had lots of shrimp death. So... I'm thinking I'm going to pull the whole thing out, swish like crazy in a bucket of water to rid as many shrimp as possible, then do a direct spray of H202 on the moss, rinse, then dip into a high concentration of excel and water. I'm hoping and don't kill lots of babies trapped in the moss, but I don't really have much of a choice. Going to go through with this sometime next week. I will post my results soon.

 

[Psylk87]

What plants do you have and what lighting on each tank?

Both tanks have a standard hood light that comes with the kit. Then I have ZooMed Ultra Sun 6500k 10 watt bulbs in both tanks. The 5 gallon has one the 10 gallon has two.

Plants in the Shrimp tank (5 gallon) are:
Wisteria
Java Fern
Narrow Java Fern
Water Sprite
Hygro Kompact
Java Moss
Marimo Ball
Flame Moss
Guppy Grass
Subwassertang

Plants in the 10 gallon are:
Wisteria
Water Sprite
Anubias Nana
Windelov Java Fern
Hygro Kompact
Cryptocoryne petchii
Pygmy Chain Sword Broadleaf Loose (keeps melting )
Amazon Sword
Marimo Ball
Two bulbs that I bought from walmart not sure what they are.

I would actually like more in the 10 gallon but dont much about plants so not sure what to add. I would also like to live plant my 55 gallon tank I am setting up but again not really sure what to look at for it.

 

[Berylla]

oops, I thought the question was for me...

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Well you have a nice assortment of low light tolerant plants. Flourish and excel would benefit most of the plants. Only problem I see so far is that the marimo moss ball doesn't take too kindly to Excel. Since excel has the side effect of being an algacide and given that a marimo is actually a form of algae, it would kill it eventually. Perhaps adding a DIY co2 system along with root tabs and flourish would do the trick to see increased growth, unless you move the marimo to some where else to start using excel.

If you want to expand into more plants in your 55g, you can consider taking the plunge into "high tech" planted. It's quite fun and you'll have plenty of options for new plants. You'll of course have to buy a light fixture capable of intense light (i.e. t5ho), adopting a more comprehensive fert dosing regimen (i.e. dry ferts via PPS-Pro or EI method), co2 injection, and a good planted tank substrate.

 

[Rivercats]

I have a 28G with red cherry shrimp (a ton of them) with java moss and xmas moss. I also have an anubias growing in the tank. I'm using a 36" double bright marineland and also a weak fluorescent. I'm going to buy another LED, probably a Finnex to replace the fluorescent.

Right now I'm battling hair moss because I let the tank go a bit and didn't do a water change every week. I've read some threads here and other places to use H202, then excel, but they've had lots of shrimp death. So... I'm thinking I'm going to pull the whole thing out, swish like crazy in a bucket of water to rid as many shrimp as possible, then do a direct spray of H202 on the moss, rinse, then dip into a high concentration of excel and water. I'm hoping and don't kill lots of babies trapped in the moss, but I don't really have much of a choice. Going to go through with this sometime next week. I will post my results soon.

You don't need to do both H2O2 and Excel spot treating as that is rather overkill and could cause issues. I've found H2O2 hits hair algae best. Be sure to only use 2ml of H2O2 to every 10 gallons of water to treat with, turn off lights and filters for 15-20 minutes and be sure to squirt the H2O2 as close to the algae as possible. If you can remove the hair infested moss then put the moss in a bowl with water and H2O2 at higher rate of perhaps 10ml of H2O2 to the bowl and soak moss in it in a shaded spot (not under light) for 15 to 20 minutes. Then put back in the tank and don't rinse the H2O2 off. I don't keep shrimp other than some ghost shrimp but this has never bothered them.

 

[Berylla]

You don't need to do both H2O2 and Excel spot treating as that is rather overkill and could cause issues. I've found H2O2 hits hair algae best. Be sure to only use 2ml of H2O2 to every 10 gallons of water to treat with, turn off lights and filters for 15-20 minutes and be sure to squirt the H2O2 as close to the algae as possible. If you can remove the hair infested moss then put the moss in a bowl with water and H2O2 at higher rate of perhaps 10ml of H2O2 to the bowl and soak moss in it in a shaded spot (not under light) for 15 to 20 minutes. Then put back in the tank and don't rinse the H2O2 off. I don't keep shrimp other than some ghost shrimp but this has never bothered them.

I've never tried this before, it's something that was on the plantedtank.com I just don't want to risk my shrimp over hair moss. I would rather spot treat than treat the whole tank. I'll try just H202 soak like you suggested and see if that works. If not, I will try h202 with excel. I'll report back what happens. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Psylk87]

Well you have a nice assortment of low light tolerant plants. Flourish and excel would benefit most of the plants. Only problem I see so far is that the marimo moss ball doesn't take too kindly to Excel. Since excel has the side effect of being an algacide and given that a marimo is actually a form of algae, it would kill it eventually. Perhaps adding a DIY co2 system along with root tabs and flourish would do the trick to see increased growth, unless you move the marimo to some where else to start using excel.

If you want to expand into more plants in your 55g, you can consider taking the plunge into "high tech" planted. It's quite fun and you'll have plenty of options for new plants. You'll of course have to buy a light fixture capable of intense light (i.e. t5ho), adopting a more comprehensive fert dosing regimen (i.e. dry ferts via PPS-Pro or EI method), co2 injection, and a good planted tank substrate.

What kind of root tabs do you recommend? Also how do I get the chain sword to stop melting? Are there any more low light plants I can add to the 10 gallon to kind of fill it out a bit more? I am really open to any plants.

Oh also the substrate in both tanks is EcoComplete.

I will look into the more hightech plant setups but the idea makes me a little nervous since I have been having such a hard time with the low tech set up. It has been a rather expensive learning curve haha. I think I am leaning more toward low tech in the 55 gallon tho just because the higher tech plant substrates seem so expensive lol.

 

[Berylla]

What kind of root tabs do you recommend? Also how do I get the chain sword to stop melting? Are there any more low light plants I can add to the 10 gallon to kind of fill it out a bit more? I am really open to any plants.

Oh also the substrate in both tanks is EcoComplete.

I will look into the more hightech plant setups but the idea makes me a little nervous since I have been having such a hard time with the low tech set up. It has been a rather expensive learning curve haha. I think I am leaning more toward low tech in the 55 gallon tho just because the higher tech plant substrates seem so expensive lol.

To me, you seem to have a nice assortment of plants in both your tanks. They will grow and fill out your tank. If you find things are "melting" or not doing well, it could be your light level is too low. I don't dose with excel or have C02 and my amazon sword is growing like crazy in my 40G with T5 lighting and an led strip light. I do change my water every other day so this gives my plants enough C02.

I recently had to pull all of my crypts because they were overtaking my 40G. Now I just have the Amazon Swords.

There are some interesting possibilities to light your small shrimp tank. I'm thinking you could go really DIY by just using a 23W 5600K compact fluorescent table lamp (equivalent light output to a 100W incandescent) that lights the tank from above. Check out my Betta tank:

I have no filtration - just clean water changes every 2 or 3 days. It's not a "pretty" tank since I was only an experiment to see if I could set up a planted tank with dirty, sand, and some plants. I fried my plants a little using too much ferts, so they are a little yellow. I should never of messed with a good thing. It was doing well without my help!

I've never lit a planted 10G, so I don't really know what to recommend. Some people here are much better plant experts than me. I just fiddle an see what works.

 

[Berylla]

Here's a better picture of the lamp I used. It was a $25 purchase from Walmart and came with the lightbulb.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

What kind of root tabs do you recommend? Also how do I get the chain sword to stop melting? Are there any more low light plants I can add to the 10 gallon to kind of fill it out a bit more? I am really open to any plants.

Oh also the substrate in both tanks is EcoComplete.

I will look into the more hightech plant setups but the idea makes me a little nervous since I have been having such a hard time with the low tech set up. It has been a rather expensive learning curve haha. I think I am leaning more toward low tech in the 55 gallon tho just because the higher tech plant substrates seem so expensive lol.

Flourish tabs are the ones I use. As for the the chain sword melting, how long ago did you plant it? In my experience, the chain sword goes through a slight melt when acclimating to a new environment. Once it does, it usually grows back nice. Just keep removing the dead leaves.

Eco-Complete is totally fine for a high-tech setup. I use it in 3 of my high-tech planted tanks with some flourish tabs embedded throughout the substrate. You'll just need to introduce a high to moderate light fixture like a T5HO, co2 injection, and dose dry ferts... a little research and perseverance, and you'll have a very colorful and lush planted tank. But don't let me change your mind if you have your mind set on low-tech. Those can be done nicely as well... not as nice though IMO.

If you take the time and start to learn about "dry ferts," it's so worth it -- especially in a large planted aquarium where liquid ferts can get costly. You get more bang for your buck because they last LONG! Here's a good starting kit when and "if" you're ready....
PPS-Pro | Aquarium Fertilizer | Green Leaf Aquariums

 

[Rivercats]

You can also do a dirted larger tank with a cap like Eco-complete which cuts cost alot. I did this method with my 220g tank and get excellent results. I also don't use CO2, only liquid carbon and run a high light/tech tank.

 

[Psylk87]

You can also do a dirted larger tank with a cap like Eco-complete which cuts cost alot. I did this method with my 220g tank and get excellent results. I also don't use CO2, only liquid carbon and run a high light/tech tank.

I read about soil tanks for a while and was kind of scared away when I read it was difficult to clean and you had to aagitate the soil to keep it safe. Has that been your experience with yours?

 

[Psylk87]

Also do any of you make your own fertalizer tabs? I read somewhere that a lot of people do to keep cost down but I cant really remember the specifics.

 

[Berylla]

Also do any of you make your own fertalizer tabs? I read somewhere that a lot of people do to keep cost down but I cant really remember the specifics.

That is an interesting idea. Especially if you have shrimp tanks. I was going to recommend aquariumfertilizer.com but all their pre-mixed ferts have copper. That may be the way to go (cheaper too) for shrimp keepers.

 

[Rivercats]

I read about soil tanks for a while and was kind of scared away when I read it was difficult to clean and you had to aagitate the soil to keep it safe. Has that been your experience with yours?

I don't vac my substrate if that is what you mean by "clean". You really don't want to gravel vac a planted tank unless it is barely planted as you can cause injury to the roots.

You don't do anything to the soil. The only thing you do is in first 4ish weeks you poke a long prong BBQ fork or something similar around in the substrate to release gas pockets that form in the beginning when the organics in the soil first start breaking in. I do have Malaysian Trumpet Snails to areate the upper cap layer which in my instance is Eco-Complete.

My oldest dirt tank right now is over 2 years old and I've let them go almost 5 years before. I get great plant growth and like the results I get on my dirted tanks over my Eco-complete only substrate.

 

[Rivercats]

All ferts have copper and that amount used is perfectly safe for shrimp. In fact shrimp need a small amount of copper just like we humans need a small amount of iron.