Planting today

[Rlavassor86]

So I'm all set up now to put in live plants. I switched substrate to Eco complete about 2 inches deep with black blasting sand on top about 1.5 inches deep. 2-6500k and 2-10,000k t-5 bulbs and a DIY co2 injector with DIY reactor. My question is do plants require acclimation like fish or is it ok to just put them into the tank?

 

[mohican]

I just put mine in the tank. That will pretty much be the acclimation anyway as they get used to the environment they will be in. The addition of CO2 will help you a lot too, as this is usually the limiting agent of plants growing and thriving. Some plants may discolor, melt, etc. a little depending on what your planting; this IS the acclimating period. Plants then bounce back (sort of speak) and take off. I also think your set up looks good, just watch your photoperiod with that much lighting depending on what size tank you have. Good Luck!

 

[Rlavassor86]

I just put mine in the tank. That will pretty much be the acclimation anyway as they get used to the environment they will be in. The addition of CO2 will help you a lot too, as this is usually the limiting agent of plants growing and thriving. Some plants may discolor, melt, etc. a little depending on what your planting; this IS the acclimating period. Plants then bounce back (sort of speak) and take off. I also think your set up looks good, just watch your photoperiod with that much lighting depending on what size tank you have. Good Luck!

Thanks for the info. It's 72 gal bow.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

What plants did you get?

 

[Rlavassor86]

What plants did you get?

It got put on hold til today. I'm planning on getting some swords, java ferns, anubias, valisneria, possibly some crypts. The LFS sells them pretty small so as they grow ill rescale and add some shorter plants and grasses. Ill get some pics up tonight cus I'm sure ill need some pointers on scaping since this is gonna be my first attempt at it.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Any other suggestions on some beginner plants? Also how easy is it to clone plants? Is it as simple as letting the clippings form roots then just plant them?

 

[Rivercats]

You have to wait for daughter plants to grow with swords, crypts, and java fern. Once they have enough roots you can cut them away from the main plant and plant them. For stem plants you can cut them once long enough down to the size you want and then plant the top cut off part of the stem. Val's send out runners which you can just let root and grow where they land or you can cut the runner once there are some roots on the little plant and plant it where you want.

With such high lighting you need to get some fast growing stem plants and something like water sprite or wisteria. Ambulia is a good stem plant as are bacopa and alot of rotala's and ludwiga. You can do red plants also with that type of light. Myrio's are also easy and fast growers.

I have high light on my 220g. Metal halides with T5HO's. I run the T5HO's for 10 hours but I can only do a 6 hour light burst with the halides. You might need to do something similar to keep from having algae issues.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

+1

Rivercats is the perfect person to help you. I agree with that amount of lighting with slow growing (low light) plants and a DIY CO2 system, you're bound to run into algae problems. I would suggest if you're going to not get a pressurized co2 system, to supplement the DIY with Excel and moderate to high light plants (aka: fast-growers)... Or to save money, you can get Glut (glutaraldehyde), the active ingredient in Excel. Since Rivercats was the one who enlightened me to Glut, I'll like Rivercats to explain that one.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Thanks for the advice. I am going to be using excel.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Did you buy the excel already? You have a pretty large tank and the excel will add up in cost. Glut does the same thing at a fraction of the price.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Did you buy the excel already? You have a pretty large tank and the excel will add up in cost. Glut does the same thing at a fraction of the price.

I haven't yet, was going to pick it up today when I get plants. Where can I get the glut?

 

[meegosh]

I'd second the notion of getting a lot of fast growing stems to start off. Literally plant every inch you can to avoid getting algae issues. Once you balance your dosing regime out you can start swapping plants out for types you like.

Glutaraldehyde is what you are looking for. I've never used/bought it so I can't point you in the right direction.

 

[Rivercats]

Did you buy the excel already? You have a pretty large tank and the excel will add up in cost. Glut does the same thing at a fraction of the price.

I buy the Glutaraldehyde which is the same as Excel. I buy a 1 gallon bottle here: Glutaraldehyde Cold Sterilization Solution 14 day 1 Gallon: Amazon.com: Industrial & Scientific. It is 2.6x stronger than Excel so you mix the 1 gallon jug of Glut with 1-1/2 gallons of RO water to get 2-1/2 gallons of Glutaraldehyde for a few cents over $27. Compare that to what 2-1/2 gallons of Excel would cost.

Another thing is with such high light you should plant heavily and use dry ferts as your plants are going to need more nutrients plus you may find you need to up your daily dose of Glut (which you can safely do- even says it on the Excel bottle) slowly. You should start and stay with 1ml per 10 gallons and see how plant growth is. When my plant growth seemed to slow I knew I needed more glut available for the plants and slowly began upping my dose.

 

[Rivercats]

Once you balance your dosing regime out you can start swapping plants out for types you like.

That is exactly what I did in the 220g. I used water sprite and a good sized patch of Ambulia which grows and spreads like a weed plus a ton of other plants. If you looked at the tank from above you could see maybe 10% of the substrate. And later I did begin removing the above plants and others and started planting ones I wanted.

I did get some algae in the beginning but once I got my lights figured out I got things straightened out algae wise.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Can I only get it online or would I be able to find some locally?

 

[Rivercats]

Can I only get it online or would I be able to find some locally?

Are you talking about Glut or ??? You might be able to find Glut at a janitoral supply store but you have to know what your looking for. There are different strenghts of it, the one I use is 2.6x stronger than Excel but some are stronger than that. If you try to find it locally you need to look for the product I listed. Also if you use that it comes with an activator bottle that is very small and attached to the gallon bottle of glut. Be sure to throw this away and never use it. That is the activator that makes the glut into a sterilizing formula.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Are you talking about Glut or ??? You might be able to find Glut at a janitoral supply store but you have to know what your looking for. There are different strenghts of it, the one I use is 2.6x stronger than Excel but some are stronger than that. If you try to find it locally you need to look for the product I listed. Also if you use that it comes with an activator bottle that is very small and attached to the gallon bottle of glut. Be sure to throw this away and never use it. That is the activator that makes the glut into a sterilizing formula.

Yea I was. Pretty sure there's a store close to me if I can't find it local would I be ok to wait a few days to have it shipped? Or should I buy some excel in the mean time?

 

[Rivercats]

You can wait but I just order some 2 days ago and this morning it showed up! You won't have to wait for long because I think everyone is gearing up for holiday shipping.

 

[Rlavassor86]

Got some plants today. 3 sprites, 3 wisteria and 3 i can't remember the name of. It was unlabeled cus they had just gotten them in tonight. The guy said the name but I don't remember. It's the second pic. I'm sure someone here will be able to identify it for me. I'm going to a different store tomorrow to get a few swords and some jungle vals. They have them a lot cheaper but its about all they have so I started with the more pricey store first. I also do plan on rescaping once I get some more, but for now I am just trying to fill space left by the absence of the fake plants that were there. I am also very open to scaping suggestions if any of you care to give any.

 

[Coco1019]

I'm new so I'm just making a guess. Could it be a type of rotala? Verticillaris?