Tired of being a slum lord...

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On planting and stems thing about stem plants is to plant them into the substrate at a 45 degree angle with a tweezer (or your pinchy fingers lol).

Additionally plant stems individually, say at least a centimeter apart, off center and in odd number groups if possible, if you have an even number it won't be that big of a deal if they are off set to each other. Also in a more natural shape less like a circle or a square, and around a natural feature like a DW branch or a stone ( or an appropriate space, ;) ).

Tried to make a diagram - hope it translates to the screen. By alternating the stems and separating them from each other gets a better chance of light getting to the lower leaves. This will help with die off of vegetative matter.

Also plants have some transitional melt/die off, same with if parameters are doing big swings like CO2 /no CO2, spikes - unstable tanks or overfeeding issues from being away for work or a fun vacation.


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NOOOOOOO......My awesome pattern did not translate accurately to the computer screen.

Oh well tried.
I appreciate the advice. I'm going to get a couple fish possibly this weekend, but next weekend for sure if not :) I think I get your basic idea tho. I'm not sold on all of the plants tbh but I'm going to do some small rearranging at least.

This was taken 10/2. I moved the little anubias back to to top of the rock and the "clover" I wrapped around the rock through the holes. I eventually want it to pretty much cover the rock.

I had some odd growth, kind of like white hair algae. I read that it can be from too much iron so I am going to cut that back to maybe 1/2 a cap full twice a week instead of a cap full 3x a week. It REALLY brought the red out but we will see how it goes.

Also cut back slightly on fertz and on c02, to slow the growth a little bit. I'm going to monitor that closely. I went back TOO much on c02 and my drop checker is very much blue. I went up to about 45 or so BPM from 30. I am WAY down from the insanity of before probably 120+ BPM.

LOVING the canister filter that's for sure. I love the water movement, makes the plants slightly move, it's rather beautiful :)
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Looking like you are getting back on track.

Tried the pattern again, any way you probably knew what I meant. But I got it to stay where I wanted them this time, LOL.

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So, I've been really busy and haven't really had the time to rearrang, but I DID get some new inhabitants.
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The first one looks like thread algae and the second is bladderwort.
For both, physical removal is best. Spot treating with H2O2 for the thread algae may help (in this case, just remove the lava rock). As for the bladderwort, CAREFULLY remove every trace of it. It is highly invasive and fragments quite easily (leading to more growth).
 
I have never treated with H2O2. How to u spot treat, with a syringe? It unfortunately is in lots of places :-(

Also, I wad a lot of what I thought was some weird growth but it's actually roots growing up through the sand. Any way to avoid that or do I just cut them off?
 
Is that Rotala Vietnam or wallichii? Looks too small to be wallichii. It looks very healthy. Are you still using seachem range of ferts? If so how do you dose these?
 
Is that Rotala Vietnam or wallichii? Looks too small to be wallichii. It looks very healthy. Are you still using seachem range of ferts? If so how do you dose these?

I am 99% sure it is the Wallichi. I don't remember for sure TBH. I got it because it had some red in it lol. My favorite plant in there is the Anubas nano on top of the lava rock to the right. It has been thru multiple tank changes and a couple disasters lol.

But anyway on to your question. I am still working on finding a good balance. I am currently using the Flourish Advance, roughly - 1/2 - 1 whole a capful every 2 days. I was doing 1/2 a capful every day at first and everything was just growing to **** fast lol. I use the trace one 1-2 times a week, 1/2 - 1 capful over the week, and I use the FE once a week about 1/4 - 1/2 a capful atm. I was WAY overdosing it and I think that is why the red plant all the way over to the right melted. The Iron REALLY makes the red stand out in the red plants.

I would really like to have someone name all of the plants I have since I never remember their names, so then I can label a picture with them. Invaluable to new people (kind of like myself lol) that are new and sifting through thread trying to learn. That's how I found the Anubas Nano :lol:.

I DESPERATLY want to make it flower again. It did once YEARS ago and I REALLY want to see it again.
 
Thanks do you know how many millilitres is in a capful and how big is the tank?

I am 99% sure it is 29 Gallon (about 110 Liters)

I will be honest I have NO idea the mL of the cap. TBH I am pretty new at trying to do this the right way, I used to do the EI method and it is VERY wasteful lol. I want the plants to grow a little slower in this tank honestly. I prefer a little less maintenance now that I have a toddler lol. I am currently trying to find a balance between growing slower, and no algae.
 
Thanks. What algae do you have? Did you have algae when dosing EI?

Right now I have the thread algae, and some regular green algae that grows on the glass that everyone seems to get. I KNOW I don't do enough PWC's which I am sure has some to do with it. Still working on trying to find a happy medium. :banghead:

With EI the plant growth was almost unmanageable for me in my 20g. I would have Rotala grow multiple inches a day and I found it was great in the beginning, I only needed a couple pieces of anything. I could fill my tank to the point of throwing it out! My other problem was that I just didn't have the time for all the maintenance:hide:. It was great for plant growth, but in the end after some research, I decided when I really started again, to try the PPS-Pro. I haven't purchased the dry fertz yet (broke since wife started planning our trip to Ireland) but I know I can tinker a little more then.

I cant really say if I have MORE algae now than I did then, because I take a little better care now.

Are you new to the hobby? Or new to plants/etc? As long as I have had them, I still consider myself new. Because I knew JUST enough misinformation to THINK I know what I am doing but really it's just enough to be dangerous lmao.
 
I am trying to correlate the success of your Wallichii growth with your dosing regimen. This is said to be and in my experience is a difficult plant to growth in the way you have it [emoji846]
 
Well. Behind the rock is dying, but it is growing like I weed. Got some good stock I guess :)
 
I have never treated with H2O2. How to u spot treat, with a syringe? It unfortunately is in lots of places :-(

Also, I wad a lot of what I thought was some weird growth but it's actually roots growing up through the sand. Any way to avoid that or do I just cut them off?


Yes, a plastic syringe will do. I found on for about a dollar at the grocery store in the baby aisle. It has markings from 0-10 mL. I added a short piece of airline tubing and then 8" of rigid tubing to give it a bit more reach (and to keep my hands dry).
You need to gently pull on the bladderwort to remove it completely and not leave any fragments behind (they will regrow).
 
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