Too late for a planted tank?

[Bioworldmaker]

Hi everyone...
Wow, it's been a long while since I last posted here at AA!! I've been really busy with school and all, but now since I am on vacations I'll have plenty of time to work on my fishtank...

Here is the story:
I have an Eclipse 2 tank (I believe it to be either 25 or 29 gal, not sure which, it is the tall tank), that has been stablished for about 8 months now. It has 10 happy and fat tiger barbs, 1 red-tail shark and 2 ottos. They all get along pretty well. I have just regular gravel there, and I had a few plants there (2 amazon swords, a few bunches of red ludwigia (sp?), but they slowly started to die and now I am left with almost nothing. As soon as I realized they were dying, the salesperson at the aquarium store recommended I got those miraclegrow spikes that goes in the gravel and some Iron fertilizer, neither of which seemed to have worked.

Long story short...

I read the info on substrate and all, but since my fish is already there, the gravel is already there... Would it be worth the work?
I am thinking of starting over, giving it another try before going to the plastic plants (sigh). I am thinking that maybe they lacked CO2, but isn't my tank populated enough to provide a few plants with plenty of CO2?

Should I try the DIY CO2? I am affraid I might suffocate my fish by displacing too much O2! Help!

Any advices??

Thanks, thanks, thanks =)

 

[Jchillin]

Hi - hope school is going well. Here is some advice I got when I asked the same question so time ago.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=37509

This is of course if your looking to do what was recommended.

 

[Bioworldmaker]

Hey, thanks!

I asked almost exactly the same thing you did, how funny!
School is alright, now that it is done... at least for now...

Hopefully I'll be able to take better care of my fish now, give them a little underwater jungle =P

 

[malkore]

First off, miraclegrow sticks shouldn't be used in an aquarium. They are for terrestrial plants, not underwater use where fish live.

Your problem is likely due to not enough light. No amount of CO2 or expensive substrate can make up for the fact that plants need strong lighting to thrive. I looked at eclipse tanks, and after I saw the hoods, I knew I'd never buy one. They're more expensive than they should be, and its a royal pain to retrofit a decent amount of lighting in them.

I'd focus on getting more light, especially if you wanna keep ludiwigia repens, and sword plants.

 

[Bioworldmaker]

The Miracle Gro I used was specific for Aquariums, not the one for Aquatic Plants or the one for regular planting. It said so in the package it came in. The plants roots "grabbed" the stick like there was no tomorrow, but it didn't seem to have had a lasting effect...

As for the lighting, I had changed the lights that came originally with it. I bought some broader espectrum bulb for about $25each, which I hope would increase the transmittance.

My biggest "problem" with the Eclipse is that I cannot hide that greenish tube. I wish I could have no "hardware" showing inside the tank (i.e. heater, filter, etc.)

 

[malkore]

Well I just hit www.Miraclegro.com and I can't find any products for 'aquarium use'.

 

[Bioworldmaker]

Uhm... I just went to their website and I didn't find it either.

I just wish I had the packaging, because I could swear that it was Miracle Gro brand aquarium sticks. I bought them at a very good aquarium store here. I might just go back there to check it out - eheh I guess this sounds like a good excuse to go down to the LFS -

either way, as soon as I find out I'll come back here...
I just cannot believe I would put "regular" Miracle Gro in my tank because it usually has waaay too much of everything.

 

[BASSNMAN]

You might want to try flourish tabs, they work great. I have 2 small eclipse tanks that I wanted to plant. I took out the incandescent bulbs and put in screw in 10 watt flours. I also use a 20 watt desk lamp in front of them part of the time.

 

[gheitman]

Amazon swords grow better under brighter lights than most standard aquarium hoods provide. There are several species of plants that do grow well under low lights. These include various Cryptocorynes and Anubias. You can find a more complete list of plants that grow in low light by following the link below.

http://www.plantgeek.net/plantguide_list.php?category=1&filter_by=2