add substrate for accidental plants?

[Xena45]

Hi,

My 15g tall tank is about 3-4 months old, and a while ago I threw some Walmart bulbs into it. All three sprouted, and now I have 14"+ tall live plants in the foreground of my tank, along with the plastic plants. I never really planned to have a planted tank, but now that I've got plants in it, I'm finding that it's really fun to watch them grow. If I'd have known they'd get so big, I'd have put the bulbs in the back! (see pick below)

I've only got a minimal amount of colored aquarium gravel in there now, and I'm wondering if I should try to add some kind of substrate under the plants. If so, what/how much should I use? Is it really doable to add substrate to a tank that's already set up? The plants have rooted into the aquarium gravel. would it be enough to simply fertilize them? I think I read somewhere that these plants are root feeders.

I've got an AC HOB filter, and two 15w Flo bulbs on top. One is a GE plant & aquarium bulb, and the other is is one of the regular "daylight" bulbs that came with the Eclipse hood. (I'm not using the Eclipse filter - I put a hole in the back of the hood to accommodate the HOB filter.) There are 5 female bettas in there. Last time I checked (about 2 weeks ago, ammonia/nitrite/nitrate were all 0). Up to about 3 days ago, I only had one 15w flo bulb above the tank. the lighting has been doubled.

Any advice you can provide would be great. I'd like to get some other plants too, now that I'm seeing how much I'm enjoying this. There is another bulb in the back right hand corner that you can just see sprouting behind the decoration. Yes, it's another Walmart bulb. I just need to know how to proceed to make a healthy plant environment.

Thanks!

 

[czcz]

I love your tank and betta group

Since gravel works for your plants, you can roll with what you have and fertilize in the water column, or lower new substrate in ziplock bags -- smaller grained substrate should end up below the current substrate. Consider getting KNO3 from gregwatson.com or as Grant's/Greenlight stump remover, as 0 NO3 usually leads to algae.

If you'd rather not move the Nymphaea to the back and wait for them to recover, you can trim off those big leaves. New growth will come in low, and you can keep it bushy by snipping off any leaves that head to the water surface. The leaves will stay smaller and will eventually stop trying to get to the surface. This way they won't block so much light if you end up wanting short foreground plants later. I think your Nymphaea looks neat up front, though.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

I potted my nymphea. Equal parts peat moss, vermiculite and kitty litter (plain, no additives, usually the cheapest you can find) in a terra cotta pot with 1/2 inch of gravel on top. Be sure that the top of the bulb is above the gravel. Makes it really convenient for rearranging and you can pull them out for pwc.

 

[TankGirl]

The same thing happened to me years ago when I discovered those cool bulbs and now most of my tanks have them, lol. They are very tolerant of being moved, and I just added a little more gravel and used a root tab fertilizer right under the bulb for them, and that seemed to do the trick.

 

[Xena45]

Cool, thanks! it's now 5-6 days later, and I'm still at 0 ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. My plants are still growing, but they seem a little "thin" and week, if you know what I mean. Would adding more fish boost the nitrate levels? Shouldn't there be some nitrates in the water, for the plants? I went to that website, and coudn't find that stuff at gregwatson.com (maybe I wasn't looking in the right place).

I have 5 female bettas and one shrimp in there now.

What kind of root tabs should I buy, or can I just put some kind of fertilizer right into the water?

I might try and stick some finer substrate underneat the gravel, but that'll be for another day. (Maybe a day when I get another 10 gal tank, and can move the fish over while I mess with this tank.)

Thanks again for your help!

X

 

[czcz]

double post.

 

[czcz]

Adding more fish will boost the nitrate level in the water column. You could also use root tabs, which slowly release nutrients, but its also not controlled. Seachem products are usually recommended.

Assuming regular ater changes and testing, you could just add 1/8th teaspoon of KNO3 twice a week and see what happens. Here is the Greg Watson link, but you can also buy the stuff as Grant's or Greenlight Stump Remover at your Home Depot/etc for around $6/lb. If you add a total of 1/4 tsp a week you're dosing about 15ppm. You could also get the Seachem Flourish products if you'd rather do liquid dosing, but a pound of KNO3 will last ages. Check out Malkore's guide to fertilizing if you haven't yet.

 

[greenmaji]

make sure if you use root-tabs they stay under the substrate/gravel, they will break down too quickly... fertilzing the water as czcz suggests is most likely going to be needed... HTH

 

[workfortheman]

I'm just wondering if the fertilizer path is an appropriate one here, since there is no co2 being added to the tank. Of all the pmdd articles/papers I read, they pretty much all have in common the assumption that carbon is not in shortage!

BTW, those bulbs are really cool. I've been wanting a big, bushy Nymphaea for a while. These can be found at Walmart? (shudders at the word) Are they in the fish section?

 

[TankGirl]

I think ferts are appropriate based on the appearance of the plants, esp. with adequate lighting, as in this case.

Walmart fish section, dried bulbs on a card hanging on a peg, usually. Go figure! :?

 

[greenmaji]

Xena45.... http://www.gregwatson.com/products.asp?cat=8 is the link.. on the homepage there is a picture that says dry fertilizers thats the link to get to the page..

I think that 2wpg can be enough to require ferts.. it really would depend on what plants and how fast they consume the nutrients that are in the water.. the test results given say that its time to dose some ferts. in my opinion...

Xnena.. Do you have a PO4 testkit? your PO4 might be too low as well.. HTH

 

[Xena45]

Cool, thanks! I've ordered that stuff, and will see how things go. I've moved the largest two plants to the rear of the tank - I was really surprised by the size of the root systems! That was 3 days or so ago, and they seem to have survived the move.

When the stuff comes in... the KNO3 , do I just dump it in, or do I have to dissolve it or something? (I'm frighteningly ignorant about all this stuff, I know.)

I'll look into that other test kit. As soon as I find out what PO4 is and why it's important, I'll order a test.

Trial by fire, ay? It's all Walmart's fault, for selling these nifty bulbs!



Thanks for all your help, you guys!

X

 

[TankGirl]

You need to dissolve the KNO3 into some water - here is a calculator to figure out how much for your tank:

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm

PO4 is phosphate, which is the scourge of my existence (well, almost ) and it might be handy to know if you have it in your tap water or in your tank, as many municipal systems have high levels of it, like mine, and many fish foods leave it behind in your tank. It is a huge problem for me beacuse it is high in my tap, I do a lot of water changes, and I have to either remove it with media in my nonplanted tanks, or dose nitrate to balance with it in my planted tanks. If I do not address it I wind up with very nasty algae issues.