New to plants. What first?

[Flyingyahoo]

I am new to plants and was wanting a little help with my set up. First of all about my tank/.

65 gallon aqaurium
Bio-wheel filter rated for 50 gallon
HOT Magnum 250 filter - I have not replaced the activated carbon in over 9 months. Do not plan to replace
Ammonnia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - fluctuates between 5ppm and 20ppm
Also have naturally soft acidic water if that helps. Will take measurements when I get home.
I do a 40% to 50% water change every two weeks.
I have a coralife 05619 light. I have been told it was 42 watts.
Heavely stocked with fish.
Do not over feed.
Only use Seachem Flourish Root Tabs - Used for about one month.
Substrate is gravel - When I first got the tank I did not want anything to do with plants. However I have done really well with the fish such that they do not die. Still wanting to "play" with the tank so I started expeirmenting with live plants and am starting to fall in love with that aspect.

I have several plants that have been in the tank for 1 to 2 months.

Anubias Barteri
Amazon Sword
Several kinds of Val
One other unkown.

All are remaing grean but not a lot of growth. Also have a lot of algae.

What should I do to get better growth. I know lighting will need to be improved and CO2 added. I am more concerned but the order in which to do things. My thoughts were as follows.

1. Start dosing with flourish per bottle directions.
2. Add CO2 source - pressurized.
3. Increase lighting to ???

Am I on the right track?

 

[mohican]

It sounds like ur on the right track. If it were me, I would put co2 last on the list cuz some tanks, and plants, can do well without it. As for ur substrate, give it time to Haim some organic matter as this too will help with plant growth. Lighting is a must, not familiar with urs. T5, t5ho, compact? Def dose accordingly as plants need nutrients. In a nutshell, time will tell u what u need and don't need. Hope this helps a little.

 

[BBradbury]

Aquarium Plants

Hello Fly...

You need a bit stronger filtration. Your filter equipment should have an hourly turnover rate (gph/gallons per hour) about 6 times the volume of your tank. A filter rated for a 50 G tank isn't going to be enough.

Nitrate level is very good. Acidic water is what plants prefer. Water changes should be 50 percent weekly if you want to maintain stable water conditions.

Lighting should be 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon of tank volume and that's just for the low to moderate light plants. Look into T5, 6500K bulbs.

Gravel substrate is fine. Just dose a good brand of tablets or liquids according to instructions.

Hope this information is helpful.

B

 

[FishontheRock]

Hello Fly...

You need a bit stronger filtration. Your filter equipment should have an hourly turnover rate (gph/gallons per hour) about 6 times the volume of your tank. A filter rated for a 50 G tank isn't going to be enough.


B

He has a second filter rated at 250g/hr and most of the bio wheel filters I just looked up rated for a 50g are about 300g/hr so that's 550 g/hr which is perfectly adequate in my opinion.

 

[mohican]

+1. I agree. What use "lose" in filtration can be made up with good water changes and tank maintenance. Some tanks don't even use filters and rely on aquarist for good water maintenance. Besides, imo, there is no magic formula for GPH of filters. With hob filters, possibly but the use of canisters really can lower that number.

 

[Flyingyahoo]

Lighting should be 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon of tank volume and that's just for the low to moderate light plants. Look into T5, 6500K bulbs.

B

I am confused about the lighting and have been trying to do some research regarding what light would be best and fit within my budget. When I orginally purchased it was for a fish only tank.

The coralife description per amazon

"Single Linear Strip is a sleek and streamlined fixture designed to enhance and complement aquariums. Its compact and low-profile style is suitable where space is limited. The Colormax full-spectrum T5 fluorescent lamp has color enhancing phosphors that emit light from 350 to 750 nanometers and has a high-intensity output that enhances the beauty of freshwater fish and plants."

It has a 6,700k bulb and colormax bulb.

Per coralife website it is only a T5 and not a T5HO.

Per one of the reveiws it says that bulbs are 21 wats but I can not verify.

Is lighting adeqaute for low to moderate?

If not do youo have a good economical recomendation?

 

[BBradbury]

Your Lighting Question

Hello again Fly...

I'll see if I can be a little more specific. Your 50 G tank will need a strip or fixture that will hold two bulbs. Two T5s are fine and don't need to be HO (high output). I have two standard T5 bulbs in my 55 G tanks and the plants do well with them. My plants have low to moderate light needs.

6700K bulbs are fine, with the recommended blue color for aquatic plants. 21 watts per bulb isn't much and would only work for low light plants, because you have less than 1 watt of light per gallon of tank volume.

Hope this is a bit clearer.

B

 

[Flyingyahoo]

Changes made

Ok so upgrading the light so that I now have 120watts total. Accomplished by adding 2 39 watt T5HO in the 6,700k range.

Started doing 50% weekly water changes.

I have 7 amazon sword plants, 3 large, lots of val including italian and jungle, and added 4 small anubias nana over the weekend.

I currently use only seachem flourisf root tabs.

Would the addition of liquid ferts improve plant quality or is it a waste of money?

What about dry ferts?

 

[BBradbury]

Lighting Changes

Ok so upgrading the light so that I now have 120watts total. Accomplished by adding 2 39 watt T5HO in the 6,700k range.

Started doing 50% weekly water changes.

I have 7 amazon sword plants, 3 large, lots of val including italian and jungle, and added 4 small anubias nana over the weekend.

I currently use only seachem flourisf root tabs.

Would the addition of liquid ferts improve plant quality or is it a waste of money?

What about dry ferts?

Hello again Flying...

To me, that's quite a bit of light. Most aquatic plants do well with 1 to 1.5 watts per gallon of tank volume. I know that's "old school" but it's a good starting point in figuring out your lighting needs. You have more than that if you have 120 watts in your 65 G tank.

Ferts don't need to be complicated. You really can do fine with the ferts the fish produce and dose the trace elements once a week when you do a water change. I like hydroponics liquids, but there are others.

B

 

[brennae]

As far as lights go, if you havent purchased yours already, get the kind with legs that sit on the frame of the aquarium. I have both and the kind that just sits on the glass, gets the glass hot. Hope that made sense.