Plants turning into monsters

[kaaikop]

Hi! I'm just starting a tank, got a variety of plants, mostly what you find
at the local LFS, been running for over a week, you can definately see
some growth, but some of the plants (example: hygrop. polysperma) are
turning into monsters of arial roots, a real mess it's very ugly
Is this normal, part of getting used to my tank? or should I cut these
things, or prune them and replant them?

system is high-light, co2, eco-complete, etc. that should not be the issue.

 

[kagentx]

how about nutrient dosage? maybe its nutrient deficiency or maybe is the wrong water parameters? How much lighting is in there and what method of Co2 are you using? You should put off those ugly roots and allow it to grow back if its in the right condition.

 

[kaaikop]

Lighting is 3wpg (444w), CO2 is 20 ppm, temp. 25C
Dosing: well this is new, I got the whole set from Seachem, to get me
started, bit of this one day, bit of that the next day... I am being
careful, since I'm learning, and monitoring my parameters daily.
The other plants are looking great, so my theory is the Hygro, under
high light will creep instead of growing tall (not unlike glosso).
I don't know for sure... waiting for some good books I ordered
(Kasselmann). There is not a lot of topics about "maintenance" of plants
on here, I have a lot to learn there...

 

[malkore]

20ppm of CO2 is rather low for 3wpg. i'd go up to 30ppm personally.
SeaChem makes good stuff, unfortunately its weak. You'll have to use an entire bottle of their potassium every 7-10 days to maintain decent levels.

I strongly urge you to look at www.gregwatson.com and get some raw potassium nitrate, potassium sulfate, plantex CSM+B, and possibly his phosphate as well. Its going to be way cheaper than SeaChem stuff. The only seachem you could use is their Iron. its good quality stuff.

I think the water column is lacking some nutrients, making the hygro put out aerial roots more quickly than it normally would.

 

[travis simonson]

I've found that most plants that put out aerial roots will quit doing so once they have an established root base in the substrate. IME trimming the aerial roots can't hurt and sooner or later the plant will gradually quit putting them out. And like Malkore said, check into getting your nutrients balanced ASAP. I neglected this when I first started with planted tanks and the algae really nailed my plants.

 

[kaaikop]

Thanks guys, I appreciate you sharing your experience! 8)
I've turned up the CO2 a little bit... my number came from a "calculator"
I found somewhere based on pH & hardness, so probably is a wild guess
at best. My CO2 system is set to cutoff at pH of 6,6, but I've turned the
bubble rate up a little. Fertilizing is still somewhat a confusing issue to
me, there is a lot of info out here, so until I fully understand what I'm
doing, I am being carefull not to overdo it and follow the Seachem
instructions, besides my tank is not fully cycled yet, so an overdose of
something could mean trouble. The Wisteria is not doing too good right
now, turning brownish like wasted salad, but all the other plants seem
to be doing fantastic! the lymnophila & red milfoil have doubled in size
in less than a week, the anubias & nympheae are all making new leaves
it's fun to watch grow. the carpet plants are also establishing nicely.
I think I will have a lot of ups & downs until my "garden" is fully
established, but if it was to easy, would not be fun!

 

[kaaikop]

Well, the brownish stuff on the wisterias & hygro seems to be some sort
of algea... I saw the otocinclus clean it right up...
Funny, I tought brown algea you got with low light... hmmm, confusing!

 

[malkore]

the pH & Kh table is the most accurate way for the home aquarist to determine CO2 levels in the tank.

If you leave your pH controller set the same, then you will NOT get more CO2 in the water...you simply increase the speed at which it'll get it back down to 6.6...still leaving you at 20ppm.

 

[kaaikop]

Makes sense, I realize that... but what would be a "safe" pH level for the
fish? I have neons, otos & a couple of platys. I can turn the pH alarm
down to 6,5... Let me re-test my hardness and see what I come up with,
to get CO2 at 30ppm.

 

[kaaikop]

wow... now I'm lost, LOL
my KH reading is 80ppm... so pH of 6,6 = CO2 34ppm
But why did the KH go up so fast, I had 50ppm 2-3 days ago...?
Could this be caused by the eco-complete?

 

[kaaikop]

While I'm at it, checked all the other parameters (phosphate, Iron, nitrite, nitrate,
ammonia...) surprise: everything is barely detectable... I guess my plants are
"starving" and eating everything available in the tank LOL. I was way too
"cautious" with the dosing. Will be more generous and see what happens.
This is where the hobby becomes "science" (and I was very bad in
chemistry class, LOL)

 

[dr_girlfriend]

Heres a link that might help you with your fert dosing.

http://aquaria.net/articles/plants/barr-dose/

It doesn't have to be overly complicated. As you get to "know" your plants more you can adjust accordingly, but its a good place to start.

 

[kaaikop]

Actually it's all becoming clear, it's just a matter of keeping the nutrients levels to
what they should be, without having too much. I need to establish a sort of
dosing schedule that works for my tank and then just follow it. Once that is clear,
I wont need to do "chemistry tests" twice a day, LOL
What throws me off here, is that the tank is not cycled, so that is just one more
concern, but after that it will be much easier.
In the process, I realized that using the Seachem line will get costly pretty fast in
a 150g. So I placed my first order for dry ferts and will mix my own (the Seachem
500ml bottles will be perfect as they are already "marked") Thanks to all the info.
you can find here, I was able to figure out exactly what I need to order.

What a cool hobby! It's science, chemistry, ecology, art (and patience!) 8)

 

[Jchillin]

Glad to see you're getting some useful help and info kaaikop. In regard to the hobby, you left out photography.

 

[BASSNMAN]

I have gone to Tropic Master Grow plant suplement. It is not expensive if you buy the 5 litre size from Big Als. Get a iron test kit and experiment with the dose to maintain 0.1 to 0.2 iron. I dose 6 ml daily in a 50 gal with co2.

 

[TankGirl]

Also, with your plants going to town and CO2, you may not notice a real cycle at all, and you likely need to go ahead and dose some nitrate along with everything else.

 

[travis simonson]

Keep a close eye on your KH if you continue to notice it increasing. CO2 injection creates carbonic acid in your water column (this is why it causes your pH to drop). In some rare cases the carbonic acid can dissolve carbonates in your substrate, thereby increasing KH (and pH as well). This can lead to an endlessly escalating loop when using a pH controller - CO2 injected dissolves carbonates, increases KH and pH and causes more CO2 to be injected, which dissolves more carbonates, which increases KH and pH, which causes more CO2 to be injected . . . pretty soon your KH will be so high that it can kill everything in the tank. Please don't be worried at this point though, I don't want to scare you. Just keep your eye on the KH and watch for continuing increases This is a very rare occurence.

 

[kaaikop]

Good point Travis, will keep an eye on it! The substrate is 100% eco-complete,
and AFAIK, it does contain some calcareous material.

 

[travis simonson]

I use the same substrate and have not experienced this problem so, again, probably not something you need to worry about. But batches can vary

 

[kaaikop]

Wow...! just did a quick check on hardness, since I did my first major water
change since startup (60-70%), in the hope of getting rid of green water (that's
another story, LOL).

Anyway, the GH is down from 140 to 100ppm, KH from 90 to 50ppm
kinda drastic, is that normal?