# My planted tanks- Questions for the guru's! pics inside!



## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

We'll Ive been playing with planted tanks over the last 9 months now... I have a 10 gallon tank, thats been my little experiment tank/ Put all the new fish in here for a month or two before transferring to the 55 gallon.
This is where i started about 5 months ago, with cherry shrimp and neon's in there....The tank has 2 GE 6500k CFL bulbs in there and havent had a problem growing plants with these....However lately the anacharis seems to be taking a dump...I keep having to pull dead stalks out of the tank and its growth rate has slowed alot..I used to cut out a foot of this a month.,,,Ive also been wrestling with trying to get my Subwassertang to mount to the driftwood.....Ive tried fishing line ect, and after 3 months it never mounted...So i tried some loctite super glue GEl...as ive read on the forum...So far its held it tight to the wood...I'll keep this thread updated with the growth...

This tank has low nitrates, I Water change 30% weekly, with RO water...Im wondering if this may be starving out the anacharis??? I'm afraid to dose flourish excel because it has melted my anacharis in the past....Any Suggestions?
5 months ago



Today




As for my 55 gallon...I have recently upgraded from your standard floursescent bulbs to a 2xt5HO coralife fixture...One 10k bulb...one 6500k.....In this tank i have mostly swords and java moss....The java moss has been doing well and growing however....the swords have new growth at the bottom of the plant but it seems like all the bigger leaves turn brown and die.....I have tried dosing excel in this tank ...that resulted in a blue green algae problem that ive recently conquered....So im afraid to dose excel again lol....The tank is 4ftx2ft by maybe 2.5ft tall?.....Is my lighting suffecient? I do not have a CO2 system in my tanks....Some of the swords have a black algae that grow on the leaves and doesnt really rub off with my finger.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you are using too much RO...better to do at least 50/50 tap and RO or 70/30 tAp/RO...
i take it that nobody ever informed you that straight RO water will not support aquatic life...actually not really good for humans either....it lacks trace elements and such that are needed....
try "Miracle Gro" for a fert..1 teaspoon per 20 gallons...dissolve it in water before adding to the tank....


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

No i wasnt aware of that...I had such bad nitrate problems from out tap water it was killing my fish...So i never went back to using it again. Would def save me trips to the water store though!
However..

the 55 gallon tank i only change about 5-10 gallons every two weeks or so...it still have 20-40ppm nitrates, 0 nitrite...IF plant growth is being affected by the nitrates..then this tank should be doing well??


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

you may not be doing large enough water changes on the 55...we do 30% + every week on our tanks..


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## silent069 (Jul 4, 2011)

you may also want to swap out that 10,000k bulb for another 6500k bulb and see if that helps your plant growth.


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## grogan (Jan 23, 2011)

I too use pure RO water. Loho is correct about it lacking trace elements and minerals though. I use a seachem product called Equilibrium to supplement these missing elements. It is designed to add minerals and restore hardness to ideal plant conditions. I also add discuss buffer to get the ph around 6.8. I love using RO because it gives me a blank pallet to work with and I only add what I need to the water and have complete control over what water goes into my aquariums.


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

Unfortunately doing 30% water change on my 55 every week would be a nightmare lol...I have a small two door VW...and fill up a 5 gallong bucket at a time..Doing 5 trips a week to the water store would be a pain in the butt ! I do monitor the tank via water tests every week though to keep it under control...

would adding a second 6500k bulb make that much of a difference?

I'm thinking i might try finding a ratio with the tap water/ro to see if i can get a little more nitrates and minerals in the tank...When i first put the anacharis in the 10 gallong it had higher nitrates, and that plant grew like freakin crazy! Perhaps now its starving off? would also save me some water store trips!


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## yannis2307 (Apr 23, 2012)

i think he was saying not add another, a third light, the 6500K, but removing the 10000K and putting in a 6500K...from spending that much gas for RO and doing all that process, why not get yourself a RO filter for your tap? for example this or something similar: http://www.123aquatics.co.uk/products/reverse-osmosis-filter/jbl-osmosis-120-ro-system-1331.aspx
you can find it in better prices in other places too...or get a different product which does the same cheaper though...
Oh and btw, not much of a prob, but it's "gallon", not "gallong"


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i am just trying to figure out why it is so critical to use RO water.......sorry...just not getting it..


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

MY tap water at my house was like 40-60ppm nitrates....I started figuring out real quick why all my new fishes kept dying .....Once i started diluting/replacing with RO water i havent had hardly any new fishes die.

I understood the light bulb thing...Would having two 6500k be better for plant growth? compared to the 10k and 6500k setup?

The water store is right by my bank, so usually i just bring the bucket with me when im omw to drop off the paycheck so its not much of a hassle


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

Just did a water test as it looks like the subwassertang isnt doing so well..

ph 7.6
nitrite-0
ammonia -maybe .15ppm if not less
Nitrates about 10ppm

so there are some nitrates in the water...

I hope this subwassertang doesnt die off like the last bunch did...perhaps the only way to mount it is via thread, not water safe glue...

The anacharis seems to be growing at the top but some of the bigger stalks are browning.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

to get nitrate up, just add another fish feeding. But if its not 0, you aren't starving the plants of nitrate


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

UPDATE:...subwassertang isnt looking so hot....From the picture above till the date now...about a week or so...This is how its looking now..


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

Perhaps this next round ill try a hairnet instead of glue or fishing line?


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## italionstallion (Jun 5, 2013)

I've been using straight R/O water with Seachem flourish added twice a week. I've had zero issues using straight R/O, if you keep up with your water changes and add ferts you will be fine. If you have cruddy water like I do, full of copper, ammonia ect you wouldn't want to mix it at all. It would take more work to get the tap water tank ready, than to just use the R/O and add the nutrients back in. I bought a coralife R/O from amazon for 137.00 shipped. It works like a champ.


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

Thought i would bump this up.. In my 10 gal....My subwassertang is finally growing and getting bushy! however..Anacharis is dying off, i cant seem to grow this thing anymore and my anubs plant leaf is getting little tiny holes in it and green leaves are looking a little yellowish.. For the past two weeks i have dosed flourish to see if it would help turn things around and i havent seen any changes yet.


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## italionstallion (Jun 5, 2013)

you need to dose with complete ferts, yellowing and pin holes are a sign of lacking K in the tank.


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

what is a complete fert? I thought Flourish was a fert?


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## italionstallion (Jun 5, 2013)

Flourish is good, but you still need your macro nutients. Dry or liquid works. Mine were just like yours. After 2 weeks of adding macro and micro nutrients my plants have done a complete 180


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

can you give me a brand or suggestions for dry or liquid ferts? Im not sure what im looking for


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

try miracle grow...1 teaspoon for every 20 gallons..dissolve it in some water first..


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## italionstallion (Jun 5, 2013)

meximan said:


> can you give me a brand or suggestions for dry or liquid ferts? Im not sure what im looking for



I use seachem. I find the liquids are easier for me time wise. 

I dose my tank with 

Iron
Nitrogen
Potassium
trace
flourish
excel

on a weekly schedule with water changes on Sunday.


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)




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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

ttt.... Just cleaned the tank the best i could and did a water test with my API kit BEFORE cleaning to see what was up..

ph 7.6
ammon-.25
nitrite-0
nitrate -10ppm

No noticable differnences yet with the c02 tablets....everything seems about the same as far as growth.

Anubias has that black algea'ish stuff on the leaves, tried to scrub as much as i could off..Not quiet sure what it is..

Subwassertang is a lil brown/black ish as well.

Tank temps around 76


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

if you get BBA.(black beard algae) , get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide from the drugstore..put some on a cloth and wipe the plant with it...it will kill the algae without harming the plant..


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

doesnt BBA spread like crazy? i thought i had that before in my 55 gallon and got this stuff called ultra life and it wiped out all my BBA, but its bad on snails/shrimps i think. I suppose i can try it and find out if it works!


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Not really. I had a little in my 20,was only on one plant,took those out, hasnt came back. Its a slow algae. Ultra life is normally used on blue green algae, i have some and it clears the stuff up in a few days.


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

lohachata, with the peroxide trick do i need o ttake the palnt out of the water or just put it on the towel and wipe the leaves?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

it is best to pull the plant and wipe it..more effective that way..


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

Ok, so right now. I have my big tank set up an a 10 hr light photo period managed by a Outlet timer, so i can be consistent...

On the plus side the small amazon has some new growth on it! on the bad side, My Java moss has a bunch of brown fuzzy crap on it...This is new!


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

might be from too much light and uneaten food..


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

is 10 hours too long do ya think?


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## WildForFish (Aug 5, 2008)

Just a FYI, Mopani Wood a hardwood, takes plants a long time to adjust and anchor.

When you tie Süsswassertang do not tie too tight, just firmly enough to keep it in place, I find sewing thread works better than fishing line.


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

Ok so the problems got worse lol...I took a sample of the moss to the local fish store and they think its hair algae , their solution was to buy oto's...I have one oto in the tank but ive never once seen him munching on this type of algae...Any solution to the problem? Im going to waterchange later tonight...


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## ZebraDanio12 (Jun 17, 2011)

Wow eew. Did you try hydrogen peroxide?


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## WildForFish (Aug 5, 2008)

Suggest a major water change,partial gravel vac & black-out for three days and reduce light hours

Feed the fish well the night before the black-out period, the fish will be fine


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

Ya i just did a water change, and it was fine before hand...the only things that have changed are..

its been 100 degrees here all week- tanks at 85 degrees w/no heater

I pulled the bags of pea gravel out of the filter 

Last water change was a 50% water change.


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## WildForFish (Aug 5, 2008)

looks like in addition to water changes, the tank bottom needs a good vac.

I.E. to much debris is being left on the floor of the tank.

You have a mixture of algaes indicating the tanks husbandry to be adjusted.


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## meximan (Oct 27, 2012)

did a 50% water change, left my glass top open to see if i could get the temps down a bit.

Bought some more oto's reading that they will eat most algae...I havent seen them eat any of this stuff yet....


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