Do Small Plants Count?

[ICEEGRL]

How big do plants need to be in order to get started without tons of algae? Is it ok to start with lots of baby plants if they are fast growers?
If you have never had a planted tank before how do you know if a plant isn't growing as fast as it should? How do I know how fast it should grow? All anyone ever says is "fast".
With no co2 and 1.6wpg lighting , flourish, flourish trace, excel, and root tabs... what kind of growth should I expect from water sprite and amazon sword plants and money wort?
I know it seems a lot of stupid questions, but no one ever really says. I need more info than "fast".
How fast is fast? How much is that?
Thanks!

 

[Themuleous]

Its a good question this is going to sound stupid but fast means fast (sorry ) i.e. those plants that will generally grow quickly and are also generally not fussy about the conditions there are in, in the right conditions you'll look at them and say 'dam that things growing like mad'. But exactly how fast that will be depends on many things, like light, ferts, substrate etc, they will naturally grow as fast as they are possible for any given situation. Probably the only way of knowing if your plants are doing ok is through experience, and advice from people on these type of forums when you post pics, etc. Slow growth is also normally associated with poor health so there will be signs that the plants aren't healthy, which is another clue.

In your tank I would expect both water sprite and amazon swords to do well, and be fast growers, you should be able to see/measure the growth over say a week.

Below is a list of 'fast' growers that are east to keep from the tropica website.

Sam

Bacopa australis

Cardamine lyrata

Ceratophyllum demersum

Ceratophyllum demersum 'Foxtail'

Ceratopteris cornuta

Echinodorus 'Ozelot'

Echinodorus bleheri

Echinodorus osiris

Echinodorus quadricostatus var. ''magdalenensis''

Heteranthera zosterifolia

Hydrocotyle leucocephala

Hygrophila corymbosa ''angustifolia''

Hygrophila corymbosa ''Siamensis''

Hygrophila corymbosa ''Stricta''

Hygrophila difformis

Hygrophila polysperma ''Big leaf''

Lilaeopsis macloviana

Ludwigia repens

Ludwigia repens ''Rubin''

Rotala rotundifolia

Rotala sp. ''Green''

Sagittaria subulata

Vallisneria americana (gigantea)

Vallisneria americana (natans)

Vallisneria spiralis ''Tiger''

 

[ICEEGRL]

Thanks!

Will small plants use enough to help stop algae, or will I have to get big ones? If so how big do they need to be?
This is my current planting

This is the tank that is forever having green water. I just added these plants. Will this be enough or do I need more? There are small watersprite every where (100 %). There are a few medum water sprite (lots of small ones), 5 medium swords, a few stems money wort, and a java fern with tons of plantlets.

My next issue is the water movent... The filter is built in with spray bar return that isn't adjustable. will this be ok for the plants? I know it is bad for co2, but I can't change it. It is part of the tank.
You can see the return holes in this pic... It wasn't all planted yet...

Thanks for helping!


edit: There are also 2 lilly bulbs in there (sprouting)

 

[ICEEGRL]

Some of the leaves on the swords are turning clear(melting). What could be causing that?
The water is turning green again too.

 

[Themuleous]

Its not necessarily the size that the algae beating factor its the growth rate, you could have a stem plant only 1" high but it'd grow like mad, and would help against the algae. But all that said, I've yet to get any of the 'planted' tanks 'algae free' so cant really comment!

Sam