Firtz For Plated Tank

[d3tained]

Hi all!

I have planted tank and sofar the plants have been doing well without any Firtz adding.

Im a Newbie so what do I get to improve things?

 

[dasmall1]

How big is your tank?
What kind of substrate do you have?
How much light do you have?
Are you injecting co2?

 

[Themuleous]

If you're very new, I would read all the pinned articles on the planted section, then come back with any questions you have after that

Sam

 

[d3tained]

Hi,

I did do some research but its hard to get direct advice.

My tank is 60 x 30x 30 cm, small.

I have 5 plants in there that seems to be doing well wnouth as they are growing and spreading.Just wanted to know if i need to do any ells with them?

Im not adding anything to the tank like fertz or CO2

THX

 

[Themuleous]

Please don't take offence at what Ive written below, its only meant as helpful advice

The trouble here is that you've asked a very broad question and there are millions things that you can do to get plants to grow better but it depends on so many different factors that just asking 'what can I do to help my plants grow' means I could put a post of a 1000 words a still not answer the question. The more info you can provide and the more specific the question the easier is it to answer so people are more likely to reply that's all I'm saying

It also sounds like you need to do some more research, if you've found out about substrate and CO2 and you're not willing to add them, is there much less we can suggest?

Sam

 

[d3tained]

Apologies for that and No offense taken.

I think I will go read more and decide then. THX!!

 

[netcode]

when it comes to plants.. you can take it as far as you want to really. growing plants in an aquarium can be a very complex subject. You can grow a few plants in a low-tech setup with little maintenance or you can grow a whole whack of hard to grow plants in a high-tech setup which requires alot of attention. Its really up to you and what you want. So first ask yourself, are you willing to put the time and effort into it. If so the next step is to find out what you need equipment wise, then decide if your willing to put the money into it. From there on you need to do a lot of reading and asking the proper question. On the other hand if you want minimal work and just some nice looking plants(which seems like the case), then my suggestion is to stick in a few easy to grow plants and maybe dose a trace fertilizer such as seacheam flourish or another product.

Goodluck.

 

[d3tained]

Hi all.

Ok so i have done allot of reading about this and thx for the repleys.

What i want is even if I have only a few plants ( Getting more soon ) is to have them growing like they should with all the requirments they need it teh same as I look after my fish.100%.To be honest I did not know that plants can be diffucult to keep and as far as now ive just had the plants in the tank and thouht thgey would grow by them selfs.Clearly I was mistaked and now feel bad about it.

I have decided on the following.Going to Buy more plants that grows low and plant them.Im also buying a CO2 injector( BASIC ONE ) which releases 1 bubble per second into the tank.The one im looking at dont have any fancy knobs or anything.Then with that im buying Plants fertz / Tetra FloraPride ( the good stuff ) as I feel fish have nice food so should my plants have.I wanna see them growing MADLY!!! Canester shoul last me about 3 months according to LFS.

According to this I should then be providing more than the basic needs of a plant?

One more thing..all you experienced people which I look up to, do all this make really such a big difference?

THX, looking forward to see them do better.

 

[Themuleous]

Yes it very much makes a difference that pictures of peoples tanks on here should be testament to that!

 

[voo]

Hmm when you say you're getting a CO2 canister do you mean a pressurised gas canister? for a tank your size you could get away with a DIY CO2 mix using yeast and sugar. It'd be a lot cheaper.

Also you should tell us what lighting you have - the wattage, then you'll get some idea of what plants you should be using to get the best results. Certain plants need higher light requirements, others will grow with lower light levels.

The other thing is what substrate do you have - what is covering the bottom of your tank?

 

[craynerd]

d3tained

Just remember that in a planted tank everything works harmoniously together. It is a complete system.

Plants need all the factors to grow well. You can’t expect to (quote) ""see them growing MADLY!!!"" if you supply only one factor. You can very well supply CO2, but if you do not upgrade your lighting...well !!

I’m not trying to say you have to go high-tech, but just be understanding and respectful of the type of growth you should expect for a low-tech system and aim for that.

My worry is that too many people want mad-growth and supper funky tanks without the correct requirements. And that means ALL the requirements, increasing lighting or adding CO2 alone will still not suffice.


lol a little ramble and some words of little wisdom.

Regards

Chris

 

[netcode]

My worry is that too many people want mad-growth and supper funky tanks without the correct requirements. And that means ALL the requirements, increasing lighting or adding CO2 alone will still not suffice.

This is so true. And my suggestion is to read to see exactly what these requirments are then make a decision about the situation. I know i wanted to grow really nice and lots of plants, but after reading everything that i needed to do and get I made the decision to stick with a low-tech setup. At a later date i may switch when I have more money but until then I will maintain my plants. Even in a low-tech setup you can achieve good results!

 

[d3tained]

Hi all.

Little late on the reply I know.

I have uped my lightning to 35 Watts and also started to add Fertz and C02 liquid bases stuff I got here in SA which was expensive enouth to work.

Been Using it for a while now and if noticed plants leaves turning more green and starting to grow faster.I quess this have worked for now but will monitor them closly.

THX for all the help peeps!!