getting garden to grow better

[noelberg]

Well I made a few noob mistakes whilst planting my tank: I should've had some sort of clay/muck base under the gravel for my Amazon sword to grow in, and I "planted" the java ferns in the substrate per my friend's advice (though the java ferns don't seem to mind it too much in his tank). I also have some sort of floating plant ... possibly crystalwort, but I'm not sure (definitely not duckweed).

The java ferns and the floating plants have some brown spots and the java ferns have not shot out all kinds of "babies" like they're supposed to. Is this too high of a light setting, or do I need more nutrients in the water? I've read that root tabs are best for the sword, but will it be ok if I get liquid fertilizer so I can fertilize all plants?

 

[Lateral Line]

>>> Is this too high of a light setting,

Difficult to say, you don't say how much light you have!

Some plants absorb nutrients from the water, others through their roots. Liquid feed will only slightly help root feeders, such as Swords, root tabs are much better.

That said, it all depends on your light levels, fertilisers are rarely needed, certainly nothing like the manufacturers would have you believe.

 

[Bol]

I'm personally not convinced (yet) that special substrate is necessary for rooted plants. While it almost certainly wouldn't hurt, I don't know that I'd put it in the "necessary" column -- especially since I have a couple of swords and a crypt wendtii that are thriving in my plain-ol'-gravel tank. Everyone's tank conditions are different, though, so it's tough to tell.

About the java ferns and propogation, it could be that there are no "babies" just because the plants are fairly new to the tank.

From what I understand, root tabs generally only need to be replaced every 3 months or so (feel free to correct that, anyone), and many people use them along with liquid ferts, safely.

However, depending on your tank conditions, liquid ferts may be unnecessary -- for instance, if you have low lighting, and use tap water, chances are fair to good that you will have enough trace minerals in the tank already, and adding more won't help, and may hurt (I've found out what excess iron can do lately -- thread algae is not pretty ).

Tough to tell what the brown spots may be, without other information.

 

[susangc]

The plants in my teeny tank (see sig) are planted in plain gravel, too.

My tap water is very soft (about 2 dH), so I decided to add fertilizer. With such a small tank, I didn't want to use two fertilizers, so I eventually settled on Flourish, a liquid. As it is, I have to use one of my husband's 0.5 ml syringes (he gives himself allergy shots) with the needle cut off to measure 0.2 ml of Flourish for a 3-gallon tank!!

After the initial planting shock, the sword settled in nicely. The Java ferns are going gangbusters.

We have other Java ferns (in my daughter's tank, which is not supplemented), and they eventually budded off, but Mutt (the tall lean one) reacted so strongly and so quickly to fertilizer in the teeny tank that I thought I had some weirdo algae growing on it )

Jeff (the short bushy one) is still short, but much bushier. My daughter gave it (a floating plantlet she was going to have to throw away) to me from her tank. It started out with brown spots but they are pretty much gone. I thought initially that the Flourish would help because I'd heard that brown spots could be due to an iron deficiency, but they actually disappeared after I got the oto, so the spots were probably brown algae.

Susan

 

[Mustang5L5]

My Amazon sword is planted in normal gravel and it's growing like crazy. It's 18" tall right now and sending up new leaves left and right. I only have about 2WPG and don't use root tabs or other ferts at all. Just last week i took some baby sword off the runner it sent up and planted them as well so i'll soon have three large amazon swords.


My java fern is anchored to my driftwood and grows like crazy as well. It's a slow grower though. I've read they don't doo too well in substrate and would rather be anchored to a rock or driftwood.

 

[noelberg]

Thanks for the info everybody!

Sorry I was at work when I first posted and didn't know what bulb I have in my 20gal high. Just checked and it's a 15W Coralife brand NutraGrow plant light (for FW tanks). This is usually on for about 12 hours a day. Every now and then I'll only turn it on for 3-4 hours during the day.

 

[Lateral Line]

To get up to "Medium" light, you'll need to add quite a bit. The typical "Medium" is 2 Watts of full spectrum, ~6000K fluorescent light per gallon, you have a tall tank though, so a little more.

It should be on for 10-12 hours a day.

 

[panboy]

depends how many plants and what type of plants

i just got a water wisteria, and i heard those suck up lots of nutrients. plus i have some 10 other plants, which are growing fairly quick.
i just got fertilizer just incase, havent used it yet, but once i see leaves turning yellow, i will know if i actually need to use fertilizer or not.