Help & Advise

[Swampey40]

Hi All

Recently got a Juwel Rio 180 and planned to have a gravel base added plants in and cycled the tank..... water parameters indicated that it was time to add fish in and everything is fine other than the quality of the plants....

Various types of terta's and a few blue rams, trying to keep it a nice community tank

Currently have got root tabs in tank and have been using JBL liquid fert weekly... but these plants don't seem to look good at all, so we are now at a stage whereas I am now considering tearing down the tank so to say, removing the gravel and putting a Eco / Flourish base substrate in.... then gravel on top to give a bit of depth.....

Also changing over to TNC ferts..... Now someone I saw on a forum recommend dosing the whole tank weekly with the required amount... then added an additional 5ml per day before the lights go on.....

Any good advice on this would be most helpful

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Well, there's a lot here, so we can try to take it a piece at a time.

1 - The issue isn't the substrate. Keep the gravel that you have. It is inert, but it isn't 'bad', and certainly isn't the problem. The ordeal for both the fish and the plants in ripping out one substrate and putting in a new one is more trouble than its worth.

2 - Everything else is dependent on the plants you are trying to grow, the light you have, the water parameters of your tank, and the nutrients that you are providing. This can't be addressed 'simply' by adding more fertilizer.

Plants - Some plants require high light, and will never look good without it. Others are low light, and will never grow properly under high light, though they will look better than the reverse.

Light - this cannot be understated. This is the primary thing that needs to be nailed down. Are you using the 'standard' lights that come with the Rio 180? What are the specs?

Water parameters out of the tap - Is your water hard or soft, acidic or alkaline? Just as the water parameters will determine the fish you should keep, it also affects the plants you should keep. You don't want to keep hard water plants in a soft water environment, or vice versa.

Fertilizers - Anything added to the water will end up going through the fish. Adding 'more' isn't the answer. A much better option, as I see it, is to add the fertilizer more to the roots of the plants, when possible (though I do use a bit of ferts to the water column as well, but just as a 'small supplement' for the plants that don't feed as much through the roots). Personally, I have found the most effective and the most cost-effective 'root tab' to be Osmocote+ (found at the local plant nursery). I make my own 'root tabs' by filling empty pill capsules with the little pellets and just pushing them right into the substrate in the areas where I have the rooted plants. These can be replaced every 3 months. This is a terrestrial fertilizer, but it remains primarily in the substrate where the plants roots are and is a 'slow release' formula, so it doesn't flood the roots (or the water) with a large dose all at once (like adding a massive dose weekly would). When I do a water change (weekly) I add a bit of the fertilizer salts to the tank (so, this is basically the same as adding a mix of tap water that is more 'mineral' rich than my standard tap.



Currently, I am growing 3 amazon swords, a few crypts, a few stems of moneywort, java fern, anubias, and some java moss. Its a 56 gallon tank with 2 pearl gourami, 14 red eye tetra, 11 neon tetra, 5 orange laser cories, and a 7 year old BN pleco.

 

[StandbySetting]

Nutrient rich substrates aren't 100% necessary, dosing the water column is sufficient enough. If your rio 180 has the t5 lighting system I'd bet good money that your plants are starved of CO2, the lighting on these tanks is over kill for most aquarists. How long are your lights on for daily and do you know the bulb type? Wattage? Light is the defining factor with plants - more light = faster plant growth = higher nutrient requirements. Any low light plant will grow under high light provided there are adequate nutrients. (This includes CO2). I'm not familiar with the TNC range of Fertilisers, do they contain sources of nitrogen and phosphate?

 

[Byron]

Yes, I agree with previous members that we need to know more about your lighting. Please be very specific...type, spectrum, watts, any info on the bulbs/tubes, etc. and duration. I have known plants to decompose from too much light, too little light (intensity), or the nutrients/fertilizers. All of this must be balanced for the plant species you have. The GH of your source water (tap water) is also a factor.

Having maintained planted tanks for well over 20 years, I can assure you the substrate material is never the problem. With the data we will sort this out for you.

Byron.