I don't like my tank

[Angry_Platy]

I am not liking my planted tank at the moment. Reasons :

1. I feel like I am constantly maintaining it without the results I like. eg. CO2 and pruning
2. No matter what plantd I buy they always fragment and block up the filter i.e. sword plants, val etc. The only plant not fragmenting at the moment is my Rotala walichii
3. It is becoming too hard to vac around the glosso. If I don't I get all black stuff on top of my white sand. I've wanted glosso forever and it is growing really well but I am too annoyed when vacuuming the sand now.
4. My sword plants hate me. No matter what fertiliser I use or how nice I am to them they either grow curly leaves or lacy leaves or plain ugly leaves. Not like the sword plants in other peoples tanks.
5. There are plants I want that I cannot buy anywhere either retail or online. For some reason Australia doesn't have that great a range of plants (or fish for that matter)
6. I see other peeps plated tanks and LOVE THEM. But no matter how hard I try its always like there is something missing.

Perhaps I just need someone to guide me through the whole process step by step. Perhaps I need to start again with new plants etc. or perhaps I need to just give up on the whole planted tank thing altogether.

Plants I would like to have that I can buy:
Amazon swords (if I could figure out how to keep them alive)
Val (preferably thin but wide is good also)
Rotala walichii (grows like a weed....is the best looking plant in my tank)
Riccia (over slate and the like)

I have:
3.2wpg lighting
DIY CO2 maintained at 15-25ppm
Liquid fertiliser added weekly and root tabs added weekly to swords

Any suggestions would be muchly appreciated.

 

[jimbooo]

all your problems point to poor substrate in my opinion. are you using plain sand by any chance or do you have a layer of laterite or something at the bottom.

swords are heavy root feeders, if you are only giving them nutrients in the water column they wont flourish.

theres a start anyway? unfortunatly solving the problem envolves a strip down and new substrate. sorry

edit: by the way does your rotala have roots coming out of the stem all the way up the plant? if so they are getting all they need from the water, not the substrate hence why it's growing so well.

 

[chishnfips]

I have amazon swords and some sort of grass in my tank they are thriving, all I did was plant them.

I dont feed them anything or fertilise them or give them C02. I just plonked them in the gravel and hey presto.

Although I did find that when I had that ludwig stuff they hated my tank and went all shrively.

Alot of it is probably the ph and water hardness. But i dont know. The water where i live is very soft so this might help my amazon sword plants.

 

[paulioo]

I'm in the same boat. Although i love the look of my tank it just seems that i constantly need to prune it every week and fish out dead leaves all the time.

I'm seriously considering a tank consisting of just a carpet of riccia or hairgrass and some large stones in the middle. A bit like this..

Im currently researching the rock types and requirements to get a carpet looking like that.

I feel your pain

 

[keane]

I'm in the same boat. Although i love the look of my tank it just seems that i constantly need to prune it every week and fish out dead leaves all the time.

I'm seriously considering a tank consisting of just a carpet of riccia or hairgrass and some large stones in the middle. A bit like this..

Im currently researching the rock types and requirements to get a carpet looking like that.

I feel your pain

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a daft question but...if you have a full carpet of Riccia, how on earth are gravel vacs performed?

I only ask because I love the look of the Riccia and was hoping to add some to my tank very soon, although to what extent I am not sure yet.

Cheers

steve

 

[Angry_Platy]

all your problems point to poor substrate in my opinion. are you using plain sand by any chance or do you have a layer of laterite or something at the bottom.

I have plain sand. No laterite. Thats the thing. I cannot buy laterite anywhere here, either over the internet or through stores. The only other option is plain gravel. Would this be better or am I going to need laterite etc. to have a decent planted tank?

edit: by the way does your rotala have roots coming out of the stem all the way up the plant? if so they are getting all they need from the water, not the substrate hence why it's growing so well.

There are no roots growing from the stem at all. The whole plant is really healthy and has multiplied heaps since I put it in.

As for nutrients in the substrate.....my glosso is thriving...which I thought was a hard plant to grow. Thats why i am baffled. Would using root tabs help my poor substrate problem?

unfortunatly solving the problem envolves a strip down and new substrate. sorry

Right now I am prepared to do anything (within availability limits) to have a decent planted tank. Don't be sorry....I NEED all the avice I can get right now.

I would post a pic but I dislike the tank at the moment so don't want everyone else thinking the same.

I do have some ideas of my own though......

The riccia is growing well in its enclosure.....this weekend I am going to tie it to some slate and driftwood and do some rearranging. I like val and it grows well in my tank...so I want to xreate a val corner.....perhaps a little higher than the rest of the tank (using slate to hold the substrate back).....have the middle of the tank more bare. Salvage the nice amazon swords and have them where there is good light.....in the other back corner of the tank I will have Rotala walichii which is clearly thriving in my tank. I also like blue stricta which I had in my tank before. It grew well but sent roots down the stem (poor substrate)....so perhaps if I get the substrate issue solved etc. I might be able to grow this nicely again. I also want to create a slate feature in the middle of the tank giving my fry places to hide and my catfish places to go as well.

I really think I am going to have to get rid of my sand I love my sand but I would like a planted tank more (if that makes sense.....its been a long day at work and its late).......

I also need a new background....black or blue......at the moment I have a plant background which looked OK when I had no live plants but atm it makes the tank look too busy (if that makes sense)

 

[OohFeeshy]

I think people use shrimp to eat uneaten food, as far as I'm aware thats what Amano uses with his riccia carpets as his setups always include shrimp.

 

[George Farmer]

I never vacuum my substrate. A combination of good plant growth covering most of the substrate, good filtration, a substrate heater cable and good scavengers allow me to do this with no problems.

Amano shrimps are awesome little fellas. Not only do they eat algae they also clear up any leftovers that the bigger fish cannot reach. I have about 8 to 10 Amano shrimp in my 34G and they're always busy either cleaning my plant leaves or eating left over food. They don't produce much waste either. Perfect maintainers IMHO.

 

[jimbooo]

yeah i'll have 30 if anyone can find them. theyre like gold dust around here. i've been looking for months.

george, you're not gonna be popular with the misses. love the commitment but get off the forum and enjoy your holiday.

 

[zig]

Well definatly the sand isnt helping thats something you should think about, try garden centres for the laterite thats where i got mine or ask them to order it for you.

Ive read this on other forums as well about Australia that either stuff is very expensive or you simply cant get it, but i have that problem as well its practically impossible to get any decent plants around here.

When you say your plants fragment what exactly do you mean, do they just fall apart?

Swords can grow deformed leaves if they lack calcuim, they can also have a calcuim deficiency if you are overdoseing on Potassium or K as it stops or impedes them from taking the calcuim correctly, but deficiencys are hard to pinpoint those are just some that i am aware of with swords.

You should probably have your co2 nearer 30ppm, it would definatly benifit your plants.

And dont give up, you will overcome all of the problems if you have the will, im in a similar position to yourself and ive no intention of giving up, i just have to go the extra mile in order to get what i want as regards plants and equipment.

You could consider the EI method of fertiliseing also, read through the thread set up by hondour of her EI journal.

 

[George Farmer]

george, you're not gonna be popular with the misses. love the commitment but get off the forum and enjoy your holiday.

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Not as bad as it looks. I'm at my in-laws who live in the Yorkshire Dales. My wife is recovering from surgery (nothing too serious thank God). I'm actually spending more time nursing Florence (my 4 month old) than anything else. The odd break I get is to have the odd can of Stella Artois (on a evening purely medicinal obviously) and to post a few bits on here. Oh, and walking my dog, Holly, a German Short Haired Pointer on the Moors - awesome! Who needs Ibiza eh?

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

try posting a picture of your tank and we can help you further if you want it....


edit: i didnt read the above posts, so i dont know if you got rid of the plants, or did something to it, i just assume you still have the problem

 

[Yenko]

NEVER vaccum the substrate in a planted tank.

What I found effective to grow plants in an inert substrate are a product called peat pellets; they're disks of compacted peat that expand in water. They're dirt cheap and can be found at any garden supply store. Anything from Hygrophilia to Cryptocoryne love them.