I'm So Happy

[snowflake311]

So when I first put my plants in my tank that I was cycling they were pretty sad looking. My Wisteria was loosing leafs and turning brown. I thought for sure it was a goner. My Java fern had brown and ugly leafs. My onion plant always looked good and so did the Anubias.

Well its been a week almost 2 since I put them in. The Wisteria is growing! I have little sprouts on it. The Java fern had a baby sprout off it's leaf, the other one has a little runner. I am so happy. I can do this plant thing after all. I mean the plants still have a ways to go but It's happening woohoo. My tank is also almost done cycling too. I am excited it's all coming together slowly but its working. My Flourish liquid plant nutrients will be here on Monday. I have better lighting too.

I'm just excited this is my first true attempt at a planted tank. I always tried plants but never got the right ones of had the right substrates for them. Only thing I have even had grow was java moss.

I need to buy more plants. This plant thing is fun.

 

[aaronnorth]

congrats, easy when you get the right equipment & plants isnt it

 

[snowflake311]

I see how some research can go a long way.

 

[waterdrop]

Hi snowflake,

Nice to hear of someone having success starting their plants!

What kind of substrate seems to be working for you?

What are your pH, GH, KH parameters generally, if you know them?

Thanks,

~~waterdrop~~

 

[snowflake311]

Hi snowflake,

Nice to hear of someone having success starting their plants!

What kind of substrate seems to be working for you?

What are your pH, GH, KH parameters generally, if you know them?

Thanks,

~~waterdrop~~

I have a layer of Pure Laterite on the bottom and sand. I used flourish tabs and Seachem Flourish Excel I have a few other Flourish supplements I will use once my tank is established. I'm just about done with my cycle ammonia 0 nitrites 1.0 nitrates 40. . My light is putting out 56 watts.
I used a strip test
GH 75
kh 40
Ph is 6.4 according to my drip test.

I am a bit confused as to how my ph got so low. When I started the tank it was at 7.4 . What caused the drop could the fert do that or the plants? maybe the rocks I have in there. Weird. It's cool because the fish I keep are all South American and they like soft water. I'm going to call my water chemist friend and ask her what she thinks about the change in PH. Water chemistry is her job how cool is that. Any others have any idea I am going to post a thing about it.

Thanks for asking me because I would not have checked other wise.

Here is a photo of my tank. The plants need to fill in a bit. My java fern looks like crap but keeps putting out babies like it's job.

 

[snowflake311]

ok I just read up on PH crashes and I know what the problem is. I did a water change to bring back to normal. Added more ammonia to feed the filter. Now I will keep a better watch on my ph.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

Looking nice!
The two clumps of grassy plants (look like lilaeopsis brasiliensis?) on the right hand side by the wood might need to be separated out a little. You might be alright, but sometimes when they are planted in clumps like that they get a lot of algae growth on them because of the lack of water flow between the leaves. Try planting them with tweezers in smaller groups. They'll send out runners and fill out soon enough anyway

 

[snowflake311]

Looking nice!
The two clumps of grassy plants (look like lilaeopsis brasiliensis?) on the right hand side by the wood might need to be separated out a little. You might be alright, but sometimes when they are planted in clumps like that they get a lot of algae growth on them because of the lack of water flow between the leaves. Try planting them with tweezers in smaller groups. They'll send out runners and fill out soon enough anyway

Thanks.
Yeah it's Lilaeopsis brasiliensis micro sword. I tried to separate them a bit but was scared to hurt the roots too much they are really tangled together. I will try again they might look better a bit spaced out. I'm also getting mixed info on the net about micro sword. Does it need high light or is low light ok. The site i bought them from said moderate light some say they are fine in low but don't grow as fast.

 

[xautomaticflowersx]

I really like Lilaeopsis brasiliensis... I know it's quite a tall foreground plant compared to glosso or HC, but I still think it looks great in a foreground. I've used in a couple of different tanks before... one had quite instense light (as the tank was only 8" tall) and the other had moderate lighting (2 x 18w tubes over a 16" high tank). It definitely grew a lot quicker in the higher light and was a really vibrant rich green, but it *did* grow and survive in the lower light tank as well. Just not as fast and not as vibrant looking.
That was a bit ambiguous so I apologise!

 

[snowflake311]

I really like Lilaeopsis brasiliensis... I know it's quite a tall foreground plant compared to glosso or HC, but I still think it looks great in a foreground. I've used in a couple of different tanks before... one had quite instense light (as the tank was only 8" tall) and the other had moderate lighting (2 x 18w tubes over a 16" high tank). It definitely grew a lot quicker in the higher light and was a really vibrant rich green, but it *did* grow and survive in the lower light tank as well. Just not as fast and not as vibrant looking.
That was a bit ambiguous so I apologise!

Ok so it can grow in low light. Just not as fast. That's pretty much the answer I was looking for thanks. I don't really want it to grow too fast. I like how it is now. Some sites were saying it must be in high light others said low light is fine. Thanks for clearing that up.