Need Help,so I Dont Murder My Plants

[shelaghfishface]

hi

yesterday i got some new plants for my tanks, as i managed to kill off the other ones,(not sufficent light etc)

i have been assured that even i would have difficulty killing these ones off,and as dying plants cause so much trouble in the tank, i would rather these ones stayed healthy, but thats my problem

i dont really know how to look after them,i asked for some plants food and was sold some NUTRAFIN PLANT GRO,but while there i also picked up a leaflet about the NUTRAFIN CO2 system ( APP £15)

are the 2 supposed to be used together or is the food alone ok??, i only have gravel in the tanks, no soil or anything else,and in 1 tank i have a white strip light and pink in the other 2. i leave the lights on

for about 13 hours a day sometimes longer..

thing is if i need to think about about a c02 system, i would be very scared,as i dont think i would be precise enough with the ppm.so need to know if i should just give up on the whole plant in tanks idea,or the

food would do the job...they are not heavily planted at the moment,the temp is 76 on all tanks,and none of them are over stocked(infact under due to recent losses)

any help will be much appreciated, thankyou
shelagh xxxxx

some pics

can i spread these out or leave them in a bunch???

the one in the back is about 5 months old-long swordy looking)

( this one is about 3 weeks old)

 

[sjdriscoll]

We would need to know how big the tank is and what is the wattage of the lights over each?

If the lighting is low then CO2 won't be of much use anyway. In this case you could always dose with an organic liquid carbon like EasyCarbo to deliver carbon to the plants.

Find out what the watts per gallon is for your tanks first (gallons/watts), any more than about 1.5 and CO2 could be used. try making your own DIY kit as these are usually better than the Nutrafin.

Good luck

 

[shelaghfishface]

We would need to know how big the tank is and what is the wattage of the lights over each?

If the lighting is low then CO2 won't be of much use anyway. In this case you could always dose with an organic liquid carbon like EasyCarbo to deliver carbon to the plants.

Find out what the watts per gallon is for your tanks first (gallons/watts), any more than about 1.5 and CO2 could be used. try making your own DIY kit as these are usually better than the Nutrafin.

Good luck

thanx SJ, where would i get this info, is it just whats written on the tube??? as the one in my larger tank is about 100 yrs old, let me know if this is the info you need and ill try to get it for you

 

[SuperColey1]

Measure the diameter of the tube in eights of an inch.

i.e. 1inch in diameter = 8/8ths = T8 tube. 5/8ths in diameter = T5

This is what we refer to as the T number.

Then measure the length of the tube. We can make a reasonable guess at the wattage from these 2 measurements.

As for not enough light, this is quite often suggested but in reality is hardly ever true. T8 tubes are best replaced every year as they diminish over time. T5s still need replacing but not as often.

Most fish tanks come supplied with approx 0.6WPG and I can assure you that this is enough to grow virtually all low light plants (as long as combined with a decent reflector) such as Java Ferns, mosses, Anubias, Crypts etc. They wil of course grow slowly under this light but they will grow.

If you are under 2WPG of T8 or under 1.5WPG of T5 then CO2 isn't really necessary unless you want to boost the plants speed of growth.

So to answer your question we need the following info:
1 - Tank size in US Gallons or dimesions of tank
2 - Light wattage or sizes as stated above (+brand names of lights if possible)
3 - Type of substrate (average grain size etc.)
4 - Type of plants you are wishing to grow
5 - Fishload (how many inches in total of fish are in there and what types of fish)
6 - Type of filter and the lph of it

There will be more questins but these are the starting points.

Post a picture too if possible with no flash. Try to compare the picture to what you actually see and try and get it almost identical. As the old saying goes ' A picture is worth a thousand words' and this is very true on this type of subject.

Andy

 

[Thomas 2507]

That looks like egeria densa. I bought some on wednesday and it's already doubled in size so I wouldn't worry about killing it - you'd have a hard job.

 

[shelaghfishface]

yes thomas thats what it is ( i just looked up the name)
thanks super coley, ill let the tube cool down then post those measurements.......also there is no reflector in the hood as such, its white but its an old tank so has gone yellow now,is there anything i can do to boost this?

 

[SuperColey1]

Once you measure the tubes you will know if they are T8 (1 inch) or T5 (5/8ths inch) and by the length.

Then if they are T8 you can buy from Pets at Home Arcadia Freshwater (Daylight) and Arcadia Original Tropical (Pink) tubes. They also sell reflectors for the tubes that just clip onto the tube.

I think in P@H have rebranded them Classic Sunlight and Classic Tropical or something similar. Whatever they are called in there they are in a green package and a pink package.

I would suggest 2 Greens and 1 pink if you have 3 lamps.

The Greens should be about £11 each and the pink £8. Reflectors are about £5 each.

If that sounds a lot of money all in once then just buy the reflectors. then replace the tubes 1 by 1 starting with the oldest first.

The white 'reflectors' that come with tank canopies are of no use in a planted tank (and not much use in a non planted)

Andy

 

[garuf]

Yeah, arcadia make very good reflectors.
You said the lighting is old, it could well be time to upgrade to a better light or at least change the bulb.