Plants

[ChrissyBoy]

I've got a lot of different species of plant in my tank and have had to keep discarding them and replacing with new ones as they always end up looking really unhealthy. I don't know if its the plecos in my tank totally destroying them or the fact they have not got the ideal conditions to grow. Some (amazon swords and other large leafed plants) get loads of holes in them (no snails) and some just go yellow and look dead.
I've just literally poked them into the gravel and I put a 2 weekly dose of fertiliser in with my water change.
I've seen bags of substrate for planted tanks but have no idea what this does and how to get this into my tank as its stocked and full of water. I have also been looking at CO2 systems and also, don't have a clue about this either. Can anyone help me with this?
I really like the look of a planted tank and would love to watch my plants grow and flourish.
Also, with this substrate, how are you meant to vac the bottom, would it not suck it all up?
I'm a total beginner at keeping plants, so gonna need quite a bit of help.
Thanks guys

 

[Haveagojoe]

Ive just started on a diy co2 system and a weekly dose of nutrafin plant gro, in two weeks or so I can see a huge improvement with my plants, as yo say I suffered with yellowuing leaves and generally not looking healthy but in the short space of time I've used this the change has been dramatic,btw I only have gravel in the tank about 5 to 6 inches deep though and I don't gravel vac a great deal.

 

[Whitey_144]

im no expert, but i'm sure the more experienced peeps on here will ask you for the following:

tank size (and depth), water stats, lighting, plants, temp, etc. so that they can help you.

when i plant mine out i'm going for lowlight and using Carbon in a liquid form.

 

[ChrissyBoy]

Whitey,

My tank is 220 litres, 4ft x 2ft x 2ft with a tropical lamp (not sure of wattage). I'm not too sure on the names of the plants to be honest.

Temp is currently at 25 degrees and my water is really hard and slightly alkaline.

 

[Alasse]

can you find out how many watts you have over the tank?

I have less than 1 watt per gallon on my planted and i have Java fern, Anubias, Swords, Crypts, Elodea, Hygro, & an unknown growing successfully. I do have Dinosaur dung under my heeavily planted areas and some laterite mixed in with the gravel but thats it. I do not gravel vac my gravel ever.

Swords are heavy root feeders and do require root tabs or something in the gravel, or they tend to get deficiencies.

 

[RadaR]

Swords are heavy root feeders and do require root tabs or something in the gravel, or they tend to get deficiencies.

Swords are actually one of the most voracious of water column feeders. Swords dont necessarily absorb most of their nutrients through their roots. They can quite happily uptake them via their leaves. Otherwise how do swords grow so well in tanks with inert substrate but good water column dosing?
Tabs are generally reccomended for swords because swords are really greedy plants and having that back up of nutrients in the substrate is useful if you dont dose enough into the water column.
To the OP, knowing what wattage your light is, is vital. Light is the main driving force for plant growth. The more light there is, the more CO2 is needed. This in turn increases nutrient demand. Low ligt = low demand = easier for us!

 

[lljdma06]

What kind of plecos do you have?

 

[ChrissyBoy]

Cheers for the replies guys, much appreciated.

The plecos that I have in my tank are:

- 1 Albino Bristlenose Ancistrus
- 1 Green Phantom
- 1 Scobiancistrus Aureatus (Sunshine pleco)
- 1 Sailfin
- 1 Gibbi

 

[ZoddyZod]

Cheers for the replies guys, much appreciated.

The plecos that I have in my tank are:

- 1 Albino Bristlenose Ancistrus
- 1 Green Phantom
- 1 Scobiancistrus Aureatus (Sunshine pleco)
- 1 Sailfin
- 1 Gibbi

hmmm, think plant growth is the least of your concerns. the last three of those will grow over 1 foot long, the Sailfin almost 2 foot.

 

[GrayScale]

I would recommend co2 even if you have low lighting. But ifyour in the range of 2.6 to 3.5 wpg, I would almost say it's a necessity whether you go with a pressurized setup or dose it with easy carbo liquid co2. If you do look into co2 you should also be fertilizing with macro and trace elements. You could get TPN+ or you could go with the cheaper EI (estimative index) dosing method. This method is cheaper and allows you to mix your own ferts starting with the dry ferts that are ultimately cheaper and last quite a bit longer.

 

[angelfishguy]

A 4ft by 2ft by 2ft tank is nearly 450 litres not 220

 

[moochy13]

i was getting holed plants from a rusty plec in my tank, so suspect those. not all plecs will chew your plants though i dont think. he stopped doing it pretty quickly though for some reason, thankfully. in my sig below, the swords at the back are planted in playsand and dont get extra food or co2, just whats in the tank. i occasionally get a yellow leaf, but this happens generally on the plants at the ends of the tank where its darker and growth isnt as good (4ft tank 3 ft bulb). the swords in my tank were only just taller than the middle piece of wood when i planted them about a 2 months ago.

 

[GrayScale]

The yellowing leaves could be from a lack of nutrients. The holes could be a pleco nibbling the algae off the plants or just eating the plants due to lack of algae. Maybe you could try getting some algae tabs for the plecos and see if the holes don't occur as often.