Aquatic plant food

[Arfthebrick]

I have been trying to grow different types of Moss and other plants.
Set up is 200ltr tank with 40 fish from tetra's to angels , Barbs and of cousre 12 hypo,s of different spieces has been running for two years now. Co2 injection system on timer . plant tablets and weekly liquid plant food. filtration is by Jbl900 & cascade 700. Depth of gravel 85mm back 75mm sloping towards front of tank gravel 2-3 mm. lighting is 4 x t5 tubes on timer for approx 5hrs in moring then switch off to come on again in afternoon into evening for around 8hrs approx 156 watts total.Trouble with black hair algea, now cut down on feeding
moss growth - pygmy chain sword - dwarf subulata & cubumba poor. Crytptoes averarge. But Amazon swords brilliant.
Now run out of gas and liquid plant food. Can any one suggest a good liquid plant food ?
Should I weeekly dose & daily dose? is it worth replacing CO2 2kg bottle this can be quite expensive to replace all gas and plant food. Or should I just give up after two years of trying and change to Malawi Cichilids instead. Any advice will be gratefully recieved.
Thanks all Arf.:thumbup:

 

[L777]

Hi,
Giving up is entirely your choice but if you really want to know how to grow plants visit UKAPS. There are some seriously helpful people on there when it comes to growing plants. Personally if your suffering from BBA I'd first check to make sure the co2 supply is stable. Your fertilizers could be a lot simpler and cheaper to and it sounds that your probably not feeding enough. Your lighting is also on the high side and needs the other elements equally high (i.e. Ferts and CO2) or the in balance will lead to algae issues.

I know many people do it and I have in the past myself but I've come to thinking that Plec's aren't really suited to planted tanks at all. Firstly they create a lot of waste and this can be an issue. Secondly they tend to do well in highly oxygenated turbid water which isn't conducive to keeping high CO2 levels dissolved in the water column for the plants during the photo period.

Chris.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
It isn't a liquid, but I'd buy the "all in one" ferts. from our sponsor - "AquariumplantfoodUK" <http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/>.

I know many people do it and I have in the past myself but I've come to thinking that Plec's aren't really suited to planted tanks at all. Firstly they create a lot of waste and this can be an issue. Secondly they tend to do well in highly oxygenated turbid water which isn't conducive to keeping high CO2 levels dissolved in the water column for the plants during the photo period.

I think this depends on the fish and plants, even if you are keeping large Panaque sp you can still have plants if you use a bit of imagination.
Have a look here: <http://plecoplanet.com/?page_id=446>

I don't think you need CO2 to grow plants and I definitely wouldn't use it with rheophilic Plecs, with their high O2 demand. I would always have plants because of their positive effects on water quality.

There are some technical bits here, under "Plants, substrates and structures":

<http://plecoplanet.com/?page_id=829>.

cheers Darrel

 

[L777]

Hi Darrel,

I think this depends on the fish and plants

cheers Darrel

Totally agree, I think we're pretty much singing off the same hymn sheet here. The OP is using CO2 by the way.

But I do still have issues myself and its purely a personal opinion you understand with the management of for the want of better description voluminous amounts of fish poo.

I just find it a whole lot easier to clear up when I haven't got a jungle of plants getting in the way. I can achieve all I need to with my filter/s and added aeration where necessary which can give me all the benefits that plants could afford me with regard to my fishes needs save for possibly sanctuary.

If though its aesthetics were talking about then a nicely planted tank wins hands down, every-time, IMO.

 

[L777]

This is just how I've personally come to thinking through experience nothing else.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

But I do still have issues myself and its purely a personal opinion you understand with the management of for the want of better description voluminous amounts of fish poo. I just find it a whole lot easier to clear up when I haven't got a jungle of plants getting in the way. I can achieve all I need to with my filter/s and added aeration where necessary which can give me all the benefits that plants could afford me with regard to my fishes needs save for possibly sanctuary.

There certainly isn't any reason why you can't go down the "clean" route, a lot of very successful plec breeders and keepers use tanks without substrate or plants. I'm absolutely sure that most Hypancistus etc come from areas without plants or a sandy substrate, and as long as they have reasonably clean, highly oxygenated water and a cave, nothing else really matters.

Personally I know I'm not great at tank management, so I like to have as much built in resilience and stability as I can. We had a thread a while ago which looked at this: <http://www.plecoplanet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2629>.

cheers Darrel

 

[L777]

Hi Darrel,

Yeah I read that thread when it was current and found it interesting. I have a mixture of tanks some are bare bottomed, most though consist of a fine gravel substrate of a couple of cm deep and my planted tank is 3 inches of Akadama (fired clay Bonzai soil). All my tanks have a lot of bogwood in them.

Where I have a substrate I try hard not to disturb it to much and siphon off the worst of the fish poo during water changes. The gravel that comes up with the poo is rinsed in tap water and left to dry out before being returned to one of my tanks with it in. Its only normally a handful or so at a time so makes no real difference.

I have a group of Brochis Splendens and another of Botia Striata's living in the planted tank amongst others and I must say that their Barbules are in mint condition. As good as I have ever seen, and even as good as those kept on sandy substrates. I'm seriously considering using fired clay for other applications as I like the colour a lot, it matches bogwood beautifully.

Having just re-read the above it occurred to me that perhaps I should have posted that on the thread in question. But I've left it here as I feel it's part of the dialogue between us at the moment.

Chris.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I'm seriously considering using fired clay for other applications as I like the colour a lot, it matches bogwood beautifully.

My only tank that doesn't have sand in it has "Tesco's lightweight non-clumping cat litter", which you need to rinse for a while to get rid of the scent, but it otherwise excellent.
It is fired Danish Moler clay and a beautiful subtle terracotta colour. If you don't mind buying it in alrge amounts you can get is as an absorbent granule for oil spills etc and then it is non-scented.

I've also used a calcined montmorillonite clay in the past "Seramis" and "Terragreen" in this case intended for potting bonsai etc.

cheers Darrel

 

[L777]

Thanks for the info Darrel, the only downside I have found to using fired clay thus far is its tendency to wander i.e shift with the flow of the current over time but this should be quite easy to rectify.

Chris.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

only downside I have found to using fired clay thus far is its tendency to wander i.e shift with the flow of the current over time

It is quite light, I've got it in a shrimp tank which only has a sponge filter. I tried mixing it with sand and fine gravel in a tank which is planted, but has a lot of flow, and even though it was the bottom layer (I wanted it to add some CEC to the substrate), over time it all ended up in a pile in one corner.

cheers Darrel