# Getting plants today!



## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

So someone local is tearing down most of his existing tanks so that he can dedicate some time and build himself a fish room. What this means for me is that he's taking down his planted tank. It's someone I know - and I'm doing him a favour of lending him a couple tanks (55 gal and 90 gal) to house some of his Africans in the transition - so he's offered me everything in it for $10.

He's no expert, but this is the list he gave me...

Hygro
Creeping Jenny
Ludwidgia
Dwarf Hairgrass
Chain Sword
Amazon Sword
Twisted Val
Water Sprite
Another type of Hygro
Riccia
Najas Grass
and honestly probably 2-3 more I've forgotten.
I'm going over to his place tonight with a bucket or two in hand to purge his tank of all this stuff. I'm also grabbing an Eheim off of him (though not right away as it's still running on a tank of his.)

I think it's an alright deal and will fill in my tank VERY well.

And whatever spaces are left over - my store just got a Tropica order in an apparently some of the plants are AMAZING looking. So I got a list of those and they are:

Hygrophila corymbosa, var angustifolia
Echinodorus osiris, used to be called E. rubra
Samolus valerandi
Limnophila sessiflora
Hydrocotyle verticillata
Anubias barteri var. caladiifolia "1705"
Hygrophila polysperma
Echinodorus Rosé
Lilaeopsis macloviana
Ceratopteris thalictroides
Anubias barteri var. nana
Microsorium "narrow"
Alternanthera reineckii "rosaefolia"
Hygrophila corymbosa "Siamensis 53B"
Echinodorus palaefolius var. latifolius
Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea'
Rotala rotundifolia
Cryptocorne wendtii "Tropica"
Cryptocorne wendtii 'brown'
Lilaeopsis novaezaelandiae
From the Tropica list I'm pretty interested in the Rotala rotundifolia and the Alternanthera reineckii "rosaefolia" to add some reddish tints.

I also know that we have lotus bulbs in right now - so that's a possibility as well.

So the tank should have its plants in no time at all. Just gotta pick up a few more small pieces of driftwood for the tank. I've decided to go with Malaysian. Inexpensive and the piece I tried out in there looks great against the gravel.

Comments on anything would be great - thanks!


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## brutusbeefcake (Dec 8, 2004)

hope you got the proper lighting, fertilizers, and c02 otherwise like mine theyre gonna struggle!!!


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

I have 55w cf lighting over 20 gallons. I think that's okay for the growth I want. And I do have a co2 system that I'm going to be installing.

Don't have the plant ferts yet. Will be getting those off of a friend most likely in the coming days. Just small amounts of each, but for free, and then from there will figure out exactly what I want to pick up.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

Mettle said:


> I have 55w cf lighting over 20 gallons. I think that's okay for the growth I want. And I do have a co2 system that I'm going to be installing.
> 
> Don't have the plant ferts yet. Will be getting those off of a friend most likely in the coming days. Just small amounts of each, but for free, and then from there will figure out exactly what I want to pick up.


Just thought I would insert this, just trying to help









Don't get what you 'want' to feed the plants, get what they need to live! Nitrate, phosphate, potassium, iron, and micros..
They 'need' all of it. CO2 will be a must with that light too. I suggest reading, and trying to understand this as best as you can. 
It will help out a whole lot


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## Guru (Apr 20, 2004)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> I have 55w cf lighting over 20 gallons. I think that's okay for the growth I want. And I do have a co2 system that I'm going to be installing.
> 
> Don't have the plant ferts yet. Will be getting those off of a friend most likely in the coming days. Just small amounts of each, but for free, and then from there will figure out exactly what I want to pick up.


Just thought I would insert this, just trying to help









Don't get what you 'want' to feed the plants, get what they need to live! Nitrate, phosphate, potassium, iron, and micros..
They 'need' all of it. CO2 will be a must with that light too. I suggest reading, and trying to understand this as best as you can. 
It will help out a whole lot
[/quote]


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2006)

Like Dips said, with the ferts, Ive found that you wont need to buy all of them, because some things are already present in your water. Watch for the effects on the plants which signal lack of "nutrient x". Ive found Potassium has helped my plants a lot. I also use Iron, but only because I dont have Iron enriched substrate. Excel keeps my co2 levels around 30ppm. So far everything is healthy and green


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## Guru (Apr 20, 2004)

DannyBoy17 said:


> Like Dips said, with the ferts, Ive found that you wont need to buy all of them, because some things are already present in your water. Watch for the effects on the plants which signal lack of "nutrient x". Ive found Potassium has helped my plants a lot. I also use Iron, but only because I dont have Iron enriched substrate. Excel keeps my co2 levels around 30ppm. So far everything is healthy and green


Besides co2 the most important would be nitrogen and phosphate, without these two macro nutrients it is extreamly difficult to control algee in a tank. Nitrogen, phosphate, and co2 should be kept at consistent dosing everyday or two. Having these key nutrients will help allow you to increase your photo period without having disasterous algee problems. Potassium is great because it help keep roots and stems strong, when plants have good stems and roots it helps keeps the bottom of the plant from dying out. I trim stem plants once the tops start to bend or drop down, this is usually a sign meaning the stem is not strong enough to hold the plant upright, frequent trimmings will help allow the stem to develop so that it can support the weight. Just replant the tops that you cut off. In a week or two your plant will grow back twice as strong as before.


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

DannyBoy17 said:


> Like Dips said, with the ferts, Ive found that you wont need to buy all of them, because some things are already present in your water. Watch for the effects on the plants which signal lack of "nutrient x". Ive found Potassium has helped my plants a lot. I also use Iron, but only because I dont have Iron enriched substrate. Excel keeps my co2 levels around 30ppm. So far everything is healthy and green


Danny if your tap water runs out of phosphates in your tank, which is absolutely likely, you will have a bout with some sort of algea. Most likely green spot. So I suggest having some on hand..

That goes for ALL ferts. You may not get algea for a while, but if your tank is consistently lacking one certain nutrient, you are heading for an algea problem.

I have iron enriched substrate, and I dose with iron as well.

Also, there is no way of determining Excell in the water by KH and pH. That method is used to measure CO2, not a liquid carbon source.

The peat that you use messes with your water's chemistry to make you think that there is a good CO2 reading.


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## Guest (Apr 7, 2006)

DiPpY eGgS said:


> Like Dips said, with the ferts, Ive found that you wont need to buy all of them, because some things are already present in your water. Watch for the effects on the plants which signal lack of "nutrient x". Ive found Potassium has helped my plants a lot. I also use Iron, but only because I dont have Iron enriched substrate. Excel keeps my co2 levels around 30ppm. So far everything is healthy and green


Danny if your tap water runs out of phosphates in your tank, which is absolutely likely, you will have a bout with some sort of algea. Most likely green spot. So I suggest having some on hand..

That goes for ALL ferts. You may not get algea for a while, but if your tank is consistently lacking one certain nutrient, you are heading for an algea problem.

I have iron enriched substrate, and I dose with iron as well.

Also, there is no way of determining Excell in the water by KH and pH. That method is used to measure CO2, not a liquid carbon source.

The peat that you use messes with your water's chemistry to make you think that there is a good CO2 reading.
[/quote]

Like I said, everything is green and healthy :laugh: My plants have improved 10 fold since I started using the peat.

We have two different styles Dippy, but plant growth and health is just that. Not everyone can afford to order special ferts online, and haveCo2 cannister set up, so I make do with what I got. Since I started using the Excel, my Co2 levels have definitely gone up, so whether thats coincidence or not I guess only the pros know. My plants have been growing like weeds too, my Cyperus Helferi has grown atleast an inch!


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## Guru (Apr 20, 2004)

DannyBoy17 said:


> Like Dips said, with the ferts, Ive found that you wont need to buy all of them, because some things are already present in your water. Watch for the effects on the plants which signal lack of "nutrient x". Ive found Potassium has helped my plants a lot. I also use Iron, but only because I dont have Iron enriched substrate. Excel keeps my co2 levels around 30ppm. So far everything is healthy and green


Danny if your tap water runs out of phosphates in your tank, which is absolutely likely, you will have a bout with some sort of algea. Most likely green spot. So I suggest having some on hand..

That goes for ALL ferts. You may not get algea for a while, but if your tank is consistently lacking one certain nutrient, you are heading for an algea problem.

I have iron enriched substrate, and I dose with iron as well.

Also, there is no way of determining Excell in the water by KH and pH. That method is used to measure CO2, not a liquid carbon source.

The peat that you use messes with your water's chemistry to make you think that there is a good CO2 reading.
[/quote]

Like I said, everything is green and healthy :laugh: My plants have improved 10 fold since I started using the peat.

We have two different styles Dippy, but plant growth and health is just that. Not everyone can afford to order special ferts online, and haveCo2 cannister set up, so I make do with what I got. Since I started using the Excel, my Co2 levels have definitely gone up, so whether thats coincidence or not I guess only the pros know. My plants have been growing like weeds too, my Cyperus Helferi has grown atleast an inch!
[/quote]

Danny there is no style with fertilizing plants, plants require certain nutrients because the genetic makeup requires the need of these nutrients. (You can compare it with how humans require nutrients, 200-300 years ago life expectency was way lower, now of days we know what nutrition humans require and life expectency has since gone up) All organisms are made up of nutrients and minerals if you think about it.
Plants tend to grow at first even when not all nutrients are provided, however in the long run many plants will eventually stunt, melt, and die from the bottom up. (trust me i learned from experience) 
If you have ever seen a scape at a lfs the tank usually stays healthy looking for 3 months and afterwords they usually die and growback. (this is from lfs that i have seen, I have disagreed with several staff before because they keep thinking the plants are dieing because they think that there is not enough iron when realisticaly they need macro. 
Weekly waterchanges will help your plants stay alive for a longer period of time, however without all nutrients the plants wont be healthy in the long term.


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2006)

What are you talking about?

I mean style with how we go about keeping our plants healthy...but in the end its always the same thing...lights, fertilizers and Co2.


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## Guru (Apr 20, 2004)

DannyBoy17 said:


> What are you talking about?
> 
> I mean style with how we maintain our tanks...


Just trying to help. If you dont understand then you should check out the barr report. 
http://www.barrreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1
hopefully it will help


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2006)

Nuggs said:


> What are you talking about?
> 
> I mean style with how we maintain our tanks...


Just trying to help. If you dont understand then you should check out the barr report. 
http://www.barrreport.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1
hopefully it will help
[/quote]

Aye, Dips already made me read that :laugh: Good read tho


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2006)

BTW, sorry if I came off a bit jerkish, Im still learning about maintaining a healthy water column for my plants


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## DiPpY eGgS (Mar 6, 2005)

DannyBoy17 said:


> BTW, sorry if I came off a bit jerkish, Im still learning about maintaining a healthy water column for my plants


then why be jerkish in the first place? -quite annoying


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## Guest (Apr 8, 2006)

Be happy then







I'll post them on a seperate board. Im getting a reef set up now that my planted tank is stable.


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## Mettle (Dec 29, 2003)

Well. Got a crap load of plants just floating in a half filled tank now... Going to try and sort it out. See if I can make sense of it all, heh.

Got a couple more pieces of driftwood.

I'm hoping all will be well.

Question though - I got some riccia. I know this is a floating plant. Should I leave it floating or do what some do and try and attach it to something?

Cheers.


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## Guest (Apr 10, 2006)

Carpet!


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