Hit a wall with my main planted tank :(

[pollymiller]

Long Read Please bare with me

hello there i have the juwel rio 240 as my main planted tank. i have many years of experience in keeping fish and tanks but only started getting into planted aquaria about 12 months ago.

im having some issues, its mainly the plants, most plants if not all

i have in my current tank:

vesicularia ferriei
eleocharis parvula
echinodorus tenellus
ludwigia repens
bacopa lanigera
aponogeton crispus bulb
red hygrophila
cryptocoryne wendtii (Green)
echinodorus bleheri
vallisneria americana
vallisneria spiralis
& Red Tiger Lotus bulb

No Fish
25+ RCS.

i have 2 55watt bulbs i think i fall into the 2 wpg area. injected c02 at 3 bps (30ppm) with Solenoid Regulator. i do 40% water change every Sunday and dose Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus (Tpn+) 5 mL per 50 L water per week 2 days after the water change. i just ordered the Tetratec ex700 becaue the built in filter is insufficient, im thinking about removing the chamber all together but my main problem is of course my poor plants. i have the lights on a timer than come on at 6pm til 12am, i reduced the lights from 8 hours to 6 because i started getting algae blooms.

before i purchased the 2 tanks in my sig, i had a tank room of 11 tanks and a aquaone ufo 880, i sold it all because it was too much work lol, so decided to go and buy the 2 tanks new. got it all in set up and has been running about 8 months to a year.

all the plants listed above seem to a problem ill list them again and the add the problem i seem to be having with each species.

vesicularia ferriei
- Seems to be growing but out and not down plus is wont stick to anything lol

eleocharis parvula
- i bought this and set 6 pot down, seems to of gone brown melted away and i see new shoots but not many, growing verryy slow

echinodorus tenellus
- most these plants are ok but alot of leave have got stringy and transparent, im yet to notice any new shoots.

ludwigia repens
- seems to be going well, prob the only plant that is lol.

bacopa lanigera
- this has gone much thinner to when i got it. leaves are more see through, deficiency?

aponogeton crispus bulb
this poor bulb has 2 leaves on it about 2 inches each, not growing, maybe down to me moving it a few times.

red hygrophila
this is almost dead, i have one stem left and it has all died but have 2 new shoots out the top, super slow growing.

cryptocoryne wendtii (Green)
seems fine, vibrant green, new baby leaves, but really slow growing seems stumped.

echinodorus bleheri
all my swords are ratty looking, with holes, they look shredded and take forever to grow.

vallisneria americana
i moved this gigantea and it was doing really well now its dead and i dont see any of the plant anymore.

vallisneria spiralis
these all went brown and melted away, no new shoots have sprung yet.

& Red Tiger Lotus bulb
this is so small the leaves dont grow very big but i have about 12 leaves on it but there small, transparent pink, and it doesnt seem to grow.

i know some of the above mentioned plant species are slow growing but for some reason mine are not going anywhere.

i have been wrecking my brain trying to work out why they are not doing so well.

i know this was a long read but any help would be most welcome as i have tried for weeks to resolve some of the issues and loosing interest, because all the money and effort that i put into it and i see so many beautful tanks and mines just a show.

please help me.

[JasonG75]

Sorry if I missed it but what is the Substrate?

[pollymiller]

oops i knew i would miss something lol

i have a mixture of the following

tetraplant complete substrate 2 inch layer topped with Seachem Onyx Gravel 2 inch layer with Seachem Flourite Black Sand sprinked on top about 2 mm.

[JasonG75]

OK TY ^^ you mentioned "i have 2 55watt bulbs" what type of lighting? I'm assuming T5ho? How far is the lighting from the substrate?

[pollymiller]

im sorry you will have to forgive me for leaving out vital information lol

yes thats right t5Ho, hard to tell but the dimension of the tank front is 55 cm im not good with all the mathmatical stuff :p

[JasonG75]

OK Ruled out Lighting, Substrate.

Maybe Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus isnt giving you want the plants need. Maybe EI dosing, have you thought about that.

Odd about the vals though, I know that once they are put into a setup but will more than likely melt away but eventually return. Mine disappeared for 3 months then ALL of a sudden came right back.
Crypts are typically slow growers REGARDLESS of what you give em.
With most mosses HI LIGHT is what makes them attach to stuff, my Java is only attached to the driftwood where it gets the MOST direct light.

[pollymiller]

i have read about the EI dosing, but its pretty complex for me, not sure i wasnt all sorts of chemicals round the house, i have a daughter but i do know i would save money and probably be better off using this but its knowing where to get it, what to get and its just too much to take in lol.

the vals then hopefully they will return soon my tank just looks a state its embarresing lol, the crypto i guess is doing fine but doesnt seem to be getting bigger lol but ill leave it be see how it goes, the moss it in the centre atm on top a diy bog wood tree i created so its the highest point in the tank at the moment, it is growing maybe im just being impatient

thanks for the advice Jason

[JasonG75]

Originally Posted by pollymiller

i have read about the EI dosing, but its pretty complex for me,

thanks for the advice Jason

I SOOO understand, its complex. Liquid is SO much easier.

[Complexity]

Originally Posted by JasonG75

I SOOO understand, its complex. Liquid is SO much easier.

I'm going to beg to differ for a reason. Rather than agreeing that its complex, I'd like to encourage you to give them a try by explaining that it's really not all that complex. The only thing complex about dry ferts is figuring out the basics of which ferts, how much, and when. Once you figure that out, you just repeat it over and over again. The actual process of dosing dry ferts is as simple as putting sugar in coffee. Put measuring spoon in fert, dump fert in tank, that's it. You can get fancier than that if you want, but you don't have to. As far as which ferts, how much, and when, there are charts that tell you. You just look up the size of your tank and the chart tells you all you need to know. It's really much easier than it seems.

There's one thing missing from what you're giving the plants -- CO2. Some plants require it and other plants will only grow very slowly without it. In fact, that's one of the nice things about "low tech" tanks is that they require little maintenance since the plant growth is much slower. If you want optimum growth, you need to add CO2 (preferably injected CO2).

There are three main things plants need to grow: light, nutrients, and carbon (CO2). If any of the three are missing or are limited, the plant will either die or its growth will be limited by whichever of the three things is in shortest supply. So whenever you want to improve growth, you have to question which of those three things might be missing. In this case, there is no added CO2. That means plants that have a high need for CO2 will die while others will only grow slowly. Plants with little need for CO2 will grow better. That's what you're seeing in your tank.

So if you want better growth, you'll need to add CO2. If you do add CO2, then I'd also like to encourage you to consider EI ferts, as well. They're not all that difficult once you get started.

[JasonG75]

Originally Posted by Complexity

There's one thing missing from what you're giving the plants -- CO2. Some plants require it and other plants will only grow very slowly without it. In fact, that's one of the nice things about "low tech" tanks is that they require little maintenance since the plant growth is much slower. If you want optimum growth, you need to add CO2 (preferably injected CO2).

I think you missed it.

"i have 2 55watt bulbs i think i fall into the 2 wpg area. injected c02 at 3 bps (30ppm) with Solenoid Regulator" He is injecting co2.

[Complexity]

Ah, crud, you're right. Well, so much for my post! I even did a page search for CO2 (I think it was spelled with a zero C-zero-2 so even my double check missed it).

Okay, then I'd say there aren't enough ferts being dosed. I'd recommend switching to EI ferts.

[JasonG75]

What I would do OP is read up on EACH plant, as far as lighting and substrate goes. If those thing are being fulfilled then the only obvious thing is Fert Dosing. Now Seachem does make a FULL line if EI Dosing isnt the route you want to go. You can also look into roottabs, could hurt.

[pollymiller]

hi thanks for the response, yes i do have injected co2 :P

just before i noticed the response i was looking though a plantopedia lol and reading there requirements, it seems i have most of mine in the wrong place lol, probably because there so small/dead i put them in the front of the tank thinking there small forground plants or hoping the higher light at the front will encourage them to grow more/faster.

im planning on removing all my plants and rescaping/resloping, and putting them in the correct places, keeping on top of maintenance and switching to reduced daily dosing instead of weekly, see if i can get the ball rolling, i remember a few months back i had plants all over filling it out but aerial roots and overgrowing made it look a mess so i redid it and they died or melted when i moved everything.

this time i will read up on each plant properly before replanting and keep them there. no cutting corners this time i guess you could say im a little impatient :P

thanks again for the info.

[JasonG75]

Originally Posted by pollymiller

i guess you could say im a little impatient :P

Planted tanks requires a lot of research, Ferts, light and Knowledge..But the most important thing is PATIENTS. lol