Well, you jumped head-first into the deep end didn't you? Don't worry, we will get you straight. First things first though. We are going to need the dimensions of your tank , the names of the plants you're working with, water temp, how much light gets to the bottom of your tank and the spectrum of light produced by your overhead. Pictures are invaluable.I'm a long time aquariumist and have a 90 gallon established tank. Has been set up for 12 years. Have always had fake plants in it and have just on a whim decided to try live plants. So being the spontaneous person I am I bought some plants and stuck them in the gravel. Now I'm realizing that's not the way I should do it. Need some advise on to what I should do to make this work without totally destroying my tank and established fish.
Lol yeah! I saw that post one second and then it was gone! Made me rethink what I was gonna say. It looks like you have enough light to do whatever you want, so the question is, how much maintenance do you want? I only saw one pick, and it looks like your plant selection was pretty hardy ( I saw what looked like water wisteria and anubus). Anubus is a slow grower, but wisteria is a real nutrient sponge. It's fine without ferts, but will really ramp up growth if they are added....esp with your lighting and co2. Also, are the red stems real or fake? Leaves of red plants usually fade to green as they age, so for the plant to stay red you may need to encourage fast growth (the new growth is red).Don't know why may tapatalk app isn't posting completely. I had posted a couple of pictures.
Bump: I have a 2bulb T5 fixture. Run a colorlife and a 7800K bulbs.
Canister filter Fluval F5
3-4 inches of graval.
Couple verieties of sword, a Java, not really sure what the other stuff is that I have. Not well labeled.
The only fake plants left are the tall one in the right rear that I left for the fish to hide in till these grow in and a few small ones attached to the fake driftwood on the left.Lol yeah! I saw that post one second and then it was gone! Made me rethink what I was gonna say. It looks like you have enough light to do whatever you want, so the question is, how much maintenance do you want? I only saw one pick, and it looks like your plant selection was pretty hardy ( I saw what looked like water wisteria and anubus). Anubus is a slow grower, but wisteria is a real nutrient sponge. It's fine without ferts, but will really ramp up growth if they are added....esp with your lighting and co2. Also, are the red stems real or fake? Leaves of red plants usually fade to green as they age, so for the plant to stay red you may need to encourage fast growth (the new growth is red).
My suggestion is figure out how lush you want your tank, how much trimming you can stand and go from there. I recommend using root tabs sparingly for the moment....once you add nutrients with your lighting, you run the risk of an algae bloom. They way you control that is balancing your plant growth rate to your nutrients. You want your plants to suck them up as fast as you put them in lest algae start using it get a foot hold.
Biggest thing you want to remember is your plants are basically a chemical reaction: ferts (F)+CO2 (C)+light (L) -> Plants
And you want to make Plants instead of Algae (A) [ F+L->A]
Since plants (generally) out compete algae given unlimited resources and you don't have unlimited resources to put in your tank, you want to limit the amount of light and ferts in your tank relative to CO2 ( C > L >/= F). How you do it is a matter of preference. Adding CO2 does the job, but if you don't want to constantly trim that may not be fore you. In that case, lowering the light and limiting ferts will give you a clean tank with slower growth.
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The plants you listed by name will be happy in your tank so long as the water is clean. The red plant may or may not be finicky depending on the species. For the next two weeks, you probably won't see any growth no matter what you do as a plants acclimate. They may even melt a bit and that is normal. After the settling in period, you should see signs of new growth.The only fake plants left are the tall one in the right rear that I left for the fish to hide in till these grow in and a few small ones attached to the fake driftwood on the left.
Really don't mind putting in the work, trimming. Just would like to get things going and not kill everything. Prefer not to have an algae bloom, already have some algae to clean off the glass.
The reading I've done so far leads me to think that the pressurized CO2 is the way to go. I'm sure these plants are going to have a hard time for a bit as my YOYO's are quite active and have dug up a couple already. Should be exciting to see what happens.The plants you listed by name will be happy in your tank so long as the water is clean. The red plant may or may not be finicky depending on the species. For the next two weeks, you probably won't see any growth no matter what you do as a plants acclimate. They may even melt a bit and that is normal. After the settling in period, you should see signs of new growth.
If you are serious about growing awesome plants, check the forum posts on CO2. There are some really good ones here that will explain the pros and cons of different methods. Conventional wisdom dictates someone with your size tank should go with a pressurized CO2 system. Since you have a canister filter already, I'd recommend using an inline diffusion method. As your plants get bigger and take up more space, you are going to want to angle your filters output away from the surface to prevent agitation and conserve the CO2 you're putting into your tank. I would wait on that though until you have enough plant biomass that most of the oxygen is being supplied by your plants rather than surface agitation at the top of your tank.
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Swords as a whole are hardy and killing java fern takes a concerted effort...just don't bury the rhyzome! Other than the red plant, honestly your selections don't really require CO2 but just about every plant will grow better with the addition of CO2. Regardless, If you go CO2, either do it yourself or otherwise, I would suggest inline diffusion, specifically a reactor like this:The reading I've done so far leads me to think that the pressurized CO2 is the way to go. I'm sure these plants are going to have a hard time for a bit as my YOYO's are quite active and have dug up a couple already. Should be exciting to see what happens.
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