[victorusaconte]

It's been a long road but my plants are finally starting to look strong and growing steadily. I think I'm really close to dialing everything in, and I've almost removed all of the staghorn algae with the Excel treatment. First off, would adding a few more plants help keep the algae at bay by taking in any of the extra nutrients?



The biggest issue is that my lights are the stock LED's that came with the tank and aren't very strong. It also doesn't help that the tank is 25 inches tall.



Current Fertilizers: Thrive S, Seachem Potassium, Seachem Phosphorus



Tank Setup:

- Tall 60 gallon Marineland tank, with clip-on weak lights

- Substrate: Fluval Stratum

- Spiderwood driftwood

- River rocks

- Crushed coral in the 307 filter

- NO C02



Parameters:

- Temp – 78 F

- ph – 6.7

- Ammonia reading – 0

- Nitrite reading – 0

- Nitrate reading – 10-15ppm

- KH - 6

- GH - 10



Current Plants: I've tried ALOT but they all died eventually.

- Jungle val - has been consistently growing and sending out runners, but never grows taller than 5 - 6 inches



- Possibly Amazon Sword - The plant wrapped around the driftwood in the middle, I have no clue what it is but it's decently sized. (I think this has done well because it's always been higher in the water column closer to the light.)



- Lots of Brazilian Pennywort - I had it floating for a week which I think helped it acclimate to my tank too. This has been steadily growing since I added it to the scape.





Does anyone have any recommendations for plants to add to the tank? I'd really appreciate it!

With your ph i would say Vallisneria and LUDWIGIA REPENS



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[victorusaconte]

Great idea, I'll look for that next time I'm at the store. They recently listed that they have Crypt Undulatus, Ruffle Sword, and Melon Sword available. Would any of those be good options?



And do you think I should rearrange my scape at all?

I have melon sword, they turm red once submerged, they need no co2 but will need iron fertilizer. About the scape, make sure to have good thick layer of rich nutrient substrate.
Crypto will be good as well

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[victorusaconte]

The melon sword sounds like it could be a really cool addition. I think adding in some red would give it more variety too.



And I have Fluval Stratum for substrate, and I can add in some root tabs too. Do you have yours planted into the substrate?

Melon sword need substrate and thick layers cause their root system is gigantic. However, ive planted ludwigias in rocks and they get really wine red with pinky roots that grows until finds substrate. The ludwigias i planted in substrates doesn't got that color but proliferate really quick and in massive quantities.


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[victorusaconte]

Well, I got some Ludwigia Repens from the store last night! Unfortunately, the melon sword didn't look that great so I decided not to take the risk. But I'm really excited about the Ludwigia, which they had labeled as Broad Leaf Ludwigia Repens, it's the same thing right?



Thank you for including the picture, it looks like there's a lot of great info but unfortunately, it's really hard to read, and when I zoom in it makes the text more blurry.



I picked up some Seachem Iron to add to my fertilizer routine to help keep it healthy too.



Now I'm just trying to decide on how to add it to the tank scape. I might move some of the val to the right side and add the Ludwigia to the left side. Thoughts?

I would take the metal weight out cause it can rust. You can plant them together (leafs will cover other leafs and they MIGHT - not necessary - get low light) or plant each strain 1cm apart from each other.
Since u using liquid fertilizer, u can attach some of them at a rock or at wood and they will grow pretty roots going to the ground.


Let me try again with the picture bc idk what happened. Also i will show ypu my repens (2 pictures of 2 different tanks)

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