[Holy_Peanuts]

Hi everyone,

Im a newb here so be gentle!

I've had a lightly planted tank for a little over 2 years now. Kind of a community tank/lightly planted aquarium. Here's a little pic to give you guys and gals an idea; (Anyone know what kind of plant if the one on the far right next to the Angelfish?)

(I have since removed about 2/3 of the Amazon Frogbit since I believed it was potentially blocking out the light from plants beneath.)

So I come to you all here with questions and concerns and seeking advice on how to make this tank thrive.

I recently bought a plant from a LFS and they told me it was called "Red Ivy", here's a picture;

Does anyone know what plant that is? And also why it is just dying since being added to my aquarium 2 weeks ago? The stems rot from the base as you can see in this picture; (these two stems were planted but floated up. Notice the greenish color - that is the rotting part, and it seems to be working itself up the stem)

I also bought some Cabomba that has not been doing well at all either and keep rotting at the base then eventually floating up as well.

My only means of testing my water were 5 in 1 API test strips, which I am upgrading to the Nutrafin Master Test Kit which should be here in a week along with an extensive order of ferts such as Flourish Excel, Flourish Potassium and Flourish Trace. I'm hoping Ill be able to get much more growth with those..

Water parameters were good, 0 amonia, 40 nitrates, 0 nitrites, 7.5ish PH (hard to read those silly little strips!). Filter is Aquaclear 50, no water heater, although I do own one, it doesnt seem to be necessary in my apt. And the livestock in the tank are 1 Angelfish, 5 Red Fin Columbians, 3 Harlequin Rasboras, 6 Platies (they keep spawning more) and 6 golden algea eaters which just recently totally annihilated an algae infestation. All in a 35 gallon aquarium.

What could I do to get this tank thriving?! Haha

Thank you all in advance for the help!:thumbsup:

Forgot to add; I dose 5ml of Nutrafin plant Grow every week during water change and no CO2 (which I'm looking to buy API CO2 booster in the coming week to compensate)

 

[jmf3460]

Far right plant looks like anubias barteri, you are doing good not to bury the rhizome.
Red plant looks like persicaria kawagoeanum, it needs higher light and co2.
lastly your cambomba should be doing fine, it doesn't need much. but in general I think your plants would greatly benefit by co2, whether liquid or injected.

 

[Raymond S.]

Exactly which lights including which brand/name on bulbs. As much info on them as possible...
And in inches what size is that tank...

 

[Holy_Peanuts]

Far right plant looks like anubias barteri, you are doing good not to bury the rhizome.
Red plant looks like persicaria kawagoeanum, it needs higher light and co2.
lastly your cambomba should be doing fine, it doesn't need much. but in general I think your plants would greatly benefit by co2, whether liquid or injected.

Thanks so much for the feedback! I find it quite frustrating trying to buy plants from my local fish store given that they rarely know the names of the plants they sell! Makes it really hard to do research.

This aquarium was actually given to me by my ex. She had filled it up with water, the white/blue substrate and 3 angel fish and installed it while I was in NY on vacation. So every change I've made or plant I've planted has been done with fish inside and full of water. Needless to say it's been actually very difficult to try and make a pretty aquascape.

My goal is to setup a 20G or another 35G planted tank and start fromt he ground up, properly. So I'm going to be doing alot of reading on this site and hopefully become a regular and contributing member of this community .

Again thanks for you answer! I cant wait to get my shipment of ferts and such

Exactly which lights including which brand/name on bulbs. As much info on them as possible...
And in inches what size is that tank...

Im at work so this is from memory, but it should be quite accurate..

The lights are 3 x 39W 6500K Marine Glow or Marine Land, and 1 x 39w actinic. I had bought them off a member on eBay who specializes in hobby lighting.

Tank size is 36 inches long, 18 inches in height and 12 or 14 deep. I'll update this once I get home

 

[Tihsho]

I could be wrong, but the actinic lighting does not have any benefit to plants. In general it's used to bring out color/accent a tank in FW. In SW there are a few other aspects.

How old are the bulbs? What style bulb does it take (power compact, T5, T8, etc etc)? Bulbs have a burn life and they need to be replaced periodically since their spectrum changes the longer they 'burn'. Old bulbs reduce plant growth as well as promote algae as well.

 

[Holy_Peanuts]

I could be wrong, but the actinic lighting does not have any benefit to plants. In general it's used to bring out color/accent a tank in FW. In SW there are a few other aspects.

How old are the bulbs? What style bulb does it take (power compact, T5, T8, etc etc)? Bulbs have a burn life and they need to be replaced periodically since their spectrum changes the longer they 'burn'. Old bulbs reduce plant growth as well as promote algae as well.

I kind of thought the same thing about the actinic bulb; aesthetic purposes mostly.. See this is why I registered here, I didnt know that the bulb 'efficiency' per se would fade over time, although it makes complete sense to me now that you mention it . 2 of the bulbs still in there are roughly 1.5 years old and are alot more yellowish than they used to be. You can also physically see grey on the bulbs themselves. The other 2 bulbs are the new actinic and new 6500K. They are all T5 and get mighty hot if I may say (which is maybe why I stopped needing the water heater..)

I bought 4 bulbs very recently off eBay and have the other two 6500Ks sitting in my closet. Tonight I will swap them for the old ones. I had originally figured I would leave them in til they literally burned out , I'm a penny pincher like that haha!

So, 3 proper spectrum bulbs ar 39W divided by 35 would be 3.34 watts per gallon, is that sufficient? Or does the frogbit need to go?

 

[Raymond S.]

I'm far from well versed on plants but I think you have a yard plant...the purple one.
Petco especially but also Petsmart is doing some lawn plants mixed in/w aquarium
plants so you might want to look a plant from one of them, up on a data base before
you get it. "Mondo Grass" is one of the ones they do this/w. It is used for garden
trimming.
You (most likely) have light in the high end of the med range or low end of the high range. Start/w 6 hrs per day. Lots more plants AND CO2 can use that much light at
more hrs but once you place ferts in there, without the Frog Bit, you likely will have
an algae outbreak without real CO2 and may need injected over the DIY kind.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=107303
The algae comment is if you are using the light for 8-10 hrs a day without CO2.
E-bay has some suction cups with a piece sticking up out theback of it that is used
for routing air line in tanks. You could use two of them to place a string across the
tank about 1/2" under the top of the water. If you use them from the back glass to
an end glass, it won't be as noticible. Then you can have as much shade as you want
to in there.
E-bay adds are not allowed but you already know how to get there and this is the item number like I was talking about. 160957720341

 

[Holy_Peanuts]

I'm far from well versed on plants but I think you have a yard plant...the purple one.
Petco especially but also Petsmart is doing some lawn plants mixed in/w aquarium
plants so you might want to look a plant from one of them, up on a data base before
you get it. "Mondo Grass" is one of the ones they do this/w. It is used for garden
trimming.
You (most likely) have light in the high end of the med range or low end of the high range. Start/w 6 hrs per day. Lots more plants AND CO2 can use that much light at
more hrs but once you place ferts in there, without the Frog Bit, you likely will have
an algae outbreak without real CO2 and may need injected over the DIY kind.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=107303
The algae comment is if you are using the light for 8-10 hrs a day without CO2.
E-bay has some suction cups with a piece sticking up out theback of it that is used
for routing air line in tanks. You could use two of them to place a string across the
tank about 1/2" under the top of the water. If you use them from the back glass to
an end glass, it won't be as noticible. Then you can have as much shade as you want
to in there.
E-bay adds are not allowed but you already know how to get there and this is the item number like I was talking about. 160957720341

Thanks for the item #, I'll most likely buy it if I go the direction of DIY CO2. I read that the API CO2 booster liquid is just as good, what are your thoughts on one vs the other?

As for the plant, I wouldnt be suprised if they sold me a non-aquatic plant. They did in fact sell me purple waffle 2 years ago that just slowly dissolved in the aquarium until nothing was left.. They kept insisting it was an aquatic plant, but on the internet the consensus was that it clearly wasnt and that its a long running ruse that pet shops run; sell you a plant that is doomed to die, get you to buy lights and ferts and give you hope. Plant ultimately dies and you buy more. Vicious cycle for the consumer but the seller make profits on all sales.. :frown:

One thing that I noticed about that reddish purple plant in my tank now is that it has numerous buds on the stems. They were there before I bought it so thye arent new, but thats what I was looking for when trying to compare it to plant databases online. Unfortunately didnt find a match..

I've circled them in red to show you what I'm referring to;

 

[phattnug]

hi frined im havin same broplem with the cambodi :icon_evil with all my afther plants i removeve the dead lifes and stuff and trim roots shrtort soe it can focus on plants surviving its self and possiblye change of heart and happy grows for you friened :icon_smil

ps i only have 1 tiny combodi left i need to make a way to fix to friends

 

[Tihsho]

I kind of thought the same thing about the actinic bulb; aesthetic purposes mostly.. See this is why I registered here, I didnt know that the bulb 'efficiency' per se would fade over time, although it makes complete sense to me now that you mention it . 2 of the bulbs still in there are roughly 1.5 years old and are alot more yellowish than they used to be. You can also physically see grey on the bulbs themselves. The other 2 bulbs are the new actinic and new 6500K. They are all T5 and get mighty hot if I may say (which is maybe why I stopped needing the water heater..)

I bought 4 bulbs very recently off eBay and have the other two 6500Ks sitting in my closet. Tonight I will swap them for the old ones. I had originally figured I would leave them in til they literally burned out , I'm a penny pincher like that haha!

It's generally easier to swap all the bulbs at once. It makes it easier to keep track of when the bulbs initial burn state is and X months after. I forgot how long T5's last, but someone will most likely chime in on that. I'd consider getting 2 more new bulbs and swapping all 4 at once. I'd kick the actinic personally and go another 6.5k or go dual 6.5K's with dual 10K's. Some love hate 10K's, but they worked for my old 40 long and I loved how bright the tank was and the plants never complained.

So, 3 proper spectrum bulbs ar 39W divided by 35 would be 3.34 watts per gallon, is that sufficient? Or does the frogbit need to go?

Watts per gallon (wpg) seems to be controversial these days. It's how I started and what I know, but it seems people these days are going by PAR. If PAR is more efficient, then I'd go that route. I wouldn't ditch the frogbit just yet, but I would control where it sits in the tank with some sort of 'corral' for them.

 

[jmhk]

Cabomba often doesn't like to be moved around - it melts easily as you have seen. It appears that most of your plants except for the anubias are not "easy" plants or are mystery plants with unknown requirements. Most red plants are notoriously not something to start out with... You might want to considered doing a WTB or check out the RAOKs for a easy to grow starter pack and get comfortable with plants that don't need pressurized CO2 before moving on to the med/hard plants.

There is a sticky that recommends some of the easier to grow plants that don't need C02 nor high light: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=56042