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What do you mean by "plenty of light?" What are your lighting specifics? What about fertilization (if any)?
Problem Unknown in a 75
I have a 75-gallon tank set up and doing well. The tank is planted and I use plant tabs and add flourish and excel at water changes that are done at 25 gallon twice a week. My question is that I have two amazon sword plants at each end of the tank, they are going well, growing fine and receive plenty of light; but it seems that their leaves although, green are flimsy and not very strong. Tank parameters are: pH 7.7, GH-7 or 125.3 and KH of 6 107.5, the tank is not crowded and has a temperature of 77. It also has a filter canister filter and a large sponge filter with a power head. The substrate for the tank is all fluorite at 2 to 2 1/2 inches deep. I was thinking of adding an Iron supplement?
bill in pa
bill in pa
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Hi Anthony,
Sorry, I thought I made myself clear. Flourish and Excel are applied at each PWC which is made twice a week at 25-gallons. About every six or eight weeks Plant Tabs are added. As for lighting, I am using a Quad T-5 setup, utilizing two 48” tubes at 10 K each and two 48” tubes and 6400k.
bill in pa
Sorry, I thought I made myself clear. Flourish and Excel are applied at each PWC which is made twice a week at 25-gallons. About every six or eight weeks Plant Tabs are added. As for lighting, I am using a Quad T-5 setup, utilizing two 48” tubes at 10 K each and two 48” tubes and 6400k.
bill in pa
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1,442 Posts
Sorry to sort of ask the same question but we need to know how MUCH of those chemicals you are adding. Also you should dose excel everyday, it is a form of carbon that is used by your plants to help them grow, think of it as an alternative to carbon dioxide. With the flourish I believe it recommends that you dose that at least 3 times a week as well, so you should probably need to increase your dosing of that. You may want to add some iron as well, I believe you can get one from Seachem since I see a theme there with your products. When you say "root tab" is that the brand name of the product you are using? It's hard to judge what nutrients are getting into your fertilizer by just "root tab", different root tablet fertilizers are made up of different things, a lot of people on this forum prefer to use Oscmocote Plus root tabs this is a 15-9-12 fertilizer, they are very affordable and offer great results, you can usually get 100 of them for about $10 USD.
As for the lights are you using T5 or T5HO? There is a major difference. If they are regular T5s you need more light, it the are T5HOs you should be okay growing amazon swords, they don't require too much like and you should have around medium to medium-low light with a T5HO lamp. Also you should include your light cycle, how many hour on and off.
You should also attempt to provide some water parameters when asking questions like this, you should try to include ph GH/Kh nitrates and nitrites at least. A lot of information can be ascertained from these parameters.
It is best to try and post this kind of information in your first post so when people read it they do not have to ask the OP additional questions regarding water parameters, lighting, and fertilizers use, this will not only help you get a faster response but more informative information as well, because people will not be guessing the issue they will have the facts and can make an informed decision. Also they say a picture speak a thousand words, so it is usually a good idea to add a picture or two, the better the quality the easier it will be for others to help you.
Hi Zapins,
Thanks for your return. Dosages are all given exactly as prescribed on the bottles. In addition all chemicals used are made by Seachem. This also includes the “plant tabs”, that they also manufacture. The lights are HO output and they are currently running ten hours per day by timer. This 10 hour period is set up in this manner. 3 hours in the mornings and 7 in the evenings. This schedule was arrived at by my schedule as well as the fact that I soon had a large amount of good old fashion algae growing, being lazy and not wanting to scrub it off every other day, I changed the photo period. Prior to the algae growth I was running the fixture at 12 on and 12 off.
And before I go any further along, thanks also for your remarks about the Excel as that was to be another question; one that I had left out of my original posting. The other parameters that you inquired about have already been posted initially in my first post.
In the profile area I believe I neglected to speak about myself? I am an old timer now retired, and have more time to give to our hobby. I have spawned and raised many fishes including the Discus back in the late sixty’s and early seventies so I am covering a span of about fifty plus years BUT………………………….
As you probably already know, anyone working with the Discus will tell you that bare tanks are always best; just as a matter of cleanliness if nothing else. Hence, my trouble or should I say, lack of knowledge with plants, I’ve never had any to work with so this planted tank is a first time effort. You also mentioned pictures? Either I missing it somewhere in joining the group or its rules or both but if you would be kind enough to tell me how to up load them, I would be most happy to comply with your request.
Lastly you mentioned a product called “Oscmocote Plus” root tabs? I have come across this name a couple of times in my readings. However, purchasing them seems to be a bit elusive to say the least. Can you possibly supply me with a link?
Regards,
bill in pa
Thanks for your return. Dosages are all given exactly as prescribed on the bottles. In addition all chemicals used are made by Seachem. This also includes the “plant tabs”, that they also manufacture. The lights are HO output and they are currently running ten hours per day by timer. This 10 hour period is set up in this manner. 3 hours in the mornings and 7 in the evenings. This schedule was arrived at by my schedule as well as the fact that I soon had a large amount of good old fashion algae growing, being lazy and not wanting to scrub it off every other day, I changed the photo period. Prior to the algae growth I was running the fixture at 12 on and 12 off.
And before I go any further along, thanks also for your remarks about the Excel as that was to be another question; one that I had left out of my original posting. The other parameters that you inquired about have already been posted initially in my first post.
In the profile area I believe I neglected to speak about myself? I am an old timer now retired, and have more time to give to our hobby. I have spawned and raised many fishes including the Discus back in the late sixty’s and early seventies so I am covering a span of about fifty plus years BUT………………………….
As you probably already know, anyone working with the Discus will tell you that bare tanks are always best; just as a matter of cleanliness if nothing else. Hence, my trouble or should I say, lack of knowledge with plants, I’ve never had any to work with so this planted tank is a first time effort. You also mentioned pictures? Either I missing it somewhere in joining the group or its rules or both but if you would be kind enough to tell me how to up load them, I would be most happy to comply with your request.
Lastly you mentioned a product called “Oscmocote Plus” root tabs? I have come across this name a couple of times in my readings. However, purchasing them seems to be a bit elusive to say the least. Can you possibly supply me with a link?
Regards,
bill in pa
Joined
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5,927 Posts
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=506393&highlight=
Osmocote tabs are towards the bottom of his link.
It's a learning process usually accompanied by poor plant growth that lets us know
that store bought liquid ferts are incomplete and likewise the tabs also.
Try reading this link to get a better over all picture.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=107303
Osmocote tabs are towards the bottom of his link.
It's a learning process usually accompanied by poor plant growth that lets us know
that store bought liquid ferts are incomplete and likewise the tabs also.
Try reading this link to get a better over all picture.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=107303
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