Plant gurus, please help.

New at the planted side of the aquarium, and real plant is and looks better then plastic ones.

My Tanks is +/- 200L each connected with a waterbridge.
Each tank has 2x red lights 30w and a blue light 25w
Poolfiltersand as substrate
and I use Seachem Flourish Excel
Would this work, enough lights, correct lights suitable substrate, ferts no CO2 yet Any advice would help.

Im waiting for a present in the mail containing some Java fern Vallis and Java moss.

current plants in tank - just some moss on drift wood that a I bought from LPS and some Sn@il$

And I dont know what the other plant is, but it took a bit of hammering when the tank did not have lights.

Will post pics asap.

 

Hi Rickus

Plants need a couple of things:
1. Carbon
2. Fertilizer
3. Suitable light
4. Good filtration and good water flow inside the tank

Excel provides your carbon, and is also a reasonable algaecide. But it becomes expensive in the long run. It is still better than DIY CO2 on tanks that size. Don't even bother with DIY CO2 unless you have a small tank. The plants you ordered are not high consumers of CO2 and you will likely not need to add any carbon to your water above what is in there already from your tap. I suggest use the Excel as per instructions during the start-up phase (first 3 months) to help combat possible algae issues. After that, unless you plan to get more demanding plants, don't bother with Excel. Of course, if you have the money, do it. But I am trying to save you some money on something you don't need for those plants.

Fertilizer is important, but once again, for the plants you have, you probably don't need to add anything if you keep a nice high fish load, as the plants will get what they need from the fish waste.

Light is the problem here. What red light? Is it pink or red? Pink lights are those typical plant grow bulbs and they are fairly expensive. Toss the blue light. It does nothing for your plants and there have been some reports that the wavelengths in those blue bulbs contribute to algae growth. For the plants you have you don't need a lot of light.

Your tank can be considered a low tech tank. That is a tank with inert substrate, little or no fertilizer added, low level of light and no CO2 injection. That suits the plants you are currently keeping. For a low tech tank, if your lights are T5 bulbs, stick with 1 watt per gallon of normal daylight frequency spectrum. Look for anything between 5000 and 6500 kelvin. That information is printed on the bulb. If you are using T8 bulbs, go with 1.5 watts per gallon.

A heavily planted tank requires filtration at least 10% of the aquarium volume. That means if you have 400L of tank water, you need a 40L filter. Half of this should be mechanical filtration, and the other half biological filtration. This recommendation is straight from the best plant growers out there (ADA, Tropica, etc.)

Hope this helps. Any more questions; post them here.

 

Don't get fooled by buying plants that will not survive under the water - there is a lot of them for sale even at good name Pet Shops.

Some of the plants will die whatever you do - just replace them by ones that grow well.

Lennard

 

Thanx Laure. My mistake, I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive.

The lights I use is:
Boyu - Blue T8 25w
Boyu - Red T8 30w
Bio Lux - Red T8 30w
In each tank

Filters I use :
Left tank
powerhead 1200l/h with spraybar, media - filter wool, sponge, ceramic rings.
HOB +/- 600l/h with sponge on intake, media - ceramic rings
Right tank
HOB +/- 600l/h with sponge on intake, media - ceramic rings
Stingray 15 300l/h, media ceramic rings ( first filter I bought, when I really know 0 off fish keeping )

PS: tanks are connected with waterbridge. a little pump moves water from right to left tank to move water through the waterbridge, 300l/h

 

@Rickus, I have no advice re plants, but I just wanted to say how very cool your setup is. well done man!

 

Thank You Anine.

 

Rickus

Please explain more to me about the "red" light. Is it red, as in those coloured lights you hang on a veranda?

 

It is a T8 tube that I bought from the lps. on the packaging ang tube is the following - Bio Lux Red 30w.
yes it is a pinkish colour. not a red light like a shoprite sign, LOL

 

OK that is good. But it makes your tank look pinkish instead of natural. You should combine these special plant grow bulbs with a natural daylight bulb. Each tank holds about 50 gallons, so with T8 bulbs you should look to have no more than 75 watts. I would go with a 30w pink bulb and a 30w daylight bulb, which you can buy cheaply from any lighting supplier. Look for Sylvania, Osram or Philips brands. Get rid of the blue light. You say you have capacity for 3 lights on each tank. For now go with a daylight and a pink bulb, and later if you feel you have the tank under control and need more light, then add another daylight bulb.

 

The blue bulb makes a nice blue colour, I like it. do I really have to toss it away?

Can't I just add a normal tube? or will there be to much light? I have actually 4, osram 30w.

Thanx for advice and patience.

 

I have given you advice to use a pink plant grow bulb and a normal daylight bulb in combination. Only two bulbs for now. Later you can add a third if you wish. Sure, the blue bulb looks cool, but it creates problems. However, this is your tank and you decide what you want to do.

 

Thanx, I will use your advice. It was just a question. Will let you know when I changed the tubes and when I recieved the plants.

 

some pics

Front view of setup


Right tank, with 2 plants


Lights in the tank