Help a first time planter please....

[DLM]

I've posted a few pics of my first attempt at a planted tank here:
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/fish...tml#post180496

Specs:
100-110 gallon
75 degrees
PH 7-7.2
Power Compact lighting: (2) 65W 10K-Plant Grow, and (2) 65W 6.7K bulbs. 10K lights on all day, 6.7 lights on for a few hours a day...or all day.
Substrate: mix of stuff, used flourite at base of each plant.

I probably screwed up and waited too long to buy some fertilizers...but I finally have some. Over the past 4-5 days, I've added "Flourish", one does of "FloraPride" a few days later, and some "Leaf Zone" yesterday. I bought a iron test kit and my current levels are: 0mg/L for Free Iron, and between 0.1-0.25mg/L of Chelated Iron. I know I should be between 0.25 and 0.5...so I'll add a little more Flourish later today.

Now...the problem. As you can see, my nice bright green swords are starting to brown (along with the brown algae crap that's taking over the tank):



This other plant (can't remember the name) is not looking good these days either...:


It does have some new leaves popping up, but other branches are dying and breaking off:


13 days ago the plant looked like this..



The moneywort is doing o.k...but even a few of it's leaves are starting to show brown:


The only plant doing great are the two long plants in the back:




Can anyone suggest some things I can try to get these plants healthy again? Should adding more flourish and getting my iron levels up be enough? Should I run all 4 bulbs all day long for a while (I'm already having to scrub the glass every other day due to the brown algae that has popped up so rapidly). Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[trashion]

The ludwigia and moneywort (the bunch plants) shouldn't be planted in a clump like that. Plant each stem separately so they have room to grow. That might help. Do you have any kind of co2 supplementation? Are you dosing macronutrients (potassium, phosphorus, nitrate)?

[DLM]

Originally Posted by trashion

The ludwigia and moneywort (the bunch plants) shouldn't be planted in a clump like that. Plant each stem separately so they have room to grow.

Doh! I'll break those clumps up tonight.

Do you have any kind of co2 supplementation? Are you dosing macronutrients (potassium, phosphorus, nitrate)?

I don't have any co2, I really want to see if I can get things going good without having to add any. The stuff I've added to the tank is the leaf zone, flourish, and florapride. I'll look into the other things you just mentioned.

[trashion]

Here's a very useful guide to the nutrient dosing I do:
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/EI.htm

[JustOneMore20]

You probably need some nitrates and potassium for starters. In a tank that size, you should dose dry for those, seeing as how liquid wouldn't last long at all.

You can order dry ferts from here: http://www.greenleafaquariums.com/. I would get atleast a pound each of KNO3 (for nitrates) and K2SO4 (for potassium).

You have a good amount of light, but PCs don't penetrate to the bottom, that well, meaning that shorter plants may not be getting enough light in such a tall tank.

That stem plant in your pics (Ludwigia repens) is really a high light plant to look its best (IME). It will grow in lower lighting than high, but it doesn't always look that great.

The Moneywort looks good, so I know you have good lighting.


Try the ferts. I would dose the Flourish only and not the others (save for later the Leafzone and the other). Dose the dry ferts a couple days a week and the Flourish a couple days on different days (like Mon, Thurs dry and Tues, Fri Flourish, or something like that). Hopefully that will make the plants start looking better.

You aren't going to get a ton of iron from Flourish (something I've discovered lately). With your lighting and without co2, I wouldn't worry about iron levels.

[DLM]

Thanks all. I'm going to order the KNO3 and K2SO4 from that link above today.


Should I bother ordering any root tablets? Something like this: http://www.greenleafaquariums.com/aq...o-tablets.html for the swords (and other plants)? Is there a better product out there if I need tablets?

[trashion]

I never used root tabs, I don't think they're really necessary as long as you have a good substrate.

[JustOneMore20]

I agree with Julie. If you have the Flourite where the plants are planted, that should be enough. The Flourish will add in alot of the nutrients in those tabs as well, so you should be fine.

[DLM]

O.k. I'm finally getting around to adding potassium nitrate and potassium sulfate to the tank. Now I have a few more questions. I'm trying to determine how much of this stuff I should be adding. I went to use the dosage calculator on the link above, and then found another program I downloaded.......the problem is they seem to be very different. For example:




theplantedtank's calculator shows my solution would add 0.14ppm per mL. Chuck's calculator shows 0.09ppm per mL. That's a pretty big difference.... Am I missing something??? I don't want to add too much of this stuff at one time, which calculator is best?

The two calculators are a little closer for the potassium sulfate. plantedtanks says 0.09ppm per mL, and Chuck's says 0.1 ppm.

Why would the potassium nitrate be so far off between the two?

[DLM]

BTW, here's an update on the current conditions of the plants.

The moneywort is doing o.k...but not great. Not really growing, and a lot of the lower leaves have fallen off or browned up:


The ludwigia is still struggling, but not doing well. Every time new leaves appear, the algae seems to cover them...and they die. Still seems to be trying to live though:



Hornwort is still going nuts, every few days I cut it and replant the new piece. Should be nice and thick soon:


The swords are doing much better. The leaves still get covered in the algae...but the snails are doing a decent job of keeping them clean. New growth and a few big healthy leaves though. I did put some root tabs under them several days ago...I had already ordered them before you guys said not to bother with them: