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Basic plant care/advice needed for a beginner!

EA James

EA James

Member
Joined
22 Jul 2019
Messages
572
Location
Staines-upon-Thames
Hi alI, I need some guidance and a bit of help/advice please.
I’ve got a 330 litre evolution Aqua 1200 tank, sand substrate, small internal filter and an FX4 filter.
I’ve got various echindorus x5, microsorum x2, various anubias x4, Bolbotis heudelotii x1 and aponogeton fenestralis x4.
I’ve been advised by the company I purchased these plants from the all I need to do is put a peat ball under the rooted plants once every couple of months and that’s it.
Lights to be on for 7-8 hours a day and no other care is needed. No fertilisers or anything.
Is this correct?
Any tips of help will be greatly appreciated as this is my first ‘proper’ tank and it want it to flourish
Thanks all, James
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For now i would reduce the lights to 6 hours, and do large waterchanges. A lot of your plants have been grown emersed by the grower, these need to adapt to being submerged ( they are "drowning" a.t.m.)
Also we kinda want to give them some food, easiest is though the watercolumn (*https://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=dosing-with-dry-salts). Fertilizers WON'T cause algae, bad growing plants WILL.
After dimming and waterchanging take your time and read the forum, there is a lot of info here, just needs some time to read all.
 
I would absolutely dose the water column with fertz. And maybe add some root tabs. To be frank the advice you've been given is unsurprising but not particularly helpful. I would also give some thought to adding more plants. A high plant biomass will infer a great deal of biological stability, which will help prevent algae. And also take Ed's advice and reduce the photoperiod.
 
Thanks for your replies, ok I’ll set the timer down to 6 hours.
The tank has 2 20w 7000k leds, I only run 1 as I think 2 is to bright, is that ok?
Also I have TNC complete fertiliser that I’ve been dosing once a week after the water change, should I be dosing daily?
Water changes are done weekly at 50%.
I’m currently using the peat balls supplied but obviously I will get some root tabs if recommended?
And last but not least.... more plants? Dam it ok if you say so haha!
Tank is only about 6 weeks old by the way, again, thank you so much for your help guys
 
Hi James and welcome to the forum 😀

Nice start BTW :thumbup:

EA James said:
The tank has 2 20w 7000k leds, I only run 1 as I think 2 is to bright, is that ok?
Click to expand...

one light should be fine to start with as plants adapt as 'Ed' surgests, if you have two timers you could go for one on at a time 3hrs each as back of tank does appear a little dark - how many tubes are on in the pic?

EA James said:
Also I have TNC complete fertiliser that I’ve been dosing once a week after the water change, should I be dosing daily?
Water changes are done weekly at 50%.
Click to expand...

weekly should be fine and daily a little OTT for low tech, twice a week should be plenty and on the safe side, Big WC do no harm esp in the early weeks

EA James said:
I will get some root tabs if recommended?
Click to expand...

Roots tabs will supply a more complete ferts to the roots of the plants

EA James said:
more plants?
Click to expand...

more plants the better as the plants will out compete the algae.

Keep us updated 😉
 
Evening, nice to meet you!
Thank you for your comments, I’m really pleased with the outcome so it’s nice to hear that others like it too. I just really want it to succeed and not fail as I’ve heard some horror stories of planted tanks.
I think it’s just finding the right balance which I’m obviously yet to find!

Good idea with the timers, and yes the pic only has one light on. I was thinking about replacing the 2 with a singular central fluval aquasky, do you have any idea if that would be sufficient?

I’ll change the dose to twice weekly and see how it goes and also continue with 50% weekly WC

Is there a certain root tab that you could recommend then? There is so many available

Thanks again mate
 
Hi.james and welcome the tropica root tabs are quiet good for a boost of ferts to the roots like your tank too keep up with the WC as said and agreed with more plant mass even if you dont want to keep them a fast growing stem or 2 helps to balance things out quicker
Cheers
Jay
 
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Hi everyone, obviously these plants aren’t looking to good and seem to be getting worse.
If I follow the above advice will they be alright?
I’m quite concerned that they’re all gonna die off
 
Hi
I would follow the advise given.:thumbup:
This seems a tad brutal🙁
Remove discoloured/dying leaves...this will promote new growth of new submerged leaves.:thumbup:
The plants will be using a lot of stored energy to keep them alive, so best removing them.
The dying leaves will only add to poor water quality!
Purchase some root tablets asap.
Hygrophila difformis/Ceratopteris thalictroides are very fast growing plants that can be planted in the substrate or utilised as floating plants!😉
hoggie
 
Hi all,
EA James said:
obviously these plants aren’t looking to good and seem to be getting worse
Click to expand...
hogan53 said:
Remove discoloured/dying leaves..
Click to expand...
I'd agree, a lot of the unhealthy looking older leaves look like they were the ones the plant had during production. These plants are <"produced emersed"> and often they struggle with the acclimatization progress in the aquarium.

I hope you don't mind me mentioning it, but your Baryancistrus looks a bit thin. I've never kept one, but I know from <"PlanetCatfish"> that they aren't the easiest of fish to feed.

cheers Darrel
 
hogan53 said:
Hi
I would follow the advise given.:thumbup:
This seems a tad brutal🙁
Remove discoloured/dying leaves...this will promote new growth of new submerged leaves.:thumbup:
The plants will be using a lot of stored energy to keep them alive, so best removing them.
The dying leaves will only add to poor water quality!
Purchase some root tablets asap.
Hygrophila difformis/Ceratopteris thalictroides are very fast growing plants that can be planted in the substrate or utilised as floating plants!😉
hoggie
Click to expand...
I definitely will follow the advice I was just hoping that it will work as I was perhaps thinking the plants are beyond it but now I feel a lot more hopeful so thank you
It’s water change day tomorrow so I’ll get pruning.
Any recommendations for root tabs? Someone suggested tropica, they have a few good reviews
Thanks again
 
dw1305 said:
Hi all, I'd agree, a lot of the unhealthy looking older leaves look like they were the ones the plant had during production. These plants are <"produced emersed"> and often they struggle with the acclimatization progress in the aquarium.
Ok thank you

I hope you don't mind me mentioning it, but your Baryancistrus looks a bit thin. I've never kept one, but I know from <"PlanetCatfish"> that they aren't the easiest of fish to feed.

cheers Darrel
Click to expand...
Yeah I’ve only had him a week, I did pick the smallest from the shop as I like to watch them grow. I’ve been putting in an algae wafer every couple of days but I think I’m going to look into something else, I’ll look into it further
Thank you
 
Hi all,
EA James said:
I think I’m going to look into something else, I’ll look into it further
Click to expand...
I think some high/calorie high protein food would be the best bet. I might try sweet potato and prawn for starters, and then leave some food in for it every night.

There are gel foods like the "Repashy" ones as well, but I haven't tried them.



cheers Darrel
 
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