Help needed please, many thanks

[Jamesblow]

Hi there,
I have been keeping fish ever since i was very young but this past 6 month been trying to grow a heavily planted tank. I would love to acheive a carpet but failed just recently and would much appreciate help to acheive this!

-i have a jewel rio 200litre with my newly upgraded Helilux Led lighting which produces 28w with 3500 lumen.
- JBL volcano mineral substrate, covered with JBL plant soil nice and deep.
-my tank is running at 26°c.
-Fluval U series filter, air pump and airstone.
-20% water changes per week.
-20ml easylife Profito fertiliser per week.
-5ml easylife easy carbo per day.

I dont know the identity of my plants but you can see them in pictures, they seem to grow abit but alot of the leaves die off and growth is very slow if any. Plants seem to be same size as a month or so ago when i purchases them.
I attempted carpeting with HC had no luck.

My questions for anyone if they can help are.
-What plants can i carpet with my current set up, if any?
-what am i doing wrong?

Many thanks,
James!

 

[zozo]

I dont know the identity of my plants but you can see them in pictures, they seem to grow abit but alot of the leaves die off and growth is very slow if any. Plants seem to be same size as a month or so ago when i purchases them.
I attempted carpeting with HC had no luck.

My questions for anyone if they can help are.
-What plants can i carpet with my current set up, if any?
-what am i doing wrong?

The one you are trying to carpet looks like a melting Pogestemon helferi. The rest i'm not realy familiar with. Anyway P. Helferi is a rather diffiicult plant even for a high tech tank it can be a challange to grow. I failed growing it in a High tech twice and don't know the reason why. Some say it prefers hard water and i have it soft. But it beats me, it always died on me and i never tried again.

Same goes for HC, it's a rather difficult plant in need of enough light and a lot CO² to survive easy carbo doesn't realy do it with this plant. So no luck with this in your given specs aint a surprise.

Next to this plants you buy are mainly emersed grow form from the nursery.. These need time to transition into submersed grow form, this can take some time, depending on the species and conditions you give them, it can take much longer than a month. In this time old emersed grow form will die off and new submersed grow form will grow.. You are most likely still smack in the middle of the dying part in this transition cycle.You likely need a bit more patience.

Carpeting a tank of that size without CO² you might have more succes with an easier plants than HC or P. helferi. MC would be a beter choise, tho it wouldn't be mine, but MC is simular to HC and more forgiving, but rather slow. If i were in your shoes i would go with a few pots Sagittaria subulata.

 

[Chubbs]

You seem to either have a really dirty tank or lots of diatoms, cant really see in the photos,?which suggest its a new tank setup?

HC is quite slow growing so anything like diatoms or alage blooms will really hit HC hard as it won’t be able to grow new leaves fast enough, when it’s current batch are covered. It won’t necessarily be wiped out, but it will look pretty poor and growth will be sporadic and weedy, rather than dense and lush.

Good flow seems to really help, as it ensure Co2 and ferts get circulated around for the HC to utilise.

 

[Jamesblow]

Hi zozo and chubba,

Thanks very much for your replies its much appreciated. This information is very helpfull for me. I will certianly give SS a go and keep you updated on my progress and like you say give my other plants more patience.

In regards to dirty tank the images havent come out very clear it actually quite clean. However, i do have some algae growth on the glass where the substrate meets it so im currently moving away sections of it so my ancistrius can get to it. Tips to keep alage growth to a minimal or none also appreciated.
The tank set up is about 6 months.

Thanks again,
James

 

[Edvet]

How long is your light on?
I don't think you are giving N and P ( these are not in profito) and you should be giving it to have your plants grow, look into EI ferts and dosing
What's that plant at your filter, the one with the green overlapping leaves?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I don't think you are giving N and P ( these are not in profito) and you should be giving it to have your plants grow

Plants definitely need <"some nutrients">.

What's that plant at your filter, the one with the green overlapping leaves?

I wondered as well, but a closer look makes me think it is an artificial plant (for a vivarium?) made to look like Weeping Fig (Ficus benjamina).

If you look at the chlorotic new leaves those are the classic indicators of a deficiency of iron, have a look at <"Tom's Ada 45P...">.

I think the plant is an emersed grown <"Limnophila aromatica">.

cheers Darrel

 

[Jamesblow]

Hi all,

What is a N & P?
Yes its just an artifical plant for a vivarium covering my air tubing for now until my real plants can take over.

Thanks

 

[Edvet]

Nitrogen and Phosphorus, buildingblocks of planttissue. These are in the fertilisers we add to the tank to have plants grow
read this: https://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=dosing-with-dry-salts

 

[alto]

I would suggest watching Juwel Aquarium's Instructional Video Series

Lido 120

Juwel offers some very nice kits but they do have some challenges as Juwel has opted for taller tanks with smaller footprint - Lido 200 has a 65cm height, for even "medium" PAR at substrate level, you're needing high intensity T5 (with excellent reflectors) or 1watt LEDs

I can't find technical details on the Juwel LED systems, the Heliolux mentions smd's but (looking at the array) emitters are likely 0.3 or 0.5 watt (most common smd's used in aquarium lighting)
- neither have depth penetration for 65cm tank height & HC carpet (or even MC - unless everything else is spot on)

Take note of the plants chosen in the Instruction Video
Cryptocoryne albida brown (most crypts would work, this was likely chosen for fine leaf & colour contrast)
H tenellum green - H quadricostatus would likely work as well, and both would likely provide nice contrast of greens & leaf structure
S subulata - has a higher CO2 demand than the H's above (it's also more variable in leaf height & has that tendency to suddenly switch between taller/shorter growth)
Microsorum pteropus - most varieties should work
Moss - most commonly available mosses do fine with low light & low CO2, V dubyana Christmas prefers medium lighting & is predominantly planted higher in the tank (in the video)


I'm not convinced that many of the plants currently in your tank are really suited to the available lighting & liquid CO2, this in addition to such overwhelming algae will make it very difficult to overcome their current state
There is also so much algae present in the tank that new plant additions face a significant challenge

What sort of algae crew do you have? Otos & snails should help considerably with that brown algae - I'd not add shrimp given the angels & would choose well grown Otos

Physical removal of as much algae as possible & frequent water changes (& more physical algae removal) will help
I'd also remove any non-aquatic plants
Rinse filter sponges to remove debris - in this filter I believe your sponges are both mechanical & biological media, so only clean 1/3 of the filter material weekly (so take 3-4 weeks to go through all the sponges), this is conservative enough so that Ammonia, Nitrites are unlikely
Also consider how much you're feeding - most aquarium fish are overfed

As you're already adding the liquid CO2 daily, I'd also breakdown the plant fertilizer into daily additions
Note that not all plants can easily utilize liquid CO2 as a carbon source, so you may need some trial & error to find plants that do best in your tank
I'd go with fairly lean dosing in this tank, there's not much plant mass & relatively minimal active growth, not much light, not much CO2 - why add massive nutrient excess especially as you already have an enriched substrate - & some pretty substantial fish



Go through Tropica's Easy plant list paying attention to Light demand & CO2 suggested

Hopefully Juwel will have demo tanks with their LED series for Interzoo 2018