Help with Elodea Densa

[BarryH]

New to the forum and already asking for advice, I had a look around for help but there's so much information on UKAPS I basically didn't know where to start.

I "look after" my granddaughters Juwel Rio tank that has two fancy goldfish, the problem I have is we never have any success with plants in the tank so I'm looking for help and advice if possible. I have never fed the plants or used fertilizer in the tank and I guess that is the main reason plants die on me.

The tank is standard in every way with the lighting and filters it came with. It has been running for roughly 18 months and the fish seem to be happy in the tank, it's the plants that aren't. I'd like to have bunches of Elodea Densa that grows and I do not need to replace every few weeks. As I said before any help or advice or even pointing me to where I can read about fertilizers would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mick.Dk]

Your fancy goldfish will unfortunately "fancy" eating most standard aquarium-plants - Elodea densa included.
My niece have a tank going with two fancy goldfish for several years. She is really not a good caretaker for the aquarium, but it works acceptable, and fish are thriving and growing.
I have given her some Crinum calamistratum and some Anubias allready attached to wood and rock.........these have survived and grown steadily in her tank along with the fancy goldfish for several years now, on very sporadic waterchanges and minimal light and fertilisation.
These plants are allmost certain to success..........

 

[BarryH]

Thanks for the reply Mick, really appreciated.

The two goldfish don't seem to pay too much attention to the Elodea but would it help the plants at all if I started using a fertilizer in the tank? Problem is there are so many fertilizers available and so many different brands, liquid fertilizers, dry fertilizers It's hard to know where to even start.

 

[three-fingers]

I have a heavily planted fancy goldfish tank full of Egeria densa (commonly labelled Elodea), substrate is a mix but mainly sand (gravel isn't great). Are you planting them in bunches? If so, they will go pale then rot at the base. Most of mine is just floating, but individual stems easily root themselves in the sand. Egeria does need decent light to grow, what lighting does the tank have? The twin T5 tubes that come with Juwel the tanks should be more than enough anyway. My goldfish are well fed so there's enough nitrogen and phosphorous from fish waste, I have soft water so I have to add extra potassium in the form of potassium sulphate to avoid deficiency. I do frequently add chelated trace elements, there are lots of fertiliser products that can add these, the best value and most comprehensive would be a dry powdered mix that you add to water and keep in a bottle. You can dose weekly, 3x a week or daily depending on how lazy you are and how fast you want the plants to grow.

As with any planted tank, decent flow can be important. If you just have the standard filtration, this will not be nearly enough for a goldfish tank and you should add another filter, preferably a big external. If you already have upgraded or dual filters, then an extra powerhead/wavemaker would be great. I have an external filter, air-powered sponge filter, powered surface skimmer, extra internal filter and I could still do with more (plan on moving the fish this year). An additional external filter is far more important than fertilising the plants. Also large weekly water changes are a must for goldfish, and greatly benefits plants too, aim for a minimum of 50% weekly.

So basically, if you have hard water, I would recommend adding any fertiliser that provides cheated trace elements. This is a good start: http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/fertilisers/dry-chemicals/dry-salts/chelated-trace-187.html

If you don't want to mix powders (it's easy and doesn't really matter if you get it wrong), I like Easy Life ProFito or Seachem Flourish, but with any pre-mixed fertiliser you are mainly paying for water weight.

If you have soft water like me, you may also need to add some of this: http://www.aquariumplantfood.co.uk/...s/dry-salts/potassium-sulphate-k2so4-459.html

As Mick says though, goldfish will always destroy plants, trick is to keep both the fish and plants well fed enough so the plants grow faster than they are eaten!

Also, goldfish wont eat Anubias and wont touch Java fern if there's tasty Egeria around, so you could try different plants.

 

[BarryH]

Thanks for all the help and all the advice, it is really appreciated. A few months ago while restocking with Seachem Prime for the tank, on the same display I spotted a bottle of Flourish Excel and after reading a bit more I now realise this is a carbon source and not a fertilizer. As a matter of course I do 50% water changes weekly.

I'll have a look at the links to the dry powders you mention and also see if the Seachem Flourish is available locally.

Thanks again for all the help.