# So difficult!



## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

Why is this so hard! D; I feel like I'm following advice / rules and none of my planted tanks are coming together how I want. I wish there was an exact guide. Like use this brand light, with this plant, with this substrate, etc. * somewhat relieved* sorry about the rant. *defeated sigh*


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

What kind of stuff are you having issue with? Perhaps we can help some more.

Like, is it the plants that are having issues? Melting or dying? Or something like that?


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## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

Thank you. I'm at work so I will most my *entire * situation tonight. Lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Okay! No worries


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## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

Ok. Sorry about that. I crashed when I got home from my riding lesson last night. First tank: currently set up with a daylight florescent bulb with eco complete. It houses a betta, 1 mystery snail, and possibly a few shrimp. It houses two amazon swords (that look spotty and gross), one java fern thats making some baby plants (spotty and gross), some bocopa coraliniana (that always seems ok. growth speed is the only thing that changes with that stuff), a moss ball, and I just added some anarchis thats floating. so besides the plants looking terrible I have a serious algae problem (that my snail wont touch). 2nd tank: pretty much same story but plants look a little better. same tank with black sand and the zoo med sunlight bulb. same plants pretty much. Ive been meaning to change these tanks to soil, but Ive been redoing my room, and I want to be sure where everything is going before I start that project. temporarily is divided with two bettas and possibly shrimp. Both tanks get a dose of flourish when I do a water change. The bowl: just recently set up (last week) a 2.5 gallon bowl/tank with miracle grow organic topped with black sand. it has an ott lite 15w edison swirl in a desk lamp. The plants I have are anubis nana, amazon sword, bocopa coraliniana, and the anarchis (planted). We will see... AND The big 20gal long project tank: tank is not set up, but I plan for it to be a betta commmuity (one male), planted, and a homemade led strip light that I'm copying from another user. I already have everything needed except the led strip, a heater, and the plants. I don't want to start it until i get my other tank figured out for fear that I will have another mess on my hands. sooo any thoughts? I suspect lack of co2 with those stronger lights. could I use liquid co2 in the meantime?


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

The key to successful planted tanks with no algae (without CO2) is fast growing stem plants. You seem to have mostly slow growers and that may be contributing to the algae you have.

If you could post pictures of the tanks, it will be easier to tell you what I think would fix it.

How long do you run your lights daily? How often do you do water changes/how much ferts do you put in when you do them?

Excel could help with the algae issues for now but keep in mind that anacharis and java ferns aren't a big fan of excel at all. Cutting down the dosage of ferts may actually help more than putting excel in the tank long term. I'd dose half the amount you are doing now, once a week and see if the algae slows down and your plants look any happier.


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## amphirion (Jan 15, 2014)

ecocomplete is an inert substrate and also requires nutrient supplements for plants to gain good growth. amazon swords are nutrient hogs, especially requiring a high iron uptake. unless you have Fe in spades, your swords will continue to look more or less like what you have. 

the term algae is vague-- as you might have inferred, there are multiple species of green, red, and brown algae that plague aquarium tanks, and each manifests when there is a nutrient imbalance that shifts conditions to their favor. unless we know what algae you have, we cant pinpoint which factors are deficient or excessive to give the proper treatment. algae also seems to be a problem with tanks that are establishing themselves--ie it's natural and there's nothing you can do except wait it out. this is in part due to plants that have not maximized their growth cycle and acquired enough biomass to outcompete algae yet.

you mention that you utilize flourish every water change, but how often do you change the water? more often than not, due to the plants that I grow, i need to dose with flourish 2-3 times between water changes. 

CO2 and stronger lights can be a possible solution, but keep in mind there are certain species of algae that thrive in this environment as well. also keep in mind, adding these factors will ramp up your plants' metabolic processes, which will increase their nutrient uptake (--you will need to fertilize more often).


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## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

peachii said:


> The key to successful planted tanks with no algae (without CO2) is fast growing stem plants. You seem to have mostly slow growers and that may be contributing to the algae you have.
> 
> If you could post pictures of the tanks, it will be easier to tell you what I think would fix it.
> 
> ...


thanks for the advice! I don't think the ferts I'm adding are the issue tho. I only add the tiniest bit with a large water change. just a few drops. I do a small water change (25% or less) once a week and a large (50% or more) maybe every three or so weeks. im not on a perfectly set schedule, but its around that. I did more when I didn't have plants. I run my lights about 10 hours a day and try to keep them level with sunrise/down. and why could my plants (especially swords) be so brown? I think changing my plants up is a good idea. Whats a good plant I could get at petsmart or petco?


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## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

amphirion said:


> ecocomplete is an inert substrate and also requires nutrient supplements for plants to gain good growth. amazon swords are nutrient hogs, especially requiring a high iron uptake. unless you have Fe in spades, your swords will continue to look more or less like what you have.
> 
> the term algae is vague-- as you might have inferred, there are multiple species of green, red, and brown algae that plague aquarium tanks, and each manifests when there is a nutrient imbalance that shifts conditions to their favor. unless we know what algae you have, we cant pinpoint which factors are deficient or excessive to give the proper treatment. algae also seems to be a problem with tanks that are establishing themselves--ie it's natural and there's nothing you can do except wait it out. this is in part due to plants that have not maximized their growth cycle and acquired enough biomass to outcompete algae yet.
> 
> ...


thanks for the response. That explains the swords at least. I really dont know much about algae. Its a brown green color and tends to first show in spots and then starts to overtake the walls of my aquarium. It covers the plants as well. Flourish is only with a large water change and the tiniest amount. I might as well not be using it. Ive had the sand tank with plants only since December and the eco complete since last October, although its in a constant state of change. Also, I prefer to keep everything low tech.


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## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

I'm thinking I should just scrub out the tanks, add soil, and just leave them alone. No ferts. Just water changes and let them do their thing. I'm always messing with them. Because I didn't use to have algae. *ugh


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## BlueLacee (Dec 8, 2013)

do you normally have success with plants? I have a brown thumb and cannot get anything to grow


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## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

These tanks are my first real experience. (Aquatic at least) i tend to delve in pretty deep once I get into something. Hense the four bettas and soon to been four tanks. *facepalm


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## alyssaanne (Aug 10, 2013)

I bit the bullet and converted my tanks tonight. It was stressful to say the least. Also bought some *trying to remember* hydrophila something stricta? Added that. When the tanks clear out I will get pics. I also scrubbed and bleached the tanks. And i changed a bulb. So they are both ultra sun zoo med. So hopefully I got them clean.


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

You're off to a great start. Be patient and while your dirt settles in and gets established make sure you keep up with the water changes so you don't have large nutrient spikes. Also about once a week - stick your finger or a stick into the substrate in about 2 inch patterns for the first few months while your dirt settles in, don't stir just poke it.

A cheap alternative (which you may not need but just in case you want to feed you swords) I use Jobes Plant sticks .99 at Wal-mart and break it into 5 or 6 pieces and put it underneath the heavy root feeders such as swords. I didn't use any ferts in any of my dirt tanks for over a year, the week after I started, I also started having algae issues - so am back to no liquid ferts in my 10 gallons and very sparringly in my 40B. I do use the plant sticks (or other root tabs, small pieces) underneath my crypts and swords about once every 4 months.

You may see an algae explosion - especially brown diatoms for a couple months, don't worry this is normal, consider your tanks "new" again. It will pass on it's own and just suck out any excess you see that needs to get out.

Petsmart has TopFin plants in little packages - I highly recommend the crypts - slow grower but beautiful Undulata red, wendtii will get to big for 10 gallon but fine for bigger tanks, narrow leaf ludwiga, cyperus helferi, dwarf hair grass (for 10 gallons with no Co2, slow grower but grows well in the "high" light of a 10 gallon), Lobelia Cardanalis ( LOVE this one, has cute small leaves and grows fast), Althernia (red plant, scarlet temple and easy to grow) I can't remember the names of the other easy to grow packages they have.

Pretty much you want to look for stem plants such as Ludwiga, bacopa, rotala, anacharis in the water tanks they keep of plants. Petco often has random loose bunches for cheap (3.50-4.00) a bunch, and if you check often they get a nice variety in. Doesn't hurt to try them and if they die - oh well, try again. Alot (most) of what they get in is going to be grown out of water (emersed) and will need to convert to a submerged state. Often times the "dying, melting" you see is actually not your fault, it's the plant adjusting to being grown in water and would do the same in anyone's tank. 

My favorite best growers are Green hygro, Sunset hygro, Limnophilia species, wisteria, dwarf sag, brazillian pennywort, Ludwiga species and rotala species. Favorite slow growers are anubias, java ferns and crypts.

If you have issues finding plants close to you in a couple weeks (probably at least 2) I will have more plant packages 25.00 including shipping sent in a small flat rate box and comes packed with as many stem plants and floaters as I can fit into the small flat rate box, usually 16-20 species of fast growers with a crypt baby or two thrown in.


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