Best temp for Amazon Sword?

[FreshyFresh]

That's a beautiful tank manu8! I still have the first (and only) amazon sword I ever bought. It's about 4yrs old. It started as a pethetic Petco/Petsmart plastic tube plant purchase. I made the mistake of planting it in a 10g with floramax substrate. It took forever to take off, but once it did, I had to rehome it. I'll never forget when I pulled it from my 10g, the root system completely took over the footprint of that 10g! I fluffed the whole bottom pulling it out.

It started out as this. The center/right plant:



and grew to this in about a year:



I run my tanks at 72-76F, but they can run hotter in the summer. I tried API root tabs once and used Metricide for CO2, seachem comprehensive and trace, but I'm sporadic with those.

 

[FreshyFresh]

That's a beautiful tank manu8! I still have the first (and only) amazon sword I ever bought. It's about 4yrs old. It started as a pethetic Petco/Petsmart plastic tube plant purchase. I made the mistake of planting it in a 10g with floramax substrate. It took forever to take off, but once it did, I had to rehome it. I'll never forget when I pulled it from my 10g, the root system completely took over the footprint of that 10g! I fluffed the whole bottom pulling it out.

It started out as this. The center/right plant:



and grew to this in about a year:



I run my tanks at 72-76F, but they can run hotter in the summer. I tried API root tabs once and used Metricide for CO2, seachem comprehensive and trace, but I'm sporadic with those.

 

[Alex562]

That's a beautiful tank manu8! I still have the first (and only) amazon sword I ever bought. It's about 4yrs old. It started as a pethetic Petco/Petsmart plastic tube plant purchase. I made the mistake of planting it in a 10g with floramax substrate. It took forever to take off, but once it did, I had to rehome it. I'll never forget when I pulled it from my 10g, the root system completely took over the footprint of that 10g! I fluffed the whole bottom pulling it out.

It started out as this. The center/right plant:



and grew to this in about a year:



I run my tanks at 72-76F, but they can run hotter in the summer. I tried API root tabs once and used Metricide for CO2, seachem comprehensive and trace, but I'm sporadic with those.

So one amazon sword grew and covered a whole 10 gallon? That is awesome and looks great! I hope that is what happens with my 40 gallon long!!! Maybe I should adjust my temp to 76..

 

[FreshyFresh]

So one amazon sword grew and covered a whole 10 gallon? That is awesome and looks great! I hope that is what happens with my 40 gallon long!!! Maybe I should adjust my temp to 76..

It will given the right lighting and reasonable care. On the 10g pics above, I had one of those basic incandescent aquarium lights (that use those hotdog shaped bulbs), that I fit with (2) 6500K 10w CFLs. Turned out to be an excllent low light setup.

 

[Alex562]

Wow! Very nice! I have a 10 gallon like that I use as a hospital tank. Maybe I should try that...

 

[Manu8__too]

That's a beautiful tank manu8! I still have the first (and only) amazon sword I ever bought. It's about 4yrs old. It started as a pethetic Petco/Petsmart plastic tube plant purchase. I made the mistake of planting it in a 10g with floramax substrate. It took forever to take off, but once it did, I had to rehome it. I'll never forget when I pulled it from my 10g, the root system completely took over the footprint of that 10g! I fluffed the whole bottom pulling it out.

It started out as this. The center/right plant:



and grew to this in about a year:



I run my tanks at 72-76F, but they can run hotter in the summer. I tried API root tabs once and used Metricide for CO2, seachem comprehensive and trace, but I'm sporadic with those.

Lol, yes. Amazon Swords have the propensity to do this. This is why I buy either Sword Compactas or Rosette Swords. They both stay significantly smaller than their larger relatives. I really like your tank!

 

[Manu8__too]

Instead of sand like you have could I use gravel?

I actually use PFS (Pool filter sand). It's $8 for a 50lb bag at Home Depot (seasonal item). Gravel can work, but if it's too large it will leach out nutrients from your root tabs. Whatever you use, just make sure it's at least 3-4" deep. This provides plenty of room for root systems to grow.

 

[Alex562]

How do you vacuum the gravel with all the plants? Or do you not vacuum the gravel when doing water change?

 

[Manu8__too]

How do you vacuum the gravel with all the plants? Or do you not vacuum the gravel when doing water change?

I no longer gravel vac. I just siphon the water directly out of the tank without messing with the substrate. Most of the dissolved organics are removed via water changes and/or used by the plant roots for nutrients.

 

[skjl47]

How do you vacuum the gravel with all the plants? Or do you not vacuum the gravel when doing water change?

Hello; A couple of my tanks are heavily planted. I stick the siphon end into the substrate in areas where the plants are not thick. In the other areas where the plant cover is thick ( maybe 80%), I stick the siphon gently down onto the smaller plants. Around the larger plants I stick the siphon tube close to the base of the plant but do not push it into the substrate. I find that the detritus that comes up in noteable amounts. This does not, so far, seem to harm the plants.