I give up...

[DN328]

on live plants, that is. So I've got a ~260gallon with a total of 5 tank mates (1 Lei Aro, 2 blood parrot, 1 gold nugget and 1 blue phantom) and thought it would be nice to have a few "low light" Anubias and Java ferns attached to large pieces of Malaysian driftwood center pieces. It looked great for the first year, but they have been in a decline and look horrible, IMO.

I've tried Seachem Flourish, increasing and decreasing lighting, but they continue to turn black and wilted and attract hair algae. Although I thought it looked nice, I think it's more work than I care to put more effort in to explore other causes/variables and change my WC routines, etc. I also spend a lot time during WC getting all the algae off. It's time for my monthly WC, and I've made the decision to remove all plants. Keeping my Mexican river rock substrate and driftwood pieces.

Any of you gone through this "evolution" with your tanks?

 

[Hendre]

My plants are all doing fine planted in flourite or rooted in wood. Flourish doesnt fertilise but i double dose sometimes for all the micronutrients it provides

 

[DN328]

Yeah, I think one of my problems is that I only want the plants attached to driftwood, I don't really want any on the river rock substrate. And so fertilizing becomes a challenge, IMO.

 

[Hendre]

Yeah, I think one of my problems is that I only want the plants attached to driftwood, I don't really want any on the river rock substrate. And so fertilizing becomes a challenge, IMO.

My java moss does well rooted on wood and pvc pipe in my 70 and did well in my 5 until algae started clumping ( it is still growing though)

 

[xxUnRaTeDxxRkOxx]

Fertilizers are commonly sold in 2 forms, liquid premixed solutions and dry powder form... Flourish is a premixed liquid solution of fertilizer, Flourish offers many different solutions like... potassium, iron, etc... and also sells a macro/micro mix solution known as Flourish Comprehensive.

I've had many planted tanks in the past where I only dosed with flourish comprehensive, and the tanks looked great; But fertilizers are just one of the components needed for a planted tank, personally I think the most important thing needed for a planted tank is the lighting, and here's why...

Live plants have 2 chlorophyll stages, they are chlorophyll A & chlorophyll B and each stage peaks at different wavelengths as seen in this graph.

Now the best thing to do when dealing with live plants is to try and target the chlorophyll peaks in both stages, this can be achieved a few different ways... Here's how I target the peaks... I use a T5HO Quad 4x54w light fixture, I'll explain why in a minute but here's my choice of bulbs from front to back.

6500k
420nm actinic
wavepoint ultra growth wave
12,000k bright white 460nm actinic

Now the wavelengths for each bulb

The reason I go with this bulb selection is because they allow me to target the chlorophyll peaks of both stages, but I do not run all 4 bulbs at once because it'll be too much lighting, and I'll burn through bulbs fast, so I go with the following lighting schedule...

8am the 2 front bulb turns on
10am the 2 rear bulbs turn on
2pm 2 front bulbs shut off
4pm 2 rear bulbs shut off

During the entire 8 hour lighting schedule both chlorophyll stages peaks are targeted... and it gives optimum growth in the plants, leaving them vibrant and healthy.

Now for a low light planted tank I always suggest going with a single T5HO light strip and hanging it 4" above the top of the tank, and always using 6500k bulbs because of the wavelengths it puts out if you're just setting up a planted tank, but if you already have a tank setup and running, then I would add a T5HO strip light with a WP Ultra Growth Wave bulb to your existing lighting.

As for DN328, what kind of lighting do have for the tank? Use a single T5HO strip light with a WavePoint Ultra Growth Wave bulb combined with the lighting you already have on the tank. The WP Ultra Growth Wave bulb is known as an accelerator bulb for plant growth as well as corals in a saltwater tank. It's the only bulb of it's kind for the aquarium hobby that is specifically designed to boost plant and reef growth, and it's definitely a bulb I stand by with my over 20+ years in this hobby!!!

 

[Cu455]

Let the algae grow and go for a natural looking tank. Algae is part of nature and is benefical to the tank. Doising with h202 is a cheap and easy way of controlling the algae.

To answer your question my tank is always evolving.

 

[Fat Homer]

The sad truth is most planted tanks go through a trial and error stage before it normally settles and works...

Just in my experience, i think every planted tank went through a rough patch while i was fine tuning everything from Co2 input to ferts to water change and lighting...

 

[DN328]

Thanks for all the responses folks. Well did my WC today and removed the plants. I understand algae can look good, as in the natural algae growing on my large driftwood. But hair algae on dying plants just looks terrible...LOL. I like the clean look without it and the way my tank looks now. I like the look with live plants don't get me wrong. But when it going downhill, it takes away from my the aesthetic I'm trying to maintain.

@xx...Oxx: I'm running AquaticLife T5HO 72" length with 12 bulbs. Various Giesmann plant and freshwater bulbs. Thanks for the technical explanation. I have experience quite as bit with the lights with many combinations for my low light demand. My too is also bright so I cut down significantly as well.

 

[freak78]

Planted tanks can be a challenge. What works for this person won't necessarily Work for you. I find it's just trial and error. Took me awhile to get a handle on every thing. I just stick to low light easy stuff.

 

[Fat Homer]

DN328 are you running all 12 bulbs??? Coz that sounds like an extremely high amount of light in my mind...

I personally run 4 T5-HO on my main (50G) planted tank and worked out a 4hr on / 3hr off / 4hr on schedule worked, but still required a fair amount of Co2 to prevent algae from taking hold...

I also took any plant trimmings and kept replanting them to help compete against the algae in the tank which finally seems to be balanced for my tank...

Anyway, good luck with your tank, and hopefully you dont give up