My New Plants!

[fish 4 life]

Just got these plants and the light today thought i would share.


Side View


Front View


That is the light i am using. Do you think it will work? Is to to low powered? Does not say how many K's on the box..


The light about 2 inches from aquarium water.

The plants in there are an Anubias Nana and Amazon Sword. Fish: 1 bala shark, 1 red-tailed shark (20 gallon tank, grow out tank for bala)

I also bought seachem flourish when should i start to fertilize? Should i just dose once weekly or twice?

Thanks everyone!

 

[brich999]

that strip light isnt very powerful(24w?) which will put u just above 1WPG. moss and ferns and anubias will be all that will thrive in there. ferts probably wont be very helpful for a while, but wont hurt anything if used in moderation. also pull the swords rizome out of the sand or it will rot and die. your sword is a root feeder and would do much better with a root tab placed under it as it wont absorb a ton of nutrient from the water column. lastly try attaching anubias to the driftwood and it will do better.

 

[brich999]

just noticed... curved glass rimless tank? very nice! now go buy a dual T5 and proper substrate and fill that beautiful tank properly lol

 

[fish 4 life]

that strip light isnt very powerful(24w?) which will put u just above 1WPG. moss and ferns and anubias will be all that will thrive in there. ferts probably wont be very helpful for a while, but wont hurt anything if used in moderation. also pull the swords rizome out of the sand or it will rot and die. your sword is a root feeder and would do much better with a root tab placed under it as it wont absorb a ton of nutrient from the water column. lastly try attaching anubias to the driftwood and it will do better.

Whats a rizome? How do i attach the anubias to the drift wood? Should i return the light and order something more powerful?

 

[brich999]

the rhizome (spelling) is where the plants roots meet the plant. on anubias its the thick stem, on the sword its a thick ball between leaf stems and roots. if burried it can rot and will kill the plant. to attach anubias i usually wedge it in a crevace or hope in wood or you can use superglue or some thread, cotton will disolve and the roots will grab hold in about a month. if highly recomend a better light, id stay away from most basic leds but highly recomend some of the plant specific leds but they are expensive (usually over 150) T5 or t5HO are much better than what you have and i would look for bulbs around 6500k. ive only been into planted tanks a couple years but have been taking them more seriously as i find them beautiful and a challenge.

 

[brich999]

your plant selection is good tho both are pretty easy low light plants but would still aim for maybe 2-3 watts per gallon. welcome to a new addiction, in the last few years i went from 500g monster community to 150g piranha tank and my new one i want to be perfect is a 57g rimless planted tank im still gathering equipment for. heres an idea of how i just push the anubias into a crevace, but doesnt look great as i did a big trimming today (but i guess thats good its growing)

 

[fish 4 life]

View attachment 915157your plant selection is good tho both are pretty easy low light plants but would still aim for maybe 2-3 watts per gallon. welcome to a new addiction, in the last few years i went from 500g monster community to 150g piranha tank and my new one i want to be perfect is a 57g rimless planted tank im still gathering equipment for. heres an idea of how i just push the anubias into a crevace, but doesnt look great as i did a big trimming today (but i guess thats good its growing)

My amazon swords only have roots that are less than 1/2 inch long how do I keep the plant in place if just the roots and buried? I am going to return the light and buy a more powerful one. What is a reasonable prices light that is 18 inches long and high powered? Thanks so much for your help!!!!


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[Fat Homer]

^ try and find any T5 or T5-HO lighting... Hagen has them but dont think there cheap?



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[Aquaticfan]

First thing is don't go by watts per gallon. This is an old outdated form of measurement that won't help you. The current measurement to use is PAR. Its the measurement that effects the photosynthesis in a plant to produce growth.

The thing to remember with plants is

light=work. If you give a tank to much light it will starve them for nutrients and Co2. The plants will suffer by deficiency and algae will flourish.

Nutrients=food as stated above not enough nutrients creates deficiency.

Co2=energy. The more co2 the more energy. The more energy the more work and nutrients can be consumed and done.

There must be balance. Especially with light and co2. You can have a nonlimiting nutrients and still be ok.

For what you have low light would be best to start with. The k of a light bulb is less important then the par. To determine what light would be best for your needs you need to know the distance of the light to the substrate in inches. Is this a 20h? I've got a 20h planted low light that grows like crazy. Its actually using an incandescent hood with 2 screw in cfl bulbs setting right on the glass hood. Photoperiod is about 11 hours on that set up. If you want to do t5 you will need to be careful as you don't want to much light or you'll end up with a algae farm. If you get a t5ho a single or dual bulb setup with it hanging higher above the tank csn help. I'd recommend a single bulb. Plants do best in 5500k to 10000k. I run all mine around 6500k

What's your substrate? How deep is it?

The flourish is only a micro nutrient fertilizer. You also need nitrogen, potassium, phosphate. For your plants like swords and crypts I'd recommend a quality root tab. Those plants root feed more then column feed.

You may also want to look at a carbon supplement like excel. It can help keep algae at bay and give accelerated plant growth.

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[fish 4 life]

First thing is don't go by watts per gallon. This is an old outdated form of measurement that won't help you. The current measurement to use is PAR. Its the measurement that effects the photosynthesis in a plant to produce growth.

The thing to remember with plants is

light=work. If you give a tank to much light it will starve them for nutrients and Co2. The plants will suffer by deficiency and algae will flourish.

Nutrients=food as stated above not enough nutrients creates deficiency.

Co2=energy. The more co2 the more energy. The more energy the more work and nutrients can be consumed and done.

There must be balance. Especially with light and co2. You can have a nonlimiting nutrients and still be ok.

For what you have low light would be best to start with. The k of a light bulb is less important then the par. To determine what light would be best for your needs you need to know the distance of the light to the substrate in inches. Is this a 20h? I've got a 20h planted low light that grows like crazy. Its actually using an incandescent hood with 2 screw in cfl bulbs setting right on the glass hood. Photoperiod is about 11 hours on that set up. If you want to do t5 you will need to be careful as you don't want to much light or you'll end up with a algae farm. If you get a t5ho a single or dual bulb setup with it hanging higher above the tank csn help. I'd recommend a single bulb. Plants do best in 5500k to 10000k. I run all mine around 6500k

What's your substrate? How deep is it?

The flourish is only a micro nutrient fertilizer. You also need nitrogen, potassium, phosphate. For your plants like swords and crypts I'd recommend a quality root tab. Those plants root feed more then column feed.

You may also want to look at a carbon supplement like excel. It can help keep algae at bay and give accelerated plant growth.

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The light is 17.5 inches from the bottom of the tank. Substrate is fine sand depth ranging from .5 inches to 3 inches deep. (unbalanced because of the current) The light hood is single tube so what light do you think I should get? (exact name is best) I will return the light on there atm. How do I know when to dose with calcium/potassium/phosphate?


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