Plant questions for my setup...

[genEus]

OK so in my little 20L setup with 2.6 WPG, no CO2 and a dose of Flourish (Comprehensive) with every water change, I get very good growth from:

• Corkscrew Vallisneria (I started with one 3-leaf plant and have about 20 plants now with about one or two runners popping up daily)

• Hygrophila Difformis (Water Wisteria) -- it changed its shape completely from when I brought it from the store, but it's luscious and beautiful now.

• Hornwort - I don't know how to get rid of it fast enough, but I like it, so I keep it.

• Hair algae. Oh yeah, I get 3-inch long strands on the hunk of driftwood I have... It doesn't bother me there but it also forms in other places...

The things that are not doing well are

• Rotala Wallichii (and I didn't expect it to, either, but it was nice while it lasted). I think this plant needs like 7WPG or something crazy like that. The very tops of it that are very close to the light are red and pretty, while the rest of the plant looks dead.

• Potamageton ga.yi - it just looks like a mess - and it's neither alive nor dead. It's supposed to take a very long time to establish itself but then grow very eagerly, so I'm waiting.

So I have three questions:

1. I am thinking of starting to add Flourish Excel to kind of make up for lack of CO2 -- do you think that will do my tank good?

2. I will probably rip out the Rotala and, if Excel doesn't do anything for the Potamageton, I will rip it out too. I would like to put an Amazon Sword in their place, to stick it as the centerpiece of my tank. Will it grow for me, or are they much harder to grow than the Vals and Wisteria?

3. What else can I do and dose aside from CO2 to help my plant growth and stop the Hair Algae?

Thanks!

 

[Shaina]

What kind of substrate do you have? What are the stats on your lighting?

1. Excel wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't expect miracles either. Some people have luck with eliminating algae by purposely ODing the excel, but I don't know much about that method and wouldn't just start dumping the stuff in without checking that your current plants could tolerate that treatment (I think Vals can be sensitive to it).

2. Depends on your substrate and lighting index. I have an Amazon Sword under 2.2 wpg, planted in Eco-Complete in an 18" tall tank and it's doing very well. If you succeed with one in your 20L, it would likely end up growing emersed since it will be much bigger than your tank.

3. You alread have a few fast-growing species to help pull excess nutrients out of the water column, so with normal water changes you should be okay there. Depending on the age and type of your substrate, you could also use root tabs and/or fertilizers to make sure that all the nutrients your plants need are available...if they are able to grow at their max potential, they will be able to outcompete the algae.

Also, a true Siamese Algae Eater would take care of the hair algae in a jiffy, if you can find one.


My guess would be that your light level is bordering on requiring CO2. Since you aren't using it, the plants can't utilize all that light, and the algae takes advantage. Reducing your photoperiod might help a bit as well, but it's one of those things you need to play with. There are various "calculators" to determine ideal photoperiod based on lighting type, tank size, etc., but those just give a very rough idea...experimentation is required for any setup.

 

[genEus]

What kind of substrate do you have? What are the stats on your lighting?

1. Excel wouldn't hurt, but I wouldn't expect miracles either. Some people have luck with eliminating algae by purposely ODing the excel, but I don't know much about that method and wouldn't just start dumping the stuff in without checking that your current plants could tolerate that treatment (I think Vals can be sensitive to it).

2. Depends on your substrate and lighting index. I have an Amazon Sword under 2.2 wpg, planted in Eco-Complete in an 18" tall tank and it's doing very well. If you succeed with one in your 20L, it would likely end up growing emersed since it will be much bigger than your tank.

3. You alread have a few fast-growing species to help pull excess nutrients out of the water column, so with normal water changes you should be okay there. Depending on the age and type of your substrate, you could also use root tabs and/or fertilizers to make sure that all the nutrients your plants need are available...if they are able to grow at their max potential, they will be able to outcompete the algae.

Also, a true Siamese Algae Eater would take care of the hair algae in a jiffy, if you can find one.


My guess would be that your light level is bordering on requiring CO2. Since you aren't using it, the plants can't utilize all that light, and the algae takes advantage. Reducing your photoperiod might help a bit as well, but it's one of those things you need to play with. There are various "calculators" to determine ideal photoperiod based on lighting type, tank size, etc., but those just give a very rough idea...experimentation is required for any setup.

Thanks for such a detailed response!

For your questions - I use pool filter sand for my substrate and my lighting consists of 4 13watt Compact Fluorescent bulbs retrofitted into your ol' strip-fluorescent canopy painted white for reflectiveness. It's nothing super advanced but I don't expect miracles either.

I don't want emersed plants - and my water level is usually right at the brim, because I sit next to my tank all day at work and I can't have a waterfall next to me. You don't think there will be a Sword that would grow sideways more than upwards?

For algae - I used to run the lights for 12 hours, then reduced to 11.5. I think I did see a decrease in algae, but it may be my imagination. It doesn't really bother me. It doesn't accumulate on the glass much - a 1 minute glass scrubbing a week usually gets it all out. It mostly sits on the driftwood and none of the fast growing plants have any on it, except some on the dying Val. stems.

I got a bristlenose pl*co to munch on the algae but he died within 3 days from what looked to be bloat. (Since then I started putting * in pl*co and have been waiting for the LFS to get a fresh batch in, since I don't trust this one anymore.)

But, I think I may reduce the light by another 30 minutes to see what happens.

And, is Excel really bad for Vals? I love my Vals, I am hoping to get a jungle eventually, so I'd be very upset if I killed them...

What other fast growing plants can I get that would grow well with my conditions?

Thanks!

 

[Shaina]

By lighting stats I actually meant whether you were using 5500K, 6700K, or 10,000K bulbs (or any of the others). But nice job on the retrofit

The problem with using just pool filter sand is that some plants, like Amazon Swords, are heavy root feeders. Sand is inert and not especially useful to this sort of plant, though you could try potting the sword in something like flourite and just covering the pot in the sand. As for growing emersed - my sword skims the surface of the tank it's in, which as a 29 gal tall is substantially taller than a 20L. That said, there are many smaller swords out there...the Amazon is definitely one of the larger ones. If you don't want emersed growth, I would recommend checking out some of the smaller varieties (ozelot, ruben, etc.). Your lighting level should be okay for most of them.

If the algae level doesn't bother you and isn't harming your plants, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Good luck finding another bristlenose though - I just picked up 2 calico standard fin BNs last week and put them in my quarantine tank, which I purposefully let get full of algae...when I woke up the next morning all the algae was gone Granted the BNs are already 2", and it was only a 10 gal, but I was pretty impressed just the same, lol...now they are munching on cucumber so they don't starve.

The Excel and Vals comment was referring to the overdosing technique. I use the recommended amount of Excel and it has never seemed to bother my V. gigantea or spiralis whatsoever...those are my only Val species.

As for recommendations...I tend to prefer the heavy root-feeders, but I think just about any mid- or low-light plant would work in your situation, if you are willing to pot the heavy root feeders. Water lettuce, guppy grass, and Cabomba are three that are frequently regarded as good fast-growing plants, though the first two are usually grown as floating plants (not sure if you are interested in floating ones). The nice thing about floaters is that if you have slow-growing, low-light plants like Anubia, you can put the floating plants on the surface above them since it won't harm the shaded plant's growth and can even help prevent the algae buildup that tends to plague those slow growth leaves. Of course, depending on what type of Val you have, they may cover a large portion of the water surface as well.

 

[cassharper]

since vals have a weaker cell structure the gluteraldehyde (excel) can damage them if used in excess. I use Brightwell aquatics carbon supplement (actually a little rougher on the fragile plants) with several different vals and they do fine.

If you reduce your lighting to 8-9 hours a day, that would be optimal; this is probably where your algae is coming from. The extended photoperiod is prolonging photosynthesis and the plants are sucking up everything else. Extra light for growth, no nutrients for plants, hair algae.

The only time you will have a problem with pool filter sand and swords is at the beginning (whether it be the plants life or the tanks). If the plant is new, shove some root tabs underneath to supply extra nutrients while it gets rooted. Do this for about 6 mo until mulm starts getting turned into the substrate. You won't have any problems after this, and the sand will actually let the roots tunnel faster.