I have a 46 bow front planted tank with proper lighting and I use all flourish products but my plants still dont look as good as they could. If anybody has any advice for that'd be great.
Planted Tank Dilemma
- Thread starter duffy09
- Start date
Be specific
Light?
photo period ?
substrate ?
plants ?
flouish products used ?
dosages of those ?
PICS ?
Light?
photo period ?
substrate ?
plants ?
flouish products used ?
dosages of those ?
PICS ?
yeah, we need more specific info
on top of what hybridtheoryd16 asked tell us what's your :
ph
KH
how "old" is the tank ?
on top of what hybridtheoryd16 asked tell us what's your :
ph
KH
how "old" is the tank ?
I have florite substrate with a little bit of sand over top of it. I use flourish excel which is one capful per 10 gal right after water change and then 2 capful every other day and I use the CO2 stuff but I do t remember exact dosage on that. It's a coralife plant light. I have assorted crypt's and swords. I do 2X a week water changes and run an AQ 110. ( my boyfriend Honda 237 an I have 11 tanks and haven't had any problems with any of our other tanks). I bought the tank from a regular at the fish store I work at and he ran it for 3 yrs with no problems and I've had it going for about 3 months now and everything seemed to be doing good for about the first 2 weeks and now I've lost 4 fish and the plants are dying. I let the tank run for about a week before adding anything and I took a filter pad from one of my big tanks and rubbed it on the glass and put it in the filter and let it run for that week. Sorry for the lack of detail in my thread I'm new to the forum and I just didn't think about the detail needed for anybody to be able to actuay give me some advice. I'm almost wondering if I'm doing to many water changes?
And also the ph is about 8 and I'm not positive on the KH. We have decently soft water and filter it through a whole house carbon filter.
are you sure your dosing Excel correctly?
I have a small bottle of Excel at work for my Nano tank, and on that one I think the instructions are one capful for every 50 gallons, 1x day or every other day . . . also, it's "one capful per 10G after major water changes (>40%)" . . . are you changing that much water each time?
it sounds like you may be over-dosing Excel, which is not recommended . . . I believe it limits the dissolved oxygen levels in the tank, makes it difficult for your fish to breathe
if you are using it in conjunction with CO2 - - that wasn't clear to me? - - then you may be compounding the problem
with crypts and amazons, you don't need CO2 supplementation, and while I think Excel works great, I'm just concerned you might be using too much
I have a small bottle of Excel at work for my Nano tank, and on that one I think the instructions are one capful for every 50 gallons, 1x day or every other day . . . also, it's "one capful per 10G after major water changes (>40%)" . . . are you changing that much water each time?
it sounds like you may be over-dosing Excel, which is not recommended . . . I believe it limits the dissolved oxygen levels in the tank, makes it difficult for your fish to breathe
if you are using it in conjunction with CO2 - - that wasn't clear to me? - - then you may be compounding the problem
with crypts and amazons, you don't need CO2 supplementation, and while I think Excel works great, I'm just concerned you might be using too much
I do about 40% once a week then the 2nd water change is about 20%. I only do the 4 capfuls of flourish after 40% water change then I was doing 2 capfuls which I re-read the directions and I should only be using one capful (Im not sure why I thought it was 2) but I talked to my boss who raised discus and had roughly 30 planted tanks and he said that the flourish shouldnt be killing everything so quickly because Ive only been using the flourish for a couple weeks. He also said that it could be since it is a small tank so I think I might just quit using the flourish for about a week and see what happens and I havent started using the CO2 stuff I misspoke (gotta love typing on cell phones) but i was going to but my boss said that the crypts and swords dont require enought CO2 to need a CO2 supplement.
There are several types of plants that Excel will melt. I beleive crypts are one of these plants. Try doing a general internet search on (excel melting crypts) and see what you find.
But I know that amazon swords are not ill effected by excel because I have them and use excel daily with good results.
If it were me I would stop using all the plant additives that you are using. I allways follow the rule.
NO co2 = No ferts
Your weekly water change will supply all the nutrients that your plants need. And your fish and bio filter will supply the nitrate.
But I know that amazon swords are not ill effected by excel because I have them and use excel daily with good results.
If it were me I would stop using all the plant additives that you are using. I allways follow the rule.
NO co2 = No ferts
Your weekly water change will supply all the nutrients that your plants need. And your fish and bio filter will supply the nitrate.
I tend to agree with that, up to a point . . . I only dose two two products on my planted tanks: Excel - - because I don't use CO2 - - and Potassium, both of which I have found to be very beneficial
from my own experience, I have crypts in all my tanks, and I have never noticed a problem with crypt-melt from Excel; if anything, I've observed the opposite, but that's my experience only . . .
from my own experience, I have crypts in all my tanks, and I have never noticed a problem with crypt-melt from Excel; if anything, I've observed the opposite, but that's my experience only . . .
Sab_Fan;3893243; said:
I agree. My Crypts are just fine with Excel...
hybridtheoryd16;3890044; said:
You must have missed the point that they have a whole-house carbon filter. That will let very little nutrients thru - ferts are absolutely essential, especially with good tank hygiene. Besides, swords in most cases will greatly benefit from iron fertilization.
My suggestion is that you actually monitor iron levels (test kit). I make sure to maintain mine at 0.25 ppm.
Definitely no CO2 is needed.
Happy plantkeeping,
HarleyK