any tips for avoiding new plant death?

[JPT]

I wanted to write everyone to ask if they had any tips about how to handle the first days of a newly planted tank setup. I have tried setting up planted tanks in the past, and for the first couple of days, the plants would look allright, and then subsequently everything would derail :confused: i.e. plant leaves would start getting holes, amazon leaves turning yellow w/ green veins, stem plants would rot on the lower end of stalk but therewould some new growth at the top etc... and then... da dum... the algae would set in..

My parameters are:
10 gal tank w/ 32 W PC 10K bulb (used retrofit kit on a Eclipse 1 hood)
100% Flourite Red substrate
DIY Yeast CO2 setup using Duetto submersible filter as a reactor
pH = 6.6-6.8
KH = 3-4
1/3 of capful of Kent's Freshwater Plant fertilizer (for trace elements)
Plants are: (s. american plant assortment from aquatic plant depot)
giant val
amazon
uruguayensis
moneywort
anacharis
red temple
echinodorus tenellus

I have read quite a bit about the hobby, so I think I have things straight, but I am still concerned that things will derail again. Are there any suggestions i.e. CO2 levels, fertilization schedules? I am concerned that might root feeders may not get enough trace elements from the substrate i.e. I have seen maganese deficiency in a old sword plant I had before. Are there any root tabs folks would suggest? I have some Tetra Hilena Crypto and some Jobe Plant Sticks for Ferns that I could put in.. Also the color temp on my bulb is less then perfect, does that make a significant impact?

anyways, sorry for the long post.. any input is greatly appreciated..
:)

[djlen]

You don't mention how "newly" set up the tank is. Has the tank cycled? What are your water values? (ammonia,nitrites?)
You also don't mention Macros(ferts). Are you adding N,P, and K? These are more important than the color temp of your bulbs.
You certainly don't have to worry about being under-planted. Sounds like a good amount of plants. If you get them growing well your chances of an algae bloom are significantly decreased.
Len

[anonapersona]

I don't quite understand, in the past when everything did do poorly.... did you have the CO2 and lights that you have now?

[OrionGirl]

One thing I've found is to spend a long time acclimating the plants to your conditions. Just like fish, plants can be shocked from a sudden change in water/fert/light conditions. Also, I have come to expect a bit of die off of leaves on rooted plants, so I just trim those leaves away, and the plant usually recovers fine. For stem plants, if the bunch was pinched/bound, that area should be trimmed away prior to planting. It's too often damaged beyond repair by the rubber band/lead wrap, and by the LFS 'planting' technique.

[JPT]

To answer your question Len, I have not added any N, P, or K to the tank yet and I have not, unfortunately, taken any measurements on nitrite or ammonium levels. The tank has been sitting empty, with the filter on, for about 3-4 weeks before any of the plants were added. I have always been unclear on the role of these parameters in the planted tank, but references that I have read have not made much mention of them, so I ended up disregarding these values. :(

To answer your question anonaperson, I did have problems with new plants even w/ the current setup of CO2, light, and substrate. The one difference w/ this setup vs. the earlier one was the earlier setup was only about 3 plants (2 stems and 1 amazon). I hoping that the heavy planting might curb some of the algal growth I experienced in the earlier setup, but I am still not too confident.

[Gomer]

You must take care of the macros. You could have gobs of light and CO2, but plants REQUIRE macros...or they will melt or be really stunted. Also, algae usually blooms in when the nutrients are not balanced. This is first hand info.

I am running high light/CO2 and I have to ADD nitrate and phosphate (two things you would normally want to get rid of in non-planted tanks)!!!!

I currently dose Plantex CSM (with Boron added), KNO3, K2SO4, and KH2PO4 (my water is hard, so I don't need to dose for Mg and Ca).

If you are doing plants, you should measure phosphate and nitrate as well.

if you really want to do plants well, I suggest you visit www.aquabotanic.com (or equivalent diehard sites). The wetthumbs forum is awesome as well as the library.

[RENEGADE]

any tips for avoiding new plant death?
water them everyday:D

[JPT]

thanks gomer, I will check into that :)

[djlen]

JPT - Here's some more reading material for you that might shed some light on the subject. Start with the third one down and then the middle one, and finally the one on top. It should be a bit clearer that way:
http://www.sfbaaps.com/reference/barr_02_01.shtml
http://www.animalnetwork.com/fish2/aqfm/1998/may/aquatic/default.asp
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_newtank.htm#fauna
Hope it helps.
Len

[125gJoe]

Originally posted by JPT
To........ I hoping that the heavy planting might curb some of the algal growth .. I know that heavy planting does indeed prevent bad algae growth... I found out this fact by stumbling on this website some time ago! It does work..! :)