Extremely frustrated

[flst06]

I've lurked here for awhile trying to educate myself on having a planted aquarium. I have a 45 gal freshwater, that I had regular gravel in with no substrate. Never had any luck with plants other than moss but I wanted more.

I read and read here, then came up with a plan. 2 weeks ago I moved the fish, took all the old gravel out. Put laterite in and covered it with black sand. Bought some plants, added plant fertilizer, and waited. It looked great to start, now 2 weeks later the plants are looking rough and everything in there is getting a nice coating of green algae. :wall:

I added 2 more lights to the existing 2 lights that were already in the hood, so I'm sure I have enough light, but I don't know which way to head now. I've treated the water twice now with the fertilizer, it's called Leaf Zone. I'm thinking maybe I should cut back on it.

I've added 2 bad pictures of it, the first with a flash lets you see the condition of the plants, the second without a flash lets you see the amount of algae everywhere.

Any suggestions are welcome, it's either that or I'm going to start a rock farm in there.

[oblongshrimp]

the plants on the right side, with the white on the outside of the leaves, is not an aquatic species. It will slowly die under water. The sword plants that you have in the back were likely grown emersed. There will be some dieoff as the leaves convert to their submerged growth.

How much light do you have on the tank? If you have to much light without CO2 that could be your problem. Does that algae come back really quickly and is it easy to wipe off with a finger?

[Squawkbert]

1) Plants in right foreground are not aquatic
2) pls provide details about lights...
3) Unless you have a fair amount of light, in the right spectrum, you need not worry about ferts etc...
4) see #2

[efors]

Hi!
If there is Laterite in the substrate, there is no need of ferts; at least for the first 3 months of plant growth. The use of additional fertilizers on these first months, may lead to algae bloom that can kill growing plants.

[jmhart]

Hi!
If there is Laterite in the substrate, there is no need of ferts; at least for the first 3 months of plant growth. The use of additional fertilizers on these first months, may lead to algae bloom that can kill growing plants.



Laterite is a substrate additive, not a complete nutritional supplement. If dosing is needed at all, it is independent of whether or not laterite is in the substrate. If dosing is required, laterite will be a good aid, but more will be required.

However, if it is a low light tank, laterite will be a good supplement, and no dosing will be needed, even after 3 months.

[Darkness9876]

Yeah, the plant on the far right side is a type of dracena (sp?). I have 5 different species, they are very slow growing and by no means are they an aquatic plant. You have some nice pieces though.

I suggest you start up a dry planted tank as well, aka a terrarium. Mine dracena like that does great in both of mine.

If your looking for suggestions I'd look for a ground cover for right up by that rock front and center, soften it up a bit so its not just "boom, I'm a rock!!"

[flst06]

It looks like they are 2 100 watt bulbs and 2 75 watt bulbs.

It's amazing that they were selling those plants in the store as aquarium plants, I guess you never know.

And yes I was planning on putting ground cover plants in, I just wanted to make sure that everything was going well first.

[crimsonmoon]

thats 7.78 wpg....im not really a plant person, but im pretty sure thats waaaaaaay too much

[NorCalFish]

350 watts and no algae bloom? WOW! i'm no plant expert either but i agree, it is A LOT of light, more than sufficient.

[The Zigman]

depends on the spectrum of the light
planted tanks should be in the area of 6000k

a little algae at first seems to be normal.
You should have your lights on a timer, for now, lights on no more than say 10 hours per day.

you can test for certian nutrients in your water, the easiest in NitrAte, it should be somewhere about 10 ppm...

[Mindcrime121]

BOOM! I'm a rock!! ROFL!! (I think I'll make that my sig! :P )

Yah, I'd guess that way too much light in addition to overfertilizing is the source of your algae. I can't believe a LFS sold you those plants for your tank. Did they have them submerged in the store??

[jbradt]

It looks like they are 2 100 watt bulbs and 2 75 watt bulbs.

It's amazing that they were selling those plants in the store as aquarium plants, I guess you never know.

And yes I was planning on putting ground cover plants in, I just wanted to make sure that everything was going well first.


If this is right, you have 350 watts over a 45 gallon tank. With this much light, I think you need pressurized CO2 and a regular fert schedule. I would suggest cutting back on the lighting until things get under control.

Someone more experienced will chime in soon though. :grinyes:

[MrGoodbytes]

Those don't sound like standard fluorescent wattages. Sounds to me like you have incandescent. If that's the case, that's the problem right there. Incadescents are incredibly inefficient as only about 20% of the power is radiated as visible light. You want something like 40-80 W of fluorescent light over you aquarium to see good growth. Higher than that and you'll need CO2. Stop adding ferts until you upgrade the lighting, otherwise you're just feeding algae. When/if you do start dosing again, a nitrate test kit could come in handy (phosphate is good to have too).