Ugh, I'm about ready to throw in the towel

melissa3

melissa3

AC Members
Mar 28, 2007
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Western MA
I started planting my 10gal 1 month ago. Since then, the only things that have grown my in tank are snails and a little algae. I need some help getting this going. :help:


Here is my 10gal set-up:

Substrate - Schultz Aquatic Soil (Bottom), Flourite (Top)
Lighting - 2 Screw in fluorescents, 20watt total. (I'm switching back to strip fluorescents since I can't find any screw-in fluorescents in 6,500k)
Ferts - Kent Freshwater and Kent Freshwater Pro (But my Dwarf Gourmis seem to be affected by these ferts and my plants don't care for it either)
CO2 - None yet. I wanted pressurized but I can't seem to get a chance to get the tank filled so I'm thinking DIY with yeast.

Ok, after going over my step-up just now I've realized some things I've been doing wrong and I know what I can fix. But I still have some questions:

1. With DIY yeast CO2, how do you know how much CO2 is going into your tank and is there a way to regulate it?

2. Will making a smaller batch of yeast produce less CO2 pressure? Or will the batch produce the same amount of CO2 and just die out sooner?

3. Does adding Flourish Excel mean you don't have to add extra CO2, or do you still need CO2 in conjunction with Excel?

4. Has anyone here had success with the Kent Plant supplement package?

5. Has anyone here had their fish react negatively to Kent Plants ferts?

Thanks
 
From what you are saying it sounds like you have 2 watts of light per gallon of water. With that amount of light, co2 injection is really not necessary but on the other hand will not hurt either. If you have only been set up for a month that is not a long time for a planted tank to become established and start growing. Maybe a little more patience is in order but I do understand your frustration since I am not the most patient person either. What plants are you trying to grow? The presence of algae usually indicates that something is out of balance. What is your water change schedule like and are you cycled? What kind of regular tank maintenance are you doing? How often are you feeding? Algae can grow in nutrient rich water. Water changes and cutting down on feeding will help with the algae. Also you may want to try adding Florish Excel and Florish added at the same time every day religiously and this will also help with algae problems. I use these products in my planted tanks and the algae is not a real big issue if I am on top of the situation. Try that and give it some time as well as regular water changes every week and see if it helps.

Marinemom
 
Like Marinemom said - at 2wpg you don't need CO2 - my brother is using screw-in compacts over a 22g - regularly dosed with Kent fertilizers - pro-plant and freshwater. He has bettas (same family as a gourami - so i assume should be a close comparison) in there - juvie females and they don't seem to be any worse - in fact they're growing much faster than the guy we got them off, so I don't think there's anything wrong with your formula. Maybe try lower-light plants and see what happens or something hardier? or it could just be the source you're getting them from.
 
what kind of plants are you trying to grow? lower light are much easier to care for... anachris is a good starter and keeps growing and growing...

amazon swords and other higher light plants were harder for me to keep flourishing.

co-2 can help, but if you have nothing to feed off of it so to speak, it'll just help the algae grow.

also, correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't 3-5 watts per gallon usually recommended??

bottom line, don't give up. sometimes it takes time to get the hang of things.
 
I'll move this to the plant forum for you...you might get more responses.
 
Chris331 asked a good question, what kind of plants do you have? 20w over a 10g isn't alot of lights and you may have a problem growing some light intensive plants even if you provide ferts and CO2. Also, is your plant heavily planted? You will have a much easier time keeping algae under control if you plant heavily from the beginning.

Regarding Chris's question on the recommended wpg, this is dependent on your plant choice and desired growth/maintenance level. More lights will allow you to grow more plants and make them grow faster, but it will also increase fert and CO2 demands and require more maintenance. 1-2wpg is fine for most low level plants.
 
melissa3 said:
I started planting my 10gal 1 month ago. Since then, the only things that have grown my in tank are snails and a little algae. I need some help getting this going. :help:


Here is my 10gal set-up:

Substrate - Schultz Aquatic Soil (Bottom), Flourite (Top)
Lighting - 2 Screw in fluorescents, 20watt total. (I'm switching back to strip fluorescents since I can't find any screw-in fluorescents in 6,500k)
Ferts - Kent Freshwater and Kent Freshwater Pro (But my Dwarf Gourmis seem to be affected by these ferts and my plants don't care for it either)
CO2 - None yet. I wanted pressurized but I can't seem to get a chance to get the tank filled so I'm thinking DIY with yeast.

Ok, after going over my step-up just now I've realized some things I've been doing wrong and I know what I can fix. But I still have some questions:

1. With DIY yeast CO2, how do you know how much CO2 is going into your tank and is there a way to regulate it?

2. Will making a smaller batch of yeast produce less CO2 pressure? Or will the batch produce the same amount of CO2 and just die out sooner?

3. Does adding Flourish Excel mean you don't have to add extra CO2, or do you still need CO2 in conjunction with Excel?

4. Has anyone here had success with the Kent Plant supplement package?

5. Has anyone here had their fish react negatively to Kent Plants ferts?

Thanks
Click to expand...
1 with diy you dont have much control.
2 less yeast = less co2. it should laster longer
3 excel is a liquid form of co2 but its not as good. diy co2 would be better you could also add excel to boot it.
4 i use dry ferts. http://www.bestaquariumregulator.com/ferts.html
5 should be ok

dont give up.
 
For plants I have amazon swords, java moss, a banana plant and one un-identified plant - its a stem plant with green leaves that are purple on the bottom. I had more to start but they didn't make it. I just can't get the plants to grow new shoots or stems and they seem to"melt" when they die.


For fish I have 8 neons, 3 guppies and 2 pygmy gouramis. (I bought the pygmys after my dwarf gouramis died) I guess I'm overstocked but I thought it would help the plants.


As fas as algae, there isn't much, just a little on the glass (I am so bad I can't even grow algae!)


I thought 2 wpg was ok too, but maybe my lights just weren't the right K. temp? I'm going to try the strip lights and see if it makes a difference....


Questions:

So instead of CO2, I should try Flourish Excel first then? It doesn't have any effect on fish, does it?


What sort of low light plants can I grow in my 10gal, without them getting real big and outgrowing the tank?
 
Good lowlight plants:
Java (fern, moss, anything starting w/ Java) - slow, but tolerate low light
Crypts - wendtii bronze will stay green under low light, but it'll grow - medium/fast
Bacopa (moneywort) - is a pretty fast grower, forks when pruned, can plant clippings directly.

Your green/purple sounds like Alternanthera reineckii (a recent Petsmart addition nr me). These require medium to high light. I think swords will actually do low light, but I'd never put one in a 10g. There are Hygro species that do low light, but they grow So fast, I'd avoid 'em unless you're trying to control algae in a new setup...
Look here for more low light options (Anubias, ferns etc.)
http://www.aquariumplants.com/Low_Light_Plants_s/25.htm

If you want to grow a wider variety of plants, consider visiting AHsupply.com and getting a couple of 13W kits or a higher wattage single PC kit. That would be a higher priority than CO2 at this point in time.

If your Gourami seems to be reacting badly to ferts, either yuuour dosing is way off (lost a decimal point somewhere?) or there are other issues w/ the water... Test kit??

Look here - good, concise advise. Cheap dry ferts (a lot cheaper than Kent in the long run).
 
The swords are eventually going to outgrow your tank.
http://www.aquahobby.com/garden/e_eamazon.php

One of my favorite plants that I have growing in my 10 gallon with 20 watts and 5 hex with 10 watts is rotala rotundifolia. It grows very well in both tanks. In the 10 gallon it is greener at the bottom of the stems then a copper color then a pinkish color at the very top. The stems in the 5 were trimmed from the 10 and have since turned a green color, still very nice. I have the screw in CF bulbs 10 watts each, color is daylight at 6500K. http://www.aquahobby.com/garden/e_rotala.php

I also have DIY CO2 going with the Hagen Nutrafin system.

Do you have a pic of your unknown plant? Perhaps we can ID it. It may or may not be aquatic, that could also be the reason it's dying off.:) But it does sound like reneckii http://www.aquahobby.com/garden/e_lilacina.php
 
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