Need advice on 55 gal planted tank..-I SUCK...

[FreshyFresh]

I agree but if you 'scape with that in mind, you should be okay - tall plants in the back - mids in he midground and shorter plants in the fore

Yep, gotta get strategic with your plant choices. That's the problem with a standard 55g IMO. Good height to them, but with the short depth, you'd only have ~4" or so to work with for each of your high, mid and short plants. I've got my watersprite and wisteria to the back, with anubias nana and java fern to the front. The "back" plants grow out of the tank and take over that ~12" in no time.

 

[ROYWS3]

Yep, gotta get strategic with your plant choices. That's the problem with a standard 55g IMO. Good height to them, but with the short depth, you'd only have ~4" or so to work with for each of your high, mid and short plants. I've got my watersprite and wisteria to the back, with anubias nana and java fern to the front. The "back" plants grow out of the tank and take over that ~12" in no time.

on the bright side - you can always sell your clippings at "the Marketplace"

 

[FreshyFresh]

I should look into that.. I've thrown-out buckets full!

 

[ROYWS3]

I should look into that.. I've thrown-out buckets full!

I sell (and buy) on here quite often.

Okay, I think we should be done hijacking Meximan's thread now LOL

 

[meximan]

lol not done yet~! figured id update...

Threw some taiwann moss in the tank, it looked great. I also put in the other High output bulb in and been dosing excel..

Now i think excel is burning my moss >.<....

and pretty confident that those fish are eating my plants as well..This is pretty much whats left of the dwarf moss i had in the big tank.




On the plus side...In the 10 gallon tank i trasnfered the REpens and two pots of the dwarf hair grass.. Its surviving. The grass doesnt look to bad and the repens are now recovering i can see some new growth on them.

I havent bought stem plants yet.

 

[meximan]

this is what the java moss is looking like. Its like the fish are stripping the ferns off the stems...Doesnt it?

 

[Turbosaurus]

Mexi, wtf? I tell you to get some fast growing stems and you buy moss? LOL

Stop blaming your poor fish! They don't eat moss or hairgrass- I promise, they are not evil fishes! They'll pull it up, push it around and make a mess, but they will NOT eat it.

Id put money that you're still ODing excel and that's why your moss looks bad. Excel ODs are bad for algae, but it will also kill mosses (and Vals). High temps will also cause this stringy moss - moss doesn't like anything over 80, lower is better, but IME, this looks like excel OD. as long as some of the moss is still green it will grow back when you stop ODing. It does fine at regular doses- you just cant go over.

 

[stsalerno]

Siamese algae eaters do eat moss. I see it happen on my 65 gallon all the time.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Id put money that you're still ODing excel and that's why your moss looks bad. Excel ODs are bad for algae, but it will also kill mosses (and Vals)..

I thought glutaral products like Excel will kill the heck out of algae at high doses, but the high doses can kill some plants?

I hear you though. The OP would be better off with stemmed plants given the water column height of a 55g.

 

[excuzzzeme]

Excel will kill anacharis, java moss, and many other mosses and a few stem plants like vals. When you have a multitude of plants, with sufficient fertilization, the plants will out compete the algae for nutrients. Amazon sword is a root feeder and adding ferts to the water column will do it little good. Using root tabs for those will make them grow like there is no tomorrow providing you use enough light. If you don't want to use the ferts Turbo suggested, stop the excel and use Flourish. I suggest you go to Mgamer's site and order the starter pack of ferts. It is neither expensive nor hard to use. Stem plants are not floating plants or a moss. Cabomba Caroliniana is a great stem plant that is a fert hog - especially nitrates and will do a lot of good. It too is sensitive to excel and can melt. Java plants and moss as well as Anacharis are considered by most fish to be bitter, but some will eat it regardless. Goldfish in particular love Anacharis.