3rd Attempt at Plants in my 46g, will they live? PICS!!

hondaman

hondaman

Quisiera ser un fish!
Dec 15, 2005
260
0
0
New Jersey
Ok guys, remember my last post about the java fern? well, the plant pretty much died (except for a few bunches) and so did the hygro. For the life of me I cannot keep plants in my 46g alive!

So what did I do, got more plants. I tell u though, this will prolly be my last attempt at it. Guys please tell me what I am doing wrong!

Water Parameters (Quick Dip)
----------------------
Ammonia: 0, Chlorine: 0, NO3: 20, NO2: 0, GH: 75, KH: 0, pH: 7.0,

Lighting
----------------------
(2) 30W 36" Dual Strip (1 reg Halogen, 1 AquaGlo), (1) 25W 36" Strip (Halogen)

CO2
-----------------------
Hagen Plant Grow Natural System with CO2 with Ladder Diffuser

Plants
------------------------
Amazon Sword, Java Fern, Unknown 1, Unknown 2, Unknown 3, Unknown 4. (They were sold as assorted, if you can ID please do so)



Fish
-------------------------
(3) Bala Sharks, (1) Common Pleco


Ok guys thats my setup! Are these plants going to die too? Is there something else I should be doing? Heres a full pic of the tank as it looks now.
 
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You are planning to upgrade the 46 gal right?
 
I just did. Took out all the dead plants and put in all these new ones, plus the CO2 system. I've been having probs keeping plants alive in the tank, I went through various plants before with no luck.
 
your sharks and pleco will outgrow the 46 quickly....
 
Oh ur asking about that! Yes I am getting a 180g in 2 months. I then plan on making this a Ciclid tank.
 
you need:

1) real plant substrate not gravel, look into something called eco complete. very good and newbie friendly plant substrate.

2) KH: 0 - raise the kh to at least 3-4. Otherwise your ph will crash once co2 is injected in enough quantity. Baking soda will raise kh instantly, crushed coral will maintain the kh level. More info: http://rexgrigg.com/./waterchem.htm

3) Hagen Plant Grow Natural System - this is just a diy sugar/yeast co2 bottle. In a 46 gallon, you need at least 2x or more.

4) Once you resolve the above, i would drop the lighting you have and go CF. check ahsupply.com or get Coralife Aqualight Freshwater lighting strip. 36" single strip - 96W CF. Dont bother with the other lighting options, most are for reeftanks.

5) Start dosing nutrients macro + micro, for beginners, just buy the seachem plant care series. checkout www.seachem.com for
Flourish Potassium™
Flourish Nitrogen™
Flourish Phosphorus™
Flourish™




hondaman said:
Ok guys, remember my last post about the java fern? well, the plant pretty much died (except for a few bunches) and so did the hygro. For the life of me I cannot keep plants in my 46g alive!

So what did I do, got more plants. I tell u though, this will prolly be my last attempt at it. Guys please tell me what I am doing wrong!

Water Parameters (Quick Dip)
----------------------
Ammonia: 0, Chlorine: 0, NO3: 20, NO2: 0, GH: 75, KH: 0, pH: 7.0,

Lighting
----------------------
(2) 30W 36" Dual Strip (1 reg Halogen, 1 AquaGlo), (1) 25W 36" Strip (Halogen)

CO2
-----------------------
Hagen Plant Grow Natural System with CO2 with Ladder Diffuser

Plants
------------------------
Amazon Sword, Java Fern, Unknown 1, Unknown 2, Unknown 3, Unknown 4. (They were sold as assorted, if you can ID please do so)



Fish
-------------------------
(3) Bala Sharks, (1) Common Pleco


Ok guys thats my setup! Are these plants going to die too? Is there something else I should be doing? Heres a full pic of the tank as it looks now.
Click to expand...
 
I read somewhere that bowfront tanks can be tricky when it comes to lighting, because of the way that the tanks are designed.

Now, if your water parms. are good, (ex. po4, no3, gh, and k), then it might be your lights. Regular fl. and c fl. are better at growing plants. If you upgrade your lights, you should consider pressurized co2 and a diy reactor for your 46. Diy co2 will probably be ineffective (or unstable) for that size tank.

HTH

Lissette
 
gagaliya said:
you need:

1) real plant substrate not gravel, look into something called eco complete. very good and newbie friendly plant substrate.

2) KH: 0 - raise the kh to at least 3-4. Otherwise your ph will crash once co2 is injected in enough quantity. Baking soda will raise kh instantly, crushed coral will maintain the kh level. More info: http://rexgrigg.com/./waterchem.htm

3) Hagen Plant Grow Natural System - this is just a diy sugar/yeast co2 bottle. In a 46 gallon, you need at least 2x or more.

4) Once you resolve the above, i would drop the lighting you have and go CF. check ahsupply.com or get Coralife Aqualight Freshwater lighting strip. 36" single strip - 96W CF. Dont bother with the other lighting options, most are for reeftanks.

5) Start dosing nutrients macro + micro, for beginners, just buy the seachem plant care series. checkout www.seachem.com for
Flourish Potassium™
Flourish Nitrogen™
Flourish Phosphorus™
Flourish™
Click to expand...


Well I will definitely look into changing the substrate and adjust the kH. As far as plant food I have been using Leaf Zone from API during every water change.

As far as going with CF lighting thats fine but if I'm doing my math correctly a 96W system would put the lighting at something like 2.08wpg. I currently have 3 bulbs outputing 85W which is 1.84wpg. will that .24wpg really make that much of a difference?

Also, I was really hoping not to have to spend much more on this tank since the 180g I will be getting this summer will cost me over $1200 just to set up after all has been said and done.
 
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Don't bother upgrading the lighting or planting the tank if you're going cichlid. They'll just tear it up anyway. Save your money and do the 180 up right.
 
hondaman said:
As far as going with CF lighting thats fine but if I'm doing my math correctly a 96W system would put the lighting at something like 2.08wpg. I currently have 3 bulbs outputing 85W which is 1.84wpg. will that .24wpg really make that much of a difference?
Click to expand...

it sounded like your current lighting was just random strips throw onto the tank. Wattage doesnt mean anything if the lighting strip isnt well designed with proper reflector. You need focused lighting that shines on your tank only. I know from experience ahsupply makes the best lighting kit and coralife aqualights are excellent alternative to ahsupply diy for those of us who are not too good at it (i am using coralife currently on my main tank). But hey if you think your lighting is sufficient and well setup then by all means 11W will not make that big a difference.

but as iceh20 said it makes no sense to have plants if you are going for cichlid. There's a reason most chichlid tanks only have a bunch ugly bricks in them :D
 
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