Any good weeds out there?

B

BooMonkey

AC Members
Nov 10, 2006
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London, UK
I have real trouble with water quality. My tap water has a PH over 8.0 and nitrates of about 50 PPM. I have been trying to develop a heavily planted tank to bring the nitrate levels down, but not all of my plants are thriving in this environment. Most of my plants just "hold on" and many just promptly die. Amazon sword is not doing well, Wisteria is not doing well although my African Lotus is raging. In fact it grows noticibly during the day! But I have lost a great deal of the floating letuce, java fern and other plants I have experiemented with.

Any suggestions on fast growing robust plants that can survive horrible London tap water? I would be quite happy to prune something other than dead leaves!
 
My African lotus is raging in London water too - must be something in there that they love. Swords never worked for me. Vallis worked a little too well for me aswell - same story as the lotus.

I run my tank at 1.5wpg, with flourite/sand substrate (50:50).

Am pondering about replanting since I've got staghorn algae! Will be basing it around 2 Lotus plants, possibly hygrophilia sp if it grows, and some low level/ low light plants (anubias, java fern - both don't rely on substrate for nutrients though) - but still early days yet.
 
Bring on the weeds!

I just added two more African Tiger's last night in hopes that they will soak up some more of the nitrate levels. I believe most London tap water is 50ppm and some of the stores I talked told me they sell RO water by the barrel to offices with fancy tank displays.

I have two Anubis which seem healthy enough but most plants like densa just promptly break up and die. My tank is 220 litre or so and I am brightly lit but I don't know the wpg. I never used laterlite (regret!) but I am using CO2 and become much more aggressive with micro and macro fertilisers. I have even managed to grow a tiny wisp of algae at the lip of the tank!

The poor water quality really limits the amount and size of fish I can stock, I am well below the one inch one gallon rule. I can't find anyone who stocks duckweed.
 
I concur with BooMonkey - tested my tapwater and discovered it's on the higher side at 60ppm. Typically it fluctuates from 20-60ppm, which is noticed in the fishes behaviour. The only positive thing is that the tank water parameters never exceed the tap water parameters.

I'd be dubious of introducing duckweed though, spreads like wildfire and is a nightmare to fully eradicate. Had some hitch from a plant I got from a shop. Salvinia Natans is just as good, but far more manageable, but be careful for it not to completely cover the tank, as it tried with me.

Hornwort looks a good bet (Ceratophyllum spp) though, as it can be planted allegedly. Hygrophilia spp were also recommend to me for such purposes. Anacharis are apparently good too (Elodea densa).

The lotus plant's are actually bulb plants, with 2 stages of growth - 1st to grow the leaves, 2nd to shoot the lily's up. So, I'd question their ability to suck up nitrates.



I can't plant too heavily though, since I have CA cichlids that like to assist in aquascaping.
 
Something's wrong if you are providing CO2 and lots of nutrients but your plants are dying. My first thought is lighting. You might not have as much as you think you do. If it's not lighting and CO2 and nitrates are sufficient then it must be another nutrient. First thought would be PO4, then K, Mg, Fe, etc. With good light and CO2 injection your plants should take those nitrates in like crazy. If they're not, lighting becomes first suspect, then CO2, then other nutrients.
 
More light more light!

I light the tank 12 hours a day on a timer. Both tubes are lit brightly, but not with reflectors, which is what I would try next.

I have only been using ferts for two weeks now and I have doubled up the CO2 doses. The Lotus is all over the tank, although the two new ones gave up on day two, they may already have been dead when I put them in the tank. I have planted some new Elodea densa, although a previous generation had promptly broke up and died.

I have a red lotus and a green lotus. The green in a second tank has already sent of shoots and produced two daughter plants. Unfortuntely the roots are already entrenced and I can't replant them. A dead bulb also appeared on the sand, so maybe it was three daughters before it died. The red is already 30 cm tall and has leaves the size of my hand. None of the LFS stock them regularly and the mail order ones had no bulbs and did not look particularly healthy!

Is Salvinia Natans the water letuce? My lights scorched and killed them pretty promptly. I did get some nice roots through and the fish even put a bubble nest in one.

Pugwash, what part of the UK are you in. I am W1 and the water is pretty stable at 50ppm. Stopped drinking it after I saw what it was doing to the plants and fish...
 
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