Going crazy 4 plants...

[bazil323]

Okay, so you might remember me recently posting about getting a sweet deal on my new Coralife light for my 75g. I also got some plants (crypt wenditiis, pennywort, dwarf sag, etc.) from a couple members here, and I'm also getting some Java moss and Salvinia minima through Aquabid.

Well, I decided to look on Drs. Foster & Smith's webpage again to price some Excel and root tabs. I put them in my shopping cart just to get an idea on the total. Well, I just went ahead and bought them. God, hubby is going to kill me! :evil_lol:

I got a 2 liter bottle of Excel, 2 10-packs of API Root Tabs, and a 250 ml bottle of Flourish Trace. I realize that I don't really need CO2 for less than 2 wpg, but my 75 is at just over 1.7 and my 20g long is at 1.8 wpg. That's pretty close. Thought I'd just do a little experiment and see how it goes. Figured it was much cheaper than trying it with pressurized CO2 injection.

I think I'll be okay with the plants I've got, but I'm getting a little paranoid about it. Will any of the following melt from Excel?:help:

Crypt wenditii (green, bronze, and red)
Bacopa monnieri
Dwarf sag (worried about this the most as I think some might actually be vals)
Java moss
Java fern
Flame moss
Anubias (several varieties)
Pennywort
Duckweed
Salvinia minima
Najas grass (guppy grass)
An unknown plant that came in with another order from Mgamer. Might post some pics of this. It's a stem plant with tear drop shaped leaves that are green and slightly red-pink.

Ok, I think I got everything, lol. These are split between a few tanks.

I'm hoping that adding some Excel might also eliminate some algae trouble I've got. Something that looks dark green and is covering the leaves of my bacopa and some that I think is hair algae maybe. I'm also going to pick up some timers for the lights as I have to leave them on during the day while I'm at work to get a full 8-10 hours, but then they're usually on for closer to 12-16 hours! That's surely adding to the algae trouble.

Anyway, yeah, can't believe how bad I've been with spending all our money, lol. :devil:

 

[alfbennett]

Timers are great. I set my tank photo period so that it comes on while I am at work. I can then enjoy my tank in the evening, and have it shut the lights down at bed time for me. No time for fish in the morning

 

[bazil323]

Oh, might be getting some water sprite too. Told ya I was going nuts.

 

[kendrid]

Timers are great. I set my tank photo period so that it comes on while I am at work. I can then enjoy my tank in the evening, and have it shut the lights down at bed time for me. No time for fish in the morning

I do the same thing and love it. I've shown my son how to manually turn the lights on and off if he wants to check on them in the morning before school (and he does most days). I use a Brinks brand (the home security company) digital timer that has a manual on/off button which works great to view the fish "off hours" from the normal cycle.

 

[kendrid]

Oh, might be getting some water sprite too. Told ya I was going nuts.

I have water sprite in my two week old tank and it is growing like a weed. I have a 29 gallon with a Coralife 2x18 T5 fixture and it grew out of my tank in less than one week.

 

[Squeakfish]

That unknown plant sounds like hygro.

 

[bazil323]

That's sort of what I was thinking. I'll try to get a pic tonight and post it tomorrow.

I'll have to look for that Brink's timer that you mentioned Kendrid. Sounds like a good one. Figured that I'd just pick one up at Walmart or something since the ones from fish supply places are so overpriced.

 

[bluekrissyspike]

cool. i'd like to suggest not adding duckweed. i got 3 peices that were stuck to a bag with other plants. i threw them in my tank around christmas time. now all my tanks are infested with it. it's a major pain and i have tried removing it all several times but it just keeps coming back. it covers your arm anytime you try to do maintenance and, for me, it sometimes gets in the way of surface feeders eating. water sprite will make lots of babies that will float to the top for you. one floater i find really attractive are red root floaters. just a suggestion. enjoy planting your tank.

 

[bazil323]

Thanks! Too late on duckweed. Same thing happened for me. But I have fond memories of duckweed from going to the beaver pond with my brothers and dog. Dumb, I know. But I like it, and it's fairly contained with my little divider invention.

I guess I was minutes late on getting the water sprite deal, but the member said I was next on the list if it fell through. I'll continue to keep an eye out for it though. It looks so pretty.

I am getting the salvinia minima, though. I already paid for it, and it should be here either the end of this week or next week, depending on when they send it. I'm not crazy about the way it looks in pics, but maybe I'll like it better in person. And I'm getting a bonus with that of najas grass, which I already have some and like the looks of it. I also like how quickly it fills in. I lost most to the filters like it did with duckweed when I transferred it into the 75 with the power and canister filters (had been in with a sponge filter on invert tank). I snipped off about half of one stalk that had reached the top of the tank last week, and it has already grown to the top again! Love it, love it, love it.

My crypts are melting a bit, but they're new so kind of expected.

So, anyone see any problem with using Excel in these tanks?

Oh, and I did find that Brink's timer last night. I've got it set to come on at noon and turn off at 10 PM Mon-Fri and come on at 8 and turn off in the evening on Sat/Sun. I can't remember for sure what time it's set to go off on weekends. I was getting pretty tired by that time, lol. I wanna say 6, but that might not be right.

 

[bazil323]

Almost forgot to post the pics of that unknown plant! Duh. Sorry for the poor quality of the pics. Either the flash tended to wash out the pics or not using the flash brought out the yellow from the tannins in my water. The plant I'm referring to is sort of behind the dwarf sag leaves in the middle of the pics. You can really see the red on the underside of the leaves in the ones where I used flash. It's about 8" or so tall at the moment. The other plant is, I think, the same thing, but it is not in as good of shape and the leaves are pretty bad. I think that one might die. The one in the pics seems okay for now.

I have an idea of what it is, but I'll wait to share it so that I don't taint anyone's impression of the plant. Plus, I am so inexperienced with plants that I'm probably completely wrong, lol.