My knee-deep dive into plants - 55g planted

[stephybabe88]

As my tank is fully stocked, I have decided to venture further into the planted end of the tank :grinyes:. I am trying to stay as low-tech as possible, while still having a beautifully planted tank :wall: I know this is possible from the gorgeous pics I have seen here from other members. I am excited to see how my tank will develop, so I decided to track it here. Hope everyone enjoys, and maybe someone might find some motivation (or realize it's the wrong route..)

My current set up is 55g, T8 30w, no CO2, and I only dose Flourish periodically, although I will be bumping this up. I recently dosed Osmocote via fertcicle under 1 cryt in the corner of my tank. I want to see how that goes before I use them through out. I have found API CO2 Booster (Any input on this product?) at my Petsmart, and I have dosed once tonight. The pics below are only a dose of Flourish.



Pic one was on or about a month ago - I did a rescape for the first time in about 2 years.
Pic two was a couple days later, just because.
Pic three - added quite a few more plants and had just placed the fertcicle.

Below is a picture of the crypt that got the fertcicle. Sad, huh?



And my Amazon Sword (My first live plants over 2 years ago - It's in my 10g, but wanna track it too)



I hope to see some significant improvement after my new lights get here tomorrow :drool: They are T5 39w.

Wish me luck!!

 

[stephybabe88]

Oops! The new lights are T5HO 39w and I think 6000k. Any input is welcome!

 

[mjordan29]

umm someone may be able to shed some light on this but ive heard the co2 additive stuff your talking about can actually melt certain plants like vals. melt as in the just disintegrate

 

[KI4WLG]

I'm new myself to the planted tank adventure, but I have yet to do any CO2 additives and my wisteria and amazon swords are doing great. I have only done one round of API root tabs, and am using an LED light for my tank. Super low maintenance on my part and I am seeing great root growth and even some roots growing out from joints higher up the wisteria stalks

 

[stephybabe88]

My Amazon was severely neglected for some time so I'm trying revive it really. Originally my wisteria and the sword did great with little attention. The cheap lights that came on the 10g significantly raised the temp on the tank so I avoided turning them on for awhile, along with a horrible snail outbreak (I started under feeding to try to reduce the snails, so instead they snacked on the plants) lead it's current sad state. I am trying avoid adding true CO2, as I have developed a phobia from horror stories I have heard here. I might add it later, but for the time being I want to avoid it if possible.

 

[stephybabe88]

My lights came in yesterday and didn't fit I was so disappointed!! Plus, I don't think they worked right anyways. But my hood got a good scrubbing, and it seems like a little more light is coming through on the old fixture for the time being. A few more days won't hurt I guess.

 

[cobfreak]

My experience with amazon swords is that they do well at first in any tank, but after that they need... something. I think maybe yours could use some root tabs of some sort. Fertcicles maybe.

Is that crypt a Balensae, or something else?

 

[f1sleepy]

Swords LOVE root tabs. You really, I mean REALLY need root tabs for them to thrive. My swords have all but died off in one of my tanks due to using up the root tabs that were under them. I need to replace them soon. In my other tank with root tabs from Bob's Tropical Plants, my swords have easily quadrupled in size in about a month.

 

[stephybabe88]

I put a fertcicle under it about a week ago and I am waiting on my order from bobs with my root tabs in it. Guess I'm on the right track

 

[ROYWS3]

What Flourish product are you using? There are numerous Flourish products out there. If it's Flourish Excel then it's a very similar product to the API CO2 Booster you mentioned. I personally prefer the API product. I seem to get better results with it than with Flourish Excel.

Mjordan29 is right, these liquid carbon products can melt plants such as Vals, some crypts and I think there might be a few others, but if you start with a half dose or lower and slowly build up to the recommended dose over a few weeks, your plants will adjust and they will be okay.

Swords are definitely root feeders so put something in the substrate for them,

I would also suggest some micronutrients if your not already doing so with the Flourish product you have. I use an old standby - Tetra Flora Pride as it has iron in it. I've always gotten good results with this product.

Hope this helps,
Roy