plant problem.... please help picks included!!

[aquatic-Bizkut]

ok well i am glad to see this site back up and running, i dont know if you remember me before the site went off for a bit, i was the new kid that had the 20 gallon tank.... well now i have three tanks :

a 25 gallon semi-aggressive

a 20 gallon with a few community fish in it

and a 10 gallon heavily planted getting ready for dwarf puffers

here is my dilema its about my 10 gallon tank i have purchased two 20 watt florescent bulbs (6500K) from wallmart and hooked those up so i have 4 WPG

my lighting i thought i had plenty and it would be great (for my planted puffer ten gallon)

but i have 4 WPG and that means i need CO2 before my plants become completely engulfed in algea, which has already started....

here is my idea

i dont want CO2 right now, and i dont want to return the bulbs to walmart to get smaller ones.....

so first off i have a idea, i could switch light hoods with my tanks...

so i could put the light strip from my 10 gallon (40 watts of lights) onto my 20 gallon and put my 20 gallon strip (15 watts-not meant for live plants) onto my 10 gallon, and switch tanks make my 20 gallon a puffer tank and i would only have 2 WPG and i have heard that will do to grow the plants i have.....and my 10 gallon will be my community (withought plants

what do you think, it might look odd, becuase the light fixtures wont really fit the hoods..... but will 2 WPG be enough to grow my plants, (including microsword grass) ?????????!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kasakato]

Don't worry about anything! Small tank (under 20g) need more light to get a higher WPG rating. So with 40w and a 10g tank, you have about 2WPG. At 2WPG C02 would still help, but isn't really needed. Microsword needs a Mid-High WPG rating. So something like 3WPG. You can try, but it many grow very slowly, or not grow at all.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

oh......wheeeeeeeeeew!!! are you sure though???? like 100% positive!!???? becuase i dont want more algea then i have, what should i do about the algea i have (the picks above^^^^)

thank you for your help, so i guess i will just keep it how it is....

the microsword is actually growing, and not extremely fast as my other plants are, but it is going kind of at its own pace, but that is probably becuase i have weights on all of the plants but potted and the thick grass in the back....the weights will hopefully be removed as soon as i add 10 more lbs to keep them rooted down, becuase every time i try they float right on up


also what is a good way to keep my drift wood down, becuase that also floats, and its heavy so its hard to just bury it, becase in a few days it just comes undone and floats above the gravel......


and are you sure!!??? lol

 

[Kasakato]

Its about 2WPG. Could be a bit higher or lower. But its still ok. That algae is called diatoms. Its common in a new tank. How new is it?

Driftwood can be weighted to help it stay down. Just get some slate, wash it, and with a stainless steel screw screw the slate to the bottom of it.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

zahhhh yes you are a geniouse....

i have some slate that i will buy today it is brown i hope it wont crack????

oh well anyway here is a little update

well i have talked to a bunch of different people and posted this on different threads, the most answers i have recieved points to this

since the tank is a 10 gallon it requires more light for the plants (doesnt make sense to me either :blink: ) so it is actually about at 2 WPG right now....

and my grass does fine, but plants are kind of suffering.... here are some updated picks i added more gravel, put in substrate tablets.... and replanted the plants withought weights.....

^^ that is a little bulb i bought at walmart.....look at him grow!!!

look how cloudy the water is... is it ok if i put in a chemical liquid to make it clear... i have water purifier, but im not sure if it will damage the plants...

look how much algea my plant has aquired..... should i just chuck it??

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

oh and my tank is fairly new, im just still setting it up to put my puffers in it... i have biospira in the refridgerator waiting for the setup to be complete, which i think it is....

it is about 2 weeks old and yeah it is brown algea, look at that last picture it is like....uhhh killing the plant..
thnx for your help!

 

[Kasakato]

That plant looks like its dead. What kind of plant is it? I cant think of something off the top of my head. I would just wait another month or two and see what happens. Some of my plants looked like that and "melted". But in a few months they made a full recovery.

If you pre drill the slate with a very small bit, and slowly get bigger and bigger, until you get the the screw size it should be ok. I did it and the wood stays down.

The cloudy water could be a few things. The most likely is bacteria, being this is a new tank. Do you have a test kit? Can you get the results? And do not use the chemicals to make the water clear. It will most likely do more harm than good.

 

[aquatic-Bizkut]

ok yeah it has looked like this before, every time i stir it around and play around it will stay cloudy for a few days....

i have a master liquid test kit, and i have a dip strip test kit

i have to run to work so i will test it when i get back home

but before i go, i am picking up another dwarf puffer, and am planing on putting the bio spira in when i get back and placing the puffers both in the ten gallon

is it ready??

 

[Kasakato]

As soon as you have a full fish stock, which should really be when you add ANY fish, use the Bio Spira.

 

[reiverix]

The plant in the 3rd photo in your first post looks like an acorus. It's not aquatic and should be removed. Some of the larger chain stores are famous for selling this type of plant.