Vallisneria spiralis and Amazon Sword Questions

C

clayt101

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May 4, 2001
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Baton Rouge, Louisiana
www.waterhyacinths.com
I have limited plant experience (Java fern and Anubius). Will Vallisneria spiralis and Amazon Swords survive in this set up?

100 gallon aquarium
2 DIY CO2 Injectors (more if necessary)
Hard water
Approx 80 - 82 degrees F
Coarse Gravel (Do I need additional fertilizer such as laterite or another substitute.....I saw a bag of some kind of South American mix, it was sealed bag with the contents still wet)

How much light will I need? The aquarium will have 2 large bulbs, but I don't know the wattage off hand

:D :D :D
 
If the bulbs are 4ft long you will need at least four bulbs over 100 gal. for vals & Amazons.
Even then you probably don't need to bother with CO2.
 
Okay, I looked at the bulbs. I have a Super Artinic R and an Artinic white. I looked at the web page: http://www.uriworld.com/alamps.html . I assume that if my lights are very high output it would say it, correct? On the bulbs I have, I don't see anything about very high output:(
 
I grow swords like weeds with 1.5watts/gal. in a 24" high 55gal.

Val., particularly the corkskrew variety is another question entirely. I would say you will need 2.0watts/gal. minimum with good CO2 to be successful with this plant.

What do you mean by "hard" water, and how high is your tank?
IME, 6700K daylight bulbs are very effective. They are the closest thing to natural light. Other opinions may differ......
Len
 
I pretty much fully agree with len. For that tank, go with compact flourscent lighting and I generally recommend one DiY bottle of CO2 for every 25 gallons, so you would want at least 4 bottles. I have 160 watts of flourscent lighting and 3 bottles of CO2 on my 72g tank, and everything is fine.
 
Originally posted by djlen
What do you mean by "hard" water, and how high is your tank?
Click to expand...

The aquarium is about 18 inches high w/out gravel....15 with gravel.

Hardness:
~ 80.55 ppm KH

~161 ppm GH

According to my test kit, these are medium levels...not as hard as I thought
:)
 
You shouldn't have any problem with hardness. And at 18", you should be fine with 200 watt's and good CO2 for Vals. Just my opinion. Mine did not do well with less than 2watts/gal even with 30ppm CO2. Once over 2 watts/gal. they took off.
On the other hand I had to eventually pull the swords out of the tank because they were too invasive in my 55's and like weeds, even at 1.5 watts/gal.
I'm not a fan of DIY CO2 in a tank that size. Just too big to keep levels at 20-28ppm.
Len
 
Do I need additional fertilizer such as laterite or another substitute.....I saw a bag of some kind of South American mix, it was sealed bag with the contents still wet?
Thanks
Clay
 
I personally don't like laterite. It can be messy and cause algae issues later. I would suggest Flourite if it suits your taste in color and would be a good mix color-wise with what you already have.
Len
 
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