General Questions About Plants

[varunrao94]

Hey guys ,

I have a few questions about aquarium plants in general so please help me out here :-

1) How do you know if the lighting in the tank is sufficient for your plants or it has to be replaced? My lights are on about 10hrs a day and I don't have algae as the guppies and the pleco do a nice job of cleaning up but then I have never been able to grow java moss

2)A lot of tanks I see (in videos or in person) have lush green plants. What's the secret for having bright green colored plants? or Is it the lighting ?

3)My tank bottom is covered fully with the black soil which can grow live plants so I have never tried vacuuming for fish waste and left over as I heard its good for the plants(ofc fish safe parameters) so
what are your thought's regarding this?

edit: last question! Thoughts about heavily planted small aquarium(say 5gal) with no filter and a single fish?

Thanks!!

 

[DutchAquarium]

detrius, fish waste, and what not isn't the best for tank. Even if the aquarium is densly planted, you want to try to remove these. However, you don't want to vacuum the gravel since this takes out benefical nutrients. Instead, just hover above the substrate to get these out. As for tanks with lush green plants, This is usually a combination of three factors. CO2, lighting, and ferts. If you remove one of these you then will have a limiting factor. While this isn't always necessary, it does help. After these have been added, trimming helps a lot also to achieve a full plant. Lighting plays a bit of a differnt role as well since different colors make other colors pop within the spectrum. Lastly, what type of light to you actually have? Algae doesn't specifically grow with just light. Usually a combo of ferts and lighting makes algae grow. This is an example of a limiting factor since co2 limits algae growth. As for not being able to grow java moss, I'm guessing your lighting isn't high enough. This plant normally doesn't need much co2 or ferts to grow. As I said above, if you tell us your lighting type or fixture number, possibly we could help you.

 

[Culprit]

1) How do you know if the in the tank is sufficient for your plants or it has to be replaced? My are on about 10hrs a day and I don't have algae as the guppies and the pleco do a nice job of cleaning up but then I have never been able to grow

We will be able to tell you. What lighting do you have?

2)A lot of tanks I see (in videos or in person) have lush green plants. What's the secret for having bright green colored plants? or Is it the lighting ?

A lot of the tanks you see are professionally maintained and are high tech. Now high tech is very attainable. However it is more work. You need CO2, high light, and good ferts. For low tech lush green tanks, you need a good balance between light and nutrient levels. So if you have a highly stocked tank, you may only have to dose a few supplements like Potassium and Micros. If you are low stocked, or have lots of plants, so your running out of nutrients you'll have to dose the whole 9 yards, both macros and micros. You do definitely have to have good lighting as well.

3)My tank bottom is covered fully with the black soil which can grow so I have never tried vacuuming for fish waste and left over as I heard its good for the plants(ofc fish safe ) so
what are your thought's regarding this?

What kind of black soil? ADA Aquasoil? Fluval Stratum? Calcified clay? Do you know if it contains nutrients? If its a black nutrient rich soil its perfect. You won't have to dose much. You shouldn't vac if you are heavily planted, but if there's open unplanted spots you should hover the vac over it to pull up the detritus.

 

[varunrao94]

detrius, fish waste, and what not isn't the best for tank. Even if the aquarium is densly planted, you want to try to remove these. However, you don't want to vacuum the gravel since this takes out benefical nutrients. Instead, just hover above the substrate to get these out. As for tanks with lush green plants, This is usually a combination of three factors. CO2, lighting, and ferts. If you remove one of these you then will have a limiting factor. While this isn't always necessary, it does help. After these have been added, trimming helps a lot also to achieve a full plant. Lighting plays a bit of a differnt role as well since different colors make other colors pop within the spectrum. Lastly, what type of light to you actually have? Algae doesn't specifically grow with just light. Usually a combo of ferts and lighting makes algae grow. This is an example of a limiting factor since co2 limits algae growth. As for not being able to grow java moss, I'm guessing your lighting isn't high enough. This plant normally doesn't need much co2 or ferts to grow. As I said above, if you tell us your lighting type or fixture number, possibly we could help you.

We will be able to tell you. What lighting do you have?



A lot of the tanks you see are professionally maintained and are high tech. Now high tech is very attainable. However it is more work. You need CO2, high light, and good ferts. For low tech lush green tanks, you need a good balance between light and nutrient levels. So if you have a highly stocked tank, you may only have to dose a few supplements like Potassium and Micros. If you are low stocked, or have lots of plants, so your running out of nutrients you'll have to dose the whole 9 yards, both macros and micros. You do definitely have to have good lighting as well.



What kind of black soil? ADA Aquasoil? Fluval Stratum? Calcified clay? Do you know if it contains nutrients? If its a black nutrient rich soil its perfect. You won't have to dose much. You shouldn't vac if you are heavily planted, but if there's open unplanted spots you should hover the vac over it to pull up the detritus.

Thank you for replying
I have a 20W long LED light and Aquasoil . I have many other plants which grow pretty well but then they don't have that lush green color. I'll try to get a PIC of the tank when I go home.

 

[DutchAquarium]

Could you tell us what the par and spectrum of your light is. Watts aren't very accurate.

 

[varunrao94]

Sorry for the late reply
I tried finding the par and spectrum of the light , but since its old I couldn't find the box details or the product.
Can you guys please suggest a light which is suitable for a 40 gallon tank?
Thanks

 

[Bryangar]

Sorry for the late reply
I tried finding the par and spectrum of the light , but since its old I couldn't find the box details or the product.
Can you guys please suggest a light which is suitable for a 40 gallon tank?
Thanks

It doesn’t say the par on any boxes of lights. You need a meter to check it. As for spectrum, What color are your lights? White? Blue? Red? Green?

You can use a T5 HO. They sell it on ebay. I am planning to get the dual T5 for my 46. It would give moderate light for a 40 B.

 

[varunrao94]

It doesn’t say the par on any boxes of lights. You need a meter to check it. As for spectrum, What color are your lights? White? Blue? Red? Green?

You can use a T5 HO. They sell it on ebay. I am planning to get the dual T5 for my 46. It would give moderate light for a 40 B.

Thanks for replying.
Color of my light is white. I hope that's good for planted tanks.
Unfortunately they don't ship to india , Any other suggestions?
Thanks!

 

[Bryangar]

What brand is your light? If you don’t know, can you post a picture of it?
Some LED lights are better than others. Some have more LEDs and others have less. I’m not sure why you could grow java moss since it I have seen it grow in an aquarium with little to no light. Do you add any ferts?

I see that you use aquasoil. What other plants do you have in there? Do you use Co2?

 

[varunrao94]

What brand is your light? If you don’t know, can you post a picture of it?
Some LED lights are better than others. Some have more LEDs and others have less. I’m not sure why you could grow java moss since it I have seen it grow in an aquarium with little to no light. Do you add any ferts?

I see that you use aquasoil. What other plants do you have in there? Do you use Co2?

I am using a locally manufactured LED light. Its actually 2 LED lights of 10W each(Long).
I am kinda bad at identifying plants , the one I can identify is Anubis.
I do use flourish excel once in 3 days.
Here are a few photos of the plants.

Thanks

 

[Bryangar]

I am using a locally manufactured LED light. Its actually 2 LED lights of 10W each(Long).
I am kinda bad at identifying plants , the one I can identify is Anubis.
I do use flourish excel once in 3 days.
Here are a few photos of the plants.

Thanks

From what I can see, you have a fewcrypt wendtiI green, some anubias hastifolia but I can't tell what the tall stem plant is.

You don’t need a new light. Those plants can grow in low light. I would trim that really tall one. It’ll allow more light at the bottom.

 

[varunrao94]

From what I can see, you have a fewcrypt wendtiI green, some anubias hastifolia but I can't tell what the tall stem plant is.

You don’t need a new light. Those plants can grow in low light. I would trim that really tall one. It’ll allow more light at the bottom.

Thanks , ya trimming is pending and those tall plants grow way too fast. I was waiting until I get the new lights actually.
Also, Can you please suggest me a beginner friendly carpet plant? My tank bottom looks really bad

 

[Mick Frost]

Marsilea (Minuta is stuck in my head, but there's better for low tech, maybe someone can specify) and Hemianthus (Cuba, not Monte Carlo) come to mind.

 

[varunrao94]

Marsilea (Minuta is stuck in my head, but there's better for low tech, maybe someone can specify) and Hemianthus (Cuba, not Monte Carlo) come to mind.

Thanks for the suggestions!
Hemianthus Cuba requires CO2 to grow? because I don't have a CO2 system running currently , and by marsilea do you mean the clover plant?

 

[Mick Frost]

Thanks for the suggestions!
Hemianthus Cuba requires CO2 to grow? because I don't have a CO2 system running currently , and by marsilea do you mean the clover plant?

All plants require some CO2, and all carpeting plants require more. Cuba can be done without CO2 injection, it will just grow a lot slower. Monte Carlo is recommended for beginners, but requires more CO2 and light than Cuba does (along with being picky for PH and temp in low tech).
Marsilea Minuta also works for low tech, but in deep water the stems will grow higher and it won't look as nice as it does with high light.
If you don't mind a lot of work, you could also use Dwarf Hairgrass or Fissidens and just plant the whole carpet. It will take quite a while for the roots to mat, and even longer to fill any gaps, but both will survive quite well in low tech.

 

[Culprit]

Low tech carpet plants I would suggest for low tech with medium light no CO2 would be dwarf hairgrass, hydrocotyle sp Japan, and Monte Carlo. Of those three, hydrocotyle is the easiest, super easy, but it will grow a lttile higher and not as compact. Monte Carlo and dwarf hairgrass is about tied, with Monte Carlo being a bit easier. I'd say anyone with decent husbandry and lighting can grow Monte Carlo or dwarf hairgrass. It won't grow as fast, but it will definitely get a full carpet. TrI'm often to get it to spread. If you want a full carpet quickly, pull each plantlet apart and plant it. It takes a long time but very quickly fills in.

 

[-Mak-]

All plants require some CO2, and all carpeting plants require more. Cuba can be done without CO2 injection, it will just grow a lot slower. Monte Carlo is recommended for beginners, but requires more CO2 and light than Cuba does (along with being picky for PH and temp in low tech).
Marsilea Minuta also works for low tech, but in deep water the stems will grow higher and it won't look as nice as it does with high light.
If you don't mind a lot of work, you could also use Dwarf Hairgrass or Fissidens and just plant the whole carpet. It will take quite a while for the roots to mat, and even longer to fill any gaps, but both will survive quite well in low tech.

You have HC and monte carlo swapped, but I second marsilea. Quite low tech friendly, just very slow

 

[Mick Frost]

You have HC and monte carlo swapped, but I second marsilea. Quite low tech friendly, just very slow

Hmmm, Ill concede, but gonna have to do a side by side.
And yeah, I dream of Marsilea