Plant question

Just planted up my tank and i asked the lad in the shop do i need to give the plants anything to grow he said no once they have light and are planted right they will be fine

I have been given wrong advise before on such matters and just want to make sure that its right coz all i need is a tank full of dead plants.

Hi Alan
It does no harm to add some liquid fertiliser once a week..

Lar

Yeah i was thinking alright...... but was told that they will be fine without which they prob would be but using fertiliser will make them grow faster i guess.

Thanks again Lar

Sounds like you were given the wrong advice again. What plants did you get?
Pants need light, nutrients (fertilizer) and a source of carbon to grow.

If i remember correctly it's a juwel aquarium you have. What light tubes came with the tank? T-5 or T-8? T-5 been a thin tube and T-8 been the width of a standard florescent tube. Also what wattage are the types and how many are on the tank?
Any info you have on the lights would help since a lot of standard tubes are only good for viewing the fish an are not great for plants.

The nutrients are like food for the plants and there are two types macro and micro nutrients.
Micro nutrients you can get using "Tropica plant nutrition" You can buy this or a similar product in most aquatic shops.
Macro nutrients are nitrogen (nitrate) and phosphorus (phosphate). If the tank is stocked enough with fish there may be enough of this in the tank. If not you can use "Tropica plant nutrition + (plus)" instead of the Tropica plant nutrition.

Carbon (Co2) not to be mistaken for the carbon you might put into a filter.
Carbon is like a building block. Plants need carbon so they can use the light to photosynthesize and when they do this they need the fertilizers to feed on. It's like a complete package and only having 1 or 2 of the 3 things needed wont do them any good. They need all 3 things simultanisly.
If it's a standard tank with minimum light and not to much aeration with hardy low light plants you may not need to add carbon. When the surface of the water is broke through aeration a small amount of Co2 enters the tank. At the same time aeration also drives Co2 out of the water so you will only ever achieve a small amount of Co2 in the water.
If you need more Co2 you can use a liquid carbon like "easy-life easycarbo". As far as i know this is not available in the shops here so you would have to order it on line.

You could also use root tabs that are buried in the substrate beneath the plants. The plants can absorb the nutrients through their roots.

I hope this helps and if you dont understand any or all of this just ask and i will try explain it better.

I have the T-5 tubes, both 45watt with one day and one nature tube. Was going buy some liquid fertilizer and some peat tablets.

Not 100% on the plants, just on the carbon and nitrate side of things.

I have 4 platys and a bala at the moment but will be putting in 3 mollies and a dwarf gourami on monday or tue depending on water tests. Nitrate levels are 5 ppm (taken 2night)

My plants are not breaking the surface, so im guessing there is not near enough carbon for the plants at the moment.

Dont have experience or knowledge for a Co2 setup yet but i have benn looking into it, easy-life easycarbo think id like too try the root tabs because i remember reading something about not being able to add carbon if ur using some meds, might be wrong it was a while ago.

Hope the info i gave you enough info platty.

Not adding carbon while using meds relates to the carbon you would use in the filter as it will absorb the meds, hence why you remove carbon from a filter so it will allow the meds do there thing and when the med course is finished you put carbon back into the filter so it will remove any traces remaining. Different carbon for the plants that you are reffering to.
Gavin

alkiely wrote:

I have the T-5 tubes, both 45watt with one day and one nature tube. Was going buy some liquid fertilizer and some peat tablets..

This is a good amount of light so i would suggest using a fertilizer. Tropica nutrition should do since you have some fish in the tank that might produce enough Nitrate and phosphate.

The fish will also produce a small amount of Co2 (carbon dioxide) but by slightly agitating the surface of the water either through aeration or the return from your filter you can increase the Co2 slightly. This is what i was referring to earlier. Not the plants breaking the surface.
But this still wont be enough Co2 for the plants so using a liquid carbon will help.

The carbon you are mistaking this for is the carbon you might use in a filter. The type that will remove fish medications. Easily mistaken but two completely difrent things.

The root fertilizer tabs are a good idea. Although i dont know what type of plants you have. Some might need more root fertz. than others.
Any chance of a pic. of the tank. Might be able to ID some plants.

Here are some pics i have two small grass type plants in the front, the big green one is a form of wisteria, which has grown like mad since i got it a 6weeks or so ago and that was in my 54l, its the plant at the back behind the bog wood that im unsure of i didnt oreder it i just sence it and like it. The leaves are green with a purple underside or tip.

i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/alkiely/SA400263-1.jpg

Then at the back left it the wisteria, not sure of the plant infront of thw wood front left and the plant behind the wood and stone.

i710.photobucket.com/albums/ww101/alkiely/SA400263-2.jpg

Hope you can make them out.

Didnt get all the plants i oredered, so picked up some others that i didnt no the name off

Sorry for the late reply.
The only one i can make out is the twisted or corkscrew vallis right at the back behind the wood in the second pic.

Its no problem the plants are doing great started to notice growth all ready, the palnt in the front left is starting to grow pink/purplke leaves looks great.

Thanks again platty

hi the plants that Ican make out in the picture are
Hygrophylia difformis. this will grow quickly and very bushy a great background or corner plant, it can be cut back hard if it grows too big or gets leggy at the base and will regrow no problem, also the warmer the water the more fernlike the leaves.
the plant with the small narrow leaves up along the stem looks like Rotala indica, this will grow taller and taller reaching for the surfaace you can cut 5 or 6 inch lengths off the tips and re plant them in the substrate and they will re grow and the original stem will just reshoot. if the new growth is reddish coloured you can take it that you have plenty of light.
the vallisneria species is asiatica. another easy to grow plantit should start to produce runners with little plantlets on them after a week or two in the aquarium. though i have found that it does not always grow as tall as many books suggest.
sorry I can't make out the other plants. do you want to try another pic?
all above will grow well without additional co2.
all will benifit from the liquid feeds suggested above.
regards
joe mc

Cheers for that,

The plants are growing like made its nuts already cut some back