Advice needed for an aquascaping newbie

[Seagull]

I'm pretty new to aquatic plants, starting out with some hardy anubias a few months ago. A few weeks ago, I decided to get rid of my silk plants and take the plunge into an "all-live" tank.

I have hygrophila polysperma, anubias (unsure of what type), vallisneria (americana oramericana var. biwaensis) , two echinodoras species and two marimo balls.

This picture was taken today. Sorry about the sand, I have a water change & gravel vac plannned for tomorrow. I do also have a little green dust algae atm too which you may be able to see near the sand on the front left.

I am having a few problems with my plants. Some of my echinodoras leaves are developing a 'scaly' look with brown lines and other leaves are deveoping brown patches at the tips of the leaves which have holes in them (making them look almost like lace). My vallisneria has mostly died. Many 'stems' have turned a brown/yellow colour and have been removed and I would guess that there are only around 5-6 'stems' left, some of which appear to also be turning yellow.
Any idea why these plants do not seem to be doing so good?

My other plants all appear fine. The hygro seems to be doing great and I have propagated several new plants from cuttings. I get several cm of growth per week on it. The anubias regularly grows new leaves, though they don't seem to be growing very large, anything I can do about this? I have had the anubias since October, so I would have thought some of the newer leaves would have grown more significantly since then, even with it being a slow grower. The marimo balls appear healthy, though I understand that they tend to grow only millimeters a year.

I currently do not dose any Co2, though some EasyCarbo is arriving within the next few days. I currently dose 'King British Aquatic Plant Food' liquid fertilizer. Some TNC 'plugs' for the echinodoras and vallisneria are currently in the psot with the EasyCarbo as I have been lead to believe that they are heavy root feeders and would therefore benefit more from root tabs than liquid fertlizer. Do these things sound OK? Does anything need altering? Any other brands/products you'd reccommend?

Many Thanks

 

[Iain Sutherland]

Welcome to the forum seagull, difficult to advise without knowing what light is over the tank, as this is the 'driving force' if you like as to what the plants need and to get a set up and regime that inhibits algae.
Have a little read of this new thread, clive is the man when it comes to expaining how plants, light, co2 all work together etc...
http://ukaps.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=19382
keep reading, then read some more and ask questions. Journals are a good place to start...

 

[Seagull]

Thanks for replying, I'll take a look at that threat. Sorry, forgot about lighting. I believe it is 11W. Lights are usually on for about 7 hours a day. The tank is opposite to a window (on the opposite side of the room), though it doesn't let much light in.

 

[hinch]

vallis is probably just dying back while its settling in once it takes root though its a weed. only thing though is it doesn't like liquid carbon

 

[Calzone]

A number of things spring to mind - does the fertiliser contain NPK and or trace elements? What is your flow like (even though you dont have CO2 flow is still needed to optimise transfer of whatever CO2 is in the tank water and take away plant waste products). How big is the tank? 11W (power compact fluorescent?) is ok over a small tank - yours looks like 60litre or more. It looks bright enough to the eye having said that!

Could simply be the plants are adjusting. My vallis took literally months to get used to the tank, but when it did it went crazy on fairly low light, no CO2. My Echi bleheri, supposedly a basic plant, never took hold even with root feeding.
Also note that vallis will not like liquid carbon in my experience.

 

[Seagull]

vallis is probably just dying back while its settling in once it takes root though its a weed. only thing though is it doesn't like liquid carbon

Thanks for that. I have read that about vallis & liqud carbon, though I have also read that so long as you don't overdose you should be ok. I have also heard that different types of vallis take it better than others. I suppose I shall just have to wait and see. If it doesn't turn out too great, I can always just grow some more hygro to replace it, though of course I would like it to do well

 

[Seagull]

A number of things spring to mind - does the fertiliser contain NPK and or trace elements?

The King British doesn't specify exactly what it contains. I have tried looking on their website for further info, but to no avail. Perhaps I should email them sometime, see if I can get any info there.

What is your flow like (even though you dont have CO2 flow is still needed to optimise transfer of whatever CO2 is in the tank water and take away plant waste products).

Not sure if there's a way to test it, but the flow doesn't seem too bad. The plants don't sway in the movement, though when I origionally planted the tank and it became rather cloudy, it cleared up fairly quickly (if this is to do with flow).

How big is the tank? 11W (power compact fluorescent?) is ok over a small tank - yours looks like 60litre or more. It looks bright enough to the eye having said that!

The tank is only 28L, so not very big. It makes a nice home for my male betta and friends, though. The lighting is pretty bright in there!

Thanks for all the advice, it's been very helpful

 

[spyder]

Tank looks like an aquastart 320 and the light is 11 watts. I've got one of these still running in the garage. Very easy to grow hair algae with that light. Liquid carbon will help, it's not exactly low low light.

I would rotate the spray bar so it's parallel with the back wall and facing forward. 1cm under the surface will give the best flow.

 

[Seagull]

Tank looks like an aquastart 320 and the light is 11 watts. I've got one of these still running in the garage. Very easy to grow hair algae with that light. Liquid carbon will help, it's not exactly low low light.

I would rotate the spray bar so it's parallel with the back wall and facing forward. 1cm under the surface will give the best flow.

Yeah, it is an AquaStart 320. Might I ask what you have in yours?

Thanks for all the advice. I've had little experience with hair algae in the tank but I've had plenty BBA and diatom algae before. That was mainly before I introduced live plants, though. I've currently just got a bit of brush algae. I think I had hair algae on the silk plants, I'll watch out for it.
Thanks for the tip with the filter, however I'm unable to rotate the spray bar like that as my heater is in the way. My betta doesn't seem to like the flow produced with the spray bar underwater though, it seems a little strong for him. The picture shows the spray bar in it's current position, facing the side of the tank around 1cm under the surface, is this ok? Any way of increasing flow but not so that it's not too much for my betta?

 

[spyder]

Your stuck between a rock and a hard place with your betta/flow situation. Pointing the spraybar in the way you have will not give a good flow around the aquarium. It's getting diffused by the side your aiming it at then just fizzling out.

I have 6 CPD's and a couple of Oto's in mine.

 

[Seagull]

CPD's are nice, saw some in an LFS a few weeks ago. Managed to grow any plants nicely? Ferts/CO2? Just wondering for ideas

Would pointing the spray bar more towards the bottom of the tank be better?