what exactly do freshwater plants do?
- Thread starter iamurri33
- Start date
larrypueblo
Member
they consme co2 nutrients phoshates etc produce oxagen and out compete alge that a verey brief expl
It's certainly possible to keep live plants with discus, but you do have to watch what your doing. Discus require very warm water. Make sure plants you get can take the temps involved.
However, unless you have a lot of experience with discus and plants, you might be better off choosing one or the other.
However, unless you have a lot of experience with discus and plants, you might be better off choosing one or the other.
Doogle
Well-Known Member
Sure I wouldn't do a discus tank without live plants.
Its really more the low PH, and hardness of the water as most plants that can handle 72-80* can handle 78-84* that discus prefer.
Just pick plants that are from water that is soft/acidic water. Amazon swords (echinadoris) and plants like that are great. Even Anubis are extremely easy and hardy and can handle a lot of different water types.
Cryptocorns , swords, Anubis are good starter plants and don't require Co2, as much as I wanted a grass-like carpet I couldn't get myself to get into it any deeper (co2) as I was already heading into saltwater by then.
"Simple" planted tanks are very beautiful and don't require as much care as saltwater.
Its really more the low PH, and hardness of the water as most plants that can handle 72-80* can handle 78-84* that discus prefer.
Just pick plants that are from water that is soft/acidic water. Amazon swords (echinadoris) and plants like that are great. Even Anubis are extremely easy and hardy and can handle a lot of different water types.
Cryptocorns , swords, Anubis are good starter plants and don't require Co2, as much as I wanted a grass-like carpet I couldn't get myself to get into it any deeper (co2) as I was already heading into saltwater by then.
"Simple" planted tanks are very beautiful and don't require as much care as saltwater.
I have flowering plants in my fw set up which makes it more fun, imo.
Doogle
Well-Known Member
Ya my planted freshwater tank is by far my cleanest tank, even though it can have a ton of algae and the water can smell horrible from rotted plant material decomposing in the substrate. P....U....
Other than that my nitrates are always 0 and I sometimes take a TDS meter to my freshwater tanks and my planted tank is always just barely over the TDS of the water I put in the tank, even after severe neglect...my attention has been on saltwater a lot lately.
Other than that my nitrates are always 0 and I sometimes take a TDS meter to my freshwater tanks and my planted tank is always just barely over the TDS of the water I put in the tank, even after severe neglect...my attention has been on saltwater a lot lately.
If your doing everything just right, you shouldn't have too much of an algae issue in a planted tank. The tricks are to use a lot of plants, good lighting and good nutrients. In my own 90 gal planted tank I tend to keep my nitrate level about 15 ppm. I also maintain a phosphate level also, and use other basic ferts. Yes, I know adding nitrated and phosphates to a tank seems very wrong when you are use to dealing with a reef system, but the balance of everything lets the plants out compete the algae.
By the way, if you are going to use ferts, it's a lot less expensive to go with dry ones, and mix your own stock solutions. Here is one source (offsite) - Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , , , , Planted Aquarium Fertilizer - , , Note that the dry stuff ranges in price from about $3 to about $15 a pound. It's a bargain and will give you much better results than the bottles sold in your LFS. Note also that these bottles are often incomplete, so they don't aid plants that much.
I also run pressurized CO2 and high lighting (by planted tank standards) on the tank, which the plants love. This is an expensive option, but easy once you got all the parts. Also, with a few extra parts, you can also have that CO2 source for that calcium reactor you always wanted.
Doogle
Well-Known Member
I use tap water for my freshwater tanks and this tank is in front of a southern window, I've always battled algae on the glass and plants. I have substrate made for plants and I think thats where part of the problem is too. Using 4 t5 and/or a 150w HQI isn't helping either.lol it was still bad when using 2 t5ho.
I now only turn either light on for 4-5 hours to try and keep the algae to a controllable amount. Using any fertz is a bad idea in my case.... Fish poop is plenty for me.
At night I was having a lack of aeration or oxygen and had to add an air stone to keep the fish from gasping air at the surface.
SantaMonicaHelp
RS Sponsor
Try to move the tank out of natural sunlight. I think that will help reduce the algae.
I see a few possible areas you should check out.
You may want to block the light coming off the window. You can paint the back and sides or just put something over them to block the light.
You have WAY too much light for a planted tank. Yes, I know by reef standards, it would be low light, but I'd try running 1 or 2 T5's at least until you get the algae under control.
This is also going to sound counter intuitive, but fish wast products alone will not do it. Yes, you'll get nitrates and phosphates, but plants need a balance. I usually test nitrates and phosphates and add with I need to get nitrates to about 15 ppm and phosphates to 2 ppm. I'll dose potassium at the same rate as nitrate. In addition micro nutrients should be added. This is typically don by use CSM-B. This is far more complete compared than the typical LFS stuff.
If you have plants that get a lot of nutrients from their root systems, such as amazon swords, you'll also need to use some type of root tabs made for aquarium use.
Plants need all that stuff for good growth. There are several ways to douse ferts. Getting into all that is a bit beyond what I can easily post here.
If fish are gasping, you need to increase flow in the tank. Airstones help, but there is nothing like a powerhead. Don't go too grazy with circulation in a FW planted tank, since you don't want to off gas all your CO2.
While a lot of people consider this over kill, I use RO/DI water in my planted tank. Before use I use a GH and a KH booster to get to the levels I want. I found I got better results that way. I suspect it was because the GH an KH were in a bit better balance. I also might be removing some other pollutant.
Naturally water changes are highly recommended. Some planted tank people will change 50% or the water per week. That's way too much work for me though.
BLADEYAMAHA
Well-Known Member
A pain in my rear is what they are to me, I don't need unnecessary equipment to keep plants, IMO.
I guess that depends upon what you would consider to be "unnecessary equipment". Just like you can keep a reef with out a skimmer or various reactors or a refugium, you can keep a planted tank with out much equipment. However, that additional equipment will give you much better results, and in some cases allow you to keep plants that would be extremely difficult otherwise.
I've kept planted tanks for years. For many of them, I felt that I didn't need all that hight tech gear. My tank looked good the old way, but setting it up as a high tech tank moved it to a new level. It now looks fantastic. To me, is the same sort of difference you see between a SW FOWLR and a reef loaded with SPS corals and clams along with the fish.
Perfectly stated, Dave.
Doogle
Well-Known Member
The thing about the super awesome freshy planted tanks like the "Amano" style tanks you see is they most of them are not setup to be long term tanks, they are usually created with a specific short term purpose....like competition.
Plants grow very fast and they do take a lot of work to keep them looking good and not entangled and overgrown. As much work is needed with them as reef tanks, it takes a lot of dedication and proper plants and placement to make a good long term planted tank.
Props to all planted tankers out there!
Plants grow very fast and they do take a lot of work to keep them looking good and not entangled and overgrown. As much work is needed with them as reef tanks, it takes a lot of dedication and proper plants and placement to make a good long term planted tank.
Props to all planted tankers out there!