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Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V3 #1365
Kean wrote:
>I looked up the pics of Altenanthera
>reineckii/sessilis but I don't think it's the red
>plant that I have in my tank. My red plant is totally
>red in color, no green at all. Stems and leaves are
>all red. I'm really curious what species does it
>belong to.
How long/wide are the leaves, what arrangement etc?
Check those books!
>Yea, I added in Jobe's fern and palm sticks last week.
>I saw other plants started to grow fast. But nothing
>happens to the red one yet. I don't want to add too
>much fertilizer for now because I betetr try to
>control algaes in my tank. I've added a little bit of
>liquid iron too.
It might not had a chance to recover from the transfer shock but should
bounce back quite fast!
General tank health will certainly help the algae problem and the color.
>>Do a good water change and add some good fertilizer
>>such as Tropica MasterGrow afterwards and watch what
>>your plants do. Look into adding K2SO4and
>>KNO3 perhaps and Mg etc...............
>Yes, I do about 25% of water change every 3 days. I'm
>going to use PMDD. I have Mg(Epsom Salt) and KN03(tree
>stump remover) with me now. I still have to purcahse
>the trace elements mix and K2S04. Can I add in Mg and
>KN03 for now?
You'll be needing to test the water to get an idea what's happening.
NO3,PH,......(optional)Fe and perhaps P. I wouldn't add KNO3 unless you
either really know your tank or have a test kit to measure it. It can cause
algae problems unless you have a very healthy tank(Mr. Rubin's comes to mind
but he does lots of testing to get a good handle on what's going on. A good
idea and his work shows up in his great tank). I can get away with some
nasty NO3 levels but I do the big water change thing like you so nothing
gets out of hand because it's removed often so the tank stays pretty stable.
Your tank and the amount of water changes should give you a similar
flexibility. Try reading the (Sears/ Colin) article on algae. The Mg won't
hurt much but I'd wait till the algae problem is taken care of. That's the
biggest problem for the beginner(and the experts!) typically. Focus on
getting a handle on this problem.
>Sorry, I forgot to provide the spec for my tank. I
>have a 36"L X 18"W X 16"H 40 gallon tank. I use a 48"
>of shop lite on the top (80 watts total-one 40 w
>Philip's Daylight Deluxe and one 40 watt GE's Chroma
>50). As the shop lite is much longer than the tank,the
>light reaches the tank would be much less than 2 watts
>per gallon. But I've added another 20 watt GE's Chroma
>50 strip light recently. That's why I said that I have
>bout 2 watts per gallon. Is this enough light for my
>tank?
>
>The shop lite doesn't fit my tank well but it's the
>cheapest method for me. I think it's doing a great job
>too coz most of my plants are doing great.
Well, I have a very similar tank myself. It's a 40gallon long the same depth
but 48x13 and I've used both bulbs also. I have red Cabomba 3 inches in
diameter with great color using very close to the same set up. Try adding a
6500K bulb or a Triton etc. and mix up the colors some. I assure you it's
not the light but the balance of CO2/trace/macro and the general bacterial
health of your tank. Also, I understand, but get plants that are tough fast
growing to stop the algae instead of all the cool plants that you want. The
algae control should come first and after all's well then add the plants you
want. Your going to get it right and do well with plant tanks!
Regards,
Tom Barr