fleshgear

i am using pps pro method on 10 planted tanks, varing sizes, lighting, c02. some tanks are heavily planted and some lightly. most of the tanks seem fine. but my one 45 gallon tank with 2-4 watts per gallon depending on how much i turn on, mostly 2 watts per gallon with a new coralife 6700k cfl. i have a 4 liter diy c02 being diffused into the canister filter. in this tank i have a very large echinodorus rose plant. i recently moved it within this tank. i also did a heavy trim of this plant, removing the dying leaves. this plant has always had holes in the leaves. since the move the plant has sent out a flower spike about 4 feet long and still growing. some of the new leaves are almost 3ft long. this is the biggest i have ever seen the leaves. some of the new leaves are twice the size of the older ones. i thought it was my bn pleco that was making the holes. but i removed him and the leaves are still there. i have read that clown loaches will eat holes in the leaves. i have 1 4" clown loach and 2 5" yoyo loaches. i was reading about nutrients deficiency and think the holes could be caused by a potassium and or nitrogen deficiency. i have also noticed very small holes in my crypt wendtii leaves. i also have some plant tabs under the E. rose i have large sword plants in other tanks, one of them being an E. diamond 2ft high. it seems fine. the older leaves do die off sooner than i think they should. but i dont know. can i just add some KN03 to this tank? i dont have test kits for potassium or nitrogen. this tank is medium planted, i dont have any fast growing stem plants in there, mostly cryptocorynes, anubias, crinum java ferns, the fastest growing plant is the E. rose. i should also mention that i almost never follow the recommended schedule for fertilizing, i regularly miss days. but i try not too.

what is a wellfed substrate? i am sure that the topsoil that i have in some of the pots has nutrition for the plants, but the rockwool is used only as a way to hold the roots and get the water to the roots.

i rarely vacuum the gravel on the planted tanks, more like never unless something happens to the tank like if water quality goes down. then i check for hidden dead fish and if i cant find that i will vacuum the gravel. maybe it get done once a year. other wise i just suck up the dead plant leaves that are on top of the gravel. when i do vacuum the gravel it appears to be very dirty, but that is all that goodness that the plants like.

12 watts per gallon seems a little high

i have a few that i am unsure of this first one is about 4 inches high, been growing in my tank for about a year i think. underside of leaf top of leaf second plant, stays small about 2-3 inches high max. leaf itself is only about 1 inch long and 1/4 to 3/8 wide. looks similar to parva, but larger also trying to figure out what the other plant in the pic is, the bushy one on the right same plant just zoomed out a little thrid plant, is about 12 inches high leaf is about 3- 4 inches long. has a long stem as you can see, bright green the one in the front is the one i am trying to figure out, the one in the back is an E. Ozelot

i have recently started an emersed setup, and like my fish tanks the setup is mutiplying within a month i now have 3 setups. i have 2 in those plant starter trays with a high dome and 1 is in a 15 gallon tall tank with a glass top i have a dual 48" T8 light above the setups. Most of the plants are planted in a pot with rockwool for the substrate. i have also started trying potting soil for a few. for fertilizers i am using the recommended ferts for a hydroponic setup, with the exclusion of a few of the really expensive ones that are not really important. i change the water once a week with new water/fert mix. the ph is 6.0 There is about 1/2 inch of water in each setup. With the lids on, the humidity stay around 80% the plants that i am trying are... a few types of echinodorus, a few types of anubias, java fern, a few types of cryptocorynes, pogostemon helfri, ludwigia, bacopa, and some of the pots i surround the top with java moss (for appearance) so far most of the plants are growing great, especially the anubias, crypts, java fern, java moss, i am hoping that i can get these to flower. here is the ferts that i am using

Ludwigia repens is an easy plant that when healthy it will turn red.it is also common and easy to find. Petsmart has it most of the time. An ozelot sword is a nice looking, fairly easy plant to grow. Sometimes not that easy to find. Most red plants need ferts to stay red. Mostly iron. But they would grow better with all of the proper ferts. Also if you buy a sword plant from a pet store they are usually grown above water. So when you put them under water they will loose the leaves that are grown above water. And new leaves will grow. So don't get discouraged if the leaves on your sword plants die within a few weeks of getting it Also a E. Rose can fill up a 29 gallon tank. They can be 2 feet high and cover 2 sq feet

you need to get that witnessed! i got some of my paper work together and also need to get some stuff witnessed. also, you should post a pic so we can all see

that was one month before i joined the cas and i missed it. that was one thing that i wish i would have seen. i have seen your finished product and really liked it. i would also like to know how to do that or where the link is to that article. was it in the cas magazine? what month?

i have read about using hydrogen peroxide. i read it works good, but can also kill some plants completely. and killed the leaves on others, the plant grew back fine. and had no affect on other plants just the algae. also read that i can kill fish as well. not sure on the dosage. what i read they dosed right in the tank. maybe a peroxide bath would be better for some plants. like anubias and crypts. i have never tried it, but i am looking at some black hair algae now and think i might give it a try.

i have 60 ish cardinals in a 45 gallon medium planted tank along with too many guppies to count. and they are all fine, i dont even need to change the water very often. it has been 3-4 months with out a water change, only top ups also, all the fish are fine from the tfd order, except for one, the male L168 died. so i am in for another order, i need more of those plecos. and maybe some more cories. you can never have enough cories

i am in for that

about $45 if you use the pps pro method. and i have 10 planted tanks and all the ferts would last for probably 2 years except the trace which cost the most. it was $20 for a sandwich bag. and it would last 4-6 months if you had only 1 tank about 50 gallons it would probably last for a few years

the ge silicone 1 i think it says not for aquarium use. or not for under water, something like that but not sure.. it is safe, they just put it on there for there own protection. just make sure you get ge silicone 1 doors and windows, not bath and sink, bath and sink is bad. it has some sort of anti fugus or anti mold stuff in it which is bad. also, silicone 2 is not the right stuff. make sure that the silicone is dry for 24 hours before you put it in the tank. also while siliconing you should not even be near your aquarium because of the amonia or something that comes from the uncured silicone. also should be in a well ventilated area. it will stink. and the fumes are bad for you, i think you would have to be working with the uncured silicone for years for it too be bad for you.

i use about 35-40 ml per solution a day, if i remember to do it and i tried mixing 500 ml of the trace and i had to throw half of it out because it went moldy. i tried making 250 ml but this time i used distilled water. i only had to throw out maybe 30 ml. this time i made 250ml with distilled water and i am keeping it in the fridge to see how that works. it also says in the guide to add the ferts an hour before the lights come on. i dont do this. i put it in when ever i remember. sometimes just before i turn the lights off at night or sometimes when i get home from work. i have not seen any problems with this yet.

i am using the pps pro method, so far i think it is pretty good, the part i like about it is that i dont need to change the water every week if i dont want too. a few of my tanks will go a month or more without a water change. i only top them up every couple of weeks. the water stays very clean the fish are all healthy. they are a medium to heavy planted tank with probably more fish than recommended. with the pps pro, there is two soulutions to make up. i make 250ml at a time of each. the first soulution needs 15 grams of k2s04 16 grams of kn03 1 gram of kh2p04 10 grams of mgs04 (Epsom salt) the second solution is 20 grams of trace element mix there is a pps pro solution calculator for mixing different amounts of water but i couldn't find it. if you pm me your email i could send it too you. or it is probably somewhere on the net. i got all these dry ferts from that store. everything grows on Edmonton trail, except the Epsom salt. i got that from walmart and all of them combined cost $45 i think i dont have a scale to measure out the grams, so i checked out a conversion chart for grams to ml, for the most part the are pretty much the same so i add 15ml of k2s04, and so on i am not sure what method that you can do with the ferts that you have.

i read that too much organic material is bad. how is your tank working out now?

i have been doing some reading about using soil under the gravel and would like to try it out and see what happens. i was thinking about trying it in a 10 gallon tank to start. i read that Miracle Grow Organic Choice Potting Mix works good. any other suggestions? i prefer the cheaper methods.

almost 1.5" wide and 32" long it is not cryptocoryne balansae

i seen a pic of that and the under side of the leaves has some redish on it, mine has none. although in my pic the under side of the one leaf does look redish, but it is not

also found a pic of this Cryptocoryne aponogetifolia it kinda looks like it as well as for the Cryptocoryne usteriana the edges of my leaves dont look as wrinkly as the pics i bought this plant at the edmonton auction this spring probably 10-15 plants in the bag, just dont remember the name

i think cryptocoryne hudoroi but i am not sure some of the plants are 32" high and the leaves are almost 1.5" wide

i was wondering if anyone knew of any good forums dedicated only to aquarium plants? i was checking out plantgeek .net It looks alright

are these the ones you got from the group order from columbia?

have they moved already? where is it? or where will it be?