Plants 101

[Garhan]

We are very fortunate to have the water quality we have here in Edmonton. Especially for those interested in growing aquatic plants. Most flora available today will grow extremely well in our tap water with minor tweaking of the nutrients in the water,and this is depending on plant density. The main thing we need to be careful of is to not run short on fertilizer intake for the plants on a dailey or bi-dailey bases. Especially the Potassium ans Nitrate intake.

Edmonton water consists of the following parameters (June ,2005):

Rossdale Zone

Hardness-183 mg/l

Calcium Hardness - 114 mg/l

ph-7.6

Conductivity-438 micro siemens

Fe.003 mg/l

Potassium (K)-.7 mg/l

Nitrates - .15 mg/l

All in all this is excellent water to grow your plants in, but there needs to be some minor upgrading to target levels that would optimize the plant growth requirements.

The targets I use now are simple to maintain and will result in a virtually algae free tank. Some algae are good indicaters that you are close to the target area. Such as Hair Algae, while others will indicate a significant shortage in a target level. "Yes" a shortgae not an overdosage. Contrar to popular belief. Your plants need to work at maximum capacity to keep algae from developing.The primary water conditions that need to be followed are the listed below:

ph,KH, N03,GH,FE (Iron), P04 (Phosphate), and Potassium (K)

When introducing fertilization into the tank of any size the parameters or targets are still constant. Meaning in a 10 gallon tank or a 300 gallon tank we want the water colum to carry the same values. While the volume of dosage will vary to meet these target. I am sure you can do the math easily with a calculator and having a good understanding of your fertilizers of choice. This is wether store bought (premixed) or home made brews such as the ones I use myself.

Target levels are as follows;

ph 6.5 to 7.0

KH 3-6 degrees

GH 2-8 degrees

N03 5-10 ppm

Potassium (K) 20-30 ppm

phosphate (P04) .2-.5 ppm

Iron (FE) .2-.7 ppm, just keep it under 1.0 and over is OK but will be a waste of product.

The 2 or 3 targets I usually focus in on are NO3, K and suffient C02. (Use ph and KH to develope targeted amounts 20-30 ppm of C02).

ph can be adjusted with a C02 system wether it is DIY or a Pressureized system. DIY work just fine on tanks of 50 gallons or smaller.

KH can be inexpensively adjusted with Baking Soda to raise the KH.

GH can be raised with CaC03 as can it raise KH.

N03 will need to be added in the form of Potassium Nitrate (KN03) or with fish load and feeding on established tanks.

Potassium (K) will come from KN03 and K2S04 (Potassium Sulfate) this needs to be monitored carefully to find a balance in your specific tank to meet both the potassium and Nitrate levels need.

Phosphate (P04) is fullfilled with the addition of K2P04 (Potassium Phosphate0 or fish food.

If any of the recommended targets are exceeded then simply do a 25-50% water change to lower the levels down. The additional things you will need to have a good planted tank is proper temperature. here target a level 76-78 degrees, but you can grow plants well between 68 and 84 degrees.

Your water flow is also critical but there should belittle to no surface turbulance. What is meant by this is the surface tension should not be broken as to allow a mixing of 02 into the tank water. This surface disturbance will also knock out your C02 that you have introduced. The rule of thumb is 3 to 5 times the tank volume in circulated gallons. So then in a 50 gallon a 150 to 250 gallons of water should be circulated. If your filter does not do this for you. You can introduce a small bilge pump (submersible) from Princess Auto that will circulate 200 gph. By adding a valve to the pump with section of 1/2" hose and a valve the flow can be adjusted to reduce the output. Cost is $10.00 when on sale.

With lights target anything between 2-5 watts per gallon with bulbs that produce 4400-6700 K Full Spectrum or daylight deluxe glow. All plants will do Ok to very well under this light condition. Some will grow slower under the lower light condition of 2 watts, but they will grow.

If all the recommended paramaters and targets are met, you will only have minor mishaps with algae and plant growth. As you can see the target allow for much room to error somewhat and even from the target levels there is still room to error alittle more.

You need only the lights, C02 and proper nutrients to grow any plant.

Garhan

Edited November 11, 2005 by Garhan

[Garhan]

The targets in the previous post where met in this 150 gallon tank and as a result the plants grew very large. Often they where constantly flowering out.

Garhan

[Garhan]

22" Tall Sword plant after 30 leaves where removed.

[Garhan]

24 inches of Aponogeton ulvaseous complete with flowering stems

[Garhan]

Here is a before shot of the tank. Before refers to change in fertilzation program.