whats going on with my plants?

[ptran]

Do you have to dose it at every water change?

[mnemenoi]

On low tech tanks (low to medium lighting) I suggest dosing every water change with Flourish, and Excel dosing daily/every other day following the suggestions on the bottle. It all depends on lighting and the plant load and selection. If its low light and only Anubias and Java every couple of days will be fine. If your running 3 wpg on the tank and keeping stems, its another animal completely and so you'll need to play with it to dial in your correct dosing schedule.

[amcgee2842]

I don't have it in front of me but its something like this, one cap full for 10 gallons for initial dose or after every water change greater than 40% then 1 cap full per 100 gallons every other day.

[ptran]

Dam, that's a lot of work! The alternative is load your tank up with more fish. They will produce more CO2 right?

[amcgee2842]

Dam, that's a lot of work! The alternative is load your tank up with more fish. They will produce more CO2 right?

Not sure how that works.

[mnemenoi]

They will produce more Nitrates for sure LOL. As to CO2, not so much. CO2 has a normal amount found in FW. Volume increases at night as plants release it. It falls throughout the day as plants utilize it. It also breaks out of the water very easily with almost any surface agitation. Many folks injecting CO2 stop filtration completely while injecting it or use canisters and set the outflow to cause minimal surface agitation. When dosing Excel, it is best to treat when the lights first come on. That way they can benefit most from the treatment and the carbon source, otherwise it is simply wasting the additive. Avoid any bubblers/airstones or a powerhead with an airline in a planted tank as these will drive out your CO2 very quickly. It eventually becomes a delicate balance as too much CO2 can kill things, while not enough can cause issues with plants. Atmospheric levels are far higher then that in water, so thus why plants essentially grow better as floaters or emergent growth. Usually CO2 is the limiting factor in plant growth and health. There are a few websites I can direct you to that help explain it a bit better, but it gets into some deeper chemistry

[ptran]

Thanks Roy. I will stay away from live plants for now lol

[amcgee2842]

I have the java fern roots planted in the sand bed would they be better of attached to a rock above the sand?

[ptran]

I have the java fern roots planted in the sand bed would they be better of attached to a rock above the sand?

Heard they do better when attach to something: rock or wood.

[originalhandy]

I have both, one is on rocks and the other isattached to wood, both are growing good

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2

[troy tucker]

Roy, Thank you. My plants are doing pretty good now. I killed every plant I had. Then started reading here. HFB.

[mnemenoi]

No problem Troy, always happy to help. Plants and planted tanks have a lot of tricks to learn and many stores know one aspect well and end up giving very scewed advice as do many sites. Each tank ends up being unique and why I try and explain the idea behind it and a good spot to start at and how to dial in your needs. Between high tech, low tech, medium tech, walstad method, dutch style, nature style they can really get complex fast. Should be doing a planted tank focused GHAC event in May so will try and get it posted as soon as we have a bit more info available.

[troy tucker]

You do put thing in to words I understand. I have always been a low tech guy with my fish. The plants are a challenge that I love. Your post about CO2 Let me know one thing I was still doing wrong but It's fixed now.
I'm going to try to make this month get together. I need too.

[mnemenoi]

Cool, it would be great to see you there! We have some folks caravaning from San Antonio who have been wanting to come since last yeras trip lol. Should be a great day of collecting and fun. CO2 can be a bit tricky, but its not impossible to get it all dialed in and set right. Just a lot of tricks and different ideas to try out and see which works for you.