Quote:
Originally Posted by plantblr
I got 2 x 65 watts CFL daylight bulbs & fitted them in.I think the light part is taken care of now  .
Now,as the light has increased, I need to plant some fast growing plants to avoid a algae bloom in the tank.Could you please suggest some plants for plain substrate with Laterite paste injected in it with 10hrs of lighting a day & Aquanutramin(Micronutrients) & Aquaferomin(Iron) once a week during 25% water change.
Thanks,
Ravi |
Your new lighting source sounds good. However, I wouldn't use that much lighting until I had a large assortment of fast-growing plants ready to plant. For a 50 gal, I would definitely recommend
Echinodorus bleheri (Amazon Sword) and
E. major (Rufffled Swordplant). But you will need many other species.
With that much light and weekly feeding of micronutrients, I suspect your tank will be vulnerable to algae. Thus, I would make an effort to get floating plants (frogbit, duckweed, or watersprite. If you are adding micronutrients weekly, then they should do well, but you need to increase the daylength to 12-13 hr. I've got all my tanks on a 14 hr day, but with a 4 hr afternoon siesta. That way, I'm getting good Water Sprite growth, saving electricity, and not heating up the water.
I'm not crazy about your substrate-- gravel injected with laterite paste. It might work, though, if you get enough of the right plants that like the temperature and water conditions in your tank.
Its a waste of time to recommend specific plants. For example, Elodea is a superbly fast-grower, but if you're running your tank at 80F or have a little copper in the water, it may quickly "kick the bucket". My advice has always been to start out with as many plants and different species as possible. There's no way to predict which ones will do well in your particular set up.
For example, I just reset up my 50 gal a few weeks ago with about 16 different plant species. The
Cryptocoryne cordata var blassi, a somewhat difficult species, is growing like crazy whereas the
Ludwigia arcuata, which was continuously overtaking another hobbyist's tank, has completely crashed [I threw it out when it started decomposing in the tank]. Meanwhile, the Riccia that came as a contaminant with the other plants is growing "full-steam". The two baby Ozelot swords, which didn't even have roots, are putting out big leaves and looking really nice.
To get all these plants for my aquarium, I invited fellow plant enthusiasts to come over. We visited, ate well, and traded plants. We've been doing this for years. It's a fun way to get plants.
Re: Advice on tank with plain substrate
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