[spankyplants]

Hi everyone! I'm still kind of a newbie to planted tanks, and I was wondering what ideal water conditions for planted tanks are. I'm especially confused by nitrates and nitrites.

In case it's easier for people to critique on existing conditions here are the readings from my tanks:

46gal
pH - 7.8
GH - 11 (196.9 ppm)
KH - 8 (143.2 ppm)
Nitrate - 3 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Ammonia - 0 ppm

29gal
pH - 7.6
GH - 10 (179 ppm)
KH - 9 (161.1 ppm)
Nitrate - 3 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Ammonia - 0 ppm

Any and all suggestions are appreciated!

 

[SAWALLACE]

Well, for a more accurate answer, you should tell us what type of plants you want to keep. Water chemistry is important, but lighting is very important also. You might want to fill out the following:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=3921&highlight=template

What we recommend highly depends on what you want from your tank.

 

[trenac]

You want to keep nitrates at 10ppm with phosphates at 0.4ppm or as close as you can get, just make sure to keep a 23/1 ratio.

Your Nitrites/Ammonia should always stay at 0 once the tank is cycled. You should not have a problem with the above staying at 0 in a planted tank, unless something really goes awry.

Nitrates are not harmful to fish unless they are extremly high, on the other hand nitrites are harmful to fish even in small amounts.

Your water is hard with a KH of 8/9, but that is really not a problem. Some plants do better in a softer water just like fish.

Since light is the most important factor in growing plants, what type light fixture/wattage do you have?

Also do you inject C02 or plan to?

 

[spankyplants]

Oh man, I can't believe I forgot to include my wpg and CO2...

The lighting over the 46gal is 110w, so about 2.4wpg. The lighting over the 29gal is 110w, so 3.8wpg.

I inject CO2 into the 46gal, but it's not enough. As soon as I get the cash, I'm going to order a kit from glass-gardens.com and hook it up. In the stead of CO2 injection, I dose Flourish Excel.

As far as ferts go, I have 6 different Flourish ferts that both tanks get: the Excel, Trace, Iron, Potassium, Nitrogen, and just plain Flourish. I would wager that the tanks are pretty well-fertilized.

As far as the plants I'm growing, the 29gal is an amazon-themed tank (except for the otos...). There are mostly swords in there. The 46gal is my lady betta tank, so I've been swinging it towards being an asian swamp. Java fern, hairgrass, wisteria (which isn't doing too hot...), crypts, and some lotus in there. I'm probably forgetting something...

Thanks for the help!

 

[trenac]

How are you injecting the C02 now? Which kit are you getting from Glass Gardens?

The 29G tank needs C02 with 3.8WPG.

Looks like you have the ferts covered.

 

[spankyplants]

Now I'm using a Hagen CO2 system on the 46gal. My long term goal is to get a big fancy CO2 system for both tanks, but I have no money to do so (gotta pay the bills!). So for now, I'm going to buy a nice one from glass-gardens for the 46gal and put the hagen system on the 29gal. I figure, it's better than nothing.

Well............. I just went back to glass-gardens.com and I can't find that kit that I saw like, two days ago. *sigh* I'm sure it will pop up on there again soon... the waiting begins.

 

[SAWALLACE]

You could try contacting glass-gardens or posting in their forum. Worth a try!

 

[trenac]

spanky... The hagan system works well on tanks under 20 gallons, this is way your not getting enough C02 into the water. The best thing to do is to use the Hagan ladder with DIY pop bottle C02 hook up, this way you can use one or two bottles hooked up to the ladder. Here is a link to build your own pressurized C02... http://sammyxp.tripod.com/html/id23.html