Joined
·
6,409 Posts
hey everyone, i just found this site b/c i was browsing through google looking for aquascaping ideas. its great so far! now to my predicament! for the past few months i have been experimenting with co2/high lighting, ferts, substrates and different plants but i am not satisfied with the results i get. i have several tanks that can be used (if needs be) to bolster my main display tank of a whopping (lol) 55gals. the stats on my tank now stand at 190watts of light made up by 1 power compact strip consisting of 2 actinite blue bulbs (55watts each), and a double fluorescent strip from home depot its loaded with one 50/50 bulb and another one at 5000k. i use DIY co2 with yeast and i have an assortment of chemicals from kent and from the internet (k2so4, kno3, fleet enema etc...). my pH is 7.0 and i believe i have well water so the mineral content is pretty high (17 drops which i think works out to... around 300ppm).
i am really confused at the moment though as to why my plants are NOT growing like they do in Tom's tanks or the dutch AQ's. my plants usually live and grow really fast but they are not bushy and the shapes of the leaves seem to change from when i buy them in the store to when they have been growing in my tank for awhile. to be more specific, plants like anacharis and other fast stem growing plants seem to grow so fast that the gaps between each leaf on the stem get larger and larger - this makes the plant look very stringy and not at all lush. another strangity i have noticed is... the leaves on this sort of plant and on various others seem to go from being nice and round to very needle-like and they thin out. other then these problems my plants are growing fairly well. i would love some advice on the "ideal" conditions that plants want. i really want to have an aquarium with amazing plants like you see in magazines!! i want to fill in the gaps and make my bare-ish tank look like a jungle. if it helps i would like information on the ideal lighting temps/setup, the best ferts to use, an explanation as to what is wrong with my thinning plants, substrate info and anything else you can help me with!
i am so pleased i found this site b/c almost no one on badman's forums knows anything about plants
thanks in advance! - Michael
i am really confused at the moment though as to why my plants are NOT growing like they do in Tom's tanks or the dutch AQ's. my plants usually live and grow really fast but they are not bushy and the shapes of the leaves seem to change from when i buy them in the store to when they have been growing in my tank for awhile. to be more specific, plants like anacharis and other fast stem growing plants seem to grow so fast that the gaps between each leaf on the stem get larger and larger - this makes the plant look very stringy and not at all lush. another strangity i have noticed is... the leaves on this sort of plant and on various others seem to go from being nice and round to very needle-like and they thin out. other then these problems my plants are growing fairly well. i would love some advice on the "ideal" conditions that plants want. i really want to have an aquarium with amazing plants like you see in magazines!! i want to fill in the gaps and make my bare-ish tank look like a jungle. if it helps i would like information on the ideal lighting temps/setup, the best ferts to use, an explanation as to what is wrong with my thinning plants, substrate info and anything else you can help me with!
i am so pleased i found this site b/c almost no one on badman's forums knows anything about plants
thanks in advance! - Michael