Hello From Denmark

LadyDay

New Member
Aug 30, 2019
16
4
3
37
Denmark
Hello everybody.
My name is Christina, but I use 'LadyDay' in homage to my idol Billie Holiday.
I've been keeping a 325 liter (86 us gallons) aquarium for a good few years. I've been unsuccessfully trying to keep plants the whole time, but they've always died a slow and painful death. Now I've just re-planted the tank, pulling out all the old, algae covered, half dead plants and replaced them with beautiful new ones and I'm determined to keep them alive and happy this time!
I am for the first time embarking on the adventure of pressurized CO2 and EI fertilizers, while planning on continuing with low light and 'easy' plants. I hope this will work out and that you more experienced people will be willing to help when I inevitably run into problems or just need help figuring out this whole fertilization thing.
Thank you for having me. I look forward to getting to know you all.
 

TDot

New Member
Jun 25, 2019
6
0
1
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Hello everybody.
My name is Christina, but I use 'LadyDay' in homage to my idol Billie Holiday.
I've been keeping a 325 liter (86 us gallons) aquarium for a good few years. I've been unsuccessfully trying to keep plants the whole time, but they've always died a slow and painful death. Now I've just re-planted the tank, pulling out all the old, algae covered, half dead plants and replaced them with beautiful new ones and I'm determined to keep them alive and happy this time!
I am for the first time embarking on the adventure of pressurized CO2 and EI fertilizers, while planning on continuing with low light and 'easy' plants. I hope this will work out and that you more experienced people will be willing to help when I inevitably run into problems or just need help figuring out this whole fertilization thing.
Thank you for having me. I look forward to getting to know you all.
What kind of substrate are you using and what kind of light do you have? Good substrate helps, but adding nutrition to the substrate is key. If you have gravel or sand you need to add root tabs, especially stem plants will thrive. But, if you do not have a good light your plants will not be able to synthesize. Let us know what you have and how deep yo
Hello everybody.
My name is Christina, but I use 'LadyDay' in homage to my idol Billie Holiday.
I've been keeping a 325 liter (86 us gallons) aquarium for a good few years. I've been unsuccessfully trying to keep plants the whole time, but they've always died a slow and painful death. Now I've just re-planted the tank, pulling out all the old, algae covered, half dead plants and replaced them with beautiful new ones and I'm determined to keep them alive and happy this time!
I am for the first time embarking on the adventure of pressurized CO2 and EI fertilizers, while planning on continuing with low light and 'easy' plants. I hope this will work out and that you more experienced people will be willing to help when I inevitably run into problems or just need help figuring out this whole fertilization thing.
Thank you for having me. I look forward to getting to know you all.


Hello from Canada,

CO2 may or may not be your answer. 2 things are required for healthy plants, one is a good substrate or root tabs, the second is good lighting. Most substrates are inert, meaning they do not have nutrients in the soil. You can add the nutrients to the soils (sand or gravel) by adding root tabs. However, the better the substrate the better your chances. ADA amazonian soil is by far the best (hard to find here, not sure in Denmark). Second factor is lighting. If your tanks is deep it will require a strong light to reach the bottom (in order for plants to experience photosynthesis). Just like your garden, some plants require more light then others. Let us know what you have and I'm sure we could create some 'hygge' in you tank.
 

LadyDay

New Member
Aug 30, 2019
16
4
3
37
Denmark
What kind of substrate are you using and what kind of light do you have? Good substrate helps, but adding nutrition to the substrate is key. If you have gravel or sand you need to add root tabs, especially stem plants will thrive. But, if you do not have a good light your plants will not be able to synthesize. Let us know what you have and how deep yo



Hello from Canada,

CO2 may or may not be your answer. 2 things are required for healthy plants, one is a good substrate or root tabs, the second is good lighting. Most substrates are inert, meaning they do not have nutrients in the soil. You can add the nutrients to the soils (sand or gravel) by adding root tabs. However, the better the substrate the better your chances. ADA amazonian soil is by far the best (hard to find here, not sure in Denmark). Second factor is lighting. If your tanks is deep it will require a strong light to reach the bottom (in order for plants to experience photosynthesis). Just like your garden, some plants require more light then others. Let us know what you have and I'm sure we could create some 'hygge' in you tank.

Hi TDot.
Thanks for offering advice! I need it!
My substrate is coarse sand (grain size 2-3 mm), so completely inert. I've added root tabs from Tropica. I don't know if they'll do the trick?
I definitely don't have super light, it's low light (I have two of these LED lights in the 1100 mm version: https://www.akvastabil.dk/en/lighting/leds 72 Watts). I would very much love to get better light, but have a few obstacles. I don't know if other lights can be mounted in my hood (https://www.akvastabil.dk/en/effect-line-lighting It's an Akvastabil Effect-Line Mark II aquarium. Unfortunately it's been discontinued, so I can't even get more of the same lights.) and it's expensive (I definitely prefer LED a lot!), my boyfriend is also not in support of new lights, because of the price, he thinks what e have is good enough. If you have a suggestion for better light, that can fit my aquarium (130x50x50 cm) and isn't really super expensive I would love to hear! I need the top on the aquarium by the way or my hatchet fish will jump out (it's already happened when I left the lid open. Oops! The fish was fine fortunately.)
I've picked plants that were marked easy. I have:
Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow'
Echinodorus 'Reni'
Cryptocoryne x willisii
Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B'
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii'
Hygrophila difformis
Hygrophila siamensis
Elodea
I think I saw a bit of pearling from the Hygrophila siamensis yesterday, but it could probably also have been the CO2 bubbles.
I hope you guys can help me keep a pretty tank! I really, really want to keep live plants! That's definitely 'hyggeligt'! :D
 
Last edited:

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
Administrator
Jan 23, 2005
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Hi TDot.
Thanks for offering advice! I need it!
My substrate is coarse sand (grain size 2-3 mm), so completely inert. I've added root tabs from Tropica. I don't know if they'll do the trick?
I definitely don't have super light, it's low light (I have two of these LED lights in the 1100 mm version: https://www.akvastabil.dk/en/lighting/leds 72 Watts). I would very much love to get better light, but have a few obstacles. I don't know if other lights can be mounted in my hood (https://www.akvastabil.dk/en/effect-line-lighting It's an Akvastabil Effect-Line Mark II aquarium. Unfortunately it's been discontinued, so I can't even get more of the same lights.) and it's expensive (I definitely prefer LED a lot!), my boyfriend is also not in support of new lights, because of the price, he thinks what e have is good enough. If you have a suggestion for better light, that can fit my aquarium (130x50x50 cm) and isn't really super expensive I would love to hear! I need the top on the aquarium by the way or my hatchet fish will jump out (it's already happened when I left the lid open. Oops! The fish was fine fortunately.)
I've picked plants that were marked easy. I have:
Microsorum pteropus 'Narrow'
Echinodorus 'Reni'
Cryptocoryne x willisii
Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B'
Cryptocoryne beckettii 'Petchii'
Hygrophila difformis
Hygrophila siamensis
Elodea
I think I saw a bit of pearling from the Hygrophila siamensis yesterday, but it could probably also have been the CO2 bubbles.
I hope you guys can help me keep a pretty tank! I really, really want to keep live plants! That's definitely 'hyggeligt'! :D

You might try the Tropica soil. They are there in Denmark. T5 FL lights work great and are cheap. LED's, many like them, but for planted tanks, they can be tougher to locate and more $$$. 100$ USD would buy plenty of light for this sized aquarium.
Soil will help a lot. Water column ferts work pretty well in conjunction with soil. the rest is mostly good general care, water changes, and CO2 is about 90% of the "fertilization". Focus there on CO2 mostly.
 
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LadyDay

New Member
Aug 30, 2019
16
4
3
37
Denmark
You might try the Tropica soil. They are there in Denmark. T5 FL lights work great and are cheap. LED's, many like them, but for planted tanks, they can be tougher to locate and more $$$. 100$ USD would buy plenty of light for this sized aquarium.
Soil will help a lot. Water column ferts work pretty well in conjunction with soil. the rest is mostly good general care, water changes, and CO2 is about 90% of the "fertilization". Focus there on CO2 mostly.

Thank you so much for the reply.
My plants aren't doing too well unfortunately, they are quite pale. They didn't get what they needed for a while when I first put them in (no macro fertilizer) and they haven't recovered. They also seem to have slowed down growing lately. So water column fertilizer, root tabs and CO2 isn't enough to get them to thrive.
My only problem with soil is that I'd have to empty out the whole tank to get it in, which is quite a project. I had the whole tank emptied not that long ago and I doubt I can get my boyfriend to help with doing that again any time soon! I was hoping to wait with that until we've bought a house and are moving anyway. If it's possible to keep "easy" plants happy without soil?
I will definitely consider T5 lights. Do you reckon two are enough? I don't have room for more in the hood. LED's are indeed costly.
The CO2 is bubbling away happily and the drop checker is turning green, so that should at least be under control.