Can't keep plants alive

[aquabillpers]

Re: Can't keep plants alive

I'd suggest that you not use carbon filtration. It will remove some of the nutrients that the plants need, and you would be introducing another variable.

That is a great point from Jim about the insecticide possibility! You might consider covering the aquarium with an airtight wrap for a few days after the spraying. That would introduce another variable, but worthwhile.

Why not buy a house and keep the bugs out?

Bill

 

[brwaldbaum]

Re: Can't keep plants alive

I've set up the non-CO2 tank suggested by Tom and the small, substrate-free tank suggested by Bill. While I wait for results, I was wondering if anyone can explain another strange phenomenon that seems to occur in my tank: I never get algae.

Well, that's an exaggeration. The extent of my algae encounters has been:

1) When pennywort dies in my tank, the leaves collect a mushy green algae; this algae doesn't infest the other dying plants.

2) When I made an effort last year to keep my plants alive by adding large amounts of Ca and Mg, I got a little brown algae which cleared up in about a week.

That's it. In fact, when I first started with plants, I had a 30 gallon packed full of anacharis to which I added a tbsp per week of Peter's All-Purpose 20-20-20 fertilizer, chock full of NH4 and urea. Never got green water. At one point, that same tank was packed full of dying plants under a 400Watt metal halide. A few fuzz balls of BBA growing on the substrate were the only un-welcomed guests.

Any ideas?

Brian

 

[aquabillpers]

Re: Can't keep plants alive

Well, Brian, maybe you don't grow much algae for the same reason that your other plants dont grow, whatever that is. I hope you solve this problem real soon.

Actually, Tom has said on many occasions that he can't grow algae even under conditions identical to those in which many of the rest of us can grow bountiful harvests of it. So you are in good company.

Bill

 

[colonel]

Re: Can't keep plants alive

Hey Brian, Just wanted to put this up to see if your still around and messing with planted tanks at all. The reason I ask is because a lot of the problems you are dealing with sound very similar to the same thing I am going through with my tank. I am wondering if you went through with any of those controlled expierments and were able to figure anything out. From everything that was covered it sort of seems like it could be possible that there was some how somthing contaminating the CO2 source causing plants... and algae for that matter to not grow.... just a thought possibly something I am going to look into if things dont turn around for my tank.

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: Can't keep plants alive

That's it. In fact, when I first started with plants, I had a 30 gallon packed full of anacharis to which I added a tbsp per week of Peter's All-Purpose 20-20-20 fertilizer, chock full of NH4 and urea. Never got green water. At one point, that same tank was packed full of dying plants under a 400Watt metal halide. A few fuzz balls of BBA growing on the substrate were the only un-welcomed guests.
Any ideas?

Brian

A tank packed full of Anacharis is pretty good at uptake. It's one of the fastest growing aquatic weeds out there and a very good bicarbonate user.

Why don't you see green water in lakes full of weeds?
Same reason. If you added hair grass or moss only to that same tank, you'd get algae.

NH4/urea will cause algae blooms if you add enough and have typical aquatic plants. Try it....well if you do not mind the Greenwater.

I have always been one to suggest folks try it themselves and prove things to themselves rather than take my word for it.

Most get the same result. If not, I work through to find where things deviated and then we go back and check it again.

Taking my word vs actually seeing it with your eyes is no competition, folks know and have seen it then.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[brwaldbaum]

Re: Can't keep plants alive

I did figure out was wrong; my plants weren't getting
the appropriate traces. In my previous attempts to grow plants, I had used, at one time or another, three different sources of traces: 2 different brands from hydroponics stores and Flourish. The trace mix in all three of these bottles was
almost black, with a lot of suspended matter and some white "tufts" (mold?). I just assumed that was the way trace mix was supposed to look. After trying some of the
experiments suggested and still seeing the plants die,
I was pretty sure I was done..until I met a former colleague of mine who lives just a few miles from me and is successfully growing plants in a cichlid tank, supplemented only with Flourish. But, the Flourish in his
bottle was much clearer and lighter in color than I remember any of my trace mixes looking. So, I tried plants yet again with a new bottle of Flourish...and they
are still alive and thriving after many months.

I hope you resolve your problem.

Brian