A plant question

[Lola]

Hi, I have a planted aquarium. My plants seem to be growing well but all along the stems of almost all the plants there are tons of roots growing. Does anyone know why this is happening?

[Tiptoptank]

When you plant your stem plants plant like 3 inchs of them into the substrat.
You plants are looking for nutrents and, not finding them in the ground so they are sending out runners to gather nuitrents. What kinda of substrate do you have?

[Don_Lee]

I do not believe that roots coming from stem plants are an indication of a problem, perhaps if you were seeing poor growth or miscolored leaves etc... then I would be concerned. You can trim off areas that are rooted and replant, or give them to friends or fellow hobbyists too.

Don

[Tiptoptank]

I agree on it being harmless, but it is alittle unsightly. you can trim them or just let them grow like that or try putting a fert stick under the stem plants. www.floridadriftwood.com

[Lola]

Thanks everyone for answering. This plant thing is all new to me. I still don't have it all straight in my head. My substrate is a mixture I bought that's supposed to be complete (Sera Floradepot), it seems to have peat in it , it fine and light. On top of that I have a porous pebble that's also very light (Aquayclay) and on top of that a mixture of quartz. The depth is about 4 inches. I have 4, 30 watt lights for plants (Azoosuperlight and Azoo tripower light), I'm not sure if that's enough light, I heard that I needed more but the discus don't seem to appreciate too much light. My tank is 1.2 meters long by 45cm wide by 60cm high. The roots do look ugly, I guess I'll do some pruning. I was thinking of starting with DIY CO2, would that be a good next step? What does it take to get a tank to look likte Eurogalex s tank from Spain? Lots of work and some play money I guess. ;) Thanks again.

[Tiptoptank]

I would say that you should up your light alittle, but I would not do this intill you have a proper co2 setup. WIth a tank your size I would only suggest a pressureized system. www.Aquariumplants.com has a good deal on jbj regulators and you can pick a co2 tank up at a local welding shop.

[Don_Lee]

It sounds like you are getting off to a good start, the substrate seems to be of good quality and well thought out. It may help to know the particulars of the rest of your setup, such as filtration etc. Also, it would help me at least to know the measurements of your tank in feet/inches, as well as know the volume in either liters or US gallons. What country are you in, if you don't mind my asking? I have just moved to the UK, and still cannot get my head around the conversions of the meters etc. Also-any fertlization use. The more you can tell us, the more we can help.
Do you plan on keeping fish in your aquarium too? If so, what types? I would definitely not rush out and buy a CO2 setup, if it were me I would take my time and see what I could do with what I had. I have roots coming off some hygros I have, I dont think they are unsightly, rather the look is natural to me. If nothing else, you can do some pruning and replant most likely.
To get to the level of Eurogalexs tank would be something I personally have not done, but I can say that it will take alot of time and money and knowledge. That is a beautiful tank that you can work towards, but try to be patient and realistic about it too. If you are not overgrown with algae and your plants are growing, you are off to a great start. Take it one step at a time, and I would strongly recommend not adding many things at once.

Don

[Spices]

Hi,

Quick question....

Is it necessary to install CO2 to every planted aquatic tank?

Is there an equivalent number of fish versus a CO2 tank that can supply a (let's say) 75 gallon tank with enough CO2?

I agree with Don Lee. Roots would not be growing out of its foundation if there were no nourishments to be found. You're doing wonderful when this kind of thing is happening. :thumbsup: to the aquatic-greenthumb

Thanks! *Ang*

[Don_Lee]

If you wish to have very delicate and difficult plants, and want as close to possible as "perfect" then you need CO2. On the other hand, I am quite happy with my tank w/o CO2, I have easy to grow hygro and amazon swords and they are doing well. I have used CO2 before, and may again, but only if I feel I have to. I think the idea that CO2 is mandatory with plants is an unfortunate myth.

Don

[Lola]

Hi everyone. You have all been helpful. Don I live in Chile. My tank is 288 litres, that's 76 gallons (man it sounds so much smaller in gallons), I use liquid fertilizer, complete without phosphates twice a week and extra potassium twice a week as well because I read that it helps with the algae battle. I don't have much algae but I prefer to keep it in check. I already have fish in the tank, the tank is actually about 6 months old, I have 7 discus and and assortment of other compatible fish like cardinals and rummynose tetras. I do water changes every other day, about 20%. Actually my plants are growing rapidly, I have some swords and a couple other species that I don't know what they're called but they are also doing well. But I was hoping to expand a little and I really like the look of that plant that covers the bottom of the tank like grass but I'm a bit wary with the cleanliness of the tank without being able to suction the gravel, what are your thoughts on that? Also I would probably need lots more light for that plant because of the height of my tank...almost 24 inches. Maybe I should get a good aquatic plant book....any suggestions? Thank you all again

[Howie_W]

But I was hoping to expand a little and I really like the look of that plant that covers the bottom of the tank like grass but I'm a bit wary with the cleanliness of the tank without being able to suction the gravel, what are your thoughts on that? Also I would probably need lots more light for that plant because of the height of my tank...almost 24 inches. Maybe I should get a good aquatic plant book....any suggestions? Thank you all again

Surface substrate plants are not difficult to clean around once their root systems become established.

What's important is that you have a deep enough layer of substrate for the various plants in your tank to avoid overcrowding of the roots as they grow. You can always pic a small section of open substrate in a front portion of your tank and see how the plants do.


Howie

[Don_Lee]

Hi Lola,

Great to have you here, from Chile no less! I am starting to understand litres a bit, as I have just moved to the UK and have a 180 litre Juwel tank.
You are obviously doing very well, congratulations! Howie makes a good point about the surface plants, I do not think they would hinder your cleaning efforts that much, I acually would just vacuum around them once they were rooted well. You may be able to keep some of the lower light surface plants for starters, or maybe settle for some surface plants like Anubia or Echinodorus Tenellus. There are some good plant books out there, I kind of like the Baensch Fish Atlas's b/c they have fish and plants, the pictures are not fancy but there is alot of good information. Tropica also has a very nice book, you can see it on their website, www.tropica.dk. I would recommend that site also because they have a large variety of very nice plant pictures.
Also-how much light do you have, and what type?

Great to have you here, keep on asking those questions!

Don

[Lola]

Howie- how much is a deep enough layer of substrate? I have about 4 inches. Don- thanks for the info on the books. With regards to light I have 4, 30 watt bulbs-two Azoo superlights and two tri power lights. I don't think I can add more light without changing my whole lighting system because there isn't enough room under the hood to install another strip of lights. I can get some compact power lights here but I would have to remove my present lighting fixtures and adjust them to the length of the compact power lights that have totally different lengths of bulbs compared to the other lights. Is it worth the changeover? There are a variety of 55watt power compacts, would I need 4 of those for my tank....by the way how do you calculate how many watts per gallan of light that you have in your tank? :)

[Don_Lee]

I am sure Howie would agree 4 inches is plenty deep enough of a substrate. Regarding the lighting, I would say if your plants are growing well why mess with a good thing? I would stick with what you have, maybe add some reflectors if you do not have any as that would really increase your light to the tank with little expense or hassle. Lighting in a planted tank is like anything else, you can go as far as your $ will take you.....you can have a Ford Focus that will take you around the motorway just fine, or you can spend 10 times as much for a Ferrari and travel the same speed....lol. IF you wanted some real difficult high light plants then compact flourescent or metal halide would probably be necessary, but otherwise one is just asking for an expensive algae farm IME. You would have to change the ballasts for compact flourescents and rewire everything...big hassle really if you do not need the light.
Christine Kasselmann, not sure of the spelling, has what I have heard to be the best book out there on plants. Diana Walstad has a good book too, but is based more on the technique of planted aquaria rather than pics of the plants. I have seen a pretty good book by Peter Hiscock here in the UK.
LOL, Lola, once I figure out the gallons of the tank I have, I just divide the number of gallons into the watts of light, as you have 75 gallons divided into 120 watts I believe that is around 1.5 watts per gallon.;)

Don

[Lola]

Thanks Don, you've been great. I thought the wattage per gallon was more complicated....duh! Maybe I was thinking of the wattage related to the depth of the tank. I saw a number of the books that you mentioned in Amazon today, they seem to have a lot of good info, especially the Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad. That's one I will invest in. By the way what is LOL?

[Don_Lee]

You are very welcome Lola, it is my pleasure. LOL stands for laughing out loud, just a way of showing that one thinks there is some humor in something I guess. I usually find quite a bit of humor in the silly things I say and do at times.....lol.
There are some really good books in Amazon. Another book/magazine I just found out about is Aquajournal, I think it is distributed by Vectrapoint is Singapore. Lots of placement/decorating ideas, etc....kind of an Amano style magazine by the look of it. Also-the book by Christi Kasselmann is like the Bible as far as I can tell, but it is expensive.
You do have to consider the depth of the tank when considering lighting, the deeper the more light. Since your depth is 20" with the gravel accounted for, depth should not be a big factor.
It is great having you here, maybe post some pics when you can. My tank has just been setup, as I just moved to the UK from the US, so I dont know if I am ready to take a picture, it is pretty plain. Also-I am not personally too interested in making my tank look like a "work of art" like some are.....to me the planted tanks that are decorated and arranged like some kind of garden look unnatural-for me the beauty is in the fish/plants, and a very random arrangement-like I would think nature would have. To each his own though, I do think Amano's tanks are beautiful to look at.....

Don