Re-Aquascaping AGIAN!!!

Blaxicanlatino

ok soo.... my planted tank called royal Royal - 10 gallon Freshwater fish tank i think looks awesome. Now this profile is not updated but its far more bushier than the latest pic in that profile. Well for some reason, the plants have not being doing so well. I dose the tank with about 8 drops of flourish comprehensive once a week after a 25% water change that is also done once a week.

I have many more cherry shrimp. Im thinking about taking out all of the tall plants, the red ludwigia, the wallachii, the rotala, and the unkown green plant in the middle. Moving the crypt plants more in the center of the tank. Putting large stones in the tank, maybe about 2 or 3. Then having red water lillies surrounding the island of crypts then having glossostigma or dwarf water clovers, or dwarf baby tears as the grass.

Do you think this would be good? The tank has 2, 15 watt bulbs for a total of 3o watts. and it is a 10 gallon.

Sound good?

And yes i spelled it as "AGIAN"
Thanks :D

Blaxicanlatino

Ok heres a pic i took like 2 months ago. Horrible pic and the red wallichii is gone and replaced with more rotala and red ludwigia (trimmed them and replanted them). Hate the way the tank looks right now, that mysterious plant in the middle which grew incredibly is no longer growing and the red ludwigia has green spots on the leaves

Attached Images

Royal 08-31-2011.jpg (47.3 KB, 50 views)

Blaxicanlatino

For the carpet, what should i use? Im thinking either glossostigma or dwarf hairgrass. There is not excel nor no2 injection

Byron

I would tend to think that CO2 is the limiting factor, but I also don't see evidence of algae which I would expect if light and other nutrients exceeded the available CO2 to any degree. [And the plants look fine to me]. I assume you do not touch the substrate (no vacuuming), as that is the main source of CO2.

As for carpet plants, some have managed those you mention in small tanks with no CO2, so you might give it a try.

Byron.

redchigh

I would lean towards the hairgrass... Glosso can work, but I wouldn't. Marsilea Crenata looks similiar to glosso though, and is a bit easier....

Calmwaters

Are you waiting at least 24 hours after the water change to add your ferts?

Blaxicanlatino

well i have hundreds of malaysian trumpet snails and possibly some hundred of cherry shrimps so thats where i see co2 coming from. Also i only have those algae rings on the red ludwigia and a tiny bit on the LEFT side of the glass of the tank

Blaxicanlatino

I try to. But not always

Byron

The amount of CO2 occurring from invertebrates is so low as to be insignificant. The majority (by far) of the CO2 in any natural (low-tech) fish tank occurs from the substrate, not the fish and invertebrates. This is why the substrate should not be cleaned; the organics get broken down by snails and bacteria, and a lot of CO2 is released during this continual process. Of course, if you vacuum the substrate and remove the waste, you are lessening the CO2 significantly.

This is why soil substrates have become "fashionable." Their only benefit is to provide more organics for a higher level of CO2. Not suggesting you go to soil; I don't consider the mess and other possible issues worth it, but my point is that the CO2 occurring from the breakdown of organics in any substrate is vital. I have grown plants in fish-less tanks with the only source of CO2 coming from the organics in the gravel.

You can read more here:
http://www.tropicalfishkeeping.com/f...quarium-74891/

hywaydave

So you're saying that you shouldn't vacuum the gravel during water changes in a planted tank? Don't you eventually need to remove some of the waste in the gravel?