April, I had to do a new post rather than "Quote" due to length, so this is in response to your second last post. Your original is in italics for reference.
Amano's tank are a whole nother level of planted tanks...
Personally I do not like the style depicted in Mr. Amano's planted tanks, simply because they are artistic creations and not habitat oriented, if you follow me. They are beautiful, no doubt, and the plants and fish are thriving and healthy, no doubt again. I just don't go for that "look" in aquaria. Similar to my back garden, I think it is called the English cottage garden look, shrubs and perennials all over the place with paths among them, not a formal layout. But this is just my preference, and our tanks should reflect what we want. I also make use of nature rather than gadgetry and paraphernalia.
I was just also reading up on "Nutrafin Plant Gro" have you had any experience with that? The product is promoted because of itsessential micro-nutrients.
I use the Nutrafin Plant-Gro sticks, and they are incredible. I have never used the liquid, nor even seen it locally. Another member asked me about this product recently, and I suggested he let us know how it worked.
Which does bring me to my next question, apart from the Fe test (which mine unfortunately did not survive the move heat/ cold and I have not been able to find a new one yet here) is there other tests to actually measure how rich or not each of my tanks are as far as needed nutrition? Cause to only test and know the Fe level is helpful but not really if it comes to ALL plants needs. I know to calculate the CO2 off the pH & KH readings, so there's at least 2 factors for my tank I could test - but is there more?
I never test for these things. From research I know what plants require, and from my 20 years with planted aquaria I know it works. Back in the 1990's I bought a CO2 test and an iron test, never understood the things anyway, and the plants were obviously thriving, so I chucked them. Waste of time. If your plants are growing, they're fine; if not, find out what's missing/wrong. As I often mention, it takes some experimenting to get that balance down, but once you do, you're home free.
As for lights, I think that's an extremely crucial factor because in my larger tanks I always run 2x4ft fluorescent bulbs, so this set up allows me for 2 different types light and that works wonderful for me. Now in any smaller tanks (20g or less) the set up is generally limited to 1 bulb only and there I found unless you have THE best bulb set up in there its not working well as you can't provide the mixture like in the large tanks, so that, when I had initial set up all the lil tanks back in the day was a lil unsatisfying until I found the proper lighting solution for them.
Also I find (and this is just really an experience and not something I scientifically have proof of) is that red leaf plants appear to be much more "light-hungry" then the other ones that only have green (e.g. the Ludweiga or Red Tiger Lotus).
Light is not complicated, but some make it so or fail to understand the basics. In another thread someone recently took a jab at me over this again, and that's fine, he obviously does not understand what is being said. It is basically true that plants will "live" under almost any type of light (with some limitations) but there are several critical aspects to this.
First, plants absolutely require blue and red; as long as the light has blue and red, plants will grow under it. And blue light penetrates water better than red and green; this is well know to marine hobbyists who can't grow corals without blue light, and marine light is very high in blue (actinic, etc).
But I aim for the least amount of light over my tanks, primarily for the fish. Forest fish come from dimly-lit waters, and they do not like bright light; such fish pale or are not as brilliant under brighter light, and that means they are stressed and I've written much about the effects long-term of stress. To provide the dimmest amount of light possible, you have to ensure it accents what the plants require. A "ordinary" tube will do this if it is bright enough; my goal is for less brightness, so I select tubes that provide the needed light. If the tube is weak in blue, it has to be much stronger to provide the intensity through the water.
Blue, red and green to balance for a natural appearance of fish and plant colours. And the scientific studies have proven that plants respond best to full spectrum and cool white combined. This is not rocket science; the blue and red is in the full spectrum, the cool white accents blue slightly (the colour best able to penetrate water) and the green is in the full spectrum to balance. Under full spectrum alone plants grew slower, under warm white (higher in red but much less blue) they grew the slowest.
So, to achieve my goal of having as little light intensity as possible yet providing for good plant growth, I use full spectrum plus cool white on dual-tube tanks and full spectrum alone on single tube tanks [the latter because I want the balanced appearance which cool white alone wouldn't give].
On your red plants, they need more intense red light to grow, which is why they do better with higher warm light in the mix. Like all things we see, plants appear the colour they are because they reflect that colour of light. Green plants reflect green light to appear "green" to us. Which is why they will not grow under green light unless it is very intense (the blue and red are minimal). Similarly, red plants appear red because they reflect red light, so the light has to be more intense to provide enough for the plants to use after they reflect some of it.
I am going to look to find the liquid fertilizers you mentioned. What brand/ product are you using for the root tablets for the Sword, I def want to get something for the Swords! They're not discoloring or have any dark spots or anything that would hint at me that they're dieing off however they're also not thriving as well as I'm used to from my old ones. Which can either have to do with the non-established root system and/ or lack of nutrition for them or both They do develop new shoots, but VERY VERY slow, specially compared to the growth in the rest of the tank.
This is solely due to the nutrients. Swords are heavy feeders, and primarily from the roots because in nature they are mostly bog plants. I use Nutrafin's "Plant-Gro" sticks. They claim to last a year, they are less expensive, and they certainly work. Previously the growth was consistent, lush green, fine to me; I added the stick and within three months the plant tripled in size. I only realized this when I moved the plants from the former 90g into the 115g in July; three Echinodorus major in the 90g were moved, one was three times the size of the other two, and tangled in the roots of the largest I found the Plant-Gro stick. The other two had no stick near them. Identical plant, in the same tank. Conclusion is obvious. And the same happened when I moved the two E. bleheri, I added a stick next to each in the 115g in July and now they are twice the size they were, and they had been in the 90g for a year.
Byron.