I've never had much luck with keeping floating plants. My last attempt at water lettuce ended with the roots falling off and the leaves yellowing. I got some water lettuce and fairy moss (I'm not sure if that's a common name for it) Friday and I'm supposed to get some frogbit in this week. More or less, I'm attempting to shotgun my covering.
I got the plants the floating plants Friday and there is not much in the way of bad stuff happening (although I just plucked off two worms), I'm more trying to be cautious and not repeating my errors and trying not to ruin my heavy investment of $2 on plants from a pond store. Also, I like the pictures I've seen of frogbit and I hope that I can actually provide a good home to it.
I have a spare plastic tub and a 1 gallon tank if either are sufficient to experiment with.
1. Tank size
30 gallons, 36L 12W 15(?)H
2. Watts and type of lighting
2 LED 5W strips. One came with the fixture, but I did not see anything discerning it from the other strip I have, so I'm assuming they are both the same. Aqueon 36" fixture (they claim they are 30" strips) with no mention of the color temperature other than "Day White." I do not see it on the strips themselves nor on the packaging or the website. Aqueon's website does advertise a "Daylight" 6700k T5, but that is too blue for what I'm seeing. Previously, I had one strip unplugged due to brush algae concerns, but I'm trying to increase the lighting for the floating plants.
3. Number and types of plants
Wisteria: recovering from a bout with brush algae, almost to the top of the water.
Java Fern: Eh, doing decent, nothing exciting going on
Banana Plant: Does not seem to be able to get more than two inches high before leaves die
3 Patches of Dwarf Hairgrass: got at PetSmart, not growing fast (I guess), but not dieing off.
X Fairy Moss: looks fairly green and healthy.
3 very small Water Lettuce: decent going so far (been in there since Friday), but I do see some yellowing and such.
4. Substrate type
Small grain gravel.
5. Age of tank
Since March, so seven months.
6. CO2 injection
Nope
7. Water Parameters
a.
GH: ~60
KH: ~40
pH: 6.5
NO3: ~20
PO4: no test
NO2: ~0
Using an API 5 in 1 test
Changes treated with Kordon AmQuel and Seachem Discus Buffer
I'm starting a regiment of AquaVitro Envy
Thermometer is reading at 75
b. Right now, one hour and twenty minutes after the lights were turned on in the morning, two days after a 33% water change
8. Detailed description of plant problems
Frayed edges, yellowing of the leaves of the water lettuce is my big concern. I'm getting better at handling some of the brush algae, but adding the floating plants made me consider plugging in the second LED strip. Please see the attached photo.
I got the plants the floating plants Friday and there is not much in the way of bad stuff happening (although I just plucked off two worms), I'm more trying to be cautious and not repeating my errors and trying not to ruin my heavy investment of $2 on plants from a pond store. Also, I like the pictures I've seen of frogbit and I hope that I can actually provide a good home to it.
I have a spare plastic tub and a 1 gallon tank if either are sufficient to experiment with.
1. Tank size
30 gallons, 36L 12W 15(?)H
2. Watts and type of lighting
2 LED 5W strips. One came with the fixture, but I did not see anything discerning it from the other strip I have, so I'm assuming they are both the same. Aqueon 36" fixture (they claim they are 30" strips) with no mention of the color temperature other than "Day White." I do not see it on the strips themselves nor on the packaging or the website. Aqueon's website does advertise a "Daylight" 6700k T5, but that is too blue for what I'm seeing. Previously, I had one strip unplugged due to brush algae concerns, but I'm trying to increase the lighting for the floating plants.
3. Number and types of plants
Wisteria: recovering from a bout with brush algae, almost to the top of the water.
Java Fern: Eh, doing decent, nothing exciting going on
Banana Plant: Does not seem to be able to get more than two inches high before leaves die
3 Patches of Dwarf Hairgrass: got at PetSmart, not growing fast (I guess), but not dieing off.
X Fairy Moss: looks fairly green and healthy.
3 very small Water Lettuce: decent going so far (been in there since Friday), but I do see some yellowing and such.
4. Substrate type
Small grain gravel.
5. Age of tank
Since March, so seven months.
6. CO2 injection
Nope
7. Water Parameters
a.
GH: ~60
KH: ~40
pH: 6.5
NO3: ~20
PO4: no test
NO2: ~0
Using an API 5 in 1 test
Changes treated with Kordon AmQuel and Seachem Discus Buffer
I'm starting a regiment of AquaVitro Envy
Thermometer is reading at 75
b. Right now, one hour and twenty minutes after the lights were turned on in the morning, two days after a 33% water change
8. Detailed description of plant problems
Frayed edges, yellowing of the leaves of the water lettuce is my big concern. I'm getting better at handling some of the brush algae, but adding the floating plants made me consider plugging in the second LED strip. Please see the attached photo.
Attachments
-
59.8 KB Views: 70