Mmiller2001

What's the tank pH?

I agree here. What substrate are you using? What is the GH and KH and which Micro Mix are you using? "AR, blyxa japonica, rotala bonsai" these are difficult plants. For AR, don't move it and remove all struggling leaves and cut the top when it gets too tall. Don't top and replant. As for the others, sometimes, plants need time to adapt to your tank's parameters and then they will take off. I could never get any Blyxa to grow in my tanks and gave up on those. To quote my favorite aquarist, "Sometimes, it's best to invite those who enjoy the soup you serve." If a plant doesn't do well in my tank, I toss it and try a different one.

This is all I could find about combing. I will be trying it today. "Product Description Eleocharis vivipara. This Eleocharis has a special place among its related species, primarily because of its method of propagation. It does not propagate by runners like Eleocharis parvula or Eleocharis acicularis. Instead, propagation is done by formation of plantlets on the surface of the leaves, in a way similar to propagation of the ferns. New plantlets don't produce roots for a long time, thus giving the impression that the stem of Eleocharis vivipara is divided into several leaves. This feature is of particular value for aquascaping. But later, when roots are already developed and visible, the plant will no longer look nice. Therefore, Eleocharis vivipara requires a special care. Care for Eleocharis vivipara has its features in terms of trimming and planting. The planting is difficult because the bush of Eleocharis vivipara is often made of dense cluster of its plantlets. You can press this cluster to the substrate, but in this case many of the bushes will remain unrooted. In the future, roots of these unrooted bushes will grow above the substrate becoming more and more visible. It's better, therefore, to separate all the young bushes and plant them in the substrate so that all roots are buried in the substrate. Leaf of this plant rarely grows by more than 10 cm without formation of a plantlet. In order to keep smooth appearance and decorative effect of the leaves, they have to be combed once in awhile. This can be done with fork. Combing of Eleocharis vivipara removes a lot of plantlets and even more effective than trimming with scissors. Eleocharis vivipara can be used as the background plant in the low tanks and in the large tanks above 40 cm in height." I broke my QT protocols, and sure enough, I have flukes again. I had 2 SAE's in QT and they looked like they were doing so well. No problems viewed and had a weeks worth of General Cure. I pulled them out around the 2 week mark. This was a mistake! But as a good fish keep, I have PraziPro on hand!

Hmm, I need to see this technique.

I keep my tanks at 0dKH and my low pH is 4.96. What's important is keeping stable GH and KH. Plants love lower KH (a few don't) and some just out right require it. Just keep an eye on your nitrates as a proxy for dosing. Keeping the tank between 12-20ppm should be fine. If you see that you are dropping below the weekly dose amount, then increase dosing.

Well slap me silly and call me Charlie. So um, where do I see a demonstration of combing hair grass? I kinda liked the messy look.😁 And can I just cut it straight across like dwarf hair grass?

It all depends on which tests you believe are correct. The neons are in near perfect water parameters, but I think platy's like a higher GH and KH. I'm not sure though as I've never kept Platy's. If they are doing well, then I would leave things be. As far as dosing, remember the accumulation totals. It takes time, around 8 to 11 weeks to get there. Stay the course, and keep an eye on the plants. They will take time to respond. If you want to raise KH for the Platy's, that's an option and can be addressed. But like I said, I've never kept them.

Is that a thing? Combing plants?

Did you have it? If so, I'm super glad you got through it. I haven't heard or seen you in minute, and now it makes since. So, hopefully you are back at full force! Thank you, and here's just two days later....mmmm Star Grass

I definitely create as much surface agitation as possible. I need as much O² as I can get. You are correct, when I deep gravel vacuumed, tons of organics got released. @Seattle_Aquarist mentioned a person who would do "shop" classes ( I can't remember her name) and she would never vacuum. So per his advice and technique I decided to give it a go. Now, I just lightly place the vacuum on top and gather just the particles on top versus slamming it in deep 😳. Both of you taught me the H202 spot dosing method and this combination is working. I'm not sure if this has an effect as well but I did place my spray bar on the back wall blowing forward versus from right to left. I also increased the length of the spray bar as much as I could. Is this helping, I'm not sure, but maybe.

This is just an issue of not dosing enough. Use this and increase the dosing. I think 1 pump is 1ml, but double check if I'm correct. I haven't used it in a while.

Na, hydrogen peroxide knocks it out.

I will try it. Will it kill moss?

My vote is for 2xUNS Titans 😁

Now that all the shrimp are dead, maybe I will try this!

I will update for sure. Fingers crossed that the BBA continues to decrease! Excellent to hear you've gone to the dry side 😁. After a while, it just makes sense to be able to adjust individual facets of your nutrient profile when needed. I agree that higher flow areas attract it, but I have random areas affected too. It's definitely a challenge figuring it out. My CO2 controller is really helping me maintain consistent CO² and hydrogen peroxide turns the tide. Per Seattle_aquarist advice, I've also significantly altered how I gravel vacuum. Basically, I'm barely tapping the surface if doing any at all! 🫢

Some type of Sword, could be Echinodorus Reni.

I should have included; for Trace elements just dose a weekly total. Don't go by accumulation totals. Anywhere from .1 to 1ppm Fe is pretty standard. I dose .5ppm in my CO² tanks and .2ppm in my low energy tank. Weekly.

Just doing a small update. The failed AGA tank remains failed and is exceeding all failure expectations 😁. I mean, I have an endless supply of algae. So that's good, right?I really need to do the blackout, and I'm not sure why I haven't yet. The 75 is still in transition, but I finally completed my species reduction. I'm down to my final number of 12. I honestly didn't think this was going to be possible. I ordered a few more plants to try and I will do a whole tank shot if I'm happy with the way things look. I have a new favorite plant, Star Grass. It's a fast grower but I have no complaints. I might have finally learned how to beat BBA, so this front is going well. And I will update how I went about doing it. But let me win the war first but first battle goes to me. That's about it right now. Here's a few pictures. The 40 is a jungle of plants and algae. Oh, and all the shrimp are dead. That was fun! Not really. <Homer moan> Star Grass!

Plants pull nutrients from roots and the water column. So your Val's are certainly using both. I've found that root tabs do not improve my plants anymore than just properly dosing the water column. Without getting too long winded. Measure from the top of your substrate to the water line. Then measure length and depth. Multiply those together then divide by 231. LxWxD/231=Gallons. Then guestimate decor and filters. Use this number to dose. My 75 gallons is roughly 66 gallons of actual water. Then dose for an accumulation total. This is the target to achieve. Assuming 50% water changes, you can never exceed 2 times the amount you dose. So if your target is 21ppm NO3, then dose 10.5ppm per week. 2x10.5=21. Per chart. If 70 gallons: 7 pumps=3ppm NO³ 14 pumps=6ppm NO³ 21 pumps=9ppm NO³ 28 pumps=13ppm NO³ And so on... But use accumulation totals for dosing. With non CO2 tanks, medium light, you probably can get away with 12ppm NO³ accumulation. So dose 6ppm NO³ per week for a 12ppm NO3 accumulation. Edit, Plants will consume, so if you dosed 10ppm NO3 in a week, tested and found that you only have 5ppm NO3 in the tank at weeks end, raise your total by 5ppm.

I would look here first. https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/fertilize-planted-tank/does-adding-more-iron-make-my-red-plants-redder

Light can be tricky and it's best practice too not change too many things at once. That said, I would back it down and reduce to 6 hours. Then I would slowly increase duration after about 3 weeks from the increased dosing. See what 50% does and go from there. The way I handle light is by watching my tallest plants. I increase light a bit each week. If I start seeing a bit of fuzzy algae on those leaves, I will drop by 2% each week untill it goes away, then I keep those settings.

I agree, at the very least, parasites should be treated for. I've modified how I treat and use Med Trio. If you are interested: I dose Paracleanse/General Cure (same stuff) after 8 hours of fish being added to the QT tank. At the same time as above, I dose Ich-X (Ich is a parasite). I only dose it once per Med Trio recommendation. I use an air stone at this time too. 48 hours later, I dose Seachem Kanaplex with Seachem Focus via food for oral application. I no longer use any antibiotic in the water column. I target feed antibiotics. I dose per directions on Kanaplex. Epistylous is a parasite and is treated with antibiotics. At day 7, 50% water change and then I watch the fish while completing the Kanaplex. At the end of or mid week 2, I dose another round of Paracleanse/GC per directions. Then I watch for a minimum of an additional 2 weeks. If I see anything like Ich or Columnaris, I do a full course of recommended treatment.

Certainly, there's no proof we will be exposed to polio, but we go ahead and vaccinate. I will add, if fish are wild caught, they have parasites. Their immune system may keep them in check, but they have them. Also, checking for parasites is probably overly complicated and expensive. I can think of no reason to not treat for parasites when it costs just a few dollars. When we go for surgeries, we will be given prophylaxis regardless of infection as a preventative. I'd imagine this is a "safe, rather than sorry" approach. I can't imagine the toll on fish being any less damaging just getting to our tank. This is why I treat no matter what.

I'm going to take a guess and say that's a bad idea. I would look at the label and verify the source of the nutrients.