UGF and plants

[cmo1922]

I set up my 29 gallon with undergravel filtration back in November 2023. It is a planted tank with a mix of stratum and eco complete substrate. I also placed root tabs at set up and just added more a week ago. I do a small amount of fertilizer daily (thrive weekly dose spread out through the week, and the seachem iron and potassium weekly doses spread out throughout the week).

Some plants are in pots, and some are planted in the substrate over the plate. Initially the plants were doing great, but over the past few weeks I noticed staghorn algae on my big sword in the middle of the tank, which is not in a terracotta pot. I also noticed the leaves are rotting off from the base of the plant and it is fairly loose in the substrate. There is new leaf growth from the center of the plant.

Are planted tanks with UGF generally less successful? Anyone have an idea of what is going on with that sword? I suspect the substrate just wasn't deep enough. Im going to try and save it by cleaning it up and putting it in a terracotta pot in the tank.

Thank you for reading! Here is a pic of the tank (affected sword is the huge one in the middle).

[Tony s]

 

Never had one, but thought this might help 

[wuht]

I think using active substrate and root tabs is overkill if you're not using CO2.

This is my 10 gallon with an under gravel filter I've had running for a little under 2 years right after I added the tiger lotus.

I only added the tiger lotus recently as I'm using crushed lava rock as a substrate and was waiting for there to be a good level of nutrients built up before adding heavy root feeders.

The sword might just be a little too big for an under gravel tank, they can have huge root systems. You might have better luck if you replace some of your heavy root feeders with stem plants.

[cmo1922]

On 2/3/2024 at 10:25 AM, Tony s said:

 

Never had one, but thought this might help 

Thank you! I love Bentley's videos, I think he has the best low tech planted tank info on you tube! I was actually in the process of setting up this tank when this video came out, and used the UGF because of this video! 

On 2/3/2024 at 11:27 AM, wuht said:

I think using active substrate and root tabs is overkill if you're not using CO2.

This is my 10 gallon with an under gravel filter I've had running for a little under 2 years right after I added the tiger lotus.

I only added the tiger lotus recently as I'm using crushed lava rock as a substrate and was waiting for there to be a good level of nutrients built up before adding heavy root feeders.

The sword might just be a little too big for an under gravel tank, they can have huge root systems. You might have better luck if you replace some of your heavy root feeders with stem plants.

Thank you! Your tank is beautiful. I love the hardscape and I bet that lily is going to look amazing. Yeah, I suspect the sword is just too big for the depth of substrate I had. When I got this sword it was the biggest sword I had ever planted and i was a little worried about the substrate depth over the plate. I actually just pulled up the sword and planted it in a pot. The roots looked super healthy. I think it was melting back because it had outgrown the root supply? We will see how it does...I'll stick to stems or smaller root feeders directly over the plates and see how that pans out, since the tank is already planted and those seem to be doing pretty well.

I used about 2/3 eco complete (which is basically just crushed lava rocks like you have, I can't imagine it has much going for it in terms of nutrients except whatever is in that liquid they puy in the bag) and then 1/3 stratum. My other 2 tanks are low tech and have this set up, with a sand cap tho for the cories. In my experience with those tanks, which have mostly root feeders, they require tabs every 2-3 months or else the plants struggle. If I'm late on the tabs, I get shedding/melting of outer leaves on the swords and crypts. So I probably won't change the fert regime since it has served me well for the last 2 years or so. However, I will try only doing tabs in the pots (where my heavy root feeders are planted) and see if I can get away with no or very few tabs in the substrate above the plate like you are doing. Hopefully that will be a good balance!