aqualust Bill Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 Who has red tiger lotus in their tank? This is the first bulb plant I have gotten. When I got it, it already had leaves so I knew what way was up. It's not buried, just a touch of it in so the roots were in the substrate. I put it in the tank the week of New Years. I haven't seen much of any growth. Seachem root tabs and I dose easy green. I often find that I'm back to zero nitrate under a week. Do you think it's because the other plants are out competing it for nutrients? Do I just need to dose more often so keep up nitrates a bit? The crypts have started to grow over it so I think it's getting good light. All plants from Aquarium Co-Op Just for info it's a 29g long very lightly stocked with pea Puffers and an Otto. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 It sure wouldnt hurt to have your nitrates up to at least15 ppm in a non co2 injected tank… 1 pump of easy green raises nitrates 3 ppm in 10 gallons of water. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rewcolee1 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 I have yet to get a bulb plant to grow in gravel substrate. However, 3 times now I’ve take the bulb from my tank when it was not growing and put it into my daughter’s tank that has a sand bottom and within no time that bulb has taken off and has done amazing.🤷🏼♂️ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 (edited) Mine grows just fine in gravel. and has propagated into smaller bulbs. I actually have one floating (by accidents) and it's doing fine as well. This is the second time I've seen somebody say theirs won't grow. which honestly makes not a whole lot of sense. they're bulb plants. at this stage they don't even require any fertilizer. it should come from the energy store in the bulb. My suggestion is to pull it up and lay it completely on the surface not trying to cover it up at all. My floating one is laying on a bed of dwarf sagittaria, 2 inches from gravel and has sent roots down into the gravel from there. and leaves to the top all over my 75g Edited February 22 by Tony s 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rewcolee1 Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 (edited) I don’t have a reasoning for it, it’s just been what I’ve experienced. I’m actually going to pick up a few new plants tomorrow, so I’ll give a shot a 4th time.😁 Edited February 22 by Rewcolee1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 yeah, and I don't have a reason the floater is doing well. but... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqualust Bill Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 Thanks. That gives me an idea of what to look for. I'll see how the roots are taking. The substrate is eco complet red. If the roots have grown in I'll put in another root tabs under it. When I got it and it had leaves and some roots already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanked Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 On 2/21/2024 at 11:40 AM, aqualust Bill said: I'm back to zero nitrate under a week. Do you think it's because the other plants are out competing it for nutrients? Yes. The crypts are likely hogging everything. Nitrates aren't everything. If nitrates are running low, other nutrients are likely in short supply. I would add an extra shot of EG mid week to start, and see what changes. If you are repeatedly coming up with 0 nitrates, I would think that it is just a matter of time before the other plants begin showing signs of stress. You might also clip off the leaf(s) growing directly over the lotus. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 On 2/22/2024 at 11:47 AM, Tanked said: If you are repeatedly coming up with 0 nitrates, I It bears mentioning to ensure you are conducting your test correctly and your test kit is not expired etc… When I restarted in this hobby testing for nitrates and such was new to me, and I was in to big of a hurry to read the instructions in the booklet. I had the API master test kit with liquid drops. I saw there were two bottles for nitrates but it called for 10 drops on the bottle. So I assumed they provided two bottles to give you enough chemical to run all the tests you needed to keep up with the ph tests and nitrite tests that only had 1 bottle… SomI ran my tests with just bottle 1. And I never had any nitrate… until I read the booklet and conducted my tests correctly. By then I had bright red test solution… 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqualust Bill Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 I'm a water junkie lol. RODI and I remineralize. I have super hard water with lots of other junk in the water too (SW FL) API master kit less than a year old and I use a hanna checker for nitrates if I need to know exactly. I use the coop strips for quick tests a few times a week. Just a fyi I did a test a while back using all 3 nitrate tests. Coop strips, API and Hanna. Comparing to the Hanna all 3 had the same reading (the Hanna being more exact) but gave me confidence that the strips are super accurate. But what you said is a very valid point. I bought a new API lot when I realized the one I had was over 2 years old and I had thoughts it wasn't accurate. This is my low tech tank but I have a scaped 40b with CO2 and all the works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 On 2/22/2024 at 2:07 PM, aqualust Bill said: Comparing to the Hanna all 3 had the same reading That is actually very helpful. The strips are very convenient 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqualust Bill Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 On 2/22/2024 at 11:47 AM, Tanked said: Yes. The crypts are likely hogging everything. Nitrates aren't everything. If nitrates are running low, other nutrients are likely in short supply. I would add an extra shot of EG mid week to start, and see what changes. If you are repeatedly coming up with 0 nitrates, I would think that it is just a matter of time before the other plants begin showing signs of stress. You might also clip off the leaf(s) growing directly over the lotus. Yes. Because not easy way to check other nutrients I use that to judge and with a few pea puffers and an Otto it's not the bio load (and food) so yes I agree it's showing a deficiency over all. I pumped 3 more pumps this morning after it tested 10 this morning after adding 3 pumps yesterday. Hope to see 20 when I get home tonight 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 Coop recommends around 50 ppm for a heavily planted tank. Girl talks fish has a video on that. For unplanted 20 or less is recommended. But 20 is not necessarily enough for heavy plantings. Unless you have sensitive species 50 is no big deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqualust Bill Posted February 22 Author Share Posted February 22 Personally I have found growth slows above 30ppm. (That's in the CO2 tank) also with this tank being so new I have been keeping it low as not to activate algae. Slow and steady till it's on balance and that will take time. My high tech tank didn't like running 40+ ppm but it's not the same. I've learned all of my tanks are different and I have to just see what they like the best. For now I'm going to target about 30 and see how it does🤞once it's a bit more mature I'll push it hard with ferts and light and see how it does 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 (edited) On 2/22/2024 at 3:07 PM, Tony s said: Coop recommends around 50 ppm for a heavily planted tank On 2/22/2024 at 3:07 PM, Tony s said: Unless you have sensitive species 50 is no big deal. Yes, if fish health is your only concern. Plants really don’t do better at 50 ppm than they do at 30-35 ppm. 30- 35 is the most they can process. The only rational that I could imagine with dosing to 50 ppm is the thought that it will gradually reduce to 30 ppm over the week…. For myself I front load after doing a water change, and then add another 6 ppm midweek.. Saturday morning is water change day, and nitrates will be around the 20 ppm mark before I do a 50% change. I dose about 25 ppm in my co2 tanks. A bit higher would make plants grow faster, but at 25 ppm, it lessens the trimming and replanting work. One of my 29 gallon co2 injected tanks. In my non co2 supplemented tank, I am keeping it down to 15 ppm. I am also doing 50% water changes twice a week along with using a Turkey baster to suspend crud from the bottom in order to vacuum it up. I also put in an 80 gph powerhead for extra flow. It seems to be helping. My hope is once algae is in abeyance I can back off on the water changes… my low tech 17 gallon fish bowl. Edited February 23 by Pepere 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony s Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 That’s great. You have great looking tanks btw. I personally have low tech tanks, and am less concerned about algae. Hair I remove by hand, green spot bothers me not at all. Never had bba. I actually like a bit of green on most of my hardscapes. But to each his own. Wasn’t my recommendation. It’s her directions of how to dose easy green fertilizer. She’s a coop employee and affiliate. And then you go backwards a couple of years and Cory recommends around 20ppm. And the yet again, last year sometime, the recommendation of 50 ppm from the official coop Chanel. (Second video). So I figure between the two would be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted February 22 Share Posted February 22 (edited) On 2/22/2024 at 6:17 PM, Tony s said: Wasn’t my recommendation. It’s her directions of how to dose easy green fertilizer. She’s a coop employee and affiliate. And then you go backwards a couple of years and Cory recommends around 20ppm. And the yet again, last year sometime, the recommendation of 50 ppm from the official coop Chanel. (Second video). So I figure between the two would be fine. I know. I watched those videos too. I spent about 9 months trying to balance my low tech tanks following their advice. And I got the algae eating fish…. I dosed Easy Carbon daily, I tried spot dosing easy carbon, spot dosing hydrogen peroxide, whole tank peroxide treatment, pulling plants routinely to soak in seltzer overnight and replant…. Starving the fish so algae would look good to them... more light, less light…Finding the proverbial balance using the methods I learned from them proved elusive.. I watched and rewatched these videos and videos from other presenters of a similar ilk. Maybe the things they recommend work for them, but the simple fact of the matter is the advice I got from these sources simply was not getting me the results I wanted. I bit the bullet and went with co2 which was my first real reduction in algae…. I then bit the bullet and put in canister filters with spray bars which was another improvement. I then saw @Mmiller2001’s tank and asked him for advice on the algae front as it sure looked like he had good results in his tank. He turned me on to the 2hr aquarist pages on dealing with algae and I read and re read and instituted his methods and finally had tanks free of visible algae. As an aside, the 2 hr Aquarist site does sell fertilizers and algae reducing substances in bottles. I never bought any products from him. I simply followed the horticultural tips he gave to get the results I have. I still use Easy Green and Easy Iron and will continue until my supply is used up. After that I am planning on converting to dry salts ferts instead for cost savings. To a beginner trying to get their arms around things I think I would still recommend Easy Green and Easy Iron as needed for shear simplicity.. If you like Algae, great. It is the easiest stuff in the world to grow. I can grow bumper crops of it within a short period of time…. Please note, I am not intending to be dismissive or insulting. I get that we all have different motivations and aims. I don't intend to imply that my aim is superior to anyone else's aims. Just stating the facts that when I look in my tank and see algae it doesn't make me peaceful and happy. It makes me motivated to suppress it. But thats me…. After keeping my display tanks free of visible algae for about 9 months I decided to try the low tech route again and try the horticultural tips I learned at the 2 hr aquarist, and learn to adapt them to low tech tanks… My 17 gallon fish bowl has a lot less visible algae then I ever managed in my prior attempts at low tech aquarium keeping, but I am trying to further improve it… Edited February 23 by Pepere 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqualust Bill Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 Still going! I did get a tab under it after I posted originally. Now starting to make some moves. 😁 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aqualust Bill Posted April 24 Author Share Posted April 24 Update A little more time and it's really happy now and so are the pea's 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyxxl Posted April 28 Share Posted April 28 Nice such beautiful pop of color bet the peas love it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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