freshwater planted

[brandon0350]

i tried freshwater planted long before i got into reefing and didnt have much luck. now that i know alot more about water chemistry, lighting, etc... i wanna try it again. i think im going to be buying a used 125 60x18x24. i plan on lighting it w/ 4 54w t5 ho bulbs in slr reflectors. what kind of flow do planted tanks need? any advice you have would be greatly appreciated :)

[acbaldwin]

hmmm.... well there's a TON of things... but I suppose that if you can figure out reefs, you can figure out plants.

3 things...

1.buy dry ferts
2.stay on top of your ferts and you will avoid a LOT of algae
3.aquaticplantcentral.com - FWPT club called "SCAPE"

flow is usually pretty low in comparison to SW, maybe 2 K2's in a 125 would do it for flow.

and on top of that, do everything you'd do when you started reefing... read, read, read, and plan, plan, plan.

[sandiegoryu]

socalaquascapers.com Great club!

Rexgrigg.com read up a lot there.


Also 4 54w is on the very high side. But do not use the WPG rule like you do for reefs, especially on a large tank like yours.

[dhuynh]

best place to buy dry fert?

[unix858]

contact rex grigg... Danny heres his email advice@rexgrigg.com

Order this for your 500G.. 1 year supply i think.
8 lbs KNO3
4 lbs K2SO4
2 lb KH2PO4
2 lb Plantex

Your Dosing Schedule for your 500G
will be

4.5 Tsp KNO3 2x/week
1.25 Tsp KH2P04 2x/week
1.75 Tsp K2S04 2x/week
1.25 Tsp Trace (Plantex) 2x/week
and depending on iron just check for deficiencies related to iron. Iron dosing is just a little extra since Plantex doses iron too.

So an example schedule would be
Monday
4.5 Tsp KNO3
1.25 Tsp KH2P04
1.75 Tsp K2S04

Tuesday
1.25 Tsp Trace (Plantex)

Friday
4.5 Tsp KNO3
1.25 Tsp KH2P04
1.75 Tsp K2S04

Saturday
40-50% Water Change (You can split up WC in half in 2 different days, dose after wc of course )
1.25 Tsp Trace (Plantex)

Sunday, Wednesday , Thursday
nothing? do some aquascaping? Buy more plants? Fish? whatever floats you boat buddy. Watch the Chargers play?

[seahorse_man]

Sorry for hi-jacking but,how much dry fert. would I need and what would my schedule be for a 55g?

[dhuynh]

Jake! Beautiful!!! LOL... You make it easy to fert! hehe THANKS!

[acbaldwin]

For more help understanding fertilization and the way it works, do some searching on Tom Barr's EI (estimative index) method. It basically boils down to this: fertilize more than is needed IN A BALANCED NATURE, also relative to the amount of light you have, and the plants will grow as much as they possibly can assuming other limiting factors (CO2, etc) are taken care of. Algae should not be a problem since the plants are taking all the nutrients. If you have a deficiency somewhere, algae will kick in and you can adjust your dosing based on that. If you lose your balance, you will find out pretty quickly and adjust.

For example, I start getting green spot algae all over my glass, rocks, and slow growing plants (anubias sp.). I know that one cause of gsa is a lack of phosphate (PO4). I will adjust my dosing schedule to include more phosphate, and within the week (more or less, depending on your lights) I will notice the gsa decline and eventually die off.

The drawback - EI requires a lot of dosing, and a lot of ferts added to the tank. To avoid buildup, you've gotta do large water changes to start with a close to blank slate each week or so. As Jake said, around 30-60% usually does it. Adjust as necessary. :)

Once you get comfortable with this method and your tank you will be able to fix issues right off the bat, no need for test kits, or STRESS!!


I got my ferts through a kickass group buy on SCAPE @ aquaticplantcentral.
another great place to get dry ferts is through gregwatson (http://www.aquariumfertilizer.com/store/categories.php).

[unix858]

Once you get comfortable with this method and your tank you will be able to fix issues right off the bat, no need for test kits, or STRESS!!


Andrew hit the nail on the head with this one... You cant believe how much i spent on test kits initially and how stressed i was documenting water paremters.
After a try at dry ferts, "damn its like auto-pilot". You start spotting slight deficiencies and boom you know what you lack.

[unix858]

Sorry for hi-jacking but,how much dry fert. would I need and what would my schedule be for a 55g?


40-50% W/C
0.5 Tsp-KN03 3x/week
1/8 Tsp-KH2P04 3x/week
1/8 Tsp-K2S04 3x/week
1/8 Tsp-Trace 3x/week

Make sure to seperate Trace/Iron FROM K2S04,KH2P04, and KN03 dosing.

Get rex grigs combo pack which will last you a while.. maybe a year? depends on plant needs and deficiencies

[unix858]

The drawback - EI requires a lot of dosing, and a lot of ferts added to the tank. To avoid buildup, you've gotta do large water changes to start with a close to blank slate each week or so. As Jake said, around 30-60% usually does it. Adjust as necessary. :)


Man....if you have a garden or a front yard lawn/flowers, etc... That WC water is awesome... My front yard garden is growing vibrantly...:D thats HELLA Masculine...

[seahorse_man]

40-50% W/C
0.5 Tsp-KN03 3x/week
1/8 Tsp-KH2P04 3x/week
1/8 Tsp-K2S04 3x/week
1/8 Tsp-Trace 3x/week

Make sure to seperate Trace/Iron FROM K2S04,KH2P04, and KN03 dosing.

Get rex grigs combo pack which will last you a while.. maybe a year? depends on plant needs and deficiencies

Cool thanks:) Does this rex guy have a site?Also not to be a bother but could you make me a example doising plan?I would like you to do it because you know alot more about it then me,all I know is how to dose seachem products...............which suck:o

[acbaldwin]

Read up on EI dosing here. (http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/science-aquatic-fertilizing/15225-estimative-index-dosing-guide.html)

Includes dosing plan guidelines.


There's another method called PPS, but it's been a while since I've read up on it and I have no personal experience with it.

[seahorse_man]

Thanks,but I now have a few more ?'s:o

1.Is that all I need to add to a 55g is Nitrate,Phosphate,Potassium,and Trace Elements?
2.Now the dosing it recommends is for a heavily stocked tank?
3.Should I start out at half dose and work my way up?
4.Does this Rex guy have a site or should I just e-mail him?
5.Anybody interested in a group buy?

TIA

[acbaldwin]

Thanks,but I now have a few more ?'s:o

1.Is that all I need to add to a 55g is Nitrate,Phosphate,Potassium,and Trace Elements?
Essentially, yep.


2.Now the dosing it recommends is for a heavily stocked tank?

I believe those are recommended for a moderately to lightly stocked tank. more stock = more nutrients in the water = less dosing.
I would start at a full dosing as recommended and after several months until you are comfortable with dosing and can identify problem algae and what should be adjusted without looking it up before you cut back at all. remember, the idea behind EI is that you are ALWAYS dose more than needed. I'll clarify in a minute.
3.Should I start out at half dose and work my way up?
see #2
4.Does this Rex guy have a site or should I just e-mail him?
rexgrigg.com, if remember right. great resource to buy co2 parts.
5.Anybody interested in a group buy?
somebody will be :)

TIA[/QUOTE]
no problem



for clarification...
EI is based on the principle that algae will kick in when plants lose their ability to compete for nutrients in the water column. For example, my swordplant will grow GREAT until it runs out of phosphate in the water. at that point, the plant's growth will slow and you will begin to see signs of a PO4 deficiency. Green spot algae will take up the slack since the sword is no longer able to absorb the previously balanced levels of NPK.
aww hell I think I'm really butchering the concept, the link probably explains it better. Basically, keep your ferts balanced and more than is being used and the plants will grow unchecked and algae will be unable to compete.

[dhuynh]

Placing my order with Rex already. :) He's injured and will take a couple of weeks to send out the stuff.

Jordan, LMK how much you want and I'll add to my order.

[pk-sd]

Here are few things from my planted tank expeience:

1) When using dry ferts from Rex, do not use his trace mineral mix. Use seachems trace instead. Less likely to

2) Keeps lights to under 2watts/gallon. Less ferts to dose, less water to change. Its recommended to do 1/3 water change weekly when you dosing heavily.

3) Use substrate cable heater.

4) Check out this local site: http://seahobby.com/. It has a a planted tank section (in addition to Vivariums; freshwater and reef section).

[seahorse_man]

Thank you everyone for the info.

[unix858]

Here are few things from my planted tank expeience:

1) When using dry ferts from Rex, do not use his trace mineral mix. Use seachems trace instead. Less likely to ?????


less likely to? there was a thread that states that his mix has been updated. Ive been using his stuff and its pretty great. Sometimes i dose some Seachem Flourish "randomly".

[sandiegoryu]

www.plantedtank.net is another great forum. I find it more noob friendly than APC :-P.

[whatever]

thanks, just following along

[unix858]

Danny.. since you dont have much plants in there yet. I updated your weekly dosing schedule to fit what you have in the tank. When you have a wall of Vals and a bunch of anubias and swords, then you can make it a 3x week with 30-40% water change

[Diver Dan]

Man....if you have a garden or a front yard lawn/flowers, etc... That WC water is awesome... My front yard garden is growing vibrantly...:D thats HELLA Masculine...

Gotta love cartman!;) :rolleyes: :D