Growing BW plants

[spjacobsen]

hey, so i know that there are plenty of plants that will survive in BW, but i just have a couple general questions about growing them. Right now i have fairly large gravel in the tank, do I need to use something else for the plants? Also i see people are talking about CO2 and wattage...what are some guidlelines on these? also can someone explain co2 to me? how is it introduced into the tank? some device or what?

[my name is mike]

personally, i like the low tech approach -- this involves low to moderate lighting (under 2 wpg) and no CO2 injection --- but i know others that swear by co2 and high lighting -- the high tech approach requires more maintenance and more equipment but you can get much better plant growth and ward off algae easier --

there are some good threads to check out on this forum that weight the benefits of both

one of the biggest challenges (or headaches) with brackish plants is the slow acclimation --- they need to start in freshwater and be raised to your desired specific gravity over a few weeks, if not a full month -- this requires either a grow out tank or taking you display tank back down to fresh water

[TheSmJ]

Call me crazy but in my low tech BW tank I just drop the plants in from my main high-tech FW tank. I've only done this with java ferns/moss though, as I wouldn't try much else with "standard" aquarium lighting anyhow.

[my name is mike]

that makes sense -- java fern is natutally occuring in brackish waters from what i understand, so i would prob be able to withstand rapid changes in SG

[mikeosoft]

I have a planted tank that I've been slowly converting to BW by adding salt at a rate of about 1 tbsp every 2 days. I'm up to 10 tbsp (in a 50gal tank) so far and everything is still growing great.

I have eco-complete substrate, 96watts of 6700K PC lighting, dosing Flourish Excel daily and Flourish Comprehensive bi-weekly.

I'm keeping the following plants:
Java Fern
Compacta Sword
Crypt. ciliata
Crypt. spiralis
Crypt. Red Wendtii
Bacopoa carolina
Anubias barteri
Anubias nano
Pygmy chain sword
Red Tiger Lotus

[TheSmJ]

Wow. thats reallllllllly slow!

BTW, I live in Farmington Hills too.

[mikeosoft]

Yeah it's really slow, but I would rather take my time and have everything live. I only plan on going to about 1.003 or so. I figure the clean-water benifits added from the plants will be the best thing for keeping my puffer healthy.

[Agnate]

I don't use C02, but I picked up a bottle of "carbon" (in a liquid form) that apparently the plants can break down and use. I'm not sure if it works at all, but the plants haven't died.... yet.

I'm wondering if there are any special products I should pick up for plants. Right now I only have Java Fern, some Crypts, and (I think) a sword plant. Other than the fern, though, I don't know their scientific names.

Any suggestions? I have two large Ferns in my 28g brackish, and they're strapped to some white coral fragments. The rest of them (and two other Ferns that are strapped to driftwood) are in my 10g tank with my gf's Crowntail Betta, 5 Glowlight Tetras, and a Julii Cory. I saw some root fertilizer things (little inserts that the plants grow their roots into to get nourishment), but I was a bit skeptical that they'd last the year like they said they would. ^_^

[Jase]

I use FloraPride in my FW tank and I can almost watch my plants grow.

[TheSmJ]

Don't bother with using any ferts in your tanks unless you're also using bright enough lighting. Otherwise it's a good way to get algae to take over.

[mikeosoft]

I really like the Seachem Flourish products so far.

The bottled carbon you are using (assuming it really is bio-available) is probably doing more for your plants than you think. Without a bio-available carbon source for your plants algae can easily start to out compete your plants for nutrients and take over the tank.

I have been using Flourish Excel as a carbon source and it seems to be working really well (if you don't mind dosing every day). I planned on using a DIY fermentation CO2 system but just haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Agnate]

Heh, yeah, the stuff I have is Flourish Excel. Interestingly enough, my roommate JUST started constructing his own fermentation CO2 system. He was going to use Dry Ice from his work, but decided against it. ^_^ I'll report back on the success of his fermentation system.