Plant growth

[pmcsomething]

My 30g Tall tank is now established. I fixed the fish dying off problem. When I got home today, I noticed brown and green algae on my rocks. There is no algae growth on the glass, only in the corners. I do water changes every other week. Here is what is confusing me slightly. My plants are growing slowly. They are not growing fast. They just seem to be maintaining. Now I am going to go back to excel dosing soon. I have 3 Amazon swords and quite a few plants of this. I am not sure of the name so I have enclosed a picture.

Here are the fish that currently reside in the tank.

6 Neon Tetras
1 Gold barb (had 3, 1 died of unknown death and the other free willyed out and onto the carpet. still not sure how that happened)
5 Buenos Aries Tetras
1 Oto.

The oto is active in cleaning the glass, but he does not touch the granite. Maybe the rocks are too rough for the little guy?

I am debating about donating the BA's to a LFS because I think they might be too big for the tank and too aggressive for the other tank mates. They constantly chase each other and nip at each other. I would like to add another Oto or two, just to give the solo oto some company. I read that they like to be in groups of two or three.

So back to my main question, how shall I make my plants grow faster to out work the algae for nutrients? What is the best way to combat algae on the rocks? I have already decreased the time of lights from 10 hours to 8 hours, the bulbs are 2 14w CF. I think they put out the same energy as 60w lights? Is my math correct on that?

Thanks in advance.

 

[usacutie81]

Well, first of all, we need to know your specs... Ph, and especially ammonia, nitrItes, and nitrAtes.

Btw, go ahead and add a few otos, you're right, they really do enjoy being in groups.

 

[skratikans]

do you fertilize?if so, how often? what type of lights do you have? are they the ones that came with the tank?

 

[Lotus]

I hate to tell you this, but it looks like you have mondo grass in there, a nonaquatic plant. It will survive for a few months, but will eventually melt away.

 

[pmcsomething]

Lotus,

I think you are correct. The Kyoto plants that I bought from Petco are not meant to be fully submerged, hence why they are not growing. I did a quick Google search to confirm this and found this list from ultimatebettas.com (giving credit where credit is due) here is a list of non aquaria plants that may be sold as aquaria plants. A nice little credit for MFT.

So now that I am aware of what I have, I would like to have some suggestions of what to grow and where to buy from. I think I am done buying plants from Petco and will stick to LFS or trusted buyers from this site or other trusted buyers from another good fish website.

Here are my water specs. They do not really fluctuate very often. The temp also stays the same at 76F.

Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 0
Hardness - 300
Chlorine - 0
Alkalinity – 300
pH – 8.4
Ammonia – 0

My lighting is two mounted CF 14W bulbs, one at each end of the tank. I have also noticed some bright green algae on my substrate (eco-complete). In fear of creating an ammonia spike and stirring up crap and what not, can I just turn over the eco with gravel cleaner? Should you even use gravel cleaner on substrate that does not have plants growing there? I thought I did my homework on a planted tank but I guess I still have a lot more to learn.

The two bulbs that I have are CFL 14w/. They say in the description that they are rated the same as 60w normal bulbs. Is this a true statement? Do I have 4wpg (2X60=120/30=4) or do I have .93wpg? (14X2=28/30=.9333).

I am glad there are some very knowledgeable people on this website.

I used to fert with Flourish Excel, but now knowing that I have some non aquatic plants, I am not going to dose with anything until I find some real plants that will benefit from the excel. No need to waste at $9.99 a bottle. I do add AmQuel+ every other week or so. It removes all of the bad stuff, Nitrate and Nitrite, Ammonia etc.

I hope that is enough info, if you need more let me know.


NOTE: Most of these are bog plants or marginals (live close to water), and some of them will survive much better if the leaves are kept out of water.

Sources:
Common Plant Listing (also check this link for a list of true aquatic plants)
http://www.myfishtank.net/reviews/showprod...7/cat/21/page/1
NoHsePltsBiz
Plants Unsuitable for Use in Aquaria

Non-Aquatic Plant Species

Aluminum Plant (Pilea cadierei)
Arrowhead (Syngonium podophyllum)
Baby Doll (Cordyline terminalis)
Bamboo Plant (Bamboo sp.)
Black Pagoda (Aeschynanthus parasiticus)
Borneo/Underwater Fern (Trichomanes javanicum)
Brazilian/Borneo Sword, Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum tasson)
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Chameleon Plant (Houttuynia cordata)
Chinese Evergreen (Aglaonema simplex)
Compact/Red Dracaena (Cordyline sp.)
Dragon Flame/Tongue (Hemigraphis repanda)
Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia sp.)
Elephant Ear (Caladium sp.)
Green/Red/Gold Hedge (Alternanthera sp.)
Japanese Rush (Acorus sp.)
Kelantan Swordplant, Malayan Sword, Silver Queen (Aglaonema sp.)
Lucky Bamboo, Sandy (Dracaena sanderiana)
Mondo Grass, Kyoto Dwarf, Fountain Plant (Ophiopogon japonica)
Neanthebella Palm (Chamaedorea elegans)
Nerve Plant (Fittonia argyronanta)
Peliosanthes (Peliosanthes sp.)
Pickerel Weed/Rush (Pontederia cordata)
Pineapple Plant (Dracaena compacta)
Pongol Sword (Chlorophytum bichettii)
Pothos (Philodendron sp.)
Prayer Plant (Maranta leucoreura)
Princess Pine (Lycopodium obscurum)
Purple Waffle/Temple/Krinkle (Hemigraphis exotica, Hemigraphis colorata)
Scarlet Hygro, Alligator Weed (Alternanthera sessilis) -- However, Alternathera reineckii IS true aquatic!
Schismatoglottia (Schismatoglottia sp.)
Spider Plant (Chlorophytum bichetii)
Stardust Ivy (Syngonium sp.)
Sweet Flag (Acorus calamus)
Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys verticillata)
Umbrella Plant (Cyperus alternifolius)
Underwater Fern (Selaginella wildenowii)
Underwater Palm, Coconut Plant (Calamus sp.)
Underwater/Ground Pine, Club Moss (Lycopodium sp.)
Variegated Dracaena, Green Dracaena (Dracaena sp.)
White/Pink Lace (Melaleuca thymifolia)

 

[Lotus]

I generally buy plants from other hobbyists. The buy/sell/trade forum on here, or the forums on places like plantedtank.net or plantgeek.net are good places for healthy plants at a low price, IME.

Your lighting is the 0.93 wpg. You should be able to grow some low light plants.

Instead of the Amquel, I'd just suggest water changes every week. There's really no need, IMO, to be adding extra chemicals to a tank.

The algae in your tank, does it grow fast and come off in sheets, or is it dusty looking or hairy/fuzzy?

 

[pmcsomething]

It looks dusty. It is a mix of green and brown. Let me see if I can snag a picture.

Here is a picture of the bigger rock.

Here is a picture of one of the smaller rocks

Here is an closeup of the plants. I would like to confirm that they plants in the foreground are indeed a version of Mondo grass. Can anyone confirm what the plants are in the back ground?

And here is a happy new oto.

 

[Lotus]

The algae looks mostly like diatoms. It should go away on its own in a few weeks, and the otos will help with it.

The plant in the back looks like a queen sword or a melon sword (I know it's a sword, though)