Live plant lighting and keeping them algae-free.?

Question

I just bought a compact fluorescent fixture for my 55 gallon tank. It has 2 bulbs for a total of 130 watts. Is this considered as moderate lighting? I have onion plants, green hedges, micro swords, and Brazilian swords; will these live? Do I need to add iron fertilizer each month to keep them green?

Also, how do I keep the algae off of them? I had the tank full of java ferns for about 2 months and they are covered in brown algae. I had to set up a 10 with a dozen oto's to clean them. Short of adding a few dozen oto's to my 55, what else can I do to keep them clean?

I hope its not a green hedge then. It looks so nice in the tank.

Also, the swords are Brazilian, the leaves are much thinner than that of the Amazon.

Answer 1

The best way to keep the tank free of algae is to keep all the nutrients and lighting in balance. With a lot of lighting but no fertilizer and no CO2, it will be next to impossible for the plants to grow. Algae, unfortunately, is MUCH less demanding and will happily grow with only light and tiny amounts of nutrients. Until you start adding a LOT of fertilizer and a LOT of CO2 to catch up to your 130 watts of lighting, you will continue to see algae breakouts. You definitely need to be adding fertilizer in the recommended dosages (preferably after each weekly water change) and you should really consider adding some CO2 in the form of a carbon block (similar to this http://www.thatpetplace.com/pet/group/11119/product.web brand name is MUCH more expensive; I have a non-brand unit that only cost me $50).

*Green Hedge is not an aquatic plant, so it will soon rot in your tank, leading to further algae problems as your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate rise.

**Are you sure your "Brazilian Sword" isn't Amazon Sword? Amazon Swords are much more common...

Soop Nazi

EDIT: :~( Unfortunately, your Brazilian Sword is actually Spathiphyllum tasson, which is also called the Peace Lily... which isn't a true aquatic plant either... Next time you go to your fish store, I suggest asking why they sold you two different kinds of terrestrial plants, and if they sold them to you knowing that they would soon rot in your tank... All I can recommend is that you either get pictures of them and make sure they are really what they were sold as*, or take them back ASAP!

*Echinodorus bleheri is VERY similar to Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus), and it has thinner leaves than Amazon Sword, so this might be what you bought... If you can get a photo of it, either post it on photobucket or some other photo site or send it to me to see if I can help you out...

Answer 2

Yup, Soup Nazi pretty much nailed it.

The short answer that a general fertalizer used as needed will be fine to keep the plants alive, but you have to monitor the water conditions. Keeping the algae off of them is achieved by monitoring the water quality with a full test kit, doing your water changes (don't forget conditioner), and putting in some algae eaters.

More info below (Some of which Soup Nazi already covered):

Typically, a planted aquarum looks like this:
1) Good lighting specifically for growing plants: 1watt/gallon = Low 2watt/gallon = Medium 3-4watts/gallon = High. Keep in mind the quality and reflectivity of the Light Hood can increase the wattage without increasing the power consumption or the wattage rating. Your tank falls in the upper range of Medium Lighting. Be sure to put your lights on a timer and leave them on for about 8-10hrs/day.

2) CO2 Injection. Your plants will need this if you really want them to do well. You monitor the amount of CO2 in your tank with a pH meter. It is not harmful to your fish to elevate the CO2 levels with plants in the tank. I've never used or seen anyone use the CO2 system Soup Nazi has, but his experience has been really good with it. I personally have the canister/valve system and have had a ton of success with that.

3) Fertalizers. Most planted tanks use some Laterite in the gravel. They also use colum or substrate fertalizers. It becomes a huge effort of trial and error to get the dosage and frequency exactly right, but it's worth it.

Those three elements all slammed together act essentially like plant steroids. When you put your plants in a tank like that, they go nuts and will start bubbling O2 bubbles. My tank looked like it was filled with Soda instead of Water. However, algae is a plant too, so what's good for your plants will also be good for algae.

The common theory in the planted tank is that your plants will consume the "steroids" before the algae does. If you're getting algae blooms, you have an element of the fertalizer or something out of whack and it's time to adjust. Algae will litterally melt away in a few days if you adjust to get rid of excess elements. Also knowing what kinda algae it is will help direct you to which elements it might be.

Algae will always be present to some degree though, which is why most planted tanks have a plethora of algae eaters. Ottocinclus, Siamese Algae Eaters (not Chinese), Amano Shrimp, Cherry Shrimp, Plecos, Flag Fish, snails, etc... I know Clown Pleco's love brown algae, Flag Fish love hair algae, etc...

Answer 3

Thats 2wpg, but do you know the kalvins?
Plants need 6500k-10k specially for tanks larger than 10 gallons
Yes 2 wpg of good lighting is considered moderate, but if not its low medium.
You will need to buy a good fertilizer i will recommend Seachem Flourish and add Seachem Excel for much better plants. I say you buy Both.
The exel and flourish are needed because as the plants light, they need their food to grow. Else you will get you algae all over the place. You maybe have to throw away the tank if you get much algae infestation. Micro -swords need can live in 2wpg , but they need lots of fertilizer and CO2. I think the onions will live. The green hedges and Brazilian sword are going to die because they are terristial plants and need their leafs above water. Yes you need fertilizer/C02 running and you have to add fertilizer every week.

For the algae problem, java ferns are slow growers in poor tanks, so thats why they had algae. You didn't have C02 as well which is making them grow slow, and no fertilizer is just going to grow algae. Add C02, your fertilizer, have a heavy planted tank wth LOTS of plants, one or two plants are just going to grow you and algae garden, and course keep nitrates low. OR you can have otos in their feast.

Answer 4

wow soup nazi has done it again perfect answer give him the 10 points