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Posted by Alan Paterson on January 3, 2006, 10:42 am
Please log in for more thread options I've never had any luck with live plants (someone said London water's just
not fit for them...?) but I'd like to succeed if it's possible. My last
attempt ended in failure when a single ferny plant was overwhelmed by the
algae which seems to thrive in my tank (due, I suspect, to quite a high
lighting level). I was wondering whether I might have greater success if I
planted a whole batch of plants at the same time. Might this work? Or am I
just asking for mass failure? Any advice appreciated.
Alan
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Posted by Gill Passman on January 3, 2006, 11:03 am
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Alan Paterson wrote:
> I've never had any luck with live plants (someone said London water's just
> not fit for them...?) but I'd like to succeed if it's possible. My last
> attempt ended in failure when a single ferny plant was overwhelmed by the
> algae which seems to thrive in my tank (due, I suspect, to quite a high
> lighting level). I was wondering whether I might have greater success if I
> planted a whole batch of plants at the same time. Might this work? Or am I
> just asking for mass failure? Any advice appreciated.
>
> Alan
>
>
I live in Reading and have never heard that the water isn't suitable for
plants here or elsewhere in the UK. I have, however, had plants
overwhelmed by algae and killed off. The more plants that you have, the
more competition there is for the algae and the less likelihood that it
would kill the plants.
Make sure that you provide sufficient light and plant food. Some people
also go for a CO2 unit to do this. Another thing that you could try is
adding something like laterite to the substrate - I've not done it in
the past but am currently running two experiments - one with laterite
and the other with the Red Sea Aqua Plant stuff....not really noticed
too much difference with the growth and the Red Sea stuff over the
growth that I get in tanks with nothing but gravel. I only set up the
laterite tank today so don't know how good it is.
When you buy the plants make sure that you get true aquatic plants -
some of the plants sold are really "house plants" and do not thrive for
long in an aquarium. You could try posting to
rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants for some suggestions on what to buy - I'm
afraid I'm hopeless at names in general.
Hope this helps - guess what I am saying is go for it but then all my
tanks are jungles so I might be biased <g>
Gill
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Posted by Mr Fixit on January 3, 2006, 11:36 am
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> Alan Paterson wrote:
>> I've never had any luck with live plants (someone said London water's
>> just
>> not fit for them...?) but I'd like to succeed if it's possible. My last
>> attempt ended in failure when a single ferny plant was overwhelmed by the
>> algae which seems to thrive in my tank (due, I suspect, to quite a high
>> lighting level). I was wondering whether I might have greater success if
>> I
>> planted a whole batch of plants at the same time. Might this work? Or am
>> I
>> just asking for mass failure? Any advice appreciated.
>>
>> Alan
>>
>>
> I live in Reading and have never heard that the water isn't suitable for
> plants here or elsewhere in the UK. I have, however, had plants
> overwhelmed by algae and killed off. The more plants that you have, the
> more competition there is for the algae and the less likelihood that it
> would kill the plants.
>
> Make sure that you provide sufficient light and plant food. Some people
> also go for a CO2 unit to do this. Another thing that you could try is
> adding something like laterite to the substrate - I've not done it in the
> past but am currently running two experiments - one with laterite and the
> other with the Red Sea Aqua Plant stuff....not really noticed too much
> difference with the growth and the Red Sea stuff over the growth that I
> get in tanks with nothing but gravel. I only set up the laterite tank
> today so don't know how good it is.
>
> When you buy the plants make sure that you get true aquatic plants - some
> of the plants sold are really "house plants" and do not thrive for long in
> an aquarium. You could try posting to rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants for
> some suggestions on what to buy - I'm afraid I'm hopeless at names in
> general.
>
> Hope this helps - guess what I am saying is go for it but then all my
> tanks are jungles so I might be biased <g>
>
> Gill
>
http://www.java-plants.com/cart/prod-col.asp
have a look here at the collections I have some over a year old and still
going
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Posted by Roger Sleet on January 3, 2006, 12:13 pm
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alan.paterson@btclick.com.INVALID (Alan Paterson) wrote:
> *Date:* Tue, 3 Jan 2006 15:42:13 +0000 (UTC)
>
> I've never had any luck with live plants (someone said London water's
> just
> not fit for them...?) but I'd like to succeed if it's possible. My last
> attempt ended in failure when a single ferny plant was overwhelmed by
> the
> algae which seems to thrive in my tank (due, I suspect, to quite a high
> lighting level). I was wondering whether I might have greater success
> if I
> planted a whole batch of plants at the same time. Might this work? Or
> am I
> just asking for mass failure? Any advice appreciated.
I doubt you have too much light unless your tank gets sunlight.
Algae is usually caused by high levels of Nitrate and Phosphate - this
gets into the water from agricultural run off and causes the algae to grow
rapidly. Aquatic plants can get by on almost zero levels.
Filter the water through something like a Nitrogon filter or RO unit to
get rid of Nitrate and Phosphate.
Plant a whole batch at once.
Get CO2 going into the tank, at least until they are established. A basic
CO2 kit can be had for about £15 or you can use yeast and sugar in a
plastic lemonade bottle.
Try to use easy to grow plants that don't need too much light - Java Fern,
some Crypts such as Willisii.
Once your plants are growing well, you can add the more difficult plants.
Roger Sleet
Roger's Aquatic Pages http://www.sleet.plus.com
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Posted by someone here on January 3, 2006, 3:33 pm
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> I've never had any luck with live plants (someone said London water's just
> not fit for them...?) but I'd like to succeed if it's possible. My last
> attempt ended in failure when a single ferny plant was overwhelmed by the
> algae which seems to thrive in my tank (due, I suspect, to quite a high
> lighting level). I was wondering whether I might have greater success if I
> planted a whole batch of plants at the same time. Might this work? Or am I
> just asking for mass failure? Any advice appreciated.
>
> Alan
There are plants for every type of water.
Go to java-plants online and ask for their reccomendations.
Or use truly hardy plants.
To combat the algae, I use 'fairy moss' a floating plant which will extract
a lot of nutrients from the water.
My outdoor pond used to be very green, added the plants and after three
months the water is crystal clear.
YMMV
Dave
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> not fit for them...?) but I'd like to succeed if it's possible. My last
> attempt ended in failure when a single ferny plant was overwhelmed by the
> algae which seems to thrive in my tank (due, I suspect, to quite a high
> lighting level). I was wondering whether I might have greater success if I
> planted a whole batch of plants at the same time. Might this work? Or am I
> just asking for mass failure? Any advice appreciated.
>
> Alan
>
>