My planted tank evolution

[Crush]

I have 6-24watt t5ho's. I read many suggest co2 for dhg. A lot of the original leafs of the dhg died but the runners are going, sporadically but still going, slowly I might add. Will co2 with my lighting not be necessary? Doesn't co2 help with algae to some degree? The anubias is on top of the gravel, Iv got kind of a divot where my blue lobster was excavating so everything in that area shifted. I kicked him out of my tank and into my daughters tank..lol

[sfasu]

co2 is always benificial. However, you are only at 144 watts total, that comes down to 2.4 watts per gallon. You would need to at least double that for a good carpet to form. At the higher wattage co2 will help control the algae. Do you have much of an algae problem now (other than what happened earlier in the thread)? I was putting over 5 watts per gallon when I was doing carpeting. Ive tried to grow hairgrass in my smaller tanks with no real success. It will live, but it does not spread very well. And Im using plant specific substrate in them. As well as co2 in one of the tanks. You are on the low/low medium end of the spectrum. Im not going to say it cant be done, but you are fighting an uphill battle in regards to getting a nice spread.

[Crush]

What lights were you using? What size tank?

[Alex1]

Yes I was wondering too, as to what lights he is using. Is it the 6700k? Because that would give out the red wave color which is what the freshwater plants need.


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[Crush]

Thanks to KTT I got a few more shrimp buddies for my tank and my daughters tank. Got 50 or so rcs from him. I wanted some others he had but thought I'd better wait a bit. Just did another trimming and had so much I filled my daughters tank and was forced to throw the rest away. I want to get a different hood for my daughters tank cause the one we have just has two 5 led white strips. May get her a traditional style hood and retrofit t5ho's in it like I did my tank.

[Alex1]

Very nice tank. I'm interested in the green killing machine.


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[Crush]

Thanks. The green killing machine I got has been working great as far as getting rid of green water and keeping the water clear. So I'd say it was worth the money.

[Alex1]

This green killing machine don't bother the plants at all?


~ I love my fish

[Crush]

Nope...though Iv heard that uv lights can oxidize or break down some micro nutrients but I don't know that for sure. My plants don't seem to be affected by it.

[BettaMan]

Interesting choice of decor. Chopper n sub. Nice


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[Alex1]

BettaMan I like the natural look.


~ I love my fish

[Crush]

Lol...yeah that was my daughters choice, she wanted a Bermuda Triangle sort of theme. She doesn't realize that would be saltwater and you wouldn't have leafy green plants there...lol

[Crush]

Updated pic in first post.
Well I turned off my air pump, seems almost redundant. Still havnt gotten into co2 injection yet. I wanted to but I'm starting early on buying Christmas presents. My daughter really wanted a nano saltwater tank so Iv been picking up a few things here and there for that. That's going to be her present. Added two twig catfish and 4 more white clouds to my 60. Other than that not much changed.

[ptran]

Your anarkaris is looking great.

[Crush]

Since last post iv cut down the anacharis about 3/4 of the way and its bouncing back. I need to go in and remove the dead parts. Got a few baby ghost shrimp emerging which has been a treat to see. Seen quit a bit of what I thought were baby mts until one of them cought my eye, it seemed to be the same color and markings of an assassin snail. Now I know what they were doing when I couldn't find them...lol. They have been doing there job though, every time I vacuum the gravel I pick up a lot of empty snail shells. I hope there will be an equilibrium once the assassin snails catch up to their food source. I hope after Christmas I can set up a small shrimp only tank on the table next to my bed. I would like to stock it with blue color shrimp maybe rili or velvet. All my plants have been getting along fine except for the green spot algae im battling. It's all over my anubias. I left the lights off for two days to see how that helps but didn't seem to affect it much. Once my anacharis is at full strength that will prolly starve the algae.