# Trying to get healthy plants in a 90gal.



## betta blue (Feb 3, 2008)

I'm very new to this. Been reading the internet and so much on this site. Originally, I posted to elnatural...but was told I'm not an elnatural site. That is right...had I seen this site before, I would have done the topsoil...now I have an established tank with fish and flora. The flora suffered initially cause I bought some clown loaches that had ich and upped the temperature to 86degrees and did salt. Somehow the plants survived barely...looking quite dismal but still living. I bought some more plants after taking all the salt and reducing the temp. to 80. At this late time on the aquarium, I'm looking at doing the back with plants (that I love dearly and have kept all of my tanks healthy with fish cause of them). I don't think I have enough wattage from my lights but the aquarium (90gal) is in a site I could grow any terrestial plants in with the sunlight. The top of the aquarium doesn't get the sun but there still is the sunlight on the sides. I appreciate that I need substrate to cover the plants I bought in their containers. Still am asking what substrate I should buy? I'm afraid of Co2 injection...I'm totally a klutz and pressurized containers scare the hell out of me. I have mollies, platys, clown loaches that all stay at the bottom of the tank. What I read is that they have lots of oxygen to be there. I just want to get my plants healthy...my questions are:

1. with an established tank, what substrate would you recommend to cover the size of the 6cm or 2 1/2in potted plants...I can dig them into the substate only about 1 inch.

2. I use fertilizer sticks for my plants. In the past, I always used one fertilizer stick per plant. In my 90 gal., I have a lot of plants and think I may be overloading fertilizer in the tank....I currently have four sticks in it.

3. I only have one 40 watt grow light in the tank. With 90 gal. I know I need to increase it. In the el natural site, I was told of a way I could, but without help from my husband, I don't think I can do it without hiring an electrician. Should I go to the LFS shops to find a different hood to accommodate more than one tube? or do they make tubes with higher wattage? Stupid question...afraid my husband has told me that 40 watts is max...he's probably right...just want to verify cause he's so anti-aquarium.

Any advise is totally appreciated! Somehow most of the plants I've bought have survived as well as the fish this past year and a half. I don't do bad with outside or inside plants, but I want to learn more about the ones in the aquarium.

Thx,
Shar


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

What are the dimensions of the tank? What plants do you now have that you want to keep? Without that kind of information it is hard to suggest anything. The more we know about what you have the easier it is to recommend something.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Hi Shar!

I'm setting up a 90gal planted, myself. My substrate will be a bottom dusting of peat, topped with 66% EcoComplete (100lbs) and 33% inert black colorquartz (50lbs pool filter sand). (plus I'm going to have a gravel "river" not mixed in with the rest of the substrate...)

My next tank I'm going to try Turface instead of the EcoComplete ($25 for a 50lb bag vs. $120 for Eco!)

If you're leaving all your plants in pots anyways, IMO just skip the Turface and find a colorquartz dealer (go to 3M.com)- find a local distributor and it's about $25/50lb bag- you can't get much cheaper! 

There's a substrate calculator somewhere on this website... you can see how many bags you'd need (I'd buy 3 at that price... never hurts to have some left over for other tanks!)


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## betta blue (Feb 3, 2008)

My tank is 48" length, 18" wide and 24" tall. I currently have a number of vals, 3 amazons that survived the ich treatment but look very unhealthy, a java that is attached to a bogwood that doesn't look great, two tall grass plants (don't know the name but they have two colors), a couple of grass plants that one has attached to the bog and just got three healthy plants in pots: hygrophila corymbosa "siamensis", hygrophils polysperma "rosnervig" and echinodorus osiris "rhubra". Currently in my 90 gal. tank, I used sand and gravel to set it up but not high enough. I know I need to put more substrate in but don't think topsoil is an option for me now with existing fish in the tank. My fish are 5 black mollies, 4 platy's, 4 clown loaches, a 9" plec and a 6" twig catfish. I have two large bogwoods and one small one that the java is attached. Any help now is very much appreciated.

Shar


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## betta blue (Feb 3, 2008)

PS: my substrate is currently about 3 inches in the back and 11/2 in the front...used to be 2" throughout but have been shifting it. With the 9" plec, I want the front open so he can swim freely. He's been readjusting the potted plants and thinking I should leave them where he likes them?


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

betta blue said:


> PS: my substrate is currently about 3 inches in the back and 11/2 in the front...used to be 2" throughout but have been shifting it. With the 9" plec, I want the front open so he can swim freely. He's been readjusting the potted plants and thinking I should leave them where he likes them?


Sounds to me like top it off with 1 50lb bag of colorquartz and you're good to go? (just give it a good rinsing first to clear the dust)

Yeah fighting with fish somehow we always lose... they think they're the "experts" or something... LOL


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## betta blue (Feb 3, 2008)

Thanks Laura Lee. My Plec is big enough that I respect his rearrangement...he has to put up with all these dither fish that he's not too happy about. You mentioned color quartz...is that just the small pea sized gravel they sell in differing colors? I thought I would need something like fluorite or latrete (sp) for the plants. Cause I only want it for the back end of the aquarium, I was thinking I would only need maybe a 25lb bag at most and then even put some extra into my 2 - 5gal tanks and 2 -10gal tanks. My 5 gal. need extra substrate as well...though the amazons are growing well in them, their roots are exposed and I want to top the substrate up on them...but that's another topic and now I'm still concerned about my 90 gallon.


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

Colorquartz comes in diff. sizes and colors but it's more the size of sand. It's most similar to Tahitian Moon Sand in the stores. Good for promoting root growth; pea gravel is too big. 

The only stuff that you will be able to put on top of substrate in an already set up tank without making a HUGE mess will be something inert, not a substrate. Substrates are usually clay based, and those are pretty messy- I wouldn't recommend adding any of them to an already established tank? You might be able to add some Eco, but my guess is it would probably be pretty messy too.

No matter what you use you'll need to use ferts. Just a matter of what and how often... and that gets more complicated as it's affected so much by lighting, water chemistry, various needs of different plant species, etc.


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## Missy B (Jul 8, 2007)

I have a 92 gal. corner tank and I used a couple bags of flourite on the bottom (to hide it), and topped it off with eco-complete on top. The plants are happy, and the black substrate accents the fish colors as well.


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## betta blue (Feb 3, 2008)

Thank you...I need to go to other aquarium shops cause the ones I frequent normally don't even have fluorite and this is the first time I've heard about colorquartz. I have a small amount of what they said was plant substrate. Very small granuoles...just don't know the name...I put it in all the tanks before the 90 gal. Afraid the 90 gal. only has the sand and gravel from an outdoor store...not an aquarium based one. I will check on the colorquartz but like MissyB, I was wondering what fluorite would do with adding it to an existing tank. Would it be that heavy on my filter and fish?

My other question is how many fertilizer sticks are safe for my tank?

Thx,
Shar


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## lauraleellbp (Jan 31, 2008)

If you feel like you need to add more substrate to your 90gal, my recommendation would be to temporarily relocate what fish and plants you have and drain the tank as much as possible, then wash and add the additional substrate. This will really cut down on the mess and IMO be a little less stressful for the fish and plants in the long run. Plastic tubs with an airstone for the fish work great as long as you work fast and do it all on the same day?

Flourite is a very good substrate for plants but very messy- you need to 1) wash it really really well before adding it to your tank and 2) it will still take time to settle down afterwards.

Colorquartz (or Tahitian Moon Sand- pretty much the same stuff, just TMS is more expensive) are great for promoting root growth because of the grain size but are inert so won't provide any nutrients for the plants. I recommended these 2 if you don't want to take the tank apart to add new substrate- they won't cloud up the tank like just about any other substrate will.

Your no matter what direction you go, your filter should be fine- just make sure that you rinse/switch out your filter floss or finer filter pads because they will collect alot of grime in the process and you don't want them to get clogged.

Your fert tab question can't be answered without knowing the specific plants in question and much more specifics about your substrate, lighting, and water chemistry? (I'd take that question over to the fertilizer forum).


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## betta blue (Feb 3, 2008)

Thank you Laura Lee. I know I need more substate. Initially I posted thinking I could do an el natural aquarium but have learned I'm late in doing it now. So I'm back to not having CO2 injection, I do have sunlight and an extremely low light aquarium. I will try to find the colorquartz but have one more question...I can deal with cloudy aquariums til they settle if I do some of the fluorite substrates. Can my fish deal with that cloudiness?

I will check out the forum on fertilizers...too new to this forum and don't know everywhere I should go...already goofed by originally posting on the el natural...maybe the next tank I will be able to do it....Learning process.

Thx again,
Shar


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## betta blue (Feb 3, 2008)

Sorry...which forum does fertilizers? Is it the general forum?


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

This is the Science of Fertilizing forum: http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/science-aquatic-fertilizing/


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