How many have indoor tanks?

[Nepen]

May be I should look into extra light too. mine's pretty dim other plants are doing well though, some better than the other. The purple waffle that is not supposed to fully submereged is still doing fine too.

I just never get the hornworth to do doog in the tank, they did great in my nature pond though, not so much in my pond.. may be there's not enough nutrient for them, I dont know.

In my tank with the nitrate this high I would've thought the plants will go crazy, but may be I'll need to add light and it might help.

 

[taherrmann4]

How many of you fertilize your planted tanks?

 

[Nepen]

taherrmann, I didnt use fertilizer, I'm hoping my plants will help with my Nitrate level

 

[bettasngoldfish]

I think the trick with the hornwort and anacharis is the amount of light. I know they both do well in my pond but not so much in my indoor tanks.

The only plants I use fertilizer tabs for are the swords and that's only when I remember.

Java moss grows like crazy in my tanks and will grow in low light. It's best to tie it down though as if left floating it will clog filters.

 

[addy1]

I don't fertilize my tank, just fish poo

 

[MitchM]

I fertilize mine using a doser that doses every night.

 

[Sunshine]

I fertilized when I first put the plants in there. After that, no.

 

[CountryEscape]

I got lots of plants, bought liquid fertilizer. Everything was doing great for about a month and then BOOM, almost over night, green water. I'd never had green water in my tank, but pet store guy asked if I was using fertilizer first thing. Heehee, and he didn't sell it to me. So, quit using it. I think more light would definitely help my plants. Really neat idea to put your tank on the floor, Addy, and then use the underwater lights. I have a tall hood on my 55 gal, so I could easily hide an extra spotlight on the top behind the hood light. LEDs are really nice, and who says you have to buy an aquarium light. I'm going to look into some other types of lights, just will make sure they can handle the moisture. Probably try to find something that is outdoor type.
I've never tried the hornwart or arachanis in my aquariums or ponds. May have to get a start of some this summer, put it in my pond, and then add it to the aquariums if it grows too much.
Pet store people told me fresh water test kit works fine on brackish, so that means my nitrates are top end! Yikes!!! They also said to check the nitrates in my well water, I may be increasing the numbers every time I do a water change. Didn't even think of that.

 

[CountryEscape]

Aw crap. Well, water from brackish tank was at the top end of my chart. I was told it goes higher than that, it's just as high as the test goes to. Tested my water from the tap, and it tested at 20-40 ppm. Knowing that this is softened water, I tested the unsoftened water, just to see the difference. That tested at 80+. I realize now that the brackish aquarium water tested about the same as the straight well water, around 80+, but maybe not all the way to the 160 mark. The test chart goes from 80 to 160. I guess each "jump" is double from the last number.
So ... looks like I need to be using some RO water, huh? That's what I use in my fresh water aquarium for water changes. Was not wanting to have to do that with the brackish, but seems I need at least a mixture of RO and softened water for that tank. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[MitchM]

CE, I use RO water for all my aquariums. Water quality can change with the seasons so I prefer using predictable waster from the RO unit.
How are you controlling the salt level in your brackish tank?
My water flow goes from the well to the softener to the RO unit.

 

[CountryEscape]

I just top off the water when it evaporates, knowing the salt remains in there for the most part, then check for salinity. I was told to keep it between 1.012-1.016 specific gravity, which is 17-22 ppt salinity. That part I've had no trouble with. I added 2 gallons of RO water to top it off tonight, will do small water changes every couple of days and see if I can bring down the nitrates.

 

[litteche]

I got two 180g african cichlids tank and one 20g fry tank. Outside 1500g koi pond. Lot.of work but still love it alot..

 

[Nepen]

My Nitrate is starting to slow down, YEY! After moved the shubbie to the pond, my Nitrate problem is becoming easier to manage, well, that and may be my plants are taking off too. I can wait 2 weeks to do a water change now

My shirmps are missing again.... darn it, I thought I removed the one who kept eating them, now they are just missing..

 

[CountryEscape]

Darn, Nepen, hope they are just becoming good hiders. Hope you find them.

 

[taherrmann4]

My Nitrate is starting to slow down, YEY! After moved the shubbie to the pond, my Nitrate problem is becoming easier to manage, well, that and may be my plants are taking off too. I can wait 2 weeks to do a water change now

My shirmps are missing again.... darn it, I thought I removed the one who kept eating them, now they are just missing..

My cherry shrimp disappeared for about 4 days and then out of know where he appeared. Same with my ghost shrimp I am not sure where they hide.