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Introduction and background to aquarium plant essay.

March 10, 1995

This complete revision of the previous posting is meant to address the questions and comments I received, as well as add new information I have stumbled upon since then. The one big change in the method is the use of potting vermiculite in the lower substrate layer with the soil, rather than sand. This soft material resists becoming compacted quite well.

The method outlined below has grown beautiful aquatic plants for me with a minimum of cost and maintenance, and I believe it is repeatable. I originally tried it on a 10 gallon which had done poorly for 1.5 years which had gravel-over-peat substrate, CO2 and micronutrient fertilizers, and no substrate aeration (actually Crypt. affinis and Ludwigia repens had done OK, and all others poorly). This time I used vermiculite mixed with Yolo loam (a local silty loam) on the bottom, covered by #3 sand. I pushed pieces of the pond lily tablets into the substrate (both the loam and the lily tabs were suggested by Tuan Nguyen, a former UC Davis student).

This tank was exceptional right from the start. A pitiful group of E. tenellus literally exploded into a grassy field, with runners shooting out all over the place. It looks like a small patch of the E. tenellus field in Amano's book. This was encouraging. A pitiful Nymphoides aquatica which I moved from the dying 55 gal. immediately put out giant underwater leaves like those pictured in Schuermann's book (2.5" in diameter is the biggest). L. repens shot up with HUGE leaves, requiring frequent pruning. Except for the 1st month after setup, there has been no visible algae. This was my best tank yet. (I should mention also that the nitrates measure zero no matter how much of the pond lily tablets I have pushed into the loam).

I attribute this success to:

1. The fine soil fraction at the bottom which provides high cation exchange capacity, intimate root contact, and holds the fertilizer nutrients in the soil.
2. The pond lily fertilizer tablets which contain nitrogen (both soluble and insoluble), phosphates, potash, iron, and other stuff listed below.
3. And, the soft vermiculite layer which makes root penetration easy (and may even help curtail metal ion toxicity problems often present in freshly submerged soils).

The only thing that still is a minor nuisance for me is algae. Some of my tanks are algae-free (none visible whatsoever), but the higher light tanks still have some algae (though not a big problem). I am currently following some leads for algae control based on DIY phosphate-limiting agents which are cheaper than the "Phos-Sorb" type resins. This is based on the ideas in my previous post on soil chemistry, which I will post the relevant sections of immediately following this post. The soil chemistry is more technical, but the suggestions below are meant to be self- contained.

(I should mention that it seems to me that substrate aeration is not needed for the tanks that I set up, but they are all fairly young. The two-level substrate I use seems to allow an aerated space on top with lower nutrients and a rich, fine grained low aeration section on the bottom for those roots which care to penetrate. I have noticed that fine Crypt roots stay in the upper layer, and grow just fine there.)

HOW TO GROW BEAUTIFUL AQUARIUM PLANTS ON A STUDENT BUDGET

The problem is that there are very few good references with correct and essential information, and that pet shops that sell the plants do not know how to keep them alive and spread false rumors. Some pet shops even sell terrestrial houseplants for aquaria because, "the true aquatics always die and the terrestrials don't decay for a much longer period of time, so customers are more satisfied." (An employee actually said this to me in a low whisper once.) Pet stores are generally the worst place to look for help (I'm sure many exceptions exist, but I haven't found any yet), and aquatic plants books give very little useful information.

The only place with truly outstanding information at the time of writing is the Internet. If you're a student with an Internet account, find out how to subscribe to the newsgroup 'rec.aquaria', where you can ask questions to the best people in the world who grow aquatic plants and keep fish.

Even better is the World Wide Web site that you can reach on Mosaic at the address 'http://www.actwin.com/fish/'. Ask your computer friendly friends how to use Mosaic. This site contains the best postings from the aquaria newsgroups from the past, and is where I got most of my info, and elaborates extensively on what I say below. IT IS THE ONLY PLACE TO CURRENTLY GET THE NEEDED INFORMATION (that I know of)!

With this information you should be able to grow plants better than 99.99% of people that ever try to. You may have to buy a few low price items, and mail order places are usually half the price of retail pet stores and carry a larger selection (see the CHEAP ITEMS section below). Here are my humble remarks on the cheapest way to cover the most important bases for planted aquaria, which have resulted in very lush planted aquaria.

Hopefully you won't need good luck, but I wish you it anyway.

Jim Kelly.

AGSAFE AQUATIC TABS 100-EA (JAR)

Lights

If you're lucky enough to have a 55 gallon or close-sized tank, good lighting can be quite cheap. Our local hardware store sells Liteway shop-lite fixtures which hold two 4-foot fluorescent bulbs for $8.99. I use two of these fixtures (holding four 40 watt bulbs total) over my 55 gallon tank, with Phillips F40D bulbs ($3.99 each locally) in them. (Many people say that they can't fit two fixtures over a 55 gallon "show" tank, but the brand Liteway is only 4-1/2" wide and a pair fit nicely just laying on the cover glass. Other brands I have seen are unfortunately wider.) This setup satisfies three important factors for aquarium lighting:

1. Uniform lighting over the entire top of the tank so that there are no dark corners or walls in the tank. Dark areas may be aesthetically pleasing to you, but I think healthy plants are more aesthetically pleasing.
2. Full spectrum lights. This means they match the spectral output of sunlight closely, which the F40D does. The correct spectrum is obviously important for photosynthesis, as plants have evolved to work best with the sun's spectrum. "Cool White" and other cheap $0.99 bulbs won't work as well or look as good as a light source since they differ considerably from sunlight, but they can grow undemanding plants if you're broke. Also, don't buy the EXTREMELY overpriced bulbs sold by aquarium specialist companies (up to $30). And don't be fooled by the fact that "daylight" bulbs don't look as bright as "cool-white" bulbs, since cool-whites put out the highest intensity in the frequencies where your eyes are more sensitive, which are not the most useful frequncies for photosynthesis. Any "daylight" or "full-spectrum" bulb will do.
3. Proper intensity. Most people agree that four 40 watt bulbs in a 55 gallon tank is enough light. Really, as long as you have no algae problems and the tank is not overheating, you can't have too much light intensity. Practically speaking, it may be too much (I have experienced "green-water" algae in the past with 2 daylight bulbs and two cool-whites over my 55 gal, which some people say is a clear sign of too much light) so I have adjusted the intensity down a little in the past by putting strips of toilet paper between the lights and the glass cover when algae have gotten bad. This is better than just using 2 lights with no light blockage, as you don't sacrifice item (1). However, algae are often a sign of other problems which are correctable (see algae section). In the end I have always removed the tissue blocking the light after the algae is cured, to provide the plants with as much light as possible.

If you have a small or odd sized tank, the hood that came with the tank will satisfy neither (1) nor (3) above. That's ok, just buy plants that do not require a lot of light. As a general rule, dark green plants are ok with low light levels, and light green or red plants need high light. If you can afford it, add a second light fixture to the aquarium so that there are two light strips above. You will notice a marked improvement in growth. I have modified some fixtures to fit three 15 watt bulbs over my ten gallon tank, although the plants could get by with two. The intensity of flourescent bulbs goes down dramatically in the first 6 months of use, so having a lot of wattage means that you don't have to worry about replacing the bulbs every 6 months.

Gravel/Substrate

This is one of the most important items to consider for healthy plant growth. I have gotten absolutely superior growth (after having tried many other substrates with much less success) from the following formula. There are two layers:

For the bottom layer mix potting vermiculite (from any nursury) with enough water to wet the vermiculite well but not so much that it floats. Squeeze and knead the vermiculite to get as much air out of it as possible, and also to separate the different layers of the vermiculite granules, making the mixture as fine as possible. When your hands look like they're covered in gold dust, you're done. Now add some soil that you have dug from outside (garden topsoil). See the suggestions for soils at the end of this section.

You should mix in enough of this to turn the vermiculite from its shimmery golden color to grey. For example, I used about two gallons of Yolo loam with enough vermiculite to make a 3-inch layer in a 55 gallon tank, or about a quart mixed with enough vermiculite to make a 1.5-inch layer in a 10 gallon tank. The precise amounts are not important. After mixing in the soil, the mixture should no longer be runny with water. If it is, your tank will be quite cloudy when you add the water to fill it, so add more soil and vermiculite until it is no longer runny with water, but comparable to prepared cake mix before you cook it. This bottom layer forms a rich, soft medium for roots to penetrate into and obtain nutrients from. This layer should be as thick as possible, within aesthetic limits.

The top layer is simply sand. You need about a 1 inch or more layer, simply to keep the lower layer from clouding the water. The best is #3 sandblasting grit, which our local gravel yard sells in 100 lb. bags for $10. Any sand that is not from the sea and is not too fine will do. #3 sand is about 2 mm in diameter. Just pour it on top, and level it out. Wash it first if you think it needs it. This layer should be at least 1" thick, and not more than 2".

Now you can carefully add the water to the tank. Put down some paper or something flat at the bottom of the tank to keep the soil from being stirred up while you add the water. If you are careful, the water will be crystal clear when you finish. If you stirred up the soil by accident, it will take 2-5 days to clear up, so be patient. A small puff of soil will come up when you uproot a plant, but does not present a problem. After you have planted the plants, you can add a small amount of solid fertilizer to the bottom layer of the substrate (see the fertilizer section).

For those interested in what to look for in a soil that will grow aquatic plants well, here is additional info. Don't use bagged potting soil, peat moss, or compost (They will decay under water and prevent good root growth. See the recent article by Diane Walstad in the Sept. 1994 issue of TAG. They offer a short-term supply of nutrients which will have to be replenished with solid fertilizer eventually anyway, so you might as well just use a solid fertilizer from the beginning and avoid the problems associated with decaying organic matter, such as hydrogen sulfide formation.) Try to find a soil low in organic matter and high in fine clay particles. It should not be sandy soil or very firm, fine clay either, but somewhere in the middle.

Sand has insufficient cation exchange capacity and is too coarse to contact the roots on their entire surface area. These are the two most important factors which influence how well roots can obtain nutrient ions from the soil. Very fine clay (close to Play-Doh texture) might cloud the water when you uproot plants in the aquarium. If you are a student, you might want to go to the university library and look up the types of soils in your area and their properties in government soil survey books which usually have maps telling you where to find the different soils, as well as important chemical properties. You want a soil that has a high cation exchange capacity and low organic matter content, and has metal ions which are present in only moderate quantities (too much can be toxic to plants). I have used "Yolo loam" from the UC Davis campus with great success in my home tanks. It was not chosen specially, but it is just what is available locally. Here is the analysis:

Yolo Loam (from Yolo county, CA)

Fertilizer

Plants need nutrients to grow.

The unfortunate thing about fertilizing this way is that all these nutrients are available to the algae as well. If all this digested food could be kept deep in the substrate, the plants would have a much easier time getting at it than the algae. For this reason I prefer to feed my fish VERY sparingly and to use a solid fertilizer in the substrate. I have used "Lilipons" brand pond lily tablets with great success (after having tried many made-for-aquarium additives which weren't as good and are generally overpriced).

I break the rather large tablets into 8 or 16 smaller pieces (best accomplished by placing a flat-head screwdriver onto the tablet and striking with a hammer) and push them deep into the loam/vermiculite part of the substrate. This helps keep the nutrients out of the water and near the roots. I would use no more than one whole tablet when you first plant the tank, and then add more after making sure the nitrate levels in the tank haven't risen above 5 ppm (see algae and test kit sections).

Plants also require plenty of iron. The "Lilipons" tablets contain iron, and this is probably enough. However, I am paranoid and I have been occasionally adding aquarium trace element additives (they contain chelated iron and some other important micronutrients which are usually supplied in tap water, and are somewhat overpriced) or garden supply iron ("Security" brand iron plus chelate; about 30 granules per day in a 55 gal.; $5.49 at a local hardware store for a lifetime supply).

My paranoia stems from a tank I had set up with only a coarse substrate (no Yolo loam) into which I had put some of the lily tablets. Plant growth really took off for about 3 weeks after the fertilizer tablets were added, but suddenly all the plants began dying. When about 3/4 of the plants were looking pretty sad, I began adding iron daily and all the plants that hadn't completely died put out new shoots and came back nicely. Presumably the roots could not contact the iron in the tablets well enough to absorb it without the fine loam, or there was too much water circulation through the substrate. Anyway, I think the tablets would probably supply sufficient iron (in the presence of clay) to keep the plants happy, but I haven't verified this.

By the way, even tap water contains soluble iron, but in the high oxygen environment of your aquarium it quickly turns to rust which the plants cannot use. Chelated iron doesn't oxidize quickly and so will remain available for weeks. (Note that "Security" brand is only 0.25% chelated iron, the rest is unchelated and quickly turns to rust, so I add it every night before bed (since it temporarily slightly clouds the water) hoping that some of the unchelated iron has a chance to be absorbed too.

Finally I would like to warn against using the cheap tree fertilizer available in garden supply. A friend tried this not noticing that there was chlorine in the ingredients, and subsequently killed all his fish. Try the Osmocote tablets described below. In summary, I would add some solid nitrogen containing fertilizer in the substrate (especially Lilipons or similar), check for high nitrates (if they're high (above 10 ppm), stop fertilizing with nitrogen and increase water changes until they lower), and add chelated iron if the plants take a turn for the worse. For comparison with other fertilizers, here are the Lilipons ingredients:

Lilipons Planting Tablets

A tablet with the EXACT same ingredients and proportions was available in the tree fertilizer section of our local hardware store. It's called "Osmocote (Agriform) Planting Tablets" and are about 1/3 larger than the Lilipons for $0.35 per tablet. This seems like a more convenient source, since Osmocote is a big company so these should be available most places. If not, call Van Ness.

(Note: The addition of phosphates and sulfates to the aquarium is not above controversy. I have used these tablets in tanks with NO visible algae growth and without any apparent harm to roots from hydrogen sulfide gas. All I can say is that it works, despite the theory. These tanks have been set up less than one year.)

Carbon Dioxide, CO2

a vital nutrient.

By Jim Kelly jkelly@landau.ucdavis.edu

The importance of CO2 injection cannot be overemphasized for growing beautiful planted aquaria.

The setups on the my aquaria cost about $5 for supplies that will last a year (this includes 2 liters of Coke that you get to drink). Here's the idea (which is due to Thomas Narten off of internet as far as I know). CO2 dissolves into (and escapes out of) water very quickly, so we need a way to produce bubbles of CO2 and to hold them in contact with a fast flowing stream of water so the CO2 has time to dissolve.

CO2 is produced by yeast fermenting sugar into alcohol, so take a 2-liter soda bottle and fill it with lukewarm water to about 2" from the bottom of where the screw cap would be. Pour the measured water into a bucket and add approximately 2 cups sugar and 1/4 teaspoon baking yeast (e.g. Fleishmann's brand from the baking section of Safeway). Stir until both are dissolved, especially the yeast which is harder to dissolve than the sugar. Pour this stuff back in the bottle and fill to the point it normally would be filled with soda.

ALGAE:

Among people who can actually grow plants, algae is the main headache.

One main cause of algae seems to be unhealthy plants. I have used cuttings from algae-plagued tanks when setting up new tanks according to the above suggestions, and have been able to completely eliminate the algae once the plants grew in.

It seems that the worst kinds of algae, filamentous algae and red algae, can thrive even in water that is starved of nutrients when they are attached to a dying leaf (I don't know it derives nutrients from the leaf or what). By having only healthy leaves in the tank, you have already eliminated the favorite breeding ground for these algae.

Presuming you are starting with no-so-healthy cuttings from an unsuccessful tank, so that most of the leaves have firmly attached algae, you must grow out new leaves as quickly as possible so you can eliminate the dying leaves. This is the job of the suggestions presented above. In the mean time, cut off any leaves that are badly covered, and as soon as a stem grows tall, cut it off at the point where the algae starts and replant the top, and discard the bottom. For rosette plants just cut off the infested leaves when sufficient new ones have grown.

For me this has been sufficient to eliminate all algae problems (to the point of no visible algae) when I followed the setup techniques outlined above in some of my tanks. However, this does not eliminate the chance that variations in your tap water chemistry and fish feeding habits will make your job more difficult.

Other sources of algae.

If nitrates read zero, there may be too much light and you can SLOWLY lower the light levels by putting toilet paper or equivalent between the lights and the top glass, while continually removing algae and watching how fast it grows back. More likely to cause algae than either excess nitrates or light are excess phosphates originating from fish food or decaying plant leaves.

At present the only known ways to remove it are with a phosphate removing resin (Phos-Sorb for example) or by water changes. I am currently investigating home-brew alternatives to the expensive Phos-Sorb for algae control based on the ideas in a soil chemistry posting that follows this post immediately.

There is one type of algae that may thrive despite all this advice: blue-green algae. This algae is actually related to bacteria and will respond to treatment with erythromycin, available at most pet shops. Follow the instructions indicated for bacterial infection of fish on the label, but use only half the dosage. The people at the pet shop will think you're crazy for using it on an "algae", but remember that the pet shops are poor sources of information and that blue-green algae is actually a photosynthetic bacteria.

I have used the brand "Maracyn" with success and it has never reappeared. This algae can be identified by the color (usually more bluish than most algae) and the fact that it quickly coats plants/sand in a thin layer like a veil, which is easy to remove from the plant but grows back very quickly. It is not stringy or tufty. This treatment will not harm the filter bacteria if the directions are followed (using 1/2 strength). If you're not sure, get an expert identification before using the medication. Many snails are said to love to eat blue-green algae (e.g. ramshorn and pond snails) and thus provide an organic (but not as quick) remedy.

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