# Advice on 75 gallon low tech



## bobkaboni (Mar 18, 2018)

I have a 75 gallon low tech tank that is almost two month old. It is plants with lots of crypts and Anubias, a sword and a micro sword. I have not seen any growth and the swords look terrible. 

This is the light I have: https://www.marineandreef.com/AquaT...RJluqGyQXy5JwPjZzI42HpcRuhVJrCIhoCeTsQAvD_BwE

I have root tabs throughout the tank in ecocomplete substrate and occasionally dose excel and flourish. 

Am I being impatient? Should I buy another light? Any advice is greatly appreciated


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## pauld738 (Jan 4, 2019)

I believe flourish is a micro nutrient additive.

I was doing the same as you, Excel and flourish occasionally. I didn't get good growth in my low tech tanks until I started adding macro's and Excel on a regular basis. Excel ~5x/week and Nilocg Thrive 3x/week. Thrive is nice because it has both macro and micro nutrients.

It would help others if you posted your water parameters. pH, gh/kh, nitrates if you can.

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## bicboihulk (Feb 6, 2019)

I have pretty much same set up but i just use a fluorescent bulb. i don't use excel or root tabs but let me tell you this, it does take time. i've had the plants running for about a year. i have pretty slow growth as well. what i do see though is i get a lot of new plants. i started with about 3 small swords and they're about medium sized. a lot of runners with my dwarf sag but i wouldn't say its completely carpet. i'm sure if i used c02 it would be a different story. right now my tank is kinda filled up. definitely a big change compared to what it used to look like, i'm not in a rush to fill it. i don't have to trim or anything, it's really low maintenance thats what i love about low tech. ya flourish is micro but you can probably find macros if you check local. a lot of guys in my area sell their own macro nutrients. thrive is a bit pricey thats why i dont get it.


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## trapperwolves (Nov 26, 2011)

I noticed in the description of the light that it says fish only tanks in a few areas.


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## Godsgift2aquariums (Feb 12, 2019)

Hello, 

You didn't mention how long you have had your low-tech aquarium set up. Most problems show up in 3 to 4 months after initial setup so I'll go with that. 

FYI: I don't use chemicals or CO2 in my tanks so my advice is based on that. 

Information or fixes: 

1. I've read and believe that most packaged, store bought plants are air grown on wet soil (what is called emersed). Emersed plant leaves often don't do well when moved to an underwater environment. The old leaves will die. If you have new growth on your plants you're golden and all you need is patience. If not read on. 

2. There are generally two major mistakes that a newer low-tech aquarium hobbyist make:




The first mistake is that they use an undergravel filter. I've never had good luck growing plants when I had an undergravel filter. The really, really good planted tank aquarists never use an undergravel filter

The second mistake is using incorrect substrate usually gravel only. This will make your hobby much harder. You need a growth medium that your plants like and that's usually not gravel only. You can find a lot of aquarium plant growing substrate choices by going to Amazon and doing a search for "aquarium substrate for plants freshwater". If you want to go cheaper, do what i do and just buy a bag of organic potting soil. You'll put an inch of gravel over an inch and a half of growth substrate to hold it in place. (sorry, but this will require a total tear down of your tank if you don't already have it. Worth it though).

3. If you have the correct substrates, it's possible that you are cleaning your tank too often. Cleaning your tank removes the nutrients that you plants need to grow. The nutrients are created by the beneficial bacteria (ammonia cycle) breaking down fish waste, excess food, and plant waste (dying leaves). The bacteria change the waste into nitrates, micro plant nutrients and CO2. Your plants need all of these to grow. Diana Walstad in her book _Ecology of the Planted Aquarium_ states that she only cleans her tanks every 6 months to a year. She just make sure the water levels stay topped off.

4. Don't use a filter if you have one. This creates the same situation as mentioned in #3. 

5. (In my opinion and Diana Walstad's opinion) If you want to take advantage of the CO2 the bacteria is creating, don't use a air pump or powerhead. You want the surface of your tank nice and smooth. Water agitation will release the CO2 into the air rather than being used by your plants to grow and create O2 for the fish/shrimp. 

4. It is unlikely but it's possible that you don't have enough light going into your tank. I use a light meter to measure light intensity. The light intensity in my 10 gallon "nano" is 8000 lux when measured in the front of the tank, outside the glass half way down. 

That's my two cents.


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## pauld738 (Jan 4, 2019)

bicboihulk said:


> I have pretty much same set up but i just use a fluorescent bulb. i don't use excel or root tabs but let me tell you this, it does take time. i've had the plants running for about a year. i have pretty slow growth as well. what i do see though is i get a lot of new plants. i started with about 3 small swords and they're about medium sized. a lot of runners with my dwarf sag but i wouldn't say its completely carpet. i'm sure if i used c02 it would be a different story. right now my tank is kinda filled up. definitely a big change compared to what it used to look like, i'm not in a rush to fill it. i don't have to trim or anything, it's really low maintenance thats what i love about low tech. ya flourish is micro but you can probably find macros if you check local. a lot of guys in my area sell their own macro nutrients. thrive is a bit pricey thats why i dont get it.


Oops, didn't mean to imply that Thrive should be used on a biggish size tank. Was trying to get across that my water was out of balance and getting back in balance showed much better plant growth.

Just curious, is that one or two fluorescent bulbs on your tank. You are doing really well if it's just one!


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## Greggz (May 19, 2008)

Godsgift2aquariums said:


> Hello,
> 
> You didn't mention how long you have had your low-tech aquarium set up. Most problems show up in 3 to 4 months after initial setup so I'll go with that.
> 
> ...


Huh???

You have any pics of what you have created using these methods??

I'm guessing no....but maybe you will surprise me???


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## bicboihulk (Feb 6, 2019)

this is about 1 year change. i would've liked more growth on the dwarf sag but it is what it is. the clover leaf was an extremely slow growing and didnt do well at all. amazon swords, anubias and dwarf sag gave me best results. i have 1 blub too. i actually shut down 1 smaller 40 tall so i have extra 2 sponge filters running. hence the 2 bubbler. trying to keep the bb from dying off so i can easily cycle a new aquarium if needed. so 4 filters in this tank bwahahaha. or ya, the hornwort did good too, but i moved it into a new tank too soon and it disintegrated:frown2:


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## pauld738 (Jan 4, 2019)

bicboihulk said:


> this is about 1 year change. i would've liked more growth on the dwarf sag but it is what it is. the clover leaf was an extremely slow growing and didnt do well at all. amazon swords, anubias and dwarf sag gave me best results. i have 1 blub too. i actually shut down 1 smaller 40 tall so i have extra 2 sponge filters running. hence the 2 bubbler. trying to keep the bb from dying off so i can easily cycle a new aquarium if needed. so 4 filters in this tank bwahahaha. or ya, the hornwort did good too, but i moved it into a new tank too soon and it disintegrated:frown2:


Nice!

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