Changing a 50 Breeder to a planted tank

[jcali10]

When re-doing my 50, should I be dosing from day one? To start with, I plan on getting some stems, a few anubias, and transplanting a compact sword from my 20 that isn't so compact; it takes up about half of the 20G tall.
I plan on using SMS, cause I already have a bunch of it, and a little bit of peat and some laterite on the bottom.
Hardscape: I have 3 pieces of waterlogged driftwood and some nice chunks of porous rock from Dave.
This is going to be my first pressurized tank, it will have over 3 wpg of T5 HO light, and a canister filter.
I don't want to screw it up. And I don't want to put it off much longer. I had some plants melt down on me, and some algae issues when I converted my 20 to a planted tank. It was my first attempt to go live, plants that is, with DIY CO2.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

I wouldnt start dosing right from the beginning. Every setup is different
and thus has different dosing needs. The first few weeks, just have the CO2
without and fert dosing - once things start growing, you'll need to suppliment
with ferts. Start with a shorter lighting period - around 7-8 hours is enough.
Start with a LOT of plants - preferably fast growing ones. You can eventually
replace/remove them as the tank starts to mature.

Algae is 'normal'. Its common to have new setups/complete redos
go through some algae outbreak. ID the algae and it'll help you figure out
what's out of whack. Fix it and the algae will go away. Make sure you have
good test kits and test the water every few days to get a pulse of your setup.

And a little personal opinion - dont use the Sword plant.

[jcali10]

What is it about swords? Would it work as a center piece? It sure got big in just a few months. It kinda out grew my 20 already. Thats why I was thinking about moving it to the 50.

[JMLenke]

they dont stop growing...

a long time ago, I had a sword in my 55, for the longest time, it sat there doing nothing until I moved it (may have been just a hair too deep) and it grew, and grew, and grew until I ended up trashing it because it was roughly 1/3 of the tank..

YMMV but I dont like swords after I had similar start to happen in the 20.

[jcali10]

Yeah, I hear ya. I would hate to toss it though. So what the heck do I do with it? Remove some leaves and make it smaller?

[Ltrepeter2000]

Either that or bring it to PVAS or CCA for their auctions as they seem to go nuts over them

[Judi]

they dont stop growing....

Oh no, they certainly don't.

I have a love/hate relationship with ozelot sword that's taking over my 29. It's beautiful, but it is a monster. I could have sworn that I'd read or heard that ozelot swords didn't grow as fast or as big as some other swords, but it seems I was mistaken. I've been pruning away individual leaves to try and keep it in bounds, but doubt I can keep that up forever. Someday I will probably have to remove it, and its monstrous root system will probably take half the tank with it.

Maybe I should just surrender, let it have the 29, and go start another tank with better behaved plants. . .

[Ltrepeter2000]

White flag for Judi anyone? You know I just keep mine up in a corner of the office for good measure

[Aaron]

What is it about swords? Would it work as a center piece? It sure got big in just a few months. It kinda out grew my 20 already. Thats why I was thinking about moving it to the 50.

I agree...the just don't stop growing. Here's a picture of a Kleiner Bar that took over my 75 gallon tank. Ghanzanfar grew one even bigger if you can imagine that.

[Ghazanfar Ghori]

Not to be outdone by Aarons picture - heres the Kliner Bar with its new
owner.



Some of the leaves were 12"+ x 6"+ just the leaf surface.