zmcenery

I have a 75 Gallon with 3 swordtails, 4 mollies, and 11 danios. I have planted Java moss, and a Cardinal plant. The Java moss is doing fine, but the Cardinal is not doing well at all, what do I need to do? I have Flourite in the tank, and it has been running for 3 months, NH3=0 NO3=0 NO2=5.

I plan on adding more fish, but one of my swordtails just had babies and I have them in the Iso tank for now.

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!
I believe that Cardinal plants are a higher light plant.
Does your tank just have the standard light setup? If so, light is probably your problem. Java moss can survive in relatively low light, while many other plants need much more.

Barbrella

Your cardinal plant is probably a form of lobelia. This is not an aquatic plant, but grows in bogs and marshy areas. It won't survive being submerged.

zmcenery

No I have a coralite system which is specific for plants, I was running the light for 14 hours a day, but I was getting alge blooms from too much light so I cut back to 12 hours. Even then then the Cardinal was getting brown spots on it's leaves, but it was growing.

zmcenery

I don't believe it is, I know the grass my husband was using for the snails was a bog plant, but it just died, this grew for a couple months but the leaves turned brown, and now it looks like it is dying.

Barbrella

How many watts per gallon are you getting with your lights?

Is this the plant you have?

http://www.aquariumplants.com/Cardin...ot_p/tp726.htm

sirdarksol

Sorry, I meant to ask the wattage question that Barbrella had asked.

zmcenery

It is very similar, and I see that it does say lobella. So what should I get instead?

I don't actually know what you mean by watts/gallon. I have 2 bulbs 25 watt each 1 is a regular light and the other is specific for plants - it's purple/pinkish in colour. And the tank is 75 gallon.

sirdarksol

Alright, so you have 50 watts of lights (2 25w bulbs) and a 75 gallon tank. That puts you at less than 1wpg (watt per gallon), which is considered low light. This means that only low light plants are likely to do well in your aquarium.
Aside from Java moss, some other favorites for low light tanks are Java fern and anubias.

Barbrella

Agree with sirdarksol. You either need to upgrade your lighting to at least 2 watts per gallon (which would be 150 watts on your 75) or stick with plants that can survive at your very low light levels.

Java fern survived in my tank when I had the same light as you, but it didn't grow very much.

zmcenery

Thank you so much for all the help, I didn't realize I had low light. The plant light that I have, was that actually worth paying for, or was it a sales tactic to make me pay more for something that doesn't really do anything?

Barbrella

Did you tell the salesperson the lights are for a 75 gal tank? The ones you have would be good for a 20 gal. tank.

Are they screwed into sockets in your hood? If so, you can switch them out for 60 watt (or whatever wattage you want) compact flourescents (the curly kind)

You'll be able to grow a lot more plants with those.

I just did this on my 20 gallon tank and now have 3 watts per gallon. My plants are growing great!

zmcenery

Yes the sales person said it was for a 75G, the light is just under 4 feet long, so it would not be good for a 20 gallon. Sucks because I can't afford a new light right now.

sirdarksol

That's too bad. Another example of excellent information given by a pet store employee.
It's unfortunate that the customers are the ones who have to pay for their bad information.

zmcenery

Yes it kinda sucks that I got bad information. But I am glad to have had my tank going for 3 months now with out major problems.