Any advice plants not doing well

So here are some pictures any advice would be appreciated. I have Java Fern, Amazon Sword, water sprite, rotala rotundifolia, ludwiga triple red, hygrophila salicifolia, vandelli mayaca. Pretty much the only thing growing is the water sprite. The Amazon Sword is growing extremely slow... Java Fern is okay. But the rest seem to not be dying but not growing. I have a 36 bow front tank with a aquasky 2.0 light on 8 hours a day. I have a sponge filter also not sure if that's hurting c02 or oxygen levels. Dosing with aquarium coop eazy green once a week. Root tabs under the Amazon Sword. I'm willing to upgrade my light or use C02 if necessary.

P.s. sorry for bad typing trying to put my one year old to bed while I type this out. Thanks I'm advance for any help

 

How long have you had your plants and how old is your tank? Also, I noticed a pleco in one of the photos, what type is it?

 

What temperature do you keep the tank at and is it heated? I can’t tell from the photos, but your Java fern isn’t planted in substrate right? You have some red plants which could benefit from CO2 but CO2 can be tricky and fish may get harmed if it is not done correctly so it’s not a quick fix. Some of your plants are sensitive high care plants that require supplementation for the type of growth you might be envisioning. But most of your plants are easy low tech
Also do your fish nibble on the plants and uproot them at all?

 

Ludwiga definitely is one of the high care plants and also a treat for fish. My GBR and Emperor Tetras found it to be yummy. It will just lose its leaves without CO2

 

Tank is at 79-80 Java Fern is glued to the decor. Tank is 8-9 months old. And plants I got back in November minus the Amazon Sword which is a month old. Pleco is a bristle nose. And this fish nibble on the vandelli and uproot some of the smaller stem plants. That I've seen.

What temperature do you keep the tank at and is it heated? I can’t tell from the photos, but your Java fern isn’t planted in substrate right? You have some red plants which could benefit from CO2 but CO2 can be tricky and fish may get harmed if it is not done correctly so it’s not a quick fix. Some of your plants are sensitive high care plants that require supplementation for the type of growth you might be envisioning. But most of your plants are easy low tech
Also do your fish nibble on the plants and uproot them at all?

Tank is at 79-80 Java Fern is glued to the decor. Tank is 8-9 months old. And plants I got back in November minus the Amazon Sword which is a month old. Pleco is a bristle nose. And this fish nibble on the vandelli and uproot some of the smaller stem plants. That I've seen.

Ludwiga definitely is one of the high care plants and also a treat for fish. My GBR and Emperor Tetras found it to be yummy. It will just lose its leaves without CO2

Tank is at 79-80 Java Fern is glued to the decor. Tank is 8-9 months old. And plants I got back in November minus the Amazon Sword which is a month old. Pleco is a bristle nose. And this fish nibble on the vandelli and uproot some of the smaller stem plants. That I've seen.

 

Tank is at 79-80 Java Fern is glued to the decor. Tank is 8-9 months old. And plants I got back in November minus the Amazon Sword which is a month old. Pleco is a bristle nose. And this fish nibble on the vandelli and uproot some of the smaller stem plants. That I've seen.

Maybe try giving them root tabs? In regards to the Amazon Sword, they just take a while to grow mine grew to like a foot in maybe 5+ months but this is my case of course. You can actually trim some of the good parts of your Rotala and plant them into your substrate. They will grow out and you can do that all over again.
That's what I am doing for mine

 

Well the lighting isn’t reaching the bottom of the tank. That why there’s no leaves down there. The only plant that will benefit from root tabs is the sword. Most stem plants take their nutrients out of the water so liquid fert are best. Spot lights do work and they sell some with different color tones. But they cost money and you’ll need at least 2. I’d suggest a regular aquarium light. Bought on Amazon or eBay. You don’t have to get the most expensive. I use hygger 957 led lights.

 

Plants take a while to grow and acclimate depending on the substrate being used. If nothing is actively dying everything will start to grow soon, just give it some time. From what I can tell there are no obvious signs of nutrient deficiencies

 

A lot of leaves seem to be occupied by algae. This is typical of unhealthy plants that are sacrificing defensive biochemical mechanisms.

Also the bottom part of a lot of plants seem to be more bare than the upper parts.
Either it's a legacy of adaptation to aquatic conditions (takes about a month) or it's a CO2 issue.

Most plants in the trade are bog plants. Almost all issues with keeping these plants under water are CO2 related. And if CO2 is the issue, dosing minerals won't help a bit.

Working with normal lights (bright lights), typically can cause stress to plant as well of CO2 concentrations are low.

You don't necessarily need to inject CO2 (although it always helps). But -what seems to be- a very tall tank doesn't help in my view. Neither is a sponge filter/bubbles in a tall tank. Your tank has less than 0,5 ppm in the top. In the bottom less. Most CO2 in the bottom layer is probably attained from fish respiration, which is not much.

I'm a big advocate of permanent aeration with a bubbler, so I'd really hate to sacrifice the agitation of water surface. But ideally your water flow captures O2 and CO2 in the top layer, and then brings it to the bottom layer via the window. So water flow is important.

Hence, many low energy folks advocate shallow tanks (large water surface : water volume ratio). Maybe something to consider with your next tank .

Ideally there's plenty of microbial activity in the substrate to release some extra CO2. But this is only possible with enough oxygen in the substrate. You need healthy rooted plants for this.

Another option for tall tanks is to focus more on true aquatic plant species and less on bog plant species. True aquatic plants are able to acquire C from bicarbonates (KH).

The biggest concern I have (sorry about this), is that the total plant biomass for your tank volume is low. Low relative plant biomass + most plant struggling = more algae. And more algae will make things worse for plants.

Hope this makes some sense.

 

A lot of leaves seem to be occupied by algae. This is typical of unhealthy plants that are sacrificing defensive biochemical mechanisms.

Also the bottom part of a lot of plants seem to be more bare than the upper parts.
Either it's a legacy of adaptation to aquatic conditions (takes about a month) or it's a CO2 issue.

Most plants in the trade are bog plants. Almost all issues with keeping these plants under water are CO2 related. And if CO2 is the issue, dosing minerals won't help a bit.

Working with normal lights (bright lights), typically can cause stress to plant as well of CO2 concentrations are low.

You don't necessarily need to inject CO2 (although it always helps). But -what seems to be- a very tall tank doesn't help in my view. Neither is a sponge filter/bubbles in a tall tank. Your tank has less than 0,5 ppm in the top. In the bottom less. Most CO2 in the bottom layer is probably attained from fish respiration, which is not much.

I'm a big advocate of permanent aeration with a bubbler, so I'd really hate to sacrifice the agitation of water surface. But ideally your water flow captures O2 and CO2 in the top layer, and then brings it to the bottom layer via the window. So water flow is important.

Hence, many low energy folks advocate shallow tanks (large water surface : water volume ratio). Maybe something to consider with your next tank .

Ideally there's plenty of microbial activity in the substrate to release some extra CO2. But this is only possible with enough oxygen in the substrate. You need healthy rooted plants for this.

Another option for tall tanks is to focus more on true aquatic plant species and less on bog plant species. True aquatic plants are able to acquire C from bicarbonates (KH).

The biggest concern I have (sorry about this), is that the total plant biomass for your tank volume is low. Low relative plant biomass + most plant struggling = more algae. And more algae will make things worse for plants.

Hope this makes some sense.

Well I upgraded today to the fluval 3.0 plant light today and when I did my water change I did find some of my stem plants that looked like they had a alge on them were growing bright shoots off the stems that looked healthy. I trimmed the "dying" unhealthy and replanted the new growth. Would you suggest to buy more plants. This is my first planted tank ever I don't mind buying more just not sure on what to do really for it. the water sprite is growing like crazy though so I guess that's good. I wouldn't mind doing C02 either if it will help. And yeah when I got this tank I wasn't planning on real plants at the time. Would you have any recommendations on plants to go in it?

 

Great to see you upgraded your light... Because your original light was extremely weak, your new light is probably 3x as strong.

Anywyas you should be seeing a lot more growth now