Exactly half of my plants are melting/dying

Hello All!
I just introduced myself in the welcome thread, but now I'd like to get on with all my burning questions. One of my questions has to do with the plants in our cycling tank. Exactly half of them are dying, half of each type of plant. The other half are doing fantastic, are bright green, and putting out new leaves.
Some background info:
This is a 36gal bowfront with a Tetra Whisper Ex45 filter, a bubbler, and a small but incredibly bright blue and white combo LED clip-on light panel.
It's been cycling two weeks now, and I think we're getting to second half of the cycle. Ammonia is added every morning to 2ppm, and 24 hours later testing shows 0ppm but NO2 is through the roof, with a small amount of NO3.

As of testing this morning (24 hours since the last ammonia dose to get it up to 2ppm) these are our current parameters:
Ammonia- 0ppm
No2- off the charts. Test measures to 10ppm, WAY more than that is present
No3- ~25ppm
GH- 100-110 ppm
KH- 20ppm
Ph- 6.7
Temp- 77*f
Our substrate is 2/3 black sand (in the front and middle of the tank) and 1/3 aquasoil (I think this is what it's called? It doesn't look like soil, more like a gritty very coarse gravel)
I dose twice a week with liquid ferts, Flourish specifically I believe
Anyway, since the light is small, some areas (esp. behind the decor) are shaded. We have swords, anubias, java Fern, dhg, and repens. The DHG and the repens we're tissue culture, rest were in pots. I split most of the plants as carefully as possible, rinsed them off, and planted them according to my seven year old's desires (family tank, he wanted to help). As a result they're kind of all over the tank, all species were planted both in the sand and the aquasoil, both shaded area and bright direct light, both areas of water movement and still corners, basically every possible situation for a plant to be planted in this tank. And it doesn't seem to matter. One bright-light soil repens is so melted it's just a translucent stump, another in identical conditions is already growing. One sword in a shady sand area is beautiful, one is turning brown and slowly dying. The DWG is all over the tank, and it seems to be every other clump is healthy and green, the other half turning yellow and stiff.
I want to also plant some guppy grass, but haven't been able to find any. I'll try to attach some pics



DHG turning yellow, but happy green clumps in the background, both in sand
super melted repens. Hard to tell, but this is a bright-light area as the light is on this side of that ship decoration. Aquasoil/gravel planted



super happy repens, noticed a new leaf this morning also sand planted

These are just example to illustrate what I'm talking about, but this is happening all over the tank, with all the plant species. Any suggestions would be very helpful!

 

No idea about some plants dying and some living, but you aren't supposed to burry Java fern's rizome in the gravel, or it will rot. Either pull it out a bit until the rizome is on top of the gravel and only the roots are burried, or tie/glue it to something.

 

No idea about some plants dying and some living, but you aren't supposed to burry Java fern's rizome in the gravel, or it will rot. Either pull it out a bit until the rizome is on top of the gravel and only the roots are burried, or tie/glue it to something.

Okay! I didn't know that about them, I'm not sure if they've rooted yet, if not, how do I get them to stay put in the tank?
Thanks!

 

Hello All!
I just introduced myself in the welcome thread, but now I'd like to get on with all my burning questions. One of my questions has to do with the plants in our cycling tank. Exactly half of them are dying, half of each type of plant. The other half are doing fantastic, are bright green, and putting out new leaves.
Some background info:
This is a 36gal bowfront with a Tetra Whisper Ex45 filter, a bubbler, and a small but incredibly bright blue and white combo LED clip-on light panel.
It's been cycling two weeks now, and I think we're getting to second half of the cycle. Ammonia is added every morning to 2ppm, and 24 hours later testing shows 0ppm but NO2 is through the roof, with a small amount of NO3.

As of testing this morning (24 hours since the last ammonia dose to get it up to 2ppm) these are our current parameters:
Ammonia- 0ppm
No2- off the charts. Test measures to 10ppm, WAY more than that is present
No3- ~25ppm
GH- 100-110 ppm
KH- 20ppm
Ph- 6.7
Temp- 77*f
Our substrate is 2/3 black sand (in the front and middle of the tank) and 1/3 aquasoil (I think this is what it's called? It doesn't look like soil, more like a gritty very coarse gravel)
I dose twice a week with liquid ferts, Flourish specifically I believe
Anyway, since the light is small, some areas (esp. behind the decor) are shaded. We have swords, anubias, java Fern, dhg, and repens. The DHG and the repens we're tissue culture, rest were in pots. I split most of the plants as carefully as possible, rinsed them off, and planted them according to my seven year old's desires (family tank, he wanted to help). As a result they're kind of all over the tank, all species were planted both in the sand and the aquasoil, both shaded area and bright direct light, both areas of water movement and still corners, basically every possible situation for a plant to be planted in this tank. And it doesn't seem to matter. One bright-light soil repens is so melted it's just a translucent stump, another in identical conditions is already growing. One sword in a shady sand area is beautiful, one is turning brown and slowly dying. The DWG is all over the tank, and it seems to be every other clump is healthy and green, the other half turning yellow and stiff.
I want to also plant some guppy grass, but haven't been able to find any. I'll try to attach some pics


View attachment 845206DHG turning yellow, but happy green clumps in the background, both in sandView attachment 845207 super melted repens. Hard to tell, but this is a bright-light area as the light is on this side of that ship decoration. Aquasoil/gravel planted


View attachment 845208super happy repens, noticed a new leaf this morning also sand planted

These are just example to illustrate what I'm talking about, but this is happening all over the tank, with all the plant species. Any suggestions would be very helpful!

You’re going to need root tabs for the repens and the dhg. They are root feeders and do not benefit from liquid ferts. And to get Java ferns to stay you can tie them down to decor with thread or fishing line. Or you can get some super glue. I use gorilla glue.

And I’m not sure what “aqua soil” you’re using but it doesn’t sound like aqua soil that has nutrients in it like Fluval stratum. Aqua soil with nutrients tends to come in round ball form not gravel. So it’s possible your aqua soil doesn’t have any nutrients for your rooted plants. If that’s true then root tabs will work.

Also you said you’re using flourish? You’d be better off using an all-in-one fertilizer like Easy Green, Nicro Thrive+, or APT3. Flourish doesn’t provide all the nutrients your plants need either

 

Okay, I will order some root tabs on Amazon today, and see if that helps, and also change out the liquid fertilizer. Any idea why some of the plants are doing so well, then? (since I am clearly starving the poor guys)

 

Okay, I will order some root tabs on Amazon today, and see if that helps, and also change out the liquid fertilizer. Any idea why some of the plants are doing so well, then? (since I am clearly starving the poor guys)

Java ferns and anubias are very hardy plants and also very slow growers. It could be that they just haven't had the chance to do any growing yet. I would break up your root tabs and spread them around close to your plants under the gravel as close to the bottom of your tank as you can. They don't have to be directly under your plants, though I would put a full tab directly under your sword plant as that is a heavy root feeder.

 

Java ferns and anubias are very hardy plants and also very slow growers. It could be that they just haven't had the chance to do any growing yet. I would break up your root tabs and spread them around close to your plants under the gravel as close to the bottom of your tank as you can. They don't have to be directly under your plants, though I would put a full tab directly under your sword plant as that is a heavy root feeder.

I can do that! Again, thank you so much for your help
I found the bag of substrate! It's CaribSea eco complete black
When I bought it I thought (incorrectly) it would soften into more soil-like consistency, I know I should have researched it more before I put it in...it stayed coarse gravel. But, that means that at least for the plants that are in it (not the sand) they should be okay right?

 

One thing non plant related...stop dosing ammonia until the nitrite goes down. You don't want to keep doing that.

You may also want to do a water change to reduce the nitrite if you have been doing it. Then wait for the nitrite to fully convert to nitrate, then dose the ammonia again and it should fully convert to nitrate in 24 hours and you will know you are done. But don't keep adding ammonia if you still have nitrite. You may stunt the cycle with overloaded nitrite.

 

I can do that! Again, thank you so much for your help
I found the bag of substrate! It's CaribSea eco complete black
When I bought it I thought (incorrectly) it would soften into more soil-like consistency, I know I should have researched it more before I put it in...it stayed coarse gravel. But, that means that at least for the plants that are in it (not the sand) they should be okay right?

Eco Complete is "inert" meaning it doesn't have the nutrients needed to support plants on its own. You would need to have root tabs in it and/or try some aquasoil like Fluval Stratum or Tropica's aqua soil. Most aquasoil comes in small ball shapes and not at all like coarse gravel. You can mix Eco Complete with aqua soil as well. I got Thrive root tabs because they only need to be replaced every 3 months for my heavy root feeders. If you're willing to spend some money on a bag of aquasoil it'll last longer (you can mix it with your eco complete too) and you can reuse it. It's up to you how you'd rather do it.

 

You don't want to keep doing that

Gotcha! The ammonia-eater bacteria won't starve to death in the time it takes for the NO2 bacteria to get their act together?

Eco Complete is "inert" meaning it doesn't have the nutrients needed to support plants on its own

Ah dang. It said it was for planted tanks, so once I found the bag I was hopeful! Well, the tabs were ordered they should be here in the next day or so!

 

Gotcha! The ammonia-eater bacteria won't starve to death in the time it takes for the NO2 bacteria to get their act together?

Nope, it will be fine. Those bacteria last a long time. If you overload with nitrite it can stunt that part of the cycle.

 

Gotcha gotcha. Will do a WC tonight and see where my levels are. Thank you!

 

Just an update for anybody wondering, or anyone who comes across this thread later,
Removing the java ferns from how deeply they were buried in the substrate saved two of them, three were too far gone and died. Root tabs did wonders for the sword, a leaf that had turned almost entirely brown suddenly turned bright green again overnight! Unfortunately, the repens were either too far gone, or the root tabs weren't what they needed, and all the repens that were melting completely dissolved, not even a root structure to speak of. On the other hand, the repens were doing great continue to do great, their leaves are all twice as long ! And after the root tabs, two of them out up new stems!
The anubias stopped melting after fixing the substrate problem, but now it's doing something different. It's slowly turning yellow, which I believe is an iron issue?
I actually haven't dosed ferts into the water column at all since my last post, and nobody seems to miss it.
Amazingly, the dwarf grass I abandoned for dead (it was as dead-looking as the repens, so I didn't bother root tabbing the DHG clumps) has flourished in the short amount of time since my last post. After changing absolutely nothing for the clumps, they have dropped all the melted/dead leaves (basically everything above the substrate), completely regrown, and are sending out runners like crazy! I guess they just adjusted *extra hard* to suddenly being submerged

Anyway, thank everybody for all the help! It helped me save most of the plants in the tank!
Oh also, as far as water quality goes, I stopped dosing ammonia, let the cycle run its course, got the NO2 down to 0ppm, and did water changes until the NO3 was down to ~5ppm.
Waited a couple days, after that, added ammonia again to bring the tank back to 2ppm, and 24 hours later ammonia was 0ppm, NO2 was 0ppm, and the NO3 was higher. I think this means my tank is cycled? Gonna get fish this weekend I think, after doing one more water change to bring the NO3 back down since I don't think the plants are big enough to even out a dent in it

 

Oh also, as far as water quality goes, I stopped dosing ammonia, let the cycle run its course, got the NO2 down to 0ppm, and did water changes until the NO3 was down to ~5ppm.
Waited a couple days, after that, added ammonia again to bring the tank back to 2ppm, and 24 hours later ammonia was 0ppm, NO2 was 0ppm, and the NO3 was higher. I think this means my tank is cycled? Gonna get fish this weekend I think, after doing one more water change to bring the NO3 back down since I don't think the plants are big enough to even out a dent in it

Yep, do that final water change and you are ready to go with your cycle!

 

Huh, so break it down for me again? What did you do to help your plants thrive? Did you change the substrate at all or simply add root tabs and stop adding ammonia?