How do I keep my plants healthy?

So I have added Amazon Swords to my aquarium, and I would like my swords and my java fern and bacopa to grow nicely, and stay healthy. I bought a new light for my plants and I would like to know what else I need. I have a Co2 Injection set, but I have not bought any more Co2 as I was not sure if it was working. Should I buy more Co2?

I was also wondering if I should use flourish and root tabs?

(By the way they are planted in sand)

 

Definitely get root tabs. Your rooted plants need that. And the flourish is a great choice too.

I don't know anything about co2. I don't use any and my amazon swords do very well....

 

Okay, thanks for the advice

 

I have two heavily planted tanks( still not done) ..I use flourish once week, temp is 82, ph is low 6.5 and soft water, I leave the light on for 12 hours a day 1 tank is the LED lights and the other is the floresent lights
..I run extra oxygen in each tank since the heat is up more .my plants grow like crazy !!

Hope this helps

 

Thank you very much! I'm thinking of adding root tabs, flourish, and Co2. What do u think? (And I have a strong light for my plants.)

 

Light, ferts, co2? Sounds good.

 

Thanks

 

You can skip the CO2 since the listed plants will do without that. But of course good to have.

Amazon swords are heavy root feeders and bacopa, ferns are water column feeders. So both root tab and fertz are required for a healthy growth.

Just my suggestion. May be you can add seachem excel as an alternative for CO2, especially to fight the algae problems. Which you may encounter with high light, fertz and less plants.

 

Okay thanks

 

You can skip the CO2 since the listed plants will do without that. But of course good to have.

Amazon swords are heavy root feeders and bacopa, ferns are water column feeders. So both root tab and fertz are required for a healthy growth.

Just my suggestion. May be you can add seachem excel as an alternative for CO2, especially to fight the algae problems. Which you may encounter with high light, fertz and less plants.

Okay, no offense but you just told OP he doesn't need Co2, but then said he'd have to add carbon via another, more intensive form when algae breaks out. This just doesn't make sense to me.

No plants can do without Co2, even plants OP listed, although their requirements are low. Running high light without somehow adding carbon's like kicking yourself in the head. You could do it, but it's just going to hurt. And plus, the key to algae control is to prevent it, and not just treat it with excel after it's already established.

OP already has some sort of Co2 system, so use it. And depending on how high of light the plants consume dissolved co2 much better versus an liquid dose method so even if dosing excel if the plants can't consume it as fast as the lights PAR require it to, it 's algae fields forever anyways.✌️

 

I agree with silister trench

 

Thanks for your advice. So to sum everything up, I'm going to be adding Flourish Freshwater Aquarium Comprehensive Plant Supplement, Flourish Tabs, and CO2. My only concern is that the Flourish Tabs are listed as an aquarium gravel bed supplement. Would theses tabs work with my sand substrate?

 

Thanks for your advice. So to sum everything up, I'm going to be adding Flourish Freshwater Aquarium Comprehensive Plant Supplement, Flourish Tabs, and CO2. My only concern is that the Flourish Tabs are listed as an aquarium gravel bed supplement. Would theses tabs work with my sand substrate?

Sands have tendency to get compact over the time, which makes the roots a hard time to grow. But lot of people have great success with it. Infact I also use it with lot of swords.

You can place two root tabs nearby one amazon sword. That should enough for six months depending the size of the amazon.

 

Sounds good. I will be getting my fertilizers and CO2 soon. By the way I sift through my sand with a stick every week to prevent toxic air pocket's, and to prevent the sand from compacting.

 

None taken.

 

I have read where some reviews had said using the co2 killed their fish and root tabs can make water cloudy , I use just the plain flourish and have not had any problems with any fish and they plants are growing so I am scared to try anything else .

 

I have read where some reviews had said using the co2 killed their fish and root tabs can make water cloudy , I use just the plain flourish and have not had any problems with any fish and they plants are growing so I am scared to try anything else .

While it's true you can kill your fish by injecting too much co2 and essentially blocking the respiration of Co2 from the fishes gills (causing oxygen starvation) it's not something to be afraid of trying. It's very beneficial and almost a necessity for medium/high light tanks. When fish get killed it's usually because of an accidental high dose, or they were unaware of the signs of oxygen starvation. It's just all about moderation, and understanding Co2 moderation is just the same as understanding feeding moderation. Too much of a good thing ultimately becomes a bad thing.

Plus! You can always get a drop checker for cheap and use it to help guage levels in the beginning. With this instrument and some knowledge to identify signs of oxygen starvation it becomes harder to gas fish, so it's not as intimidating.

Personally, I haven't used any root tabs that cloud the water. So long as they are buried deep enough and the substrate isn't disturbed that shouldn't be a problem.

The most important part of all that is if you're plants look healthy and you're fish are happy, you don't need to do any of that. A dose here and there of flourish is A-o.k.! for most low light setups. The rest of it is just needed under higher lighting to balance everything.