I Can't Keep Plants Alive

They all just melt away. That's how every single one of my plants have died.

I have a few tanks but they all test as follows;
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
10-20 nitrate
pH 7.8

I have root tabs in my gravel
I use flourish Excel and c02 boosters

The only tank I don't have an issue with is my betta falls which just has plants and pest snails - and I honestly don't change the water I just top it off so it's probably bad I haven't tested this tank in quite a while.

I do not have proper lights on any of them anymore unfortunately.

One does have an LED light which was advertised as okay for plants (I'm assuming low light only) but it made no difference so it's probably not good enough.

The only thing that really does well in my tanks is moss but I do have surviving hairgrass, dwarf sag, Val, nana anubias, java sword, lace java, anacharis, and something else.

But what's left is pretty small, but there's new growth? Parts are still melting though.


I know I need to get lights for them again. But is there anything else I can do to try and fix my issue?

They all actually get a good amount of sunlight where they are in my room. So I thought that was okay for now but apparently not.


I was thinking of getting peat moss and putting it under my gravel but idk how much help that would be. I was also debating doing a small leaf litter zone in my tanks but dunno how that would affect my plants

I just want to figure this out before I buy more plants to try again.


On a side note. Apparently Java moss grows really good in a container of tank water filled with dead plant matter. I must of accidentally gotten a little bit in there cuz I have a decent amount growing in there now

 

I'm guessing you might be dosing too much. Your plants aren't heavy feeders and since you don't have co2 or high lighting, less nutrients will be needed. Plants do melt in excess ferts. I also highly recommend getting rid of the co2 boosters, they arent' the same as actual co2 and don't do anything. Co2 boosters can be very hard on the livestock or flora in the aquarium also.

 

Hmm I was thinking maybe I was so I had stopped dosing for a while but they did worse. I only put like a drop in every couple days. I stopped for about a month and just started dosing again.

Could the root tabs of been too much by themselves then?

Oh no really? I had a couple plants that I was told needed it but yeah those died lol I guess I'm lucky my fish weren't bothered by it.


I forgot to mention I also grow pothos, wandering Jews, ivy and about to attempt to grow the basil and mint cuttings I'm working on rooting in my tanks as well. They're also pretty low needs plants but they're doing much better in my aquarium water than normal water. I don't think they're part of the problem though cuz I've tried them in and out of the tanks with no difference to the other plants

 

When you say melting, do you mean the leaves start drying from the tips and moving inwards?
Got any pictures?

 

My strategy for growing live plants is to stick them in there and hope for the best. I do ensure that nothing in the tank will kill the plants, and that the water is appropriate, but other than that, I just kind of leave them to it. I don't trim or anything because I think it creates a more natural setting. Maybe you could try that?

 

My fish eat mine as soon as I plant them. Not the goldfish, surprisingly but the tropicals. They think I'm feeding them salad or something. I gave up and just bought a couple of silk plants. The hornwort and anubias is fine, they don't mess with it but everything else goes right in the mouth.

 

When you say melting, do you mean the leaves start drying from the tips and moving inwards?
Got any pictures?

I wouldn't say drying, it's more like disintegrating but yeah it starts from the tips. I do not have pictures cuz I just removed all of the dead parts to put into my jar of dead plant matter in aquarium water. But it's what happens when you first put plants into a tank. Only it just never stops.

My strategy for growing live plants is to stick them in there and hope for the best. I do ensure that nothing in the tank will kill the plants, and that the water is appropriate, but other than that, I just kind of leave them to it. I don't trim or anything because I think it creates a more natural setting. Maybe you could try that?

This was the method I tried my first two batches. Then I tried tabs and ferts and the co2 booster (in all combinations, properly dosed then sightly less dosed then back to using nothing)

Even when I had my light I didn't have much success. But back then I was still cycling so I thought it had to do with that. But the same thing just keeps happening.

My fish eat mine as soon as I plant them. Not the goldfish, surprisingly but the tropicals. They think I'm feeding them salad or something. I gave up and just bought a couple of silk plants. The hornwort and anubias is fine, they don't mess with it but everything else goes right in the mouth.

Omg! Mine did that with my huge mass of guppy grass I recently got. I loved it so much, they thought it was a delicious treat for them to woof down, it lasted a bit less than a month. If it weren't for the fish it would of done wonderful it stayed nice and healthy. I have a few small chunks of it left that I put elsewhere to hopefully regrow it.

Dude even the weed like plants don't do good with me! Not sure what happened but all my floating plants will just suddenly disappear.

Aww man lol my poor Goldy got some bad algae right now. It's outside in it's temp setup (getting the 300 gallon stock tank in 2 weeks yay 83). I wanna add a ton of plants to it to help but :I I'm just gonna kill them.

This is so frustrating. Especially cuz I'm a florist. I work with plants on a daily basis. I know plants. But clearly I know nothing about aquatic plants even though I grow non aquatic plants in water as my preferred method of raising them -sigh-

I am very close to giving up cuz I'm just wasting my money trying. But I would really like to grow plants to help supply other people and so I can package whatever fish I sell with plants to help them feel better.

 

That is so funny because my grandmother owned a floral shop and I was a florist for a number of years myself. I too can grow anything in the house or the flower beds. The tanks are another story. I want to use it to help soak up nitrates so I have gone to just hornwort, anubias, and amazon sword. The goldfish leave them alone. The tropicals much the heck out of it all. I even give them algae wafers, peas, and zuchinI thinking they may have a nutritional deficit. Nope, they just like to make me mad. lol As soon as I put it in, they tear it up. I put moneywort in last week and its all gone. Put baby tears in this week and it is almost all gone. I give up on them.

 

That is so funny because my grandmother owned a floral shop and I was a florist for a number of years myself. I too can grow anything in the house or the flower beds. The tanks are another story. I want to use it to help soak up nitrates so I have gone to just hornwort, anubias, and amazon sword. The goldfish leave them alone. The tropicals much the heck out of it all. I even give them algae wafers, peas, and zuchinI thinking they may have a nutritional deficit. Nope, they just like to make me mad. lol As soon as I put it in, they tear it up. I put moneywort in last week and its all gone. Put baby tears in this week and it is almost all gone. I give up on them.

I've been a florist for 4 years and have been growing plants for 2 years before that. I've become really good at raising plants and fixing most problems. I take home the dead plants from work and regrow them from cuttings and the roots. But nope I kill every perfectly healthy aquatic plant I touch

Aww man . I'm happy outside of the guppy grass mine leave everything alone. Not sure about my Goldy though. I've yet to try plants with it.

I wanna get some more Val and anacharis but I have a feeling I'm gonna murder them ;o;

I almost wish I could blame my fish for this xP

 

Your parameters look good and you dose flourish so micro nutrients should be there too.
I am assuming your problem is your lighting. What do you have right now?
I setup a planted bowl and just light it with a LED desk lamp (cool white is what you want) and the plants go crazy.
Those desk lamps are relatively cheap $15-20 on Amazon.

 

Currently, just a led that's white blue and red and supposed to be good for plants but really isn't lol.

I have a nice 20" lightbulb for plants but my hood broke right after I bought the new bulb. Replacing it is just crazy expensive and I haven't found anything I can safely afford yet, I'm probably really bad at looking though cuz I don't know where to look. (What I'm finding is $60-70) I know how to get a good bulb but I know nothing about the actual fixture

I keep my room light on for as long as possible to try and help but I know that's not much help.

However it is enough for my smaller tank which is really heavily planted compared to it's size. Which I even have stuff ontop of the tank that blocks out most of the light. I have no idea how that tank grows plants perfect :I

 

I'm going to take a different tack here. Are you growing all those land based plants in the tanks having problems? The pothos especially are likely stripping your water of most of the nutrients required for your aquatic plants.

 

I'm going to take a different tack here. Are you growing all those land based plants in the tanks having problems? The pothos especially are likely stripping your water of most of the nutrients required for your aquatic plants.

Currently just some wandering Jews in one of them. But there was no difference with or without them.

Pothos I'm aware shouldn't be in heavily planted tanks unless properly maintained.

And then I have stuff rooting in the betta falls and nothing there has issues. And that has the most plants out of all of them currently.

I'd think if they were the cause the plants wouldn't be melting but would turn yellow or brown. My plants are all green just they're melting even though they're been there long enough to not be new anymore.

 

you try for new root growth on the plants before trying to supped them in the tank? window light is always nice for plants as well

 

you try for new root growth on the plants before trying to supped them in the tank? window light is always nice for plants as well

That's usually what I do. I have jars that I fill with the tank water on my window sills. I'm just testing the differences with doing it directly in the tank.

I also have jars with tank water I'm testing aquarium plants in on the windows which I just recently started.

And I have my jar of dead plant matter which grows moss better than my tanks or my algae rock jars. I just put a cutting of mint in there to see what would happen

I like to test out a bunch of things to see what does best. I've tested a fair bit with aquarium plants so far already but not much luck.

Thinking about it my fry tanks did wonderful with all their plants, but those tanks are 1 to 2.5 gallons. So my tiny temp tanks I have success with whatever I put in them but my larger tanks always fail.

Those tanks are all empty now and the plants are in my betta breeding tanks with a bit mixed results

 

Without seeing them, best guess could be two things, nute burn or low oxygen. 10-20 nitrate doesn't seem like much but those aquarium plant might be sensitive. Dying tips is usually caused by excess nitrates, even low DO can do that. 7.8ph is also really high for plants.
Hydrogen peroxide will raise the DO, I've done this many time in the past. You'l see the plants respond within a day.
Another air stone would be a long term option.
Peat moss works great for lowering ph but be aware, it adds tannins.

The first thing I would try if I were you, is lower the nitrate with a partial water change. You might not notice a difference straight away with the ph being that high though.
The good thing about having plants in water is you'l notice changes in health almost instantly, compared to soil plants.
The bad thing is, you have less room for error.

I'm sure you'l figure it out eventually.

 

Ok. I just found this and am posting it here. I stole it from a member of another forum who stole it so I'm not even going to source it:

Element / Leaves to first show deficiency / Symptom
Nitrogen/ Old/ Leaves turn yellowis Older leaves die quickly in extreme deficiencies. Iron/ New/ Leaves grow in pale or yellow Greenish nerves enclosing yellow leaf tissue First seen in fast growing plants
Potassium/ Old/ Pinholes appear in older leaves, and slowly enlarge Yellow areas Withering of leaf edges and tips
Calcium/ New/ Distorted leaf growth cupped leavestwisted and bent leaves, twisted and short roots. Damage and die off of growing points. Yellowish leaf edges I have seen an extreme Calcium deficiency which resulted in a sword plant where new leaves were growing in almost completely white.
Magnesium / Old/ Yellow spots Often appears similar to iron deficiency since mg deficiency prevents a plant from properly using iron. Yellowing of old leaves starting from edges while major veins remain green. Boron / New/ Dead shoot tips, new side shoots also die. Brittle stems Similar to calcium Sulfur/ New/ Similar to nitrogen deficiency Manganese/ New/ Dead yellowish tissue between leaf nerves
Copper/ New/ Dead leaf tips and withered edges
Zinc/ Old/ Yellowish areas between nerves, Starting at leaf tip and edges Molybdenum/ Old/ Yellow spots between leaf nerves, then brownish areas along edges. Inhibited flowering
Phosphorus/ Old/ Stunted growth. Sometimes leaves become darker green Also symptoms can be similar to nitrogen deficiency
Signs of trace element deficiencies: Boron: Death of stem and root apical meristem, leaves twisted, young tissue most affected Cobalt: Used for nitrogen fixation, same as nitrogen deficiency signs (stunted growth) Copper: Young leaves dark green, twisted, wilted, tip remains alive Manganese: Chlorosis of young leaves, with smallest veins remaining green, necrosis between veins Molybdenum: Chlorosis, twisting, death of young leaves Zinc: Reduced leaf size, shortened internodes, chlorosis, spotted leaves, older leaves most affected Nickel: lack of germination or seed formation, required for iron absorption




Btw, looks like I currently have a calcium deficiency but my snails and shrimp are fine so this obviously isn't the end all be all. Plant issues are easier with pictures.

 

Without seeing them, best guess could be two things, nute burn or low oxygen. 10-20 nitrate doesn't seem like much but those aquarium plant might be sensitive. Dying tips is usually caused by excess nitrates, even low DO can do that. 7.8ph is also really high for plants.
Hydrogen peroxide will raise the DO, I've done this many time in the past. You'l see the plants respond within a day.
Another air stone would be a long term option.
Peat moss works great for lowering ph but be aware, it adds tannins.

The first thing I would try if I were you, is lower the nitrate with a partial water change. You might not notice a difference straight away with the ph being that high though.
The good thing about having plants in water is you'l notice changes in health almost instantly, compared to soil plants.
The bad thing is, you have less room for error.

I'm sure you'l figure it out eventually.

Hmmm okay, these are things I haven't tried yet so I will try this and see what happens.

I already do 10-25% water changes every Sunday and test Wednesdays to see if I need to do one twice (typically never have to). I know people with higher nitrates that do fine with plants but this isn't something I tested myself so I can't rule it out yet. Should I try doing multiple water changes a week? Or even test a tank by doing daily water changes till it's down to 0-5 to see if that changes anything?

I'm aware my pH is a bit high, it's too high for my fish as well though they don't have issues because of it. Which is why I wanted to do peat moss cuz that's more reliable than pH down (which I do have a bottle of but stopped using because of all the negative things I started hearing) the tanins I'm aware of and already have in all my planted tanks because of my driftwood. So that's no issue for me.

I do have an extra airstone I can throw In there to test things out. I'll try that as well.

Thank you!

Ok. I just found this and am posting it here. I stole it from a member of another forum who stole it so I'm not even going to source it:

Element / Leaves to first show deficiency / Symptom
Nitrogen/ Old/ Leaves turn yellowis Older leaves die quickly in extreme deficiencies. Iron/ New/ Leaves grow in pale or yellow Greenish nerves enclosing yellow leaf tissue First seen in fast growing plants
Potassium/ Old/ Pinholes appear in older leaves, and slowly enlarge Yellow areas Withering of leaf edges and tips
Calcium/ New/ Distorted leaf growth cupped leavestwisted and bent leaves, twisted and short roots. Damage and die off of growing points. Yellowish leaf edges I have seen an extreme Calcium deficiency which resulted in a sword plant where new leaves were growing in almost completely white.
Magnesium / Old/ Yellow spots Often appears similar to iron deficiency since mg deficiency prevents a plant from properly using iron. Yellowing of old leaves starting from edges while major veins remain green. Boron / New/ Dead shoot tips, new side shoots also die. Brittle stems Similar to calcium Sulfur/ New/ Similar to nitrogen deficiency Manganese/ New/ Dead yellowish tissue between leaf nerves
Copper/ New/ Dead leaf tips and withered edges
Zinc/ Old/ Yellowish areas between nerves, Starting at leaf tip and edges Molybdenum/ Old/ Yellow spots between leaf nerves, then brownish areas along edges. Inhibited flowering
Phosphorus/ Old/ Stunted growth. Sometimes leaves become darker green Also symptoms can be similar to nitrogen deficiency
Signs of trace element deficiencies: Boron: Death of stem and root apical meristem, leaves twisted, young tissue most affected Cobalt: Used for nitrogen fixation, same as nitrogen deficiency signs (stunted growth) Copper: Young leaves dark green, twisted, wilted, tip remains alive Manganese: Chlorosis of young leaves, with smallest veins remaining green, necrosis between veins Molybdenum: Chlorosis, twisting, death of young leaves Zinc: Reduced leaf size, shortened internodes, chlorosis, spotted leaves, older leaves most affected Nickel: lack of germination or seed formation, required for iron absorption




Btw, looks like I currently have a calcium deficiency but my snails and shrimp are fine so this obviously isn't the end all be all. Plant issues are easier with pictures.

This is good to know. From what this says it might be copper related?

 

Hmmm okay, these are things I haven't tried yet so I will try this and see what happens.

I already do 10-25% water changes every Sunday and test Wednesdays to see if I need to do one twice (typically never have to). I know people with higher nitrates that do fine with plants but this isn't something I tested myself so I can't rule it out yet. Should I try doing multiple water changes a week? Or even test a tank by doing daily water changes till it's down to 0-5 to see if that changes anything?

I'm aware my pH is a bit high, it's too high for my fish as well though they don't have issues because of it. Which is why I wanted to do peat moss cuz that's more reliable than pH down (which I do have a bottle of but stopped using because of all the negative things I started hearing) the tanins I'm aware of and already have in all my planted tanks because of my driftwood. So that's no issue for me.

I do have an extra airstone I can throw In there to test things out. I'll try that as well.

Thank you!


This is good to know. From what this says it might be copper related?

It could be, however, these are only deficiencies, the opposite isn't listed which is overabundance. I don't lack calcium, for example, but I overdosed phosphorous. Same result in the plant, but different listing. You're just missing a balance. I refuse you have nitro burn or O2 issues with your tank and levels. I would lean to a micro deficiency at this point. Dosing copper is difficult unless you have a large tank. Copper levels become toxic rapidly and easily. My plants are just now thriving after dosing copper and removing it all a month ago.

 

I am using some spring water/tap/liltank with my plants in clear containers with not much light other than sunrise and sunset sitting in the middle of a room from windows and seem to being fairly well, watching new growth each day
tho I did blow some bubbles in the water might help, kinda like talking to the plants? heh

 

Gas exchange is best done with surface agitation.

Your background may be hindering you here. Think of the aquatic plants as an alien life form that operates similar to your land based plants, but with various dramatic differences.

 

Are you dosing flourish AND excel or just excel? You should be dosing flourish at the minimum. Another thing to consider is do you have enough water flow around the tank, good indicator is that all plants should sway gently.

 

Giving them copper would be too dangerous for my fish and shrimp so I'm not willing to test that. I did however throw in an air stone on the other side as the filter so there's bubbles and surface agitation on both sides instead of just one.

Oh I know they're completely different . I know I have no idea what I'm doing with them yet. My main issue is not knowing what to test cuz I've tested all the obvious stuff. And the info I'm finding doesn't point to anything I haven't tested yet.

Are you dosing flourish AND excel or just excel? You should be dosing flourish at the minimum. Another thing to consider is do you have enough water flow around the tank, good indicator is that all plants should sway gently.

It's not two different things it's one bottle that's called flourish excel. This was what my research told me to use. And what it linked to?

As for the flow I just checked and no they don't all sway. Some do but others don't. The ones with larger leaves seem to be the ones that don't really move. The tank with the airstone I just added they all move slightly but without the airstone the Java sword doesn't really move, ever so slightly yes but it's barely noticeable.

What does the flow do for the plants? Because nothing I read mentioned that at all.

Also thank you for the link I'm gonna look through that now.

I will try to take pictures of what they look like tomorrow when my room is bright enough for clear pictures.


What I'm going to test tonight is the airstone in the 10 gallon cuz that's the only extra one I have. A major water change in the 20 gallon to get nitrates down to 5.

And I'll set up one of my empty 1 gallon containers to stick a plant in and dose with phdown so the only thing affected is the plant. And I'll get the pH down to 7.5



I'm now not sure if I should continue to go back to dosing to try that again or stop?

 

Omg. Now I'm frustrated. I was so confused by your question of flourish or excel because nothing I read or was linked to indicated they're different things. They're totally different things! :I

I feel so lied to. Honestly most of what I've read about everything (and I check numerous places when I research) has been wrong.

Most of the things everything tells you to buy has been wrong. I bought all my supplies way before I bought fish or plants and slowly I've been learning all of it isn't what I actually need.

So this is probably the problem right here. All the misinformation I've been given :I


I want to rage quit ;o;

But this probably explains why it made no difference with or without it -sigh-

Now I'm questioning if the gravel I got with all the minerals that's supposed to be good for plants is even the right thing. or if that expensive bulb that's supposed to be for plants is right either =\

Idk if I'm extremely bad at research or if there's just too much incorrect information out there @.@

 

I say keep it simple, use some spring water, clear container and drop the plant in and be done
iv looked at the plant bottle stuffs, wanted some but didnt get, yet they are fine with spring water
land plants I would not completely submerge..
this was informative along with a lot of other videos from this guy, but do so at your own risk with some of it

 

Yay videos to watch!

I want them in my tanks for my fish but I can't realistically just use spring water for all my tanks.

This is so frustrating and it makes me feel dumb =\

 

Quit the excel. Dose at a minimum flourish trace and comprehensive. See what that gets you. If you were dosing enough excel it could have harmed your plants. There's a list of plants it will melt quickly but I can't recall what they are other than vals. I don't count marimo balls as they are technically an algae.

 

Quit the excel. Dose at a minimum flourish trace and comprehensive. See what that gets you. If you were dosing enough excel it could have harmed your plants. There's a list of plants it will melt quickly but I can't recall what they are other than vals. I don't count marimo balls as they are technically an algae.

Okay! These are two different bottles correct? Need to make sure I'm getting the correct stuff this time :I

I dosed what the bottle said at first, then I did a bit less/less often and eventually stopped. There wasn't a difference regardless of what I did.

Also some good news. I remembered I just got a nice led airstone that I completely forgot about so I stuck that in the tank instead of the small one I had in. So light and bubbles!

My least killifish are the bravest fish in there . They managed to convince my other much larger fish it was safe and fun to play in. (I know theyre supposed to be in a species only tank, they were but weren't that happy and I was having issues with it. They're so much happier with their new fish buddies)


Since I already gotta go buy new stuff should I also grab some organic peat moss? I will not be able to afford enough to cover the bottom under the gravel just yet but I can afford enough to stick in my filters.


So I'm curious. If the co2 booster and flourish excel that everything told me to use is wrong what is it actually supposed to be used for? Are they a useless product that's being sold and recommeded just for companies to make more money? Or is there a use for them and I was just told to use them in the wrong context?

 

Peat works great as a ph buffer. My water is very hard well and ph down doesn't touch it at all. Peat keeps everything stable.
Try one thing at a time so you can figure out exactly what it is.

If it isn't a toxicity from high nitrates, then you want to look at ph. A hI ph can lockout nutrients and cause deficiency, even if all the nutrients are there in the water. You should google the type of plants you have and see if anyone has posted pictures of them with a deficiency or toxicity. Also check what ph they like.

 

Peat works great as a ph buffer. My water is very hard well and ph down doesn't touch it at all. Peat keeps everything stable.
Try one thing at a time so you can figure out exactly what it is.

If it isn't a toxicity from high nitrates, then you want to look at ph. A hI ph can lockout nutrients and cause deficiency, even if all the nutrients are there in the water. You should google the type of plants you have and see if anyone has posted pictures of them with a deficiency or toxicity. Also check what ph they like.

I didn't use pH down long enough to notice results before I read how unstable it was and that could kill fish faster than a high ph level and stopped cuz I got scared.

True. One thing at a time is better. And much easier to afford spaced out.

That is a good suggestion. I'll do that after I get up and do that water change.

 

My understanding of excel is that it helps those plants that might need a little co2 when co2 isn't being injected. Supposed to help with algae. As previously mentioned I have heard that plants that can only grow submersed do NOT do well with excel, like vals. But that's all I know and I could be wrong. I've never used excel to be honest. My tanks are dirted, I've only used liquid flourish and more recently potassium.

What's funny is I've always struggled to keep certain terrestrial plants alive. I have to get easy, hardy, drought resistant, full sun type plants otherwise they quickly become toast. But yet in the aquariums, complete opposite experience. Go figure.

 

Flourish comprehensive and flourish trace are 2 different bottles. They are macro and micro. I don't prefer them as much as others, but they are pretty easy to locally source.

 

My understanding of excel is that it helps those plants that might need a little co2 when co2 isn't being injected. Supposed to help with algae. As previously mentioned I have heard that plants that can only grow submersed do NOT do well with excel, like vals. But that's all I know and I could be wrong. I've never used excel to be honest. My tanks are dirted, I've only used liquid flourish and more recently potassium.

What's funny is I've always struggled to keep certain terrestrial plants alive. I have to get easy, hardy, drought resistant, full sun type plants otherwise they quickly become toast. But yet in the aquariums, complete opposite experience. Go figure.

Ahhhh okay thank you!

I'm hoping I can figure this out and have success with at least something lol I was honestly about to settle for only having moss in my tanks xP

Flourish comprehensive and flourish trace are 2 different bottles. They are macro and micro. I don't prefer them as much as others, but they are pretty easy to locally source.

Okay thank you! At the very least now I'll have the correct kind of stuff.

I'm very hopefully that this new information will have good results.


I'm wondering if that led light could actually possibly be okay and if it was just this that caused the different lights I had to have no effect?




Okay! Nitrates are down to 5 I'm gonna let them stay at that and just do small water changes every other day to make sure they stay down low and see what happens

 

Ahhhh okay thank you!

I'm hoping I can figure this out and have success with at least something lol I was honestly about to settle for only having moss in my tanks xP


Okay thank you! At the very least now I'll have the correct kind of stuff.

I'm very hopefully that this new information will have good results.


I'm wondering if that led light could actually possibly be okay and if it was just this that caused the different lights I had to have no effect?




Okay! Nitrates are down to 5 I'm gonna let them stay at that and just do small water changes every other day to make sure they stay down low and see what happens

Are you using root tabs? For easy plants, root tabs and fish waste are all you need. Better lighting helps a bit but isn't required. Beware, adding fertilizers may increase algae issues. It just means there's not a perfect balance for your plants. This is something terrestrial plants don't have to worry about.

 

Are you using root tabs? For easy plants, root tabs and fish waste are all you need. Better lighting helps a bit but isn't required. Beware, adding fertilizers may increase algae issues. It just means there's not a perfect balance for your plants. This is something terrestrial plants don't have to worry about.

Yeah I use root tabs, I think they're actually due for new ones this week. Going off the information I've read about it.

-nods- I will keep an eye on that. It's sorta like pest snails being a huge issue when you over feed right?

Also took some pictures. Please note the yellow on the anubias is new since I moved it into the jar by the window.

 

What was that first plant? A fern? If so it looks like it might be trying to propogate. Hard to tell from the pic.

Plants stress just as much as fish. That's why crypt melt is so common. I used to have a lot of melt, but I've got really hard water so I've adapted to using hard water plants, and tissue cultures. I can't rave enough about tissue cultures. They start out very small, but have been my easiest plants to date.

 

What was that first plant? A fern? If so it looks like it might be trying to propogate. Hard to tell from the pic.

Plants stress just as much as fish. That's why crypt melt is so common. I used to have a lot of melt, but I've got really hard water so I've adapted to using hard water plants, and tissue cultures. I can't rave enough about tissue cultures. They start out very small, but have been my easiest plants to date.

The first one with the bubbles is the Java sword.

Ooo what's tissue cultures?

I tried to just get plants that I thought would do okay but maybe I just don't really know enough about what I'm reading to actually know what would do best.

I also now don't know how much of what I read was actually accurate lol

 

The first one with the bubbles is the Java sword.

Ooo what's tissue cultures?

I tried to just get plants that I thought would do okay but maybe I just don't really know enough about what I'm reading to actually know what would do best.

I also now don't know how much of what I read was actually accurate lol

Did you mean java fern? I think that's what it is. It tries to propogate when things are good, and when things are bad. You have the rhizome out of the substrate right?

Tissue cultures are lab grown plants. I wouldn't suggest them for you until you start having ok growth. They aren't expensive, but smaller plants can be more fickle since you won't see problems as easily on them.

I'm not sure where you got your information, but there is gigs of data all over forums. Web pages I've found to be less useful and more difficult to digest sometimes. YouTube is also a great resource. The only problem with those two is you have to compile enough information to know when someone is saying something misleading or wrong. It's not a very steep learning curve with plants though. They are relatively inexpensive and if you catch problems early, are easy to treat. Dont let the internet scientists confuse you. Some of those videos and threads on forums turn into a doctorate level debate about things that really don't matter, or don't matter enough. Fish are for scientists, plants are more for adventurous artists. Always gotta tweak, and unless you have too much money, it's not worth buying all the test kits youd need to scientifically pinpoint the issue.

 

Did you mean java fern? I think that's what it is. It tries to propogate when things are good, and when things are bad. You have the rhizome out of the substrate right?

Tissue cultures are lab grown plants. I wouldn't suggest them for you until you start having ok growth. They aren't expensive, but smaller plants can be more fickle since you won't see problems as easily on them.

I'm not sure where you got your information, but there is gigs of data all over forums. Web pages I've found to be less useful and more difficult to digest sometimes. YouTube is also a great resource. The only problem with those two is you have to compile enough information to know when someone is saying something misleading or wrong. It's not a very steep learning curve with plants though. They are relatively inexpensive and if you catch problems early, are easy to treat. Dont let the internet scientists confuse you. Some of those videos and threads on forums turn into a doctorate level debate about things that really don't matter, or don't matter enough. Fish are for scientists, plants are more for adventurous artists. Always gotta tweak, and unless you have too much money, it's not worth buying all the test kits youd need to scientifically pinpoint the issue.

I honestly don't know anymore lol. I'm just using the words I was told
Yeah it's out of the substrate, I have a couple rocks on it to hold it down since it doesn't want to stay tied to anything though. But it's not enough to cover it by any means.

Ahh okay.

I got my info from website's and forums that weren't too active anymore but seemed to have info on a lot of stuff. And I watched a couple YouTube things when I needed to actually see what was being talked about. Honestly a lot of things I learned about fish I found out wasn't right but thankfully I figured that out real quick and got my hands on correct information and that thankfully was never a real problem for me.

It's just the plants I guess I never caught on to myself.

I feel like I want to do a reset of the information I've gathered and start from scratch. Just accept I don't know any of it and start over and this time hopefully learn correctly.

 

Are you using root tabs? For easy plants, root tabs and fish waste are all you need. Better lighting helps a bit but isn't required. Beware, adding fertilizers may increase algae issues. It just means there's not a perfect balance for your plants. This is something terrestrial plants don't have to worry about.

Root tabs are for plants that feed from being rooted in the substrate. Liquid ferts are for plants that feed from the water column. Like java fern and anubias or floaters. Many "Easy" plants are slow growing, that means they don't use up nutrients as quickly but it doesn't mean they don't need nutrients and they can suffer from deficiences over time. Some nutrients can't be found in fish food or waste. Too much light and an over abundance of nutrients can cause algae problems which is why both need moderation. But in this case, improving plant health by supplementing with ferts should help decrease algae issues. I'm not convinced the lighting needs an upgrade at this point.

OP when I mentioned flourish I meant the "seachem flourish" comprehensive liquid fert which has a broad spectrum of trace nutrients mostly micro and it comes in 1 single bottle. There are also flourish macro supplements, these bottles are sold separately like phosphorous potassium iron etc. But as a baseline start dosing flourish on a regular schedule, you should start to see improvements.

Try not to over think it. Your photo period should be on a timer 8-10hrs a day (optional 2hr siesta to break up the photo period). Use the root tabs, dose liquid flourish regularly. Do your usual water changes and tank maintenance. Do this for a couple weeks and see how it goes. If algae becomes a problem, decrease the photo period.