I’m A Plant Failure

okay- I think I really need help- i’m Very frustrated. I’m new to having an aquarium and live plants. I have a heated, filtered (sponge and carbon filters) 3 gallon tank with 1 betta and several plants. I’ve had all of this since July 2017. In the beginning, I did not use any liquid fertilizers. I started with 1 El Niño fern and 2 small Marino moss balls. I have a lamp with a 23 watt 5000 k bulb on a 8 hr timer. Even with taking the Marimo balls out every 3 days and cleaning them (gently rolling them), they always browned and stayed brown regardless even if I took them out of the tank and put them in tap water in a cooler location. Eventually, I replaced them with 1
Large Marimo moss ball - did the same thing. I tried several different plants- I tried water sprite twice- quickly browned and died both times. I tried hornwort for one day and it totally ripped up my betta’s fins-I quickly removed that. I currently have 2 El Niño ferns (one original and one i’ve had for about two weeks-both have considerably browned). I also have 1 anubias which I have had for about 3 to 4 weeks- I think that is doing okay. For the last couple of weeks, i’ve been dosing .1 ml of sea chem flourish after my water changes I do twice a week (so .2 ml of sea chem flourish pet week) as well as 1 drop of vita chem after each water change (so 2 drops per week). My ferns are still browning and I have some brown algae growing the last couple of weeks in my tank as well-although not bad. I know people with plants in their aquariums don’t always use carbon filters. However, I noticed after replacing my carbon filter, the brown algae considerably slowed so for now, i’m keeping it. I use 50/50 distilled water and tap water (water comes from a well). I know ideally you would use water all from tap, but my ph was high, my water was very hard and my alkalinity was very high. Mixing 50/50 seems to bring them all in line. My ph is 7.2, nitrates between 5-10 ppm, 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, total hardness between 75 and 150 ppm, chlorine is 0, alkalinity between 80 and 120 ppm, temp around 77/78 degrees farenheit. I do 30 to 40% water changes. I do put Indian almond leaves in my tank for my betta. Please help me with my plants. Should I maybe replace the ferns with swords? I’m just looking for really easy, beginner, low light plants for my betta that I can keep healthy. Any advice on how I can get there?

 

I am surprised that the water sprite didn't make it but El Nino fern isn't fully aquatic. Anubias is pretty much bulletproof LOL and so is Java Fern if you wanted to give that a try. Part of the problem might be your light. Maybe. It's very bright but doesn't provide entirely the right spectrum of light that plants need. Try for at least 6500K to get more of the blue end of the spectrum in there. I would also remove the carbon filter media and replace it with a sponge. The carbon could be absorbing essential nutrients the plants need. Other than that I can't really see what you're doing wrong!

 

Okay- if the ferns continue to decline, maybe I will replace them with more anubias or try a java fern and try a 6500 k bulb. Thanks! You know what is funny about the carbon filter is since July I have only replaced that once so I don’t think this would have been a factor with my plants - the carbon would have worn out. Do you think I noticed slower growth with the brown algae after replacing the carbon filter because it removed some of the silicates?

 

It's possible but brown algae also happens to be more common in newer tanks and eventually peters out on its own too.

 

Yes el nino ferns rarely if ever adjust to tank life, most often they just rot away over a quick or long period of time, but they rot in time and die.
Anubias, java moss, java fern, and dwarf lily all are easy low level/beginner plants that take a hit and generally keep ticking.

 

As to the carbon, likely that the o,d carbon was leeching back into the water. Would say likely that the New carbon hasn’t done much, but removing the old carbon helped.

Agree on the lighting, 6500k would be the way to go... I wouldn’t wait to get one, if you have plants you should have the correct spectrum to support them.
Overall moss balls are pretty foolproof (them and anubias would be the only two likely to do ok with the 5000k)... have you gotten the moss balls all from the same place? Do you have any pictures of them? Unfortunately there are a lot of “knock off” Marimos out there....

 

I use 2 5000k led bulbs in a 20h, 10hr timer, and successfully growing blyxa, rotala rotundifolia with pink tips, s repens, java moss, jungle val,, water sprite and water lettuce.

OP not sure I can be much help but I would recommend dosing ferts 24hrs after a water change and 2 to 3 times a week. I would also recommend patience, even my first plants anubias browned and lost some leaves in the beginning but all I really had to do was give the them time to adjust.

 

Thanks everyone. I attached some photos of the Marimo moss balls. I no longer have them. I did not get them all from the same place. I will get the 6500 k light bulbs and see if that helps and i’m leaning towards replacing the two El Niño ferns with 1 Anubias and 1 java fern. Maybe my plants will then be happy

 

Wait. Just looked on amazon to order the bulbs and it turns out I did order 6500 k bulbs according to my order history. That is what I have now - Phillips 43357 bright white spiral 23 watt 6500 k cfl light bulbs. Is this not what I want? i’ve had this lighting since August. Sigh- so frustrating that even with this lighting, my plants were not happy.

 

I left out a number in the light bulb product: it’s 433557

 

One more thing: I can understand at the beginning the plants not doing so well without proper lighting but i’ve had that 6500 k lighting since August and I replaced the plants after that.