What happened to my plants?

[Fishowner24]

I bought some dwarf sagittaria from petco, planted it, then I went out of time for 4 days. The pics show what they look like when I got back. What happened?
Is it melting? I also bought some betta bulbs and there plant name is Aponogeton. They haven't sprouted in 4 days what should I do? Thanks!

 

[dcutl002]

The Sagittaria was most likely grown emersed because it is faster and cheaper. Give the plants some time to acclimate being submerged in water.

Apongetons:

• Only cover bulbs with enough substrate to hold bulb in place with the thicker end down
• Aponogetons like Low Light

 

[Fishowner24]

The Sagittaria was most likely grown emersed because it is faster and cheaper. Give the plants some time to acclimate being submerged in water.

Apongetons:

• Only cover bulbs with enough substrate to hold bulb in place with the thicker end down
• Aponogetons like Low Light

ok thanks! I can't tell which side is the thicker side what should I do? Thanks!

 

[dcutl002]

Put the bulb sideways then on top of substrate and look for green sprout/roots.

 

[Fishowner24]

Put the bulb sideways then on top of substrate and look for green sprout/roots.

ok how often should I roll it? Thanks!

 

[86 ssinit]

The sag needs strong light and probable co2 to get it to grow. I’ve not found it a beginner plant. The aponogeton is an easy plant that just needs time to start growing. But these are special plants. They come from an area where they grow seasonally. So they grow for about 6mts than die off. So you need to remove the bulb for a few months let it harden up again and than replant it. It will grow again in a few months.

 

[dcutl002]

Actually Sagittaria only needs 30-60 PAR. Too strong of a light will cause it to turn yellow. Dwarf Sagittaria Care Guide – Planting, Growing, and Propagation - Shrimp and Snail Breeder.

Roll it? It'll sprout on top of the substrate when ready.

 

[Fishowner24]

The sag needs strong light and probable co2 to get it to grow. I’ve not found it a beginner plant. The aponogeton is an easy plant that just needs time to start growing. But these are special plants. They come from an area where they grow seasonally. So they grow for about 6mts than die off. So you need to remove the bulb for a few months let it harden up again and than replant it. It will grow again in a few months.

ok thanks!

Actually Sagittaria only needs 30-60 PAR. Too strong of a light will cause it to turn yellow. Dwarf Sagittaria Care Guide – Planting, Growing, and Propagation - Shrimp and Snail Breeder.

Roll it? It'll sprout on top of the substrate when ready.

well for some bulbs I have heard that you roll it every once in a while to find the top.

The Sagittaria was most likely grown emersed because it is faster and cheaper. Give the plants some time to acclimate being submerged in water.

Apongetons:

• Only cover bulbs with enough substrate to hold bulb in place with the thicker end down
• Aponogetons like Low Light

will it rot that fast in 4 days? Thanks!

 

[dcutl002]

Hmm. Is one of the bulbs rotting? That does happen sometimes. Toss it.

 

[Fishowner24]

Hmm. Is one of the bulbs rotting? That does happen sometimes. Toss it.

I meant to say does the dwarf Sagittaria melt in 4 days that seems fast? Thanks!

 

[Fishowner24]

I meant to say does the dwarf Sagittaria melt in 4 days that seems fast? Thanks!

bumping. thanks!

 

[dcutl002]

How are your Sagittaria doing?

 

[Fishowner24]

How are your Sagittaria doing?

2 of them are completely gone and the rest are stumps. I didn't even know they can rot to basically nothing. Do you know what could have happened? Thanks!

 

[dcutl002]

Dwarf Sagittaria is usually hardy. It is probably the most hardy plant out there. Are the roots still intact? Dwarf Sag sometimes will sacrifice itself so the roots can take hold. I found this older thread with a simiar issue, but the Sag bounced back. Give it a read and see what you think.

My new dwarf sag is melting?! | Aquarium Plants Forum | 479207

 

[Fishowner24]

Dwarf Sagittaria is usually hardy. It is probably the most hardy plant out there. Are the roots still intact? Dwarf Sag sometimes will sacrifice itself so the roots can take hold. I found this older thread with a simiar issue, but the Sag bounced back. Give it a read and see what you think.

My new dwarf sag is melting?! | Aquarium Plants Forum | 479207

ok thanks! yeah there was some roots left I wish I would have saw this because I went digging in my substrate to see if the plant was just buried and one of the roots came up and I ended up finding one of them under it. the 3rd one I have no clue what happened to it. I left the root bundle floating around and my fish pecked at it and I don't really know how to re plant just roots. A lot of my sag are missing I am pretty sure (I don't know the exact number of plants I planted). So I am going to assume that it sacrificed itself and leave them alone. There is like 2 of them though that you can still see part of the bottom of it so crossing fingers it can bounce back. Somehow I kill all of my plants. How long do they stay like a little stump before they bounce back? Because they pretty much all melted off after 4 days and have stayed like that so it has been like a month that they have been like this. Thanks!

 

[dcutl002]

Wow. They should have bounced back after 2 weeks.
What light are you using and how many hours a day is the light on?
Do you fertilize?

 

[Fishowner24]

Wow. They should have bounced back after 2 weeks.
What light are you using and how many hours a day is the light on?
Do you fertilize?

They are on for 6 hours and 30 mins and I dose with pps pro dosing

 

[dcutl002]

Bump it up to 8-9 hours.

 

[Fishowner24]

Bump it up to 8-9 hours.

I was fishing so I couldn't respond. I can do that but I have a bba problem so that is why it is low. Do you think that increasing light could help the plants outgrow the algae? Thanks!

 

[ruud]

Starting off with just a few plants (judging from the pics), is the hardest way to attain some sort of a planted tank. Plants are grown most likely in different conditions. You plant them in your tank, plants gets stressed, leach metabolites, cue algae such as BBA to reproduce. Changing light settings with BBA doesn't make that much of a difference.

It's best to take a large vase, some substrate, shallow water, and place these and any new plants you might consider purchasing in the vase. Place it on a windowsill with indirect sunlight, conduct water changes and watch it grow. Adding fertilizer helps, as long as you dose very, very, very conservatively. Don't follow the instructions on the bottle. These are always expressed as a combination of water volume and dosing regime, and are not considering the actual biomass you have; as the bottle of course doesn't know...

Chances are 9/10 that this will work for anyone. Leaves you sufficient time to contemplate about why it is working in a vase, but not (yet) in your tank.

After some time, you can take some plants out and plant these in your fish tank. Chances are the plants won't melt, but at the same time it's not going to be the start of a lush planted tank. Unless you've figured out how it kinda works. The main factor being plantmass : tankvolume ratio. Hence, why it almost always works in a vase with shallow water (not to mention fantastic indirect, self-regulated sunlight).

 

[Fishowner24]

Starting off with just a few plants (judging from the pics), is the hardest way to attain some sort of a planted tank. Plants are grown most likely in different conditions. You plant them in your tank, plants gets stressed, leach metabolites, cue algae such as BBA to reproduce. Changing light settings with BBA doesn't make that much of a difference.

It's best to take a large vase, some substrate, shallow water, and place these and any new plants you might consider purchasing in the vase. Place it on a windowsill with indirect sunlight, conduct water changes and watch it grow. Adding fertilizer helps, as long as you dose very, very, very conservatively. Don't follow the instructions on the bottle. These are always expressed as a combination of water volume and dosing regime, and are not considering the actual biomass you have; as the bottle of course doesn't know...

Chances are 9/10 that this will work for anyone. Leaves you sufficient time to contemplate about why it is working in a vase, but not (yet) in your tank.

After some time, you can take some plants out and plant these in your fish tank. Chances are the plants won't melt, but at the same time it's not going to be the start of a lush planted tank. Unless you've figured out how it kinda works. The main factor being plantmass : tankvolume ratio. Hence, why it almost always works in a vase with shallow water (not to mention fantastic indirect, self-regulated sunlight).

ok thanks! What is tank volume? What is biomass? Someone on this forum told me to decrease light which is probably one reason why my plants aren't growing as well. They seemed to grow better before decreasing light. Decreasing light probably made it worse. I heard that 6 hours is fine from the person that was telling me to decrease light. Is this true? How much is a little fertilizer? What do you mean by indirect, self-regulated sunlight? Thanks!

 

[ruud]

Tank volume....water gallons
Biomass....well, the technical definition isn't workable, and I should've said "plant-mass", referring to the total amount or the total area of plant leaves you have.
And the relation between these is important in scope of algae prevention.

There is a strong negative correlation between algae reproduction and the ratio of total area of healthy leaves : water gallons. So the more healthy leaves (in relation to water gallons), the less algae.

Hence, keeping a shallow tank that is completely filled with healthy plants, algae-free, is childsplay.

The reproduction of different algae species is triggered by different environmental cues. Some start reproducing with strong lights, provided other conditions are met. Others, like BBA, don't seem to be triggered by light, instead "plant stress" seems to trigger reproduction. Hence you often see BBA growing on leaves.

The sun regulates itself of course. There are no switches to turn it on or off . My main tank is very close to a window and receives a few hours of direct sunlight and many hours of indirect sunlight (sunrays not directly entering the tank). So this tank enjoys light for 14, 15, 16 hours at the moment, because it's summer here. But the strength of the light is different of course. In late evening, when the sun goes down, the light is very weak.

Back to your light settings. About 8 hours of light is OK. You can extend this easily provided it is dimmed. My tanks that are in the basement (not receiving sunlight...), all have an aquarium light and the intensity of this light is time-controlled. So it starts very dim early morning, gradually increases intensity up to 15:00 and then decreases again to 0 around 21:00. Approximating the sun a bit.

Note that at the peak, at 15:00, my lights are not reaching their full capacity. In fact, they are still dimmed (20% of full capacity...). You need to figure out what works for you. But in general, my believe is that lights are too strong. You don't need strong light to enjoy the tank. The fish don't need it. And most plants don't need it.

Also, the fact that the situation turned worse after decreasing the light, might be a coincidence. Your plants were probably already going downhill. And BBA was already setting foot. Changing the light intensity just coincided with the trends.

Regarding fertilizers, if you have just a few plants in your tank, you most likely don't even need to add anything. Find out what nutrients are available in your tap water. Your fish fertilise the tank also. You might miss out on a few nutrients, like iron and potassium.

So next steps:
- probably dim the lights, not so much for BBA, but just in general. I've seen your images and I get the impression, the lights are at full (normal) capacity. 8 hours should be max. But I like to enjoy my tanks in the evening, so I have no problem with 12 hours. But the 4 extra hours are at only 1% capacity!
- if you have a vase or a large glass, I would take 1 plant out, put it in the glass or vase and place it on a windowsill; just do water changes and see how that goes. I think you gain some understanding on how to grow plants. If it takes off, you can expend with vases and glasses, until you have a jungle. Then its time to place it to your main tank. See my final comment.
- check your tap water; your local public utility company should disclose the contents of your tap water.
- in general, if you only have a few plants and plenty of fish swimming around, you most likely don't need to fertilise. fish poop and water changes take care of plant nutrients.
- Finally, plant growth without CO2 injection is in general slow to very, very, very slow. Just accept it. What matter is that plants are healthy. And be patient. In my tanks, I see some growth during spring and summer. In fall and winter, absolutely nothing. At least not observable. But the leaves are geen, that's what counts.
- If you don't have the patience, spend 100 bucks on plants.

 

[Fishowner24]

Tank volume....water gallons
Biomass....well, the technical definition isn't workable, and I should've said "plant-mass", referring to the total amount or the total area of plant leaves you have.
And the relation between these is important in scope of algae prevention.

There is a strong negative correlation between algae reproduction and the ratio of total area of healthy leaves : water gallons. So the more healthy leaves (in relation to water gallons), the less algae.

Hence, keeping a shallow tank that is completely filled with healthy plants, algae-free, is childsplay.

The reproduction of different algae species is triggered by different environmental cues. Some start reproducing with strong lights, provided other conditions are met. Others, like BBA, don't seem to be triggered by light, instead "plant stress" seems to trigger reproduction. Hence you often see BBA growing on leaves.

The sun regulates itself of course. There are no switches to turn it on or off . My main tank is very close to a window and receives a few hours of direct sunlight and many hours of indirect sunlight (sunrays not directly entering the tank). So this tank enjoys light for 14, 15, 16 hours at the moment, because it's summer here. But the strength of the light is different of course. In late evening, when the sun goes down, the light is very weak.

Back to your light settings. About 8 hours of light is OK. You can extend this easily provided it is dimmed. My tanks that are in the basement (not receiving sunlight...), all have an aquarium light and the intensity of this light is time-controlled. So it starts very dim early morning, gradually increases intensity up to 15:00 and then decreases again to 0 around 21:00. Approximating the sun a bit.

Note that at the peak, at 15:00, my lights are not reaching their full capacity. In fact, they are still dimmed (20% of full capacity...). You need to figure out what works for you. But in general, my believe is that lights are too strong. You don't need strong light to enjoy the tank. The fish don't need it. And most plants don't need it.

Also, the fact that the situation turned worse after decreasing the light, might be a coincidence. Your plants were probably already going downhill. And BBA was already setting foot. Changing the light intensity just coincided with the trends.

Regarding fertilizers, if you have just a few plants in your tank, you most likely don't even need to add anything. Find out what nutrients are available in your tap water. Your fish fertilise the tank also. You might miss out on a few nutrients, like iron and potassium.

So next steps:
- probably dim the lights, not so much for BBA, but just in general. I've seen your images and I get the impression, the lights are at full (normal) capacity. 8 hours should be max. But I like to enjoy my tanks in the evening, so I have no problem with 12 hours. But the 4 extra hours are at only 1% capacity!
- if you have a vase or a large glass, I would take 1 plant out, put it in the glass or vase and place it on a windowsill; just do water changes and see how that goes. I think you gain some understanding on how to grow plants. If it takes off, you can expend with vases and glasses, until you have a jungle. Then its time to place it to your main tank. See my final comment.
- check your tap water; your local public utility company should disclose the contents of your tap water.
- in general, if you only have a few plants and plenty of fish swimming around, you most likely don't need to fertilise. fish poop and water changes take care of plant nutrients.
- Finally, plant growth without CO2 injection is in general slow to very, very, very slow. Just accept it. What matter is that plants are healthy. And be patient. In my tanks, I see some growth during spring and summer. In fall and winter, absolutely nothing. At least not observable. But the leaves are geen, that's what counts.
- If you don't have the patience, spend 100 bucks on plants.

ok thanks. funny thing is I just moved today and now all of my tanks are in my basement. Yeah everyone says my lights are bright I will dim them. I will find a vase to put them in. How much do I need to fertilize in that vase. What is me finding my tap water parameters going to help with. (Not saying you are wrong for asking me to test the water I am just curious). I have a bunch of fish. What is my problem if I don't need to fertilize? I thought before my plants had a deficiency because the crypts were like brown with dark veins. But I heard they change that color with bright lights. Will I still need to dose my micro nutrients? Thanks for the help I appreciate it!

 

[ruud]

You don't need to test your tap water by definition, because the contents of your tap water should be made public, so you can look them up. Tap water contains many nutrients for your plants; but the exact specifications depend locally. My tap water is different than yours of course.

So chances are, just conducting water changes already delivers plenty of nutrients to your plants. Perhaps add fish food to the vase also, from time to time, and you might already have all your plants need.

To be on the safe side (I can imagine you don't want to test every single nutrient in a vase), a bottle of micronutrients (which typically also contain a few macro's) and a bottle of NPK, can help. Just dose very, very conservatively. These bottles are not a waste of money. Whatever you are going to do with plants in tanks, These two bottles is very most likely all you ever need.

"What is my problem if I don't need to fertilize?" That's ideal. The thing is, if you have a large tank / just a few plants, fish swimming around, and you conduct water changes from time to time, adding fertilizer seems completely unnecessary.

Crypts can be dark and can have very dark veins. My crypt wendtii's are also brown under very dim light. It is a very adaptable plant / appearance can change depending on water and light conditions.

 

[Fishowner24]

You don't need to test your tap water by definition, because the contents of your tap water should be made public, so you can look them up. Tap water contains many nutrients for your plants; but the exact specifications depend locally. My tap water is different than yours of course.

So chances are, just conducting water changes already delivers plenty of nutrients to your plants. Perhaps add fish food to the vase also, from time to time, and you might already have all your plants need.

To be on the safe side (I can imagine you don't want to test every single nutrient in a vase), a bottle of micronutrients (which typically also contain a few macro's) and a bottle of NPK, can help. Just dose very, very conservatively. These bottles are not a waste of money. Whatever you are going to do with plants in tanks, These two bottles is very most likely all you ever need.

"What is my problem if I don't need to fertilize?" That's ideal. The thing is, if you have a large tank / just a few plants, fish swimming around, and you conduct water changes from time to time, adding fertilizer seems completely unnecessary.

Crypts can be dark and can have very dark veins. My crypt wendtii's are also brown under very dim light. It is a very adaptable plant / appearance can change depending on water and light conditions.

Ok so seeing the water quality around where I live will tell me if I have the nutrients I need or not? What is NPK? Will my micro nutrient bottle for my pps pro dosing work? Can you send me links to the stuff you recommend I get? So if my plants start growing a lot and I have a lot of plants should I start doing my pps pro dosing again? Me dosing fertilizer with not that much plants could that cause it to grow a lot of bba? Thanks!

 

[ruud]

NPK....nitrates, phosphates, potassium (K).

An example (what I use):
- Aqua Rebell - Mikro Basic - Eisen
- Aqua Rebell - Makro Basic - NPK - 1.000 ml
(- And I have an additional bottle of only potassium (K)...but forget it)

I don't recommend it, in the sense, that I look at the ingredients and not the brand.
I'm sure you can achieve something similar with PPS Pro.

I just looked up PPS and it seems they too recommend having a bottle for micros and a bottle for macros. So no need to switch brands.

"So if my plants start growing a lot and I have a lot of plants should I start doing my pps pro dosing again? " Correct. But again, most likely you need to dose less that what the bottle says. The bottle is very subjective of course (many vs. not so many fish. tank size, easy / low tech plants vs. difficult / high tech plants.....something of this nature).

"Me dosing fertilizer with not that much plants could that cause it to grow a lot of bba?"

What triggers different algae species is complex. With BBA it might actually be fluctuating nutrient levels. Not the actual nutrient levels. Oftentimes mentioned is fluctuating CO2 levels. The first, nutrients (aka soil nutrients), might directly trigger it - I simply don't know. The second (CO2) likely due to "plant stress", which can be sensed by algae.

In general, algae love opportunity aka. change.

 

[Fishowner24]

NPK....nitrates, phosphates, potassium (K).

An example (what I use):
- Aqua Rebell - Mikro Basic - Eisen
- Aqua Rebell - Makro Basic - NPK - 1.000 ml
(- And I have an additional bottle of only potassium (K)...but forget it)

I don't recommend it, in the sense, that I look at the ingredients and not the brand.
I'm sure you can achieve something similar with PPS Pro.

I just looked up PPS and it seems they too recommend having a bottle for micros and a bottle for macros. So no need to switch brands.

"So if my plants start growing a lot and I have a lot of plants should I start doing my pps pro dosing again? " Correct. But again, most likely you need to dose less that what the bottle says. The bottle is very subjective of course (many vs. not so many fish. tank size, easy / low tech plants vs. difficult / high tech plants.....something of this nature).

"Me dosing fertilizer with not that much plants could that cause it to grow a lot of bba?"

What triggers different algae species is complex. With BBA it might actually be fluctuating nutrient levels. Not the actual nutrient levels. Oftentimes mentioned is fluctuating CO2 levels. The first, nutrients (aka soil nutrients), might directly trigger it - I simply don't know. The second (CO2) likely due to "plant stress", which can be sensed by algae.

In general, algae love opportunity aka. change.

Thanks! So should I only dose my micronutrients? When you say not the brand do you mean it doesn't matter the brand as long as nutrients are the same? How is plant stress caused? Is it most likely fluctuating c02 levels? if so how do you stop it from fluctuating? Thanks!

 

[ruud]

I don't know all the nutrients you have in your tank water and soil (you can regard this as being the same, because nutrients will enter the soil). But I can grow plants in vases without any fertilizer; just water changes and letting plant matter rot on the substrate is sufficient to feed my plants.

So you can dose all you want in case you don't know your nutrient levels, but whatever you do, just keep it constant and very minimal. They most likely need a bit less that what you think you should give them. Do it stable/steady and they'll adopt.

Plants in general take a week to adapt to your tank's CO2 levels. Keep these steady also.
With steady I mean fixed patterns! The water in creeks, ponds and streams show patterns. CO2 levels in the morning are different than late afternoon. Plant's physiology show patterns as well. They anticipate to environmental cues.

We discussed light patterns. How they change over the seasons. From short days to longer days. Plants follow accordingly.

If you don't inject CO2, than your CO2 show a pattern around, let's say, 2-3 ppm. Fish, water agitation and plant decay, can push this number a bit up. Plant decay, most people take it out (ridiculous, but that is out of scope). Fish you already have. And water agitation / crystal clear water is something all tank owners should take care off. I you see to the latter, your CO2 pattern will most likely be fairly stable. Issues typically arise with people that inject CO2, but not in steady manner.

Plant stress occurs when conditions they are in, is dramatically different from, let's say yesterday. So you bought plants which are likely grown emersed and then introduce them in water. Big, big stress. Whenever plants need to adapt, there is stress. They start to give up on things, like defensive mechanisms (through release of certain chemicals), in order to adjust / safeguard metabolism.

PS Brands.... brand A can have nutrients in a bottle in different ratios (e.g. a little bit more calcium) from brand B. Do you know which ratio's best fit your tank? I don't for my tanks.
But I assume, the calcium in A is the same compound as in B (well....no, no, nevermind, I don't want to make it more complex).

I just have a bottle of micro's (along with a few macro's that don't bond or influence plant uptake of certain micro's) and a bottle of macro's. And I dose these independently and on separate days (or weeks as in my case). Typically, a bottle of NPK and a bottle with all the rest is fine. For any tank.

 

[Fishowner24]

I don't know all the nutrients you have in your tank water and soil (you can regard this as being the same, because nutrients will enter the soil). But I can grow plants in vases without any fertilizer; just water changes and letting plant matter rot on the substrate is sufficient to feed my plants.

So you can dose all you want in case you don't know your nutrient levels, but whatever you do, just keep it constant and very minimal. They most likely need a bit less that what you think you should give them. Do it stable/steady and they'll adopt.

Plants in general take a week to adapt to your tank's CO2 levels. Keep these steady also.
With steady I mean fixed patterns! The water in creeks, ponds and streams show patterns. CO2 levels in the morning are different than late afternoon. Plant's physiology show patterns as well. They anticipate to environmental cues.

We discussed light patterns. How they change over the seasons. From short days to longer days. Plants follow accordingly.

If you don't inject CO2, than your CO2 show a pattern around, let's say, 2-3 ppm. Fish, water agitation and plant decay, can push this number a bit up. Plant decay, most people take it out (ridiculous, but that is out of scope). Fish you already have. And water agitation / crystal clear water is something all tank owners should take care off. I you see to the latter, your CO2 pattern will most likely be fairly stable. Issues typically arise with people that inject CO2, but not in steady manner.

Plant stress occurs when conditions they are in, is dramatically different from, let's say yesterday. So you bought plants which are likely grown emersed and then introduce them in water. Big, big stress. Whenever plants need to adapt, there is stress. They start to give up on things, like defensive mechanisms (through release of certain chemicals), in order to adjust / safeguard metabolism.

PS Brands.... brand A can have nutrients in a bottle in different ratios (e.g. a little bit more calcium) from brand B. Do you know which ratio's best fit your tank? I don't for my tanks.
But I assume, the calcium in A is the same compound as in B (well....no, no, nevermind, I don't want to make it more complex).

I just have a bottle of micro's (along with a few macro's that don't bond or influence plant uptake of certain micro's) and a bottle of macro's. And I dose these independently and on separate days (or weeks as in my case). Typically, a bottle of NPK and a bottle with all the rest is fine. For any tank.

ok thanks! I ran out of c02 so that will put some stress on the plants. With the pps pro I was told that I wouldn't need to dose on seperate days and a lot of people say it doesn't make a difference. What do you recommend I do. Dose lower amounts of my pps pro? Dose the same amounts? Or buy and dose the stuff you use?

 

[Fishowner24]

Bumping. I am still stuck right now I stopped using ferts because you said that I didn't need a lot with the amount of plants I have. What should I do? Thanks!

 

[dcutl002]

Here is a tutorial on everything for PPS Pro: Perpetual Preservation System

Fertilizer: https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-NPK-A...jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Just click on the link to open the website. There is a tab Introduction & FAQ, just click the drop down arrow for menu items "Aeration to Water Changes". Each item in the menu has loads of information. If it were me, I would try again with the Dwarf Sagittaria and try to plant in a checkerboard pattern, about 3 inches apart, to cover the bottom.

\NOTE: The light tab discusses Watts per gallon for plant growth and is outdated.

 

[Fishowner24]

Here is a tutorial on everything for PPS Pro: Perpetual Preservation System

Fertilizer: https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-NPK-Aquarium-Fertilizer-Aquatics/dp/B00VIO6LCI/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=3GVGEYJS38A3F&keywords=nilocg+NPK&qid=1659225847&s=pet-supplies&sprefix=nilocg+npk,pets,121&sr=1-1-spons&psc=1&smid=AL6CLNCYENSL2&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzUlpYQ1NLSVk2N1pRJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjE0OTY0MTFTQUlRQUpTNEhESyZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMzQ4OTUzUDJXMjE4VFE4S1JNJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

Just click on the link to open the website. There is a tab Introduction & FAQ, just click the drop down arrow for menu items "Aeration to Water Changes". Each item in the menu has loads of information. If it were me, I would try again with the Dwarf Sagittaria and try to plant in a checkerboard pattern, about 3 inches apart, to cover the bottom.

\NOTE: The light tab discusses Watts per gallon for plant growth and is outdated.

ok thanks! is there a updated list for lighting?

 

[dcutl002]

Unfortunately no. The new measurement for lighting is PAR (photosynthetic active radiation).

PAR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topic...-sciences/photosynthetically-active-radiation

But you could loosely translate 1 Watt T5 flourescent as approximately equal to 1/2 Watt LED. So, to clarify, where 4 Watts per gallon was used for high light in the past...now it would be 2 Watts per gallon LED. Keep in mind that the watts per gallon rule had flaws.

 

[86 ssinit]

What type of light are you using now? Something I’ve been using is the hygger 957. It’s fully programable light with an internal timer. You pick the amount of light and the time it’s on for. As in you can start the day with very low light and slowly ramp up to full bright than ramp down to off. It’s all up to you. Great light for the price. Everything is adjustable even the intensity of a color.

 

[Fishowner24]

What type of light are you using now? Something I’ve been using is the hygger 957. It’s fully programable light with an internal timer. You pick the amount of light and the time it’s on for. As in you can start the day with very low light and slowly ramp up to full bright than ramp down to off. It’s all up to you. Great light for the price. Everything is adjustable even the intensity of a color.

I have a fluval stingray light.

Unfortunately no. The new measurement for lighting is PAR (photosynthetic active radiation).

PAR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/topic...-sciences/photosynthetically-active-radiation

But you could loosely translate 1 Watt T5 flourescent as approximately equal to 1/2 Watt LED. So, to clarify, where 4 Watts per gallon was used for high light in the past...now it would be 2 Watts per gallon LED. Keep in mind that the watts per gallon rule had flaws.

ok thanks! I was reading on the dosing section of that page. What is considered fully planted? because that is what PPS PRO is for. If my tank isn't fully planted then I will decrease the dosing by a little.

 

[dcutl002]

I would say my 75 gallon is fully planted.

 

[Fishowner24]

I would say my 75 gallon is fully planted.

ok thanks! should I decrease my dosing by like a ml or something?

 

[dcutl002]

Yes. I think that you need to try again and replant your tank with Sagittaria, which is probably the easiest plant to care for, and then start fertilizing. Maybe try a Dwarf Amazon Sword. I use PPS-Pro and I dose both Micros and Macros every day. Here is my other tank that was just setup in late May with Dwarf Sag in the front. It really took off. This is about 1 week after setting up.

 

[Fishowner24]

Yes. I think that you need to try again and replant your tank with Sagittaria, which is probably the easiest plant to care for, and then start fertilizing. Maybe try a Dwarf Amazon Sword. I use PPS-Pro and I dose both Micros and Macros every day. Here is my other tank that was just setup in late May with Dwarf Sag in the front. It really took off. This is about 1 week after setting up.

Ok thanks! It is so frusturating I have been trying planted tanks for a year. And I see people first time getting it perfect. I have tried a lot. even aquarium coop easy green. The plants never grew and there was some algae. I thought CO2 was the issue so I bought a $200 setup. algae by that time was pretty much everywhere and when I started CO2 it didn't help, it might have even made it worse. This hobby is expensive and hard. But once you get it right it is amazing to look at what you done. My tank right now is a eye sore. Anyways should I decrease the dosing for pps pro by a little or should I keep it the same. I tried pps pro and I didn't see so idk what to do or what I did wrong? Thanks!