Plant advice needed

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Liv15

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I just can't seem to make any plants look nice in my tank. It's a 125L tank with light tubes as well as blue and white LED strips. I don't use any fertilisers. Sand substrate. Could I have some advice on where to start? Which plants to buy and where to place them. Plants used to flourish in my tank however after moving house they just don't thrive anymore. I'll attach some pictures.
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There is probably a nutrient deficiency. While fish food will provide the nutrients, along with water changes, this is not going to be a lot, and there seem to be not many fish so that is even less. And you have swords which are heavy feeders, and some stem plants which being fast growing also need more nutrients that say moss or the Java Fern.

Do you know the GH of your source water? This is a major source for the "hard" minerals like calcium and magnesium.

And can you detail the light please? Especially the "tubes." Type (T8, T5, whatever), spectrum (the Kelvin), wattage, and length. And how many.

While waiting for that, I will say that those swords will be much improved with substrate tabs. I use and highly recommend Seachem's Flourish Tabs (the API brand seems less successful), just one next to each of the large sword plants, replaced every 2-3 months. I have zero nutrients in my source water and just the tabs alone sent my swords into overdrive, more than the liquid. But the other plants will benefit from a complete liquid fertilizer, like Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium. There may or may not be a light issue, but the data should help us with that.

Byron.
 
Thanks for replying, it's late here so I'll test my tap and tank water tomorrow and let you know the results. As for my lights, I have 2x Interpet T8 tropical daylight 24inch (60cm) 18 watt tubes. I'm not sure of the spectrum exactly, but I may be able to find it on some packaging somewhere. The bulbs are the ones in this link https://www.therange.co.uk/aquatics...cal-daylight?gclid=CM_HgcDggdICFUQo0wodvLoI1g

Thanks


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The spectrum chart on the packages at the link seem to be the same for all of the tubes, and look pretty good from what I can see. I have among my 8 tanks a 33g (125 liter) with two 24-inch T8 tubes for comparison, and that should be sufficient for the plants in the photos, plus the LED. I could suggest better tubes, but I think the use of the fertilizers I mentioned previously--and I would use both the liquid and the tabs with the tabs just for the two swords--will likely improve things.

The T8 fluorescent tubes do weaken as they burn, like all tubes. I replace mine every 12 months. I let a couple go longer once as a test, and it soon became obvious they were too weak to continue providing sufficient intensity. When this time comes, you could go to a better tube. I can suggest a couple if asked.

I may have more when I know the GH; there is some calcium deficiency in the swords, but the two fertilizers should deal with that, but it is worth knowing the GH nevertheless.

Something else I should have asked before--what is the duration each day of the tank lighting, and is it on a timer (regular) or just on/off sporadically? This matters too.

Byron.
 
They must get about 10 hours a day average, however I must admit I have been guilty of occasionally forgetting to turn them on before I go to work, or falling asleep and having them on all night. I will be putting them on a timer soon, how long would you suggest to have them on? I usually leave my blue LEDS on overnight so will not include them on the timer.


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They must get about 10 hours a day average, however I must admit I have been guilty of occasionally forgetting to turn them on before I go to work, or falling asleep and having them on all night. I will be putting them on a timer soon, how long would you suggest to have them on? I usually leave my blue LEDS on overnight so will not include them on the timer.

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I would get a timer, the type sold for table lamps is fine. It is important to have a fairly regular period of light/dark each 24 hours, not only for plants but even more for fish. Uneven light periods can cause stress to fish. I would also not leave the blue LED lights on at night. These are OK after the main tank light goes out, for a "dusk" effect of an hour or two, but then it should be total complete darkness for several hours. I will explain why momentarily.

A period of 8 hours or so of tank lighting (the full "daylight" lighting) each day is probably best, though you can go over this a bit, keeping an eye on algae. The plants cannot use the light if nutrients are insufficient, even one nutrient, so it is important to find the balance of light/nutrient supplementation that keeps the plants happy and doesn't encourage algae. Now to the light issue, for which I'll cut/paste an excerpt from an article I authored for another forum.

Most animals have an internal body clock, called a circadian rhythm, which is modified by the light/dark cycle every 24 hours. This is the explanation for jet-lag in humans when time zones are crossed—our circadian rhythm is unbalanced and has to reset itself, which it does according to periods of light and dark. Our eyes play a primary role in this, but many of our body cells have some reaction to light levels. In fish this light sensitivity in their cells is very high.

The rods and cones in the eye shift according to the changes in light. This process is also anticipated according to the time of day; the fish “expects” dawn and dusk, and the eyes will automatically begin to adjust accordingly. This is due to the circadian rhythm.

This is one reason why during each 24 hours a regular period of light/dark—ensuring there are several hours of complete darkness—is essential for the fish. In the tropics, day and night is equal for all 365 days a year, with approximately ten to twelve hours each of daylight and complete darkness, separated by fairly brief periods of dawn or dusk. The period of daylight produced by direct tank lighting can be shorter; and the period of total darkness can be somewhat shorter or longer—but there must be several hours of complete darkness in the aquarium. The dusk and dawn periods will appear to be stretched out, but that causes no problems for the fish. It is the bright overhead light that is the concern, along with having a suitable period of total darkness, meaning no ambient room light--as pitch black as possible. And the "day" period when the tank lights are on should be one continuous period, not sporadic, and it should be the same every 24 hours or it will impact the circadian rhythm causing more stress.

Byron.
 
Thanks for this info, I'll definitely be putting all the lights on a timer then and all off at night.


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I've bought some liquid for the plants. I couldn't find any flourish so I thought I'd go with this one (Maidenhead Aquatics exclusive brand) and see how it goes. I hope it doesn't harm my shrimp or snails as there is a small amount of copper. I couldn't find any root tabs anywhere though.
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I'm only going from memory and it may sometimes play tricks on me, but that list of ingredients seems OK. Have a look for the Seachem Flourish Tabs online, as they really will do wonders for your two sword plants.
 
Awesome, I haven't gotten round to testing my water yet but will definitely let you know.


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The amount of copper in it is very small. It will not hurt your shrimp. My first thought looking at the label was the same as byron's. Later I did another checkUnfortunately it is missing Phosphate and Nickel. You might have enough phosphate in your tank from the fish food (for many people that is often the case. Nickel is a trace nutrient and thatmight be pressent in your tap water. You can try it but if the results are disappointing switch to flourish Comprehensive.
 
Ohh right, yeah it said it doesn't have phosphate to discourage algae growth. I'll see how it goes anyway.


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Phosphate was once thought to be the cause of phosphate growth. Tom Barr (the creator of the estimative index) was able to conclusively show it isn't the cause. However if you have a nutrient deficiency plants don't grow while algae does. If the deficiency is not corrected algae will take over the tank.
 
Okay the GH of my tap water is about 71.2 ppm, and the pH is 8


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Okay the GH of my tap water is about 71.2 ppm, and the pH is 8


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OK, this is fine. Your "hard" minerals will be a minimum at source (tap water), but the substrate tabs and the liquid will supplement these (along with the others of course) so you should be fine.

Back to the phosphate, you will have more than enough from the fish food to deal with plants in a low-tech or natural method planted tank as you have here. This isn't a problem at all.

Just a comment on fish, now that we know the GH. The soft water species (like the neons) will be fine, but hard water fish like livebearers (I think I see some platy in the photos) will struggle, so I would avoid these.

Byron.
 

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