Can The Ph Effect Plants?

[MewMew42]

the title says it all really! just wondering if the PH effects plants? does it hinder them if its to low? or kill them?

just curious as my plants seem to be eroding away for some reason and maybe this is teh cause?

ta x

=]

 

[snowflake311]

Over time some are effected by ph but you need to look at more then that. What kind of plants do you have? What type of lighting? And do you use any fert.?

You can't just put plants in a tank and expect them to grow you need to get the right plants for your tank. Post this in the plant section.

 

[Dave Spencer]

In a word....nope!

Nor does KH.

A low GH might mean you have to add GH booster at water change to make sure they are not deficient of Ca or Mg.

Hard water, soft water.....your plants don`t care (with a rare few species ie. Tonina sp).

High pH, low pH........your plants don`t care.

Your plants need light, carbon, NPK and traces. I would say the likelihood is that your plants are not getting enough carbon. This is the major failing of most planted tanks on TFF.

Dave.

 

[MewMew42]

hmmm ive been adding C02 drops in for the past 2 weeks!

maybe its not enough?

i used JBL ferropol 24, do i need to use fertiliser maybe? with that would i need to remove my substrate and put it down or just mix it?

ps sorry i didnt think about where this topic was put lol oops =[

 

[snowflake311]

Try some fertiliser Seachem Flourish stuff is good. How much light do you have? What kind of plants?

 

[MewMew42]

Try some fertiliser Seachem Flourish stuff is good. How much light do you have? What kind of plants?

i have an arcadia 'plant growth lamp' i cant find the wattage but it says F018 if thats any help?

here are some pictures of the plants as i dont exactly know what theyre called, i did have some red plants an they just completely died, i dont have this problem with my other tank but that has mainly elodea densa in it

^the red one is in teh foreground

^these 2 are the same plant but you can see whats happening to them!

^this one is fine, but the grass is a little bit on teh bad side....

thast all i have the tank as teh rest have died!!

oh and as anotehr quick question if i could be cheeky =] is how can i weigh plants down as my hoplo pulls them out left right and centre :l

 

[snowflake311]

Try some fertiliser Seachem Flourish stuff is good. How much light do you have? What kind of plants?

i have an arcadia 'plant growth lamp' i cant find the wattage but it says F018 if thats any help?

here are some pictures of the plants as i dont exactly know what theyre called, i did have some red plants an they just completely died, i dont have this problem with my other tank but that has mainly elodea densa in it

^the red one is in teh foreground

^these 2 are the same plant but you can see whats happening to them!

^this one is fine, but the grass is a little bit on teh bad side....

thast all i have the tank as teh rest have died!!

oh and as anotehr quick question if i could be cheeky =] is how can i weigh plants down as my hoplo pulls them out left right and centre :l

I don't know what F018 means. Do you have a light upgrade? most lights that come with the hood are really weak and are not good for plants only Low light plants.

I'm new to the plant thing but have had good luck so far. I have 1.6 WPG With 3" sand and a layer of Pure Laterite at the bottom. I added Flourish tabs to the sand every 3 months and use flourish excel daily this adds some needed CO2. I have low light plants some are moderate light. My tank get sun light at the end of the day for a few hours. I also add flourish iron supplement too. Thats my basic set up that seems to work well with the plants I picked.

Java fern ( grows baby like crazy when it gets more light.)
Anubias congensis ( had some brown on it what I got it but now is doing well with new growth)
Micro Sword ( still too new to tell how well it will do likes more light)
Onion Plant (growing like a weed. I need to trim it but just can't bring my self to do it)
Jungle Vallisneria ( new but starting to take off)
Cork screw Vallisneria (new but has some new growth)
Wisteria ( Was doing awful I thought it was a goner at first but is growing well now.)

So that's my plant set up to give you an idea of what could work in a low tech tank. I'm still cycling it so the plants are getting a good amount of ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

As far as keeping plants down once rooted it should not be a big deal BUT some fish dig and some fish just can not be trusted with plants.


If I were you I would upgrade the lighting or maybe the bulbs need to be replaced Or you could have algae and scum growing on the hood where the light sits this will block the amount of light. I just cleaned mine it was getting gross. Start using Fertiliser too. Also make sure you get plants that will work with your lighting. Most types of grass need lots of light 3-4 wpg. So do sward plants. So that might be the problem.

I'm still new to plants so maybe another person has a better idea.


I looked up F018 Thats an 18 Watt light. How many do you have? 2 or just one? is it a 28 Gal?
If you only have one 18 watt light that is a ver low light tank. only 0.64 wpg. But if you have 2 thats 1.2 wpg and thats fine for low light to moderate plants.