Getting Close To Giving Up On Planted Tank

[WhispTech]

Ive been trying to gte my tank to be a nice thriving planted tank for ever now. plants keep on dieing and I replace hoping i find something that will do well. So far no luck.

I dont have the geratest setup but Im not rich and such so hard to afford good stuff plus lack of space. I have an eclipse 6 setup so a 6 gallon tank. I put in seachem black onyx sand for my substrate along plu si use fertlizer spikes and have both flourish and plant gro for liquid fertilizers.

The light bulb/tube is a natural daylight tube and was told it was good for plants.

Filtration setup I changed from the basic eclipse setup where I use a black aquarium sponge, then it filtrates thru matirx biofilter medium and then thru some filter floss. That seems to keep the tank very clean and teh fish seem to do fine. my cories and otto have been in this type of setup for months with no issues. otto have layed eggs but teh eggs never hatch but not to worried about that.

The plants that seem to do the worse are the ones with no roots. Hard to explain but some are like just stems. I am thinking because of teh sand is teh problem for them maybe. I have read upon read for months trying different supplemnets in which i listed having spikes, and two types of liquid fertlizer thus far.

Sand has been cycled and never cleaned except when firt put in so should have whatever it needs. Onyx sand is a flourite sand.

The rooted plants die too but just take longer.

The water isnt medicated, no salt and no algae to take away nutrients.

I just bought new plants and within a week one is dead already and one is close to extinction. teh others are showing issues though and some rot.

For example my white and green grass seems to be rotting on the tips.

Also dont know name of all my plants but here is picture. far right is bushy pine like one, next to teh left is liek a red/greenish leafy plant that doesnt have roots but just stems, the next one is a green grassy one with very long roots on the bottom of it all over the place and the final one which is far left is the white and green grass which has one big huge root with a couple small white roots coming off of it. the bottom of that one looks liek ginger for the main root lol.

I have this one plant that is on the right thats like a needle pine tree type of plant and no idea but it didnt seem to have any roots lol. it was huge a big and bushy when I got it and now its that little one since it shed all its needle and clog my filtration system.

The one plant that was doing well got over run with hair algae so I striped the leaves off and trying to regro in a smaller tank with lots of fertlizer. so far 4 seem to be regrowing but that is only plant i have had luck with. picture below is teh one plant that seems to work for me

Anyways I have no clue what is wrong and i dont want to over fertlizer the tank because of teh fish and i hate fake plants they look so crappy.

Any ideas would be appreiated.

 

[BigC]

I'm not sure but I think you substrate needs to be addressed. You need a good depth.
Mix unwashed fine gravel with one of the substrate mixtures on todays market to a depth of around 2" then top off with another 2" of washed fine gravel. Make sure its fine and not the ordinary standard size they sell for aquariums. You don't need to fertilize, fertilize, fertilize. Try a plant called Hygrophila Polysperma and Java fern attached to some bog wood. You cant go wrong with these plants for starters.
Gf225 will be able to elaborate on other matters to get you back on track. Don't give up just yet!
Regards
BigC

 

[modernhamlet]

The light bulb/tube is a natural daylight tube and was told it was good for plants.

What kind of bulb is it, incandescent, compact fluorescent, or something else? The light in your pic looks a bit yellow.

How many watts is the bulb?

 

[WhispTech]

The light bulb/tube is a natural daylight tube and was told it was good for plants.

What kind of bulb is it, incandescent, compact fluorescent, or something else? The light in your pic looks a bit yellow.

How many watts is the bulb?

This is the bulb I have

Marineland Eclipse 6. 5500K 8 watt natural daylight lamp is 12 inches long and has a 7500 hour life

I'm not sure but I think you substrate needs to be addressed. You need a good depth.
Mix unwashed fine gravel with one of the substrate mixtures on todays market to a depth of around 2" then top off with another 2" of washed fine gravel. Make sure its fine and not the ordinary standard size they sell for aquariums. You don't need to fertilize, fertilize, fertilize. Try a plant called Hygrophila Polysperma and Java fern attached to some bog wood. You cant go wrong with these plants for starters.
Gf225 will be able to elaborate on other matters to get you back on track. Don't give up just yet!
Regards
BigC

Im using seachem onyx sand though. This sand is suppose to be a high flourite sand with nutrients. I was looking at some of mixtures but dont know if any of them are fine enough to mix in with my sand.

I was almsot thinking of changing to a black gravel and use that mix but thats like 60 bucks to do that type of switch, which i really cant afford right now but maybe end of month but that means I wasted like 30 bucks on this bag of sand grrrrr.

I did research before and seen many sites and logs where people just used the onyx sand with no issues at no more depth then 2 inches so not to have gas build up which is an issue with sand and not gravel.

Plus sand is easier to clean.

 

[Jen]

Ok. Your first problem with the plant on the left is that it's non-aquatic. Too many stores sell it, but it is more of a terrarium plant... meant to have it's roots covered in water only. So that would be why that one doesn't last long. I had one in my higher tech (high lights, co2, and ferts) and it lasted maybe 2 weeks.

You may not have enought light on the tank. I know the wpg rule doesn't apply in smaller tanks, so I'm not sure of the amount of watts you should have on the tank. Hopefully someone will a smaller planted tank can help you with that one.

The sand shouldn't be a huge problem. I have a layer of laterite (nutrients), then just ordinary pool filter sand in my tank.

Stem plants (the ones in your picture look like a ludwiga or a hygro on the left and cabomba on the right) tend to take more nurtients in through their leaves, which is why they have few roots. They need more nutrients in the water than in the soil. Do you have a test kit for nitrates? Test that. For planted tanks, the nitrates need to be a little higher... in the 10 - 15 ppm range. Check that out, and let us know. I should be able to advise you what to do next depending on the nitrate level.

 

[pseud]

^ Agree with Jen.

More light needed to begin with. You have about 1wpg. Don't you have to be stricter with the wpg rule when it comes to smaller tanks? I'm pretty sure that's what I read. In any case, there's not enough light.

 

[Angry_Platy]

Repeating what Jen said, you have a non-aquatic plant on the left (commonly sold here as green rush or lime rush). You also have ludwigia and hornwort/foxtail (name different depending where you live). I never used to be able to grow ludwigia until now where it just grows like a weed....the difference, a nutrient rich substrate and a nutrient rich water column. As for the foxtail, it will not grow roots so will get all its food from the water column. It does not require high light to grow.....

Just some "food" for thought

 

[WhispTech]

^ Agree with Jen.

More light needed to begin with. You have about 1wpg. Don't you have to be stricter with the wpg rule when it comes to smaller tanks? I'm pretty sure that's what I read. In any case, there's not enough light.

from my undrstanding have to be careful and not have over 2 watts per gallon since small tank and not using cO2. and i have 1.3 watts per gallon. i was told that was fine somehwere in this forum before.

and as a side not ethere is no cambomba in there. Thats some type oif needle plants and is different. forget what it is caled becaus this time i went to different store and they never wrote names and the names never came up on the receipt.

 

[lucky62]

I think that plant with the needle type leaves is horn wart , pull it out and let it float a while , this is how they've grown for me , and with no special lighting , or Co2. [ rapid growth ]

I'd also agree the grassy plant is a terrestrial plant , maybe take those out , and get some Vallisneria or Sagittaria . I've managed to keep them both in very low tech setups .


you may want to consider adding supplements to the water at changes [plants need water changes too]

I've been using Seachem's Flourish iron , and excel [ source of organic carbon ] every other or every 3rd water change for a few years , just recently began adding Seachems potassium .

Don't give up , keep looking , reading , there are many plants that can thrive in less than ideal conditions .


I was ready to hang it up a few years ago myself , tried the yeast reactor , tried expensive lighting .I keep things very simple

I don't have the nicely manicured planted tanks that many here have , maybe sometime I will , but for now this will do .