How To Keep Plants Green?

[Vin Swords]

just wondering,, how to keep plants cleen?... what u guys do? mine gets bit brown..

ta..

 

[walkers101]

my SAE takes care of it pretty well

 

[ian]

Clean or green?

 

[Vin Swords]

Clean or green?

clean.. there is brownish coat on the leafs... top bits only..

i have two 14k 7.30am to 3pm.... then one 10k and one blue actinic from 6pm to 9pm.. then moon lighting till 12pm.

is it.. too much? glass dont need to be cleaned for good 2 weeks. so i thought lighting is ok..

thanks..

my SAE takes care of it pretty well

i am fedup with looking for true sae.. in london (uk)

 

[Gilli]

It could be because they are dying or it could be due to algae. If it looks like algae your nitAtes could be high. - what are your water stats? Here are a few possibilities:

1 – You’ve got driftwood or natural shells in the tank that are decomposing. This is a source of nitrates.
2- You’re beneficial bacteria colony has become inadequate.
3- You’re not vacuuming the substrate adequately.

Bottom line, you need to identify the source of the nitrAtes and correct it if you have a high reading. If water stats are ok it may be that they are not getting enough food - you can buy a plant food to add to the water.

If they look like rotting brown or transparent then they are dying, it is okay to trim it off because it won't grow back. Trim it as close to the base as possible.

Plants prefer a temperature range from 75 to 85 degrees. Aquarium water that is too cold or too warm will eventually lead to the death of your plants. Most plants need 10 to 12 hours of light per day to thrive. Make sure that your aquarium is properly lit. A general rule of thumb for lighting aquariums that contain live plants is 2 to 5 watts per gallon.

Make sure that you have the proper amount of gravel (substrate) in your aquarium. Some deep-rooted plants need as much as two to three inches of substrate for the roots to grow properly.Take any plants out of the little pots you buy them in and plant in the substrate or the roots cant grow properly.

Unless you want to get involved in a CO2 system always choose dark green leaved plants as these tend to need less intensive light and are more hardy.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I thought plants needed 8 hours of light a day? 10-12?

 

[Vin Swords]

thanks mate for ur detailed reply.... it is algae.. same brown stuff u get in the glass.. i do have bit of heavy stock.. i will look in to it..

 

[Gilli]

I thought plants needed 8 hours of light a day? 10-12?

In an aquarium book I have here it says "In most aquarium plants the period of photosynthesis in nature is between 10 and 12 hours which should be duplicated as closely as possible in the aquarium " - if its wrong then im sure someone on here will correct me ?

 

[Twinklecaz]

I'm gonna bump this coz I'd like to know too....lol I could have been cheating my plants out of light!

 

[ian]

plants only need a max of 8 hrs, they actually reach there peak of photosynthesis (taking in nutrients) after 4-5ish hours of light. When a planted tank matures you can take it up to 10 hours. That would be maxed out at 10 for my tank. Eight hours is quite sufficient in my tank. Books on aquariums haven't got the most up to date research on such matters, if you have a look at the date on the books in shops, most are dated early 90's and planted tanks have come on in leaps and bounds since then.

All so, in a planted tank, we don't really care much about the level of nitrate, as it will get used up by our plants, it will NOT cause algae or help algae grow as the plants will out compete for nitrates and phosphates.

and

Unless you want to get involved in a CO2 system always choose dark green leaved plants as these tend to need less intensive light and are more hardy

^^where was this from??!!

not true, any plants will grow under any level of light or with or without C02 under the right conditions.