My Plants Are Dying

[MINDY]

Hi.
I am a complete newcomer to all this fish in filtered tanks thing, have always been a buy a plastic bowl and some fish voila!! kinda girl. That is until recently when my 10 year old son wanted to go the whole hog and buy a filtered tank proper plants etc etc. Problem is that the plants are dying! unsure of what kind they are just went on the advice of the people in the shop. They are long floaty stems with large leaves, they are turning red then transparent then dead. whats going on.We heard it was because we did'nt have the light on for long enough so weve kept it on from 8am till 11.30pm??? any advice greatly appreciated. Sorry for waffling.
Mindy x

 

[pseud]

.Take a read of the pinned topics at the top of the planted tank forums

Planted tanks take a lot of work. Your plants probably died not because you didn't have the lights on for long enough, but because you didn't have the right intensity of lighting... after acquiring the correct lighting, you'll need to look into adding CO2, fertilizers, a suitable substrate, and then suitable plants. It's a balancing act.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

First of all i would suggest that you read the pinned articles on this forum, you will get a great deal of good advice in these threads.

Your son has chosen wisely, the path is long but full of rewards.

Most fish shop are just that ,fish shops!!!, they don't give good advice when it comes to plants.
The very basic rules are...

Your plants need food, liquid ( from a bottle) or granule/soil/clay for feeding from the roots up or both, if you put plants into plain old gravel, well not much is going to happen for the poor plants.
Depending on how strong your lighting is you may need Co2 ( carbon dioxide ) but its not a necessity especially in low light tanks, the Co2 gives the pants carbon which is an important aliment in the photosynthesis of plants.

Read the pinned threads and then if you have any questions post them up and all will be answered.

 

[Boxermom]

Your plants need food, liquid ( from a bottle) or granule/soil/clay for feeding from the roots up or both, if you put plants into plain old gravel, well not much is going to happen for the poor plants.

I would have to disagree with this blanket statement. It depends on the plant. We have an Amazon Sword growing in regular large stone gravel with no fertilizer, no root tabs, nothing, and regular stock lighting. Its humongous and has taken over literally half of a 38 gallon tank. We also have a Rubin Sword overtaking a 10 gallon tank with stock lighting and glass marbles as a substrate. Again, no fertilizer or anything else. I have a 55g planted tank with a number of different plants growing in it and use only black Tahitian Moon sand and stock lighting. I recently upgraded the lighting and am adding CO2 but they've been growing fine with just stock lighting.

 

[Graeme Edwards]

I would have to disagree with this blanket statement. It depends on the plant.

My advice was a quick statment, and not set in concrete.
I dont dout what you say, but Mindy will have more success with a variety plants with the basics i have sugested.

 

[Dubby]

Mindy,

Here are a few starting points. Please also read the pinned articles.
- Check if you have enough lighting ( 2W/gallon - not essential but helps)
- Add a liquid fertiliser (such as Leafzone) with every water change
- Get easy to grow plants such as Hornwort, Vallisneria, Egeria densa, Java fern, Anubias (ask for these by name)
- remove any carbon filters
- check if any of your fish are known for destroying plants

Change water regularly (atleast 25% once every 2weeks). This helps reduce algae and adds necessary nutrients for plants.