Plant Advice

[UKSPEED]

So my tank has been running for about 18 months, and for the first year I attempted to house live plants. These were a selection of the easier plants to keep alive - swords, grasses (sorry I can't remember their actual names but people on here gave me advice to try them).
I purchased quite a few from eBay, my LFS and they all eventually ended up dying, or starting to go brown and rot.

I would like to try again but can anyone give me any pointers in how I can keep these plants better?

My tanks is 100cm x 40 x 30

PH is 7.5, amonia and nitrites at 0. My water is very hard. I have one 20W T8 light.

Current stock:
- 2 x Angelfish
- 3 x Molly
- 4 x Red fin tetra
- 1 x Catfish
- 1 x Small plec

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[UKSPEED]

No one?

 

[minnnt]

Java Fern
Various Crypts
Vallis
Anubias
Java Moss

All easy to grow plants. They should adapt to your hard water pretty well and don't need alot of care or requirements.

Also, your Angels would much prefer softer water with a lower ph, as would your Tetra's.

 

[UKSPEED]

Thanks minnnt,

I have tried many of these plants before and even these have ended up dying. Is there anything else I can do or add to make the grow and stay alive?

Also the water in my area is very hard. It would mean going out an getting RO to solve this which I dont fancy starting.

 

[minnnt]

Maybe Comfort Clothes Softner? lol.

Unsure as to how to lower the hardness of your water, but try adding some bogwood (alot if you can!) as this may help to lower your ph slightly. If you wanted to do a blackwater kind of setup then adding a small bag of peat to your filter would also work and you could add some Oak or Beech leaves to the tank. Alder Cones?

You must be doing something really wrong to kill off the plants mentioned (with the exception of the Vallis) as they're notoriously hardy. Were your Java Fern and Anubias tied/glued to rocks or wood? If they were planted in the substrate then they would have died as they need their roots exposed to the water column. I have moss in a glass on my windowsill that thrives, so moss in an aquarium with more nutrients should do even better.

Crypts will more than likely melt as they adjust to your water conditions, but will soon sprout new leaves which will be fine. Varieties such as Wendtii Brown and Green, Nevelli, Balanese and Parva are mostly commonly available from your LFS.

Dosing with a general fertiliser such as Green Low from ebay has sparked a growth spurt in my tank, so this would also be an option. There are others such as TPN and TNC or Seachem Flourish. Limiting your lights to 7-8 hours a day with a timer is also a good idea if you're not already doing this.

 

[tanksalot]

Okay.

I did some calculations and your tank is about 120 litres with a single 20 watt T8 tube over it, yes? That seems like very low light to me. For comparison, my tank is only 10 litres smaller than yours, and it has 2 x 18 watts of T8 over it - almost double what you have, and I wouldn't even consider mine to be any higher than the top end of low light!

To be perfectly honest, I do not know what the lower limits are for lighting in order for higher plants to grow, but if even Crypts and correctly attached Java ferns have failed you, I'm not sure what you can grow, even with the addition of fertilisers.

We need to lure a lighting expert in here!

 

[mike455555]

my tanks 120l with 1 25w t8 bulb and iv managed to grow dwarf hairgrass crypts java fern and swords (i am looking up upgrade the lighting though)

 

[jayjay316]

Okay.

I did some calculations and your tank is about 120 litres with a single 20 watt T8 tube over it, yes? That seems like very low light to me. For comparison, my tank is only 10 litres smaller than yours, and it has 2 x 18 watts of T8 over it - almost double what you have, and I wouldn't even consider mine to be any higher than the top end of low light!

To be perfectly honest, I do not know what the lower limits are for lighting in order for higher plants to grow, but if even Crypts and correctly attached Java ferns have failed you, I'm not sure what you can grow, even with the addition of fertilisers.

We need to lure a lighting expert in here!

Hi may i ask what plants they are in your picture of your tank

 

[tanksalot]

Hi may i ask what plants they are in your picture of your tank

In my sig? Sure! (as long as the OP doesn't mind me thread hijacking for a moment )

1. Anubias barteri
2. Echinodorus amazonicus (before they grew into monsters and took over the tank)
3. Gymnocoronis spilanthoides
4. Ceratophyllum demersum "Foxtail"
5. Eleocharis parvula (died out eventually )
6. Java moss (bit dark, but it is there!)
7. Cryptocoryne becketii
8. Bacopa australis

 

[jayjay316]

Hi may i ask what plants they are in your picture of your tank

In my sig? Sure! (as long as the OP doesn't mind me thread hijacking for a moment )

1. Anubias barteri
2. Echinodorus amazonicus (before they grew into monsters and took over the tank)
3. Gymnocoronis spilanthoides
4. Ceratophyllum demersum "Foxtail"
5. Eleocharis parvula (died out eventually )
6. Java moss (bit dark, but it is there!)
7. Cryptocoryne becketii
8. Bacopa australis

Hi T,, Thank for that, Im going to put a pic up of my tank. it less than 6 months old. with plants still growing so i have a way to go yet... The fish seem to eat light coloured leaves. so i have got some really dark ones so they dont eat them lol...But i need some that grow quick with dark leaves, do you no any plz