Plants Keep Falling Apart!!!

[fishlover900]

I need as much help as i can get so please help me however old this message is!

I have a 5 gal hexagon tank containing three real plants which after a month or so start to fall apart and die. I hav a 8watt tube for light and feed them plant food every 2 weeks


Please Help!
Thanks

PS please read all posts before replying!

 

[Colin_BC]

When you say 8 watt tube light, are you talking about a flourescent or an incandescent? Can you see a metal filament inside the bulb like a regular light bulb? If so, that's an incandescent and they are kind of useless for growing plants. You say your tank is a hex, how tall is it? hex tanks can be more difficult to light properly because of higher depths. Do you know what sort of plants it is that you have? many plants I've seen sold at LFS' are not true aquatic plants, and this can happen to those. I've also had plants melt away if they've been buried too deep in the substrate. Is there any algae growing on them before they melt? If you can, post any test levels you can (Nitrates, phosphates, pH, kH).

Colin

 

[Silly me]

also 8 watts doesn't grow plant, not even in a 5 gallon tank .. there is a min amount of light that plants need to grow. I have 40 watts over my 5gallon tank ( 2x20w CF ) and plant are growing. but a single 15 watt light was not working ?? but a 10 gallon tank with 40 watts CF grow plant just aswell. even a 20 gallon tank with the same light would grow plant..?? makes you think.

 

[fishlover900]

I think the tanks about 38cm high but i will check later. I have a 8watt flourescent tube. I have got three plants two of which have only been in a couple of days. How deep should i plant them? I will find out what the plants and water conditions are!

 

[Nisha]

I think lack of light is your main problem. You might want to go for low-light plants like java ferns and anubias which need very low light. They are hardy plants and should do alright even under such low-light conditions.
Here is a good link to help with your First Planted Tank. Here is some info on hardier plants that you might want to consider when you buy plants the next time.
Hope this helps.

 

[fishlover900]

will the plants you recomended be aright for nprmal and upside down catfish. I had tall plants that had there roots nibbled through

 

[Nisha]

Java ferns and anubias can be attached to a rock or wood with thread so even if your catfish did a little nibbling they should be fine. Java ferns don't taste good so fish tend not to nibble on them once they've tried it.

 

[fishlover900]

iv bought one plant that looks like the grass you find on beaches (only dark green) and one which has long stalks and large rubbery leaves.

 

[fishlover900]

can you jelp me? If i need to add more light how can i do this. There is no more room for any tubes and the small bulbs don't help plants. hhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllpppppppppppppp!!!

 

[sinistral]

My inelegant but effective solution is to use a regular 40w or 60w desk lamp with a 5000k "natural daylight" bulb, and cover the tank with glass from a picture frame. Again, not the most aesthetically pleasing solution, but cheap and effective for smaller tanks up to about 10g. At 10g you start to run into the problem of the light not being able to cover the whole length of the tank.

 

[fishlover900]

I have added a reflector that is supposed to double light output and have also added a home made co2 injector. Will this be enough

 

[Lateral Line]

CO2 injection will not help if there is not enough light, indeed, in such a small tank, it may cause problems. Plant food is also not likely to be necessary if you are doing regular water changes, it will not help anyway unless you have the number 1 requirement right - light.

The 2 Watts per gallon guideline works best with normal shaped tanks of average size. A hex tank almost always needs more light because they are deep relative to their volume. Similaly, small tanks need more then larger.

The advice has already been given really, you need to switch to some really low light plants, and still try to get your light levels up.

 

[fishlover900]

so is 16watt enougth in a 5gal tank

 

[fishlover900]

by the way, i only run my co2 thing during the day and make sure it is coming out a a resnable level

 

[fishlover900]

can u see my pic