Plants Not Doing Well

[morgan]

Hi, I hope I am posting in the right section. I am not in any way an expert on plants. That is I don't use CO2 or fertilisers. I normally just push the plants into the gravel and away they go. That was the case until I had 2 Yoyo Loaches and they dug up all my plants. My plants used to be very green and grew like mad. Since I replaced the plants they are not so green and look pretty awful. I am sure the fish don't care! but I like the tank to look attractive as well as good for the fish. In the last few months I have started using a Nitrate Removing Sponge (tank is Juwel Rekord96) which is supposed to benefit the fish (first priority) and also the plants. Or is it something as simple as needing to replace the light tube? I know plant experts don't like Juwel lights but until recently the plants were doing very well. I have had the tank since July 2004 and have not replaced the tube, it still looks bright. But if it was fading over time I wouldn't notice.

Tank stats are: Nitrate 10
Nitrite 0
PH 6.5
I am rather heavily stocked on fish but am having a new tank soon. Thanks.

I had a problem with the tank in September due to using feeding blocks and the stats were:
Amonia 4 Nitrite 4 Nitrate 50mg/l PH 8.5

I used a proper testing kit in Sept and testing sticks a couple of weeks ago.

 

[donkey]

Hi there
well im no expert on plants myself i leave that to people who no what there talking about like Zig .but i can say this .you will need to have nitrates in your tank as well as phosphates .have you done a test on your phosphates ? if not i would do a test for them as well .also how much lighting do you have over your tank and how many gallons dose your tank hold ? you might be right about the tubes as well .i hear lots of people change them every 6 months . do you add any ferts to your tank .

 

[morgan]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I have never tested for phosphates and have never used fertilisers. Before the Yoyo Loaches wrecked it all the plants were green and healthy and grew a lot. I have different plants now and they just don't look very green at all. I think I will change the light tube, I have one on standby. It is an Arcadia which according to the box will enhance red and blue in the tank (fish) and will be good for the plants. I'll see if that helps. The tank is a Juwel Rekord96 which is about 20uk gallons.