Small Planted Tank - Need Help

[TeddyBass]

I am fairly new to fishkeeping and have a small (30 litre) tank. I love the look of natural plants but frankly I am struggling to get them established. I have a couple of Amazon sword plants and a couple of Java Ferns. The tank is in a well lit position and I am using liquid fertilizer twice a week. Its been at least 8 weeks since I first introduced the plants but the amazon sword looks in pretty poor condition and almost every other day I find another leaf and shoot floating on the surface. The Java Fern seems to be doing better but it dosnt look like it is thriving.
In a effort to improve matters I have swapped the white/actinic combi light that came with my tank for one with light properties that aid plants. Now I am at a point where I dont know what else to do to improve my miserable looking plants. I have heard that introducing C02 gas into the water will help but this seems totally over the top for my modest litte set-up.
Can anyone help or at the very least suggest some hardy easy to establish foliage?

Heres hoping !!

 

[jimbooo]

Hi there. Amazon swords are heavy root feeders and need to be in a nutritious substrate, i assume you are just using plain gravel. they get a big percentage of their nutrients by taking minerals from the ground. in a tank you need to recreate this. if you do have gravel you could add laterite i have used this for years with great success. it's just a hard clay in granular form containing among other things loads of iron.

the java fern should be fine in there, thats about the toughest aquatic plant available just make sure it is not planted in the substrate, it should be tied to wood or rock or it will die.

co2 will certainly help the easiest way is to either buy a simple yeast based kit (Google: nutrafin natural plant system) or make one out of a pop bottle.

 

[TeddyBass]

Thanks for the help jimbooo