Tank Cycling But Plants Not Doing That Good

[PaulHR]

I added plants when I started my new tank which is still cycling but the plants I have do not look like they are doing too good and wandering what I should do with them. Please don't ask what they are, I had the LFS guy choose me some random ones and I've disposed of the name tags.

There are two 39w T5 tubes in the lid, I've been trying co2 (the aerosol type) and keeping the surface disturbance to a minimum. I've been adding liquid fertiliser weekly too but that doesn't seem to be helping.

We have been turning the tank lights on when we get up in the morning so from around 6:45am and not turning them off until 10ish in the night. I have recently read this is too much light and may cause algae bloom which I can start to see a little bit of today.

I don't mind starting again but this time put more effort into choosing the right plants for my tank. There are lots of suggestions in the forums I'm making a note of.

There is one thing I'd really appreciate knowing if anyone can help. The plants that are not doing so good, limp leaves, some going a little brown on the edges and generally looking quite sorry for themselves, will these affect the tank cycling at all? Should I take them out? Also, thinking ahead when I've cycled, would sick looking plants affect fish in anyway?

Thanks.

 

[snazy]

How big is the tank?
What exactly CO2 and fertilizer are you adding and how much of each one? Do you dose per day or per week?
Most fertilizers contain only micro nutritients. The macro nutritient are normally produced by fish themselves, but since you are doing a fishless cycle, these will be missing in the tank until the fish arrive. So you need to dose a bit of macro too for optimum growth, at least until the end of the fishless cycle.

I just cycled a tank with plants, dosing liquid CO2 and fertiliser, 8 hours light a day and not a sign of algae.

It's very important what plants you choose in a tank. Some of them are very demanding and don't do well in every tank. Also, you need to know their average requirements(some don't do well in soft water, some in hard water, some in lower temp, some in higher, some have very high demand for good light, some don't do well in high light, some grow high, some stay small and spread sideways). So you need to know the minimum in order to position your plants in the tank in a way that when the plants grow, they don't suffocate or overshadow other high light demanding plants or for example low light demanding plants exposed to high light will suffer and most likely develop algae.

First I would say, the lighting period is too long. Reduce it to 8 hours and from then on work it out a bit more or a bit less observing what does best.

The best plants depend on the amount of light provided for the size of your tank in general but for most tanks easy plants are all type of cryptocoryne, sword plants, some of the bulb plants like the aponogeton species are easy and not that demanding, the hydrophilia species like hydrophilia corymbosa(glabra) or hydrophila polysperma, the different types of mosses like java moss(i've got taiwan moss). Also, the ones that are attached to driftwood or decorations instead of planted in the substrate like anubias species and java ferns.
The sky is the limit really if you are willing to take the time and effort to grow them.

 

[snazy]

Forgot to mention, that some plants like cryptocoryne or grassy types like valisneria or sagittaria subulata will melt in your tank before they actually adapt and grow so don't be quick throwing them in the bin. The damaged plants won't harm your fish in any way, normally the dying leaves need to be removed to prevent additional bioload but melting plants really don't contribute to ammonia that much at all and some need to be left for a while before cutting them of the main plant as the plant draws the nutritients from the leave first.
The best advise is, target your plants, don't just throw your money at anything, pick them with care to suit your particular tank, have patience and slowly but surely you will have a nice green tank.

 

[PaulHR]

How big is the tank?
What exactly CO2 and fertilizer are you adding and how much of each one? Do you dose per day or per week?
Most fertilizers contain only micro nutritients. The macro nutritient are normally produced by fish themselves, but since you are doing a fishless cycle, these will be missing in the tank until the fish arrive. So you need to dose a bit of macro too for optimum growth, at least until the end of the fishless cycle.

The tank is 240ltr and 50cm high, the lid is flat and not elevated so the lights (2x T5) are same hight as the top of the glass. For the co2, I've been using tetra optimat kit which is positioned about 2 inches under the surface but currently it is located just behind the spraybar which I think may be the wrong location for it. It's there because the plants that I have a currently more towards the left of the tank.

I'm using a weekly nutrient, I'm sure it's Waterlife Tropiflora but I'll check and let you know later when I get home if it's any different.

I just cycled a tank with plants, dosing liquid CO2 and fertiliser, 8 hours light a day and not a sign of algae.

8 hours seems to be what quite a lot of people are allowing during my research. I've ordered a digital timer to help me remember not to overrun it's on time. I've a useless memory!

I'm planning on having the lights on for 2x 4 hours durations in the morning and at night. Is this a good idea or does it need to be 8 continuous hours?

It's very important what plants you choose in a tank. Some of them are very demanding and don't do well in every tank. Also, you need to know their average requirements(some don't do well in soft water, some in hard water, some in lower temp, some in higher, some have very high demand for good light, some don't do well in high light, some grow high, some stay small and spread sideways). So you need to know the minimum in order to position your plants in the tank in a way that when the plants grow, they don't suffocate or overshadow other high light demanding plants or for example low light demanding plants exposed to high light will suffer and most likely develop algae.

I wish I had kept the tags now.. doh!! I've attached a photo below, you'll probably be able to tell straight away what they are. This photo was taken a couple of days after first setting up and they are not looking this good now.

My tank temp is 26c and ph is a stead 7.4 if that helps.

First I would say, the lighting period is too long. Reduce it to 8 hours and from then on work it out a bit more or a bit less observing what does best.

I'm on it, thank you.

The best plants depend on the amount of light provided for the size of your tank in general but for most tanks easy plants are all type of cryptocoryne, sword plants, some of the bulb plants like the aponogeton species are easy and not that demanding, the hydrophilia species like hydrophilia corymbosa(glabra) or hydrophila polysperma, the different types of mosses like java moss(i've got taiwan moss). Also, the ones that are attached to driftwood or decorations instead of planted in the substrate like anubias species and java ferns.
The sky is the limit really if you are willing to take the time and effort to grow them.

I'm definitely willing to take the time to learn and put the effort in, I hadn't realised there was so much to learn about the plants. I will look up all those that you have suggested. Thank you again.

Forgot to mention, that some plants like cryptocoryne or grassy types like valisneria or sagittaria subulata will melt in your tank before they actually adapt and grow so don't be quick throwing them in the bin. The damaged plants won't harm your fish in any way, normally the dying leaves need to be removed to prevent additional bioload but melting plants really don't contribute to ammonia that much at all and some need to be left for a while before cutting them of the main plant as the plant draws the nutritients from the leave first.
The best advise is, target your plants, don't just throw your money at anything, pick them with care to suit your particular tank, have patience and slowly but surely you will have a nice green tank.

I'm taking any floating leaves out when I see them. What's the difference between a melting plant and dead plant? Is that the term used when the leaves kind of close and go floppy? It's good to know damaged plants wont harm fish.

Thanks for taking the time to write all this advice, it's extremely appreciated.

I forgot to add that I inject enough co2 each morning to fill the tube (diffuser?) in the tank.

I forgot to add that each morning I add enough co2 to fill the tube (diffuser?) in the tank.

 

[snazy]

240 litres is about 63 US gallons of water. With 2x39W tubes that makes it about 1.23W of light per gallon. This means that you don't have the light for plants with high light requirements.
The fertilisers is best to be added everyday, so spread the dosing per day instead. When injecting CO2, you need two types of fertilisers, micro and macro, especially if you have many plants. Read about dosing and what micro and macro nutritients are. The common way of dosing is daily for both C02 and ferts and than once a week 50% water changes to "restart" the tank. But there are many methods out there about what and how much to dose. Here is s good page to start with:

http/blog.greenleafaquariums.com/


As for difference between melting and dying plants, there's none. You need to know which plants melts first before they grow, so try to find out the plant type and google it's name or ask in the forum. Read as much as you can about it. You can post in the planted section of this forum here for plant identification.

As for CO2, also fertilisers, you need to have a good flow around the tank to make sure all is distributed to each plant. This will also prevent algae because instable CO2 and fertiliser conditions can cause all type of problems. Some people get additional power heads like hydor koralia ones if the filter is not strong enough to do that.

I would not break the photo period and instead keep it 8 hours without a break in between. It's better for the plants.

And I am not at all a plant expert, I am learning myself now because I did kill quite a few plants already

For plant ID, there's a plant section here. Take a closer picture of each one if you can and there's plenty of members here that can help. I wouldn't even chance a guess myself