Hello folks,
I'm in need of some help as last week I started my planted tropical tank and the plants are not fairing well. I'm going to start from scratch with it, primarily because I bought un-named plants from two LFS and it would seem most are not aquatic plants and the others are struggling to survive. Here is my tank at present:
I have one 42 inch 38watt bulb.. I forget which it is, but its a T5 tropical. I was thinking of getting an additional bulb, either a 39 watt 34 inch, or 54 watt 46 inch Plant Pro T5. Will either of those penetrate deep enough into the water of a 24 inch tank?
I've been injecting CO2, whilst adding weekly doses of Aquatilizer ferts. I have the light unit on from 1pm til 11pm.. is that too long? As the sunsets the tank is naturally lit from the left side (looks stunning when it happens) so I'd of thought that short period of light would have helped those plants nearest.
I don't know what plants I have remaining other than some Twist Valias and some varient of Amazon Sword, and the two Anubias (not sure which though).
Thank you for any help, so that I can salvage what is salvagable and buy some new plants which would be suitable (along with the light!).
I'm in need of some help as last week I started my planted tropical tank and the plants are not fairing well. I'm going to start from scratch with it, primarily because I bought un-named plants from two LFS and it would seem most are not aquatic plants and the others are struggling to survive. Here is my tank at present:
Here are some pics (as good a quality as I could manage with my phone):
the two small plants either side of the rock to the left have gone, rotted to near nothing so I chucked them. The larger, purple tinted plant to the right foreground was chucked also. The tallest plant to the immediate right of the ornament was chucked (along with the other that was on the right of the tank) as it was shedding all its leaves. These are the immediate casualties and the plants that remain, most I'm suspect of (can't believe I was stupid enough to buy them...but again more annoyed that an LFS would sell plants that aren't suitable).
The purple lined leaved plant is on its way out. Perhaps I need more intense lighting (this is all I can think of).
These don't seem to be doing too bad, but they don't look like aquatic plants to me.
These two also don't look like aquatic plants, and the fact the leaves are beginning to curl up would suggest it may be on its way out.
I'll go to the planted section for an SOS! Clearly I've not put enough thought into the plants. But still, the fish are really healthy and happy and that's whats paramount to me..this plant issue is just a slight snag.
I have one 42 inch 38watt bulb.. I forget which it is, but its a T5 tropical. I was thinking of getting an additional bulb, either a 39 watt 34 inch, or 54 watt 46 inch Plant Pro T5. Will either of those penetrate deep enough into the water of a 24 inch tank?
I've been injecting CO2, whilst adding weekly doses of Aquatilizer ferts. I have the light unit on from 1pm til 11pm.. is that too long? As the sunsets the tank is naturally lit from the left side (looks stunning when it happens) so I'd of thought that short period of light would have helped those plants nearest.
I don't know what plants I have remaining other than some Twist Valias and some varient of Amazon Sword, and the two Anubias (not sure which though).
Thank you for any help, so that I can salvage what is salvagable and buy some new plants which would be suitable (along with the light!).