my plants are looking kinda.....dead

[demon_surfer]

ok so i decided with my new tank to go for the live plants cause plastic ones are well....plastic :o. hehe anyway im having sorta mixed luck. i have some green hedge and i think some mondo grass and some of the plants that are long and thin with like bristles..apogneton ?? they came lose of the gravel and are hanging there supported by tons of long thin roots looks cool hehe. anyway i also have some type of amazon swords in there. not sure on the exact species but they are basically rotting. i have basis flouresant lights and dont put anything extra in the water. Should i be? the tank is quite well populated and my money is kinda limited at the moment. if anyone can suggest anyways i can get them going i would really appreciate it.

[Glenstorm]

hey demon,

We could use some more info on your setup. what size tank do you have? How big is the gravel you have. How many watts is your light fixture?

For starters. . . Amazon Swords like to have a lot of light so your basic light fixture probably won't be able to support that. When you buy plants you need to find out if they need a lot of light or not.

I don't think your bristlely plant is an apontogen. If it is, that also will need more light. I don't really know about the the other plants you got.

Some basic additives for your tank would be some root tabs in your gravel and some liquid fertilizer. Although I don't know how much these will help without more light.

Dan

[demon_surfer]

hmmm and upgraded lights are probably very much out of my price range at the moment.... sucks having no money hehe =/

what kind of lighting do i need to find for the amazons to do better?? everything but them *seems* to be doing well

also what would i do with the root tabs? i assume bury them in the gravel near the roots?

for the tank details i have coral 50/50 fluoresants on a 55gallon tank. i think the gravel is small to medium but not sure..hehe the current is very strong i have a aquaclear (500?) that was built for 100gallon + tanks. would that have an effect?:confused:

[Glenstorm]

sorry demon but how many watts are those bulbs? I am not familiar with them so I have to ask. If there are 2 bulbs at 50 watts then you would have a little under 2 watts per gallon. I think that would be the low end for the swords and they might do better if you started some supplementing. I was hoping someone else would pipe in with some suggestions.

Dan

[carpguy]

If you have two Normal Flourescents running the full length of the tank, they are probably about 40w each, which would give you a little less than 1.5 wpg. A very doable setup for lower light plants. Coral 50/50s are probably for a saltwater setup and not the best light for plants, which like a warmer spectrum. If you could be more specific about your lights it'd help (like are there 1 or two bulbs? Wattage? Size?) Plant bulbs would help and aren't that expensive.

You should probably look into fertilizer basics as well. While you don't need a complicated regimen for a low light tank, its not a no maintenance setup either. This thread might be a good place to start (http://64.191.28.50/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4306) (the plantbrain stuff down near the bottom).

[demon_surfer]

so many aspects to the hobby :)

thanks ill check out that page. i cant get any details on the lights because i can only get on the internet at work at the moment and my tanks are at home. ill get notes on what i have and post it here when i can...probably next tuesday. who woulda thought that having a permanat 4 day weekend setup could be frustrating :confused: :confused:

[tyler]

aren't most hedges terrestrial or bog plants? same with mondo grass?

[demon_surfer]

yeah i found that out looking at www.skepticalaquarist.com AFTER i had bought them..they seem to be doing ok but im going to keep an eye on them. The green hedge is coverd in algae but seems to be otherwise healthy.

i put to much trust in petsmart :( should have researched more before i bought.


The watage on the lights i really dont know. i am going to get the details on them when i go home and then post it next time i come into work, tuesday i think.

[demon_surfer]

i just realized im wrong. i DONT have the coral 50/50 on this tank that is on my 20gallon. this one is just the basic flouresants that came with the hoods so they are probably what carpguy said about 40, but ill check anyway.