Plants not doing well. Help?

Alonergan11 · Sep 11, 2014

Hello,
Please bear with these questions as I am a noob.

I have a 29 gallon "low tech" planted tank, (not sure if i'm using the term correctly - I have no CO2 system only flourish excel-) and my plants don't seem to be doing too well. I have an aquaclear 50 and a finnex fugeray planted+ Link here. I use a timer with a 10 hr/day cycle. I have a sloped sand bed. My readings are Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrate is 20+ (I am doing water change tomorrow) and ph is around 7.3. The tank has been set up for over a month now and the cycle had finished about 4 days ago. I have 6 amano shrimp and 2 cory cats in the tank right now and planning to stock more. Now, enough of the setup, on to the plants. The plants don't seem to be thriving(they have been in the tank for about 1-2 weeks). They have brown spots on them and have hair-like algae. The tips of the plants are doing fairly well(maybe my light is not good enough?). The Sword has multiple spots(algae?). And one plant is doing very well and seems to be thriving. Should I be using a better fertilizer? Should I invest in a CO2 system, and if so which one? Any tips on making them green and lush like in other peoples tanks? This is also off topic, but my aquarium has a slight cloudiness and has microscopic particles in the water(like dust), and I cannot seem to make the water perfectly clear. I put in a new carbon filter(the old was about a month old). Any tips?

Thanks a lot for your time! any help is appreciated!

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Sierra0103 · Sep 12, 2014

If it were me I would do a C02 system. I don't really personally use them but I've realized that root tabs and co2 really help start off plants well ( I use liquid co2) ... and not sure if you mentioned but what's your lighting?

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FishFanMan · Sep 12, 2014

Before investing in CO2 system, I'd try a few things. Your new sand has no nutrients so get some root tabs. You also need nutrients in the water. For that I use Seachem Flourish. If the leaves are still not fully green after a month you can try adding API Leaf Zone for additional potassium.

I would stop liquid co2. Also I think your swords are buried too deeply in the sand. Remove all of that hair algae asap because if it spreads It's impossible to get rid of. You might want to remove the plant just to make sure. Don't buy anymore plants from that store.

Once your swords gets new leaves, trim the old not so good looking leaves. You might want to cut the stem plants in half and plant the tops and leave the bottoms there. New shoots might sprout from where you cut it.

Give it a couple months for the plants to get established.

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Alonergan11 · Sep 12, 2014

Thanks fishfan! I will get some root tabs and fertilizer (both flourish) today or tomorrow. I will also move the sword out of the substrate a little.

To Sierra, I have the finnex fugeray planted+. The link is in my original post.

sumthin fishy · Sep 12, 2014

Check out the article on DIY co2. it's cheap and easy. Though not as accurate or effective, I use it with good results. Not sure you really need it, but it helps. Basically, you need an empty 2 litre bottle, sugar, yeast, warm water, some airline tubing and some sort of difuser. I am using a micro bubble airstone right now untill I can get a proper difuser, but there are plenty of other methods you can find on you tube for cheap DIY difusers.

I think it was snakeice (maybe?) who posted elsewhere, that plants going from one condition to another may have most of their leaves die off because those leaves were adapted to the original conditions. I made the mistake of getting some hair grass from a big box store, and had I not read that post, I would have tossed it when it all died off. However, the roots had established, and now new (and nicer looking) blades are sprouting about a week after having nothing but little brown stubs.

Steven 1 · Sep 12, 2014

Only thing(s) I can add is that of your current plants, only the Sword needs a Root Tab - the rest get their fertilizer from the water (when fertilized). Yeah, pull up that Sword to the crown so new leaves can come up.

I would check my general hardness of the water (GH) - it should be around 5-7 degrees - and KH about 3 dKH. The plants don't look too leggy, but what's the height of the tank from the substrate to the light? I've heard good things about the light, but the tank could be too tall or just need more light. Eh, the light looks alright from the full-tank pic.

Take out the charcoal. You don't need it unless you're removing medication from the water.

With enough fast-growing plants that eat up the ammonia, your NO3 should naturally be lower, if not unmeasureable. But fertilizers are important. You could try dosing Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium (NPK) using the EI (Estimated Index?) method of dosing, but for non-CO2 (read low-tech) planted tanks - see barreport.com

People recommend planting thickly, particularly at first, and fast-growing stem plants. I have been wondering if it would work planting a couple of "groves" of stem plants. I planted 3 bunches of stems when I started my 10 gallon.

alan j t · Sep 13, 2014

i just read your post n pics. im not familiar with leds. is the light over you tank giving you low light, med light or high light? maybe another strip is needed. once we find out we can go from there, but everyone is spot on. root tabs and ferts in the water colum would be nice.

FreshyFresh · Sep 13, 2014

Like said above, it's a brand-new tank and the plants have only been in there 1-2 weeks. Root feeders aren't going to do well in that situation unless given some nutrients in the substrate. Once you get some more breathing critters in there, you'll have some CO2 and you can adjust your light time to keep algae at bay.

I've also had better luck with plants, when in tanks with very little surface agitation, such as using a canister or internal filter as opposed to HOBs. Ever since I've added the AC70s to my planted 55g, my wisteria and water sprite barely hang in there.


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Plants not doing well. Help?

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