Why does my Java fern look ratty?

THE V said:
If a plant is growing in an aquarium it needs ferts. That the same as telling someone that a betta will live off the the roots of an Easter lily.
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Don't twist words. I think everyone understands that plants need nutrients, but in this aquarium they are being supplied mostly by animal waste. Why add more ferts to a system that seems to be doing fine without them? Why add more ferts to a tank with a few low-light plants, moderately low lighting, and no CO2 supplementation? Why spend more time, energy and money?

The Java fern looks like the typical, healthy, low-tech tank specimen. I even see three new leaves on it in the picture. The Java moss sounds like its healthy and growing. I see nothing wrong with keeping this tank's regiment the same.
 
Looks much better than the Java fern in the center of my tank: many of the leaves are down to just the skeleton structure. For a long time it flourished, but now it's slowly falling apart. Since another JF in a darker corner isn't showing the same problem, I can only guess it's from being directly under the 2.8 wpg lighting. :huh:

In any case, your fern looks perfectly fine, to me. :thumbsup:
 
Thanks for the input everyone.

The V, the plant looks kind of unhappy to me, but I doubt it's from insufficient fertilizer actually. The tank is kind of overstocked (6 rummynoses and 6 harlequin rasboras) and I feed them twice a day. That's plenty of nitrate right there, but the Java moss sucks it all up - I never test over 10 ppm, and I only change 2 gallons weekly.

I think it has more to do with the fact that it can't spread the way it is right now. I think I'll redo the tank and attach it to some Malaysian driftwood.

But just to be on the safe side, I'll probably get some proper liquid aquarium fertilizer, but my using this kind is not me being cheap - it's just something I already use for my houseplants and since I need so little, I can't justify buying a whole big thing of Flourish which is bound to spoil at the rate I would use it. This is a little bottle, it comes with a dropper, so it's very convenient. But I will switch to Flourish.

If anyone's interested, here's the breakdown:

Total Nitrogen: 10%
1.6% Ammoniacal Nitrogen
0.2% Nitrate Nitrogen
8.2% Urea Nitrogen

Available Phosphate: 15%

Soluble Potash: 10%

Chelated Iron: 0.10%
Chelated Manganese: 0.05%
Chelated Zinc: 0.05%
 
Alright definitely discontinue using this fertilizer in the aquarium. Ammoniacal Nitrogen = NH4, ammonium. Urea breaks down into two ammonia molecules in the tank. Terrestial fertilizers use ammonium because it is attracted to and held by the soil/growing medium. Nitrite and Nitrate quickly leach out of the root zone of the plants being negatively charged.

If you've never tested the Nitrogen over 10ppm YOU DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH in the tank. You need to try to maintain the N level between 10-30ppm in the tank for your plants. Without adequate nutritional supply the plants start stressing quickly. Even a small amount of stress can trigger the plant into mainly reproduction mode instead of vegetative growth.

Order some dry aquarium ferts online. They are really cheap and will last a very long time. Flourish will run $7-8 a bottle from what I've seen. Following directions from the bottle this should last you 1-2 months max. For $25-30 you can get dry ferts online that will last 18 months to two years. If you've got an empty one of those convenient bottles you can mix up the ferts in there and happily dose much more than you are now.

Don't twist words. I think everyone understands that plants need nutrients, but in this aquarium they are being supplied mostly by animal waste. Why add more ferts to a system that seems to be doing fine without them? Why add more ferts to a tank with a few low-light plants, moderately low lighting, and no CO2 supplementation? Why spend more time, energy and money?
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schaadrak
Why? - because the OP wants to grow them better. With the proper supplies it is actually cheaper and easier to do it right. Just because a tank is low tech without CO2 and High lights is no reason to assume that it isn't nutrient deficient.
 
Thanks again everyone. I'll stop using the fertilizer - I'll mix the remainder with a gallon of water, use it for the outside plants and transfer the new aquarium fertilizer into the empty dropper bottle. I was thinking of using Flourish since it's available at Petsmart/Petco (unfortunately our only local LFS closed down last summer :() but would getting something like this be better?

PMDD Pre-Mix

PMDD Pre-Mix 1 lb contains 1 part each of Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Sulfate, Magnesium Sulfate, Plantex CSM+B.

It's $10 for 1 lb of mix. Seems very cost effective.
 
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