Plants not doing very, could do with some advice

Yossu said:

Now I'm even more confused! Please can one of you clarify this for me? Are these lights OK or not? If not, how do I work out what to use?

Thanks

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I use nicrew lights, the 24 hour mode has made my plants grow. It’s a cheaper but good working lighting option they’re on Amazon. I would improve both your light and fertilizing, root tabs are good, I use osmocote plus it’s cheap for a lot of it and works great for me, but a lot of different root tabs would work.

Crunchycrouton said:

I use nicrew lights, the 24 hour mode has made my plants grow. It’s a cheaper but good working lighting option they’re on Amazon.

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Any idea what I would need to illuminate the bottom of the tank? Bear in mind that it's 24" tall, so looks gloomy with regular lights.

Crunchycrouton said:

I would improve both your light and fertilizing, root tabs are good, I use osmocote plus it’s cheap for a lot of it and works great for me, but a lot of different root tabs would work.

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Are root tabs significantly better than liquid fertiliser? I tried liquid, but didn't see any difference.

Thanks

It depends on the plants. Most, if not all, aquarium plants feed through the leaves but some, such as amazon swords and cryptocorynes, also feed through their roots. For these plants, roots tabs are usually used. Mine get Seachem Flourish root tabs every 3 to 4 months.

Essjay said:

It depends on the plants. Most, if not all, aquarium plants feed through the leaves but some, such as amazon swords and cryptocorynes, also feed through their roots. For these plants, roots tabs are usually used. Mine get Seachem Flourish root tabs every 3 to 4 months.

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Well, my only planted ones are Elodea and vallis. Does that mean that they wouldn't gain much from root tabs?

One big problem encountered in aquarium is ending up installing low light plant higher than some that need more light.

Anubias: Low-light plants that thrive in shaded areas.
Java Fern: Low-to-moderate light requirements, can tolerate some shade.
Marimo Moss Ball: Low-light plant, often kept in shaded aquariums.
Elodea: High-light plant that grows rapidly in bright conditions.
Vallisneria: Moderate-to-high light requirements, grows best in bright conditions.

All these plants get their nutrients from the water layer.

Also Goldfish are notorious at redoing the decor on regular basis. They are hardy fish that can tolerate a wide variety of plants. However, some plants have nearly no tolerance for goldfish's, loll.

You could try to add a lot more duckweed all the time until they get bored of eating it, It would help with nutrients buildup to starve the algae and add more shade for the plants.

Bring your higher light requirement plants to a place that gets the most light. The other in the shaded area.

I you have real Marimo Moss balls, consider moving them before you find them in little pieces blocking your filter.

Can you post a picture of the algae that grows on the glass?
Is it light green or dark green?
Does it wipe off in a film?
Does it smell musty?

If it wipes off in a film and smells musty/ mouldy, then it's blue green algae (Cyanobacteria) and is from excess nutrients.

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A liquid aquarium plant fertiliser (rather than root tablets) will be the better option for the plants you have.

@MaloK Sounds like I have my tank upside down then! I planted the vallis and elodea in the sand as they have roots and I assumed needed to be anchored securely in the sand. I put the anubis up near the top, a I wanted some plants higher up, and they easily attached to the wood.

I do add duckweed, but the problem is that I can't grow it fast enough to keep up with them eating it. Although you can't see it in the pic, I have a tub of it sitting on top of the tank, but it doesn't grow very quickly. I have a trough outside with more in, but again, it only grows very slowly.

As for the moss balls, I have no idea if they are real or not, but the goldfish seem to ignore them. Not seen any evidence of damage, other than one which I pushed into a hole in one of the pieces of wood ('cos it looked nice there!), which got knocked out of its hole. They all sit around on the sand collecting bits of sand that the fish kick up.

@Colin_T I'll have to wait a few days until it grows back, but I doubt I'd get a clear picture. However, I think I know what you're getting at. In previous tanks (years ago) I had that slimy dark green stuff that comes off in a film. This isn't that. This is light green, and when I clean the glass, it comes off as a fine dust that float around until the filter sucks them up or I suck them out when doing a water change.

As I said, I did try using Tropica Premium Nutrition, but I didn't see any difference. Maybe I'll try again.

Thanks again to both of you. Any more advice very welcome.

Yossu said:

Sounds like I have my tank upside down then!

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It's very difficult to end otherwise in taller tanks. It's a little why I try to stick with all fast growers or slow ones.

My tanks have so much water movement that floating plants are never catching and gets destroyed... I never had Duckweed, and take that as a blessing.

Since I prefer slower growing plants, I need to run most of my lights at 35-40% of capacity and even there, an anubia leaf in direct light, nearly always finish with algae.

It's a cruel world.

Your algae on the glass, is it all little round spots ?

Yossu said:

@Colin_T I'll have to wait a few days until it grows back, but I doubt I'd get a clear picture. However, I think I know what you're getting at. In previous tanks (years ago) I had that slimy dark green stuff that comes off in a film. This isn't that. This is light green, and when I clean the glass, it comes off as a fine dust that float around until the filter sucks them up or I suck them out when doing a water change.

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That just sounds like normal algae (not blue green) so that's a plus.

Crunchycrouton said:

I use nicrew lights, the 24 hour mode has made my plants grow. It’s a cheaper but good working lighting option they’re on Amazon. I would improve both your light and fertilizing, root tabs are good, I use osmocote plus it’s cheap for a lot of it and works great for me, but a lot of different root tabs would work.

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Can you provide a link to the osmocote fertilizer that you use and how you use it in your tank?

MaloK said:

It's very difficult to end otherwise in taller tanks. It's a little why I try to stick with all fast growers or slow ones.

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As I'm keeping goldfish, I was somewhat restricted in my choice of plants, which is why I ended up with this selection. I would have preferred a wider selection, but most of it would have ended up as salad!

MaloK said:

My tanks have so much water movement that floating plants are never catching and gets destroyed... I never had Duckweed, and take that as a blessing.

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Mine has a reasonable amount of water movement at the surface, as I have the water inlet pointing upwards to create disturbance. I was told that can help keep the oxygen levels up. The duckweed tends to sail around the water surface at a fair pace, but that doesn't stop the fish eating it!

I actually like the duckweed.

MaloK said:

Your algae on the glass, is it all little round spots ?

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No, it looks more like tiny grass.

Colin_T said:

That just sounds like normal algae (not blue green) so that's a plus.

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Well, if you're thinking of the slimy stuff I meant, there it sure is a plus! That was horrible.

However, I'm still not clear how to get my plants to grow without algae

Thanks again

Fishfunn said:

Can you provide a link to the osmocote fertilizer that you use and how you use it in your tank?

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This is the link on Amazon. I don’t have a photo of how I used it but you just use it like regular root tabs. I place individual ones 5 inches apart and deep into the substrate. You can also buy vegan pill capsules and make them into root tabs. Here’s the tank I use them on, before and after, just propagated on the other side. That’s why it’s shorter.

Yossu said:

Any idea what I would need to illuminate the bottom of the tank? Bear in mind that it's 24" tall, so looks gloomy with regular lights.


Are root tabs significantly better than liquid fertiliser? I tried liquid, but didn't see any difference.

Thanks

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Yes in my opinion they are better, especially for heavy root feeders. And you will need a stronger, brighter light.