How to keep plants

[Lust]

How can i keep my plants alive??

have 4 plants in their
3 are the same and 1 is different

i think their dying

 

[Mr Miagi]

You will need to give us more info than that, cmon. elaborate.

IE, lighting? substrate? Do u fertlize? plants names? what fish u have? whats happening to them? are they being eaten or are they rotting? what temp? water params?

 

[The Mohave Kid]

" plants names?"

I think that would be most important ... once you know that you can find all kinds of information ...

Good Day ...

 

[Lust]

umm water temp is at 26
heater is a 100w rensun or somethign like that
i have a box filter and 2 air airstones attached to my air pump
i have no lighting
fish are
2x silver sharks
2x clown loaches
10x neon tetras
5x black neon tetras
2x Plattys

plants look like their dying away
and their still in the pots
and no fertisler has been added

i dont know plant names is thier a site i can identify them by???

 

[Mr Miagi]

Having no light well definately not help your cause. If you want to grow a planted tank, you will need proper lighting.

 

[Lust]

is a halogen light ok ???

 

[Mr Miagi]

Halogen is great. Plants need to photosynthese as u prob know already, and light is lost as it travels through water, so the stronger the better, and halogen is strong.

 

[Lust]

Halogen is great. Plants need to photosynthese as u prob know already, and light is lost as it travels through water, so the stronger the better, and halogen is strong.

i have a halogen on it right now so it should be fine then???

how long a day should i leave it on for ?

 

[Mr Miagi]

Yeah, should be fine i reckon. !0-12 hours a day. Cut it down if its too much. eg, if algae starts to grow. Having an automated timer helps.

 

[Lust]

Yeah, should be fine i reckon. !0-12 hours a day. Cut it down if its too much. eg, if algae starts to grow. Having an automated timer helps.

so im set then ???

wota bout C02

 

[yvez9]

halogen does nothing for plants!
completely wrong spectrum!

The only kind of lights you can use are fluorescent lights or compact fluorescents

The best way to go is compact fluorescent as they are more powerful then normal output fluos.
Look for bulb temp around 6700k.

halogen lighting will give you nice display but the plants can't use that light to grow. Even the green algea won't benefit from that light.

 

[The Mohave Kid]

Keep in mind if you add more CO2 you will need more light of you want to see any benafits to adding CO2 ...

The worst part of halogens seems to be heat ... also plants have accessory pigments that absorb and make use of different wavelengths besides Blue and Red ... a plant growing in a dense jungle does not get a normal daylight color spectrum.

 

[Nisha]

You should read up a little on the basics of a planted tank first. Your First Planted Tank.

Then you should identify what plants you have and ensure that you are meeting their needs. Tropica.

I wouldn't consider CO2 until you've got the right lighting and substrate/nutrients for your plants. Flourescent lights with a wide spectrum or compact flourescent lighting is your best bet.

HTH,

~Nisha