My Plants Always Look Poor

[Le Sorcier]

My plants always look ok for a while (my tank is a Juwel 180l) but after a while they start to look the worse for wear.

Could it just be as simple as having no CO2 added? If I add this would it make that much of a difference? Apart from that I don't know what to do?

 

[Nick16]

do you add ferts?
You dont add co2 (plants love this)
what substrate do you have?
what lighting do you have?
what plants do you have?

we need to know these things.

 

[Scvpirates]

do you add ferts?
You dont add co2 (plants love this)
what substrate do you have?
what lighting do you have?
what plants do you have?

we need to know these things.

all good information to have. if theres not enough light you might not get any plants to do real well with the standard light that come with most tanks there are some plants that do well such as anubias and hairgrass. try adding plant food directly into the tank (look at your lfs for it). what type of plants are they how big is 180L in gallons?

 

[Nick16]

i wrote this a while ago

For Plant Care....

1a. You will need a source of Co2. if your tank is under 60L you can use DIY co2 (SEE HERE) but anything larger (i think anything bigger than 40L) should have pressurised Co2. This can be delivered from something like a Co2 fire Extinguisher. However you will need equipment like an internal or external co2 diffuser, a Co2 drop checker and co2 airline, also non return valves are useful and so are timers that you plug in to sockets so you can set when you want lights and co2 to come on. For pessurisedco2 preferably co2 on 1 hour before lights on and off 1 hour before lights off. This will enable plants to grow stronger and have more leaves as they will bush out and become less 'leggy'

1b. Alternatively you could go for something like liquid carbon (easycarbo or seachem excel), this is good for small tanks and it also contains anti algae properties. (but do not use this solely for combating or preventing algae, if you have algae you should address why it is there rather than trying to cover it with algae eating fish etc) Liquid carbon is cheaper than Pressurised in the short term but it is not very good on large tanks. Do not overdose on Liquid carbon as it is not good for fish.
Please Note, some plants such as vallis do not do too well under liquid carbon, thats not to say they wont grow but they dont like this way of introducing carbon into the aquarium.

For a more in depth read of co2 read Aarons thread on uKaps. HERE

2a. For fertilisers you again have two choices. For a newbie like yourself i recommend an all in one fertiliser like Tropica Plant Nutrition+ (or TPN+ for short). This product is dosed directly into the water coloumn (much like liquid carbon) and allows the plants to take nutrients out of the water. However some plants like cryptocorynes and Echinodorus' are heavy root feeders and need a good substrate. (see down the page) For dosing ferts a pipette or syringe is very handy.

2b. Another method is making your own ferts. This is good if you have multiple tanks or very very large tanks as it works out cheaper in the long run. To do this you buy the correct fertiliser powders from a reputable seller like Aquaessentials or fluidsensor online and mix up your own ferts. with macro and micro soloutions. This is more complex and will require a lot more reading up and understanding. For more reading on EI (estimative Index) dosing of ferts see clives topic. HERE

3. Substrates are very useful for plants as they allow the roots to grow strong and very healthy and very large. You can buy nutritional substrates to help plants. However, examine what the substrates contain. N,P,K is what you want. (Nitrogen (N) Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). ) For more reading see HERE despite it being for non aquatic plants the principles remain the same.

3a. Some substrates need 'capping' (E.g JBL aquabasis, Tropica substrate) To do this you put a layer on the bottom of the tank and then cover it with a small layer of plain gravel or sand. This means that the plants have access to good nutrition and you have the look of a nice gravel on top. Most plant nutritional substrates cloud when you touch them so its best to plant and then leave it and just prune carefully. (to read up on pruning try HERE) However by capping them you should need to desturb the nutritional substrate when performing tank maintenance etc.

3b. Other substrates do not need capping like ADA Amazonia and Oliver Knotts Nature Soil but these are normally more expensive. Do be careful as some substrates leach things (ammonia etc) when first put into the water so plenty of water changes are recommended until these levels are massively reduced. Do this before you add livestock.

4. Lighting needs to be reasonably good, oon smaller tanks you will have a higher watts per gallon (WPG) than on bigger tanks, as you will need a lot of lighting to achive 2 WPG on a 400L tank whereas you will need very little to achive this on a 20L tank. However excess lighting is not good and can contribute towars algae outbreaks.
see HERE for good info.

Do not forget, good filtration is a must. Aim for at least 10x turnover.

I hope i have roughly covered the basics. You will then need to read into good flow rates around the tank to distribute co2 and ferts.

Hope this helps.

 

[Le Sorcier]

Thanks guys thats great.

I am not sure of the plant names but I will post that later tonight.

My plant is a Juwel Rio 180l and it is the lighting that comes with it. The tank certainly looks well illuminated.

I have an Argos play sand substrate.

I've been adding Plantamin but not sure if that'll help.

Would love to start using CO2 but I would like an easy way of doing this (if anyone could suggest anything)?

Thanks

 

[vinylman]

An easy way to add co2 is to use either EasyCarbo or AquaEssentials' own version of it. 5ml a day in my 200G has my plants looking fabulous, with barely a trace of the dreaded green stuff (I didn't even get any sign of Crypt Melt). There's also the chance, too, that your shop is selling you non-aquatic plants - it's certainly not unheard of.

 

[Le Sorcier]

An easy way to add co2 is to use either EasyCarbo or AquaEssentials' own version of it. 5ml a day in my 200G has my plants looking fabulous, with barely a trace of the dreaded green stuff (I didn't even get any sign of Crypt Melt). There's also the chance, too, that your shop is selling you non-aquatic plants - it's certainly not unheard of.

Thanks vinylman,

One guy at my LFS recommended these CO2 tablets to start with. You put them in a plastic container every day or two and they release CO2 bubbles that are released at intervals. Not sure what that is like?

My plants are....

LUDWIGIA GLANDULOSA (of which the leaves a are starting to look eaten, with holes in).

BACOPA CAROLINIANA

ECHINODORUS ROSE (growing well, but brown grime accumulating in the veins of the leaves).

Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[vinylman]

An easy way to add co2 is to use either EasyCarbo or AquaEssentials' own version of it. 5ml a day in my 200G has my plants looking fabulous, with barely a trace of the dreaded green stuff (I didn't even get any sign of Crypt Melt). There's also the chance, too, that your shop is selling you non-aquatic plants - it's certainly not unheard of.

Thanks vinylman,

One guy at my LFS recommended these CO2 tablets to start with. You put them in a plastic container every day or two and they release CO2 bubbles that are released at intervals. Not sure what that is like?

My plants are....

LUDWIGIA GLANDULOSA (of which the leaves a are starting to look eaten, with holes in).

BACOPA CAROLINIANA

ECHINODORUS ROSE (growing well, but brown grime accumulating in the veins of the leaves).

Thanks for any help in advance.

TBH, I'd steer clear of those tablet co2 things, just get some EasyCarbo and dose as it says on the bottle; lots of people sell it online now. I started seeing the imrovement after about a week. A 250ml bottle last me 50 days (in my 40-and-a-bit-gallon tank) and costs about a fiver. It's some of the best money I've ever spent on my tank.

 

[Le Sorcier]

ok thanks, I will get some.

Is this used as an alternative to CO2 or as well as?

 

[aaronnorth]

do you add ferts?
You dont add co2 (plants love this)
what substrate do you have?
what lighting do you have?
what plants do you have?

we need to know these things.

the OP might not need CO2, and in fact with stock lighting almost definatley mean s/he wont.

 

[elaine128]

An easy way to add co2 is to use either EasyCarbo or AquaEssentials' own version of it. 5ml a day in my 200G has my plants looking fabulous, with barely a trace of the dreaded green stuff (I didn't even get any sign of Crypt Melt). There's also the chance, too, that your shop is selling you non-aquatic plants - it's certainly not unheard of.

am i reading your post right ,you only use 5ml a day in 200g?

 

[vinylman]

An easy way to add co2 is to use either EasyCarbo or AquaEssentials' own version of it. 5ml a day in my 200G has my plants looking fabulous, with barely a trace of the dreaded green stuff (I didn't even get any sign of Crypt Melt). There's also the chance, too, that your shop is selling you non-aquatic plants - it's certainly not unheard of.

am i reading your post right ,you only use 5ml a day in 200g?

That's right; I mainly have some Amazon Swords and six or seven Crypts plus a couple of Echinodorus 'Red Special'. I dose for what the instructions call a ''moderately planted tank''. The Red Specials have stayed fabulously red and I never saw a sign of Crypt Melt. I use the EasyCarbo because I do a twelve-hour shift (plus travelling time to and from work) and the worst I can do is forget to dose one day. If I dosed the traditional way and something went wrong while I was at work it could be too late by the time I got home. Everything looks great.

 

[Le Sorcier]

do you add ferts?
You dont add co2 (plants love this)
what substrate do you have?
what lighting do you have?
what plants do you have?

we need to know these things.

the OP might not need CO2, and in fact with stock lighting almost definatley mean s/he wont.

OP?

 

[vinylman]

do you add ferts?
You dont add co2 (plants love this)
what substrate do you have?
what lighting do you have?
what plants do you have?

we need to know these things.

the OP might not need CO2, and in fact with stock lighting almost definatley mean s/he wont.

OP?

O riginal
P oster

 

[aaronnorth]

do you add ferts?
You dont add co2 (plants love this)
what substrate do you have?
what lighting do you have?
what plants do you have?

we need to know these things.

the OP might not need CO2, and in fact with stock lighting almost definatley mean s/he wont.

OP?

sorry, original poster.