I'll be patient so and hopefully they'll bounce back. Not all plants thrive in all soils so I guess I can see what does well here. Like in my garden - you're totally right @AdoraBelle Dearheart and it's a good way to approach this to think about what plants need outside to do well and learning what underwater plants need too.
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Plants really not doing well
- Thread starter AilyNC
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Ooooo, glad I read this post. I was going to ask what can I get to feed some plants I have in a plant-only tank. (Mostly Hornwort, haha) but trying to grow out some lily, Anacharis, and crypt for my "in progress" 20g.
Not sure if you can get hold of TNC complete outside of the UK? But there'll certainly be alternative fert that also doses nitrogen and phosphate
Thanks!
I'll do an inventory of what's aviable here and maybe run it by you? I know shrimp have low bioload but I have lots of RCS I'm going to add because now it's just plants. So I'll want to take them into consideration as far as harming inverts.
Decent article worth a read here:
Fertilizing a planted aquarium: Part III - | Aquasabi
Optimal water plant fertilization
Yep, I got that. I was trying to say that soft plants do ok in hard water but not vice versa. And the OP has hard water.@mbsqw1d... the OP has plants that need hard water, and plants that need softer water, that was my point. That is why some of thriving and some are not.
Jesus I've really made it unnecessarily complicated
Sorry, this really made me laugh!
I know exactly what you mean, sometimes it’s so easy to make the simplest things sound so complicated when you’re trying to explain things in writing.
Then get frustrated when folks don’t understand or misunderstand what you're saying and you get to thinking ‘no, no, no that’s not what I mean!’ and and yet knowing that this is so simple but so blinking hard to tell them what you mean!! Hah!
Don’t worry though, I reckon we all know what you were trying to say
That's the ticket. Just be patient. It can easily take plants 6-8 weeks to adapt to a changed environment. I have 10 week old amazon swords in a tank that look completely melted. I dug one up thinking it was not going to make it and it had massive roots - so it is adapting.
FWIW if a particular plant won't grow in my tank I chuck it out and try something else that does- I'm the same in the garden.
But it isn't why some are thriving and some aren't. When you hear hooves, assume horses, not zebras.@mbsqw1d... the OP has plants that need hard water, and plants that need softer water, that was my point. That is why some of thriving and some are not.
Her tank is new, the plants have been in less than a month. Not demanding species of plants at that, and they were doing well. Then a storm hit and the tank had no power for three days. No lights, temp dropped etc, and now temp is up to treat ich. Of course her plants are looking a little worse for wear. Nothing but patience and ferts to do now, and give them time to bounce back.
No lights and temperature changes make even the hardiest plant look sorry for itself for a while. It almost certainly has nothing to do with her GH. If she were keeping a more delicate species of plant in an otherwise established tank with all other parameters stable and ferts balanced, then maybe softness would be worth exploring, but in this case, you can see it's a horse, not a zebra.
Yep! And sometimes you lavish love and care on them for seasons, and they seem to be failing and look rubbish, and just as you give up and go to rip them out, you see a load of new shoots or that it's started to flower. With no obvious cause.Ok so you sum up. Plants in water are like plants in soil - they take time to settle but not always suited to the same environment.
Got it
At least, if you garden the way I do- which is more "stick it in and hope for the best" than any real plan.
Totally agree here. I brought a whole lot of java moss and found it was brown and dying all in the middle. I did go through and pick a lot of the brown out but also left a whole heap as it was connected and wrapped within the healthy moss. I let it run it’s own cause in both tanks and now have double the amount of healthy moss.
And tbh the moss in the 1st pic looks pretty good from what I see
Luckycatfish
New Member
Hi, Im an ordinary horticulturist, with skills in ground plants and pond plants. Power cuts is not something you see in these days unlike the seventies, due to heavy snow in winter. But thats a long time with no electric. Heres my tank that seems to be growing quite well in sand substrate and a few feed pods around roots. I went away in 2019 for a weeks holiday, and although set up the lights timer, inadvertently didnt put the filter back on. In just that short time, I had 3 dead fish, algae and cloudy water. A lot of leaves were transparent and obviously going to pollute the water even more. So had to really cut out the dead leaves and change 1/4 of water and clean out the lid filter .
You can actually overdo the lighting. My LED light is on from 10.30am until about 7pm......so 8-10 hours should be maximum, or fish and plants become stressed, plants need the dark to obviously synthesise, as well as daytime to take in CO2. Once stabilised, I would actually add some more fish, and pellet feed around main plants. Its bound to take a time to recover from a power cut that long. Nor sure where you are, but in the UK electric company's has to pay customers compensation of anything over 12 hours without electricity. we can sue for more if Fridge freezer defrosts, but most home insurance covers like ours covers the cost of replenishing ruined food.
I too havent had much luck with marine plants, this is my best so far as a underwater marine garden. I find the special pet safe sand substrate i bought with the tank much better as a growing media. Gravel on its own is not soil, and roots always seem to come away with the plant after a while. My 4 catfish love the sandy bottom. good luck
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