So frustrated with conflicting info from various sites! Maybe a small rant?...

[Strmwrng]

So, really, this is all just proving my point. I know what parameters I’m working within, the plants are growing in their own perimeters, how hard can it be to match plants to situations? I guess this hard....(read here sarcasm and defeat....................)

 

[Ch4rlie]

Would say you will need a slightly higher light than most standard light units be it either LED or tubes.

The addition of co2 would be beneficial but not essential.

Root tabs would be the minimum nutrient requirements.

I would recommend Seachem Flourish Root tabs as this contains a number of micro nutrients that are missing from many other brands.

Pogostemon helferi - Tropica Aquarium Plants

The right aquarium plants

tropica.com

Other than that I do not know what your tank set up is, liquid or root tab dosages if any, water parameters especially hardness, and what your light unit is and how long your daily timing duration is, this is why I kind of made a general summary of what most plant requirements are without much information.

So therefore we don’t know exactly what your parameters are so hence the general information.

 

[utahfish]

Is there possibly any place to go for CORRECT information? I’m wanting to stock my small low tech tank with plants... I look up the same plant on different sites (even this one, sorry) and the same plant is easy/difficult, low light/ high light, needs co2/doesn’t need co2 and on and on and on...really?!?! At this point I trust no one, no site but unfortunately don’t have the $$$ to experiment with buying and watching it die. So frustrated!!! I am now watching a $22 tissue culture of Pigestomon helferi go to heck. So sorry for this rant, I realize as a ‘new’ member I haven’t earned the right... but my loss of frontal cortex filtering convinces me otherwise. But really, whom do you all trust for plants and their knowledge of their needs? Thanks!

I've killed my fair share of plants over the last 15 years and learned what works for me and doesn't.
Some people will report that a certain plant is super easy to grow you could put it in the toilet and it grows and they bring it home put it in their tank and it dies. I've always been able to grow crypts for whatever reason, I guess we get each other, some stem plants that others have a lot of luck with I kill in no time
Advice I'd give is stay away from red plants. They look great and they're usually more expensive and also high maintenance as they need CO2 and high nutrients and lots of clean water. All those fancy tanks one sees on line most are set up for competitions and torn down a week later or aren't suitable for fish for long periods of time.
One can have plenty of thriving plants without CO2 they just won't be bright red.
Few things I've learned over the years of killing plants.
Plants feed 2 different ways, through their leaves in the water column and through their roots in the substrate. Some plants like swords are heavy root feeders while others like ferns are strictly leaf feeders. Find out how the types of plants you have feed and then feed them accordingly liquid fert and root tabs Having said that some plants consume a higher amount of a certain nutrients than others. For instance Vallis are pretty fast growers and pretty easy to grow, they also require a fair amount of calcium to their roots to thrive. If one is growing them In really soft water with an inert nutrient low substrate they will struggle.
Other plants like Swords are heavy nitrate and ammonia feeders, they consume most their foot through their roots about 70% the rest through leaves. Most water that has fish in it will have enough nitrates in the water column but if the sword doesn't have available nitrogen in the substrate to it's roots it's only getting about 30% of the nitrogen it needs. Find out what your plants eat and how they eat it. The easiest way to accomplish this is to provide all 17 nutrients to plants in water column, and substrate. Shoots and roots. When o e or more nutrients is deficient plants will struggle and algae takes hold . When all nutrients are net or in excess plants out compete algae for nutrients and a lot of plants will store the excess nutrients.
Get a comprehensive liquid fert, flourish comprehensive is good. Get comprehensive root tabs, flourish makes good root tabs as well.
2nd thing I've learned is water circulation. One can dump all those fertilizers and nutrients to feed to your plants but they need oxygen and water movement to carry them to the plants. Photosynthesis is an exchange of gases under water as well and It needs water circulation to absorb nutrients and exchange those gases. Water circulation and highly oxygenated water is key.
I have 3 10 gallon filters on the back of my 20 gallon tank to make sure I don't have any dead spots in my tank.
3rd thing I've learned is lots and lots of plants help plants grow, the more fast growing plants the better as they outcompete algae for nutrients which keeps the algae off the slower growing plants and enables them to grow without competing with algae, let those fast growers compete with algae, floating plants are great ammonia traps and great for out competing algae
Lastly none of it matters if ones light source is out of whack as light is the engine of photosynthesis. Most important measurement for light in my opinion is lumens and in the correct spectrum. Everything else is secondary. Keep your light between 6500-6700k with at least 20 lumens per liter for low light plants 30per for medium and above 30 for high light red plants. If the lumen requirements aren't met doesn't matter how much fertilizer or fancy substrates one has plants will struggle without proper light.
Oh yeah and CO2 without red plants is a waste of time and money
Sorry for the long winded rant

 

[Koglin]

Sorry, not forum savvy. Yes, so your plant authority says that, but look up the same plant elsewhere and you’ll get different results. The same plant will need different requirements. I appreciate your response!

That's why I said this part in the bottom of that post =P

Don't worry about the frustration. Seems likely you'll find a wide range of info. on it because it is forgiving - I had almost the same situation with my baby dwarf tears, and their thriving w/o co2 and lower lighting.

I do like that 1 guys articles I paraphrased though, least for plants I have that he has written about - havent had any irregular problems with his advice.

What I meant with my long-windedness was:

Since it is one of those plants that can grow in a variety of settings, you will find conflicting information about it.

That's because it grows in moving currents in creeks/rivers, grows submerged and emersed, (meaning it'll still grow under varying lighting), and with differing water lvl's and how creeks/rivers change throughout seasons, it does ok in a wide range of pH.

Since that is the case - Grower A may find luck with higher lighting and harder water, while Grower B may find luck with lower lighting and soft water. Or a vise-versa combination of these & other parameters too.

The point is: if both Grower A and Grower B write about it - doesn't mean either of them are wrong, just means they grew them differently with success.

*Edit - sometimes it's simply best to compare various sources, and use the compatible feedback from each to discern an overall neutral view. Otherwise - you will only find specific info. you're needing through scholarly/cited literature mediums.

You are correct though - it's generally best to discern what you can provide your environment without massive upgrades, and just stick to plants for those conditions.

Not as hard as it may all seem once you get use to what your parameters you need to match.

 

[StevenF]

I get what you’re saying, really I do... but you’re glossing over the very point of my issue... I know what my tank measurements are ... i.e.: low/med light (I have a dimmer), hard water, 8+ hrs of light per day (I have a timer),...just give me the HONEST plant requirements so I can grow to my specifications. It can’t be that difficult?

Yes it is possible to have tank specification and then match that to a plant and have success with it. In Theory. But in reality it is actually very difficult to do.

In order to do this you need to know about 40 different water parameters. We generally talk about water specifications in terms of PH, GH, KH, NH3, NO2, NO3 temperature. All are measurements easy to make. However you also need to know your Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphate, sulfur, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and nickel. Those are all the minerals nutrients plants absolutely need to grow. If just one of these minerals is not quite right the plant may grow poorly, not grow, or die. And then in addition light spectrum, CO2, O2, and about another 10 minerals that may or may not be beifical to some plants. That is a lot of information and much of it is not easy to get and expensive. And in Addition I do not know of any laboratory sturdies for for aquarium plants that identified all of these parameters. Most plant science is focused on plants people eat or plants that we find useful (trees for example).

So when someone says a plant is easy to grow they really are just giving you their opinion based on their experience with their water source. The only practical way to know for sure what plants work for you is to just buy the plant and try it. Sorry it is not the answer you wanted but it is the reality of this hobby.

 

[Strmwrng]

That's why I said this part in the bottom of that post =P



What I meant with my long-windedness was:

Since it is one of those plants that can grow in a variety of settings, you will find conflicting information about it.

That's because it grows in moving currents in creeks/rivers, grows submerged and emersed, (meaning it'll still grow under varying lighting), and with differing water lvl's and how creeks/rivers change throughout seasons, it does ok in a wide range of pH.

Since that is the case - Grower A may find luck with higher lighting and harder water, while Grower B may find luck with lower lighting and soft water. Or a vise-versa combination of these & other parameters too.

The point is: if both Grower A and Grower B write about it - doesn't mean either of them are wrong, just means they grew them differently with success.

*Edit - sometimes it's simply best to compare various sources, and use the compatible feedback from each to discern an overall neutral view. Otherwise - you will only find specific info. you're needing through scholarly/cited literature mediums.

You are correct though - it's generally best to discern what you can provide your environment without massive upgrades, and just stick to plants for those conditions.

Your

Yes it is possible to have tank specification and then match that to a plant and have success with it. In Theory. But in reality it is actually very difficult to do.

In order to do this you need to know about 40 different water parameters. We generally talk about water specifications in terms of PH, GH, KH, NH3, NO2, NO3 temperature. All are measurements easy to make. However you also need to know your Potassium, Sodium, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphate, sulfur, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, copper, molybdenum, and nickel. Those are all the minerals nutrients plants absolutely need to grow. If just one of these minerals is not quite right the plant may grow poorly, not grow, or die. And then in addition light spectrum, CO2, O2, and about another 10 minerals that may or may not be beifical to some plants. That is a lot of information and much of it is not easy to get and expensive. And in Addition I do not know of any laboratory sturdies for for aquarium plants that identified all of these parameters. Most plant science is focused on plants people eat or plants that we find useful (trees for example).

So when someone says a plant is easy to grow they really are just giving you their opinion based on their experience with their water source. The only practical way to know for sure what plants work for you is to just buy the plant and try it. Sorry it is not the answer you wanted but it is the reality of this hobby.

Thank you for your response, something ‘clicked’ and I understand what everyone is trying to say. I’m a pretty black and white kind of thinker, and shades of gray are sometimes a little more elusive.

 

[Strmwrng]

Thanks to you all for your patience with me, you’ve ALL been so helpful! Hoping I also eventually figure out this forum thing and how to insert replies where they go.

 

[Koglin]

Your

Thank you for your response, something ‘clicked’ and I understand what everyone is trying to say. I’m a pretty black and white kind of thinker, and shades of gray are sometimes a little more elusive.

Haha no worries! Totally understandable - I prefer straight facts too =P

Hope we were able to help! And you are RIGHT on the edge of quoting people lol. Just have to add your comment after their copied text.. You did it successfully 2 posts ago haha

I'll try to explain how to, hope it helps!

So to insert replies, click the "Reply" button on someone's post, and it will copy their text into the box at the bottom that you type in. Then you just gotta set your cursor to the right side of the [/Quote] box (it will be at the bottom of their copied text), hit enter to go down 1 line, then type away before hitting the "Post Reply" button

You can also hit the +Quote button on other people's posts (to reply to multiple ppl at once), then down in the box you type in - click the "insert quotes" button and it will bring up a list of all the quotes you've "+ quoted" from that thread. In that box, you can delete them or reorganize them. When you're ready, click the "insert quotes" button on that box, and it will insert the quotes you selected into the box you type in. Then just get set your cursor to the right side of the [/QUOTE] text, hit enter to go down 1 line, then type away. It is pretty much the same as "replying" to someone with their text quoted.

Feel free to mess around with it more in this thread I doubt anyone cares =P

 

[Essjay]

If you want to quote just a part of another post, highlight the words you want to quote and a box appears under the highlight with quote and reply. Using Reply quotes only the highlighted part of the other post rather than all of it.

Make sure that you always type your reply after the [/QUOTE] at the end of the quote or what you type will end up inside the quote.

 

[Strmwrng]

Koglin & Essjay, LOL!! Thank you so much for those helpful explanations on how to do this. I’ll have to read them over again and again to even begin to understand that! I could feel the ‘glaze’ begin as I read I am so liking this forum, the knowledge, the help, the sense of community- thank you all!

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Koglin & Essjay, LOL!! Thank you so much for those helpful explanations on how to do this. I’ll have to read them over again and again to even begin to understand that! I could feel the ‘glaze’ begin as I read I am so liking this forum, the knowledge, the help, the sense of community- thank you all!

In simple terms, the persons test appears inside [ quote ] boxes. Make sure you type after the [ quote ] box. If you write inside the quote box, it'll look like the person you're quoting said it, not you.