Some Help With My Plants

[Tiswas]

I have a 60L planted tank that I set up last summer. I actually asked on here for advice about what sort of plants to get, spent ages researching and choosing which ones I liked and what would be easiest for me to look after as I have no constant CO2 but add liquid carbon (flora-grow carbo) on a regular basis. The substrate is just plain black gravel and I add eSHa Pro-Phyll plant food and nutrients weekly. The lighting is a 24 watt PL light. Not entirely sure what this means but I know one tube is white and one is blue.
The plants I've got at the moment are (approximate guesses from what I can remember and what I can look up):
a crypt - doing well
java fern - doing well on one side of the log but not as good on the other
cabomba - disasterous
hornwort (i think) - not good
elodea - a recent addition so we'll see
red ludwigia - seems to be growing but has lost all it colour
I also had some vallis which was doing really well and sprouting new runners then suddenly all rotted and died and had to be pulled up and thrown away. I think my otos are eating the cambomba and hornwort as well as having a little nibble on the ludwigia.
The strange thing is that I also have ludwigia and elodea in my goldfish tank, which I dont add any ferts or carbon to and it always seems to grow quicker and looks more healthy than in my tropical, dosed-up tank. Also the ludwigia never loses its colour in the goldie tank only in the tropical.
What am I doing wrong? I'd like to try getting some more vallis in there as I really like it. Also I'd like to try and find out what I'm doing wrong so I can rectify it as I plan on turning the tank into a female betta sorority at some point in the future and I know how important it is for them to have enough plant cover to escape each other.
I'm completely at my wits end with this please help me!

 

[lljdma06]

What are the temperatures of the two tanks? Egeria (elodea) prefers cooler water. Goldfish are also much better at fertilising. But I'm just joking about that.

I am seriously thinking about the temperature, though.

llj

 

[Aquaspot World]

Your light is actually a little on the low side. And your tube is blue? Don't not think that is going to help much.

Most of your stems will not be able to do well as they require a lot of light, especially the Cabomba. You should aim for about 2-3 WPG (total of about 40W) if you want to keep these light demanding plants.

 

[lljdma06]

I don't think it's the lighting. I think the CO2 that you are adding is perhaps not stable. The crypts, java fern are not CO2 dependant, nor are they very nutrient dependant. The stemplants require more. At least this has been my experience.

The ludwigia may be doing better in the goldfish tank because of the increased bioload of that tank. I still think the egeria doing better is a colder temperature issue.

It is a small tank, look into setting up, as a start, a DIY fermentation kit and get a dropchecker to measure the CO2. Take a look at PARC.

Or, if you don't want to use CO2, stick with crypts, swords, anuvias, java fern, mosses, very hardy stemplants. You can still have densly planted, you just have to stick with plants that are not CO2/nutrient dependant.

llj

 

[Tiswas]

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry I haven't been able to get on here sooner (been chaos this week). The tropical tank is about 25C. Not sure about the goldie tank, just ambient room temp as there isn't a heater or thermometer on that one. Haven't really got the room for a CO2 kit otherwise I'd be trying to get one installed.
The light has a blue and a white light that are on at the same time.
On the plus side the ludwigia seems to be doing quite well recently. I think I've given up hope of the cabomba returning and might just rip it all out.
Can anyone suggest any really hardy large-ish plants for background that I might be able to keep instead?

 

[lljdma06]

Thanks for the replies guys, sorry I haven't been able to get on here sooner (been chaos this week). The tropical tank is about 25C. Not sure about the goldie tank, just ambient room temp as there isn't a heater or thermometer on that one. Haven't really got the room for a CO2 kit otherwise I'd be trying to get one installed.
The light has a blue and a white light that are on at the same time.
On the plus side the ludwigia seems to be doing quite well recently. I think I've given up hope of the cabomba returning and might just rip it all out.
Can anyone suggest any really hardy large-ish plants for background that I might be able to keep instead?

Amazon swords. Cryptocoryne spiralis. Vallisneria species.

llj