# Plants aren't doing well...have no idea why.



## platylover13 (Oct 4, 2013)

My plants all seem to be slowly dying instead of flourishing. I've had them for two or three weeks now, my 20 gallon is an NPT. I've got a co2 system as a backup that I use occasionally to give them a boost. I've got a proper light, a small filter, everything. Any help?


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## sandybottom (Nov 29, 2012)

what types of plants are they?what type of light and length of photo period?


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## platylover13 (Oct 4, 2013)

Same type of light as ofl says you should use in her not thread. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-20-l...051?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cd8014e83 that's the link to the plants I ordered.


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## BasilBetta87 (Jan 15, 2011)

Looks like several of those plants need supplemental elements such as iron. What type of 'plant food' or fertilizers are you using in your tank? What substrate do you have? Do you use root tabs? You should list all the equipment and additives you use in your tank so we can get a better picture of your set up and care routine. If you're going to run c02 then run it during the day, as that's when the plants will benifit the most from it. Also make sure the c02 is being dissolved properly into the water column.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

That is a nice list of plants-are all the species of plants not doing well or just some of them...If so, which are doing the worst and what are they doing-its not uncommon for some natural die off to happen.

How did you plant the different species of plants-especially the one that are not doing well. Might be as simple as planted wrong.

What kind of soil did you use and how deep-what kind of cap and how deep. Type of filter used.
Need info on the lights-type of lights, age of bulbs, kelvin, watts and photoperiod,

More detailed the better so we don't assume....

If you used the correct soil-it should provide all the nutrients needed for the plants without adding any ferts or using the CO2 IME.

What kind of water changes have you been doing since setup and what is the livestock stocking.

Do you have any water prams-Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and pH-also, if you have the GH/KH would help too.

A pic would really help.....


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## platylover13 (Oct 4, 2013)

I use soil from my field ( I dug the top layer off first). I use a white sand cap meant for gardening purposes. Algae is starting to grow on them. The plant doing the best is horn wart. The other ones are all about equal, plant decay is on the ground of the tank. The bulb is brand new and I leave it on for seven hours a day. I planted them all with one end in the ground, I tried to figure out where roots were to plant them. I use an hob filter for a 20 gal. tank. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002AQA8E/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 that's the bulb I use, I'll list the other stuff I have for my tank.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049RL3H4/ref=oh_details_o00_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The stock is 1 beta, two corycats, and a few normal aquarium snails. 

I have done three water changes-the tank has been set up for about three or four weeks. Counting the cap and soil there is probably about two inches of substrate, the cap is half the amount of the soil. I'll get a pic probably on thursday


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## gorillakev (Feb 21, 2013)

I think your lighting is low. But if you boost the co2 it might save the plants since some of those plants can still strive in lower lighting. 

Post a pic, it might be normal since many plants may have come from an emmersed state and getting used to a submersed state. 

I started a 20l long a week ago and most of my plants are melting because of that. I pumped up my co2 to the max to let the plants acclimate faster, I have nothing in my tank since it's cycling still. 

Someone may have a better option since if you blast your co2 you have, it will be gone in a couple days.


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## platylover13 (Oct 4, 2013)

The lighting seems to be pretty high though


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

The color temp is fine at 6500k, however, on a 20gal IME you need 2-15w 6500k bulbs to support plant growth.

I would recommend adding another 15w 6500k bulb and increasing the photoperiod to 10h/day-Increase water changes ti 50% weekly until you start to see new plant growth-then back down to as needed.

What kind of algae-can you post a pic.....

On the hornwort-how much of the water surface is it covering since it is growing well-You don't want it to shade out too much of the light for the planted plants at this stage.

Your rosette plants-swords, apons, crypts...etc....make sure their crowns are slightly above the substrate line-its better to plant them too shallow than too deep.

The stem plants are pretty forgiving and generally tolerate any way planted or grow fine when left floating.

As posted by gorillakev-plants might be going through a normal leaf change from emmersed to submersed.

A pic would really, really HELP....

A lot of things can go wrong with these systems-a lot can vary.....


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## BasilBetta87 (Jan 15, 2011)

You never want to "blast" your C02. You can gas your fish since they still breath O2 and if you flood the tank with c02 you can choke and kill your fish. Old Fish lady is right, you need more light and keep it on longer. 

Aquariums are all about balance. Planted aquariums are even more so about balance. You have light, food, c02, and plant cells. Plants need light to grow. And in order to grow they need 'food' to build more plant cells. They get energy from light to use the food they take in and build more cells and then they grow.

The food plants take in are the waste your fish produce as well as the nutrients that are present in the soil you are using. So you have plenty of food for the plants to use but not enough light to fuel growth. Adding more light and c02 will cause a dramatic jump in growth as the plants can now use all that food they have for growth! So run more light and c02! Also feed your fish too.


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## gorillakev (Feb 21, 2013)

You can blast co2 if there's no inhabitants besides plants. 

I've gassed my tank a couple of times due to faulty needle valves. It's not that bad with pressurized co2 keep an eye on your fishes and they will show you if you are using too much co2


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## peachii (Jan 6, 2013)

Not to be nit-picky about the ebay post of the plants you purchased but the pictures they have listed of the plants they are selling are not their own pictures. They took the pictures from the Florida Aquatic Nurseries database of plants, which may be where they purchase the plants from but you never know. If they did purchase them in bulk from FAN then the plants are all grown outside of water (emersed) in not very much humidity which causes major melting and the plants have to transition to being grown in water. This takes weeks if not months for some species. 

Keep trimming off the dying leaves and if the roots are melting only remove the brown/black areas. Sometimes if you float them they transition a little faster to submerged growth. So long as you can keep a piece of each plant alive and semi-healthy, it will recover eventually.

I have blyxa, vals, scarlet temple, wisteria, ludwiga and several other species that we received from orders that were grown emersed without knowing it. It has literally taken them months to transition but now that they have they grow like weeds. Some of these have taken off from one very tiny stem or piece of root that survived the major melt of all the others after I put them into my tanks.

To save yourself future headache ask if the plants are grown emersed or submerged because knowing that will help with your peace of mind (and maybe save you alot of stress) after you receive them. Buying from fellow plant lovers is also a good ideas as 99% of the time the trimmings hobbiests sell are all grown submerged (and not just saying that because I sell plant packages sometimes).


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## platylover13 (Oct 4, 2013)

I just asked them, and I'm hoping for a reply soon. They might have been grown emerged, because the ones I couldn't fit without crowding my tank, I planted in my 55 gallon. My fish in there uprooted them, and yet these plants are doing amazing. I moved them to the upstairs tank and left them floating. I really hope this saves the plants, because I spent fifty dollars on all of them, and I really don't want to do that again.


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## platylover13 (Oct 4, 2013)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0049RL3H4/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 also, does anybody know how to set this co2 system up? Maybe I did it wrong or something, the instructions were hard to understand. How do you know if the bubbles are diffusing properly anyway?


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