# Planted Tank Fail



## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

I tried to start a planted tank and it has failed miserably. I am going to start replacing the live plants with fake plants. I can't figure out why they all died. I used API root tabs and Seachem flourish and Seachem Flourite. I tried 12/12. I tried 15/9 and finally now I have 24 hours of light and my plants are still dropping dead. 

Anyway, for those who have transitioned back to a fake planted tank from a planted tank... what do you do with the snails. I have a crazy snail explosion, and I know they are going to start dropping dead once I switch to the fake plants. I don't want to kill off my fish from a spike. Any suggestions? 

This whole experiment has turned into one big :roll:. I haven't cleaned it since I killed Axl cleaning it a month ago. I'm too scared to clean it. I'm going to clean it tomorrow, and start taking out the dead/dying plants and replacing them with fake plants.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

What substrate are you using? You also need to be aware of the lighting needs of your plants (low, moderate, or high) and have light power (not hours) that matches accordingly.


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## percyfyshshelley (Feb 26, 2013)

I switched a couple of my tanks om live to fake plants. I ended up breaking down the whole tank and rinsing the gravel to get all the plant debris out, since it would be of no use as fertilizer for the plants. I love live plants but I am focusing on just a few tanks with live ones and the rest with fake for now.

Sorry no advice about the snails.


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## PetMania (Mar 28, 2013)

Are you looking into getting rid of the snails or keeping all of them? You can feed them algae wafers instead of live plants. Also, if you have algae in one of your tanks, you can put some of them in there.


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

Light and substrate play a big part in planted tanks. Co2 also helps but it's not necessary if you're using flourish excel (too much excel can melt plants). Also too much light but not enough Co2 can cause black beard algea. It's all about finding that right balance for your plants but if you want my opinion, try out very easy plants, like jave moss or jungle vals, for example.


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## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

The plants I have are all fairly hardy easy plants. They are mostly swords with a handful of anacharis and 2 anubis left. My lighting should be fine... but I might try to up the watts because my tank is deep as opposed to long. I did a lot of research prior to starting this tank (I spent about a year researching). I work at a pet store, and I've helped a lot of people set up planted tanks... but I can't set my own stupid tank up. It's annoying to have people come in and tell me how great their tanks are doing. When mine has been dying since day 1. 

I don't want to break down the whole tank, because I have a lot of baby fish in it (my Platys keep having babies). Maybe... I'll get some more swords. I do have two swords that are hanging in there strong.

Substrate is about 2" of Seachem Flourite with about .5" of black sand on top and .5" of decaying plant matter
Filter is a sponge filter 
Fish = 3 adult platy (a lot of baby platy), 4 cories, 8 rasboras 
Additives = API root tabs once a month, Seachem Flourish every week or every other week 
Tank size = 20 g tall


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

What kind of snails are they? I know with MTS, it takes a while for their numbers to be reduced from starvation. I can't see you having any issues with any spikes, since the snails that die will be eaten by the other snails.


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## IanHulett (Feb 19, 2013)

I'm just using beach sand and the plants in my aquarium seem to be okay. They're surviving though, not thriving. There's grass-like algae growing on my Anacharis and that's not causing it any harm. It's still growing like a friggin "sea-weed."


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## RiceFish (Feb 9, 2013)

How are the plants dying like melting, turning brown, etc? What type of lights are you using?? I leave mine only on for 6-8 hours a day. 

Is there any algae growing in the tank??


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## PetMania (Mar 28, 2013)

Perhaps the water parameters are off.


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## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

The snails are many different species, but I have not seen any MTS. It's mostly Ramshorn and Pond though. 

There is no algae in the tank. The plants start by having one leaf turn brown, and then another and then another... etc... until the whole plant is brown and the leaves fill with holes. They were doing it prior to the snails in the tank (I did add the snails), so while I think they do play a part it's mostly the plant falling apart.


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## RiceFish (Feb 9, 2013)

what is the lighting?


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## jaysee (Dec 9, 2009)

I think they will still eat each other.


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## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

RiceFish said:


> what is the lighting?


6500k. 

I bought a 10,000k today. I'm at my wits end with this stupid tank. We shall see what that does.


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## RiceFish (Feb 9, 2013)

Hmm that should help with the lighting. The trouble is that you have a tall tank but the increase in kelvin should help out.


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## NeptunesMom (May 4, 2012)

RiceFish said:


> Hmm that should help with the lighting. The trouble is that you have a tall tank but the increase in kelvin should help out.


Yeah, but all my plants are low light. I don't really think lighting is the problem. It's also placed in from of a big picture window to get lots of natural sunlight during the day. But, we'll see if the new light makes a difference and I'll gladly eat my words.


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## RiceFish (Feb 9, 2013)

Ah ok it gets natural lighting too. Best of luck with the new lighting. If lighting isn't the issue my next guess would be water parameters.


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