# plant questions.



## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

hi there! so, i'm trying to incorporate live plants into my bettas tank but i don't think i'm doing something right. i only have water wisteria and anacharis in the tank, but i feel like both are dying faster than they are growing. what i want to know is:

1. am i doing something wrong? the stems of my wisteria are turning brown (except for maybe one or two of them) and i'm having to trim off the dead portions at every water change (once a week). the leaves are also turning brown, starting from the tip of the leaf as opposed to the base/stem. as for the anacharis, i just feel like it's not growing at all. the ends of its leaves are kind of translucent & brown as well.

2. would a (better) fertilizer help? i have Seachem Flourish Comprehensive, but honestly? i don't feel like it's really doing anything. also, it might be beneficial to note that i have a mystery snail in this tank so if it has a substantial amount of copper, i can't use it.

i have most of the wisteria in the substrate (gravel) with four smaller pieces floating. the anacharis is in the substrate. i also have a marimo moss ball, but aside from it splitting in two, i'm not really worried about it.

i'm not sure if this is relevant, but my tank is currently at 80 degrees. my room is always warmer than the rest of the apartment, so it kind of stays there no matter what i put the heater on. and last time i checked, the ph was at 7.4.

thanks in advance for any advice!


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Tell us about your lights.....how old are they, the kelvin, watts and photoperiod or how long they are kept on and any natural sunlight.

Most plant failures are due to the wrong color temp in light-without the proper color temp the plants can't photosynthesis an no matter what food you add they can't use it....

How big is the tank, how deep is the substrate, stocking, additive and filter.


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## Sowman (Aug 19, 2011)

What type of lighting are they receiving?


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

What type of light do you have ? I have Anacharis and the leaves on one of mine stems is doing the same and I just pick those off, the rest of it is doing fine with a new stem growing but its growing slower then the other one I have which has grown a new stem 12 inches up to the water line. I have a 5 gallon and a natural sunlight fluorescent 1o watt light in the hood of my tank. Ph of 7.4 and right now the tank is staying around 80 degrees. Mine is floating and you dont want to much of the stem in the gravel, maybe you could try just floating it awhile and see if that helps. I have not used any type of fertilizer . Do you see any roots growing ? They are white and very thin and come from the sides of the stem.


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Oldfishlady said:


> Tell us about your lights.....how old are they, the kelvin, watts and photoperiod or how long they are kept on and any natural sunlight.
> 
> Most plant failures are due to the wrong color temp in light-without the proper color temp the plants can't photosynthesis an no matter what food you add they can't use it....
> 
> How big is the tank, how deep is the substrate, stocking, additive and filter.


whoa. i don't really know any of that information, honestly. but i'll try my best.

the tank is a 5 gal. it came with this kit from walmart. it's heated to a constant 80 degrees. i have the aqua-tech 15 filter, but i'm buying a new one either this weekend or next. i'm not sure if you meant "stock" as in fish or as in plants, but the only animals i have in there are a veiltail betta and a mystery snail. the substrate is gravel and marbles from PetCo and is about 1 in thick. as for plants, i have anacharis and water wisteria.

the light bulb is just a standard flourescent bulb and has been in there since about a week after i got the tank (which was about...Februaryish). it has never been changed. i don't know the wattage nor do i know the kelvin. however, about five feet from my desk (which is where my tank is) is a window with lots of natural light. i depend on it during the daylight hours and then turn the tank light on for about 2/3 hours after the sun goes down.

water additives are seachem prime conditioner and seachem flourish comprehensive. that's it.

anything else?


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Perseusmom said:


> What type of light do you have ? I have Anacharis and the leaves on one of mine stems is doing the same and I just pick those off, the rest of it is doing fine with a new stem growing but its growing slower then the other one I have which has grown a new stem 12 inches up to the water line. I have a 5 gallon and a natural sunlight fluorescent 1o watt light in the hood of my tank. Ph of 7.4 and right now the tank is staying around 80 degrees. Mine is floating and you dont want to much of the stem in the gravel, maybe you could try just floating it awhile and see if that helps. I have not used any type of fertilizer . Do you see any roots growing ? They are white and very thin and come from the sides of the stem.


i just have a standard fluorescent light bulb. the wisteria has roots, but the anacharis doesn't. in the past, my anacharis has always done better when i "planted" it so i just did that this time.


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## Sundancex (Feb 24, 2012)

Chances are you have the wrong lighting. But FWIW, the anacharis I had died on me, while I'm managing to keep purple cabomba alive so far without issues, which is supposed to be a harder plant to grow.


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Sundancex said:


> Chances are you have the wrong lighting. But FWIW, the anacharis I had died on me, while I'm managing to keep purple cabomba alive so far without issues, which is supposed to be a harder plant to grow.


what kind of light _should_ i have? o:


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

I would start by leaving your lights on for at least 10h/day along with the natural sunlight.

Ideally you want 6500k or kelvin to get the proper color temp for the plants-we can see the light but the plants can't see all color temps to use for energy to grow/thrive.

Even with the proper color temp if the photoperiod isn't long enough-this can trick the plants into thinking its time to go dormant, die or finish their life cycle or flower.

If the substrate is too large in diameter-its hard for the plants to root and/or uptake the nutrients in the water, however, both species of plants you have are fine floating and rooted so that shouldn't be too much of an issues.

Can you post a pic...


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## Sundancex (Feb 24, 2012)

6500k temp. That is ideal for plant growth. I think people get away with 6700k without problems though. 

How large is your tank? That will help determine how many watts you need.


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Sundancex said:


> 6500k temp. That is ideal for plant growth. I think people get away with 6700k without problems though.
> 
> How large is your tank? That will help determine how many watts you need.


5 gallons.




Oldfishlady said:


> I would start by leaving your lights on for at least 10h/day along with the natural sunlight.
> 
> Ideally you want 6500k or kelvin to get the proper color temp for the plants-we can see the light but the plants can't see all color temps to use for energy to grow/thrive.
> 
> ...


i suppose i should have done a bit of research before trying out real plants. xp and yeah, i'll post pictures! i didn't know if you meant of the tank or the plants so i got some of both. i'll post them just as soon as i finish resizing them.


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

this is the tank. the only live plants in there are the anacharis and wisteria. the rest are fake and help block the filter intake that Bandit keeps getting stuck on. in the second picture is the tank's location in relation to the window.








above is the leaf of a wisteria plant that i pulled out today. it's not uncommon for me to get like four/five of these out in a week. and usually, i have to cut off the decaying part of the stems too, but i did that two days ago so i don't have pictures of that. also shown is one of my anacharis plants. it shows the brown/translucent tips of the leaves that i was talking about. all four of them look like this.


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## Sundancex (Feb 24, 2012)

Do you know what kind of light you have?

Is the gravel in your tank those larger glass marble things? That is what it looks like. If so, you should really replace it with a regular gravel at the very least, or if you think you may want to get into more plants, Fluval Shrimp Stratum is great (at least for me).


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Sundancex said:


> Do you know what kind of light you have?
> 
> Is the gravel in your tank those larger glass marble things? That is what it looks like. If so, you should really replace it with a regular gravel at the very least, or if you think you may want to get into more plants, Fluval Shrimp Stratum is great (at least for me).


all i know about that light that it's a fluorescent light bulb replacement that i bought from Petco. it was like two/three dollars, so i doubt it was anything fancy.

and no, i have gravel AND marbles in the tank. they're kind of mixed together, but the gravel is black. both of them were also purchased from Petco.


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## Destinystar (May 26, 2012)

First of all thats a great looking tank ! Yeah your Anacharis doesnt look to good up at the top where it should be the greenest and freshest since thats where new growth is. The only thing I know to tell your is check the wattage of your light and leave it on for 8 to 10 hours and then off for the night. Maybe you could try cutting off the top and see if you start getting any new growth. The leaves curl down towards the bottom so thats how you know where the end of the stem is thats you plant into the gravel. Good luck I hope it works out and the plants start doing better !

I have know about the other plants as I only have Anacharis and Hornwort.


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Perseusmom said:


> First of all thats a great looking tank ! Yeah your Anacharis doesnt look to good up at the top where it should be the greenest and freshest since thats where new growth is. The only thing I know to tell your is check the wattage of your light and leave it on for 8 to 10 hours and then off for the night. Maybe you could try cutting off the top and see if you start getting any new growth. The leaves curl down towards the bottom so thats how you know where the end of the stem is thats you plant into the gravel. Good luck I hope it works out and the plants start doing better !
> 
> I have know about the other plants as I only have Anacharis and Hornwort.


thank you for the compliment! i've put a lot of money/effort into this tank (maybe not a lot, but more than i would have originally liked to have spent!) so it's nice to hear someone likes it.  but as far as the light, i should leave it on even when it's daylight outside? because i'm trying to conserve energy so if i don't *have* to have something on/plugged in, i don't.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

Nice job on your tank...It looks pretty......If you plan on adding any rosette type plants-like swords, crypts, sags, vals...etc....then you will need to change the substrate to a small diameter gravel or plant specific substrate.

Looking at your plants-it looks like a light or color temp issue and a photoperiod issues.....Increase the time the light is on to 10h/day-make 50% weekly water changes-vacuum in all areas you can reach without moving anything or disruption of plant roots-wipe the viewing walls only-give the filter media a swish/rinse in the bucket of old tank water a couple of times a month and if you have carbon in the filter media-I wouldn't replace that-
Careful with too much of the natural light until the plants start thriving and you add more-otherwise you can end up with an algae problem. Don't add any ferts until you start to see them responding to the increase PP-then use half dose after a water change.

Look at your partition between the light and water and make sure it is free of debris or remove it all together to get better light penetration to the plants. I would look around in the lighting dept of any store to see if you can find a Daylight 6500k florescent bulb that will fit in your hood-don't go over 10watts-double check your specks for the correct watts that will work on the hood too for safety reasons.


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

colorxmexravyne said:


> but as far as the light, i should leave it on even when it's daylight outside? because i'm trying to conserve energy so if i don't *have* to have something on/plugged in, i don't.


If you want to keep plants you are going to have to leave the light on-without light, proper color temp light and PP the plants can't photosynthesis and will slowly die. 
You could move the tank over to the window and do a full natural planted dirt based tank-provided that you get at least 6-10h of sun, however, you will still have to supplement the light as the season changes and to complete the 10-12h/day PP...

With live plants its all about balance and proper lights-the plants have to be able to thrive to out compete the algae.


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## colorxmexravyne (May 8, 2012)

Oldfishlady said:


> Nice job on your tank...It looks pretty......If you plan on adding any rosette type plants-like swords, crypts, sags, vals...etc....then you will need to change the substrate to a small diameter gravel or plant specific substrate.
> 
> Looking at your plants-it looks like a light or color temp issue and a photoperiod issues.....Increase the time the light is on to 10h/day-make 50% weekly water changes-vacuum in all areas you can reach without moving anything or disruption of plant roots-wipe the viewing walls only-give the filter media a swish/rinse in the bucket of old tank water a couple of times a month and if you have carbon in the filter media-I wouldn't replace that-
> Careful with too much of the natural light until the plants start thriving and you add more-otherwise you can end up with an algae problem. Don't add any ferts until you start to see them responding to the increase PP-then use half dose after a water change.
> ...


thank you for the compliment and for all the info! i was considering getting an amazon sword plant once i mastered how to take care of the easier plants, so thanks for telling me i'd need a different substrate! 



Oldfishlady said:


> If you want to keep plants you are going to have to leave the light on-without light, proper color temp light and PP the plants can't photosynthesis and will slowly die.
> You could move the tank over to the window and do a full natural planted dirt based tank-provided that you get at least 6-10h of sun, however, you will still have to supplement the light as the season changes and to complete the 10-12h/day PP...
> 
> With live plants its all about balance and proper lights-the plants have to be able to thrive to out compete the algae.


i guess i'll start leaving the light on from when i leave in the morning until nightfall, then. i can't move my desk because there isn't a place for me to hook my TV up to the wall over there. oh well. i'll look for one of those Daylight bulbs that you mentioned when i go out this weekend.

thanks for all your help, everyone!


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