Need help on growing plants!

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bhavik95

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These are the plants I've got in my tank and I need help with my plants they are not growing and I don't know why!! :/
I don't know what I'm doing wrong!
Can please anyone help me?

All help will be appreciated!
Thanks!


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It takes a couple of weeks or more for plants to recover from being planted in a new tank. Are you adding any fertilizer? what type of light are you using? How deep is the tank? Are you doing any CO2 or Excel? You will need root tabs for the sword plant. Posting answers to the above questions will make it easier to give more advice.
 
Are those Molly's? Platys? Mine always devour my cabombas, your anacharis might survive though. You should add root tabs or a substrate for plants. Which lighting are you using? CO2 really helped my plants. Don't add fertilisers just yet or you might have an algae bloom.


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You might also want a bit more substrate for the sword to root into. It looks as though you don't have very much in there. They grow quite substantial roots if they're healthy.
 
Are those Molly's? Platys? Mine always devour my cabombas, your anacharis might survive though. You should add root tabs or a substrate for plants. Which lighting are you using? CO2 really helped my plants. Don't add fertilisers just yet or you might have an algae bloom.

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They are molly fry. Yeah but the thing is ive had these plants in the tank for quite a while and im not getting anywhere they just dont seem to be growing :/
Is there no way i can get the plants to grow without root tabs? if i do decided to use fertilisers should i use liquid or root tabs?
The light im using is aqua lux 13walt 7200k
No i dont use any co2

You might also want a bit more substrate for the sword to root into. It looks as though you don't have very much in there. They grow quite substantial roots if they're healthy.

Yeah might add some more sand i was only going to run this tank for a bit until my fry grew a bit but planning on keeping it now so might transfer some more sand from my other tank
 
also i need help trying to grow some green algae in my tank as i have just recently add shrimps to my tank so any help with that as well?
 
Algae usually grows happily if you give it enough light. Try running the lights for more hours per day.. 12 hours usually provides an abundance of algae. Might want to add just one or two hours daily at a time to see how much you get.

The issue with the plants is that you have very little substrate for them to root in, and very little food for them to consume. Plants need both food and light. You have pretty strong lights, so they need more food to grow. Light drives plant growth, so if you have a lot of light and not a lot of food the plants do poorly.

Liquid fertilizers work for stem plants and floaters mainly. Root feeders, like swords, need root tabs to do their best, but they can survive without them. Survival is not good growth though.. survival is what you have now. And if you are leaving lights on even longer to try to grow algae, and don't feed, they're not going to improve.
 
Is your light just a normal T12 or what ever?

More substrate, root tabs, Flourish and Flourish Excel. Flourish Excel is sort of a substitute for C02, its liquid carbon, not as good as C02 but way better than nothing.
 
They are molly fry. Yeah but the thing is ive had these plants in the tank for quite a while and im not getting anywhere they just dont seem to be growing :/

Is there no way i can get the plants to grow without root tabs? if i do decided to use fertilisers should i use liquid or root tabs?

The light im using is aqua lux 13walt 7200k

No i dont use any co2







Yeah might add some more sand i was only going to run this tank for a bit until my fry grew a bit but planning on keeping it now so might transfer some more sand from my other tank


Oh I didn't realise you actually wanted algae, disregard my other comment in that case, you really should consider laying out a substrate for plants underneath your sand, I use plant growth substrate by tropica but I live in the UK so don't know if you have that where you live.
Don't use co2 if you actually want algae. Your light seems fine, you should also add liquid fertiliser as your plants will appreciate it as well as the algae you are looking for.


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Algae usually grows happily if you give it enough light. Try running the lights for more hours per day.. 12 hours usually provides an abundance of algae. Might want to add just one or two hours daily at a time to see how much you get.

The issue with the plants is that you have very little substrate for them to root in, and very little food for them to consume. Plants need both food and light. You have pretty strong lights, so they need more food to grow. Light drives plant growth, so if you have a lot of light and not a lot of food the plants do poorly.

Liquid fertilizers work for stem plants and floaters mainly. Root feeders, like swords, need root tabs to do their best, but they can survive without them. Survival is not good growth though.. survival is what you have now. And if you are leaving lights on even longer to try to grow algae, and don't feed, they're not going to improve.

Yeah before i used to give it more than 12 hours of light but i dont think it worked out. I currently give more than 12 hours on the weekend because then im in control when the lights go on so will that help?

Hmm ok i'll add more substrate from my other tank but will the plant still not grow more roots meaning it will come out of the sand?
Ok i think ill have to go get some root tabs then. But what about hornworts? what kind of fertiliser do i need for that?
Dont feed what?

Is your light just a normal T12 or what ever?

More substrate, root tabs, Flourish and Flourish Excel. Flourish Excel is sort of a substitute for C02, its liquid carbon, not as good as C02 but way better than nothing.

i dont know much about lights whats t12?
All i know is the information i gave before about my light. I got this light when i bought the tank
Yeah im going to get some root tabs when i can add will add more substrate

Oh I didn't realise you actually wanted algae, disregard my other comment in that case, you really should consider laying out a substrate for plants underneath your sand, I use plant growth substrate by tropica but I live in the UK so don't know if you have that where you live.
Don't use co2 if you actually want algae. Your light seems fine, you should also add liquid fertiliser as your plants will appreciate it as well as the algae you are looking for.

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I want more algae as i just recently add cherry shrimps and i dont think it grows in my tank :/
I also live in the UK, i currently use sand as substrate in both my tanks and my other tank is doing fine with sand all my plant in there are fine!
i dont know whats wrong with this tank...
i was planning on get root tabs instead will that be good or no?
 
I have never used root tabs but I guess it's the same as the substrate, you can try getting them


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I have never used root tabs but I guess it's the same as the substrate, you can try getting them


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Yeah that's what I thought might get some this weekend
Also any help on getting some algae to grow in my tank?


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To get algae to grow keep the lights on for 12-14 hrs a day.

In my planted community tank I am using CaribSea FloraMax. Others use CaribSea Eco Complete, but I couldn't find any by me so I had to go for the floramax. Both of these substrates are designed specifically for plants. They come with some nutrients, but they are great at catching and holding nutrients.

Your light that you have now should be good for low light plants.

Roots tabs are similar to weekend fish feeders, but you push the root tab into the substrate and it slowly releases the nutrients over a period of months. Use root tabs with plants like water wisteria, amazon sword, and anacharis (elodea). I would remove some of the water before adding root tabs unless you quickly get them under the substrate. The ones I got started breaking apart after hitting the water.

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Can you post a picture of your light? I can't seem to find it online



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To get algae to grow keep the lights on for 12-14 hrs a day.

In my planted community tank I am using CaribSea FloraMax. Others use CaribSea Eco Complete, but I couldn't find any by me so I had to go for the floramax. Both of these substrates are designed specifically for plants. They come with some nutrients, but they are great at catching and holding nutrients.

Your light that you have now should be good for low light plants.

Roots tabs are similar to weekend fish feeders, but you push the root tab into the substrate and it slowly releases the nutrients over a period of months. Use root tabs with plants like water wisteria, amazon sword, and anacharis (elodea). I would remove some of the water before adding root tabs unless you quickly get them under the substrate. The ones I got started breaking apart after hitting the water.

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I've have been trying to leave my light on for 12 hours or so but I don't think I'm getting any algae growth at all :/
Here's a picture of my light ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1416612929.929902.jpgImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1416612951.754093.jpg

I'm thinking about getting some root tabs but I would have thought the waste from my Molly fry and shrimps would be fertilising the plants :/


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Root tabs and liquid ferts will def. Help..

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Root tabs and liquid ferts will def. Help..

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Ok thanks
But I was wondering wouldn't the fish waste help the plants to grow?
Also any help on growing algae?



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You want algae and I hate the stuff!! We need a way to somehow magically swap the algae into your tank, you could always find someone who has a bad algae problem on there plants etc and "borrow" some of there decorations and plants. That might help??


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You want algae and I hate the stuff!! We need a way to somehow magically swap the algae into your tank, you could always find someone who has a bad algae problem on there plants etc and "borrow" some of there decorations and plants. That might help??


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Yeah I do because I have shrimps to feed :p we really should!
But if I get like a slate full of algae and put it into the tank will the algae grown in my tank?


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Yea I expect it would spread? Not 100% tho. Got to be worth a try. :)


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