Heather,
Planted tanks are as much of an adventure as fish are. Maybe more so IMO. I've tried to help many newbies to the planted side and wrote up this essay to help explain the "plant triad" I will post this here for you and hope it helps you out. OS.
""Anybody can grow good plants as there is no secret. Just the basics and one more ingredient, consistency. Doing WC's, dosing carbon and ferts and adding light at the same amount and at the same time is the key.
First is light. Match the temperature and intensity to the plants you want to grow. Low, medium, high light is your choices. Tank height is a factor. Realize that it is better to have more light than necessary and control it by limiting time on than having too little light intensity and try and make up for it with long light periods that usually only help algae. Research what watts per gallon or PAR level you need for the plants you want to grow. IMO get the best, brightest light fixture you can afford. Light is the most important part of the plant triad.
Second is good balanced ferts. Learn what each macro and micro fert does for the plants.
You have to be able to dose each separately up to a point so you can keep the NO3, K, PO4 and traces in the right ratios to each other. Too much of one and not enough of another causes algae and poor growth. I like keeping NO3 at least 10ppm and at most up to 40ppm at weekly WC. Keep PO4 in ratio with NO3 of about 10:1. As in 10ppm NO3 with 1ppm PO4 or 20ppm NO3 with 2ppm PO4. This doesn't have to be exactly precise as long as it is close to this ratio. I find the PPS-Pro dry ferts are able to let me custom dose and keep each in balance easiest and is less expensive. I keep the NO3 in a separate bottle, the K and PO4 together in one bottle and the traces in one bottle. If you choose any plants that it say likes iron, you can get a bottle of Seachem's Iron + MG and dose a little after each WC only. Never go overboard on iron. Also know which plants are more root feeders. Give them a good root tab under them about every 3 months. You still need water ferts though. There is only one way to control your fert levels. TEST BEFORE EACH WC. Keep a journal by your tank. Write down your test results. Go by dates. Record when you did each WC and how much of each fert you want to dose for that week. This is the consistency thing again. How much you dose will be determined by your plant's use of each. Start at the minimum dose of 1ml per 10g and go up from there a little each week until you get the level you want at the end of the week's WC period. And DON"T put off WC;s by more than a couple of days. 50% is a good amount, but sometimes I've had to do 75% if NO3 was particularly high that week.
Third is Carbon. Anything above low light, slow growth Anubias and Ferns will need more CO2 or carbon than what's in the water naturally. Your choice is Gluteraldehyde or pressurized CO2. Excel or Metricide14(much cheaper) can be dosed each morning at or before the lights come on. It will dissipate in 24 hrs so it HAS to be dosed DAILY. Here again, consistency. Glut is about 60% as efficient as CO2 but many awesome tanks can be had with just glut. I used it for a year before going with pressurized with great results. Even using CO2, I still dose 10ml of glut to help keep algae down and give the plants a little extra boost. As you go up in light level or increase the amount of plants, you up the glut dosage to as high as 1ml per 2 gal. There are some plants and some shrimp that are glut sensitive so you have to do your research there. A lot of algae problems are caused by inconsistent carbon levels. As all the plants get used to a certain level, you then have to maintain that level daily. In pressurized CO2, bubbles per second depends on your tank and how it's set up. How much surface agitation you have. Go by a drop checker. They are essential IMO. You want a true green color.
Match your plants to the best locations in the tank. Plant the ones that need higher light in the brightest places. Watch for shading by hardscape or other taller plants. Also, keep things trimmed nice. It keeps crowding and shading down and can help keep old leaf decay and algae down. As you try new plants, you will find some that just won't grow well for you. Don't sacrifice your whole scape just for it. Don't let it's demands cause you to have excess algae or make the other plants suffer. Toss that sucker and try something else. There's just too many plants out there to put up with a dud. I have several I just can't grow well but other people can. I don't worry about it though I just move on. Two plants I don't like because of problems I've had with them are HC cuba (dwarf baby's tears) and Ludwigia glandulosa. You will have your hits and misses also.
Hope this helps. I know it's a long explanation but planted tanks are a long voyage.
Do what I did. Dive in and try different things. "Darn the torpedos, full speed ahead!""
Good luck, Brian(OS)
