Tank Cycle and Plants

[Saltair]

I have just started my first real attempt at keeping fish right. I really want a planted tank, but plants are very hard to find up here. There are a couple places to get them, but the assortment is random and unlabeled so figuring ot what you are looking at as a novice is next to impossible.

When I started the tank I picked up a selection of swords at Petco that came in the plastic tubes with the gel on the roots. I planted them in the tank, added root tabs then added my starter fish. I up graded the light in the tank to a 5500K T8. The package showed the spectrum, and it seemed to cover everything. The brand name is Tropic Sun from Med Zoo.

So the swords are all dying. It started with dark spots on the leaves then the just turned brown. Do you have to wait for the tank to cycle before the plants will stay healthy? i.e. not enough nitrates to feed the plants? All the fish I have and plan to have will be south/central American in origin and I would like to stick with plants to match.

Tank has been running 11 days and currently ammonia and nitrites are at aprox 1ppm and nitrates are approaching 5ppm. The nitrites and nitrates just began to register in the last couple days.

 

[XimeD]

Do you know what kind ot swords you have? 15W for a 16gal tank is still in the low-light end, there might not be enough light for your swords.

Cycling your tank with plants should not kill the plants. I would try using some fertilzer like seachem fluorish (micronutrients) + fluorish excel (organic carbon) to see if this makes a difference.

Anubias, crypts, vals, java fern and java moss would be good choices for a low-light low tech set-up. You could always get them online if your LFS doesn's carry them.

 

[StuG]

My guess would be (and this is just a guess) that the "sword" that petco sold you in those little tubes is not a true aquatic. It was probably Spathyphyllum, aka Peace Lily.

 

[BigJim]

The swords are one of the few aquatic plants sold in those tubes. They're most likely amazons. I bought one of those tubes with three plants. Two of them are growing out the top of my 29g. The third is only a few inches tall. I'm not sure if it's a different species or if it just doesn't like the conditions in my 20L.

As XimeD said, swords need decent light. Mine didn't do well until I put two 24W CFLs over my 29g and added root tabs. I've backed down to 18W CFLs and the swords have slowed down significantly. I do need to add some more root tabs though.

Cycling with plants won't hurt anything. Farmers use ammonium nitrate as fertilizer. Your plants will actually use the ammonia and its products.

 

[Saltair]

The swords are the amazon swords. I did some poking around and it would seem I dont have nearly enough light for them. I went to a couple LFS today and picked up some Hornwort and Java Fern thinking I would yank out the worst of the swords. I also looked at different lighting.

When I got home during a WC I pulled the first of the swords out and the root structure had taken off all through the substrate. I clipped off the dead/dying leaves and put it back the best I could. I still added the other plants, but did not remove any swords. I have been using root tabs. If I have root growth, but the leaves are dying is it all a light issue? I didn't see anything brighter than 15W at the store. All the 18" bulbs were 15W, but they had different K values and emphasis was on different parts of the spectrum. How often do you add root tabs? I have added them with weekly water changes. Too much? Not enough?

 

[XimeD]

Weekly root tabs seems like too much. Also plants need light, CO2 and nutrients (macro and micro) to live, the root tabs address the nutrients but not the CO2 or light. What i'm trying to say is that if nutrients are not your limiting factor adding more nutrients will not solve your problem.

For plant lighting you want to get anything between 5000K and 10000K, most people use the "sunlight" fluorescents at 6500K, so your T8 5500K is fine, you would need to add another one or get another fixture with 2 tubes (depends on your budget, alternatively you could just get any low-light plant and forgo the swords)

 

[BigJim]

I think your substrate should be fertile for quite a while if you've added root tabs weekly. Swords will send out massive root structures. The amazon swords in my 29g have roots that reach from one end of the tank to the other.

You probably won't be able to find a fluorescent bulb with more wattage. You'll have to upgrade your fixture or just add a second light. 6700K/daylight is the preferred spectrum, but it's not that crucial. If you're a little bit handy, you could make a spiral CFL fixture pretty easily.

 

[Saltair]

How often should root tabs be added?

 

[Bigzmey]

How often should root tabs be added?

Monthly, or every other month

 

[FishEggs]

i go about 4 months before i add more. it all depends on how much the plants are using and if the swords arent growing out of the tank they arent using much at all. i would stop adding them for a month or 2.