Can someone talk to me about how to grow plants in a aquarium

[Aiken Drum]

Did you pick up on my comment that your light is a marine light? That could be an issue for you.

Is your ammonia really 4ppm? That is way too high and will causing your fish harm. Keeping your fish healthy should be your priority. Apart from that i dont see any issues with your water parameters.

I dont have any experience of using general purpose fertiliser rather than aquarium specific products, but i know people do use them.

 

[ADsnail]

I'm a gardener both in and out of the tank. A few things plants have taught me: going lighter green, not enough light but keep watching to see if new growth appears. Going white, nutrients totally stripped so cut that part off. Going brown or black, dead so cut it off. Any of the above but new shoots appearing means the old has died for whatever reason but the plant is still viable and willing to grow. This could mean it ends up being a leggy plant with fresh healthy top growth. Don't cut that off - you'd be removing the best part. It needs to be accepted for whatever form it takes, so my solution is to fill in with bushier plants under it.

 

[AwesomesHome]

I read somewhere that ph could be at 6 to 8 for planted tanks if the kh was good.



I don't know alot about KH or GH for planted aquariums.


I saw in a video that he said it doesn't matter what color the lights are and that plants could be grown using a desk light. So that made me think its not my lighting. Do you think the new plants would have grown and if the lighting was not right. I don't understand why the small new plants are growing and not the big plants.



I am testing my water every week and I made a document on open office that I will type all my parameters in every week, so we can talk about the parameters every week if yall want.



I am not using miracle grow all purpose plant food anymore because I think my shrimp were dying from it.



I bought seachem flourish and have been dosing it for two weeks now with no growth.



Here is this weeks water tests.



pH 6
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 0

Phosphates 2


I don't have KH or GH test kits, but I will purchase the test kits if yall think I need to, but do you think the new plants would have grown if KH and GH wasn't right.



I don't know why I can't get plant growth, but the plants are staying alive.



The small plants I have cut off and glued to a rock, when the small plants where growing on the big plants leaves they where at the bottom of the tank and now that they are higher in the tank some parts of the plants have turned brown, I think it is dead and some have stopped growing, I was thinking maybe because the plant it to close to the lighting now, I saw in a video he said that its good to have the lights about 30 cm above the water which in inches that is about 11.8 inches so I put it at about 11.8 inches above the water with the same intensity. Its on a metal stand that I can move up and down, but I don't know where I need it to be or what the intensity needs to be. I guess I can continue to mess with height and intensity. I don't really know what else to try other than that.


Any suggestions.



I have learned that in this hobby everything takes time to learn, so I guess I can keep messing with it and hopefully one day my tank will fill up with plants, and be beautiful!


Please let me know what yall think.

 

[AwesomesHome]

I Now have tapatalk so I can shar pictures.
Here is some pictures of my plant fish tank and the plants.

It’s nice to have some picture so y’all can see what is going on!



Here is a picture of my 55 gallon fish tank, the plants, and the fish.


This is one of the big plants that isn't growing, but it is growing new plants on the leaves.


The middle plant is a big plant that is not growing.


The middle plant is a big plant that is not growing.


This is the biggest of the plants that grew on the leaves that I have cut off, glued to the rocks and it has stopped growth.

 

[AwesomesHome]

Here is one of the new plants glued to the rocks It was mostly green when the plants where cut off the leaves of the other plant. Now it is turning brown. Growth has stopped.


Here is one of the new plants glued to the rocks It was mostly green when the plants where cut off the leaves of the other plant. Now it is turning brown. Growth has stopped.

This plant was a nice tall plant that was messed up by the goldfish. Hopefully it grows back. Has not had any growth glued on the rock.


This plant was also messed with by my goldfish. I am waiting on new leaves to grow.


I have made some adjustments to the goldfish feeding so hopefully the goldfish don't mess with the plants anymore.

 

[AwesomesHome]

There are some pictures.

 

[AwesomesHome]

Here is the picture of the new root growth.

 

[AwesomesHome]

Here is a picture of the new plants when I cut the plants off the leaves.

 

[Fishingtrees]

The reddish plant looks like a Ludwiga and probably isn't a low light plant. Might be why it isn't growing. The java fern and anubias look good though.

Someone earlier pointed out your marine light and that may have something to do with some of your issues. Wave lengths are different in freshwater aquarium lights. It is why cheaper LED that are used for growing indoor (pot) won't work in an aquarium.

 

[AwesomesHome]

I purchased new lighting, I have hygger full spectrum led lighting. Can someone help me with the settings that I need for it?


How many hours? Inches above water? Light intensity?

 

[AwesomesHome]

Is it possible that my filter is making the water to clean?


Here is my water tests this week.



1/02/21 pH 6.4 Ammonia 0.5 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 0 Phosphates 1.0


With the new lights some of the plants have lost color. Do you think it could be because of the low Nitrates?

 

[Fishingtrees]

Is it possible that my filter is making the water to clean?


Here is my water tests this week.



1/02/21 pH 6.4 Ammonia 0.5 Nitrites 0 Nitrates 0 Phosphates 1.0


With the new lights some of the plants have lost color. Do you think it could be because of the low Nitrates?

Ammonia will turn to nitrates in a fully cycled tank. Fertilizers help mineralize the water for plant absorbtion and plants will consume some nitrates.

As for the light 7-9 hours usually works well with most plants. Intensity depends on what you try and grow but will also increase the need for fertilizers.