First time with live plants, I need help!

[JCarnes]

I have had several aquariums through out the years and I currently have a 29 gallon community tank. I purchased and setup a 55 gallon aquarium over the weekend. I planted it and I am worried my plants are not doing well.

I used floramaxx for the substrate and topped it off with gravel (I keep Cory cats and was worried about it being sharp). I planted the tank 2 days ago with root tabs under each plant. I have the filter running and the heater on and the light on a timer for 11 hours a day. I am using an Aqueon t5 48 inch dual light.

There are no fish in the tank and I am picking up ammonia to start cycling tonight. I noticed the edges of the plants getting brown and there are several "scratches" on some of the leaves. I have low light plants like Amazon sword, java fern, and anubias nana. I am wondering if this is normal since they were from petsmart and petco in those plastic containers? Or is there something I should be doing different?

I am also worried about cycling with ammonia and live plants but I have read on here that it should be fine.

Any advice at all is appreciated!

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[dzyatfz]

Aqueon t5 48 inch dual light， how many watt per gallon? make sure it is proper high for you plants.
tab should be place by area, not each plants, pls check the manual.

not just nitrate, plants need other macro and micro fertilizer, if you don't have fish, or no fertilizer, there is no food for you plants.

 

[Sk3lly]

Lights on for 11 hours might end up causing algae issues

Brown stuff on leaves might be diatoms caused by excess silicates in the water. Will go away on its own. Look it up on the net

Root tabs are per area as already mentioned and you only really need them near heavy root feeders

Get hold of a basic fertiliser. Something like seachem flourish complete

Ammonia will be fine with the plants

I think thts all

 

[Mebbid]

It sounds like everything is going how its supposed to be. The leaves that are there will all wilt and die. This is because the plants have a different leaf structure when grown on land when compared to underwater.

 

[JCarnes]

Decreased lighting to 9 hours a day and added some API Leaf Zone this morning.

Can not find ammonia anywhere (Home Depot is about 100 miles from me)

Added a very small amount of crushed up fish food this morning and will continue to check my water levels. Most likely going to add some of the hardy fish from my 29 gallon to the 55 gallon this weekend and cycle with fish.


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[tnfinfan]

Do you have an Ace hardware? They often have "janitor" pure ammonia there. That's what most folks get. When I set up my small tank after taking a long break, I couldn't find pure ammonia anywhere. I asked at the LFS and they looked at me like I was from Mars. Fish food works but it's slower. Fish-in is a royal pain.

 

[JCarnes]

i dont have an Ace Hardware either. I was able to find some Amazon and ordered it. I should have it on Saturday. Until then I am just watching the plants to make sure they have liquid fertilizer. I tested my water again last night and everything is still at zero (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) which is what I expected.

 

[Sk3lly]

Get yourself some seachem excel. Its a liquid carbon. The plants tend to do better when theyve got a carbon source. Injected co2 or liquid carbon. Both work

 

[NYgiantsRP]

The plants you have dont need any carbon source. They are very hardy plants that will do fine with just average light. Some leaves might die off, just be patience. Those plants dont really need any fertilizers either. Make sure the anubias and java fern arent buried in the substrate. The roots need to be exposed or they will rot and the plant will die.

 

[JCarnes]

What do you recommend attaching java ferns and anubias to? And does that apply to all anubias and java ferns? I have annubias nana as well as annubias compacta, and narrow leaf java and windelov java.

 

[NYgiantsRP]

Yes, all anubias and java fern. You can use a rubberband, fishing line, thread, or zipties. You can even use superglow. Put them on a peice of wood, decoration or rock.

 

[misterc007]

I just put one of those lead strips on the plant at the bottom draped over the drift wood (I kind off shape it to the surface)and left them in there for a couple weeks to give the plant time to attach itself then I remove the lead strip and they stay in place.