plants w/o fish?

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Daymine

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Apr 12, 2012
Messages
32
So I had some java fern that I didn't know what to do with. I thought it would be a good idea to put it in a jar and leave them outside to grow but within a week they were all dead, I assume from lack of co2.
What can i do to avoid this?
 
Hi could have been a few different reasons? Temperature fluctuating to much daytime/night time? Lack of light?{unlikely} Lack of nutrients in the water? Did you use water from your fish tank? Also i believe java ferns need to be fixed to something like wood or rocks?
 
Yeah I was trying to get them to attach to rocks. I assume it probably had something to do with all of those things lol. I did use water from my fishtank btw
 
There is a good chance that they were killed by too much light. I have had similar results with other plants, that need more light than Java ferns.
 
It was an open container and I added some seachem flourish too it
 
Flourish only contains micronutrients. Your plant probably starved from a lack of macronutrients, such as nitrate and phosphate.
 
My guess was a sever shock from direct sunlight burned their delicate state, just like hardening off plants/veggies from a nursery to plant out side, they are used to a set temperature and amount of light, then BAM!

Water in a jar can intensify the sunlight and /heat up much higher than the ambient temp.

Too cold at night?

Also light requirements are sometimes a plant may need very bright light, but not direct light!
 
I grew a big ball of Java Fern in a spare 1.5g tank. No light other than a table lamp (not shining at the tank, just next to it) and no fish. I had a Betta in there at one point. I had some MTS. I have a tiny Anubias in there also. My Java Fern ball got bigger till it was filling the whole tank. I took most of it out and took it to a local SVAS auction with proceeds going to MY club SFBAAPS. I ended up donating a baseball sized wad of Java Fern.

I left a small bit behind to start another ball of Java Moss growing. I too think your Moss may have died due to the direct sunlight either heating or frying the Moss in some way. :(
 
I had java fern, not moss. but I agree that that probably is what did it in. Lesson learned I suppose
 
I've never heard of and actual case of light causing plant death, but I have seen blamed several times. Heat/cold is a much more likely candidate.
 
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