Poor growth... Any ideas

[AtHomeWithTwins]

Hey all. I have a 55 gallon thats been set up a couple months now. I want it to be heavily planted low tech. So far growth has been poor at best. Most of the plants have been transferred from another tank where they grew well. I have pfs substrate, 2x32w t8s right above surface on for 7 hrs/day, dose flourish and leaf zone and root tabs. I have anacharis, wisteria, water sprite, amazon sword, anubias. Im having some issues with diatoms and green algae too so i dont want to leave the lights on much longer. Any ideas what may get these plants to perk up? Thanks!!

 

[Mr. Nowhere]

Ime my 55 set up like yours has takin months to really grow in its coming along now though patients is key with low tech

Sent from my SGH-T599N using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[clarkm]

After replanting 58 gallon tank it has taken around 4 months for everything to settle in and now finally getting good growth.

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

Hey all. I have a 55 gallon thats been set up a couple months now. I want it to be heavily planted low tech. So far growth has been poor at best. Most of the plants have been transferred from another tank where they grew well. I have pfs substrate, 2x32w t8s right above surface on for 7 hrs/day, dose flourish and leaf zone and root tabs. I have anacharis, wisteria, water sprite, amazon sword, anubias. Im having some issues with diatoms and green algae too so i dont want to leave the lights on much longer. Any ideas what may get these plants to perk up? Thanks!!

Hello At...

Check the lighting requirements for the plants. The dark green species generally require only low or subdued lighting. Light green aquatic plants require brighter light.

I keep low light, low tech tanks. A couple of 6500K T8 or T12 bulbs from the hardware store are sufficient. I keep Anubias, Java fern, some of the mosses like Christmas and Singapore. Floating plants like Hornwort, Common water weed and Pennywort will do well close to the light.

Wisteria and Sprite are quirky. By that, I mean they do well in some tanks and die off in others with the same lighting. I quit those, the floaters I listed above are much easier to keep.

Aquatic plants are tropical and used to long hours of daylight. I keep my tank lights on a timer set for 12 hours on and 12 off. The floating plants use up all the nitrates, so there's nothing for algae to use. Algae hasn't grown in my tanks in several years.

I don't dose commercial ferts, they're pricey and if you have a good stock of fish in the tank and feed them a good diet, they'll provide all the ferts needed. You do need to change half the tank water every couple of weeks to maintain good mineral levels for the plants.

Just some info. to consider or not. Attached is pic of a 55G. Apologies, apparently the photo is pretty dark.

B

 

[Plantaholic]

Wisteria and Sprite are quirky. By that, I mean they do well in some tanks and die off in others with the same lighting. I quit those, the floaters I listed above are much easier to keep.

The floating plants use up all the nitrates

Here is your problem and solution B...

 

[philipraposo198]

I notice my plants tend to do better with larger wcs. Also gotta give it time. I would suggest moving to dry ferts. Npk and micros.

How often do you feed your fish? How much stock you have?

All your plants are low light and should do fine but they are slow growers in low tech tanks.

Ignore the diatoms. They will be gone in a bit.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[AtHomeWithTwins]

I have 13 rummynose, 5 harlequin rasboras, 10 green neon, 3 panda cories. Want to add gbrs or apistos eventually, but want the tank and plants to mature first.