How do you get aquarium plants to grow and survive???

[mr_stallion1]

I have a 5 ft tank with a 4ft light and have approximately 20 small african cichlids in it.  I have purcahsed heaps of aquarium plants to only have them die and rot in 1 month.  
What is the key to success when trying to get plants to grow and stay healthy??  I have the aquarium light on for 1 hr in the morning and 1 hr at night.

Plants which I have put in the tank to only have them die are anubrias, sword etc  
please help all advice  is needed!!!

[Alan Caboolture]

For starters, African cichlids are not plant friendly.   All the Mbunas and Trophius are vegetarian and eat plants.   The others do a lot of digging and landscaping and are for ever uprooting plants.

Plastic plants are the only ones guaranteed to survive in an African tank.

[ndoboi]

Come on Alan - you've said that African Cichlids and plants dont mix, sighting TWO examples... Not a very broad section of African cichlids  :?

Tropheus, for example, shouldnt be a problem with hardier plants - Anubias and Java Fern (microsorium pteropus) - considering that the fish are an algea grazer, not a plant eater. Shouldnt too much of a problem with most Mbuna either - the problem lies with the anchoring of the plants so as they're not constantly uprooted. Both above plants are ideal as they will anchor to rocks, driftwood, etc.

Other Cichlids can be considered too - how about cave spawners or open water spawners - fish that arent renowned for their digging habits. Below are a couple of shots of my 48x20x20 planted tanganyikan tank. Not biotypical, but it sure is pleasing to my eye!  :lol:  In this tank I had to steer away from sand sifters with Crypts and Aponogeton rooted in the gravel. All plants are growing well.

Some of the 'tricks' i have found to keeping it all healthy -
Lighting - The plant rule of thumb is 1W of light per 1G of water. Not always practicle, I have settled for TWO 48in tubes on my tank.
Photoperiod - 10 Hours per day!! 2 is just not enough.
Fertilisers - I use both liquid and solid fertilisers. My gravel is a mixture of fine black and Seachem Onxy Sand (expensive, but the plants love it!)
Undergravel Filters - DONT have them. Plants usually wont (I wont say never....) flourish with undergravel filters. They dont like the water current over the roots.
Research - Lots and lots of it. Working out which plants will tolerate the water and lighting conditions.

Dont give up - if you want a planted African tank it can be done.

Cheers
Stephen

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[img:7ec3997bd9]http://members.optusnet.com.au/~stephenyoung/mypic50.JPG[/img:7ec3997bd9]

[mr_stallion1]

In the tank I have pulu points, electric yellows and blues.  In regards to the lighting if I do put the light on for 10hrs is that going to cause  an algae bloom???  Also should the plants (swords) have their root system in the sand or above??

[ndoboi]

With regards to Algae - it's all a matter of balance. Algae will bloom if there is an over abundance of nutrients in the water (it wont take in solid fertilisers). Plants will remove the nutrients from the water and out compete the algae. You can expect it to cycle when you begin - there will normally be a brown algae bloom initially that will disappear. If you then get too much green algae growing you can look at reducing the photo period by a couple of hours, staggering the photoperiod (ie 2 hours on in the morning, off for 4 hours, then back on for 8 ) as algae doesnt handle this as well as plants, and water changes to reduce the amount of disolved nutrients. I have bugger all algae growing in the 48in tank.

Correction to my last post on watts per gallon - it should be 2 to 5 wpg, not 1. oops  :roll:

Swords need to be 'planted' in the substrate - you can protect them to some extent from the diggers by putting rocks around them.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Stephen

[mr_stallion1]

At the moment we have just bought new plants today and have set the light for 2 hrs in the morning (6-8am) and 3 at night (6.30-9.30).
Should we put it on for 2-3 hrs during the day say midday??

We are running 2 x4 ft fluros., high powered?
Do you need to buy water soluble fertiliser or are they ok without it?

[ndoboi]

I would be running the lights during the day as well, to try and get it up
around the 10hours. 2 x 48in flouros should be suitable.

Im guessing that you got swords today? If so, they will be ok in the short
term without any soluble fertlisers - but they will need some sort of supplement eventually.
I recommend a slow release fertiliser for the rooted plants (swords, crypts, aponogetons) and
soluble fertilisers for the 'attached' plants (anubias, java fern).
I guess it comes down to the choice between thriving plants or barely surviving plants. If I were more
serious about the plants in my tank I would have a CO2 system as well!!

[Cichlidkeeper]

Hey champ first thing I would do in your instance is grab a decent plant fertilizer from you lfs. With the lighting you need to establish a 10 - 12 hour photosynthesis period as turning of you lights for 15min will break this and send your plants to sleep. The lighting advice above is good but if you want to go with a dutch style plantted tank (ie:wicked looking garden in your tank) get a few Metal halides or a good varience of spectrums, prob compacts and actinics and study up on it. A really good planted tank will require Co2, plenty of iron, plenty of light, and the fish become an afterthought IMO

[sharkbaitnemo]

While we're on the topic of planted aquariums, can anyone recommend a good snail medication ?  I've been using the aqua master stuff but still have snails eating my plants.

Thanks
Jason

[nemo1981]

i could recommend the trusty clown loach.. :wink:
cured my dilemma :D

[mr_stallion1]

I have now changed my light setting to 3 hr 20 mins morning 2hrs 10 min midday and 3hrs 30 for night time. TOTAL-9hrs light.

Where can you get good plant food for a good price?? also is there anysite whereby you can buy the plants and get them delivered over the net for a good price??


Does anyone know somebody in Central Queensland who sells plants at a good price?

[Cichlidkeeper]

Plants over the net, track down Jennifer from Aquamail in port maquarie, she will send you some and she knows her stuff. As far as your lighting, just hit it for 10-12 hrs a day...or more but dont try and get tricky and plan it round when you want cause its about what the plant need! put into play the basic rules of growing hydro and you will be OK. I kid you not, plants sleep, same in an aquarium, do your homework and it will turn out well

[fishtraderlau]

g'day champ,

as for plants in cq, there aren't really any devoted places with good plants, neptunes in rocky has some reasonable plants in not too bad prices, as does fish freaks but for things a little more different i tend to get plants for my tanks over from west australia. i plan on setting up a new planted tank when i get back home so if interested could share a shipment of plants over if you were interested.

cheers,

Adrew.

[Savage_roo]

How tall is the tank what lights are u running
and are the plants rotting off at the base?
If the plants are rotting of at the base you need more light
a nother way is put the tank near a window i know algy get a few B/n
I had my lights on from 10 am to 10 pm and they lived ok
Or you could try a co2 generator
Good luck

[mr_stallion1]

the tank is 5x18x20 and we are running 2 x 4ft fluoros. The plants are not rotting at the roots they just eventually get leaf root and then all the leaves fall off and you are just left with a healty stem  :cry: