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Freshwater Plants for Aquarium

SagaLore

SagaLore

Elite Member
I could have sworn I have posted this before, but I can't find the thread to bump it. 😕

I have a 37 gallon tank. Good filtration, good ph. No problems.

But everytime I get a new plant for it, it lives for awhile, and then slowly dies back. So then I end up with a small plant with only a few leaves that aren't even that healthy looking. It happens with bulbs, ferns, and some vine plants. Actually, I do have this one sword fern that isn't dying and slowly growing, but the older leaves keep getting black spots.

Someone here suggested I need to get a better bulb. So I bought a bulb specifically for light that plants thrive on. My local pet shop also suggested that keeping the temperature up might help, so I raised it within reason. Recently, I got some plant nutrition that you stick in the gravel.

All the suggestions have helped keep the plants living longer but they still die back. At one point I did have a snail breakout, but they didn't seem to hurt the leaves at all, they were more interested in the glass and gravel.

Now what? 😕

update:

After reading an article posted by Aquaman, I realize now that my plants aren't getting any CO2. I bought a CO2 producer, and it is working very nicely. It is basically a canister that can handle high pressure; you put in CO2 activator (obviously yeast) and CO2 stabilizer (probably powdered salt) and a bunch of sugar, and water. After a few days it consistently produces a flow of CO2 that pushes bubbles along this diffuser that allows the bubble to roll back and forth to the top, to give it time to absorb into the water. By the time it gets to the top the bubble is almost completely gone.

It has been about 3 days - I'll bump this thread in 2 weeks, because by then there is supposed to be considerable plant growth. 🙂
 
Get rid of that undergravel filter. Consider a CO2 bubbler. Get some fertilizer - I've found fertilizer helps a lot. Make sure the fish aren't eating them....that was my ultimate problem 🙂
 
There can be a WHOLE range of problems... from nitrate/nitrite levels, co2 deficiency, o2 deficiency, fish taking a bite, not enough light or the wrong light levels, other chemicals in the water to stress the plants, fish waste in the water.... you name it, it's probably killing your plants. Maybe not enough nutrients in the subtrate.
 
Originally posted by: Jzero
Get rid of that undergravel filter. Consider a CO2 bubbler. Get some fertilizer - I've found fertilizer helps a lot. Make sure the fish aren't eating them....that was my ultimate problem 🙂
Click to expand...

No undergravel filter. My filter sits in the cabinent, with two hoses that go into the tank from the top.

So I need to increase my CO2? Should I just cut back on air bubbler output?

My platys and mollies don't seem to bother the plants. If you see a mollie pecking the leaf of a plant, they're doing it to get the bacteria that grow on them.
 
Originally posted by: SagaLore
So I need to increase my CO2? Should I just cut back on air bubbler output?
Click to expand...

Well, as Bleeb points out, it could be a host of things, which is why I said just to consider getting a CO2 bubbler. It's just a possibility 🙂 Reducing air bubbling is a better first step. I had a CO2 bubbler and it seemed to work well, but it was also annoying to have to maintain, so I stopped using it 🙂

My platys and mollies don't seem to bother the plants. If you see a mollie pecking the leaf of a plant, they're doing it to get the bacteria that grow on them.
Click to expand...

It was the gouramis. The little bastards.
 
you need protein and sunlight. why do you think we clean our wastewater before releasing it back into the rivers and lakes? Not because it's nasty swiming with floaters (though that plays a key part, lol), but because the protozoans and other microscoping animals/plants will thrive on this protein and suck all the oxygen from the water as their colonies expand. therefor killing the fish. *ahem* back to subject...
there are some tablets you can buy called "algea tablets" or flakes. they come in a bottle the size of a normal fish food container. drop one or two in, get some decent natural sunlight on your case (use a mirror from a window if necessary) and watch the water cloud up with life! Then get some filter feeders (clams, crayfish (for freshwater), etc.). Gotta build your system from the bottom up. not from the fish down. These little microscopic bastards (as i call them becuase they can really make your aquarium lok dirty) actually convert alot of oxygen into CO2 for your plants. With the filter feeders, you can keep thei'r population in check so they don't suffocate your fish life.

Generally speaking, if you can support algea consistantly to have a clam survive in your tank, you have the perfect enviornment (pH, sunlight, food, temp)
 
i had the same problem with store bought plants

i bought some plants through ebay and they are doing great!
at the time i thought the guy ripped me off because he charged crazy $ for the shipping, but these plants are thriving when all my store bought plants die

you need a good light for plants too
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
i had the same problem with store bought plants

i bought some plants through ebay and they are doing great!
at the time i thought the guy ripped me off because he charged crazy $ for the shipping, but these plants are thriving when all my store bought plants die

you need a good light for plants too
Click to expand...

What species of plant did you get?
 
Originally posted by: SagaLore
Originally posted by: FoBoT
i had the same problem with store bought plants

i bought some plants through ebay and they are doing great!
at the time i thought the guy ripped me off because he charged crazy $ for the shipping, but these plants are thriving when all my store bought plants die

you need a good light for plants too
Click to expand...

What species of plant did you get?
Click to expand...

i don't know, the ebay dude had a nice picture so i bought it. i might be able to find the ebay email and look it up, if the auction is still online
 
Originally posted by: Aquaman
Read this article 🙂

Cheers,
Aquaman
Click to expand...

Interesting. I never considered that my plants were dying back because of a lack of CO2 in the water. I always figured that they would get plenty from the fish, rotting organic material, and the bubbler (CO2 in our air diffused into the water).

Turns out that my bubbler might actually be causing the water to release what little CO2 it has. 😕

Yesterday I picked up some new decorations for the tank - it looks great - I will try and get pictures of it. I wish I would have gotten pictures of the tank before changing it. I tried making a bottle with sugar/water/flour/yeast, and ran a tube to the tank - it is creating carbon dioxide, but not enough pressure to push it through the tube into the water. When I was at the pet store I did see a CO2 diffuser; takes some kind of packets that each last a month.
 
Well my plants are looking well three days later 🙂

A few strands of the grass died, and a few leaves are a bit nibbled but other than that they look awesome.
 
After reading an article posted by Aquaman, I realize now that my plants aren't getting any CO2. I bought a CO2 producer, and it is working very nicely. It is basically a canister that can handle high pressure; you put in CO2 activator (obviously yeast) and CO2 stabilizer (probably powdered salt) and a bunch of sugar, and water. After a few days it consistently produces a flow of CO2 that pushes bubbles along this diffuser that allows the bubble to roll back and forth to the top, to give it time to absorb into the water. By the time it gets to the top the bubble is almost completely gone.

It has been about 3 days - I'll bump this thread in 2 weeks, because by then there is supposed to be considerable plant growth. 🙂
 
I've had generally good luck with aquarium plants, but the one that really stands out was hornwort which used to grow about two inches per day. I'd have to keep cutting it back and removing the excess, but the local fish stores would buy it, so I'd bring in bags of the stuff and swap it for fish food, fish, and other supplies.
 
I just got some of that. This stuff is pretty neat:

http://home.clara.net/xenotoca/hornw.htm

Ceratophyllum demersum has whirled leaves which are densely crowded at the apex of beautifully branched stems, whereas internodes may exceed 3 cm in length at the base of older stems. Ceratophyllum demersum is an obligate submerged perennial plant which does not form roots. In Nature it is usually found buried in sandy to silty sediments where it anchors itself by modified leaves. Ceratophyllum demersum often forms monospecific populations and is found down to 10 m depth as individual very slow-growing plants. In the aquarium, on the other hand, it prefers relatively high light, and it does not tolerate transportation for extended periods. It excretes substances toxic to algae (allelopathic behaviour) and at good growth conditions it efficiently inhibits most algae growth
Click to expand...

No roots, and is an algae killer...
 
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