# Why are they now dieing?



## Betta splendens (Nov 30, 2006)

In my tank most of my plants have decided to, well, die. I have good lighting and dechlorinated water. 

They didn't start dieing until I changes substrate from rock to sand if that matters.


What are some ways I can keep them alive?

What's this about carbon whatever-whatevers?

And what do these typicall look like?


----------



## Ltrepeter2000 (Dec 6, 2006)

Plants are a subject where we need alot of specifics to answer your questions. We need to know what type of plants you have, what size tank, what kind of light, whether or not you are using any kind of fertilizers, how long have you had the plants. 

Thanks
Rob


----------



## angelfishamy (Jul 22, 2006)

They might be dying because you disturbed their root structure by changing the substrate.Also sometimes changing substrate can change the tank conditions like Ph etc.Try testing the water if thats the problem.


----------



## Betta splendens (Nov 30, 2006)

The light is 18w, and the tank is 15 gal. The plant species are Anubias barteri var. nana, Elrocharis acicularis, Vallisneria gigantea (straight vallis), cabomba caroliniana, Hygrophila polysperma, and Spathiphyllum wallisii. Sorry, I'm just using the tags that they came with, no clue that their common names are...


----------



## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

18w on a 15g tank is not considered good lighting. As your tank is a hex tank, its probably taller than a normal tank to begin with. Im not sure as I am not a plant person really but heres my ideas on it anyway - Cabomba is not a low light plant. Hygro is easy to grow but stem plants with low light get very scraggly and look... unsightly. A spathiphyllum is actually not a true aquatic plant. I don't know anything about the val, but I think most val species require medium to high light and you definitely don't have that. The Eleocharis acicularis is a medium to very high light plant.

Your anubias however is probably at home. Unfortunately I don't think any of the other plants are getting proper lighting. As I said, I'm not a real plant person... just a baby when it comes to plants. Perhaps someone that knows a bit more will stop by.


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2007)

I agree with Christine....the plants are dying from lack of light. The only plant that will do well in that light is the Anubias. If you want to save the other plants, you should upgrade your ligthing. I'd try to get 50 or so watts over that tank, since some of the plants are medium-high light. More than that would be great, although then you'd have to think about CO2.

What kind of bulb does your hood/light fixture hold? Is it just a fluorescent tube? If so, then I'm afraid you'll need a new fixture. But if it holds the screw in type of bulb, that should be easy to upgrade.

Once you upgrade the lighting, you'll need to start fertilizing.

Plants need alot of things and you either have to choose plants that fit your needs (low light, low maintenance), or upgrade your lighting to accommodate certain plants. It takes research to have live plants just like it does to keep fish. You can't just stick plants in the tank and hope they grow. That's what we're here for though, to help you research and figure out which plants are best for you depending on how much you want to adjust your lighting for them.


----------



## Betta splendens (Nov 30, 2006)

Well its the light that came with the tank so I'm assuming that it's ok, and its non british european-i dont kno if that makes a dif or not. And the reason the title of my thread is "Why are they *now* dieing is because they did great the first two months, ever since I changed to sand from rock substrate they turned sickly.

And Christine, what you said about the vallises, they're the only plant that's acually going along life unchanged, as I find them the most durrable plant in several occasions.


Kristin (assuming that's your name), please explain the fertilization, and what they look like (because the store people don't speak english so they can't help me, and all the labels aren't in english).


----------



## Puffer Pita (Jun 16, 2006)

Odd, you have access to a store with a variety of fish and aquatic plants, but they don't sell thermometers?


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2007)

Plant fertlizers like Flourish (made by the company Seachem) would be good if you could find them. I would get that and use it maybe once every 2 weeks right now. But if you upgrade the lighting, then you'll need to use it more.

Here is a picture (in English) :Flourish. I'm not sure what all countries they sell it in...so not sure if you'll be able to find it. But alteast you'll know what it looks like.




> Well its the light that came with the tank so I'm assuming that it's ok


Just because it came with the tank, doesn't mean you can grow alot of plants with it.  Most stock tank lighting isn't enough to grow more than Anubias, Java fern, and Java moss. If you want a planted tank (with more than those 3 plants) you'll have to increase the wattage. And with a fluorescent fixture, you might as well get another because unless you can find a retrofit kit (where you take out the bulb and ballast of your current lighting and replace with power compact ballast and bulb), then you won't be able to get more wattage as all the bulbs of that length will be the same wattage.

So, if you want to keep the plants alive (besides the Anubias), you'll have to get more watts over the tank. 

Here is a good beginner plant article: "Basics to starting a planted tank"

What country are you in? I forgot...


----------



## Betta splendens (Nov 30, 2006)

Boxermom, like I said they do indeed sell thermometers, but its the kind where it doesn't tell you the acual temp, it just has green and yellow areas to tell you the approx in it, like if the bar's on green than it's supposed to be ok, if its on a low yellow its getting too cold but bearable, and if its the yellow above the green then its too warm but bearable....do you get it? It looks SORTA like this, it's not the same model or even same shape: http://img.diytrade.com/cdimg/95109/1439080/0/1137416364.jpg and instead of the degrees on the side like shown in the pic, it's numbered 0 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 0. It's royally messed up but I assume the green area is the 70'sF or so. My room temp is always 25 C if that makes a dif, because the the tank water is always lukewarm. 

Kristin, I live in Germany, the rural part so the only petshops are built into garden stores. They acually have a good fish selection and tons of food but not much in other stuff, not at all like the US. *dreams about PetCo and Aqua Land*. And thanks for your advice I'll try the fertilizer, and see about a replacement bulb.


----------



## Betta splendens (Nov 30, 2006)

Ok I just replanted the plants, as well as new ones, in a rock substrate and dechlorinized the water. Lets wait a few days and see what happens.


----------



## Christine (Nov 4, 2005)

So you just replaced your substrate? At the same time you have plants that are dieing and no filter running? Probably not the best move :/ Or do you mean you moved your plants to a different tank? If you replaced your substrate - if you had a bacteria bed from cycling your tank (not sure if your tank is even cycled since you mentioned having it running for 2 months and youve changed substrate twice now? or was that just the pump that was running for 2 months?)... you probably don't anymore now that you have no filter and no established substrate. Your tank is very overstocked even with everything in perfect order. I suspect that you may soon develop ammonia/nitrite problems if you don't have them already. Do you have a test kit?


----------



## Guest (Jan 5, 2007)

> Lets wait a few days and see what happens


I really doubt that putting them in gravel is going to help. You need more watts over the tank to help the plants out. If you read that article I linked to, it talks about lighting. You can't grow high light plants in very low light and expect them to thrive...it just won't happen. Not with gravel, not with fertilizers....lighting is very important. You'll probably have to get another fixture, because if the one you have is for a single fluorescent bulb, all the replacement bulbs will be the same wattage. Plants take research, time, and money.


----------



## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Your fluorescent bulbs are not putting out as much light as when new. Fluorescent bulbs start loosing output pretty fast.


RC


----------



## Ltrepeter2000 (Dec 6, 2006)

Ok The substrate is not really the issue here so changing it twice has hurt you more than anything because it disturbed the mulm that had managed to build up in your tank. I concur with everyone above that you do not have the lighting necessary for these plants. Many of the stem plants would do fine for a few months before they start to rot, usually from the bottom as thats the part of the plant that receives the least amount of light. You may want to check out GWAPA.org to see about plants. If you dont have access to ferts there are articles on gwapa's site that describe how to create a substrate using basic items that are usually available in a garden shop. With the normal dimensions of a hex tank in mind I would imagine you will need a fixture that provides almost 4 watts per gallon over your tank for you to be successful with the stem plants. What fish do you have in the tank? We might be able to suggest some plants that will do better and be a nice contrast to your fish at the same time.

Thanks
Rob


----------

