When to change plants?

**escamosa** · 02-01-2009, 01:48 AM

Should you replace your plant's as soon as you notice the leaves falling off or is there a general life span of plant's?
My son pointed out to me that our first tank was a bit cloudy, have done tests and the ammonia levels were only very slightly up.
I did a small water change but the water was still a bit cloudy a couple of hours later, some of the plants were a little bit old lookin so i swapped them over with some new ones and it seems to be clearing up.
What do ya think?

**Cameron** · 02-01-2009, 01:50 AM

yea if they're starting to rot, just pull'em. From what i know thats the way to go, cause they probably wont bouce back.

**escamosa** · 02-01-2009, 01:56 AM

Yeah, they wer'nt really rotting i dont think, the leaves were just falling off Trigun, maybe that's a sighn to change your plant's.

**Hailey** · 02-01-2009, 02:14 AM

Well what kind of plants were they? sometimes you have to trim them and stuff like that so that doesnt happen.

**escamosa** · 02-01-2009, 02:19 AM

Gee, i'm not sure Hailey, i'll ask next time, i did'nt know there were plants that you had to trim.
Thank's, that's interesting.
Oh, buy the way, that's the best AC/DC album i think i've heard.

**Dave66** · 02-01-2009, 02:57 AM

Many plants live for years, even decades. And some, like the sword plants that reproduce via runners, are basically immortal, with copies of itself ad infinitum.

You have to trim judiciously to keep your layout from becoming such a dense jungle the fish can't swim. Trimming a planted tank to maintain the layout you designed is an art in itself.

And your plants losing leaves means something was lacking in your tank in either light, substrate, pH, hardness, temperature, acclimation and leaf fertilization. It could also be that the plant you purchased wasn't an aquatic plant at all; just a bog plant species sold as aquatic by unscrupulous or ignorant sellers.

Dave

**escamosa** · 02-01-2009, 05:34 AM

Thank's Dave, you mentioned light and substrate, i dont really run the fluro to much, mostly only when i'm testing or just looking at the fish and the room they,re in is not really well lit. Any particular time length i should run the fluro?
I'm useing about a 3-5mm stone to plant them in, is that ok?
PH is around 6.5. and temp is about 26 deg.
Thank's again.

**Dave66** · 02-01-2009, 06:07 AM

plants need a photoperiod just like we do. I run my aquarium lights 12 hours a day, with the mains (halides) on between 10 a.m. and four p.m. I'd at least run your lights 10 hours a day.
Regular gravel has no nutrients in it like chelated iron, potassium and the like to feed the roots of the plants. Remember, terrestrial plants grow in dirt. Aquatic plants grow basically in mud. There are several brands of substrates designed for planted aquaria, with the two most prominent - Eco Complete and Flourite - very good.

As for lights, for optimal plant growth you need to buy bulbs that simulate sunlight, in sufficient wattage to penetrate the water. Sunlight on a sunny day is roughly 6700K in color temperature. Plants photosynthesize best at that color temperature, whether aquatic or terrestrial.

With a planted tank substrate and sufficient full-spectrum light (around three or four watts per gallon is ballpark) you should be able to grow common plants no problem.

Dave

Dave

**korith** · 02-01-2009, 06:35 AM

I bought this really nice looking amazon sword for my tank, after I put it in my tank, it really looked like it was dying for a few weeks, I just kept trimming the dead parts, eventually it bounced back after being in the tank for 2 months. May just have to give the plant more time. Could help to put fertizlier root tablets that could help some plants, depending on if they take nutrients through their roots or not.