New to plants

**YaYgoldFish** · 06-11-2007, 05:52 AM

Ok so i got 3 live plants in my tank. NONE of them are identified, so i will post pics tomorow. One of them is long and green that i planted on my driftwood, and i have 2 other big ones in a corner where my mountain shrimps like to hang out at. One of them is super green and healthy ( ive had to trim it once and soon again in less than 1 month and a half) and the other is red and green. Problem is: both are loosing alot of leaves. Everytime i do a water change and wash my gravel, I find a few dead leaves. I was wondering if this was normal?

Another thing i would love to get info on, is fertilizer and co2.

What type of fertilizer and co2 should i use? I'm going to my lfs with only 20 bucks so im guessing ill have enough for only one? Wich one is the most important?
I was thinking of getting "Nutrafin fertilizer sticks" for about 10 bucks.
And would it help if i bought some sand to put under the gravel?
Any other suggestions/tips are appreciated.

p.s heres a few side notes:

the tank is a 25g long with a 20w neon, about 1 inch and a half of large flourite substrate.

**Lady Hobbs** · 06-11-2007, 01:22 PM

You don't mention additional lighting so I assume you only have the hood light? For low lite tanks, you'd best stick with low light plants such as java fern, moss or anabus. Most all plants require more light. You won't need co2 injection with the lower lite plants, either.

I do think you will need to add another light no matter what you have. Those hood lights are only 18 watt which is hardly enough to grow anything and you will get algae, stunted growth and dying plants.

I would personally just use plant tabs for now since you are using gravel but I am also new to planted tanks and trying to learn this stuff myself. The guy I bought my plants from has raised tank plants for 20 years and this is what he recommends. And they only need to be added every 3 months.

I think the Plant Tabs kind of get the root system going and then later liquid ferts could be used. To me it just makes sense to put the ferts where they can do the most good in the beginning.

Make sure you remove all dead leaves.

**YaYgoldFish** · 06-11-2007, 01:43 PM

Alright thanks for all the info. Would you recomend buying online?( plants)

**Lady Hobbs** · 06-11-2007, 01:47 PM

I've had terrible luck buying plants online and good luck so it's a toss up. Personally for a tank that small, I would just pick up a few at your local pet store.

**YaYgoldFish** · 06-11-2007, 03:33 PM

Ok, im going later today. Ill let you know!

**hungryhound** · 06-11-2007, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by the P

Ok so i got 3 live plants in my tank. NONE of them are identified, so i will post pics tomorow. One of them is long and green that i planted on my driftwood, and i have 2 other big ones in a corner where my mountain shrimps like to hang out at. One of them is super green and healthy ( ive had to trim it once and soon again in less than 1 month and a half) and the other is red and green. Problem is: both are loosing alot of leaves. Everytime i do a water change and wash my gravel, I find a few dead leaves. I was wondering if this was normal?

this is not normal and it is sign of poor lighting and or nutrient levels.

My guess since you are getting good growth is that you are losing bottom leaves because they are getting shaded and do not have enough light, but it is tough to say for sure.

Originally Posted by the P

Another thing i would love to get info on, is fertilizer and co2.

What type of fertilizer and co2 should i use? I'm going to my lfs with only 20 bucks so im guessing ill have enough for only one? Wich one is the most important?

There are a two main categories of fertilizers. Macro nutrients (nitrogen, carbon, sulfate, and potassium) that your plants need in large quantities to grow, and trace elements (iron, chromium, ...) that your plants only need small amounts of.

You can deliver the fertalizers through a variety of methods.

Substrate You can use a substrate that is high in nutrients (flourite, eco-complete, ada aquasoil ....) These chemically rich substrates will provide better growth over chemically inert substrates but the lack of nutrients in the chemically inert substrate can be made up for with other fertilizers.

root tabs Small concentrated solid nutirients that can be buried in the substrate to provide nutrients for root feeding plants in a small area.

Liquid fertilizers Either trace or macro nutrients that are pre mixed in water that can be added easily to your water. Flourish is a good example of a liquid fertilizer (i add it to my tank for trace elements)

Dry ferts Agricultural fertilizers containing individual elements that you can add to your tank. A good source of macro nutrients in a heavily planted tank and a much cheaper source, but it requires a little math and leg work on your end. I would personally recommend these for someone trying to do a moderate to heavily planted tank.

Originally Posted by the P

I was thinking of getting "Nutrafin fertilizer sticks" for about 10 bucks.
And would it help if i bought some sand to put under the gravel?
Any other suggestions/tips are appreciated.

Root tabs will be fine for any root feeding plants, but if your plants feed from the water column then they will not do too much.

Originally Posted by the P

p.s heres a few side notes:

the tank is a 25g long with a 20w neon, about 1 inch and a half of large flourite substrate.

That is not very much light and I think the source of your problems. Especially if you do not have a plant bulb (full spectrum) in there (I am not sure what you mean by neon).

Posting pics would help us get an idea of what type of plants you are growing and how you might best maximize their growth for your 20 dollars.

**YaYgoldFish** · 06-11-2007, 11:02 PM

Ok well i ended up getting the Nutrafin fertilizer sticks since the co2 kit they had was about 25 bucks. Ill go take a few shots of my plants

**YaYgoldFish** · 06-12-2007, 02:33 AM

Ok for the plants.

I have one that i identified, the

GOLDEN LLOYDIELLA

**zackish** · 06-12-2007, 03:52 AM

Originally Posted by Lady Hobbs

I've had terrible luck buying plants online and good luck so it's a toss up. Personally for a tank that small, I would just pick up a few at your local pet store.

I would say buying anything online Live is a gamble. Even if its a reputable place its a long trip for a fish especially to be in a small enclosed area. Plus when you get the product if it dies or something then you gotta deal with all that hassle when most pet stores have like a 10 day guarantee.

**coachfraley** · 06-12-2007, 04:02 AM

GOLDEN LLOYDIELLA is a moderate/high light plant. If it is not getting enough light on the bottom leaves, they will turn to mush or simply fall off.

I think Hungryhound is right, you probably need more light.