Plants slowly dying with LED hood.

[FreshyFresh]

I'm giving up on my attempt to grow low-light plants with the standard 10gal Marineland LED hood. I even tried to enhance it by adding another string of 24LEDs to no avail. I really like the hinged hood and the way it lights up the tank, but for plants? Not so much. They're slowly falling apart. We're talking basic low-light plants; Java Fern, Anubias Nana, Anacharis and Amazon Sword.

I did research this prior to buying this 10gal kit, but found no conclusive info on growing plants with it. I love the idea of LEDs. Lots of light, no heat, little/no power consumption and they make the tank look great. In order to grow plants with them, you really have to do your homework and spend some bucks.

I don't want to give up on the plants in this particular tank, so I bit the bullet and mail-ordered an Aqueon 20" incandescent strip light, a 20" Versa-Top and two Zoo Med day light 6500K CFLs. There's really no 20" twin-tube T5 strip lights that I could find.

Another ~$59 chalked up to the hobby.

 

[FishDad]

R.I.P. $59

I had nothin but failure with petsmart and pet supplies plants as well. Amazon sword is semi aquatic, that much I know.

 

[FreshyFresh]

FD, what tank did you try those plants in? What type of lighting did you have at the time?

Best I can tell, amazon sword is aquatic. I know I got duped by a Petco "tropical fern" that was not aquatic.

OTOH, I bought a bundle of Anacharis from my LFS a cpl weeks ago and loaded my 10gal with little snails now.

 

[FishDad]

It was my old 70g. The buld was a florescent, I don't remember the specs. I didn't really know what I was doing at the time. In fact I'm still not sure about anything when it comes to plants.

I'm 99% sure amazon sword is semi. I like to use this site for references...AquariumPlants.com

 

[Thyra]

Here is another reference that says if can be used either way successfully.
Aquatic Plants for Freshwater Aquariums: Amazon Sword Aquarium Plant

 

[FreshyFresh]

Thanks for the references.

I hear you FD. I like to focus more on the water critters anyway, but I'm determined at this point to get the plants right at least once. They almost seem like they take more time and resources than the fish!!

I know I failed at it years ago too. There was so little readily available info back then..

 

[OrangeCones]

I'm giving up on my attempt to grow low-light plants with the standard 10gal Marineland LED hood. I even tried to enhance it by adding another string of 24LEDs to no avail. I really like the hinged hood and the way it lights up the tank, but for plants? Not so much. They're slowly falling apart. We're talking basic low-light plants; Java Fern, Anubias Nana, Anacharis and Amazon Sword.

FreshyFresh - I've been able to keep the plants you mentioned alive and growing (slowly) with no light at all (just room lighting).

For this 10 gallon tank:

What do you have for filtration?
Do you add any ferts?
Do you add a carbon source?

 

[exhumed07]

i have failed with plants about 4-5 times with just standard substrate and adding ferts. and i did basic simple plants as well. everything always died off. but i have discovered the dirted tank. i experimented with it in my 20 gallon tank with swamp mud and some plants went absolutly bonkers in it. others not so much. but the theory is sound and i just recently got my 55 and am trying the recommended organic potting soil. but with dirt and a decent lighting system there is no need to add ferts. i suppliment co2 with ecxel. thats it. the nutrients from the dirt leaches into the water column feeding things like java moss and java ferns and other floating plants so no liquid ferts are needed. but it does creat an issue at first. there is going to be algae. it's just a fact of a dirted tank. untill it's established and planted enough there will be algae. it is a setup for a heavily planted tank. if all u have is a couple crypts then dirt aint for u. if u have a lush full tank then dirt is the best thing. i personally have found good clumps of java moss or christmas moss as well as duck weed to be great for keeping the nutrients sucked up out of the water to prevent algae. it's something to look into fishy. thats if u plan to realy get into a planted tank. it's a low tech cost effective way to keep plants. from my understanding plants will do better in lower lighting then recommended lighting with dirt and also there is less of a need for co2 injection.

 

[Rotaripsnoc]

OTOH, I bought a bundle of Anacharis from my LFS a cpl weeks ago and loaded my 10gal with little snails now.

I've had this happen more than I care to admit, usually a few assassin snails (Anentome helena) are sufficient to remedy the problem, they also are not bad additions to a community tank, unless you have clams, or shrimp that are ... slow.

 

[exhumed07]

i have tons of snails or at least had tons of snails in my 20. and sure i got some that moved to my new 55 but i have never had a real issue with them. i see a healthy snail population as a good sign of water quality as they are more sensitive to water chemestery then most fish. also i notice they like to ead the dead or dying leaves of my plants but leave my plants alone. i never see holes in the leaves. i've got the typical pond snail and i got some rams horn type with a red foot. then the ocational trumpet snail that i will smash if i see them. i just don't see snails as much of a problem in a planted tank. but i've also stated before i am a fan of biodeversity in my tanks. i've even gone as far as putting grass shrimp in my tanks. i know there were some for about a year in my 20 gallon till i put my baby salamandar in the tank and he ate them all lol. but anyway i try to create as bio deverse as possible tank to try to replicate nature the best i can. and snails are part of nature and have their place.

 

[rohnds]

I bought a couple of broad leaf java fern plants and they are doing great in my FW tank.

Easy to take care of and doesn't require much light.



Rohn

 

[FreshyFresh]

Still waiting on my new light setup to arrive.

My java ferns are basically just sitting there. Exactly as I bought them ~8 weeks ago or so.

 

[rohnds]

Mine was about 4 inches tall when I bought them and have grown to about 6 or 7 inches and the bright green color in showing beautifully.

Remember, light is not the only requirement. It also need NO3 and NH3 to photo synthesize.




Rohn

 

[OrangeCones]

Remember, light is not the only requirement. It also need NO3 and NH3 to photo synthesize.

Both nitrate and ammonia are needed by plants?

 

[exhumed07]

yes. thats y farmers spray ammonia in thier fields before planting. 1 it burns off the weeds that are currently growing and then it delutes in the soil to a good level and then they plant.

 

[OrangeCones]

I disagree that aquatic plants need both ammonia and nitrate. They will uptake ammonia first and nitrate as the last choice to get the nitrogen they need to grow. They must expend energy to turn nitrate to nitrite, and then to ammoina, to be able to use the nitrogen.

Any one source of nitrogen is fine to grow aquatic plants. Without answers from the OP about the set up, I would guess that it is a lack of available carbon that is most likely the cause of poor or no growth.

 

[exhumed07]

I've always known plants to need ammonia. in different values as species dictate. but i may be wrong or may have gotten bad information or mixed information. i'm just going by what i have been told.

 

[OrangeCones]

I've always known plants to need ammonia.

Plants need a source of nitrogen, but it does not have to be ammonia (NH3).

I've grown aquatic plants in a plant-only tanks (no fish, no snails) and used Seachem's Flourish Nitrogen to add nitrogen to the tanks. It contains no ammonia, but the plants get the nitrogen they need from potassium nitrate (KNO3).

Doing a large water change right after it rained also could add nitrate to the water, as I lived around a lot of farming activity. When it rained, run-off from the fields would give me nitrogen and potassium, two items Seachem's Flourish Nitrogen could add if the local water did not supply enough.

 

[Thyra]

In 7 & 8th grade in a one room country school we all had a class and book called "Practical Farming". At the time we all knew why we rotated crops and plowed some under to supply nitrogen to the soil - particularly alfalfa and corn - but how in the world was I suppose to remember I would have any need for that information some 60 years later?

 

[exhumed07]

lol i accually come across stuff like that alot thyra. it seems like pointless information at the time lol