Sounds familiar?
It is to me. But then I am on the receiving end but if you go onto forums you'll see this sort of statement all the time. I often here the same reason as to why aquarium plants are dying and it's normally due to the fact that they have algae. They've been told (normally by shops) they need to starve the algae. Advice like this is sooooo old school yet the message is continually advised from shop owners who in my opinion clearly don't know what is best.
So hobbyists follow the advice given to starve their algae and totally stop the nutrients they are putting in. Algae dies back a little and plants totally disintegrate - the reason why is simply
you've just starved your plants to death...
My advice to anyone who is looking for advice is speak to experts, like us (and a few others) who know what is best, and not generic shops which peddle out these toxic messages. If your plants are dying you need to first work out why. First, are they actually aquatic plants? Sounds a funny thing to ask but there are still a lot of shops that sell non aquatic plants! This only adds to confusion to hobbyists who may be doing everything else right. Below are pictures of a few non aquatic plant - looks nice heh?
Problem is they will last a couple of weeks then start breaking down. These plants should live in your garden or conservatory, not in your tank. So if you have a plant that looks like these (normally they come without plant labels for identification), remove them and start again.
Secondly, are your plants getting the right nutrients? I'm recommending Neutro T for non CO2 tanks and Neutro+ for CO2 infused tanks.Your plants need no other nutrients with these ferts below.
You add these ferts daily because that's what plants want. Just like us, they want feeding every day - not so crazy is it? Feeding weekly is nuts and just marketing spiel to make it appear that the fertilisers are more economical then they actually are.
Are you providing your plants with carbon is gas or liquid form? If not, why not? Carbon is the backbone of plant growth and without it, your plants will suffer. Try Neutro CO2
Are you performing weekly water changes of at least 30%? Plants need clean water unless you want to grow algae and I'm guessing you don't.
If you follow these very basic steps I guarantee that you will have success with the majority of plants. Some that you might struggle with are advanced one's but we'll get onto that at another time.
If you're still having troubles, reply to this post.
27 comments
I’ve got a 23L tropical aquarium and have started to get some plants for it. I had a floating plant which although green seems to have broken up a bit in the last couple of weeks of having it. I put in a plant from the LFS which looked healthy and happy for almost a week and then the leaves began to discolour and become translucent, then i noticed brown algae i think growing on the leaves and now it is looking very sorry for itself. I have been advised to remove the carbon filter media from my filter system and begin to add fertiliser and liquid carbon daily. I have ordered some new plants and don’t want to keep killing them off! I’m looking to have a moderately planted aquarium so that the fish have hiding places but i can still see the rocks and wood that i have in the tank. Have i been given the right advice?
Also, I travel for work usually a day here and there which isn’t a problem i guess for fertiliser and liquid carbon but what if i’m away for a week or more?
Thanks
Pretty much good advice – if your plants show any signs of negative plant growth, it means they are siffering from a deficiency so you need to add more fertilisers and liquid carbon.
Fertilisers need daily dosage so if you’re away then you’ll need to get someone else to dose or buy an auto doser.
Hey Richard
Recently just started a planted tank, had a year off, using the tropica soil and the powder, light is a 23w ho led 8k temp light extremely bright, my issues have been holes in leafs and brown and black leafs, tested nitrates and they’re off the scale, plants storogyne repens, hemianthus callitroids, both dieing off, dosing neutro t and your liquid carbon but both have been sitting in the shed for over a year, basically I’ve ordered an ro unit as my tap water is full of phosphates , will this resolve my problem? Along with big water changes when it arrives?
Thanks in advance.
Hi I need help! I bought 2 different plants the Ludwigia and sword about three days later they were brown almost just stems. I went back told fish people and he said I could try feeding them 20th they black Rock like food and I put a florescent light, now they’re barley hanging on but it doesn’t look like they’re going to make it. Please help!
Hello, i used a cabomba plant for my lab. One i put in the dark and another under white light, the one in the dark stayed alive at pH of 8.5 while the one under white light died at pH of 9. Why is that?